Injustice: Gods Among Us - Year Four Annual - A Review

Not everyone who fights the tyranny of Superman does so under Batman's banner. There are many metahumans who work smaller and subtler, including a young shape-shifter whose luck finally ran out. Yet The Justice League is reluctant to lock him away as they have so many others.

Why?  Because this shape-shifter is the son of one of their own - a hero who refused to join them but neither worked against them. A hero who was once a criminal but reformed after the accident that gave him phenomenal powers. A hero who is potentially the most dangerous man in the world - Plastic Man!

No, really!  We are talking about Plastic Man! And to make things right for the son he was never there for, Plastic Man will do the unthinkable and break open the most secure prison ever built.


Tom Taylor is back for one issue but it's like he never left. He perfectly captures the specific humor of Plastic Man - not an easy feat - but also displays an ingenuity and creativity in utilizing the character's powers not seen since the Joe Kelly run of Justice League. You really believe Plas is as big a threat as the JLA make him out to be and realize that, as Plas himself once noted, "I only play dumb." And, this being a Tom Taylor story, there's some truly touching moments and amazing insight into the darker side of Patrick O'Brien's character amid the comedy.


The artwork for this issue is suitably comedic and epic in equal scope. Three different artists contributed to the pencils, inks, layouts and finishes but you'd never know it without the credits page. Sergio Sandoval and Jordi Tarragona do a fine job of building upon what Bruno Redondo starts and the final artwork looks fantastic throughout.

The most amazing thing about this issue is its accessibility. Despite being part of a long-running series, you can pick up this issue and not have to worry about being confused. Everything you need to know about this alternate Earth is explained within the first few pages. So if you haven't given the world of Injustice a shot, now's the perfect time to see what you've been missing.

Arrow #30 (Web Comic) - A Review

Patient Zero, this week's web comic, allows Arrow to do its' own spin on the Outbreak style of medical thriller.  A virus as lethal as it is rare starts to wind its' way through The Glades, getting Team Arrow's attention even before the rioting begins.  It's up to Ollie to keep the streets safe while Felicity tries to find the common link between all the victims of the disease and uncover the identity of the "Typhoid Mary" who may be spreading it intentionally. 


Mary Iacono's script is fast-paced and riveting.  This issue does give us the closest thing the series has yet to an actual super-powered villain and an incredibly plausible idea for how a Poison Ivy-style villainess with a deadly kiss could work within the reality of Arrow.  We also get to see Ollie use a new trick arrow that is not outside the realms of possibility in the show's more realistic setting.


The artwork by Sergio Sandoval, apparently inked by the artist himself this time, proves equal to the fine script.  Unlike previous issues where Sandoval's pencils were over-saturated in shadows, this artwork here is clear and bright when it should be.  Sandoval is particularly skilled in capturing the likenesses of the show's regular cast, though Oliver does seem to lose his beard in some panels.  Despite this minor issue, I'd definitely recommend Arrow #30 as being worth the download.

Arrow #22 (Web Comic) - A Review

The Arrow episode Dead to Rights left fans with many questions heading into the show's brief break.  One of these questions involved the assassin Deadshot and how he survived his apparently lethal injuries from the show's third episode.  Back From The Deadshot answers this question, depicting the events that occurred between The Hood leaving Deadshot for dead and his recruitment by China White to assassinate Malcolm Merlyn.

 

The script by Wendy Mericle and Ben Sokolowski is packed full of action.  Deadshot is established as a deadly combatant apart from his skill as as a sniper.  This marks him as something different and more dangerous than his DC Comics counterpart, who was a pure gun bunny.  Yet there's plenty of nods to the original Floyd Lawton, as we see signs of this Deadshot having a death wish and a fondness for good cigars and booze. 


Sergio Sandoval and Pol Gas continue to impress with their atmospheric artwork  Gas expertly shades each panel, creating something that looks shadowy and mysterious without being saturated in black.  Sandoval's figures are crisp and clear and the action flows smoothly from panel to panel.

