H-E-R-O #14

March 8, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Ch-Ch-Changes Conclusion

Stuck in the body of Electro-Lass, what does a common construction worker do when his girlfriend is being held hostage and his best friend wants to marry him?

Writer: Will Pfeifer
Pencils: Leonard Kirk
Inks: Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors: JD Mettler
Letters: Ken Lopez
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: John Van Fleet
Publisher: DC Comics

Trapped in the body of Electro-Lass after using (and promptly losing) the H-Device, the former burly construction worker goes through a roller-coaster in this issue. His best friend tells him he’s in love with him, his girlfriend is being held hostage by a couple of muggers he took out last issue, and he still can’t find the only thing that could give him his own body back.

This issue really shows off the sort of stories you can tell in a book like this with no regular cast, focusing instead on a concept that leaps from character to character. The way this story unfolds and concludes could probably never be done with a continuing character. It makes for an original read that really shouldn’t feel as original as it does.

Will Pfiefer doesn’t skimp on the major subplot of this title either, giving us a scene with the original device-wielder Robby Reed that promises to start tying together the various tales that this book has told since issue one.

It’s always a pleasure to see Leonard Kirk penciling a comic book, and it’s a shame that he doesn’t have a regular series at the moment. He’s one of the most underappreciated artists in comic books – he always has good characterization, dynamic poses and strong storytelling. It’s only due to a quirk of his own (which he freely admits) that he’s no longer penciling JSA. This book only whets my appetite and makes me want more. Together with Wade Von Grawbadger and JD Mettler, they do great work on a comic book bereft of supervillains and with only a few characters in spandex at all (although there are plenty of energy effects which are done very well).

This is a solid book that tells interesting superhero stories that you just couldn’t get anywhere else. The subplot with Robby promises to really kick things into high gear very soon – if you aren’t reading this title, why not? You’re just depriving yourself of one of the smartest superhero comic books out there.

Rating: 8/10

Solo (2004 Series) #3

February 22, 2005

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: The Problem in Knossos and other stories

The works of Paul Pope!

Writer: Paul Pope
Art: Paul Pope
Colors: Jose Villarrubia, Dave Stewart & James Jean
Letters: John Workman & Ken Lopez
Editor: Mark Chiarello
Cover Art: Paul Pope
Publisher: DC Comics

As much as I love the basic idea behind this book, this issue and last haven’t really used the format to its fullest potential. Giving an artist 48 ad-free pages to go nuts and tell whatever kind of stories they want is a great idea, and Paul Pope’s artwork, for the most part, is quite good. But the stories don’t really go anywhere.

I do applaud Pope for straddling several different genres in this issue, however. The first story, “The Problem in Knossos,” is a pretty straightforward telling of the Greek myth of the Minotaur, from the circumstances of its conception to its bloody death. Beautiful artwork, but there’s no real new twist to the story to make you understand why he’s telling it again.

“Are You Ready For the World That’s Coming?” is a retelling of the origin of Jack Kirby’s Omac, one of his more out there science fiction comics. We start with a scrawny little guy named Buddy Blank who gets transformed into something fierce. Straightforward. Pope does a good Kirby riff in the artwork, but again, it’s nothing new.

“Life-Sized Monster Ghost” is probably the best story in the book. It’s a quick and seemingly autobiographical tale of a little boy who’s got big dreams about all those cheesy toys that used to be advertised in the back of comic books – which may not live up to expectations.

In “On This Corner,” Pope does the best art, but with the weakest story in the book. It’s the story of a runaway in a Will Eisner-esque setting, but there’s no meat to it. “Teenage Sidekick,” the last story, is similarly pointless. The Joker has captured Robin (Dick Grayson), and Batman has to save him. The story is an excuse to preach about each of the characters – it commits the cardinal sin of telling instead of showing.

This title, naturally, is a showcase for artists and not for writing, but the previous two artists who worked here hooked up with writers to help them out. Pope’s stories just plain missed the mark.

Rating: 6/10

DC Comics Presents Metal Men #1

August 1, 2011

Writers: Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Bob Haney
Pencils: Kevin Maguire, Tim Levins
Inks: Mark Farmer, Dan Davis
Colorist: Guy Major, James Sinclair
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano, Ken Lopez, Travis Lanham
Editor: Elisabeth V. Gehrlein, Dan Raspler
Cover Art: Kevin Maguire
Publisher: DC Comics

I do love the DC Comics Presents format – inexpensive collections of short story arcs, reprints of old original graphic novels, or in this case, collecting a series of back-up stories that would probably never fill out a graphic novel of their own. In fact, this collection of the Metal Men stories presented in the most recent series of Doom Patrol couldn’t even fill up the 100 pages, so DC tossed in a Metal Men story from 2000’s Silver Age event to fill up the book.

