Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #73 | All About Books and Comics

All-Star Superman #11 (of 12) — Writer: Grant Morrison; Penciller: Frank Quitely; Inks/Colors: Jamie Grant
It’s Grant Morrison week at DC, and this one is, by far, the best comic. He and Quitely operate at an almost-psychic level, art and story meshing seamlessly, reinforcing one another and creating an effortless sense of wonder; everything works, from the Luthor-gets-the-electric-chair opening to Superman’s cleaning of the Sun-Eater’s stable to Luthor’s niece, Nasthalthia’s, calculated response to the lures of old media, and it’s a joy to read.

Final Crisis #1 (of 7) — Writer: Grant Morrison; Art: J. G. Jones
Since the first panel features Anthro, will the last page of issue #7 have Zauriel? That’s just the kind of playful alphabetical meta-planning you’d expect from Morrison — and yet, not everything works here; this lacks the confident, smooth efficiency that makes All-Star Superman a great comic. It’s not the fault of the art — Jones’s compositions and character renderings are always pretty, and sometimes use detail to stunning effect — but despite the quality things feel a little… off. It doesn’t make a satisfying read by itself. Why do the JLA have to be told about who Orion is, since he was a member back when Morrison was writing it? Why don’t some other events mesh very well with recent DC history? Is it all some subtle clue, or just a function of first-issue syndrome, covering so much so quickly while dealing with two years of reader anticipation? Was it worth $3.99, and will the next six be worth $3.99 too? Tune in, hang on, and hope….

Batman #677 — Writer: Grant Morrison; Penciller: Tony Daniel; Inker: Sandu Florea
This aims the lowest of the three titles, but achieves its goal: the invocation of dread, of the paranoia that the universe is inside-out, arrayed against Bruce Wayne/us and about to pounce. There’s an issue of Marvel Premiere, from 1972, where Marvel are trying to revive Dr. Strange, and the Stan Lee/Barry Smith story there hits the same note. Cool enough, but the next few issues couldn’t sustain the tone, and it all went to hell, but then a few issues later Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner made it really good, so you never can tell, is what I guess I’m saying. So, let’s see how this one works out, but if (possible spoiler warning after the jump) it turns out to be the girlfriend in on it, let alone Noble Doctor Thomas Wayne (Good Lord, did Hush teach them nothing? Don’t screw with the saintly Mom-and-Dad archetype, you fools!), it’s going to be disappointing.

Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1 — Writer: Joss Whedon; Artist: John Cassaday
This suffers from lateness (and its attendant increased expectations), and from a resolution that, OK, hits all the right emotional chords but also uses a “Gee, that was a convenient development for the bad guys, wasn’t it?” plot patch and is very Buffy-like in the way it sacrifices its heroine. A better reviewer than I will have to scrounge together the whole thing and see how good a story it makes when it’s all read in one sitting.

New Avengers #41 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Artist: Billy Tan
A real-time series of developments in the Savage Land, and it’s getting hard to keep the players straight (wait — is that the fake Spidey? No, he’s making a crack about the other one’s ’70s fashion sense; but then isn’t that what the fake one would say, too, after ripping off his webbing? And what kind of Skrull would volunteer to take on Spidey’s life and personality, anyway? Aieee…).

Gotham After Midnight #1 (of 12) — Writer: Steve Niles; Art: Kelley Jones
Niles and Jones on Batman, for those of you who would appreciate that sort of thing. The only sticking point is that 12 issues seems like overkill (what, four or five issues collected into a small trade weren’t enough to contain the awesome story?). Worth keeping an eye on, though, especially because of each creator’s past association with Batman; try finding issues of Niles’s Gotham County Line, or Jones’s Haunted Gotham, in All About’s Batman mini-series backstock if you like their styles.

1985 #1 (of 6) — Writer: Mark Millar; Art: Tommy Lee Edwards
A classic set-up: what if the twelve-year-old fan you were, back when Secret Wars first came out and seemed like the coolest thing on the planet, had to deal with real Marvel villains bleeding through to your world? Kind of charming Spielbergian fun so far, although with Millar you never know if it won’t turn into the poor kid’s whole world being reduced to ash or some other horrible thing….

Stuff I bought and liked, but don’t have anything new to say about, so read previous reviews in the archives if you want to know:

Speak of the Devil #6 (of 6) — Writer/Artist: Gilbert Hernandez

Legion of Super-Heroes #42 — Writer: Jim Shooter; Penciller: Francis Manapul; Inker: Livesay

X-Men: Legacy #212 — Writer: Mike Carey; Penciler: Scot Eaton; Inkers: John Dell and Andrew Hennessy

Fables #73 — Writer: Bill Willingham; Penciller: Mark Buckingham; Inkers: Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy and Mark Buckingham

Daredevil #107 — Writers: Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka; Artists: Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano

Ultimate Spider-Man #122 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Penciler: Stuart Immonen; Inker: Wade von Grawbadger

Usagi Yojimbo #112 — Writer/Artist: Stan Sakai

Phil Mateer

We still have half a million
back issue comics to sell so
Email your want list
Alan@AllAboutComics.com

Archives

Topics

Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #73

About Phil

Newsletter

Facebook

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

We still have half a million back issue comics to sell so Email your want list Alan@AllAboutComics.com