Final Crisis: Revelations #3
Outside of Superman Beyond, Revelations is easily the strongest of the Final Crisis minis, and this issue keeps it coming hard. We further see the damage done by the release of the Anti-Life Equation as Gotham is under siege by the Dark Faith – and among the mindless ranks of Anti-Life laying siege to the city is Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Bane, and Jim Gordon.
Things are bad in Gotham, and they get worse as we learn that the Radiant and the Spectre seem powerless in the face of Anti-Life…and as Cain comes calling. The description sounds epic, but in fact, this is a deeply personal series. Originally intended to be a ‘street level’ view of the Crisis, it quickly grew up and realized that, in the best books, there is no ‘street level’ and ‘cosmic’, there’s just a battle for the hearts and souls of mankind.
This book demonstrates that point excellently. While there is the massive threat of Cain and his faith, perhaps the bigger problem is that of the three heroes, only The Question seems to have any answers, and their biggest gun, The Spectre, is paralyzed by rage and hate. It’s a deeply personal book, a great reward to old fans of the characters, and an energetic and entertaining tie-in to Final Crisis.
Grade: A-
Secret Six #2
The first issue of Secret Six was an undeniable success. This issue follows it up well, but isn’t quite as strong. The Six are well under way in their mission, breaking into Alcatraz to free Tarantula, as Catman and Batman have a long-overdue confrontation…and enigmatic crime boss Junior lays an insane bounty on the heads of the Six.
The action was quite well done in this issue as Nicola Scott proves to be an undeniably effective artist on the title, but every panel of action is another panel we aren’t getting the Six’s twisted sense of humor. Still, the action and the character pieces are well-balanced, and two issues in, the series remains strong. Here’s to hoping the Six stick around.
Grade: B+
Wonder Woman #25
If you told me to choose a single word to define Gail’s run on Wonder Woman thus far, it would be ‘confused’. Then I would hit you, because defining a year’s worth of comics in multiple arcs in a word is an absurd proposition, and you’re an idiot for asking me to do so.
That said, if nothing else, this issue fits that single word. The Queen of Fables makes for a compelling villain and Gail obviously enjoys writing her, but I can’t help but feel that this arc would’ve greatly benefited from an extra issue, largely because, while the character moments are spot-on, the action is cluttered and hurried.
Still, any comic with lines like…
“Oh, go cook me a couple of orphans in a pie, you empty suitcase.”
and
“Please feel free to direct all your attorneys to my associates.
“Where we will promptly consume them.”
“Where they will promptly consume them, precisely.”
can’t be all bad, can it? Once again, the issue is filled with rock solid character moments held back by a slightly cluttered plotting and art.
Next issue, as a public service announcement, marks the beginning of the Rise of the Olympian storyline, kicking off Wonder Woman’s ‘event’ if I recall correctly.
(edit: it reads MUCH better the second time, in my opinion – Chang’s art, while gorgeous on many pages, detracted from some of the action scenes for me, but once beyond that, the book is definitely B+ worthy)
Grade: B
Green Lantern Corps #29
This issue kicks off the War of Light for the Green Lantern Corps title as we begin to meet the Zamorans – and as they go off recruiting. Given that it kicks off the build-up to next years Big Event, it’s a little surprising as to just how little happens in the issue.
We see some fall-out from the attacks of the Quintet, but given that the Quintet was built up and taken down in two issues, it feels a little hollow. Meanwhile, the scene with Mongul was tacky and the recruitment of Miri to the Zamorans wasn’t particularly well-handled, either. Again and again, I can’t help but feel that they’re trying to do too much too quickly. This title needs some room to breathe, and it isn’t getting it.
Perfectly average. It doesn’t do a lot right, but it doesn’t do anything particularly wrong, either.
Grade: C
Vixen: Return of the Lion
Vixen: Return of the Lion is written by G. Willow Wilson, the scribe behind the current Air and the recent Cairo gets a mainstream gig here working on Vixen, one of the current line-up of the JLA. In it, Vixen comes face-to-face with Intergang’s operations as she learns that they may have had a hand in the death of her family, all those years ago.
Very little happens in this issue – Vixen goes home, finds them terrorized by a gang, fights. It’s a simple, but solid opener, and it’s helped along by the fact that the art, by Cafu, is absolutely fantastic. The action shots, the character design, everything is extraordinarily well-handled. The story may be simple, but the art is fantastic.
Grade: B
The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Death Queen of California
This has already been reviewed fairly competently by others, but I had to throw my hat in the ring for a moment. The art is fantastic – while the action scenes aren’t quite Aja good (what action scenes are?), it’s still stylistically excellent – and the story, while at least a smidge misogynistic, is faithful to noir conventions while remaining a bizarre occult martial arts masterpiece. If you haven’t been reading any of the Immortal Iron Fist books, you’re doing it wrong.
And would it be inappropriate to ask why we haven’t had an Orson Randall card in VS yet?
Grade: A
read/RANT! 
