Up Next: More Comic Reviews And A Question For You, The Readers

It may not have escaped your attention that I've not been writing as much as usual this past month.  For that, I apologize.  It's been a busy month and with the approach of summer (busiest time of the year for a public librarian) my free time has dwindled down to nearly nothing, with all the special projects I'm working on.

You may also have noticed that I've curtailed my writing about comics of late.  This is partly due to the aforementioned lack of spare time but also due to...

a) my comic shop of choice being 30 miles away from my apartment.
b) my place of employment being 20 miles the opposite direction from my apartment.
c) my commitment to supporting my local comic shop being greater than my commitment to downloading new issues from an on-line store.
d) my desire to do more reviews of graphic novels and complete story lines rather than single comics.

Over the next few days, I'll be doing quick reviews of all the books I've picked up in the last month.  While I'm doing that, I'd like to hear from you all regarding the following questions.


1. Would you prefer for me to stick to monthly comic reviews or graphic novels/trade paperbacks?

2. If you prefer monthly comic reviews, do you mind if I don't have the reviews of that week's comics posted until the next weekend?

3. Would you be able to tolerate less frequent reviews if I were able to go into greater depth in what reviews I did write?

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Red Sonja #56

GOOD THING: The front page gives us a wonderful summary of the series so far, making this a good issue for new readers to jump in on.






BAD THING: The blocking in the artwork is somewhat cartoonish and better suited towards a Xena story than to the more gritty tone demanded of a story set in Hyboria.








The Final Verdict: A good issue for new readers to jump in on, with a wonderful summary of the story so far on the very first page! Sadly, the art is not representative of your typical Red Sonja story, with physics straight out of Looney Tunes.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Secret Six #33

GOOD THING: It's hard to narrow down to just one thing, what with the picture-perfect images of personal hells that Simone creates for most of the Six. But I'd have to say my favorite part is the ironic hell that Catman's dad is trapped in... and Etrigan's rhyme regarding the thin line between Heaven and Hell.






BAD THING: It's looking more and more like Liana is going the way of a thousand other comic book girlfriends. It's a credit to Simone that such a minor character can inspire such emotion. Still doesn't make me feel any better about it... even if the odds are equally good that Scandal might choose to save her over Knockout.







The Final Verdict: Secret Six is not the best villain book on the market today - it's the best villain book ever!

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About King Conan: The Scarlet Citadel # 3

GOOD THING: This issue is truly faithful to the original Robert E. Howard text.






BAD THING: That being said, this issue is being painfully faithful to the slowest part of the original story. It all goes downhill from Conan freeing the wizard, with the rest of the issue being an info dump of just how bad things have gotten in Conan's absence.







The Final Verdict: It's a faithful adaptation of the slowest part of the story it is based on. The art is good but that doesn't disguise or excuse the fact that there's not a lot of action to be had. Still, the Howard purists will be happy and it is a wonderful set-up for the big finale next time.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Conan: The Road Of Kings #4

BAD THING: As before, the art is the weakest link in this book. There is little consistency from panel to panel and the female characters frequently look... odd.





GOOD THING: The writing is, as before, top notch, with Roy Thomas managing to deliver the goods, even as he retreads familiar territory. Honestly, if i had a dollar for every comic I've read where Conan is taken before a corrupt ruler in chains... I could probably afford all the Savage Sword of Conan TPs I don't already own.







The Final Verdict: As with the previous issues, there's a classic-style Conan story which is ill-served by inconsistent artwork. For Roy Thomas fans and Conan purists only. Art snobs probably won't enjoy it.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Green Arrow #11

BAD THING: There's a few odd moments vis-à-vis the action from panel to panel.





I know we can take it as read that Ollie drew his bow, set an arrow on fire and shot the evil plant monster... but it's still a bit jarring to see Ollie pulling an arrow out of himself in one panel and then see the enemy he is facing on fire in the next panel.


GOOD THING: The direction of Green Arrow this past year - which has been more retrospective than active - has turned off many readers who didn't want to read about an Oliver Queen who was reexamining his motivations and his place in the world. They didn't want to see him confront his inner demons or his fears that he is no better than his scoundrel of a father. They didn't want to see him acknowledge past misdeeds and personal mistakes.

They wanted the Oliver Queen who was, first and foremost, a man of action. They wanted the Oliver Queen who stood up and did what needed to be done and spoke the truths that needed to be said no matter how much they hurt. They wanted The Longbow Hunter. They wanted The Emerald Archer. They wanted A Hero.

