Superman: Birthright #5

November 2, 2003

Quick Rating: Great

A new-to-Metropolis Superman is re-introduced to Lex Luthor.

Writer: Mark Waid
Pencils: Leinil Francis Yu
Inks: Gerry Alanguilan
Colors: Dave McCaig
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover Art: Leinil Yu & Gerry Alanguilan
Publisher: DC Comics

This issue serves very well to serve my theory that Superman: Birthright is Mark Waid’s attempt to create a bridge between current DC continuity and the wildly popular Smallville television series. And you know what? I’m fine with that.

Superman, on his first day of working as Clark Kent at the Daily Planet, thwarts an invasion of Metropolis by a squadron of black ops-style helicopters that leads him to an old acquaintance. The confrontation between Superman and Luthor does not fit in the post-Crisis continuity, but it would be perfectly in-character between Tom Welling’s Clark and Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex ten years in the future.

Yu continues to impress with pencils that, at times, seem reminiscent of Walter Simonson, especially with the impressive ways he visually displays some of Superman’s non-visual powers, such as a sequence where we “see” him isolate a radio signal that he’s actually picking up with his super-hearing. Despite such similarities, though, Yu’s style is all his own and he is deservedly on his way to becoming the next comic book superstar.

If you know someone who watches Smallville but has never read a Superman comic book, here’s your chance to hook them. Hand them the first five issues of Superman: Birthright and say, “here’s what’s going to happen to them.” They will not be disappointed.

Rating: 9/10

(2010 Note: Of course, in the years since this review was written, Superman’s history has been re-written yet again, and Smallville has gone in totally different directions. Still, for the time, I think my comments were valid.)

Fantastic Four #513

May 16, 2004

Quick Rating: Great
Title: Spider-Sense Part Two & Best Left Forgotten

The Human Torch and Spider-Man face off against Hydro-Man – and the Torch’s reputation is at stake!

Writer: Mark Waid
Pencils: Mike Wieringo & Paul Smith
Inks: Karl Kesel & Paul Smith
Colors: Paul Mounts
Letters: Randy Gentile
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover Art: Mike Wieringo
Publisher: Marvel Comics

The Human Torch/Spider-Man friendship is one of my favorite pairings in comic books, and Mark Waid does a great job of keeping the classic feel of the team-up. Last issue the Torch, concerned about his deteriorating public image, turned to Spidey to ask how he copes with being maligned in the public eye. Their little chat turned into a slugfest with Hyrdo-Man in the middle of the water park, and when we last left our heroes the Torch was wet, naked and about as embarrassed as a superhero can be.

This issue is a great flat-out comedy, with the two top heroes taking on the loser villain, the kids at the park freaking out over the naked guy on fire and a side-splitting one-panel cutaway with the Thing watching the whole thing on television.

Waid manages to work in a little plot progression as well, with the reappearance of an old FF villain in a one-panel silhouette (anyone who’s familiar with the history of the team should be able to pick the character out by his outline), but the whole thing is basically funny, and I love it for that. In a short back-up story, Sue winds up on a mission with Reed’s old Lara Croft-like ex-girlfriend. It’s a little bit of turnabout for her frequent flirtation with Namor but it also helps to flesh out both characters a bit.

Mike Wieringo has really make this book his own. He draws the best Fantastic Four I can ever remember seeing, and he does a pretty dandy job on Spider-Man as well. Paul Smith, who handles the back up, also does a good job with Reed and Sue, giving them more of a classic look.

Month in and month out, this is one of my favorite comic books. It has my favorite Marvel characters, a writer who knows the team like few ever have, and an art team that does a masterful job with the characters. If you’re not reading this comic book, you’re just plain wrong. There, I said it.

Rating: 9/10

Y, the Last Man #16

November 16, 2003

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Comedy (Comedy and Tragedy Act One)

A group of roving actresses in the world without men make an interesting discovery.

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Pencils: Paul Chadwick
Inks: Jose Marzan Jr.
Colors: Pamela Rambo
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Will Dennis
Cover Art: J.G. Jones
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo

Vaughan veers away from the main storyline in this issue, although the issue seems to have a clear tie-in to the story of Yorick, the last man on Earth. A group of women who have been traveling the country performing plays find themselves caught in a struggle between their desire to present the rest of the women on Earth with a form of escapist entertainment and their urge to use the arts to confront the reality of the new world around them.

Vaughan has spent a lot of time focusing on the social and political aspects of a world where all of the men suddenly die, but this issue is the first time he’s stopped to look at what happens to the arts in such a world. Even though our hero doesn’t make an appearance in this issue, this does not feel like a fill-in or a sidebar. Instead it feels like a look at another part of this strange world, a piece of the larger puzzle that this title really is.

Paul Chadwick does a good job as guest artist in this story arc, although some of the night scenes are a little rough and serve to recall the more “independent comics” style he usually employs in books like his own Concrete. I would be remiss not to mention what a great cover J.G. Jones provides for this issue, with Ampersand the monkey doing his best “Hamlet” for us and a clever design that mimics a theatrical playbill.

This probably isn’t the best place for a new reader to come on board this title, since you can’t understand what the actresses really find without having read earlier issues of the book, but it is a good, solid chapter in this ever-unfolding science fiction mystery.

Rating: 7/10