Detective Comics #973 - A Review

His mind broken by the tortures of The Victim Syndicate, Clayface is rampaging through Gotham City... straight for the protesters assembled by The First Victim. The Gotham Knights have some unexpected help in trying to prevent disaster, but will they be able to save their former comrade? Or will one of their own take it upon themselves to solve the Clayface problem permanently?


James Tynion IV brings the current storyline to a stunning and satisfactory conclusion. Unfortunately, while Tynion's writing is as great as ever, the artwork for this issue doesn't work at all. Colorist Jason Wright uses a bright palette that doesn't suit the story, particularly when applied to the ink-light artwork of Jesus Merino. Despite this comic looking way too bright, Merino over-inks the outlines of his characters without adding any shading to the interior line work. This leaves the entire book looking odd, but still worth fighting through to enjoy the story.

The Final Analysis: 5 out of 10. Great story, but the artwork is totally at war with it.

The Flash #19 - A Review

The trail of Daniel West - the second man to call himself The Reverse Flash and Wally West's biological father - leads The Flash and Kid Flash to Australia in search of Captain Boomerang, who may have served with Daniel in The Suicide Squad. Unfortunately, their swift arrival blows the not-so-good captain's cover and they're soon at the mercy of a gang of weapons dealers known as The Weavers. Like it or not, the old enemies are going to have to work together to save themselves, but can even Captain Boomerang and The Flash stage a comeback from this setback in The Outback?



The artwork on The Flash #19 is a little more erratic than usual. Both Jesus Merino and Carmine Di Giandomenico are great artists yet they have decidedly different styles and strengths and the way the workload is split in the story is curiously conflicted. One oddity is that Carmine Di Giandomenico - whose strength lies in kinetic action sequences - handles the quieter section near the end of the book, where Barry and Wally have a long overdue talk. The sequence works, however, despite seemingly not playing to the regular artist's strengths. It should also be noted that the colors by Chris Sotomayor are fantastic throughout.


Whatever conflicts exist in the art are not born of the story. Joshua Williamson's work is as fine as ever and he writes a wonderful Digger Harkness here - every bit the professional and sleazeball, yet with enough of a soft-side to inspire a modicum of sympathy. The closing scenes between Barry and Wally, however, may have you reaching for your tissues.

The Flash #18 - A Review

Wally West had a hard enough time coping with the idea that his Uncle Daniel was a crook or that he had become new Reverse Flash. The revelation that Daniel West was his biological father was even worse. Still, the young man needs closure and The Flash (who Wally doesn't know is really his Aunt Iris' friend Barry Allen), means to help his sidekick get it... even if means breaking into Belle Reeve prison!


The Flash #18 brings a new art-team to the book and they're a definitive improvement over the erratic artwork in the previous issue. Former Superman penciler Jesus Merino sports a cinematographic style where each panel boasts an amazing amount of detail as the viewpoint continually shifts from one angle to another. Inker Andy Owens enhances the pencils without over-shading them. This, coupled with Chris Sotomayor's colors, leaves the finished art popping on the page.

I'm afraid I have nothing new to say about Joshua Williamson's writing on this series. It's as fantastic as ever and his love and knowledge of these characters and their personalities is crystal clear. Williamson also does a fantastic job of recapping the backstory for new readers without getting mired in continuity. One last note: those Captain Boomerang fans disappointed by Digger Harkness' absence from the recent Rogues reunion should know he shows up near the end of this issue.

Future's End #1 & #2 - A Review

After reading the lackluster Future's End #0 (which DC Comics released on Free Comic Book Day this year), I fully intended to give this series a miss.  I've had my fill of stories involving dark futures, the heroes failing to save the day and enough angst and ennui to fill a dozen Morrisey albums.  The fact that the story - at its most basic level - was a blatant rip-off of X-Men: Days Of Future Past didn't help matters.

Still, I happened to read a preview of Future's End #2 and learned that it would involve the funeral of Green Arrow.  Being as big a fan of Oliver Queen as I am, that was enough to pique my curiosity.  So I picked up the first two issues last weekend to see what I might see.

Not much, as it turns out.


Future's End #1 combines the worst aspects of Countdown and Brightest Day.  Specifically, we get to see a lot of heroes die horrible, random deaths and we get to see Ronnie Raymond act like an incompetent, entitled douche-bag.  Why DC Comics keeps forcing the unnatural Ronnie Raymond/Jason Rusch partnership is beyond me.  I don't know anyone who likes this version of Firestorm and the low sales figures/cancellation of the New 52 Firestorm series would seem to bear out that idea that more people hated it than not.

Indeed, Roy Harper says it best in Future's End #2 when he calls Raymond "a liar... As well as a fraud -- phony -- and a complete and total coward."  And he is not wrong.  Raymond is directly responsible for Oliver Queen's death and his actions in this issue do nothing to endear him to the reader.  Yet I somehow think we are meant to sympathize with Ronnie, because all he wanted to do was sleep with his girlfriend while on the clock at his day job as Oliver Queen was radioing for him, specifically, to help avert a disaster.

This doesn't work.  At all.

What does work is the funeral sequence, which has a hint of Jeff Lemire's writing about it.  There are so many wonderful, subtle details revealed here.  Roy Harper in a red costume modeled on Green Arrow's uniform.  Black Canary crying in the background.  And Animal Man's eulogy, in which he talks about Oliver Queen leading the rebellion against a second Apokoliptian invasion.



