"The Dark Things" part 5, guest starring the Justice Society of America, by James Robinson (w) and Mark Bagley (p). A crossover event.
Rating: Skip it.
I'm not a negative reviewer. I'm really not. I don't have enough money to buy comics I don't like, so everything I review (from my pull list) is stuff that, by definition, I enjoy. I don't buy a lot of DC books, because my favorite DC characters (Superman, Batman) have too many books for me to follow on a regular basis. I buy Justice League because it has my favorite characters and is only one book. Crossover events, then, are not my favorites.
James Robinson is a wonderful writer. Everyone tells me so. Everyone tells me that his Justice League is going to be great, because he's a great writer.
The only two books in the last two years that I've bought and just not been able to read have been JLA 47 and JLA 48. I don't understand what's going on. I don't know who these people are. I don't know much of anything (besides what students have told me) about the white rings and their nature. I don't know what happened to Alan Scott to put him in this situation, and I don't know who these young people in the Justice Society are. Isn't the Justice Society WW2-era heroes who have gotten older? Or are still in the 1940's?
I just haven't really appreciated the Justice League much lately. I didn't like the Red Tornado stuff, and I like this even less. I got about halfway through this book and just started to turn pages. Mark Bagley is a great artist, and I've appreciated other stuff he's done (Thunderbolts and Ultimate Spider-man, in particular), but this isn't great work. It's TOO busy and complicated, and I couldn't follow the action without serious study... which I'm not going to do because I don't know what's happening or who the people are.
A critique that I've had in my professional life about modern, 20th and 21st century classical music: if you have to study it before you can appreciate it, you're significantly narrowing your potential audience appeal. Same thing, here. It's great that there's so much continuity and back story in this book. It's not for me, who isn't a huge DC reader and not a Justice Society reader at all.
If issues 49 and 50 continue this story, I'm not going to buy them. I'm a completionist in my collecting, but I don't have $3.99 per issue to waste on something I'm not going to read. It might be time to drop my last DC book until the Magnificent Seven come back to the JLA. Give me Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (one I know, natch), the Flash, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Gravel #20 - Spoilers!
"Last Days of the British Empire" by Warren Ellis (writing), Mike Wolfer (art), Juanmar (color) and others
Rating: Worth multiple reads.
I'm prejudiced, here. Warren Ellis is in my top 3 favorite authors; therefore, pretty much anything he writes goes into my pull box. (The other two? Peter David and Neil Gaiman.) I've been following this books since "Strange Kiss" and have greatly enjoyed William Gravel's evolution from black listed mercenary to King of Britain's Magicians.
This is the issue when It All Falls Apart. "Bible Jack" comes back with a vengeance, literally, knocking off the Minor Seven in less time than it took Gravel to do, back in the early parts of this story. Bible Jack takes aim at Gravel, attempting to destroy even person or thing that Gravel finds precious.
My only quibble with Gravel is that each issue feels too short. It's not; it's normal comics length. The style in this comic has the art telling the story as much as the words, which means that pages turn themselves quickly. This is a very visual book, much more so than a normal superhero book or a mystery book. With this story, I tend to read each issue two or three times, then put it away. When the individual story arcs are complete, I did the comics out and read the entire story from beginning to end.
(Episodic television? It would work quite nicely. I could see this as a BBC show, if they could somehow scrape up an adequate effects budget.)
The Minor Seven characters get two to three pages each to get destroyed, and most of that is the aforementioned visual stuff. The fight scenes don't have - and don't need - witty banter, threats, or bragging. They are quick, brutal, and violent - as I'd imagine real fights to be. Bible Jack does a masterful job at ending each person's life in an appropriate way, considering their individual magical powers.
I'm greatly looking forward to next issue's conclusion of this story. It's going to be a lot of fun, because Mr. Ellis did a wonderful job of setting up Bible Jack as being a disturbing, worthy adversary. Could the titular character be taken down? Perhaps...
Rating: Worth multiple reads.
I'm prejudiced, here. Warren Ellis is in my top 3 favorite authors; therefore, pretty much anything he writes goes into my pull box. (The other two? Peter David and Neil Gaiman.) I've been following this books since "Strange Kiss" and have greatly enjoyed William Gravel's evolution from black listed mercenary to King of Britain's Magicians.
