Just a random geek...

Here we go again with some more late reviews.  I know I said that I’d have them up last night, but honestly, I just didn’t have it in me.  Never fear, I’m refreshed and ready to roll.  On to the geekery…

Detective Comics #1

This is just a fun, sick book.  Our story begins with the Joker fully involved in a brawl with some strange individual wearing a mask that looks to be made of human skin.  Oh, and did I mention that the Joker is naked?  Yeah, the weirdness just smacks you in the face right off the bat (no pun intended).  Just as the Joker is wrapping up the brawl and finishing off (i.e. killing) the weirdo with the skin mask, our hero, Batman crashes through a window in typical Batman fashion.  The Joker manages to escape into the streets of Gotham City (still naked) while Bats brawls with the Gotham City Police Department who’ve just arrived.  Batman escapes the police (naturally), saves a little girl who’s hanging around the scene of the fight  and heads back to the Batcave, where a brief interlude with Alfred alludes to a possible romantic interest, a certain Charlotte Rivers.  Batman vows to bring the Joker in and bring him to justice.  Like we’d expect anything else from the Dark Knight.  The scene then shifts to the roof of the Gotham P.D., where we discover Commisioner Gordon has summoned Batman with the Bat-signal.  The two discuss the Joker’s latest murder spree and the condition of the little girl that Bats saved earlier.  It turns out that the girl is the niece of the freak in the skin mask that Joker murdered.  Gordon and Batman butt heads over Batman’s request to question her and Batman picks up a clue as to the Joker’s whereabouts and disappears into the night.  We’re then taken to the pharmacy that Gordon revealed was the Joker’s hideout.  Detective Harvey Bullock and his team have the building surrounded and are preparing to take the Joker in.  Surprise!  What they thought was the Joker is actually a life-size doll made up to look like our favorite clown and rigged with explosives.  Whoops.  Batman discovers the Joker skulking around the scene and boarding a commuter train.  A battle ensues on the roof of the train where the Joker surprisingly holds his own against the Caped Crusader before finally being taken down by our hero.  The Clown Prince of Crime is then remanded into the custody of a Dr. Arkham (presumably of Arkham Asylum).  Dr. Arkham and staff assume that the Joker is unconscious and leave him straightjacketed in his room/cell.  Just then a mysterious figure enters the room wielding a very sharp looking knife and begins discussing some previous arrangements.  The Joker refers to this person as “Dollmaker”.  After telling the Dollmaker to “get it over with”, we’re left with the gruesome image of the skin from Joker’s face pinned to the wall and the Dollmaker saying that, “Tonight, we will both celebrate our rebirth.”  End.  Wow.

OK, Tony S. Daniel (writer AND artist) has started this book out with one heck of a bang.  His artwork is pretty darn good.  His version of the Joker is fairly creepy, yet it has a nod to the classic depiction of the character.  His Batman looks like a cross between Frank Miller’s version and the Jim Lee version.  And that’s not a bad thing in my book!  And the story…I love it.  To me, this issue reads like a comic book version of a Christopher Nolan Batman movie.  The back and forth banter between Batman and Joker reminds me of the Christian Bale/Heath Ledger scenes in “The Dark Knight”.  Again, that’s not a bad thing!  Detective Comics #1 is a very good read and I definitely want to see where Daniel is going with this story!

5 out of 5 possible stars.

