Blah blah blah comics blah (12/7/07)
Blah blah blah comics blah (12/7/07)
Dec 07In which I attempt, yet again, to review single issues of comic books.
Batman #671 is part 4 of “The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul,” and at this point, it feels like this crossover is just too messy to hang together over individual issues. The individual books have a rough sense of their own identity, but the pieces just sorta meander together, and I find it hard to follow the story from installment to installment. Another problem may be that at this point in the tale, there’s pretty much no jeopardy; I guess Batman is helping Ra’s to save Robin and Damian, but wouldn’t it be faster to just beat the shit out of Ra’s henchmen and get on with his life? Or are Robin and Damian even still in jeopardy at this point? Furthermore, why is there a fountain of life in Nanda Parbat, but the Question went there and died of lung cancer? Will that be explained ever, and if not, how fucking stupid is that? I like Batman and Morrison enough to give this one a re-read once all the pieces are in my hands, but even as a weekly storyline, it lacks cohesiveness, and that makes it feel slight.
The Brave and the Bold #7 makes me wish DC would replace their current pasty balding Executive Editor with another pasty balding man. Mark Waid is one of a handful of people in the WORLD who understand modern superhero comics enough to walk the fine line between protecting major corporate properties and delivering exciting stories that both honor and challenge those properties. Sure, it feels a little “retro,” and it’s clear the industry and the audience has moved beyond this kind of storytelling…but imagine him in a role where he could oversee writers like Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and even Geoff Johns. In other words, he’s the ideal man to stand at the boundaries while other minds push against it. Shit, imagine a Waid-edited Countdown, freed from the awkward contortions of editorial fiat and senseless death and violence. Anyway, this is a great comic book; the characters ring true, the action is dynamic, it’s got Superman and Wonder Woman and Power Girl, and it’s fucking DONE IN ONE. Righteous.
Green Lantern Corps #18 is the penultimate chapter of the Sinestro Corps War, and yet it feels too…small? We get a decent fight between Sodam Yat and Superman-Prime, with the occasional bit of cringe-worthy dialogue for Prime (I get that he’s petulant, but petulance gets annoying real fast); flashbacks explore the background of Sodam Yat’s past. In the sense that it focuses on a single Green Lantern (now Ion) and delves into his personal mindset, it fits well with what this title should be doing; as the next-to-last part of a very major storyline spanning whole universes, I wish it wasn’t so intimate. The story calls for a real Agincourt moment, a “troops before dawn” kinda thing, or even just lotsa sweeping battles that shoot you straight into the last chapter and the BIG big battle. On the pure positive side, Peter J. Tomasi acquits himself well in his first issue as regular writer on this title, which means I’m looking forward to continuing to read it, and not at all missing Dave Gibbons (yet).
Marvel Atlas #1 is just way less fun than I hoped it would be. Not much more I can say. In general, these handbook-type items are something I always seem to want more than I enjoy, although the original Marvel handbooks and Who’s Who from DC have a nostalgic value. They do, however, ALWAYS make great toliet reading material.