The Silver Age story, written by Bob Haney, is more a curiosity than anything else. In this event, the Justice League had had their brains forcibly switched into the bodies of their enemies, and the Metal Men teamed up with Batman (controlled by the Penguin) in a race to capture Felix Faust and Catwoman (really Green Arrow and Black Canary). This story, originally presented in Silver Age: The Brave and the Bold #1, is interesting, but seems to have been chosen primarily because it was drawn by Kevin Maguire, who drew most of the other Metal Men tales in this volume.

After that, we get into the short stories. The Metal Men have moved into a small town where they’re desperate to prove themselves assets to the community, despite the fact that nobody seems to want them there, they come under attack by the now-insane star of their favorite TV show, and none of them can seem to remember the name of their newest member (Copper). Giffen and DeMatteis, legendary for their comedic take on the Justice League in the 80s and 90s, bring that same comedic sensibility to these stories, and with their old artistic collaborator Kevin Maguire along for the ride, the comics couldn’t be better.

Were I judging this only on the basis of the story and art, the book would get a solid 9/10. But unfortunately, somebody made a drastic, terrible mistake. The page reproduction of everything after the Silver Age reprint is terrible. The pages are pixilated and blurry. In fact, the only thing that comes in clear are the words and text. This sort of production error would be disastrous even from a small press title, but in a book from DC Comics, it’s unforgivable. This should have been caught and fixed before the book ever made it to comic shop shelves, and the fact that it didn’t ruins what should have been an excellent reading experience.

Rating: 7/10

Identity Crisis #4

September 17, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Very Good

Sue Dibney… Jean Loring… who’s next?

Writer: Brad Meltzer
Pencils: Rags Morales
Inks: Michael Bair
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Letters: Kenny Lopez
Editor: Mike Carlin
Cover Art: Michael Turner
Publisher: DC Comics

This issue of Identity Crisis gives us a little bit of downtime. It’s mostly a building issue, centered on the least exciting but most important part of any mystery – gathering the clues and examining the suspects. Atom stumbles onto the scene of the latest attack, on his ex-wife Jean Loring. With the realization that the murder of Sue Dibney wasn’t an isolated incident, the heroes go into overdrive to trace down the clues and find the killer before he… or she… or they… strike again.

Although Green Arrow remains our viewpoint character for much of this issue, as he usually has in this series, we get to spend more time with the rest of our cast. Superman and Batman each get more “screentime,” Green Arrow pays a visit to an old friend, and we get more about the strange home life of Captain Boomerang. That’s probably the most telling scene in the issue – you’d have to be a dunce not to expect Boomerang to become vitally important by the time this series ends, because there’s simply no other explanation for spending so much time on him.

Perhaps the most effective scene is a simple interrogation where Ollie and Wonder Woman pay a visit to a b-list villain who may have answers. What makes it so effective, though, is that Diana is never fully seen in the issue – just bits and pieces of her. It makes her more imposing, more threatening, and that’s what she needs to be here.

Whether that’s a writer’s decision or an artistic choice I don’t know, but either way it works big time, as does the rest of Rags Morales’s art. My only real complaint earlier is Morales’s portrayal of Superman. It’s still uneven, but some scenes are quite good.

I suspect, as relatively quiet as this issue is, it will probe to be the most important to unraveling the secret of this mystery. The story goes everywhere and a real ton of information is imparted – plus it sheds light on many, many members of our cast. And the kicker is the last page, another shocker which may not be as immediate as the last few issues, but nevertheless sends the stakes much, much higher.

At seven issues, this issue marks the halfway point of this crossover. And I’m already prepared to call it the best crossover DC has done since the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Rating: 8/10

Enginehead #1

April 11, 2004

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: First Gear

A group of high-tech brains from across the DC Universe are brought together… but for what purpose?

