Comic Mini-Reviews Week of January 25th, 2012

This week, Jonah Hex and Doctor Arkham go spelunking, Batman makes a weird tactical choice, and reverse-scubas suits!



All Star Western #5 – I know of no other way to describe All Star Western than solid but unspectacular. Dr. Arkham and Jonah Hex continue their Bestest Buddies adventures by encountering the native-American batpeople from Grant Morrison's Return of Bruce Wayne comic. Moritat's art continues to be the real star of the book, really giving itt a stylized flair that would be sorely lacking without him. As much as I have claimed that I like the pairing of Arkham and Hex, I am ready for more of DC's western characters to enter the book. The backup features have been fine, but I want some shoot'em-up Hex team'em-ups.

Aquaman #5 – Ok...ok...everyone shhhhh...I think it's passed. Wait, wait...ok. It's gone, it's over! It looks like we've finally escaped the first storyline of Johns' Aquaman, which hopefully means that series is no longer going to constantly point out how awesome Aquaman is. Look, I was on board for an issue...maybe two...of blatant Aquaman electioneering, but, man, a whole story arc? Issue five carries the series into a new storyline involving a mysterious Atlantean message and commandos wearing reverse-scuba suits. I am hoping that Johns is kind of like a crepe pan--the first crepe/story is a dud and then the subsequent story-crepes are better...aaaand now I'm thinking that metaphor doesn't really make sense, but I'm sticking to it anyways! Sticking to it like the first crepe of the day...dammit, not again.

Flash #5 - After exceeding expectations for four issues, Flash stumbles to the finish line in issue number five. It wasn't bad, but there's very little resolution and the major action set-piece doesn't really make much sense.  However, it sets up the next story arc with an interesting twist, so I guess that's OK. The art is still the main draw (pun unintended) of this book. Manapul and Buccellato make the Flash one of the most dynamic looking characters in the New 52.

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #5 - There's quite a bit to be said for a good old-fashioned super hero comic.  GL:NG isn't the cream of the New 52, but it's a fun series that takes the color coded corps to its inevitable extreme. Tony Bedard seems to be having fun with the premise and the characters provide plenty of internal struggles. It's not a great book--heck, it's not even the best Green Lantern book--but it's fun.  Also, I love the Kyle Rayner and Glomulus pairing.

Justice League #5 – What the hell? I haven't been an apologist for Geoff John's and Jim Lee's Justice League. With every issue I searched for any glimmer of hope that would shine a light on what the the creative duo had planned, but (and it's a big but) issue 5 has me baffled. As the crap is hitting the fan and Darkseid is establishing a beachhead on earth, Batman reveals his identity to Green Lantern by taking off his cowl in the middle of the rubble strewn city. Look, this isn't about fanboy angst, this is about logic. What kind of sense does it make for Batman to do that? Through four issues he has watched Green Lantern be an idiot. Does he really think that dropping his secret identity to the loose cannon space cop is a good idea? More importantly, from a storytelling angle, what is the point of such a reveal? It tells us nothing about the characters involved or the situation they are in. In fact, the only real character moment in the entire issue is when we see Batman rush headlong solo into Darkseid's defenses. I just don't understand what they are going for with Justice League. Is it supposed to be a dumbed-down version for new readers? Do they actually think it stands on it's own as a “good” book? I am desperate for the next storyline, just to see if this weirdness continues.

Justice League Dark #5 – This issue was the final part of the book's first story arc. As I've said in the past, I like that the team came together in an organic way. Following that line of logic, I like the revelation that their coming together was actually the machinations of Madame Xanadu. Upon learning this, the team predictably breaks up the band. It's a fitting arc for JLD, which has so many dysfunctional characters in it that it could double as a superhero team and a support group. I look forward to the next storyarc and I am very intrigued to see what Xanadu saw that would bring her to clandestinely maneuver DC's magical characters into a team.

Legion: Secret Origin #4 – There's something endearing about the mess that is Legion: Secret Origin. Perhaps it's my love for the Legionnaires or Bautista's calmly stylized art. Heck, it could even be the overly complicated, roundabout way that Paul Levitz is reshaping the Legion's first adventure. Something about Secret Origin's lovingly disjointed sturm und drang mirrors the bright-eyed naivety of the current incarnation of the Legion of Superheroes. Levitz is putting the adorably out-of-date Legion into a “deeper” story in much the same way those futuristic children have dressed up in spandex to fight deadly threats. It's not that the Legion cannot be seen through this lens. As a fictional group they have a much longer history of fighting such enemies that most other comic characters, but “Superman's Legion”, the one originally created in the 1950s, continues to feel like a product of that time. DC's recent determination to use that Legion over the more updated Mark Waid Threeboot Legion from the middle of the last decade is fascinating. Even in the trappings of the New 52 and the Digital Comics age, the current Legion feels almost quaint. Perhaps that is a purposeful choice. After all, that would certainly call back to nearly sixty years of the team's existence. While I wont be picking up the other two Legion books anytime soon, I'll stick with Secret Origin and enjoy the chaotic but endearing show they put on.