This week: The Vampire apocalypse gets postponed, Daredevil is back to where he started, and the Flash is kind of a jumble.
All Star Western #8 – Ever since the
series moved away from Gotham and to New Orleans, it's felt more
engaging. Partly, this is due to the fact that the series is finally
doing what it seemed to be designed to do—team Jonah Hex up with
DC's other western properties. New Orleans is a city that rarely
gets explored in the DCU, so it's nice to shine a spotlight on it for
a few issues. The writing by Justin Grey and Jimmy Palmiotti
continues to be crisp, while the art by Moritat continues to wow.
There's just something about his work that stands out.
Aquaman #8 – After the mini-outrage
of Aquaman #7, we're treated to another brand new female character.
Thankfully, this one doesn't die in the first scene. In this issue
it is revealed that, at some point in the last five years, Aquaman
formed his own superhero team. Not content with packing an insane
amount of continuity into Batman and Green Lantern's New 52
backstory, apparently DC feels even more stuff needs to be jam-packed
into what must have been the most hectic half decade ever. Anyways,
Geoff Johns' Aquaman scripting has finally gotten past the “Aquaman
is so cool and relevant” stage from earlier issues and Ivan Ries
and Joe Prado show why they are two of the best in the industry.
Captain America #10 – Ed Brubaker's
run on Captain America is one of the legendary tenures in the modern
era and, though I have not read all of it, what I have read is very,
very good. This version of Captain America is obviously a departure
inspired by more traditional superheroics, allowing him to focus on
super-espionage with Winter Soldier. It's been fun, but tonally it's quite different. The art by Alan Davis, Mark Farmer and
Laura Martin gives the book a classic feel without looking dated.
Also, the current storyline has so many guest stars it almost feels
like a team book—with Falcon and Hawkeye sharing the spotlight with
Cap. Captain America is a solid book with good art, but I will be
interested to see how Brubaker attempts to tie this series into the
greater Captain mythos that he has been crafting.
Daredevil #11 – The conclusion to the
Megacrime crossover has arrived! After starting strongly in Avenging
Spider-man, the story dipped a little in Punisher and ended kind of
disappointingly in Daredevil. The crossover was hyped as a major
milestone in the ongoing Daredevil storyline but ended with
absolutely zero resolution. While that is just one of the perils of
serialized storytelling, it was a bit of a disappointment because it
felt like the events of the crossover had been completely pointless.
While life may often be pointless, I would argue that it's not great
storytelling for a character to be in the same position he was in
before the story began. Despite this, Daredevil issue eleven's
characterizations were solid and the art was strong. An OK issue, I
just wanted more meaning out of the mini-event.
The Flash #8 – So, Flash gets sucked
into the Speed Force where he meets a guy who has been trapped there
for sixty years. A guy, who for no apparent reason, calls himself
Turbine. I'm not sure why he would concoct a supervillain name for
himself while trapped in another dimension but, hey, who am I to
argue with a deranged octogenarian with superpowers? From the
beginning Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato's art has been the
true star of The Flash. As solid as the first few issues were, I am
beginning to think the wheels are kind of coming off of the
storytelling. Maybe it was due to the nature of the Speed Force
dimension but the story kind of felt like a jumble of concepts and
action that never really built to anything. Despite these problems,
the book gets a bit of a pass because it's one of the best looking
series in the New 52.
Green Lantern: New Guardians #8 – New
Guardians is a strange animal. Going into the New 52, the premise of
the series seemed to hold little promise. Even eight issues in, I
would not call it good. I am pretty sure I would not even compare it
to the paragon of middle-of-the-road-solidness that is Bird of Prey.
New Guardians is silly and uninspired but there's just something
about it that makes it fun. My theory is that Tony Bedard's
commitment to the somewhat goofy premise comes with a heaping
spoonful of “doesn't take itself too seriously.” Sure, things
happen that could be perceived as serious but the rainbow of
characters keeps the book from coming anywhere near feeling grave.
In many respects, New Guardians has been more successful than Green
Lantern Corp because its fun to read. In contrast, Pete Tomasi's GLC
has been a boring slog where all the emotional notes misfire.
Justice League Dark #8/I,Vampire #8 –
Crossovers can be a funny thing. While the four part JLD/I,Vampire
mini-apocalypse had some pretty promising moments, it really didn't
feel like much of a crossover at all. I mean, the cast of Justice
League Dark was present but they didn't really do anything. The
extent of their participation was to get beaten up by vampires, talk
to two incorporeal beings, aaaaand kind of just mill about in the
background. In fact, the story is resolved when the two incorporeal
beings get together on their own to solve the problem. I want to like
Justice League Dark more than I do but it just hasn't lived up, so
far. Perhaps things will pick up when Jeff Lemire takes over next
month. On the other hand, the two issues of I,Vampire have moved the
series up near the top of my “collected volumes I want to check
out” list.
Spaceman #6 – What can I say about
Spaceman that I haven't already said? Brian Azzarello and Eduardo
Risso's distopian tale about space exploration, reality TV, societal
breakdown, and kidnapping is still one of the best books on the
stands. As the main plot unfolds, the duo doles out just enough of
Orson's time in space to make things interesting. The humanity that
Azzarello and Risso infuse characters with is incredible when you
consider just how much information is being given to you in each
issue. The world and context in which Spaceman exists is so rich
that it can be hard to believe that only six issues have been
published.
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