Rant over, time for the reviews. As always, expect full spoilers. Last one for Feb, and I won't miss that month a bit.
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 2/28/07:
52 WEEK #43: After a few weeks of non-stop thrills, and while still readable, 52 is dragging again. Maybe it is because the Marvels have already gotten a lot of focus, but many stories have already been resolved and there is a sense of some middling before the last act kicks into high gear. The Black Marvel's country is still in shambles and Osirus seeks out the Capt. Marvel family to help, but is talked down by Black Adam and Isis, only to revoke his powers. The biggest twist is that Sobek, suffering from endless hunger, eats him alive. Sobek being posessed by Famine is a good theory, but who knows. Meanwhile, Lady Styx is reborn and Animal Man finds a way to survive. Plastic Man also gets an origin, and I have to say that despite all the whining I did about some lame codenames for new Marvel heroes, names like "Speed" and "Stature" beat out Plas' kid, "OFFSPRING" any day. I mean, really, Offspring!? I know rubber heroes are tough to name, but the only way it could have been more stock would have been, "CHILD" or "YET ANOTHER TEEN TITAN" (shortened to "Yatt"). It seems like sometimes writers are lost for clues and just aimlessly scim a thesaurus and type what strikes them. "Gotta name a speedster...gotta name a speedster...hmm...how about FAST!" Ugh. To paraphrase a commerical, even a caveman could do it. To be fair, I guess "Superman", as Invincible put it, is kinda lazy, but even that has more pep than...OFFSPRING? Isn't that a band? Gads. Oh, and in some panels, Black Adam looks exactly like Namor, right down to the hair and eyebrows.
BLUE BEETLE #12: One of the rare new books that reaches the 1 year mark, in a way BB's strength is it's weakness. It offers fun, straightforward superhero adventures about a new hero trying to master his powers, his life and not die. Considering both companies obsessions with death and crossovers, this in itself may be a nice breather. But the problem is that this book offers almost nothing you haven't read elsewhere, and better, in books like INVINCIBLE or something. If you're not aboard now I see no major reason to give the book a try, unless you just yearn for more fundamental superhero stuff. That is not to say this is bad. In fact this issue, which evokes Jamie's dreaded origin again (he spent like 8 issues seeking it before), is pretty skippy. Good art, some quirky and sometimes funny banter between characters, and a slight cliffhanger as his alien race finally makes a visit, and he's off to save the world again. But there really is no solid "hook" beyond the generic beats. I enjoy this kind of thing, but I'd be foolish to call it terribly unique, even amung stuff like X-MEN: FIRST CLASS or something. In a file where you put good but unremarkable superhero comics, BLUE BEETLE has to be one of them. But I enjoy it. No hassles, no stress, fun lines and a quirky hero. I can be a simple man to please. I just don't pretend the book is more than it is. I could see it cancelled in 6 months and probably not miss it much, though. It's sales haven't been stellar, and I can see why. The market is just too full of both good and bad books that have more of an angle.
JLA CLASSIFIED #35: While on the topic of "random", you have to throw in this. However, JLA CLASSIFIED was never intended to be more than a second, less essential JLA title, and it does that job well. I can see part of why Marvel is whipping DC's tail, though. Marvel has few books like this anymore, every book either has a hook, and angle, or is propped up by crossovers. I may hate their dishonesty, but obviously DC's approach doesn't sell as well. Anyway, I was only on this book for Slott's 4TH PARALLEL story and after a good first chapter the other parts are a little more conveluted, corny, and twisted. It's not bad stuff, but compare it to GLA, THE THING or SHE-HULK and it just looks trite. The breakdown is interesting though; after Part 1, each issue has offered us a look at 1 of 3 tries Red King has to take over all of reality by beating the JLA. This issue also recaps it a bit, which I was greatful for. This time, there is no trickery, no facade or whatnot, in this reality Red King just fights the JLA and pummels the crap out of them with brute force, tech and cunning. His armor still screams "generic 90's design" and I hope the ending will be worth it. Some good moments, but even from a Slott fan, this isn't his best. In some ways though, Red King comes off as a "Mary Sue", Slott's creation that naturally has attained this godlike power and can outdo even Earth's Mightiest Heroes either with acting or power. But, this title was never meant to be essential, more like a JLA UNLIMITED only not an anthology of one-shots, so for that it works.
