A DC centric set of early reviews for everyone this week sees the Weekly Crisis Comic Book Reviews covering Blackest Night, Green Lantern and Detective Comics, all great comics in their own right. As always, spoilers abound, so proceed with caution if thou hiteth the jumpeth.Update - Added reviews for Amazing Spider-Man, Dark Avengers: Ares and Ms Marvel, which you can find at the bottom of the post.
BLACKEST NIGHT #5Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Ivan Reis
After four issues of treading water with the same basic plot month after month, Blackest Night finally came out swinging with its best issue to date. I believe the biggest factor in this change has to be the focus on Green Lantern and the other corps, as well as the shocking reveals at the end of the issue.
Simply put, it finally feels like this is a book that matters and deals with the Blackest Night/War of Light story that has its origins in Green Lantern and not just a placeholder for random heroes and villains coming back as or being killed off to become Black Lanterns like the previous issues.
Of note, I'd recommend reading Green Lantern #48, which came out this week as well, prior to reading this one as it picks up several key plot points from that issue, such as the uniting of the leaders of the different coloured corps and their arrival on Earth. I don't think it's detrimental to the read if you do not have that issue, but it will fill in a lot of gaps as to how Hal and Indigo-1 left for space two issues ago and are now back with the entire Power Ranger squad.
On the whole, this issue really turned the dial up to eleven for this event. Many of the subplots that took place in the various miniseries come into play here, particularly the Blackest Night: Titans related ones with Dove and Donna Troy, and the heroes from across the DCU are finally united to fight back against Nekron and the Black Lanterns. The Flashes mentioning they don't have their own Flash Corps (yet?) was great and how it led to the introduction of all their friends from the JLA, JSA, et al on the next page was excellent. Really drove home how this was a universal (or Earth, at least) threat that needed everyone to kick ass.
The only problem with this plan is that they failed. Nekron takes the opportunity to resurrect "Bruce Wayne" (the air quotes were used by Nekron himself), which establishes an emotional connection with just about everyone on scene. From there, Black Lantern Batman shoots out several rings to anyone that had died before, which includes everyone on the cover to the left, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and Impulse, and this causes them to "die" again as Nekron reveals he let them be revived and they still belong to him.
Now, obviously, no one expects these deaths to stick, but it's still pretty shocking to see everyone that was brought back to life instantly converted to a Black Lantern. Going further, the final two panels have two rings chasing down Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, both of which have died and come back. Simply put, life is so screwed right now in the DCU. I really don't see how Johns is going to get everyone out of this mess yet, but the mass conversion to Black Lanterns seems to imply the magic retcon button has been pushed and all deaths will be reset by the end of this series. It'll be interesting seeing how we get to that point though.
On the negative side, while this is the best issue of Blackest Night to date, that's not saying much with how the series has played out so far and this issue still has some problems. Primarily is the use of the various corps leaders. I loved that they were included, but compared to their portrayals in Green Lantern this week, it's like a completely different writer wrote these two issues. Their voices just seemed off when reading both issues back to back. They also only get brief appearances in this issue, which, while an improvement over previous no-shows, is still rather odd for an event that centers on them.
Additionally, the art is getting worse from issue to issue and it seriously looks like a ghost artist is being used to pencil certain pages. Some pages look fantastic, such as the Batman reveal, while others look unfinished or as if someone else drew them, like with the JLA/Titans/JSA splashpage. Don't take this critique as the art being bad, as it's better than most comics, but it's just a rather distracting change when you see it as you read the book that it is physically jarring.
Finally, touching on the 'Bruce Wayne' appearance, I hope this is explained in detail. Nekron brings him back, he shoots out some rings after eliciting an emotional response and then Nekron quickly makes him disappear. Was it Batman? Was it just his body (he doesn't have any dialogue or other indicators like previous Black Lanterns) and his soul is trapped in the Omega Effect from Final Crisis? Just what the heck happened here? If it amounts to a "it's magic, we don't have to explain it" type of answer or is never touched upon by the end of this series, it will be a glaring omission and disappointment. For now, I'm taking a wait and see approach to it.
Verdict - Buy It. First issue that felt like it was required reading, which is odd when you consider this is the main event book. Lots of action and some great reveals and character moments marred by jarring art and the same lack of Green Lantern focus for the event that previous issues had.
DETECTIVE COMICS #859Written by Greg Rucka
Art by JH Williams III & Cully Hamner
This issue marks the second part of Batwoman's origin and saw a significant time skip from the first part, which chronicled the traumatic early childhood of Kate Kane and the death of her twin sister, Beth, who was the villain Alice from the previous arc.