With this issue, they finally got him.






From this panel on... we get our Ollie back. And if you've been avoiding the title lately because the mysticism of previous issues isn't your cup of tea, I beg you to check this one out. Because this... this is easily the best Ollie moment we've had in years.



The Final Verdict: With this issue, we finally see a side of Oliver Queen that has been missing for a long while: the man of action and hero. The past few months of introspection were necessary to bring us to this point - the point where the man who will not back down in the face of evil stands up and says "No. Not while I'm here." The Green Arrow we know and love is back... and it's about damn time.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Doctor Who (2011) #4

GOOD THING: Tony Lee sets something up here which is actually a neat little "out" which explains away a lot of the minor little kerfuffles in recent Doctor Who stories. Namely, that there is a sort of temporal grace period before The Universe "accepts" a divergent timeline as "the normal way of things". This allows The Doctor and Rory, faced with the problem of finding a kidnapped Amy in 1888, to go forward in time to where Amy's death is part of a 2011 Ripper Tour of Whitechapel, find out where she was killed and then go back there to stop it.





While this has been hinted at in several stories which involved the characters mucking about with time travel (Father's Day and The Big Bang come to mind), this revelation helps explain way some of the problems caused by more recent stories, such as A Christmas Carol (where The Doctor goes back in time to change a miserly old man into a better person over a chain of Christmas Eves) and the Comic Relief specials Space and Time, in which The Doctor takes advantage of a paradox to solve the problem of what to do when The TARDIS becomes parked inside itself.


BAD THING: The artwork - once again by Tim Hamilton alone - is still bloody awful. It's marginally better this time, with Hamilton seemsing to have finally settled on a standard sense of proportions for Matt Smith's Doctor. Yet we still get random big Anime-style eyes on Amy Pond!







The Final Verdict: Tony Lee's Jack The Ripper mystery comes to a satisfying conclusion. What is more, it actually gives an official (and interesting) out to any future Who writers who wish to play about more with the rules of Space and Time Bill And Ted style. Pity the artwork is still rubbish.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About GL: Emerald Warriors #9 (War Of The Green Lanterns, Part 6)

GOOD THING: With all of the references to classic Green Lantern stories and mythology, it's nice to see something new introduced here. At the very least, I've never heard of any legend regarding the very first Green Lantern or a monster who lives in the heart of the foundries of Oa guarding his ring.






BAD THING: There's a few odd moments with the flow of the story from panel to panel, such as in this moment when John Stewart tries (and fails) to teleport himself and Kyle. Not where Guy and Hal are standing relative to where everyone else is a moment later...







The Final Verdict: The most enjoyable chapter of the series this month. The Lanterns proved to be much more competent with their adopted rings this time around and - while it seems like a distraction from the main story - I enjoyed the scene regarding the ring of the first Green Lantern. The artwork is excellent and the only thing that keeps the book from being perfect are some awkward panel transitions.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Red Sonja: Break The Skin

GOOD THING: As seems to be the trend lately, the art for this Red Sonja special is much better than the art in the monthly title.





BAD THING: The story, while well written, is not the most original piece of work, being an adapation of The Monkey's Paw reworked slightly to make it a more typical cursed Hyborian magical artifact.







The Final Verdict: An enjoyable enough a tale, but hardly a must-read for casual fans of the She Devil With A Sword. The artwork is good and the story is well-written but nothing about it really stands out, either.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Darkwing Duck #11

BAD THING: I think Hotshot and Flygirl (yes, even I had to look up their names) got taken out a little too easily here... even if the method of their defeat was a mirror of what happened in the cartoon...





GOOD THING: Apart from that, this book is more of the same great material we've come to expect.







The Final Verdict: Could have used a little more explanation for Ammonia Pine and the rest of the FOWL villains we see in this issue - not all the kids this book is aimed at have seen the cartoons! Still, this is a fun book for kids of all ages... even if some of the references are only accessible to big kids like me.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life #1

GOOD THING: American writer Matthew Sturges (who is no stranger to fairy tale comics, having written Jack of Fables for most of it's run) gives us a truly unique idea with this book, as The Eleventh Doctor - charged with the impossible task of finding a fairy tale reality to visit - takes Amy Pond to a futuristic theme park that is basically a Renaissance Festival which spans an entire planet.