Writer: Joe Kelly
Art: Ted McKeever
Colors: Chris Chuckry
Letters: Ken Lopez
Editor: Michael Wright
Cover Art: Ted McKeever
Publisher: DC Comics

The new high-tech adventure begins as a group of mechanically-minded geniuses – some familiar, some not – are gathered together from across the DC Universe. Although the book features such big brains as Superman’s old tech guy Emil Hamilton, the focus is on the relatively obscure (in fact, I can’t swear that this isn’t his first appearance) crook named Jackhammer. Each of these brains, and in our protagonist’s case that applies only to his mechanical aptitude, is being brought together to help with some massive project, the true nature of which isn’t even partially revealed until the end of the issue, and even then we are left with far more questions than answers.

Joe Kelly seems to be going for a sort of modern steampunk tone, a sort of grimy, low-tech science fiction series, and while we do start to get into the head of Jackhammer, we aren’t really feeling for him as much as we need to by the time the project begins and the end of the issue comes. This book isn’t a particular grabber.

Ted McKeever is a much bigger draw – he’s done great sci-fi comics from his own Metropol to things like Superman’s Metropolis, and this book keeps the tone he had his earlier projects. He and Kelly are the co-creators of this book, and McKeever’s contributions are evident and welcome.

This isn’t a bad book, but this first issue didn’t do enough to grab me. On the other hand, other recent DC projects like Hard Time took a few issues before they built up enough momentum to get in to, so it’s possible that a few months from now I’ll be looking forward to this title.

Rating: 6/10

Super Mario Bros. (1990 Series) #2

June 11, 2011

Magic Carpet Madness: John Walker, John Costanza, P. Zorito, Jade, The Gradiations
Museum of Plumbing: John Walker, Gina Going, Jacqueline Roettcher, Jade, Karen Merbaum
The Kingdom Enquirer: Bill Vallely, Mark McClellan, John Costanza, P. Zorito, Pat Brosseau, Andrea Brooks, The Gradiations
Koopa’s High School Yearbook: Bill Vallely, Mark McClellan, Kelly Jarvis, Rich Maurizio, Ken Lopez, Karen Merbaum
Publisher: Valiant Comics

Here’s a blast from the past for you. I recently stumbled across this classic in the cheap box at a comic convention. It’s easy to forget that there was a time these old Super Mario Bros. comics were hot collectibles, because they were in fact the first comics published by the once-hot Valiant Comics. Now you can get ‘em in a quarter bin, along with most other Valiant books, except those other Valiant titles would usually be much more worth your reading time.

At the beginning we see the first thing I hate about early Valiant – the way they lump all the credits together off to the side without actually telling us who did what. But past that, “Magic Carpet Madness” is a weak story. The king tracks mud through the palace, which leads to scrubbing the carpets, which leads to unearthing a flying carpet, which somehow turns Princess Toadstool into a punk rocker. I am not making this up.

“Museum of Plumbing” is a bit better. It’s a one-page gag featuring Luigi showing off… well, the Museum of Plumbing, which leads to a cheesy last-panel punchline, but at least it’s a joke that makes sense.

“The Kingdom Enquirer” is the best story in the book, which isn’t necessarily to say that it’s good, just better than the others. Toad decides he’s going to start up a palace newspaper, but his attempts at journalism quickly devolve into putting together a trashy gossip rag. The conclusion here is actually clever, and it’s that which raises this story up above the rest of them.

The comic ends with another one-pager “Koopa’s High School Yearbook,” which is just four panels in a yearbook format and a few gags thrown in. I’ll say this for the comic – the artwork is quite good. It’s very cartoonish and lively, and suits the Mario cartoons of the era. But it’s a good thing Valiant EIC Jim Shooter had the foresight to license the Gold Key heroes to start his own superhero universe, or else Valiant today would be even more of a footnote than it is.

Rating: 5/10

The Light Brigade #1

February 23, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good

An American regiment in World War II finds itself battling a far greater evil than they have ever known.

Writer: Peter Tomasi
Art: Peter Snejbjerg
Colors: Bjarne Hansen
Letters: Ken Lopez
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Cover Art: Peter Snejbjerg
Publisher: DC Comics

I knew nothing about this title before I looked at this week’s advance review comics, which makes me extremely grateful that DC slipped it into the batch. This is a very good, gripping horror/fantasy/war epic, and it’s one I’m anxious to see the next installment of.

Since the dawn of time there has been war between Heaven and Hell, with the blood of innocents as the currency that paid for the conflict. During World War II, a time where more innocents were dying than any point in history, that war spills out to the battlefields of Germany where a tattered unit of American soldiers is called upon to fight on the side of the light. We get real characters in this issue – a faithless soldier whose wife has died and taken his hope with it, an excitable young man whose love of comic books (specifically the Justice Society) compels him to fight on even in the face of real terror… each of these characters has a real reason to be in the story, and with three issues left, one can only imagine how much more Peter Tomasi is planning to do with them.

