Largely a week of disappointments.
- Last Days of Lex Luther #3. I read the whole story in one sitting. The conclusion left me fairly cold. While I can somewhat appreciate the nods to the silver age zaniness and Birthright, I found the whole thing to be pretty underwhelming. The philosophical challenge of Superman wanting to save Luther has some merit, but the ultimate twist of the story feels a bit like a cop-out and lacks any of the emotional resonance such a story needs to really make an impact. The IDEA of the conclusion is appropriate and very much in-character. The execution just felt too distant to land solidly. On top of that, I really don't like Hutch's artwork. Whatever dynamic he once had back in the 90s and early 2000s has been replaced by a lifeless, "dead eye" look that not even master Kevin Nowlan can save. Ultimately, if you threw this down at the poker table, I'd see you and raise a certain two-part Alan Moore story that would compel you to fold with shame.
- Finally got around to Absolute Green Lantern #1. Not a fan. It feels like one half of a part one and not in any shape or form was it good enough to justify that. I really can't stand comics that fashion themselves as TV pilots. I hate it even more when first issues fashion themselves as TV pilots that conclude at the first commercial break. Ewing is usually an interesting writer and I'm morbidly curious to see how he handles the lore but the artwork is not good at all. I think I'll be going digital with this one.
- Absolute Flash #2. More of the same. It's too protracted to keep my attention. For a book about a guy who runs really fast, the pacing here is glacial. Solid artwork but I don't have much interest in buying the book for a story that's taking it's time even getting started. To the digital read list.
- Even New Gods #5 suffers roughly the same issue. The New Genesis stuff has been interesting. As has the Mister Miracle & Barda stuff on earth but the earth bound stuff is moving in Dragon Ball Z time. Even so, this is still one of the better books on the stands.
- Flash #20. Not even sure why I'm reading this book at this point. It feels like DC told Spurrier to tone down the esoteric weirdness and tell a superhero story, and the demand all but sucked the wind out of Spurrier's sails. The artwork is C-Level. The story is meandering and boring, and way too long.
- Absolute Wonder Woman #7 was fantastic. The artwork continues to be beautiful, as does the story. Continue as normal.
- Wonder Woman #20. King delivers the goods. The first half of a 2-part murder mystery sees Bruce and Diana investigate the apparent murder of Ares by Hypolyta of all people. We get a rather quick but poignant examination of Bruce and Diana's friendship, in a page that might be one of King's best. For those looking to replace those two iffy issues of King's Batman run, I suspect this and #21 will do the trick.
- Absolute Martian Manhunter #2. This book is everything I wanted from the Absolute line. It works likely because the Martian Manhunter really has no proper grounding in the DCU like the other characters: no definitive origin told ad nauseam. No rogues gallery. No evergreen classic stories. MM just has the Ostrander/Mandrake run that DC has foolishly kept uncollected and incomplete, and JLI which portrays a very specific aspect of the character. Absolute MM feels like a Vertigo book of old. A ground up reimagining of a character so as to almost be a new character. The echos of Shade The Changing Man are strong in this book. It's trippy and weird and well written.
I think what Absolute MM does, for better or worse, is reveal the limited shelf life of this entire line. The Flash feels like mainline Flash with a glossy makeover. The surface level details may be different but everything else feels like the mainline versions of the characters. Flash vs The Rogues...BUT DIFFERENT! Superman is a champion of the people...BUT DIFFERENT. Batman vs Mr Freeze... BUT DIFFERENT! But the differences either aren't that good or not different enough to be worth while.
Absolute Wonder Woman seems less preoccupied with any of that, focussing more in building up that very particular world, which is why I'm probably enjoying it the most. But once they start doing Absolute Cheetah and Absolute Silver Swan I'm more than likely gonna be out the door. We shall see.
