I Have Issues for the Week of 10.28.09

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 reviews:

Ambush Bug Year None #7 (of 6)
Written by Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming
Art by Keith Giffen and Al Milgrom
Cover by Darwyn Cooke

This title continues to deliver comedy gold. If you are part of the “DC Nation”, then all the jokes are aimed at you. The inside jokes, and the tongue-n-cheek humor brought a smile on my face. The quizzical summary of the missing issue #6, and ensuing quest to get answers from Dan Diddio is priceless. My only complaint is that this book doesn’t come out enough, but since its comedy is dependent on the previously published events in the DC universe like the jokes about Blackest Night, I’ll have to be patient.

Invincible Presents Atom Eve & Rex Splode #1 (of 3)
story BENITO CERENO
art NATE BELLEGARDE & BILL CRABTREE
cover NATE BELLEGARDE & FCO PLASCENCIA
edited by ROBERT KIRKMAN

As a rule, most comic book spin-offs suck. Hell, most spin-offs suck. Side characters that were once mysterious and fun are flushed out into characters that are placid, and exemplify why they weren’t the title character. I feel Rex Splode had some potential to be a good spin-off, but missed the mark (Get it Invincible fans?….moving on). Rex is Image’s version of Gambit, the 1990’s X-man that fan-boys loved then, but hate now. Rex can charge things to explode, and in the original Invincible comics fights crime with his powers.

Without giving too much away, we encountered Rex early in the Invincible series, and he was the boyfriend of Atom Eve, the hot chick in the pink outfit who can molecularly remake items ala Firestorm. This book gives us the origin story on Rex, and ends with him meeting Atom Eve. For me, this first book was a repeat of several other origin stories of the “Unwanted kid who volunteers to have experimental surgery to escape his dull life” variety. I’m hoping that the story will evolve away from this drab storyline, and dive into the material us Invincible fans have been wanting to read, the tale of how these two became a couple, and what that relationship means to them both.

The art has room for improvement, with minimal backgrounds, and cartoonish proportions. Invincible is drawn in a cartoon style that doesn’t take itself seriously, but this particular book seems a bit too simplistic, and doesn’t help the 2nd rate feeling that this spin-off has. We’ll see if issue 2 can deliver, or if will be taken off air in favor of infomercials.

Justice Society of America #32
Written by Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham
Art and cover by Jesus Merino

This book is quickly sliding away from the cool collection of mentor-student super powered heroes track, and falling into the “I’ll read it in trade” story. I have enjoyed the works of Willingham and Sturges before, but this particular story is dragging in pace, and the audiences privy knowledge isn’t helping matters. We knew the King Chimera douchebag was the center of all this nonsense, and it has been frustrating to watch the heroes get up to speed in 2 issues. In relative comic book time, that may be 5 minutes, but it’s 2 months for the readers. Which is why I’m thinking this title might be dropped in issues, and I’ll grab it in trades. This writing crew is fantastic in the Fables world, but I found myself backing down to trades after the war with the Adversary was over, and after issue 6 with Jack of Fables.

Art-wise, this book has heavy inking, and the crossed lines used for shadow effects make me feel like the book feel like it was rushed out the door. I’m not sure if I’ll hang in there for the resolve to this story, but I feel like the overall JSA is moving in a direction that will prompt me to catch up with it in trade.

Blackest Night Titans #3 (of 3)
Written by J.T. Krul
Art and cover by Ed Benes and Rob Hunter
Variant cover by George Pérez

The last 2 issues the Teen Titans have had their collective assess handed to them, and with Ed Benes’ art illustrating, that’s apparent. Finally in issue #3 the Titans are able to stumble upon a solution to save their island getaway/hideout/headquarters, and perhaps start contributing to the crisis at hand. Eventually, Dove winds up taking the brunt of the fight, nullifying the undead Titan alumni attackers with the power of “peace”. Even though it’s a silly concept, I thought the solution was a good simple answer, and I’m looking forward to seeing it flushed out in the rest of Blackest Night.

Aside from the fabulous Tits & Ass shots of Ed Benes’ artwork (which I don’t disapprove of, but find distracting after a while) this story presented the danger the Titans would face if their beloved deceased were to rise against them, and wrapped up nicely. Frankly, it’s nice to see a story that Dove could contribute to without rolling my eyes, and small pockets of information and fun moments to read made this entire series fun to read. Naturally as a fan of the Flash, my favorite scenes involved Bart, but I’m anxious to leap from this series and into the rest of Blackest Night to see how Dove and the Teen Titans will help in this current event.

Green Lantern #47
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy
Variant cover by Ed Benes

The Blackest Night continues, and the small group of lanterns from the spectrum are gathering to eventually repel the darkness. In issue #47 the top lanterns Indigo 1, Hal, Sinestro and Carol finish the confrontation with Abin Sur, and rally to the Blue Lanterns in the nick of time. Meanwhile, Johns masterfully reminds us of the Red Lantern’s power as the Rage Corps fight their way through the Black Lantern hordes, unafraid to lose their hearts. Atroticus eventually escapes and winds up saving Larfleeze, and we are left with a wallop of a cliffhanger that teases what we already know. We just don’t know the “How”. The last two lanterns will have to meet up with Hal and the gang, and the Black Lanterns will be confronted on even terms.

One of the reasons why I took a while to write these reviews this week, was I kept rereading this issue and Blackest Night #4. Although Geoff Johns continues to get criticism on returning to the well, and not writing his own creative premises, I feel that his best talents of writing a large-scale story, balancing a multitude of characters, and keeping the story at a fast pace easily bury those catty comments as he makes this crisis his own masterwork. My favorite stories on my pull list are being written by Johns currently, and I hope he can keep it going for the duration. Mahnke’s art continues to illustrate the various corps beautifully as every lantern can be distinguished by their use of their ring’s powers, and fantastic layouts. Another bonus this book brings is that Johns has masterfully written a story that doesn’t spoil itself. The reader is in no danger of reading the books out of order, and ruining the story, these two threads are integral to the Blackest Night, yet they never get in the other’s way. Bravo.

Blackest Night #4 (of Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert
Variant cover by Ethan Van Sciver Sketch variant cover by Ivan Reis

At this point in the story, a reader normally finishes the book and thinks; well it’s all coming together, but Blackest Night is moving the predictability scale forward. The heroes know what they need to do, but the opposing forces are powerful enough to keep our heroes in check. At this point the Teen Titans have finally figured out how to escape their fight in their cross over, the Bat Family is racing for answers, and Superman is recovering from his own cross over.

After Book #3’s reveal that the entire spectrum of Lanterns needs to unite to fight off this particular dark menace, the Lanterns left Mera, Atom, and Flash behind to safeguard Earth until the Light Bright Brigade can return, and other heroes like Batman and Superman can recover from their tie-ins and contribute.

Flash winds up rallying the troops in a brilliant couple of pages, and as a beacon of hope, inspires the remaining heroes to stand their ground and try to hold things together until the lanterns can get the job done. It’s too bad the reveal at the end was spoiled by solicitations, but the book never lets up the relentless pace it has started with, and we the readers are still stuck with that sense of urgency, and curiosity to see how they will regroup, and overcome this crisis. Reis’ artwork continues to shine capturing the best moments in time to illustrate the emotion and energy in the story. I’m all in. I bought all the tie-in books so far with few reservations, and cannot wait to see how this all plays out.

Was there a book you read, and it wasn’t reviewed? Write one up, and we’ll post it! Got an opinion on the books this week? Post that in the comments page, and voice your opinion on the forums. Until next week readers, to be continued in the next issue……