The time skip for this issue jumped to Kate's time in the military, which I assume puts her around college age. It had been her dream to be be in the marine corp and take after her father and deceased mother, but she was drummed out due to her homosexuality and how it was forbidden at the time. It was a well written sequence, which overshadowed Williams III's art for once, and seeing Kate's father's reaction to her being kicked out of the military was excellent. Most writers opt to go with the drama of having the parent(s) react with disgust or anger towards their child being homosexual, so it was just refreshing to see a positive take on it.
From there, the story employs several more time skips showing us how Kate drifted through life, being the socialite and, eventually, meeting up with a younger Renee Montoya, the current Question, and how their relationship began and ended. This is the kind of story that should have been released back during, or shortly after, 52 as it explains a lot about their relationship and history together. As it was a relatively short sequence, I can't really understand why it took this long to tell it.
The finally part of the issue sees an attempted assault on Kate by a random mugger. She uses her military training to fight back, but is interrupted by Batman in a visually stunning sequence. There were maybe a handful of words as Batman drops down, helps Kate up with an outstretched hand, it fades to the bat signal in the sky and Batman chasing after the fleeing mugger. It's obvious this was her future motivation to become Batwoman and I was stunned at how effective the sequence was. Incredibly well done.
Touching on the backup for a moment, this was the first time the Question backup has actually proven interesting to me since the backups began and I just hope it can sustain the momentum of this new chapter in the backup story. Of note, Huntress appears in this backup and all I can say is thank god someone at DC has the brains to allow the use of a functional costume. Yes, there is no belly top and hot pants for this Huntress and it's easily a moment of the week for me for the simple fact it proves someone at DC is finally realizing how ridiculous that costume looked. Kudos to Cully Hamner for drawing it and whoever approved it.
Verdict - Buy It. I was tempted to give this a Must Read like the previous issue, but it read more like a straight up origin with few shocks or draws. It's well written and Williams is still fantastic on art, but not nearly as powerful as the previous issue. Still highly recommended though.
GREEN LANTERN #48Written by Geoff Johns
Green Lantern continues to be the go-to book for Blackest Night and could easily double as the main book for the event. Spotlighting the leaders of each of the coloured corps, this issue delivered some of my most anticipated moments for the event, such as the interactions between the different leaders, particularly Atrocitus and Sinestro, and the return to the planet Ryut in sector 666, which led to a great character moment detailing Atrocitus's past.
In short, this issue was about the alliance between these various corps' leaders, airing of grievances between certain members and the conditions for others joining. In addition, it leads into this week's Blackest Night #5 and shows how these corps leaders are commited to stopping the Black Lanterns.
As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, Atrocitus is a major focus of this issue's story. From his attack on Larfleeze, who, after an extended tug of war for the Orange Lantern, dispatched Atrocitus with relative ease, to his rage towards Sinestro and the Green Lantern Corps to his sympathetic return to his homeworld of Ryut, we learned a great deal about Atrocitus here and he is not simply a rage filled monster that employs blood rituals or anything else we may have seen of him to date. It added a degree of relatability to the character and fleshed out the motivations for his actions. His lamenting about how he and his people did not deserve to be massacred by the Manhunters as he kneeled in the burnt ash of Ryut was a particularly noteworthy scene.
Another character that received a great deal of face time was Larfleeze, wielder of the orange light of avarice. He is clearly powerful, but is being played more and more like a joke character, which is both good and bad. Sometimes it's a great bit of comic relief after some of the serious scenes while others it borders on annoying or his jokes fall flat. When you see him turn serious against Sinestro demanding his own Guardian, it's hard to view him as credible or take his threats serious with how he is portrayed. Perhaps, it's just a matter of showing this twisted and powerful side of his character more that is required to juxtapose with his more timid side. It does look like they are trying for the Gollum-like character that can go from the funny and cute sidekick to the sinister killer at the drop of a hat, but we're not really getting enough of the character to get that impression and the few times he does become serious seem to lack the impact they should.
Additionally, a problem I have with the issue is the clashes between the different corps. Red Lanterns tore through the Sinestro and Green Lantern Corps, but here we had Hal stopping Atrocitus with his green constructs. Similarly, Larfleeze was quite powerful in Agent Orange, but didn't absorb Hal's energy here. Just some mild inconsistencies in how the different lights react to each other that I'm nitpicking over, but I felt worth mentioning.
