Blackest Night: Tales of the Corp #1 — Writers: Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi; Artists: Jerry Ordway, Chris Samnee, Rags Morales
Stand-alone tales of the Blue, Yellow and Indigo Lanterns (that last one a deliberately enigmatic introduction, with all the dialogue in untranslated alienspeak), with a full-page spread of the major players in each, and a double-page spread of the GLC at the end. Not essential if you’re buying Blackest Night, but not bad, especially for new fans trying to keep track of everyone — and the art, especially from Ordway and Morales, is solid.
Escape #3 (of 6) — Writer: Ivan Brandon; Pencils: Marco Rudy; Inkers: Mick Gray, Jack Purcell and JP Mayer
Recipe for reader apathy: Take a bunch of obscure characters (Peacemaker, Amanda Waller, Cameron Chase, Nemesis, etc., etc.), and then assign an equally-obscure creative team to put them through a Prisoner-like set of mind games; that gives us creators we don’t know talking about people we don’t recognize going through things we can’t understand, all to no particular effect. I know everyone’s backstory, and I don’t care; imagine the casual reader’s reaction to this, and you can see why this book is just sitting on the stands, lonely and unbought.
Punisher #7 — Writer: Rick Remender; Art: Tan Eng Huat
Remender’s a member of what I think of as the Geoff Johns school; he knows continuity, strip-mines it for material, and has a B-movie sensibility that tries to present at least three or four high-concept scenes or effects in each issue (Jason Aarons, Matt Fraction and Daniel Way have similar approaches). Handled with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek attitude, this can offer low-calorie fun, and the current story, involving a group of resurrected C-list villains trying to convince themselves that they’ve been upgraded to player status, comes pretty close.
Deadpool #12 — Writer: Daniel Way; Penciler: Paco Medina; Inker: Juan Vlasco
In which the Bullseye/Deadpool feud ends by anticlimax, leading to an anti-anticlimax of a last page that just leaves a bad taste. Hey, Marvel and DC: yes, those B-movie shocks are all the rage, but do you really think it’s a good idea to keep adding graphic full-page splashes of characters blowing their brains out to your books? How are you going to justify that when some depressed kid does it for real, with one of those comics open to one of those pages on his desk? Sensationalism is easy, and cheap by definition, but it can be awfully expensive when the consequences pile up and the press comes calling….
Batman: Streets of Gotham #2 — Writer: Paul Dini; Penciller: Dustin Nguyen; Inker: Derek Fridolfsl; (Manhunter backup) — Writer: Georges Jeanty; Penciller: Dexter Vines; Inker: Nick Filardi
I still think that Paul Dini + Hush = Bad Comics, and Dr. Thomas Eliot’s appearance in this issue does nothing to change my mind. To be fair, I’ve never read a successful story with this character; his superpower seems to involve dropping the IQ of his writers, so that they create these long, involved schemes for him that only work because the heroes act like idiots. Also, not to go all fanboy picky, but would Morrison’s Damian, raised the way he was, really use a phrase like “We’re screwed”?
Walking Dead #63 — Writer: Robert Kirkman; Art: Charlie Adlard
A typical installment of comics’ most long-running zombie title; I’ve never quite warmed to it enough to keep it, but I like reading it every month and knowing what’s going on with the characters, so it’s obviously got some narrative pull. I’m mentioning it here because it’s also a flip book, with a full reprint of Chew #1, so if you missed the first two printings of that, and still want to see what all the fuss is about….
Titans #15 — Writer: J. T. Krul; Penciller: Jose Luis; Inker: JP Mayer
Actually a Tempest story, designed to get the character on the throne of Atlantis in time for Blackest Night and (presumably) the attack of Zombie Aquaman. Disposable, although there’s a short scene with Dick Grayson that’s OK, and the art offers a couple of nice underwater panels.
Phil Mateer