This is the issue when It All Falls Apart. "Bible Jack" comes back with a vengeance, literally, knocking off the Minor Seven in less time than it took Gravel to do, back in the early parts of this story. Bible Jack takes aim at Gravel, attempting to destroy even person or thing that Gravel finds precious.
My only quibble with Gravel is that each issue feels too short. It's not; it's normal comics length. The style in this comic has the art telling the story as much as the words, which means that pages turn themselves quickly. This is a very visual book, much more so than a normal superhero book or a mystery book. With this story, I tend to read each issue two or three times, then put it away. When the individual story arcs are complete, I did the comics out and read the entire story from beginning to end.
(Episodic television? It would work quite nicely. I could see this as a BBC show, if they could somehow scrape up an adequate effects budget.)
The Minor Seven characters get two to three pages each to get destroyed, and most of that is the aforementioned visual stuff. The fight scenes don't have - and don't need - witty banter, threats, or bragging. They are quick, brutal, and violent - as I'd imagine real fights to be. Bible Jack does a masterful job at ending each person's life in an appropriate way, considering their individual magical powers.
I'm greatly looking forward to next issue's conclusion of this story. It's going to be a lot of fun, because Mr. Ellis did a wonderful job of setting up Bible Jack as being a disturbing, worthy adversary. Could the titular character be taken down? Perhaps...
Friday, August 27, 2010
Fantastic Four #582 - Spoilers!
"...Because of All These Things I've Done." by Jonathan Hickman (w), Neil Edwards (p), Scot Hanna (i), Paul Mounts (c), and others.
Rating: Worth Multiple Reads
The issue spends half of its time on "The One" - ish fight between Nathaniel Richards and Nathaniel Richards, and the other half of the time on the end of the world exposition by the Future Valeria Richards' conversation with Sue Richards while Franklin Richards - in an interesting twist - helps the winning Nathaniel ("with a boot to the face") avoid the revision wave by traveling through time to a random destination. Lots of great action, a wonderful lack of campy dialogue during the fight, and non-distracting exposition which advanced us into the next plot. Cool issue.
Here's what I liked: the art during the fight. Everything was suitably Kirby-esque in its futurism and techno-savvy. The suit of armor that Ben's wearing is very cool, and Reed's device looks suitably advanced yet cobbled together, in prime Action Science (to borrow from Atomic Robo) fashion. I'm not normally a big art person, but I enjoyed this one immensely. Kudos to Edwards, Hanna, Mounts, et al! I also liked the interplay between the dark room setting of the Valeria-Susan discussion with the outdoor park of the Franklin-Nathaniel conflict; visually compelling as well as plot-wise compelling, as the sudden shifts were shocking in a pleasant way.
Fantastic Four has been my favorite comic book for a long time, and issues like this are why: interesting character development and conflict combined with cosmic, time- and universe-spanning plots. What's not to love?
Rating: Worth Multiple Reads
The issue spends half of its time on "The One" - ish fight between Nathaniel Richards and Nathaniel Richards, and the other half of the time on the end of the world exposition by the Future Valeria Richards' conversation with Sue Richards while Franklin Richards - in an interesting twist - helps the winning Nathaniel ("with a boot to the face") avoid the revision wave by traveling through time to a random destination. Lots of great action, a wonderful lack of campy dialogue during the fight, and non-distracting exposition which advanced us into the next plot. Cool issue.
Here's what I liked: the art during the fight. Everything was suitably Kirby-esque in its futurism and techno-savvy. The suit of armor that Ben's wearing is very cool, and Reed's device looks suitably advanced yet cobbled together, in prime Action Science (to borrow from Atomic Robo) fashion. I'm not normally a big art person, but I enjoyed this one immensely. Kudos to Edwards, Hanna, Mounts, et al! I also liked the interplay between the dark room setting of the Valeria-Susan discussion with the outdoor park of the Franklin-Nathaniel conflict; visually compelling as well as plot-wise compelling, as the sudden shifts were shocking in a pleasant way.
Fantastic Four has been my favorite comic book for a long time, and issues like this are why: interesting character development and conflict combined with cosmic, time- and universe-spanning plots. What's not to love?
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