Silver Surfer: Requiem #4 (of 4) — Writer: J. Michael Straczynski; Artist: Esad Ribic
Who’s buying this book? Younger readers certainly won’t like it, since it’s all static, talky scenes in washed-out colors, with everyone talking about how noble Norrin Radd is as he lies dying on Zenn-La. Older readers will roll their eyes at the portentious tone, since they know that “deaths” like this never stick, and wonder why Galactus, who’s about as near-omnipotent as the Marvel Universe gets, can’t just redip the whiny bastard in the silvery-skin stuff, slap on an extra coat of rustproofing, and fix him up (answer: because then the Watcher wouldn’t get to quote Shakespeare and say things like “… but although I am the Watcher, and I see all things, I do not know all things”). This comic aches to be profound, but just ends up being silly.
Amazons Attack #6 (of 6) — Writer: Will Pfeiffer; Artist: Pete Woods
Diana and her mom and Circe have a big fight, and then the goddess Athena shows up and yells at them, and then they all stop, and the war’s over. Why doesn’t Athena hit the Cosmic Reset Button and fix all the pointless deaths and destruction they caused? Because Athena is really… no, no, I can’t bring myself to even type it; suffice it to say it’s one of the dumbest plot twists of the year (and this is a year, remember, that’s already given us Spider-Man: Reign and Captain Marvel: The Return). Seriously, pick up a copy of the book and look just at the last page, and see if your first reaction (assuming it’s not “Who the hell is that?”) isn’t laughter, as DC provides yet another mini-series that doesn’t offer a satisfying conclusion, but instead continues the company’s lame, zombie-like lurching toward Final Crisis.
Wonder Woman #12 — Writer: J. Torres; Artist: Paco Diaz; Inker: Vicente Cifuentes
Not as bad as Amazons Attack, and there’s some mild diversion in trying to keep things straight as Nemesis and Everyman, who both function as shapechangers, keep shifting identities. However, Diaz’s art is erratic — he has a good first-page splash, and a few other OK pages near the beginning, but then it degenerates into badly-drawn faces and layouts for the rest of the book. Too, when your main plot is “The Search for Sarge Steel,” and none of your readers care who or where Sarge Steel is, or whether he’s dead or alive, you’ve got a problem.
Teen Titans #50 — Writers: McKeever/Johns/Wolfman/Dezago; Pencillers: Green/McKone/Perez/Nauck; Inkers: Lanning & Hope/Alquiza/Perez/Stucker
An anniversary issue, with McKeever/Green doing the main story and the other creative teams adding a few pages each, as everyone stands around telling stories about Kid Flash/Impulse and angsting (of these, the four pages of Wolfman-Perez might tempt older fans the most). Otherwise we get a lot of jump-cuts setting up the next storyline, as a Mysterious Force gradually takes out the big heroes like Superman, Batman, etc. before coming for the kids. Oh, and the Titans/Blue Beetle fight with Lobo from this month’s Blue Beetle gets retold from the Titans’ perspective, for no real reason other than to pad out the issue. If any of this sounds like enough to justify the $3.99 Special Anniversary Price, be my guest.
Outsiders: Five of a Kind: Wonder Woman and Grace #1 — Writer: Marc Andreyko; Penciller: Cliff Richards; Inker: Art Thibert
The last of these preliminary books that were meant to set up the team for the new, improved Batman and the Outsiders launch. OK if you’re a Grace fan, but not particularly distinguished. To save you the time and expense, here’s the new lineup: Grace, Katana, Metamorpho and the Martian Manhunter (?!). Oh, and Batman, with a speech aboout how the world is going down the tubes and they’re going to have to save it, even though they’ll be hated for it. Whee.
52 Aftermath: The Four Horsemen #1 (of 6) — Writer: Keith Giffen; Pencils: Pat Oliffe; Inks: John Stanisci
An attempt to capitalize on the 52 brand, as Superman and Batman, in their civilian identities, go to Bialya (what’s left of it) and try to prevent the reforming of the Four Horsemen. Given the title of this series, and the fact that there are five issues to go, you can guess whether they succeed. OK — at least with Giffen writing it, it’s not stupid, and the dialogue’s good — but my tolerance for 52/Countdown/Crisis books is (as you can probably tell from some of the other reviews here) a tad low right now.
Countdown to Adventure #1 (of 8) — Writer: Adam Beechen; Pencils: Eddy Barrows; Inks: Julio Ferreira
See above, except that this follows the Adam Strange/Animal Man/Starfire plot threads from 52, and it’s going to be eight issues (at $3.99 each, too). The Buddy/Kory stuff isn’t bad, but the Adam Strange story takes up most of the book, and it involves the entire planet of Rann (except for Adam’s wife and kid) deciding that they want another Earthman, whom they’ve never seen before and who just kind of shows up, to be their protector, and that Adam should be kicked to the curb. Uh huh: It’s one of those Silver-Age plots that either requires everyone to be idiots to work, or involves the whole planet being mind-controlled. Either way, I think I can find a better use for $32.
Phil Mateer
