Reviews

Batman #664 — Writer: Grant Morrison; Penciller: Andy Kubert; Inker: Jesse Delperdang Morrison’s Wayne is a super-competent international playboy, instead of someone pretending to be a klutz, and that’s kind of fun. Nasty things are happening in Gotham, and Batman gets smacked around and there’s talk of “the black casebook,” apparently one of those shadowy Morrison conspiracy-of-the-weird things, and that’s it: the first chapter of a new story. Andy Kubert’s been a good match for Morrison; he’s good at standard superhero poses, but he’s just off-center and gritty enough to have a style. Look at that cover: it’s generic at … Continue reading →

Green Lantern #18 — Writer: Geoff Johns; Art: Daniel Acuna A piece of fluff: 16 pages to the main story, of which four are splashes. Lots of T&A, but all that happens is that Star Sapphire shows up, possesses Carol Ferris, and then decides to possess Hal’s new girlfriend instead. That’s it. The backup story introduces one of the villains in Sinestro’s new Yellow Lantern Corps, and is meant to show us what a badass he (it) is. It’s all prelude too. ( *sigh* This whole mega-huge Sinestro story’s going to to be nothing but a big, loud, overbearing maxi-series … Continue reading →

The Spirit #4 — Writer/Penciller: Darwyn Cooke; Inks: J. Bone Four issues, four solid hits: and this might be the best so far. I would not have bet that anyone could make The Spirit work in a modern setting, but Cooke makes it look easy. Reimagining Silk Satin as a CIA agent attached to homeland security works fine, and there are a lot of delights here — the double-page title splash; the coloring in the desert scenes (all washed-out yellow during the day, and dark blues and black at night); the use of Ebony; the twist in the introductory narrative; … Continue reading →

Ion #12 (of 12) — Writer: Ron Marz; Artist: Fernando Pasarin Um…what, exactly, was the point of this mini-series? Twelve issues of wheel-spinning: fights that didn’t go anywhere, relationships that didn’t go anywhere either, a death of yet another female close to the main character (leading to nothing but cheap angst), and plot developments with the Monitors and the Sinestro yellow rings that went unresolved — but hey, kids, buy the next GL mini-series and maybe then you’ll find out what’s going on! Geez, to think readers who shelled out $36 for this could have bought a Peanuts hardcover, or … Continue reading →

Spider-Man: Reign #4 (of 4) — Writer: Kaare Andrews; Artists: Andrews and Jose Villarrubia The finale’s actually the best issue of the series, with, finally, a few decent action scenes and some heroism (and no penises or radioactive bodily fluids). It has at least one cringe-worthy moment, though, as a nine-year-old street kid says “Let me tell you a thing about hope! Hope has three daughters: Anger at the state things have fallen into. Courage to fight to make things right. And the third daughter is truth,” a piece of dialogue that I’m pretty sure no one, in the history … Continue reading →