Otherwise, the interactions between the different corps was great. My only question was where are the other members? Sinestro Corps is still protecting their yellow battery and the GLC is on Oa, but where'd the other Blue Lanterns go? There's like 5 of them and Saint Walker and both Guardians are with Hal and Co. What about the Red Lanterns? Atrocitus just took off without them so he could get the Orange Lantern? Why did he want the Orange Lantern anyways? It never really explained what he was attempting to do or what he'd do with it. These are just questions I find myself asking after the fact and had no real bearing on my enjoyment of the issue.
Verdict - Buy It. Great read that hit a lot of the right notes for me. I wanted to see all of these different corps bouncing off of each other and how the different personalities would react to one another. Finding out Atrocitus' history and backstory or how Abin Sur is Saint Walker's "savior" and other little details about each character and their relationships to one another was great. While not the heaviest on action, it's definitely one of the better issues of Blackest Night to date.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #613
UPDATED Reviews Start Here
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #613Written by Mark Waid
Art by Paul AzacetaThe second part of Power to the People, the Electro centric chapter of The Gauntlet storyline, is pretty much more of the same with Electro's public crusade to stop the corporate fat cats from getting all the bail out money. I didn't really care for the premise the first time around and was hoping it would be dropped or we'd move on by now, but it continues to escalate with this issue.
My biggest complaint with the issue is how the public is shown to rally around him. I know people complain about bail outs for the large corporations and the premise that the DB would be the only newspaper to receive a bail out is a tad over the top, but what the hell is wrong with the people of New York in the Marvel Universe? They know who Electro is. They've put up with his power outages and destruction of public property. They wouldn't rally behind a Charles Manson if he was ranting and raving on YouTube about corporate bail outs. Why would they hang on every word from Electro? Why would they openly attack Spider-Man, who's been on the Avengers for a while now? Even if they believed the reports he's a villain, you don't run at some armed gunman, why would anyone jump a guy that can snap you in two or throw cars like they're cardboard? The entire premise is flawed in my eyes and it's hard to overlook the absurdity of people acting in this way simply to propel this story forward and prevent the villain from being captured.
It even turns out Electro has set up this elaborate YouTube popularity contest so as to blackmail Dexter Bennett for money so Electro can have his powers fixed by the Thinker. Bennett quickly cedes to his demands and Electro gets "cured". The cure, however, is actually just a huge power up for him. Seeing as the last time I bothered reading an Electro story revolved around him being suped up and X-Man was even involved, it's rather disappointing to read another power up story for him.
In the end, Electro easily defeats Spider-Man and goes on to double crosses Bennett, issuing a demand for everyone in New York to turn on as many electrical devices as possible. Why? I guess he's going to drain the power or some other nonsense. It'd be easier to just go to the power station himself though. What's worse is the people are shown in the background cheering him on as they watch this nut case rant and rave about how he's going to destroy a building in downtown New York with all the power they'll juice him up with.
Verdict - Avoid It. There's not much positive to say here. The entire premise for this storyline is flawed and it's hard to accept any other part of it without ignoring the fundamental parts of the story.
DARK AVENGERS: ARES #2Written by Kieron Gillen
Art by Manuel GarciaI loved the first issue of Dark Avengers: Ares. It was the first time Ares had been treated like something other than the meathead he's portrayed as in the various Avengers titles since his revamping in the Ares: God of War miniseries. The entire first issue dealt with him training a pack of elite HAMMER agents, known as his Shades, and Ares being varying degrees of awesome.
My only concern was with the final part of the first issue that had Hera informing Ares that his son, which we presumed to mean Phobos, as did Ares, had been kidnapped and injured. Ares vowed to save his son and punish those involved as well as Nick Fury for his incompetence in protecting him.
That doesn't sound too bad to be a concern, but you have to remember, the whole Ares/Phobos connection has been covered in Thunderbolts, Dark Avengers and Secret Warriors and portrayed differently in each one. I was not looking forward to a fourth iteration of that story or the headaches involved with figuring out where it fit.
Thankfully, Gillen went in a different direction for the "son of Ares" plot. Simply put, Ares has had more than one child over the years. They've all kind of died though. After watching Ares sky surf on a bunker smashing missile (yes, it's as awesome as it sounds), the whole Phobos story was turned on its head as it was revealed that the son in question was Kyknos, a horned demonic looking humanoid that died fighting Hercules way back when.
