Batman: The Drowned #1 - A Review

The Dark Knights continue their assault on Earth 0, as Aquaman and Mera face off against The Drowned. Hailing from Earth -11, this Batman is a Batwoman. Fearful of the potential threat posed by the metahumans of her Earth, she set about killing them all. This led to her ultimately transforming herself into a water-breathing monstrosity in order to wage a one-woman war on Atlantis itself!


With this issue, the novelty of the various Dark Nights specials is beginning to wear thin. Dan Abnett weaves a great story and The Drowned is easily the most unique of the various dark dimension Dark Knights to date. Unfortunately, the plot is exactly the same as most of the other specials, with a flashback detailing the background of The Knight in question, a battle in the present against their Justice League counterpart and Dr. Fate showing up at the end to spirit the hero away when the Evil Batman proves to be too much for them. It's still a good read but one feels it could have been great.

The artwork is similarly conflicted. There's two great art teams at work here, though their styles are so different as to completely wreck the visual flow of the book. It would have been better to have one artist but everything looks good in spite of that.

The Final Analysis: 7 out of 10. It's good but it could have been better.

Detective Comics #950 - A Review

Detective Comics #950 is an over-sized anthology special. More than that, it's a showcase of everything this series has to offer in the Rebirth era, giving both the regular art teams and guest artists Marcio Takara and Dean White a chance to display their talents bringing James Tynion IV's masterful writing to life.


The first chapter - a prologue to the upcoming League of Shadows storyline - is told from the perspective of Cassandra Cain a.k.a. Orphan. I've never been a big fan of the character but damned if this story didn't make me see Cassie in a whole new light. Her frustration with being unable to communicate her thoughts verbally will be sympathetic to anyone who has ever had trouble expressing themselves. The artwork is easily the best thing I've ever seen drawn by Marcio Takara and Dean White's colors are perfectly applied.



The second story, Higher Power, is a short one which focuses on two members of the Bat Family in need of further development - Batwing and Azrael. Tynion's script goes beyond its simple faith vs. science set-up, focusing upon the odd friendship and differing attitudes between the two tech-based heroes.  The artwork by Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez and Brad Anderson is consistent with their usual output - entirely excellent.


The final chapter, The Big Picture, details a flashback conversation between Batman and Tim Drake. Despite nominally serving no purpose other than setting up the Dark Days crossover event due to run through all the Batman books in 2017, its an solid character piece for both characters. The artwork by Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira and Adriano Lucas is damn good too.

Superman #44 - A Review

Superman's secret identity has been revealed to the world and Clark Kent's life is falling apart. A new Royal Flush gang is out for his head and a collective of his worst enemies have taken the staff of The Daily Planet hostage! And the police are more interested in arresting him than they are in helping Superman save lives!

I want to believe that Gene Luen Yang is building to something grand with this story but I'm just not seeing it anymore. The speed with which people turn on Clark Kent seems more appropriate to a story set in the Marvel Universe. I defended the idea that Lois Lane could ever see fit to betray Clark's trust in the face of a greater good but I'm hard pressed to believe Perry White would attack Clark as he does here. While one might argue that White's commitment to The Truth as a newsman could lead him to see any kind of lying to your editor as a betrayal of the job of a journalist, it still seems a bit incongruous for him to chew out Superman for endangering people and thinking he could protect them. Nearly as incongruous as Clark, in the fact of such hostility, declaring he shall inflict a thousand-times as much pain on anyone who tries to hurt his friends.


It's oddly fitting that John Romita Jr. should be the artist on this book because this sure feels like a Spider-Man story rather than a Superman one. Romita and his usual inker Klaus Janson are in fine form. And the colors by Dean White and Leonardo Olea are skilfully applied, with no indication that there is more than one color artist at work.

Superman #43 - A Review

As pointless as it may be to put a SPOILER warning on this review, given that the "shocking twist" at the end of this issue was revealed over three months ago by DC Comics' preview for this series, nevertheless I am giving a warning.

If you haven't read Superman #43 yet, know that I enjoyed this issue immensely and would recommend reading it for yourself. Abandon this article now if you would remain unspoiled!


