Blah Blah Blah Comics Blah (4/3)
Blah Blah Blah Comics Blah (4/3)
Apr 03Today, random notes on last week’s books. No, not this past Wednesday; the Wednesday BEFORE that. I think. Batman Confidential, Green Lantern, Mighty Avengers, and Project Superpowers (which is way older than last week, I know).
Batman Confidential #15 is a fine example of a good Batman story. I am an unrepentant fanboy for Batman, and so I find it to be perfectly acceptable in just about every way. After two incredibly shaky storylines, finally there’s some stability on this title, and I’m very much looking forward to the next arc as well, pairing Fabian Nicieza and Kevin Maguire.
There’s just one problem: What the FUCK is up with Jim Gordon’s hair?
Is that a bowl cut? Did he go to Great Clips and request the monk special? Is Guy Gardner doing hair design now?
Green Lantern #29 covers ground that has not only been done to death in the pages of this series, but has been covered by other series, at other times, in other ways. It’s just hard to get excited about it, even with Ivan Reis on pencils. It’s also getting to be a bit annoying that every damn event related to Green Lanterns over who knows HOW long has to relate back to some idea or another from the brain of Geoff Johns–so now Abin Sur’s death was caused by a character Johns just invented, as part of finding info on a major storyline Johns will soon write? Please. The first disappointing issue of this book in a long while.
If Brian Bendis sat down and really concentrated, I think he could have made Mighty Avengers #11 a great comic. TAs it is, it feels a bit of a mess, like he cranked out this script just to get it out of the way so he could move on to Secret Invasion stuff. I feel like this second Avengers book knows what it wants to be, but hasn’t quite achieved it yet. I find myself wishing for some kind of relatively stable art team, and a good long swath of non-event time, so that Bendis can give this title the attention it deserves–with all the dark manipulations in New Avengers, there’s ample room for a “fun” Avengers book, and this comes close once in a while, but never quite achieves it. Having said that, full props to Bendis for even the attempt on this one–a storyline that combines the Venom virus, time travel, and Doctor Doom deserves kudos for sheer ambition, if nothing else.
I liked Project Superpowers #0, but I have no clear idea why. Maybe it was the electric thrill of actually purchasing it from a real brick-and-mortar comic book store, after months of doing my sole funny book buying through an online retailer. It’s gotta be something, because it also annoyed me for the same reason that Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s work on Justice annoyed me: It is self-important claptrap with this lofty, almost biblical tone that stories of men in spandex almost never deserve. This time, though, I fell for it. The characters are intriguing, and the hook of the storyline is pretty clever, even if it’s all delivered in a pretty windbaggy style.
