Action #872 — Writer: Geoff Johns; Artist: Pete Woods
Comic math: Action plus The Creature Commandoes and Ultraa the Multi-Alien (all found in Brainiac’s ship, but don’t ask) plus New Krypton (really don’t ask) minus Gary Franks’s humanizing and luminous art all equals I’m not buying this any more.
Green Arrow and Black Canary #15 — Writer: Andrew Kreisberg; Penciller: Mike Norton; Inker: Josef Rubenstein
New guy Kreisberg gets off a nice framing device, but also falls into the new-guy trap of wanting to summarize the character’s life and immediately try to hammer on What Makes Him Unique, which leaves little time for an actual story. Meh, but he shows signs that he might be able to get something going within a few issues; he’s worth checking back on.
Superman/Batman #54 — Writer: Michael Green and Mike Johnson; Pencils: Rags Morales; Inks: John Dell
We’re in the middle of a “Supes’s powers get switched to Bats accidentally” arc. OK, I guess, although it’s all pretty standard stuff — Bruce threatens to be overwhelmed by the global responsibility; Clark goes rushing off down the wrong dark alley. If there’s a reason to buy it, it’s the Morales art — sometimes the figures are off anatomically, but it’s always true to its own style, and never the kind of smooth cookie-cutter sameness that lesser artists fall back on.
Ythaq: The Forbidden World Book One #1 (of 3) — Writer: Christophe Arleston; Artist: Adrien Floch
Standard European Heavy Metalesque alien-world fantasy sf, enlivened by the smooth, open art (although it needs to open up more; most of the pages are crammed with panels, with only one after-thought splash to show what Floch is capable of on a larger scale). Nothing we haven’t seen before, but smoothly done; with a satisfying chunk of story, but for $6.00, it’s not quite interesting enough.
Wolverine: Flies to a Spider #1 (of 1) — Writer: Gregg Hurwitz; Penciler: Jerome Opena; Inkers: jerome Opena and John Lucas
If someone commissioned you to do a standard Wolverine story, you’d probably open it in a seedy bar, establish its denizens as lowlifes, and then let Logan show up to whup ’em (in an edgy “adult” version, he’d ram pool cues through their throats, and pop his claws through their ears into their brains). Of course, you’d have the evil power-broker scumbag overlords of the local community send minions to defeat him, but he’d eventually blow all of them up real good. You’d probably even be able to end it with something grim but poignant, like “Her name was Ruthie Jordan.” Then, you could wait to see what the hardcore, buy-anything-halfway-competent contingent of Wolverine fans amounted to, because they’d be your readers for this book.
Time Management for Anarchists #1 — Writer: Jim Munroe; Art: Marc Ngui
To quote the intro: “In a timeshifted Toronto, Emma Goldman is paying the rent as a graphic designer… just a few cubicles away from likeminded historic radical Mikhail Bakunin“; later, Darren O’Donnell shows up. If those names mean anything to you,. then you’re the target audience for this comic. It’s clever, and the art, although semi-pro, sometimes manages a certain quiet mangafied humanity (the last panel, particularly), but it’s hampered by the way nothing really happens; it’s all setup and no payoff, more the concept for a story than an actual satisfying one-issue narrative. Bears watching, though.
Titans #8 — Writer: Judd Winick; Pencils: Howard Porter; Inks: Wayne Faucher and Prentis Rollins
Jericho’ s back, he’s a bad guy (apparently), his powers have been enhanced, and now it’s a game of hide-in-the-Titan. Porter’s art is its standard OK-but-nothing-special set of superhero poses, and the plot depends on a mild cheat, but this is about your average modern comic. That may be nothing special, but it’s not completely sucking, either, and that’s an encouraging step up for this title.
Phil Mateer