Peter Snejbjerg does a wonderful job with the artwork in this issue. From the snowblown battlefield of the real war to the celestial war that serves as the high concept for this series, everything looks perfect. Stark and realistic sometimes, bright and fantastic at others. There’s a scene where a regiment of deathless German soldiers advance on our heroes that’s truly terrifying.

If there’s any downside to this book, it would probably have to be that it would read better as a collected edition. This first issue has a good ending point, but it’s not a story that is entirely suited to the serial format. It may work better in one gulp. But fans of horror, war stories or religious fantasy have got to pick up this issue. Tomasi and Snejbjerg nail this one.

Rating: 8/10

Superman: Our Worlds at War-The Complete Collection TPB

April 17, 2011

Title: Our Worlds at War

Writers: Jeph Loeb, Joe Casey, Mark Schultz, Joe Kelly, Peter David, Phil Jimenez, Todd DeZago
Pencils: Phil Jimenez, Mike Wieringo, Doug Mahnke, Ed McGuinness, Pascual Ferry, Carlo Barberi, Kano, Todd Nauck, Mark Buckingham, Duncan Rouleau, Yvel Guichet, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ron Garney, Leonard Kirk
Inks: Marlo Alquiza, Andy Lanning, Jose Marzan Jr., Cam Smith, Keith Champagne, Tom Nguyen, Juan Vlasco, Wayne Faucher, Walden Wong, Duncan Rouleau, Mark Morales, Lary Stucker, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dexter Vines, Robin Riggs
Colorist: Wildstorm FX, Patricia Mulvihill, Jason Wright, Zylonol Studios, Tanya Horie, Richard Horie, Tom McCraw, Rob Schwager, Gene D’Angelo
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Comicraft, Ken Lopez, Janice Chiang, Bill Oakley
Cover: Ed McGuinness
Editors: Eddie Berganza, Mike McAvennie, Bob Joy       
Publisher: DC Comics

Comic book crossovers have been a staple of the form since the 1980s, and there have been more misses than hits. Sometimes, though, time passes and you forget how good a particular storyline was. That’s the case for me with the 2001 crossover Our Worlds at War.

In this storyline Imperiex, an alien Superman had fought some months before, was making Earth the target of his latest assault. It turns out Superman hadn’t fought the real Imperiex, but rather a “probe” sent out by a much more powerful biend, who had the intention of destroying Earth in part of an ongoing quest to wipe out… well… the universe. Superman, the Justice League, and pretty much every other hero on the planet assembled to go to war against the forces of Imperiex, and to do so they had to make some strange allies… Lex Luthor, then-President of the United States, and the dark god himself, Darkseid.

Although this book is labeled The Complete Collection, that isn’t strictly true. There are several crossover chapters and specials that were released in 2001 that aren’t part of this already-hefty omnibus. This book does collect all of the pieces vital to the main story, including the chapters of the assorted Superman titles, Wonder Woman’s book, those starring the members of Young Justice, and a few more for good measure. Not every chapter is that great, but a lot of them are. The story packs a surprising emotional punch, as we see Superman and his allies run ragged fighting a foe more powerful than they’ve ever fought before. Granted, that’s the tagline for virtually every crossover that’s published, but this time we really feel the stress, the strain they have to go under. We see heroes brought to the breaking point and several significant, meaningful deaths. (Unfortunately, virtually all of those deaths have been reversed in the decade since this story first saw publication, but it’s unfair to hold that against this volume, I think.)

The book does lean heavily on characters that were important to the Superman mythos at the time, such as Strange Visitor, who more recent readers won’t recognize at all. The changes that Steel goes through, as well, make for a strange little time capsule, and Supergirl is virtually unrecognizable from the current version. But the story as a whole is still engaging, exciting, and powerful. I’m really glad I picked up this monster omnibus and read this story again.

Rating: 8/10

For the record, this book collects the following individual issues: Action Comics #780-782, Adventures of Superman #593-595, Impulse #77, JLA: Our Worlds at War #1, Superboy (1994 Series) #91, Supergirl (1996 Series) #59, Superman (1987 Series) #171-173, Superman: The Man of Steel #115-117, Wonder Woman (1987 Series) #172-173, World’s Finest: Our Worlds at War #1, and Young Justice (1998 Series) #36.

