Batman Confidential #8 — Writer: Michael Green; Penciller: Denys Cowan; Inker: John Floyd
This is the second of a multi-part story involving Batman against The Guy Who Will Eventually Become The Joker, and it also, unfortunately, is one boring comic. Batman fails to stop crimes. Batman talks to Officer Gordon. Batman beats up thugs, trying to get information. Batman — well, Bruce Wayne — sleeps with the spunky girl you’ve never heard of, which means she’s gonna die next issue. Nothing actually happens. Oh, and the art isn’t by Denys Cowan version A, who’s careful and competent and a good storyteller, but by Denys Cowan version B, who phones it in and fills panels with close-ups of scratchy faces with eyes and noses that don’t look anywhere human. Bad story, bad art, bad idea all around.
Punisher War Journal #10 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Admit it — the idea of the Punisher as Captain America intrigued you, right? Too bad it didn’t actually happen here, as instead we got a confusing multi-part story that jumped around in time, mostly involved Frank getting beat up or forced to do unpleasant things, featured the death of the only likeable supporting character, never had any big payoff Captain America moments, and was generally depressing and uninspired. Fraction’s not a bad writer (and I did like the irony in Clarke’s speech at the end about how only someone who was already a monster inside would have been influenced by the Nazi hate machine, as Frank just kind of sat there and stared), but I like his stand-alone, tongue-partly-in-cheek Punisher stories a lot better than this momentum-killing attempt at writing for the trades.
Ghost Rider # 14 — Writer: Daniel Way; Breakdowns: Javier Saltares; Finishes: Mark Texiera
This is all about GR getting a bright idea about how to solve his demon problem — but it’s never quite clear what the idea is. Is that deliberate? (I mean, is it just me? Am I missing something obvious, like suddenly now his chain kills them quicker?) This whole issue is padding — lots of demons get dispatched in various ways, and there’s a subplot with rogue angels or something, but to me if the story starts with the main character saying “I have a great idea,” and by the end of the issue we still don’t know what that idea was, then what, exactly, are we doing here?
Black Adam #1 — Writer: Peter J. Tomasi; Penciller: Doug Mahnke; Inkers: Christian Alamy and Norm Rapmund
The art’s OK; Mahnke’s one of those fringe guys who who ought to be better known (he’s got a distinctive, sometimes startling style, especially with faces — look at that final panel). The story suffers by being set in the past — it’s telling us parts B-C of the character’s story when we already know Parts A and D — and the whole Lazerus Pit thing is confusing, in an obsessive-fannish way (wait — they work like that? Since when?), but it has its moments, too; it’s at least worth paging through.
Ant-Man #11 (of 12) — Writer: Robert Kirkman; Penciler: Phil Hester; Inker: Ande Parks
Eric, captured by Shield, gets pulled aside for a little interrogation by Mitch, who’s kind of psychotic about the whole you-melted-half-my-face-off thing. Will he be killed? Will he, after getting tortured for a while, be rescued, lie his ass off about everything, and come out OK? You can read the book to find out, but either way, there’s only next issue to wrap things up before cancellation.
Why cancellation? Because Eric, as the cover blurb informs us, really is unlikeable, and something of a loser; there were only a few moments during this title’s run when he showed the con-artist’s joy in transgression, the Bugs Bunny smirk at putting one over on a sucker, that might have made him an intriguing character. With only a little over 15,000 people a month buying this book, the audience has shrunk faster than the character, and that’s all you really need to know about why Marvel’s pulled the plug on it.
Omega Flight #5 (of 5) — Writer: Michael Avon Oeming; Artist: Scott Kolins
Lots of punching in this conclusion, although it’s not very cathartic — maybe because it’s so by-the-numbers, as we get the “Fight the evil that’s possessed you — only you can save yourself!” speech, followed by the “I could kill you, but then I’d be just as much of a monster as you!” one, followed by the noble sacrifice of the hero who didn’t much fit in with the others anyway. The art isn’t terrible, but it hasn’t been able to carry the book, either — as with a disturbing number of books lately, the lack of solid inking, and the murky coloring, make everything too hard to read. This comic just doesn’t repay the effort it takes to get through it.
Outsiders: Five of a Kind: Katana and Shazam #1 — Writer: Mike W. Barr; Penciller: Kevin Sharpe; Inker: Robin Riggs
The good news is that Mike W. Barr, who wrote the original Batman and the Outsiders/Outsiders books back in the ’80s, is doing the script, and so Katana, in her creator’s hands, acts and sounds better than just Generic Ninja Girl. Fans of the current DC version of Captain Marvel (the one where he’s sort of like the wizard Shazam now, not the cooler Jeff Smith one) are going to be disappointed; he’s only on stage for four pages, and it’s obvious he’s not a serious candidate for the group, but instead to provide a shazam ex machina. As a Katana solo story, it’s OK — and if you’ve read and enjoyed those Barr/Jim Aparo ’80s Outsiders, might even be worth picking up, for nostalgia’s sake.
