Final Crisis #6 (of 7) — Writer: Grant Morrison; Art: JG Jones, Carlos Pacheco, Doug Mahnke, Marco Rudy, Christian Alamy and Jesus Merino Well, you can’t accuse Morrison of scrimping on the action: between Superman and Brainiac-5 accessing the Miracle Machine in the future, the two Atoms scouting out alternate universes, Black Canary and the resistance fighters on the JLA satellite, the Flashes, Checkmate, the Green Lanterns… all those heroes, all working independently, almost make the reader feel sorry for Darkseid even before his final confrontation with Batman (and, by the way, has that Omega-beam thing ever actually taken someone … Continue reading →

Faces of Evil: Prometheus #1 — Writer: Sterling Gates; Art: Federico Dallocchio Green Arrow and Black Canary #16 — Writer: Andrew Kreisberg; Penciller: Mike Norton; Inker: Josef Rubinstein Action Comics #873 — Writer: Geoff Johns; Artists: Pete Woods, Renato Guedes and Wilson Magalhaes All of these titles are part of DC’s “Faces of Evil” month, which means the cover features the villain of the book, with his/her name scrawled over the regular logo, against a jet-black background. Kind of cool in theory — and the whole series would look impressive all mounted on a wall — but in execution it’s… … Continue reading →

Amazing Spiderman #583 — (Main story): Writer: Mark Waid;  Pencils: Barry Kitson;  Inks: Mark Farmer;  (Obama story): Writer: Zeb Wells;  Artist: Todd Nauck First of all, thank God for Mark Waid: his story, a slice-of-life look at Peter Parker told from the point of view of Betty Brant, is sophisticated, charming and deeply human, reminiscent of one of Kurt Busiek’s Astro City stories. Kitson’s and Farmer’s art isn’t flashy, but it’s clear and doesn’t get in the way, and for a quieter story like this that’s just fine. The story’s also self-contained (although a few subplots get thrown in), so … Continue reading →

The Boys #26 — Writer: Garth Ennis;  Artist: John Higgins Between Ennis’s propensity for the grossout, and his gleeful skewering of pop culture (this current Boys arc involves a satire of the X-Men mashed up with a tribute to Animal House), it’s easy to forget just how good a writer he can be, too; he seems here to be setting up a crisscrossing skein of mistaken motivations worthy of the Coen Brothers.  Whether the two young lovers at the heart of his story end up in a tragedy or a comedy is still unsettled, but the very fact that he … Continue reading →