JLA #100

June 29, 2004

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: Elitism

The Elite is back… and the world is theirs!

Writer: Joe Kelly
Pencils: Doug Mahnke
Inks: Tom Nguyen
Colors: David Baron
Letters: Ken Lopez
Editor: Mike Carlin
Cover Art: Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen & David Baron
Publisher: DC Comics

Okay, credit where credit is due – I was fully prepared for Joe Kelly’s origin story of the new “Justice League Elite” to go in one direction that I was prepared to thoroughly dislike, and he didn’t. He actually came up with a fairly reasonable origin story for the new team, an explanation of how it could get Justice League sanctioning and a decent launching point for the miniseries.

The Elite, a team of bloodthirsty anti-heroes, is re-formed by Vera Black (sister of their deceased former leader), with an ultimatum – the governments of the world must turn power over to them, because clearly, humans aren’t fit to govern themselves. This, naturally, sends the Justice League to the battlefield for a brutal fight sequence that turns out to be much more than it seems.

Kelly seems to want this new Justice League Elite to be a conspiracy theory superhero story, but the conspiracy he sets up in this issue is really trite and the conclusion of it is naïve at best, unrealistic at worst, and hard to swallow in any case.

Doug Manhke’s artwork is fine, and well-suited to the sort of story Kelly is telling here. He does good action, and the literally gargantuan battle scene that climaxes the issue looks extremely well-done… it’s the story itself that falls flat.

In truth, I’m probably being more charitable to this issue than I should be, but that’s because I expected it to be much worse than it actually was. It’s still not a great JLA story, not one that justifies placement in the 100th issue of this title. All these years later, I can’t help but look back at the first issue of Grant Morrison’s JLA where he brought the title back to its roots… brought in the “Magnificent Seven…” gave us good old-fashioned superhero action and showed why these characters are worthy of being known as the greatest superheroes not just in this world, but in any world.

Then I see this issue, which postulates that the JLA is out of date and old fashioned and not good enough, and it makes me think two things:

1. This is the same guy who wrote the brilliant “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?” in Action Comics #775?

2. (Sigh.) How the mighty (no, that’s the Avengers) – how the magnificent have fallen.

Rating: 6/10

Robin #123

February 17, 2004

Quick Rating: Great
Title: Nemesis

Robin and Spoiler face off against Johnny Warlock… and the unthinkable happens.

Writer: Bill Willingham
Pencils: Francisco Rodriguez De La Fuente
Inker: Aaron Sowd
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Ken Lopez
Editor: Michael Wright
Cover Art: Jason Pearson
Publisher: DC Comics

Now that’s more like it.

For the first two issues of Bill Willingham’s run on this series, I read okay stories, but kept waiting for the big “wow” moment I knew he was capable of. In this issue the waiting paid off big-time. Robin and Spoiler track down the mystically-powered Johnny Warlock. We get a big nasty fight with big fancy consequences.

The consequences are so nasty, in fact, that it seems obvious this issue is laying the groundwork for the much-publicized upcoming story arc in which Tim Drake quits being Robin, abandoning the costume and passing it to someone else. That story could only work if Willingham laid the groundwork and did it right, and this issue he did just that.

The artwork… I owe an apology to Rick Mays, who did the last two issues. I complained then that all of his characters looked like they were of Asian ethnicity. Well, this issue there’s a new penciler, and guess what? The characters still look Asian. So either Batman and Robin’s ethnic backgrounds were retroactively changed and I didn’t get the memo, or the off-model facial features are more likely the work of inker Aaron Sowd. I don’t know if a new inker will be coming into the series when Damian Scott takes over with issue #126, but I rather hope so.

DC has really been pushing the envelope with the graphic violence this issue. Both last week’s Aquaman and this week’s Outsiders featured some pretty nasty, bloody scenes, and this issue gives us the trifecta. This is the only one of those three books that carries a Comics Code stamp, however, and the violence isn’t quite as bad as those other two books, but it’s still sufficiently gruesome in one scene so as to stand out.

That one scene notwithstanding, this issue is heads and shoulders above the first two issues of Willingham’s run. He’s one of the best writers in comics as he proves in Fables every month, and I was really hoping he just needed to get his feet wet before this book started to pick up. With this issue, I think he proves that was the case.

Rating: 9/10