X-Men: Red #2 - A Review

Framed for murder before the entire nation, Jean Grey and her allies have claimed political asylum in Wakanda. Unfortunately, laying low while things are sorted out will not be an option once they are contacted by a technopath mutant named Trinary, who needs the X-Men's help escaping from a prison in India.


X-Men: Red #2 is somewhat stronger than the first issue in terms of plotting, given that the whole of the story is told without any flashbacks or jumps in time. As usual, the highlight of Tom Taylor's script is the interactions between his characters and his use of humor. He also does a fantastic job of establishing and introducing Trinary as a character.

The artwork isn't quite as strong, but Mahmud Asrar proves a capable partner. His character designs are memorable and the artwork looks fantastic in the close-ups, though the fine details seem lost past the middle distance. The color art is also fantastic, with some interesting blending effects in the issue's lightning.

It takes a lot for me to enjoy an X-Men comic. And I enjoy this X-Men comic.


 The Final Analysis: 8 out of 10.

Star Wars #3 (Marvel 2015) - A Review

Star Wars #3 is one big action sequence until it's last three pages. I mention this only as a preface to the following sentence.  By The Maker, this is one heck of an action sequence!

How awesome is this book?  Darth Vader single-handedly disabling an AT-AT Walker with his light-saber is only the second-most awesome thing that happens over the course of this issue.  That is the scale we are dealing with as far as this book is concerned.


John Cassaday displays this action with all the grandeur one would expect - both from Cassady himself and from the Star Wars franchise in general - and Laura Martin does a fair job varying the color palette as best she can given the limited coloration of a military outpost on a desert planet. The only real flaw in the artwork is that Cassaday sometimes goes too far in trying to capture the likeness of the actors from the original movies. As a result, the characters' expressions don't always match up with the emotion expressed in the dialogue.


Thankfully, these occurrences are few and far between. And despite the high-action content of this issue, Jason Aaron still finds a way to sneak in a few character moments for both Luke and Darth Vader as the issue progresses.  All in all, if you haven't been giving the new Star Wars book a shot, you should. This is more than simple nostalgia. This is everything space opera and comics should be.

Superman #38 - A Review

Despite the best efforts of Superman and Ulysses, the fourth-dimensional planet known as The Great World has been destroyed.  Now an enraged Ulysses has turned upon Superman.  And in order to save his adopted home-world, Superman must do the impossible and fight his former friend!


Geoff Johns is one of the best writers in the business and his love for Superman and the mythos of Superman has been clear throughout this arc.  Ulysses' story comes to a satisfying conclusion and Johns has a lot of fun with the idea of a new Super-power that Batman dubs "The Super Flare".  Yet the best parts of this issue are the little character moments, such as Clark Kent's hanging out with Jimmy Olsen and Alfred the butler's fretting over his inability to clean Kryptonian fabric.


John Romita Jr. is also considered to be one of the best artists in the American comic book industry and this issue shows why. There is a grittiness to JRJ's work that seems an odd fit for Superman yet somehow it works.  Why it works is unquantifiable but it does work.

Star Wars #2 (Marvel 2015) - A Review

The second issue of the new Star Wars book starts right where the first one left off, as our heroes attempt to blow up an Imperial weapons factory and escape with their lives.  There's just one thing standing in their way - Darth Vader! And to say that he is not amused would be putting it mildly.


Jason Aaron's script perfectly captures the feel of the films, for good and for ill.  Some of the dialogue is awkward but in a way that seems fitting to the characters (i.e. some of Darth Vader's grandiose speeches).  Still, there are enough good character touches to make up for it, such as Han's still refusing to believe in The Force even as Vader is taking apart the AT-AT Walker Han is piloting...with one hand!


The artwork is still top notch with John Cassaday doing a fine job of capturing the established characters and blocking the action.  Laura Martin's colors keep things vibrant, despite the dull, mechanical setting of the story. And Chris Eliopoulos makes even the letters and fonts of this book visually interesting!

Star Wars #1 (Marvel 2015) - A Review

Like most people my age, I was a fan of Star Wars growing up.  I had the original Kenner action figures, played pretend I was Luke Skywalker and wore out at least one video tape of the first movie. Yet somewhere along the line, despite still owning a plastic lightsaber, I became less fanatical about it.

Maybe it was the disappointment of the prequels.  Maybe it was the entire Expanded Universe being written off. Maybe it was a fandom that had somehow gone from holding Han Solo as the epitome of coolness to worshiping Boba Fett as the embodiment of bad-ass.

(Okay. So maybe one good thing came of the EU being sacrificed. But is losing Mara Jade really worth insuring that Boba Fett died as he was meant to - accidentally catapulted into a giant space anus?)

Regardless, I wasn't quite as hyped as some of my colleagues were about a new Marvel Comics Star Wars series.  At least, I wasn't before I picked up this first issue.  And suddenly my inner five-year-old was making WOOOSH noises while wielding a cardboard tube and squealing in glee inside my head.


The story opens sometime shortly after the end of Episode IV, with our favorite group of Rebels infiltrating an Imperial weapons factory with the intent of blowing it up. The good news is that - for once - the infiltration goes smoothly. The bad news is that what was meant to be a simple act of espionage suddenly becomes a rescue mission once the timer is already running...


Writer Jason Aaron perfectly captures the feeling of the classic Star Wars movies. Not only in how the story opens with a familiar opening scroll of yellow text and a long shot of a spaceship but in terms of how all the dialogue scans. You can almost hear the voices of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and company throughout the book.


