Genius #1 — Writers: Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman; Art: Afua Richardson
Interesting premise — one of the greatest military/strategic minds in history turns out to belong to a young girl in south-central LA, who doesn’t like cops and decides to do something about it. The ebonics-flavored dialect walks a tightrope, but the writers are smart enough to acknowledge that, and it’s phonetically close enough that it never quite falls over the edge into offense. The painted-looking art isn’t bad, either; it’s equally good at both the human/expressive stuff and the action scenes, and Richardon knows how to set up a page to tell a clear story. Out of all of Top Cow’s “Pilot Season” books, this shows the most potential.
Sparks #1 — Writer: Chris Folino; Art: J. M. Ringuet
No potential here — this is semi-pro work, below average in both art and story, cliche-ridden and boring. The only diversion comes from the editorial material — Catastrophic Comics’ founder, William Katt, played the lead in the TV show The Greatest American Hero 30 years ago, and seems to think that gives him an in with comics fans; to milk that connection, he’s plastered his name and picture all over the book, like some latter-day, low-rent Stan Lee. The joke is in the disconnect between the hype and the reality, and in the way the company name, born of ego, is unintentionally descriptive of the contents. It’s worth a laugh and a roll of the eyes, but definitely not any of your hard-earned comics money.
Superman/Batman #49 — Writers: Michael Green and Mike Johnson; Penciller: Shane Davis; Inker: Matt Banning
Boy, this turned out stupid. Any story about S/B trying to rid the world of kryptonite has some built-in pitfalls, and this manages to stumble into every one of them. Stir in the really-bad characterization (the women, especially Lana Lang and Amanda Waller, are handled particularly badly), the wonky-even-for-DC science, the sense that none of this is even remotely close to being in continuity,and the deus ex nanites resolution, and you have an utter waste of time (this is one of those comics series you all should thank me for reading so you didn’t have to).
Teen Titans: Year One #5 (of 6) — Writer: Amy Wolfram; Pencils: Karl Kerschl; Inks: Serge Lapointe
This works pretty well as a YA title, especially for girls — there’s Wonder Girl’s dating angst, Bart and Aqualad’s younger-brother riffs, and enough superhero action to keep things moving. Whether it’ll ever reach its target audience is a good question, since that group doesn’t encounter American superheroes that much (they’re reading comics, but it’s all manga), so if you’re related to, or friends with, any tweener girls, point this out to them.
Fantastic Four: Secret Invasion #2 (of 3) — Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; Pencils: Barry Kitson; Inks: Mick Gray, Scott Hanna and Barry Kitson
If you have fond memories of the Tom DeFalco-era FF, this might be for you — it features Lyja, the Skrull Johnny was married to for a while, as the Baxter Building, Ben, Johnny and the kids have all been transferred to the Negative Zone to get them out of the way. I never liked that run much (and was mildly surprised to find that it’s even considered in continuity), but it’s presented smoothly enough here, and Aguirre-Sacasa has some experience at writing the FF. It helps that it’s only three issues, too; points for not trying to stretch it out to six just to fill a trade edition.
Ghost Rider #24 — Writer: Jason Aaron; Artist: Tan Eng Huat
Having covered motorcycle and psycho-killer movies, Aaron moves to prison flicks; he reminds me of Daniel Way, in that he’s able to craft some good individual B-movie moments with the characters; Huat’s art is both as quirky and as murky as Clayton Crain’s was, although it’s not quite as suited to the character. The overall result isn’t bad, but it’s curiously insubstantial, and so doesn’t quite make the cut.
Phil Mateer
