Runaways #28
I never really get tired of declaring that Whedon writes some of the very best dialogue and characterization of any person alive, mostly because I get proven right like every single day. Everyone gets a great moment here. Every single character has lots to do and does it well. Molly and Karolina with Whedon's Important Feminist Message of the month. Nico and her
ancestor...wow, parent issues don't even begin to describe it. Victor being a cheating ho with another cheating ho and yet it somehow manages to be charming. And people
still whining about Chase being too thinly-characterized or forgetting all about Gert or whatever can now officially unlax. He gets some of the best dialogue and scenes in this issue,
plus he gets to hit his girlfriend's mom with a wrench.
On a downside, the plot has completely reached the point of "hellish dragging." It's weird; maybe it's just because of the lateness, and by no means is this comic utilizing decompression, and
so much is happening here page by page, and yet it feels like we're not moving at all. I believe most of the problem is due to sheer size of cast...by the end of this issue, we have -- and I kid you not -- at least
twenty-two characters to keep track of in a total of six ongoing plots. Even if Joss manages to put the
least possible amount of action and characterization in a single panel, the story would still feel like a bloated whale. And, again, by no means is Joss even attempting to put the least amount of anything in any panel.
(8 out of 10)
Green Lantern #24
Okay, who the hell wrote this dialogue and what do I have to punch to get it retconned? I swear to your God, this is some of most stilted wording I've seen since Mark Millar decided he knew how to write teen slang. Every line is like a horrible nightmare of stilted exposition hell. And the whole method of getting Kyle free? Showing him the painting? What the fark? Hal just all of a sudden goes "wait guys we have to show him the painting he mentioned in passing
once ever" and John is like "Dayum dis sht is wack for sheezy, mama" 'cause he's black, right? And then Guy is like "A $%?#ing painting is going to save the day? Are you serious?" which is like the smartest, most coherent thing anyone has said in the issue and you know it's time to give up when
Guy Gardner is the smartest, most coherent thing in your book. And then all of a sudden it's just magically okay and Hal can Reach Out To Kyle 'cause he saw the painting of super mom love.
What? Suriously yo,
what?
There are things to like here. The storyline is so epic. The scope of it all is really rivetting and makes sense in its own way. The core Lanterns have been getting their asses kicked and now it's time for them to kick these people out of their house. The last two pages of the book totally,
totally deserves an "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!" tribute.
So why does Johns feel like he needs to cram in as much unnecessary fluff nonsense as he can? Kyle as Parallax was a horrible idea right from the start that didn't make a lot of sense and quickly gets shuffled off in a horrible way that doesn't make a lot of sense. Here's to hoping it gets forgotten as quickly as it can.
(6.1 out of 10)
Nova #7
This is how it should be
done. This is how you do a hero-possessed-breaks-free scenario. This is like a picture-perfect depiction of how you do it! Someone slap Geoff Johns with a copy of this or something, I'm so serious. Once we've gotten that out of the way -- again, in an entirely well-written, thoughtful, competent manner and not YAY MAGIC PAINTING TIME -- we have time for the spectacular explosions, action, and plot twists that this series has been known for. There are no easy way outs, the danger is still high, and we wouldn't want it any other way.
(8.7 out of 10)
Booster Gold #3
See, I look at the level of dialogue in GL, and then I look at the level of dialogue here, and then I remember that Johns has a co-writer here, and it all really just falls into place. Because this book is
awesome. Dripping from every pore and orifice with the fat squeezed from a pig of awesome, indigenous to the native jungles of Awesomeland.
Drunken Booster? Hilarity. Buffalo attack? Win. And the last three pages is probably the hardest I've laughed at any western comic in a good, good long while. Cosmic treadmill!
All that,
and Skeets rides a horse. I didn't even
notice that at first. How awesome is that? I'll tell you:
too awesome.
(9.7 out of 10)
X-Factor #24
Not a whole lot to say here, except that I still love every single character here (Monet!) and everything winds up in an appropriately badass manner. I didn't really find Huber to be a great villain, but he was tolerable enough. Looking forward to Messiah Complex with this title.
