Reviews

Omega The Unknown #10 (of 10) — Writer: Jonathan Lethem;  Art: Farel Dalrymple Don’t pick up this final installment of the series as your first issue; all but two panels are wordless, and it’s all aftermath, the explosion that ended last issue having fried the brain (and the hearing?) of the title character, but left him alive. You won’t understand why the little omega symbols in the salt show that the good guys have won, or be able to figure out what happens to each of the protagonists, or know whether to find the hobo Hollywood Squares at the end … Continue reading →

Final Crisis: Rogue’s Revenge #1 (of 3) — Writer: Geoff Johns;  Artist: Scott Kolins This isn’t bad, but it’s basically an issue of the old Johns-Kolins Flash series, with the old-school Rogues against the newer, more bloodthirsty ones, and no actual Flashes in sight.  Johns’s intimate, by-now-instinctive knowledge of the characters, and Kolins’s detailed art, make it readable, but it feels more like an echo of past good stories than a self-contained new one, and the connection to Final Crisis is tenuous;  you get the feeling you could skip all of this, and the bigger mini-series would roll right along, … Continue reading →

Powers #29 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis;  Art: MichaelAvon Oeming This title has been embedded in a long, frequently-delayed story for what seems like years now, but it’s finally moving toward its conclusion, and this issue provides a number of satisfying payoffs (along with an annoying, and literal, deus ex machina save toward the end). Despite super-powers and lots of flash and thunder, its appeal is in the strong, complicated core relationship between Christian and Deena; that’s intact, fortunately, and reason enough to keep reading the book. Captain America: White #0 (of 6) — Writer: Jeph Loeb;  Art: Tim Sale … Continue reading →

Final Crisis: Requiem — Writer: Peter J. Tomasi;  Pencils: Doug Mahnke;  Inks: Christian Alamy and Rodney Ramos “Requiem” is apparently Latin for “bait and switch,” since DC has packaged this Martian Manhunter tribute exactly like the Final Crisis main books (with “Final Crisis” in huge letters and “Requiem” in tiny, easy-to-miss ones), so that many fans will pick it up thinking they’re buying the next installment of Morrison and Jones, only to end up with Tomasi and Mahnke instead. That’s unfair to those creators, who’ve done the best they can with this thankless assignment involving a character that (a) no … Continue reading →

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #1 — Writer/Artist: Mike Kunkel Surprisingly good — Kunkel’s open, expressive, cartoony style suits a Johnny DC title like this, and he’s using most of the Jeff Smith setup from last year’s Shazam mini-series, so the foundation is solid, with Billy, Mary and the return of Adam (who, in this version, has a pre-teen alter-ego just like Billy, and can’t remember his magic word… yet). Of all the established super-heroes, Captain Marvel’s probably the most kid-friendly, going all the way back to his origins (well, yeah, Plastic Man, too), so it’ll be interesting … Continue reading →