From there, we get a plot about Kyknos being promised the title of God of War and returned to life if he kills his father by Pluto, the lord of the dead, as a favour for Hera, who's upset with Ares's joining arms with the Avengers and other heroes. It's a simple plot that allows Ares to do what he does best - wage war on hordes of undead and Gillen litters the book with lots of great moments, like a discussion on Spartans and the movie, 300, or Ares succiently describing how magic works to his Shades or the afforementioned bomb riding scene. My favourite moment, though, has to be his redefining of the word defense. He forbids the use of any version of the word defense due to it being one of Athena's "words", which prompts one of his Shades to suggest they employ a "stationary offense" instead.
Verdict - Must Read. This is easily shaping up to be one of the best mini-series of the year. If you can't understand the appeal of Ares, buy this book. You'll be a bleliever soon enough. Just an enjoyable from start to finish.
MS. MARVEL #47 Written by Brian Reed
Art by Mark RobinsonMs. Marvel is a title I'd given up on after several attempts to get into it. I enjoyed certain aspects of it, such as Carol's desire to be the Superman-like pinnacle of hope that she was in House of M or her attempts at a real life or even the guest appearances by in-Nextwave-character Aaron Stack/Machine Man. However, the positives didn't outweigh the absurd plots the book pursued, such as weird psychic babies, Carol dying, coming back as multiple energy forms, Carol merging with strange aliens and other craziness that just got away from the original premise of the book.
So, you ask, why am I buying this random issue? This issue picks up on a small throw away line from an earlier issue I read which saw Spider-Man request a date from Ms. Marvel for helping her out to which she agreed. With her dying and everything, that was never followed up on. Until now.
What we get here is a awkward date between Peter Parker and Carol Danvers that is just a fun done-in-one story that anyone can pick up and enjoy. I had some issues with how Peter was portrayed almost like a complete slob, but those were fleeting and watching the two struggle to find common ground or quickly falling back on 'shop talk' about super heroes and their villains was great. I doubt the two have any future together, but it's fun stories like this that almost, and I mean almost, make the whole One More Day/no marriage idea make some sort of sense. Almost.
Verdict - Check It. As I said, it's a fun done-in-one story about a date between Ms Marvel and Spider-Man and all that that entails. There's some mild super heroics mixed in to liven it up and the awkwardness between the two on the date was fun to read. Nothing I'd rush back to the comic shop to pick up, but if you've got some spare cash and/or enjoy Spider-Man stories, you may want to grab this for a solid read.
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20 comments:
Agreed with the art issues in Blackest night and also thought of the backstory behind the air quotes :P
Oh no,not the backstory of this alleged "bruce Wayne",but rather of the editorial troubles no doubt sparked by the inconsistencies of Final Crisis and the recent number of Batman&Robin.
I too am somewhat dissapointed at how the author seems to have forgotten that Larfleeze himself during the agent orange story actually threatened to waste a good deal of red-er,green shirts (let's face it,in DC wearing green makes you much more likely to die and/or be cannon fodder: Green lanterns;Green Arrow;GL;Corps;Daemonites;Kalibak.etc) ALONGSIDE the guardians themselves till they copped out for a deal :s
Still,I love the guy (and the fact that he did KO Atrocitus kinda counts for an unintentional acknowledgment to the power Geoff forgot he gave him before)
BTW,I just found this link on Newsarama boards (spoilerish)
The comic itself acknowledged it!
http://www.lilformers.com/index.php/2009/11/16/lil-formers-172-blackest-night/
PS:
I did like Black Lantern Batman a lot,me be wantin figurine!
Same goes for BL Imp-Bart Allen
Moment of the Week:
"We'll give everything we have to destroy it."
"Well, not everything."
I totally agree with the Blackest Night #5 review, first really epic and important issue of this series since #1 for me. An absolute Must Read.
one thing that pissed me off was the first page of GL. there is an editors note that says "this takes place before blackest night #6". i put it down and read BN first. of course it takes place before #6...because it takes place before #5! stupid editorial mistake.
Green Lantern and Blackest Night were amazing. It's really great to see that they both came out in the same week, too. Marvel hasn't been able to do that lately (First Wolverine, and now Captain America). Spotlighting everyone except Hal was pretty good, and giving Atrocitus and Larfleeze so much dialogue was nice too.