JUSTICE #10: After the pretty armor-up sequence last issue, the brawl begins between the JLA and the LOD. Okay, it happpened before, but it really kicks into high gear here with an outright assault. As always, the artwork is lovely and there are enough figures that you'll have to look over pages just to see what you missed. There is a 2 page latter about an Arab woman describing what it is like to live in the LOD city, even though last issue we learned that Brainaic is just turning everyone into organic machines, and is apparently controlling the entire LOD, save for Luthor. Out of all the characters here, and despite Green Arrow's narration, my "bad @$$ of the issue" has to go to Aquaman. He just goes nuts and gores both Parasite and Black Manta with his trident to try to get to his son, who is in the clutches of Brainiac. If only he was this bad-arse more often, all those "talk to fish" gags would end. Elongated Man also gets to look cool, "shadowing" Ollie and seeming sacrificing himself to stop Clayface, as GA uses some trickery to empower John Stewart past a brainwashed Supergirl. Basically the issue was very busy. Not the best but definately setting up some grand finish in the next two issues; even the Joker is set up. I'm wondering if Ross & Co. will go for the standard ending or wrap in more ethical and moral dilemmas, and if so this could easily be regarded as another KINGDOM COME in the future. In some ways, it was a shame JLU's last season didn't do this same thing with a simular cast.
FRESHMEN II #3: Much like ASTONISHING X-MEN, this book comes out so rarely it is hard to really get anticipated for it, even though it still is solid. Last issue focused on Green Thumb's attempt at suicide, and this one focuses on the male Drama Twin, as he breaks up with his abusive ex for good (with whom he needs contact to use their TK powers) and attempts to hook up with Puppeteer, the only person in his life who has connected to him. Much as with the Quaker issue last volume, Hugh Sterbakov really takes a character who up until now was a stereotype trucked out for laughs (the dumb hick/jock of the team) and really makes him sympathetic. Unfortunately for them, they are attacked by weird cyborg brutes and then set upon by Mr. Fiddlesticks, the thing that is haunting Scarlet Knight but who is very real. Squirrel & Beaver get in some cute advice to Wannabe for his date, although his galpal is SO much of a fanboy's wet dream that despite her cute dialogue you either know it is all a ruse or are bewildered at the lack of imagination. I am choosing the former because despite the low press and Seth Green, FRESHMEN has actually been solid stuff. If it's going to become a movie, I've seen a lot worse. Sterbakov mixes humor with darkness with an ease that few master. Hopefully he moves onto bigger name comics. I probably won't see another issue until April or so, but I'm still aboard. Conrad's art is actually decent enough that I don't miss Leonard Kirk...much.
FRONTLINE #11: Tying up some loose ends from CIVIL WAR #7, it benefits, as it always has, from Jenkins being a more cerebral and subtle writer than Millar is. Millar, as he said in an interview, is basically trying to appease his inner 10 year old. Other writers, like Jenkins, to some degree have grown up into men. This is a well written issue, amung the best of the series as Urich and Floyd interview both Cap and Stark and hammer down their motives for the war and in a way showcase how neither side is innocent. Most of it makes some sense. But combined it reaffirms why CIVIL WAR in a way was unsatisfying; both sides were right, and both were wrong, and both went about it in morally ambiguous ways. Cap became a semi terrorist thug out of touch with common Americans, and Stark sacrificed friendships and lives to achieve a greater good, not unlike, say, Magneto. But an ending of "everyone is bad!" doesn't leave one feeling terribly good. Oh, it's plenty "real" and all, just not satisfying. It's not Nova ripping out Annihilus' guts-satisfying. It's not Dr. Strange-saves-Wong satisfying (more later). It is just draining. I've had a year of this kind of bleak nihilism and it seems it'll be at least another few months of the aftermath, or Initiative. At least with the war over and the status quo apparently agreed upon, maybe the aftermath will be less crude as the war was. I still was irked that despite everything Sally Floyd seems to have no respect for Cap, which even if he made a bad mistake isn't justified. It also confirms that 6 superheroes died in the final battle (and of course, 47 innocent civilians), although who they were hasn't been stated. FL #10 had Typeface be one shown casualty, and ASM noted that Triathalon was MIA, but aside for that, nada. So, CW is over and in a way everyone lost. How wonderful. I'd love to read that again and again....only I'm not a masochist freak like Speedball is now. Hopefully 2007 bares more fruit from the scortched Earth.
To Be Continued