Naturally - because this is a Doctor Who story - things are not what they seem and The Doctor and Amy soon find themselves in deep, deep trouble.

BAD THING: Good as the story is, the characterization doesn't quite ring true at times. The Eleventh Doctor isn't usually this aware of other people's emotions. And Amy - despite her protests that she is no damsel to be rescued - doesn't really do anything for the whole issue, except complain about how uncomfortable her costume is and serve as the sounding board that The Doctor explains things to.







The Final Verdict: A solid introduction to a novel story concept. The characters seem a bit off at times but not horribly out of character.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Green Lantern Corps #59 (War Of The Green Lanterns, Part 5)

BAD THING: There seems to have been very little coordination between what Tony Bedard wrote in this issue and what Geoff Johns wrote in Part 4. For one thing, Hal derides Kyle's choosing of The Blue Ring Of Hope as a substitute weapon and brings up a very good point as to why using a Blue Lantern Ring against Green Lanterns is a VERY BAD IDEA... even though Hal was the one who let Kyle pick whatever ring he wanted in the last issue! And he didn't feel compelled to say a damn thing about the Blue Lantern weaknesses then, even though he did stop John Stewart from taking up The Orange Ring Of Avarice.





On the bright side, Bedard does a good job of conveying the desperation of the situation and how Hal seems to have lost sight of the fact that not everybody knows the other Corps rings as well as he does... which results in Kyle and John not being battle-ready and Guy being... well, Guy with a ring that feeds upon his Rage.


GOOD THING: That being said, it is nice to see Ganthet call Hal out on how idiotic his plan is... even if I don't entirely agree with his reasons as to precisely WHY it's an idiotic plan.





For instance, Kyle would, I think, be better suited to a Love Ring - given that last issue said he was a lover, not a fighter. And Guy would be better served by taking up the Yellow Ring... or am I the only one who remembers that he was using Sinestro's old ring for a while as a member of the JLA?



The Final Verdict: Some spotty logic and poor coordination between the writers is made up for with a truly surprising twist in the final few pages. An enjoyable issue, despite its' flaws.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Green Lantern #65 (War Of The Green Lanterns, Part 4)

GOOD THING: The interplay between Hal and Guy is played with pretty well, as you throw two men's men against each other... literally, in this scene.





Guy is a little off, but I'm willing to write that off as stress and not Johns going out of his way to make Hal Jordan looking like the most awesome guy ever. Why? Because...


BAD THING: ... Johns allows Hal to make some pretty big mistakes later on in the issue, when he comes up with the plan to use the rings belonging to the other Corps.





While it's gratifying to see that Hal won't be portrayed as being completely perfect (a frequent accusation in Johns' GL work) one still has to wonder...

a) ... why he lets Guy take the Red Ring of Rage when Guy has already admitted to having trouble controlling his anger after having worn the ring once.

b) ...why he refuses to let John take the Orange Ring of Avarice, saying that the power is totally corrupting and soul-destroying... yet he has no trouble with Guy taking the equally destructive Red Ring of Rage?

c) ... why does he allow Kyle to take the Blue Ring of Hope when - he knows first hand - that the Blue Lanterns can't do much save super-charge Green Lantern Rings... which is a very bad thing when you're fighting an army of Green Lanterns?

d) ... why does Hal allow everyone - except John Stewart - to pick the ring they want?

e) ... isn't it a little racist that John Stewart was given The Ring Of The Indigo Tribals?

There's just a TON of Unfortunate Implications all around...





The Final Verdict: The good news is that Hal isn't portrayed as being a totally perfect hero. The bad news is that he shouldn't be THIS stupid and/or much of a jerk.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Birds Of Prey #11

GOOD THING: Long-time Birds of Prey fans have been clamoring for a return of the weird romance between anti-hero Huntress and anti-villain Catman. And boy do we ever get it!





Gail Simone manages the impossible here. First, she has given us a self-contained story - which is as rare as unicorns in these days of writing for the trade!

Next, she has crafted this entire story based upon fan demand, centered around an old plot-point... and yet somehow made that story completely accessible to newer readers who never read the stories where the two started to romance one another!

Finally, she gives us a truly surprising twist ending that makes perfect sense given the characters involved, avoiding the trap so many lesser writers fall into so easily regarding a sudden reveal on the last page of the mystery.

This may not be the a perfect comic book story... but it's damned close.