This story isn't absolutely essential but it's a good read and well worth downloading..  The artwork is fantastic and the story well-paced.   I'd recommend it for all fans of Deadshot as well as all the Arrowheads who like to know what the villains are up to off-panel.  

Arrow #18 (Web Comic) - A Review

Arrow #18 gives us another flashback look at the life of The Lance family.  Set sometime just after Sara Lance's disappearance and presumed death, we find that Laurel is about to undergo a series of mock trials - the final test before being awarded her law degree.  This would be stressful enough without the revelation of Sara's death, Laurel's discovery that her boyfriend (also presumed dead) had been cheating on her with her sister and her mother walking out on both her and her father. 

Needless to say Laurel needs her father's support more than ever, but Quentin Lance is equally troubled.  Not only by the death of his daughter and the collapse of his marriage but by a sudden break in a cold case involving a dormant serial killer he was never able to catch.  Faced with a chance to finally nail "the one who got away", will Quentin ultimately keep his promise to be there for his daughter at one of the toughest times in her life?



The script by Mary Iacono and Tiffany Williams is enjoyable despite indulging in every single cliche of crime fiction.  The serial killer is ultimately tracked down by analyzing the mud he left at the scene of the crime and the police even call him "The Night-Stalker", for crying out loud!  Still, the drama as Detective Lance goes into Javert mode is thrilling and this issue is a great analysis of his character.  There's also quite a bit sly humor regarding Quentin, on the show at-least, apparently being one of the only two detectives in Starling City as Quentin's partner says "You don't have to be the one catching all the bad guys."


Sergio Sandoval is proving quite the phenomena.  Out of all the artists to work on Arrow, he easily does the best job of caricaturing the cast.  Quentin and Laurel look just like Paul Blackthrone and Katie Cassidy, which is the best you can hope for in a comic based on a live-action property.  The action scenes are also laid out well.  Pol Gas does a perfect job on the inks, outlining and emphasizing the shadows without drowning the page in ink.

Enjoyable despite it's flaws, Arrow #18 is easily worth the one-dollar download.  It's a must-read for all fans of Quentin Lance's character as well as fans of true-crime thrillers and Arrowheads.

Arrow #13 (Web Comic) - A Review

Arrow #13 sees Ollie taking another trip out of the country - this time traveling to the city of Shanghai.  He takes care of his business with a local drug lord easily enough but quickly finds himself being drawn into local politics after seeing a boy being harassed by the police.  Believed by the boy to be an agent of Xuan Wu - a Shinto deity known as The Mysterious Warrior - Ollie agrees to play Robin Hood for the boy and save his family from the corrupt police sergeant who has been extorting them for months.


The script by Tiffany Williams is as informative as it is fun.  I consider myself something of a mythology geek but I must confess that the deities of Shintoism are a blind-spot in my education.  Reading up on Xuan Wu, I can't help but marvel at what a brilliant choice it is tie him to Green Arrow.  In addition to the title "The Mysterious Warrior" (which is as good a description of Ollie in Arrow as I've heard anywhere), both of the myths involving Xuan Wu's origin mirror Ollie's own character.  One involves a noble prince who was moved by the suffering of the common people and chose to fight to help them.  The other involves a hunter who killed without remorse before seeking redemption.  Even ignoring the mythology angle, Williams' script has some great character moments, including Ollie's perfect response to the idea of villains who do evil merely because they can.   


Sadly, the artwork by Sergio Sandoval and Pol Gas fails to live up to the promise of Williams' script.  As before, Gas drowns everything in ink, ruining the fine detail.  Then again, obscuring the details of Sandoval's pencils may be a mercy.  It's bad enough that Sandoval fails to properly caricature Stephen Amell, creating an Oliver Queen who looks like a middle-aged man in some panels.  But the story flow and visual storytelling are even worse.

Despite the sub-par artwork, I'd still recommend this week's Arrow as a worthy download at 99 cents.  The script by Tiffany Williams honestly is that good!  If you're an Arrow fan, this should help you cope with your cravings until the new episodes begin airing again in two weeks.

