Comic Mini-Reviews Week of December 7th, 2011

Action Comics #4 – Few comics have encapsulated their own inherent flaws so completely as Action Comics #4. With this issue, Grant Morrison's Superman story is joined by a Sholly Fisch penned backup feature starring John Henry Irons, a.k.a. Steel. Aside from an editorial note that served to draw attention to an awkward storytelling choice that would have been glossed over otherwise, the two scripts are adequate. Yet, the Steel story was drawn by Brad Walker, whose sheer competence put Rags Morales to shame. I realize that this is Rags' fourth issue in a row and Walker has literally had months to prepare, but it exaggerated the lackluster art that Morrison's Action Comics has been saddled with. On the writing side of things, the series has been solid but not spectacular. As always, I have faith Morrison is taking this in a particular direction that will pay off.

Animal Man #4 – Every month, it seems that Animal Man and Swamp Thing leapfrog each other for the top spot of the DCnU quality list. Really, their only competition is the stellar Wonder Woman series and Batman and Batwoman vying for a distant fourth. This month, it was Animal Man's turn to take the number one position as Jeff Lemire continues to freak me the hell out. I really hope that Travel Foreman is either mentally resilient or has a good therapist because drawing the creepy stuff from Lemire's head must be a frightening task. I said last month that I thought Animal Man and Swamp Thing were headed for a crossover, and I am even more certain of it now since Alec Holland is mentioned within the pages of issue four.

Defenders #1 – It's difficult to not compare Defenders with Justice League Dark thanks to a somewhat similar team agenda. Thankfully, the rosters of the teams in question are quite different. Different, also, it seems, are the writers desired styles. Matt Fraction takes on a much more traditional comic book narrative style than we have seen from Milligan's JLD. Yet, there are still hints of Fraction's deeper stylistic choices. In last week's podcast, I mentioned that there are little notes written at the bottom of the issue's pages that were almost more fun to search for than the issues actual plot. As usual, the Dodson's art is nice and smooth, giving all of the characters a particular charm.

StormWatch #4 – Before the Relaunch, I was certain that StormWatch was going to be one of the best books of the New 52. While it has improved monthly, it has never reached that potential. With news that Paul Cornell will be replaced by Paul Jenkins as scripter, I doubt I will continue to pick this series up. For now, the story is fine but underwhelming, and the art is kind of mushy. We finally get to see Midnighter and Apollo flex some muscles, but few of the other characters really make an impact, emotionally or otherwise. I used the term “mushy” to describe the art, but it actually fits the entire book. The mass of uninteresting and ill-defined characters and the meandering plot make for a disappointing read.

Swamp Thing #4 – It is no coincidence that Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Action Comics and StormWatch are released in the first week of each month. I am fairly certain that when DC was making the schedule they wanted to really wow readers with some of their strongest (on paper, at least) new titles. Thankfully, this strategy has worked pretty well, so far. Swamp Thing and Animal Man are two of the best and Action Comics is perfectly adequate—meaning that three of the four are essentially successes. Marco Ruby does an admirable job filling in for Yannick Paquette this month. Scott Snyder continues to wind a narrative that mixes the old canon with new to strong effect.