I Have Issues Picks of the Week 11.18.2009

I Have Issues is a comic book review on the previous week’s new releases. SPOILER WARNING: if you haven’t read your books yet, read no further. These reviews will be posted a few days after comic book release day to give you time to read them so that you can throw your two cents in about what you thought of these books. The picks are currently limited, due to the small selection available in my local comic book shops, but hopefully that will change in a few months. Feel free to visit the Giggaheim.com Forums and start your non-censored, no-holds-barred thread on your favorite books. On with the review

Flash Rebirth #5

Written by Geoff Johns
art and covers by Ethan van Sciver

This almost wasn’t my pick of the week. As a fan of the Flash I must say this Rebirth series has left me wanting a bit, but the last pages of issue #4 made me salivate for this issue. Instead of stewing in concern for the hero for 4-6 weeks, I was instead wondering how Thawn was going to come back from the inevitable beat down he was about to experience. But luckily, Johns flexed his abilities, and wrote a great speedster fight. It doesn’t top the best speedster fight of all time, it was a great moment in this story, and I cannot wait to revisit it after the series is done.

This particular issue finally addressed the issue of Barry’s parents and why that motivated him.  Johns writes on that slippery slope of time travel conundrums well, and we begin to see ramifications of speedsters with abilities like Thawn and Barry’s, and what they do when used for both good and evil. From a writing standpoint, the logic remains sound as this type of story could have only wrapped up in the last issue. When people threaten to alter timelines, and fight at the speed of light, the conclusion will be a whirlwind, and have a sense of finality.

So what happened in the issue? Why was it better than the other candidates this week? Well, this issue fixed many, many things that seemed so wrong with the Flash book for the past 3 years. I am a huge fan of Wally, and like many other readers, Wally’s run on Flash after Infinite Crisis wasn’t the strongest run. I didn’t mind THAT he had kids, but I just felt the book dragged because they had to be addressed time and again. The kids had aspects of the powers, and like the Legion of Super Heroes or X-men in the Marvel, they only had one real power. I was okay with all that, but on a selfish level, I had read about the future Kid-Flash Iris West in The Kingdom, and the Cobalt Blue storylines. This pigtailed Irish would be fun to read about, but she wasn’t a speedster. Iris West was just a shadow of the future we had seen. Jai seemed to freak people out by having muscles, but frankly I never noticed. I honestly liked the family dynamic I read in The Kingdom, and  wanted to read the stories that would fill int eh gaps between. Flash Rebirth #5 fixed the power problem, and Iris now has all the powers of a speedster, and is even Impulse now. Good fix Geoff.

One thing I was really curious about was “Wally’s New Look” that was hinted at when Ethan van Sciver would give interviews on Word Balloon or Newsarama. I was curious more than anything, but afraid that Wally would be altered yet again. When we got to the costume changes, I just kinda shrugged my shoulders. So what? I’m not sure I can speak for long-term readers, but we already knew this trick from Wally’s run when he began to embrace the speed force more and more, and  there didn’t seem to be a big difference in anyone’s costumes. Wally….still looked like the Flash with a Batman nose, Impulse looked like Impulse, Jesse Quick got a biit of a makeover, but I’m sure she’ll still be Liberty Bell in JSA.  What was new?

It was nice to see why the Reverse Flash is the top[ Flash villain. The rogues are fantastic, but there is reason that Flash fans feel that Reverse Flash is the top villain for the Flash, and this issue clearly illustrates that. Speaking of illustration, Ethan Van Sciver’s work on this book continues to shine. Ethan’s pencils accompany John’s story well, and that is no easy task to draw the fastest people alive. The effects of Jay’s Sound attack, and the running effects clearly helped tell the story. Despite the schedule on this book, van Sciver has joined the ranks of artists that I don’t mind waiting for.

Honorable Mentions

Adventure comics#4

Written by Geoff johns
co-feature written by Geoff johns and Michael shoemaker
art by Jerry Ordway
co-feature art by Clayton Henry
cover by Jerry Ordway and Francis Manapul
variant cover by Francis Manapul

I love Superboy Prime. I’ve been buying everything with him in it since he started culling the DC herd. And it was just a joyful romp to watch the super-brat that was imprisoned on our planet as a reader have to deal with the Blackest Night in this book. My only complaint was that this story was too short. SbP is a delightful exercise to see the author address the fan criticism, and break the 4^th wall. The artwork was a bit thick for me, which I’m not sure was the pencils or the inks, but I thought the heavy lines made the book a bit 1980. One thing I’ll also never understand is why computers are never illustrated for their time. I’m not sure who still uses a CRT monitor anymore, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen one, and I live in a part of Florida that is slow to adopt to modern technology. Good story, I’m looking forward to the follow up. The back-up Legion Story was good, but I was never much of a Legion reader. I loves the Crisis crossovers, but I wasn’t a fan of magic stories, or stories where the lovers wish they could touch. If I wanted that story, I’d read stories about Rouge.

Invincible #68

Story Robert Kirkman
art & cover Ryan Ottley & FCO Plascencia

At first glance, this issue is blah. Invincible fights a monster, and flies around with his girlfriend, but the Last page was one of those “HOLY SHIT” moments that makes me happy I buy Invincible monthly. The extra plotlines that are bubbling to the surface like Atom Eve’s Father, and Invincible’s growing apathy continue to make this book one of the best cape books being published today.  After the last page of this issue, I’m just as sure this will be a hell of thrill ride for the next few months.