Now THAT is a comic I want to read!  Alas, that's the biggest problem with this series and - in many ways - much of the New 52 line so far.  We keep getting teased about stories that are far more interesting in abstract than the stories we've been given.

I want to see Green Arrow fighting alien invaders with nothing but sheer chutzpah and a madman's arsenal of trick arrows.  I want to see how Roy Harper became his staunchest defender and why Dinah Lance cries the hardest at his death.  But most of all, I want a story where the heroes are fighting villains instead of each other.

This is not that story.  Maybe Justice League United will become that story in the future?

I hope so.  I'd really like to read that story.

Team 7 #0 - A Review

I never read any of the original Team 7 comics. Come to think of it, I've read precious little of the original Wildstorm Comics period. I know enough of the base concept of the original book - an elite US government team formed in response to the appearance of the first superhumans. Eventually, they were experimented upon themselves with several members of the team going insane and/or committing suicide.

Team 7 #0 starts out with this same base concept, as team leader John Lynch speaks to an unseen audience. Lynch speaks of the alien menace that nearly stole a part of Metropolis (as seen in the opening arc of Action Comics) and the failure of the government's Steel Soldier project to deal with the menace. Lynch then describes his dream of an elite team of agents that will be capable of meeting the challenges posed by the apperance of these new super-beings. The rest of the issue shows Lynch's two best agents - infiltration expert Dinah Drake and operations expert Kurt Lance - as they go about recruiting the rest of Lynch's wish list.

The team roster reads like the Who's Who of Covert Ops in the DCU. Tactician Slade Wilson. Weapons Expert Alex Fairchild. NSA Analyst Amanda Waller. Special Forces/Conman Cole Cash. Thrown into this all-star lineup are three newcomers - Jack-Of-All-Trades James Bronson, Master-Pilot Summer Ramos and Military Intellligence Expert Dean Higgins.

I have to approve of the concept of this book on general principle. One of the biggest problems many readers had with The New 52 universe was the sheer number of covert US government organizations. A book like this exploring how things got to that point was sorely needed and writer Justin Jordan seems prepared to explore not only how the government and military changed in the face of the metahuman threat but also how several key players evolved in the face of that challenge.

Don't think for a second that means this is going to be a dull treatise on how various branches interact! Jordan's script is focused firmly on the action and the set-up for more action. He gets the basic facts of each character's background presented but doesn't spend much time developing their personalities. Granting that's usually not the purpose of a Zero issue and that most of these characters are well-established in the minds of most comic readers, it is somewhat bothersome that we know little about Summer Ramos apart from she's a good pilot and she's apparently crazy. Hopefully there will be deeper development in later issues.



The art by Superman penciler Jesus Merino, with inks by Rob Hunter and Norm Rapmund is well executed throughout. The story is told well, flowing naturally from panel to panel And each character has a clear design, so there is little trouble telling who is who even in the far-shot action scenes.

I'm not sure this is a book I'll be picking up in the future. The general dark tone of people seeing superheroes as something to be afraid of rather than something to be inspired by also doesn't do a lot for me. Still, fans of the original Team 7 book as well as books like the oriiginal Suicide Squad will likely find a lot to enjoy here. This is a solid-looking title, even if it isn't my cup of tea.

Superman #1 - A Review

The biggest complaint many have about Superman is that everything is too easy for him. He has so many superpowers it's almost easier to list what he can't do, his weakness are largely negligible and there's few villains who can match him physically or mentally. This attitude has resulted in far too many dull stories where Superman had to fight increasingly numerous and/or powerful enemies, which only further fueled the complaints that Superman is boring and stupid.

Thankfully, Superman #1 by George Perez avoids the vicious circle by making The Man more important than The Super. Perez's focus here is firmly upon the man behind the cape and the myriad of problems that can't be solved by punching something. Indeed, Perez's script draws off of the headlines of today - particularly the slow death of the American newspaper as well as the Newscorp Phone-Hacking Scandal - and showcases the many problems that both Clark Kent and Superman are powerless to solve, such as monopolization, systematic corruption of the media and, of course, Clark's love life or lack thereof.

As the issue opens, the original Daily Planet building has been demolished with the company having been bought by billionaire and CEO of Galaxy Communications Morgan Edge. Most of The Planet's crew have happily jumped ship and taken up new positions, including Lois Lane - the new Executive Producer in charge of coordinating the digital and television wings of the newly formed Planet Global Network. Clark, for his part, is highly skeptical of his new boss's business practices but is sticking with his job as a reporter in the print division lacking any other options. The issue splits focus between Superman attempting to stop a robbery only to wind up facing some sort of strange fire creature as Lois tries to cover the alien attack from a control booth and butts heads with both the scandal-minded Edge (who cares more about getting good footage than his employees' lives) and a news anchor who seems to want to spin every story to make Superman look bad.

I had to double-check the credits page to make sure that George Perez didn't do the artwork in addition to the writing on this book. He did do the breakdowns, which may explain why this issue looks so much like one of his old Wonder Woman comics. I don't know if artist Jesus Merino was intentionally aping Perez's style, putting scads of tiny details into every single panel no matter how small or trivial, but it looks good regardless. Merino fills every panel to the brim with action, making even the scenes in the newsrooms seem exciting.

I've never been a big Superman fan but between Action Comics and this book, I may become one yet. Perez introduces us to the characters and establishes their world masterfully and does a great job of making the world of Metropolis seem timely yet timeless with Merino's artwork captures that world perfectly. All in all, this is a solid read for all fans of The Big Blue Boyscout and anyone who has ever wanted to believe that a man can fly.