A little behind on comics week, but it was a small one.
Nightwing #91: Yet another stellar issue. The wonderful Dick/Wally dynamic isn't exploited nearly enough as it should be (granted, Wally had been MIA for a while), and this issue only goes to show why it should be a more regular occurrence. One wonders how this will be affected during and after Dark Crisis, which I'm actually very sort of interested in reading.
Flash #781: EASILY the best issue of the week and a welcome return after the temporary intrusion of a crossover event last issue. It was great to see Jeremy Adams embrace the oft-reviled Wallace West into the Flash family with the expert nonchalance I've come to expect from him. I truly do hope that we get Bart, Jay and Max back in this book though. There's also something laugh-out-loud wonderful about Wally always removing small, but essential, pieces of tech from Legion of Doom hideouts wherever he finds them.
World's Finest #2. I was a little unsure about how to react to this series based on the first issue, but with the second, I'm in. It's zany in the best of ways, and Waid's dialogue is razor sharp. While I'd still like to see Waid tackle the current Superman rather than this earlier-days Superman, this is still the book to get no-fuss classic Superman stories that have no real bearing on anything going on throughout the rest of the publishing line and I think we need more of that.
The Good Asian #10: The final issue of this maxi-series came out this week and now I can finally read the whole thing. I stopped reading around issue 3 because the story has a lot of moving parts that were hard to track month to month. The book also suffered some serious delays which only justified my decision to wait. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint because it got off to a great start.
I could not agree more. Admittedly, the A-list names aren’t as strong as they have been in the past. Superman isn’t at the strength that it was under Tomasi, Action is better. Williamson is doing very well with Batman and Mariko Tamaki has been solid with Detective but neither of those have hit a “classic” arc or run.
But all of those have been solid. And wow, when you look at Nightwing and Flash, these are all time great runs. I’m an enormous Mark Waid fan. And I love Geoff Johns. But neither of their runs on The Flash have even come close to having the heart and sheer enjoyment factor that Adams has brought to this title. And Tom Taylor’s Nightwing has been nothing short of phenomenal. These titles have been a celebration of everything wonderful about the characters. With our cynical and ugly world right now, these two titles alone have been just what the doctor ordered. And then add in Waid’s triumphant return with World’s Finest, and I really don’t see room for any negativity in the DC world right now.
I think a lot of fans are blinded by nostalgia, bias and addiction. As we've all been saying, Nightwing and The Flash have been phenomenal under the Infinite Frontier banner. On top of that, Action Comics has a story that outranks most Superman stories since Rebirth. I'd even argue that Kelly Sue DeConnick's Rebirth-era Aquaman run was great and now DeConnick is giving us, however slowly, probably THE definitive Wonder Woman origin story. The Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen maxi-series were especially great. World's Finest is of course wonderful and I'm very excited Waid's Superman project with Hitch on art. John Stewart is getting a big push and Teen Lantern is along for the ride.
And Chip Zdarksy and Ram V are doing wonders with small Batman stories and new and invigorating Swamp Thing revamp.
As gimmicky as it is, Dark Crisis seems to be set up specifically to celebrate the new guard, be it the classic Titans or the 5G carry-overs. His other work may be questionable but Naomi is selling like hot cakes and is an interesting new character (and no one gives Bendis enough props for using Bart and bringing back Conner Kent, as well as for bringing back Amethyst and Warlord!).
Tom King is Tom King and I'm grateful for that.
We're past Heroes in Crisis. DC is working out of the wreckage of the Didio era. The talent involved with DC now may not be as big as it was in the past, but there's an excitement and refreshing vibe to every book being put out, and the future looks solid too. For the first time in a long time, I'll be reading both Batman and Detective Comics when Zdarsky and Ram V take over.
If you can't get excited by that, I honestly don't know what to tell you.
