Trinity #2 - A Review

Clark Kent was having a hard enough time coping with life on a new Earth before Lois insisted on trying to socialize with this world's version of Bruce Wayne and Diana of Themyscira outside of work. Now, the three of them seem to have wound up in the past! But is it the Smallville of this Superman's life or that of his now-dead counterpart? Either way, he seems to have accidentally saved the life of Pa Kent and sent his younger self into hiding.
Francis Manapul continues to impress, as he pulls double-duty as both writer and artist on Trinity. The focus is firmly on Clark Kent this time around, with the theme of fathers and sons introduced in the first issue continuing here as Clark helps Pa Kent to find his past self, all while trying not to risk further paradoxes while still enjoying the gift he's seemingly been given to see the only father he's ever known one last time.

It's a great story and the artwork is gorgeous throughout. My only complaint is that Batman seems a little stand-offish given the circumstances.  Despite being the Spock of this Trinity, you'd think Batman of all people would be sympathetic to getting another chance to meet your father! This is a minor note, however, and this is still a wonderful book that should be read by all fans of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.

The Iron Saint - A No Flying No Tights Review

SOURCE: The Iron Saint



Our story begins at the height of Prohibition on an Earth that resembles nothing less than a steampunk Chicago, with flying cars, steroids that grant superpowers and mechanical limbs commonplace. Michael Iron is a “problem-solver” for The Syndicate – one of the three rival interests fighting for control of the city. After one of his fellow gangsters double-crosses him on a debt-collection job, Iron wakes up three months later with a price on his head, a cybernetic arm and an unlikely ally– Angel, the virginal daughter of the debtor he was supposed to collect from. Together, they will have to find a way to pay Iron’s debt to The Syndicate and avenge Angel’s father, even as every bounty hunter in town starts hunting for them.

The story behind The Iron Saint is as interesting, if not so action-packed, as the story within the comic itself. Originally published in 2007 as a four-issue mini-series called Iron And The Maiden, the book was beset by troubles almost immediately as the band Iron Maiden threatened legal action over the title It was also during this time the creators at Top Cow Productions suffered the loss of a great artist and a greater friend – Michael Turner. Beloved by both his colleagues and his fans, Turner’s passing is noted by author Jason Rubin in his heart-felt introduction, where he also relays the story of the lawsuit and other details that offer a brief but fascinating look at how the comic industry functions behind the scenes. Michael Turner fans might be interested to know that the cover gallery at the end of this volume contains some of Turner’s last work before his untimely death; including the only comic cover he ever colored himself.

This cover gallery itself is worth the price of the book, boasting pieces by not just Michael Turner but artists such as Jim Lee, Chris Bachalo and Joe Madureira. Interestingly, Madureira did the initial character designs for this series and the main book art by Francis Manapul and Joel Gomez greatly resemble Madureira’s work on Battle Chasers, with lots of big men with big weapons. Most of the male characters are at least twice the size of the women and Iron looms most impressively over his Angel. But Manapul and Gomez are somewhat more grounded in reality than the more mangaesque Madureira, despite a number of characters having gravity-defying anime hair.

Fans of Film Noir and Steampunk will each find a lot to like about The Iron Saint. However, librarians would be well advised to shelve this volume in the same section where they keep Frank Miller’s Sin City books. There is one character, Mushmouth, whose manner of speech involves quite a few run-together and misspelled curse words, including the dreaded f dash dash dash word. While there is no outright nudity, there are several scenes set in a strip club, where Angel takes a job as a dancer so as to spy on The Syndicate. There’s also more than a few depictions of women wearing pasties that are close enough to topless to make this book inappropriate for most young adult graphic novel collections.

The Iron Saint
by Jason Rubin
Art by Francis Manapul, Joel Gomez and Michael Turner
ISBN: 9781607060796
Top Cow Productions, 2010

The Flash #1 - A Review

I wasn’t looking forward to The Flash #1. At all. This is because I don’t like Barry Allen. At all. I think bringing him back from the dead was a mistake and that making him the star of the all-new, revamped The Flash is an even bigger mistake. So perhaps anything I say about this book should be taken with a grain of salt.

But wait a moment - maybe I’m rushing to judgment? Maybe I should try harder to keep an open mind? After all, most of the reasons I dislike the character are based on past continuity. Maybe the stogy old hypocrite who annoyed me in The Fall of Green Arrow will be a changed man? Maybe the self-centered jackass whose mommy issues nearly destroyed all reality in Flashpoint will be less of a whiny man-child? Perhaps Barry Allen will be reborn as a younger, hipper more modern hero?

Sadly, about the only thing that has changed is that Barry Allen has now loosened up enough to go out on dates without a tie. He’s also going out on dates, his marriage to Iris West having gone the way of parachute pants and Disco.

On the bright side, Iris West – long the perfect smiling Stepford Wife – has finally been given a personality. True, it is the personality of Lois Lane – but at least it’s a good personality, if not totally original. There’s a Betty & Veronica-style love-triangle, with Iris in the Veronica role. Who is the Betty? Patty - one of Barry’s fellow CSI officers.

The issue wastes no time on origin stories or details save for a two-page splash that gives us Barry Allen’s origins. The plot of this first issue is standard stuff for The Flash. Bad guys show up to steal something. Barry disappears. The Flash appears and chases the bad guys. The Flash runs off. Barry shows up again. And nobody seems to notice Barry was gone. The only original twist in Francis Manapul’s and Brian Buccellato’s script is the revelation that The Flash may have accidentally killed someone but even this turns out to be a red-herring as Barry discovers a new villain who is also a ghost from his past…

The artwork by Francis Manapul – with Brian Buccellato on colors – is competent but ultimately as pedestrian as the script. I expect a Flash comic to move and this comic – for all the pretty lightning – is surprisingly static. There’s barely any Flash in it at all and there’s only so much one can do to make scenes in offices and museums where talking heads talk to other talking heads interesting.

I wasn’t expecting much of this book and I wasn’t surprised. I don’t hate Barry Allen anymore – now I’m just bored by him. This isn’t really all that bad of a comic but neither is it as good as it should be with the talent involved. It’s strictly average, with a standard script and artwork that is merely competent. Perhaps Barry Allen fans will be pleased by this book but I wasn’t.