Arrow #8 (Web Comic) - A Review

Arrow #8 tells the story of three teenage boys who travel to Starling City hoping to get video footage of The Hood.  One of their group loudly expresses his disbelief that The Hood exists while another, Pat, has personal reasons for seeking The Hood out personally.  Thankfully, after the boys happen across a mob hit in-progress, the skeptic is quite happy to be proven wrong as the local vigilante shows up and saves them from certain death.


While being full of some great action sequences, the script by Mary Iacono and Wendy Mericle is rather weak.  The problem with stories like this one, where we see our main character through the point of view of another character, lies in establishing a point of reader/viewer sympathy for the spectator character.  It's rather hard to do this when two of our three teenage protagonists aren't given names!  Only Pat - the believer with a brother who The Hood saved - is given any personality beyond The Complainer or The Agent Mulder.


The artwork by Sergio Sandoval and Pol Gas is similarly troubled.  Gas' inks obscure more of the art than they highlight, even in the scenes that are meant to have good lighting.  And as in Arrow #5, Sandoval still has trouble depicting the characters in this book as resembling the characters from the show.  His take on Ollie looks more like Garret from Thief: The Dark Project than Stephen Amell. 

A larger problem is that some of the action in this issue is better suited towards a Vertigo title than a comic book based on a TV-14 rated TV show. I'm not squeamish but even I was shocked to see the depiction of an arrow going completely through a human head - something I can see this take on Oliver Queen doing in a fight but not something I'd expect to see illustrated in-detail in a comparably rated comic book.  Between that and the half-hearted characterization, I'm comfortable in saying that only the most devout Arrowheads need pick up this week's comic. 

Arrow #5 (Web Comic) - A Review

It was revealed at the end of "An Innocent Man" that a warehouse owned by Moira Queen held the wreckage of The Queen's Gambit - the ship that her husband Robert supposedly died upon.  She'd kept this secret from her husband Walter Steele, for reasons unknown.  The implication was that Moira was somehow involved in the "accident" that killed her husband and was hiding any evidence that the ship was bombed.

Arrow #5 reveals that the truth is far more complex and that while Moira is hiding many dark secrets from her family, her being responsible for her husband's death is not one of them.  This flashback story details Moira's own attempts to locate the ship's wreckage and find out who is responsible for murdering her husband with all the clues pointing to a mysterious figure who holds power over the Queen family.  The script by Wendy Mericle reveals all this and more (I've left some secrets intact!) at an even pace.

The artwork by Sergio Sandoval (who also did the art for Issue #2 of this series) is somewhat less serviceable.  Sandoval's artwork is as good as before, appropriately dark and moody with Pol Gas' inks emphasizing his pencils.  Sadly, Sandoval's characters bare little resemblance to the actors on the show and while I can venture a guess as to the identity of the mysterious man on the last page, the artwork is obscured enough that I cannot be certain.  Despite this minor setback, this is still an enjoyable issue and this series continues to impress.

Arrow #2 (Web Comic) - A Review

Subtitled 'Prey', Arrow #2 presents us with a rare mook's-eye view of superheroes in action.  Our point-of-view character is Scott Morgan - a corrupt civil servant who The Arrow gives six hours to confess his crimes to the police.  Naturally, he tries to go for a last-minute cover-up instead and hilarity (i.e. massive ass-kicking) ensues.



With a story by show creators Andrew Kreisberg & Marc Guggenheim, this story fits the tone of the show and the Grellian aesthetic well.  This Oliver Queen is more myth than man, striking terror into the hearts of evil-doers through sheer presence.  While comparisons to Batman are inevitable, Ben Sokolowski's script does an excellent job of conveying our villain's terror as he is faced down by an agent of justice his money cannot buy off and his hired goons cannot overpower.


The artwork by Sergio Sandoval lacks the fine detail of the Mike Grell artwork in last week's issue.  Nevertheless, it is effectively somber and moody, fitting the noir aspects of the story.  If anything, the artwork on this issue reminded me of Tony Harris' work on the early issues of Starman.

At 99 cents a download, Arrow is one of the best values for your dollar you'll find on-line.  If you're a fan of the show who is new to comics and you're looking for a good place to start reading, give this issue and last week's issue a look-see.