Green Arrow #1

This is a different type of Emerald Archer than the one we’ve been used to for the past forty years.  Our story opens with Oliver Queen multitasking, conducting a conference call board meeting and tracking a trio of villains, who get their superpowers from a type of drug,  through Paris.  With the aid of his support team back home (hacker Naomi and tech wiz Jax), Ollie follows the three villains to a nightclub.  The three baddies are Dynamix, a powerhouse type; Supercharge, with electrical powers; and Doppelganger, a female who grows extra arms and an extra face (at least that’s what it looks like to me).  These not-so-nice folks have been making a name for themselves by recording their misdeeds and posting them on Youtube.  Hey, they’re supervillains for the modern generation!  Just as these terrors are about to start wreaking havoc on the nightclub, Green Arrow comes crashing through the skylight (What is it with superheroes busting through windows and skylights?) and wades into battle against them with an array of trick arrows.  Sorry, no boxing glove arrow, but there is a nifty little arrow courtesy of Jax that GA shoots into the steering controls of the boat that the battle has moved to.  This little jewel allows Naomi to drive the boat from a remote location and get the fight away from innocent bystanders.  GA manages to take down Doppelganger with some weird disc that releases metal bands and entraps her.  He then uses some good old fashioned fisticuffs to knock Dynamix off the boat into the water.  Ollie literally puts him on ice with an arrow that freezes the water around him, pretty much locking the big dumb ox in place.  This leaves only Supercharge.  No trick arrows are necessary for this guy, as Ollie simply puts two well placed plain-Jane arrows into his palms and takes him out with a simple left hook.  The scene then shifts back to Q-Core headquarters in Seattle where Oliver has a discussion with the peaceful Jax on why force is necessary to bring in these types of crooks and why he needs Jax to design weapons for him against his objections.  We close out the issue in a jail cell in Paris, where Dynamix and Supercharge are in police custody.  Doppelganger has been taken to a lab to detoxify from the power-giving drugs.  The two superbaddies are shocked as the wall of their cell is destroyed, revealing an entire team of superbaddies who are there to break them out and kill Green Arrow.  Oh, and they plan on putting the murder of GA on Youtube.  Uh oh.

JT Krul and Dan Jurgens have done a pretty good job with this one.  The story is easy to follow, our hero is as smart-assed as ever and the concept of Youtube supervillains is a new one on me.  The art is delightfully old school.  I’ve probably mentioned here in the past that Dan Jurgens is one of my favorite comic artists ever.  Add in the fact that George Perez (another favorite) is the inker on this book and you’ve sold it to me on the artwork alone.  The only negatives I found with the book are the costume Green Arrow is wearing and the team of villains that is revealed at the end.  First, the costume is a definite nod to the costume GA wore in the television series, “Smallville”.  I didn’t exactly hate that costume, but I didn’t love it either.  I prefer the classic, Neal Adams version of Green Arrow, but this is the “new” DC so I understand the change.  As for the jailbreaking villains, well, they look like an evil version of Alpha Flight.  Look at the last page of the book and tell me you don’t see it.  Maybe it’s just me.  I don’t know.  But if that’s all I have to complain about, Krul and Jurgens have done their jobs.

4 out of 5 possible stars.

Justice League International #1

I wanted to love this book.  I really did.  I just couldn’t.

The story opens with United Nations head of intelligence; Andre Briggs lobbying a U.N. committee to form their own, U.N. sanctioned Justice League to restore confidence in the burgeoning superhero community.  We’re then shown a voting process in which Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Vixen, Rocket Red, August General in Iron (worst superhero name ever, by the way) , Guy Gardner and Godiva are voted onto the team; while Plastic Man, Green Arrow, Blue Beetle (the Jaime Reyes version) and Batman are voted down.  Unbeknownst to the committee, Briggs has already contacted the members who have been accepted and decided to form the team prior to receiving U.N. approval.  Meanwhile, in Peru, a U.N. research team is investigating a series of seismic disturbances.  They’re then sucked into the ground by what appears to be an earthquake, but turns out to be much, much more.  Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice (I’ve always wanted to say that!), a group of protesters have gathered to protest the U.N.’s use of the building while the team members begin to arrive.  Briggs appoints Booster Gold as the de facto field leader of the team which doesn’t sit well with Guy Gardner.  After a bit of bickering between Guy and pretty much the rest of the team, Guy decides that he’s out.  As he’s leaving via the rooftop, he encounters Batman who advises him to give Booster a chance.  Guy, being the hardheaded malcontent that he is, will have no parts of it and takes to the sky.  Back inside, the remaining team members prepare to embark for Peru to look for the missing research team.  They depart on a ship donated by Queen Industries when Booster discovers that none of his team is piloting the craft.  Who’s flying this rig?  It’s none other than Batman, who has become a stowaway in order to establish a connection between the two Leagues and give the shorthanded JLI a helping hand.  The team arrives in Peru; as back at the Hall of Justice, protesters have decided to firebomb the building.  Cut back to Peru and our heroes, where another quake occurs.  But this time, it’s more than a quake.  A whole pile of rock creatures emerge from the fissure to take on the League, only to be dispatched fairly easily.  But this isn’t over by a long shot!  Just when the JLI is getting their bearings, another quake erupts.  This time it isn’t rock creatures, but a giant Kirby-esque robot.  Whatever will our heroes do?