BAD THING: For the most part, the artwork is good, but some pages come off as a little too posed and too much like a pin-up poster. In this page, for instance, Huntress appears to be - as the nature show hosts would put it - "presenting rearly".





This may be a subtle sub-textual commentary on Helena's desires manifesting unconsciously through her body language in the heat of battle... but I doubt it.




The Final Verdict: Easily the best self-contained single-issue story Gail Simone has ever written and a perfect introduction to Birds of Prey for you poor, unfortunate souls who aren't reading this book already. Read it! Love it! The Starman has spoken.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About The Dresden Files: Fool Moon #1

BAD THING: The artwork of this book is flawed in certain respects. While the character design is good (damn near perfect, in fact), the execution leaves a bit to be desired.





For instance, Kim - the low level mage who comes to Harry for advice on a binding circle in the opening scene of the comic - is described as being a "tall woman, buxom and lovely" in the original book. Kim is indeed buxom. She is so buxom, in fact her head is the size of just ONE of her breasts!

The artist also seems to have a problem with lower torsos. Specifically, women's hips, the region where the legs meet the rest of the body and any clothing involving said region. Consider Murphy in the picture below and whether or not the Chicago PD has the loosest dress code in the world if it lets a female detective wear low-rider jeans on the job.





GOOD THING: As I said earlier, ignoring precisely how the characters are drawn, the character design is spot on. Fans of the original books will have nothing to complain about in regards to Murphy being too tall (she's barely 5'0"), Harry being too short (he's somewhere over 6'6") or the Alphas NOT looking like a group of freshman college students who haven't quite finished going through puberty.



The Final Verdict: An enjoyable introduction to the world of wizard detective Harry Dresden for those comics fans who haven't yet seen the original graphic novel adaptation of Storm Front or read the original books. The only flaw is that some of the anatomy in the artwork is s a bit odd despite the actual character designs being spot on.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Secret Six #32

GOOD THING: I don't believe anyone ever requested an explanation for just why Ragdoll is so messed up, even by the standards of villainy in the DC Universe. And yet, with this issue, Gail Simone has given us one - Ragdoll is one of the "lucky" few to be born without a soul.





It's an interesting and wholly logical turn of events, which raises several interesting questions and opens up several potential story ideas. Given that the original Ragdoll was a cult-leader who was recruited by dark powers after his death, it doesn't seem unreasonable that his son might have similar connections. Indeed, one wonders if this may lead to an appearance by the soulless sorcerer anti-hero Faust or if there was some connection between the original Ragdoll and Felix Faust.


BAD THING: The subplot with Liana being kidnapped by a religious fanatic is barely given any time at all in this issue. In fact, we only see her for one page!





If this were being written by any writer other than Gail Simone, I'd be very worried and make some comment on how Liana has become so marginalized as a character that not even her own love interest can be arsed to care about her being potential fridge bait. As it is, this whole subplot is a testament as to how powerful a writer Simone is that we can be made to feel so deeply about a character who is, in essence, a disposable girlfriend... even to the character that she's dating!




The Final Verdict: An amazing issue that gives us a lot more insight into the character of Ragdoll than I ever thought possible. The only real downside is that the subplot involving Scandal Savage's current love interest is given the bare minimum of page time and is not so much a subplot as it is a footnote.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Doctor Who (2011) #3

GOOD THING: As in last issue, there's a lot of great character moments here. I love how Rory - who tends to be portrayed as a bit of an idiot depending on the writer - is actually fairly adept at coming up with plausable excuses on the fly. Shame he's trying to pull the wool over the eyes of someone who can't be affected by psychic paper... but Rory almost doesn't seem to need it.






BAD THING: As in last issue, the art is bloody awful. Whereas Richard Rayner's art looked like watercolors that had coffee spilled on them, Tim Hamilton (the third artist on last month's issue, who did only the final page) has given us work that doesn't appear to have been inked at all. Everything is very sketchy and - like Rayner - Hamilton doesn't seem any idea how to make Amy Pond look attractive or draw Matt Smith's features consistently.







The Final Verdict: As in last issue, a great story is ruined by terrible artwork. You'd expect better of a story in which The Doctor faces Jack The Ripper.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Green Arrow #10

BAD THING: Ollie's become a supporting character in his own book. He even says as much at the start of the issue that his only purpose lately is protecting Galahad.





When they announced Ollie was getting his own solo title in the wake of Brightest Day, I'd hoped we'd be getting a lot more of the action we'd seen early on, with a hunted Ollie robbing the corrupt rich of Star City to provide for the neglected poor. But the subplot involving the power in the forest has completely subverted that for what seems like far too long.