(7.7 out of 10)
Black Adam #3
Still badass. Still amazingly well-written. Black Adam politely hands Hawkman his ass and it is beautiful. We knew right from the outset who had the upper hand and the story doesn't disappoint. And then we see the whole of the League and Society revving up to take Adam down and get the message loud and clear: this is not a small matter. This is not a trifle miniseries about some corner of the DCU no one cares about. This is serious business with big consequences and if the prior two issues of this miniseries is any indication, the sht is about to take on the fan in a bloodsplattering deathmatch. I'm way onboard.
(8.4 out of 10)
Black Canary/Green Arrow #1
Sht on a horse, does
everything tie into Amazons Attack now?? I had to fight an unconscious muscle reflex to hurl the book back on the shelf.
But buy it I did. If only to show my approval of the first unequivocally "good" comic book issue that Judd Winick has written in a good long while. Waiting on Winick books has become something of a crapshoot as of late; it might suck outright, it might suck not so much, it might even be decent or acceptable, but it has not been
good for a good long while. Not the good that makes you go "Hey, I'm enjoying this. This is a comic book that I like and support."
Do I like and support this book? I think...probably. His depiction of Dinah is several steps above the crazy screeching banshee woman that she was during the wedding special. His Connor Hawke hasn't done anything to make me go
...yet. There are actual tangible funnies here (Batman with power saw? Victory). And the story is interesting enough to get into. And besides, this issue might finally hail the
end of Everyman, possibly one of the most overused plot devices in recent memory. Not as overused as, say,
Deathstroke, but he's high up there. I'm sure some people might survive having their brain taken out and played with, but I hope this guy is not one of them.
And Winick is just well-versed enough in the DCU to feel like he knows what he's doing with these characters as opposed to, oh, some other writers I could name. This is feeling like a big story with a lot of consequences to a lot of characters, and I'm just enough of a hopeful bastard to want to believe the best in this, the fact that Winick's slump in recent years was just that: a slump.
I do have to wonder, are there two Themysciras now or something? One where Hippolyta is just emoing alone, and one where Athena has taken all the crazy women? Is this just another instance of DC's right hand not knowing what the left is doing?
(7.2 out of 10)
Wonder Woman #13
I considered buying this too, but eventually decided against it. The thing is that nothing happens here; this is a blatant filler-issue and it shows. Not in the art, perhaps, which is inexplicably good, but in the narrative. Wonder Woman picks up the pieces of her life and ties up loose ends after the Shamazons war...which, wasn't that what happened in the
last issue, albeit ******edly?
And I realize that this is just my oversensitive liberalism at work, but the idea of Agent Prince fetching
lunch for Steel and Nemesis like some kind of secretary just strikes me as all kinds of "oh no you diiin't." I know it wasn't intentional, but I'm just saying.
On the plus side? From this and the Wonder Girl mini, we can pretty much conclude that Torres knows more about Wonder Woman continuity than pretty much any single person who's worked on any Wonder Woman-related material in the past
year (not counting Heinberg of course, because to suggest that he actually "worked" on any Wonder Woman-related material is an affront to the term.) and it shows. Unfortunately, it's kinda sad seeing him try to fit it into this post-AA world because it's literally like hammering a square peg into a round hole. For instance, he acknowledges that Wildcat and "Polly" used to be an item, which is a seriously
thing considering that he still has to acknowledge that "Polly" was a crazed man-hating btch the last we saw her. In the meantime, how did Diana even know that Hippolyta was back on Themyscira? I don't think Granny Goodness made a point of telling anyone that.
(6.8 out of 10)
Wonder Girl #2
And once more into the breach.
I stand by my claim from last issue that this is the single best Wonder Girl miniseries that could have been given to us at this time. Torres has a seriously good grasp of her history and her character and the story is relevant to both current DC continuity and her state of mind. Those are the things this has going for it.
The things that this mini has going
against it, on the other hand, are pretty bountiful as well; namely, that a lot of people (mostly me) might not
like current DC continuity, and that even more people might not even like Wonder Girl's current history and character. And the art probably doesn't help. I hope that people who at least liked Cassie before (and I know there are many of you) will give this a chance, but I can understand if her recent show of whiney incompetence has alienated a lot of people.
Other things of note? I really like her new armor costume, I'm hoping it sticks. And Cissie and Anita (you get a pig of awesome if you know who they are!) get a very brief appearance. Hey, like I said, Torres
really knows his Cassie continuity.
(7.3 out of 10)