OK, I know it was probably unrealistic for me to expect this to be like the old Keith Giffen version of the JLI.  But I still had high hopes for it.  The major problem here is that there’s simply not enough action.  All of the action occurs in the last five pages of the book.  The rest of the story is all talk.  Maybe I expected too much, being that it’s the first issue and they had to cover the establishment of the new team and whatnot.  But I was still a little disappointed.  Dan Jurgens isn’t a bad writer.  Not at all.  But I was hoping for more from him.  If they aren’t going to bring a lot of action, they need to bring the characterization that Keith Giffen brought to the original.  Aaron Lopresti’s artwork is perfectly serviceable here.  It’s not Kevin McGuire, but there’s only one Kevin McGuire.  Hopefully, future issues will manage to combine the humor and characterization I expect and some decent action.

3 out of 5 possible stars.

(Source: thecultden.weebly.com)

Finally got my reviews of Detective Comics, Green Arrow and Justice League International done…can I have a cookie now?  Check them out at http://thecultden.weebly.com/ !

Fall is the best time of year.  That is all.

By William Bozard

2 (Very) Late Reviews of New 52 Issues

Better late than never, right?  I realize that the two comics I’m about to review have already been out for a week, and that you’ve probably already read countless reviews of them anyway.  But indulge me for a while, OK?  When you juggle a job, a wife, two kids, bills and about a hundred other things that require your attention and finances, sometimes you gotta put the luxury stuff on the back burner.  Anywho…you didn’t come here to read my ramblings about my personal life, so let’s get to some comics!

Action Comics #1

This ain’t your grandfather’s Superman.  Well, it actually kinda is.  Grant Morrison and Rags Morales take the Man of Steel back to his Siegel & Shuster roots in the relaunched Action Comics.  This is a Superman that, for starters, can’t fly (he can, however jump really far), a Superman that’s just a tad bit cocky, and a Superman that fights for the little guy (and gal).  There’s a nice nod to the original Action #1, in which a reference is made to Superman throwing a wife beater out of a window.  Can you imagine a Silver Age Kal-El doing something like that? 

Grant Morrison’s story moves at a nice quick pace.  We open with Superman scaring a confession out of dirty businessman, Glenmorgan, right in front of the Metropolis police.  This leads to a chase that showcases Superman’s invulnerability to bullets.  While all this is occurring, unbeknownst to Superman (and pretty much everyone else), the entire scene is being watched by none other than General Sam Lane and Lex Luthor.  Lex is intent on proving that Superman is a menace and has allied himself with the Army to do so.  They then turn their attention to a building scheduled for demolition.  A building that Lex himself scheduled for demolition in an effort to draw out Superman.  Naturally, Superman saves the day and evades capture by Luthor’s robo-copters.  After a brief interlude showing Supes’ home life as Clark Kent, we meet Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen.  Lois and Jimmy are hot on the trail of Gus “Guns” Grundig, the enforcer for Glenmorgan that Superman apprehended earlier.  They follow him onto a subway train that happens to have a couple of bombs on board.  Apparently, Lois and Jimmy are quite the thorns in Mr. Glenmorgan’s side and he’s ordered Grundig to “dispose” of them.  This of course leaves it up to the Man of Tomorrow to save his friends.  Oh, as a side note…Clark is Jimmy’s best friend but Lois can’t stand Clark.  Apparently, she resents him because he works for a competing newspaper (not the Daily Planet!).  Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled mayhem…the next few pages give us Superman’s attempt to stop the half-exploded, runaway subway train.  This is revealed to all be part of Luthor’s plan.  The last lines in the comic are Lex, saying to General Lane, “Behold.  I give you Superman.  Stay in touch.”  The last page reveals Superman pinned between the train and the Daily Planet building.  Talk about a cliffhanger!

