Mystic (2011 Series) #2

October 6, 2011

Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Pencils: David Lopez
Inks: Alvaro Lopez
Colorist: Nathan Fairbairn
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover Artist: Amanda Conner & Paul Mounts
Editor: Jeanine Schaefer
Publisher: Marvel Comics/CrossGen

Sucks to be Genevive right now. She’s always wanted to move up from her humble status as a maid and join the ranks of the apprentice magicians. But not only was Genevive not chosen, her friend Giselle was. As Giselle tries to deal with snooty, uptight apprentices that don’t think she belongs in the academy, Genevive finds herself falling in with a group that is firmly opposed to the magical academy, planning a resistance movement. Both girls are in places they never wanted to be, neither of them are happy, and Wilson is doing a fine job of milking the drama out of the situation. This book really has left the original Mystic series far behind, staking a claim as its own entity and making a damn strong case for anybody who wants to follow it. This is a clever world, one that has a similar flavor to many other fantasy realms, but at the same time, presents us with a unique set of circumstances. David Lopez and Albaro Lopez are doing wonderful work on the artwork, with pages that almost look like still animation frames captured for the comic book. And as always, an Amanda Conner cover is one of the best enhancements any comic could have. Out of the resurrected CrossGen titles, I think this is probably the best one so far.

Rating: 8/10

The Last Resort #1

July 18, 2009

The Last Resort #1 (IDW Publishing)
By Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Giancarlo Caracuzzo, Amanda Conner

One could easily make the argument that we’re inundated with zombie comics these days, but as long as we’re getting a good one, I really don’t mind. The first issue of The Last Resort is a pretty good one. It reads very much like the first act of a movie. There’s an opening scene where someone clearly infected with a zombie virus washes up on the shores of a tropical resort, then we switch to New York City, where a fairly large cast of characters — most of whom have no relation to one another — are preparing to board a plane to that same resort. The issue is mostly about establishing these various people and getting them there in time for the big cliffhanger ending. As such, the zombie action is fairly limited in this first issue, but there’s a lot of good comedy and character development, as well as a pretty big shocker at the end. Giancarlo Caracuzzo handles the art here, and it’s pretty good. His line work is fine, although the color palette is a little more muted than the tone would seem to indicate is proper. Still, if you like zombie comics, this is one worth checking out. If you feel burned out on them, take look anyway, because this is different enough to be worth your time.
Rating: 8/10

Power Girl (2009 Series) #1

May 9, 2009

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: A New Beginning

Power Girl flies solo!

Writer: Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti
Art: Amanda Conner
Colors: Paul Mounts
Letters: John J. Hill
Editor: Brian Cunningham
Cover Art: Adam Hughes (Cover A); Amanda Conner (Cover B)
Publisher: DC Comics

Few characters have had as tumultuous time out of DC’s recent rash of Crises than Power Girl. She finally uncovered the truth about her origins – that she was, in fact, Kara Zor-El of Earth-2. She finally got back home to Earth-2 only to find that yet another version of Kara had replaced her there. Oh, and sometime in the interim, she became the leader of the Justice Society of America. Now, having finally established the identity of Power Girl, our heroine decides it’s time to go back and reestablish her civilian identity, Karen Starr. It’s hard to get a philanthropic research organization off the ground, however, when you’ve got to drop everything and save Manhattan Island from an invasion of gigantic homicidal robots.

This first issue really lays out the challenge of this series very well. Between Infinite Crisis and Justice Society of America, Power Girl as a hero has finally been firmly established in the DC Universe as the top-level heroine that she should be. But right now, she only exists as a superheroine. It’s up to Palmiotti and Gray to tell us who Karen Starr, the woman behind the spandex, really is. This issue sets up a lot of stuff, but before we get too deep, the action begins.

There’s a lot of really great action, and Amanda Conner was born to draw this comic book. Her Power Girl looks fantastic, and Paul Mounts colors compliment the line art flawlessly. The fight scenes are bold and dynamic, and the design of the evil invaders is great – freaky and unearthly. Everything bubbles up to a really solid cliffhanger.

My only real problem with the issue is that there isn’t quite enough of the character stuff. Sure, this is the first issue and we want to start with a bang. It’s exciting, and it’s fun, and those are two things Power Girl needs to have in high quantities. I still feel like we needed a bit more of a foundation, though. Hopefully, future issues will address this – it really does seem like the writers have it thought out and have planned the personal life stuff. We just didn’t get enough of it here.

Still, though, for what we get it’s a really fun, exciting first issue. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a nice, long run. Power Girl deserves no less.

Rating: 8/10