@Kirk: I'm one of the biggest Ms. Marvel fans I know and I was very disappointed with the Amazing Spider-Date. I agree with you that Spidey came off even more immature than he's generally prone to, but what really bothered me was the horrendous art! This 22 page issue had - count them - THREE DIFFERENT pencillers; and none of them are Mark Robinson, the artist that receives all the credit! The second penciller, Rob DiSalvo, was, if memory serves, the same who pencilled the Ms. Marvel annual in which Spider-man and Ms. M teamed up (though not where the date was set), and his four pages were fine, but the rest just looked rough and ugly. And with no consistent style, the sudden transitions (or lack thereof) from one style to another was jarring and served no purpose. The whole issue just came off as uneven to me for this reason.
While I didn't get to read GL 48 yet, I was glad to see that Blackest Night finally started to get in gear.
So far my book of the week has to be DA: Ares #2. I can't remember the last time I was entertained by practically every single page of a comic. It's a shame this comic is only a mini.
That was actually my favorite Detective of this run, the first time the story was up to the quality of the art, IMO. And that sequence at the end with Batman was just about perfect.
I have to completely agree with the imagery when Batman finally stepped in at the end of Detective Comics. The scene of him emerging from the alley literally had me scared with how creepy yet stunning it was.
I can't believe how awful ASM was this week. Seriously, I get that the citizens of Marvel's New York are supposed to not like Spidey and all, but the whole "lets help a known supervillain blow up a building" thing is just far too stupid for words. And I'm not even going to get into the hideous art, other to say that I was wrong in thinking it couldn't be worse than what we saw in the last ASM.
If this is what we have to look forward to in the guantlet storyline, I'll glady skip it.
I hate the Huntress costume. The shoulder pads are ridiculous. It's a total cop out. I still love Cully tho.
Picked up Dark Reign: Ares #1+2 today, and it's definitely the best Dark Reign spinoff bar-none. Gillen has done a great job with the character. I only wish he'd done a better job on SWORD #1 though. As readable as Ares is, SWORD is not. As much as I like classic Death's Head, all the leftover subplots from Whedon's X-Men run was just suffocating.
Hope you review Dark Wolverine #80. Great story. One of Marvel´s best books right now.
@Lucho - I actually am not reading Dark Wolverine, though have heard good thigns about it. Ryan was following it the last time I checked, so check back for his reviews later today to find out what he thought of it.
Hey Kirk -- good reviews as always.
That said, I'm not sure I agree about the art on Blackest Night 5; it's no better or worse than Ivan Reis' tpyical work -- at least no to the point where you can assert that there was a ghost artist on it (though on that front, I have it on good authority that some of Marvel's books are ghost-laid out by a notable Vertigo artist).
Your observation about the lack of consistency on the art front made me check-out my back issues of Ivan Reis run on GL and it seems there are times when Ivan takes the page off -- that is, he doesn't seem to immerse himself fully in some pages; where some character models aren't fully-detailed or where it appears slightly rushed.
That's understandable given that it sometimes takes him 2 to 3 days (he's said so in interviews) to do the incredible spread pages that he's known for. He's like a star pitcher pacing himself for the later innings after a long season.
A good example of this is his work on the GL:Secret Origin arc; his art was looser and less detailed in spots and his face construction was inconsistent.
It's also worth noting that it wasn't Oclair Albert who did all the inks; Joe Prado did some of it and he may not be as tight an inker as Oclair Albert.
Overall, though, I would've given given the art 4.5 out of 5 stars in terms of quality. To my mind, Ivan's work in this issue is no different from his work on the Sinestro Corps war.
While I agree with your thoughts on ASM 613 for the most part, I think that this part of "The Gauntlet" arc is more of a political diatribe than anything else. If you treat it as such, it really underlines the level ignorance and stupidity that is rampant in the United States at the moment.
"but she was drummed out due to her homosexuality and how it was forbidden at the time. " Unfortunately, it's still forbidden to this day. Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If Obama would get off his ass and do something about it, that might change. I thought it was really wonderful to have Lt. Dan Choi (himself, obviously, of the military, who was recently (this year, I believe?) discharged for being homosexual) not only guest appear in the issue, but be given credit for research done on this subject.
This seriously was probably the best issue of Detective with this creative team, at this point. Loved it! And I really loved how at the end Williams was able to mesh his two art styles so well, with Batman's look, and the more simple style of Kate and the origin story. Excellent all around!
If you follow Rucka on twitter, he usually tweets a lot about news regarding the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. It's seemingly a cause very personal to him, for one reason or the other.
What went wrong with SWORD? I was let down also.
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