I absolutely loved this issue.  Grant Morrison may be the best superhero writer currently in the field today.  Great plot, great (and different!) characterization, great dialogue.  And Rags Morales’ art does not disappoint.  I wasn’t a hundred percent in love with the costume that is featured in this comic when I first saw it.  But now, it’s growing on me.  It looks like something a “man of the people” type superhero would put together early in his career, especially if that superhero was also a Kansas farmboy.  The costume isn’t all I like…Rags’ facial expressions, his action sequences, everything…is fabulous. 

I give it 5 out of 5 possible stars.

Batgirl #1

I have to admit, this is the one relaunch issue I was most interested in.  Let me say that Gail Simone and Ardian Syaf did NOT disappoint me.  From page one, I was hooked.  Seems that some mysterious figure, named the Mirror is working his (or her, hard to say) down a list of people that apparently should be dead.  The first victim we see the Mirror go after is a survivor of a shipwreck in which all the other sailors perished.  The Mirror proceeds to ram a garden hose down the throat of this particular victim and drown him by continuously shooting water down his throat.  Man, that’s brutal!  Cut to Batgirl herself, swinging around Gotham city in pursuit of the Brisby Killers, a group of killers who dress in vintage kids’ Halloween costumes.  The Brisby Killers have broken into a family’s home and are threatening the lives of both the parents and the children.  Never fear, Batgirl busts in and makes short work of the murderers and is thanked profusely by the would-be victims for saving them.  We’re then treated to a flashback dream scene in which Barbara Gordon relives her shooting at the hands of the Joker, three years previous.  From the looks of things Babs is still haunted by the incident (as is her father, Police Commissioner Jim Gordon) but is trying to put it behind her and move on with her life.  This effort involves moving out of Commissioner Gordon’s home and into an apartment with a new roommate.  We’re then introduced to Barbara’s new roommate, Alysia.  After a nice bonding moment between the two, we cut to the hospital where Theodore Rankin, one of the Brisby Killers, is in police custody while receiving medical treatment for injuries sustained fighting Batgirl.  I hope you didn’t forget about the Mirror, because the Mirror hasn’t forgotten about Theo!  After killing one of Gotham’s finest and injuring another, the Mirror turns his attention to young Theo.  In the meantime, Barbara has secretly rerouted text messages her father receives from police headquarters and discovers what’s happening at the hospital.  She rushes into action as Batgirl, zooming across town on her motorcycle.  At this point we are treated to one of the most awesome scenes I’ve seen in a comic book in a while.  Batgirl drives the motorcycle into an elevator…and asks a frightened doctor to press the button for her floor as sweetly as you please!  Leave it to Gail Simone!  Batgirl then proceeds to Theodore’s room and discovers the dead cop and the Mirror.  When the Mirror points a gun at the exact spot where the Joker shot her, Batgirl freezes up and panics while the Mirror throws Theo out a fourteenth floor window, hospital bed and all!  At this point, the injured police woman, Mel McKenna, pulls her gun on Batgirl and chastises her for letting it happen.  We’re left hanging there as the issue ends.

I’m gonna say it again…Gail Simone writes Barbara Gordon like nobody else.  She gets the character like nobody else.  She doesn’t try to impress us with some improbable scientific explanation of how Barbara can walk again after being paralyzed for three years (it’s only referred to as a miracle), but she also doesn’t let us forget that Barbara was indeed disabled until recently.  Her characterization of Barbara is what keeps people coming back to the character.  She’s written as someone who is not only physically strong, but emotionally and mentally strong as well.  Gail succeeds with this where other writers would turn it into a parody.  Ardian Syaf’s pencils are tight, his action sequences flow nicely and his design of the Mirror character leaves me wondering just what’s under that cloak that keeps freaking people out.  That’s why I’ll keep coming back to this book.  I absolutely loved it. 

5 out of 5 possible stars.

That’s all for this time.  Tomorrow, I plan on some more reviews of stuff I picked up a week later than everyone else, so stay tuned!  Until then…peace, love and comics!

(Source: thecultden.weebly.com)