At last we learn how it was that Lois Lane betrayed Clark Kent's secret identity to the world. And to the credit of Gene Luen Yang, the reason she has is a darn good one.  So what could drive Lois Lane to expose Superman's greatest secret?  It is not, as many suggested, a desire for the fame or glory attached to such a big story.

It is fear that motivates her.  Fear of what Superman might do to protect the people he cares about from a cunning blackmailer who is three steps ahead of him. So Lois does the only thing she can to save Superman and all that he stands for as Clark Kent elects to play along with the blackmailer's demands while waiting for an opportunity to free himself later.  She reveals everything to the world, thus making Hordr-Root's threats worthless and freeing Clark to fight back against the master hacker.


There is a subtle parallel here between the conflict between Lois and Clark at issue's end and the Superman fandom. Clark idealistically believes that, given time, he could have figured a way out of this mess whereas Lois, ever the realist, makes a difficult choice to prevent what she sees as the greater (or at least more immediate) of two evils. Consider how this mirrors the argument over the idea that Superman should always find a way to win in the end versus those who feel Superman is at his best when he is faced with emotional conflicts that require more than physical strength to solve.

Doubtlessly some will say that this story is terrible because Lois' trust in Superman should be absolute. Others will say that this story is well in keeping with Lois' nature to be a proactive figure who does what she thinks is right and damn the consequences if the world disagrees with her. I think there is a grand discussion to be held regarding those ideas and hope this issue provokes such conversation rather than inspiring an army of Super-fans to rage quit the series.

Regardless of how you feel about the story, the artwork is exquisite.  John Romita Jr. is in fine form. And one would never know that this issue featured a team of two inkers and three colorists, so well does the team work together in maintaining a uniform style throughout the issue.

Superman #42 - A Review

Lois Lane has finally put two and two together and uncovered Clark Kent's secret identity. But even in the face of Lois' trust being shattered, the two have bigger problems. For a hacktivist called HORDR_ROOT has also uncovered the truth of who Superman is and has plans to recruit The Man of Steel for his organization... or else!


I feel conflicted about Gene Yang's script for this issue. On the one hand, the idea of HORDR_ROOT is a novel one and the idea of an enemy who utilizes the power of information against Superman is a novel one. Sadly, the threat he presents is resolved far too quickly.

A larger problem is the character of Lois Lane, who - in the New 52 universe at least - lacks the closeness to Clark that is required to sell the feelings of betrayal she expresses here. The whole thing rings false but I fear that's more the fault of editorial demand than Yang's script, because otherwise the character interactions are wonderful.


The artwork inspires similar feelings of conflict. The pencils and inks by John Romita Jr. and Klaus Johnson are up to their usual high standard, but there's nothing in the issue that stands out as particularly fine work. The greatest problem is the color art, provided by three different colorists with distinctly different styles and palettes.  Just look at the tone of the characters' skins and you'll see the obvious disparity, with the characters appearing pale in one panel and ruddy-cheeked in the next!

Superman #40 - A Review

Still recovering from his battle with Ulysses, Superman is in a bit of an odd state. On the one hand, he's discovered a new power that allows him to expel the solar energy in his body with explosive results. On the other, his defenses have never been lower and for the first time in his life he is truly feeling human sensations. It's a bit of an adjustment, but with a little help from his friends, he'll get by.


By all rights, I should hate everything about this comic. It's just so goofy and out-of-synch with everything I've seen of The Justice League in The New 52. It features a smiling, wise-cracking Batman, for crying out loud!

And yet, I love it.

I like having a Batman who threatens to bill Clark Kent for the jet fuel he used flying out to retrieve Clark from a remote location. I like Aquaman jokingly covering Wonder Woman's eyes after Clark accidentally burns off all his clothes experimenting with his new powers. I like the joy that Superman takes in truly being able to eat without the sensations being enhanced to the point where he's overwhelmed by the individual flavors.

This book may be goofy but it isn't dull.  I'd go so far as to say it's fun.

What John Romita Jr. did with this book - as a writer and artist- is remarkable. It's a fun, simple, well-drawn one-shot - something almost as rare in American comics these days as a writer/artist doing most of the work on a single comic for a big-name publisher.  I'm anxious to see what Gene Yang will be doing with this series but a part of me will wonder if maybe we should have kept JRJ on to run the show for a bit.