Flash: Rebirth #4 (of 6) — Writer: Geoff Johns; Art: Ethan Van Sciver
Green Lantern #45 — Writer: Geoff Johns; Pencils: Doug Mahnke; Inks: Christian Alamy, Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen
Two by Johns this week, both characters that he has a history with (almost five years now with GL, and better than ten with the Flashes). This is the first issue of Rebirth that’s really popped; adding the old-school Professor Zoom to the mix raises the stakes, and both the story and Van Sciver’s art seem more confident, hitting many of the right fannish buttons with assurance and dramatic sparkle.
Green Lantern is, of course, continuing the Blackest Night crossover event; it’s mostly the purple Star Sapphires vs. the yellow Sinestro Corps, although a number of other plates are spinning busily in the air too. Nothing gets resolved, of course (we’ve got another five months of this to go), but the action and soap opera keep bubbling merrily along.
Boneyard #28 — Writer/Artist: Richard Moore
This is the final issue of Moore’s horror-creature comedy (and it’s… what? A year late?), and there’s an editorial by him explaining that, much as he’d like to, sales just won’t let him continue it. Too bad (and a sad indictment of the current comics market) that his blend of fantasy drama, humor and romance couldn’t sustain an audience (while, judging from one of the ads in the back, his softcore porn books do all right). At least he ends the series on a high note, leaving his characters ready for further adventures and giving fans of the Abbey/Michael relationship something to be happy about.
Batman: The Widening Gyre #1 (of 6) — Writer: Kevin Smith; Penciller: Walter Flanagan; Inker: Art Thibert
Batman and Robin #3 — Writer: Grant Morrison; Art: Frank Quitely
Detective Comics #856 — (Batwoman story/22 pgs.) — Writer: Greg Rucka; Art: J. H. Williams III; (Question story/8 pgs.) — Writer: Greg Rucka; Art: Culley Hamner
Lots of batbooks this week, and all of them have something to offer: Gyre is probably the least of the three, but still readable; Smith knows how to use dialogue effectively, and is an expert at pushing any number of fanboy buttons (ranging from Etrigan the Demon’s dietary choices to a nude Poison Ivy’s speculations about Batman’s, um, oral expertise), and Flanagan’s elaborate, busy art is good at both the horror and the cheesecake effects.
Batman and Robin ends its first arc, and continues to be wonderful (how next issue’s substitution of Philip Tan for Quitely will affect the proceedings is anyone’s guess, though). The bizarre villains, the prickly relationship between the title characters, and the easy, just-right characterization and action sequences all make this an easy book to recommend.
So too with Detective, where Williams’s astonishingly-smooth design and artistic chops continue to be the main attraction, and Rucka seems to have upped his game accordingly, with clearer action and more assured writing to match his collaborator’s talents (even the backup Question story crackles and pops, cramming a lot of hardboiled fun into its eight pages). From fights with werewolves to women dancing in tuxedos, it all looks and feels great (and here’s a shoutout to Dave Stewart’s coloring, which knows exactly when to come on strong and when to lean back, and offers a perfect enhancement to the already-gorgeous art).
Dark Avengers #8 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Penciler: Luke Ross; Inkers: Rick Magyar, Mark Pennington and Luke Ross
New Avengers #56 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Penciler: Stuart Immonen; Inker: Wade von Grawbadger
DA is the penultimate chapter of Fraction’s Utopia crossover, and offers tons of characters: both Avengers and X-men, old, new, dark and light, all interacting in a smoothly-constructed plot that knows how to keep building and building to stop just this short of an explosive climax, and bring readers back for the wrapup in Avengers/X-Men: Exodus in a week or two. There’s nothing here we haven’t seen before, but when this kind of bangup fight is done well, who cares?
NA continues a similar cast-of-dozens storyline, with Bendis using badguy inventor Jonas Harrow to introduce workable (and, apparently, universally-effective) power dampeners into the Marvel Universe. I’m not sure what I think about this development — it’s obviously taken from Bendis’s Powers book (although, if you’re going to steal an idea, it’s no crime to do it from yourself), but their logic and workability as a plot device in the larger, more varied Marvel world doesn’t seem very clear. It certainly ups the ante in the current fight, though, and changes the balance of power between all the characters enormously (and just the fact that I’m spending all this time thinking about it shows how good Bendis is at sucking readers into his fictional creations, so it’s probably best to stop complaining and just keep reading…).
Justice Society of America #30 — Writers: Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham; Art: Jesus Merino
Second issue for the writing team, and they continue to inject some welcome real-world based strategy and arguments into the spandex-covered proceedings, and handle their huge cast with skill. Whether it’ll all come together into a satisfying arc is still unclear, but I’m willing to play along for now and see what happens next.
Stuff I read and liked enough to buy, but don’t have much to say about, so read previous reviews in the archives if you’re interested:
Usagi Yojimbo #122 — Writer/Artist: Stan Sakai
Herogasm #4 (of 6) — Writer: Garth Ennis; Pencils: John McRea with Keith Burns; Inks: Keith Burns with John McRea
Madame Xanadu #14 — Writer: Matt Wagner; Art: Michael Kaluta
Phil Mateer
