JLA #101

July 13, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Man of Steel (Pain of the Gods Part One)

A new hero arrives on the scene… but are good intentions enough?

Writer: Chuck Austen
Art: Ron Garney
Colors: David Baron
Letters: Bat Brosseau
Editor: Mike Carlin
Cover Art: Ron Garney & David Baron
Publisher: DC Comics

No, your eyes do not deceive you, I’ve actually given this book a good rating, because frankly, it actually deserves it. Chuck Austen is the next writer to tackle the “rotating creative team challenge” of JLA with his “Pain of the Gods” story arc, six issues, each focusing on a different member of the Justice League, and Superman is up first.

Responding to a routine call at a burning building, Superman zips into the inferno to find a new superhero trying to help. But sometimes, superpowers and a good heart simply aren’t enough.

This Superman is bold and compassionate, not displaying any of the bravado or cockiness that has characterized Austen’s Action Comics run this far. This is Superman, simply put, the way he should be written. If I didn’t know better I’d never believe the two titles were done by the same writer. Except for an overly-dramatic temper tantrum at the end, this book handles big blue very well. If Austen wrote Superman this way in Action Comics, I would be far more charitable towards the title. He even ends with a nice little hint of where the story is going, which is actually a pretty good idea.

Ron Garney is at the top of his game this issue. I’ve been a fan of his since his Captain America days, and while he’s had his ups and downs since then, this is definitely an up. He nails Superman, which isn’t easy to do since so much of the issue takes place at night, in the dark. Superman is an inherently bright character, and it takes a skilled hand to make him look right while he’s in the shadows. Garney does it.

It seems a little superfluous to do a series of spotlight stories in the team book of a bunch of characters who have their own solo titles already, but for a start, this wasn’t bad. I may go so far as to say it’s the best Chuck Austen comic I’ve ever read. It’s certainly a step up from the mess of Joe Kelly’s last year on the title or the abysmal Peppy the Alien arc, although it hasn’t quite matched the very good run that other former X-Men creative team did for six issues. (Some people didn’t like the Claremont/Byrne run. I did.)

But overall, it was a solid issue. Trust me, friends, no one is more surprised than I am that I’m going to give this issue of JLA a thumbs up.

Rating: 7/10

Ozma of Oz #5

April 29, 2011

Novel By: L. Frank Baum
Writer: Eric Shanower
Art: Skottie Young
Colorist: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry
Cover: Skottie Young
Editor: Sana Amanat
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Continuing my love affair with the Shanower/Young adaptations of L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, Ozma of Oz #5 finds Ozma, Dorothy and their friends on the long road to find the Nome King, who has the royal family of the land of Ev in his clutches. With the way barred by an enormous mechanical man and a powerful mallet, it seems they may have to turn back – unless some among them can find the courage to go on. As I’ve stated before, Ozma of Oz is, in fact, my favorite of the original 14 Oz novels, and we’re getting into some of my favorite scenes now. The rush to get past the giant robot is cute, and Young’s portrayal of it is really magnificent. The journey into the kingdom of the Nomes is really inventive and imaginative as well. Young’s depiction of the Nomes themselves and their kingdom as a whole is very different from any other interpretation of these characters or this part of their world I’ve ever seen. It’s something wholly his own, and it’s all the better for it. The book is full of energy, life, and fun, and there’s no better tribute anybody could offer to the creations of L. Frank Baum. I don’t know if Marvel is planning to continue their versions of the novels after this one – and in fact, once you get this far reading the novels you start to become victim of the Law of Diminishing Returns. But if anybody could take those lesser novels and make them into something worth reading, this is the creative team to do it.

Rating: 10/10