GOOD THING: Thankfully, Galahad is an engaging character and the information we learn about his past... his true past, apparently... is finally giving us some answers, preventing the mystery from being as drawn out as it could have been.







The Final Verdict: There's not nearly as much Ollie fighting fat-cats as I would like. Still, the subplot involving Galahad and his connection to the forest does seem to be reaching resolution and the focus seems to be coming back around to Ollie, so I can ride this out for another issue before passing final judgement.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Jimmy Olsen: One-Shot

GOOD THING: This story perfectly captures the utter insanity of the original Jimmy Olsen comics but filters it through the post-modern Sterling Silver Age viewpoint to create something that acknowledge the crazy past of DC Comics while vaunting it as something cool to be lived up to.

Why does this comic work so well? I think it's because Nick Spencer realizes two things that a lot of writers and comic fans don't.

First, that Jimmy Olsen is to Superman what Robin is to Batman. He is the avenue your average dorky comic-reading fanboy took into that world of Superman as a child. He's the younger, more foolish character that is probably what we'd be like if we were friends with Batman or Superman and were trying to help them out. This has become less important over the years as Jimmy and Dick Grayson were aged up and Jimmy was either made into an older action hero figure or a dorky boy hostage depending on who was writing Superman at the time.

Second, that Jimmy Olsen was the Peter Parker before Peter Parker. And never mind the photographer angle - I'm talking sheer dumb luck. Jimmy Olsen was a well-meaning trouble magnet and a total geek. And yet he still somehow managed to attract some very attractive women despite having continual girlfriend troubles. Really, the only difference between Peter and Jimmy is that Jimmy had to cope with all the super-villains and gangsters coming after him without the benefit of superpowers 90% of the time.

All of that comes into play in this book. Jimmy is the everyman. Sure, he knows a lot of famous and important people and he is exposed to fantastic wonders on a near daily basis. But deep down he's still the nerd who thinks bowties are cool that likes to stay at home and play video games in his underwear.





There's not really any one thing I can point at that makes this book amazing apart from that. It's all the little touches. Like Jimmy Olsen having a nemesis who is a junior executive at LexCorp who aspires to be the next Lex Luthor like Jimmy wants to be Superman. It's story ideas like Jimmy Olsen having to save the Earth from a group of hedonistic aliens by convincing them that Metropolis is the most boring city in the universe. And it's nods to the continuity like having Jimmy's current love interest be Chloe Sullivan - apparently an import from the Smallville TV show who was just brought into the mainstream DCU with this story.





BAD THING: Really, the only bad thing about this book is that thanks to it originally being published as a series of back-up strips in Action Comics and DC Comics apparently not realizing what they were sitting on until recently, Nick Spenser has been allowed to slip between the cracks and sign an exclusive contract with Marvel. So unless there's some kind of miracle, we're not going to see any more Jimmy Olsen stories like this.

The Final Verdict: Some are already calling this the best comic of 2010 or 2011, depending on whether or not you count this collection as an original work. Either way, I'm calling it a must read for anyone who loves good comics. We need more books like this.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About King Conan: The Scarlet Citadel #2

BAD THING: Truman deviates a bit from Howard's text in this chapter. In the original Robert E. Howard story, Conan's jailer recognizes him from his days as a pirate as the man indirectly responsible for the death of his brother. While he is identified as a eunuch by the narrator, no reference is made to it in the dialogue of the scene. So it is somewhat jarring to see this extra bit of motivation added to the jailer's hatred of Conan and his threat to do more than kill Conan.





I can understand why Truman made this change as the original text of this scene was filled with some commentary and description that would be racist by today's standards. The problem is that having the jailer refer to Conan as "your kind" rather than "white men" is little better and the whole scene could honestly lose the reference to the jailer being offended by Conan's attempts to bribe him... particularly since he was the one who started demanding money to release him in the first place!


GOOD THING: All issues of just how acceptable it is to alter the original text in an adaptation aside, the action does flow very well here. And artist Tomas Giorello has an amazing gift for capturing expression, managing to do well what few artists even attempt - a frightened Conan.







The Final Verdict: While some may debate the appropriateness of adding in references to castration that were not in the original story, it cannot be denied that this comic is a fast-paced, well-illustrated tale of Conan regardless of how you feel about how it was adapted.