Comic Mini-Reviews Week of November 23rd, 2011

All Star Western #3 – After a spectacular first issue and a solid second issue, All Star seems to have settled comfortably into the realm somewhere between good and great. Jonah Hex and Jeremiah Arkham continue to make for a fascinating odd couple. In issue one, Arkham's insight into Hex's mind was a perfect introduction to the character, unfortunately issues two and three gave way mostly to violence with little introspection. Still, All Star Western is one of the better books in the New 52. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's historic Gotham city is a great playground for Hex, it will be interesting to see how long the pair keeps him there. Of course, Moritat's art continues to be the true star of the series. There is something about his that imbues All Star with a near perfect atmosphere. Moritat's Hex, of course, is ugly as sin on a Sunday while the barmaids of old Gotham are buxom and beautiful. The backup starring El Diablo is fine, but it is nowhere near the quality of the main story.

Aquaman #3 – If this series feels familiar—it should. Geoff Johns is employing many of the same strategies he used in his runs on books like Green Lantern and the Flash to expand the Aquaman mythos. Based on his previous works (and Aquaman so far), it is obvious that Johns likes to do use flashbacks quite a bit—specifically ones involving parents. Accordingly, in issue three, we get a health dose of Aquaman's relationship with his father. This was alluded to in issue one, but here we actually see it. Johns employs another of his favorite back-story expanding tricks with the introduction of a mysterious, and formerly unknown, character named Stephen Shin. A perfectly adequate issue with great art.

The Flash #3 – Speaking of art, The Flash is one of DC's best looking books. Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato turn in a solid, well written, and well conceived script that is helped mightily by the duos own art. When it comes to DC's artist-written books, The Flash is second only to Batwoman in overall quality. As I have said before, I have no problem with artists branching out into writing gigs. In fact, it has brought the comic industry some great writers. Yet, DC's New 52 has had very mixed results with artists in the role of writers. The opening action set-piece is one of the most fun Flash moments I have read in a while. Every once in a while, a book will explore just how powerful the Flash's abilities make him—usually with fun results.

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #3 – There has been a bit of a revolving door at the various color-coded Corps over the last few years. There is just something about humans that they all seem to love. All four of the Earth Green Lanterns have wielded one of the different rings or been possessed by the major spirits behind their powers in the last few years. Now, in New Guardians issue three we see the ultimate culmination of the Rainbow Corps' hard-on for earthmen—Kyle Rayner wears all of the rings. That's right, he caught them all...pokemon. Thankfully, this excess of finger jewelry only lasts momentarily and we are treated to the first appearance of the Orange Lanterns in New Guardians. This series has been solid from the get-go, ranking somewhere near the bottom of the second tier of New 52 books, and this issue does little to improve or diminish that standing.

Justice League Dark #3 – Peter Milligan is doing a solid job balancing the cast of characters—giving them all a time to shine and contribute to the unraveling story. Even with three months to acclimate, it is still kind of strange seeing so many denizens of Vertigo back in the regular DCU, but so far it seems to be working. One of the biggest failings of team books is an inability to match the threat to the team, but Milligan's JLD has a threat that only characters like Zatanna, Constantine, and Deadman could hope to combat. Also, Justice League Dark makes for an interesting counter point to Justice League—both books have spent the first three issues building the teams rosters, but the former is much more successful than the latter. Perhaps it is because Milligan is juggling the entire team in every issue while Johns is slowly introducing a new character in each issue. For my money, JLD is a much better book.

Wolverine and the X-men #2 – Issue two was not quite as fun as issue one, but the series still has quite a bit going for it. Between Jason Aaron's scripting and Chris Bachalo's pencils, Wolverine and the X-men has an energy unlike anything else I am currently reading. Based on my limited knowledge of X-men lore, it seems that this series is a great starting point for new readers, but also brings enough continuity to the table to make current readers happy. For me, the ending was of particular excitement because I recently read Grant Morrison's run on New X-men and one of his creations is situated to save the day.