Artist John Cassaday does a good job caricaturing the cast of the movie. Indeed, the only flaw to Cassady's work is how lifeless some panels appear, with more work being put into emulation of the famous faces than in conveying expressions.  Still, the action sequences are well-laid out and exciting. The colors by Laura Martin are well chosen. And Chris Eliopoulos's letters subtly enhance the dialogue.

Superman #37 - A Review

Superman #37 should not work nearly as well as it does. The shocking revelation at its heart isn't at all surprising nor is its conceit of a utopia with a hidden dark secret particularly original. Heck, at this point it would have been more original and surprising if the extra-dimensional home of newbie superhero and Clark Kent's new best friend Ulysses really was all it was promised to be.


So why is it that this comic is as good as it is despite a trite and cliche premise?  Simply because Geoff Johns understands Superman. And while this kind of story is Science Fiction 101, putting Superman into this kind of situation - where Superman is playing the skeptic against blind idealism - is a novel idea that works well within the context of the story.  Clark is a reporter by trade, after all, and a big part of Truth, Justice and The American Way is about seeking the Truth and dealing with it, no matter how ugly and uncomfortable it is.


The artwork is comparable to the story in that it is by-the-book by the standards of the team involved but that standard is a high one and the final product is enjoyable. John Romita Jr. isn't as famous for splash pages or background work as some artists but his work here is eye-catching and memorable.  The inks of Klaus Janson and Laura Martin's color further enhance things.

Superman #36 - A Review

Ulysses - strange visitor from another world, possessing powers far beyond those of mortal man - has come to the conclusion that humanity is doomed.  Unable to think of any way to turn his amazing powers toward fixing the world of his birth, he has instead elected to take six million people to the Fourth Dimension, to the better world which raised him. Naturally, this is a source of great concern to Superman, who is starting to wonder if the paradise which Ulysses spoke of is truly as grand as he claims.


Geoff Johns understands Superman as few writers today do.  His Superman is the epitome of hope and idealism, as he should be.  Johns also realizes the importance of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen to the oeuvre of Superman and does a fine job using them to explore the problems with Ulysses' promises from another perspective.


What can I say about the art of this book that hasn't been said already?  John Romita Jr. is in fine form here, with inker Klaus Janson giving the finished art a much lighter touch than usual, as befits the lighter and brighter aesthetic of Superman compared to other projects JRJ and Janson collaborated on in the past.  This vibrant feeling is further enhanced by the colors of Laura Martin.

Superman #35 - A Review

There is a moment early on in Superman #35 where Lois Lane declares that "The Daily Planet is finally getting interesting again."  It's a bit of sarcastic meta-commentary on the part of Geoff Johns and Lois Lane is the perfect person to voice the sentiment. Ever since the New 52 reboot, there has been precious little of The Daily Planet staff in the Superman books and very little was done with them the few times they did show up. Lois Lane in particular was reduced in stature, transformed from Clark Kent's friendly rival to a mean girl who kept ignoring nice-guy Clark.


To paraphrase a line from Mark Waid, most of the recent Superman comics put more emphasis on "the Super" over "the man". That is entirely the wrong way to write a Superman story. Geoff Johns knows this and the current "Men Of Tomorrow" arc has centered less upon thrilling action sequences and more upon Clark Kent, as he attempts to teach the technically-human but totally-alien hero Ulysses about morality and what it means to be human. We still get some thrilling action, of course, but the focus is on the spirit of Superman - the friend who always there to help.


Thinking on it, that may be why John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson and Laura Martin were selected to be the art team for this particular story.  JRJ has a well-deserved reputation for being able to put a great deal of heart and energy into scenes of two people just talking.  Colorist Laura Martin modulates the palette subtly throughout the issue, with Superman's usual bold costume colors becoming more muted in the quieter moments. And Klaus Janson does his usual stellar job in making the bright moments all the brighter through creative shadow construction.

Superman #34 - A Review

A quick comment upon the cover of this issue.  I was less than enamored of the Selfie Variants that each DC Comics title had this month.  I disapprove of variant covers as a general rule and felt that this gimmick did not work for a lot of characters.  That being said, this one is damn good and a perfect send-up of the concept and the characters involved.  Because Jimmy Olsen would totally do this in the middle of a battle.


Curiously, Jimmy Olsen and the rest of the Daily Planet crew are absent from this issue.  The focus is once again upon Ulysses - strange visitor from another dimension, who has turned to Superman for guidance as he finds himself in what turns out to be the world of his birth.  The first part of this issue continues on from last month's closing revelation - that Clark Kent was able to track down Ulysses' scientist parents and uncovered the truth of how they sent him away in circumstances that mirror what Clark's own birth parents did to save his life.

Geoff Johns is in fine form here and the better part of the issue is spent explaining Ulysses's background and exploring the growing friendship between himself and Clark.  It is a slow story but it is still an enjoyable one and the reader feels Clark's subtle joy at having helped someone get the family reunion that he can never have.  There's also a bit of humor in how Clark is still a more human person than Ulysses, who thinks nothing of coming into Clark's apartment at night to watch him sleep because he had a sudden bout of curiosity regarding why he didn't need to sleep when Clark does and whether or not Superman dreams as normal humans do.  But worry not, action fans - the two heroes do team up against a new villain by the issue's end!


Unsurprisingly, the artwork by John Romita Jr.and Klaus Janson is as good as one would expect.  The action, once it starts, is well displayed but JRJ is just as capable of rendering the softer, quieter moments that this script requires..  The coloring by Laura Martin is also praise-worthy, with a variety of palettes being used throughout to subtly indicate the story's multifarious settings.