Aquaman (2003 Series) #19

June 8, 2004

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: American Tidal Part Five

The reason for San Diego’s destruction is revealed, and Aquaman has to decide what to do about it.

Writer: Will Pfeifer
Pencils: Patrick Gleason
Inks: Christian Alamy
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: Alan Davis & Mark Farmer
Publisher: DC Comics

And it was going so well, too.

When Will Pfeifer took over this title four issues ago, he presented a new take on Aquaman, a shocking storyline and a real sense of excitement that the character has been lacking for a long time. And all of that is still there – this is a much more interesting Aquaman than we’ve seen in a very long time. But this issue falls apart anyway.

Why? Because when the villain’s plot, the reason he sank the city of San Diego is revealed, the whole thing turns out to hinge on a bit of alarmist junk science – and not comic book science, but junk science from the real world that turns out lots of lousy disaster movies and even worse books. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just the bad guy concentrating on the junk science, but Aquaman buys into it too, and one would think he’d be more rational about the whole thing.

The minute I realized where this issue was going I was disappointed, but I kept reading anyway, because the rest of the gems are still there. This is a solid interpretation of Aquaman and I’ve even come to like and care about Lorena, the San Diego survivor that has accompanied him on his quest to find justice.

Patrick Gleason doesn’t get as much chance to show off his artwork this issue, as most of the book takes place in the villains’ lab without much action – it’s a talking heads issue without any great backgrounds or underwater scenes to set it off. Still, he draws a good Aquaman and deserves a home on this title.

With one issue left in this storyline there’s still one mystery left to solve, and with the resolution to the last mystery I’ve got a sinking feeling I know where it’s going. I hope I’m wrong. I hope Pfiefer redeems what had been a great story coming into this issue. I’ll just keep my fingers crossed.

Rating: 6/10

Aquaman (2003 Series) #18

May 8, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: American Tidal Part Four

Aquaman tracks down the man who created the creature beneath the sea – what does he know about the destruction of San Diego?

Writer: Will Pfeifer
Pencils: Patrick Gleason
Inks: Christian Alamy
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Phil Balsman
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: Alan Davis & Mark Farmer
Publisher: DC Comics

Will Pfiefer’s run on Aquaman continues, and it’s still one of the best stories featuring the character I’ve ever read. This issue we learn that it wasn’t just the people of San Diego that were transformed into water-breathers when the city sank beneath the ocean. All of the dogs wake up and begin to paddle towards shore in desperation, not realizing that the air will kill them now, and people and marine mammals together begin trying to toss them back into the water before they all die on the beach.

Meanwhile Aquaman and Lorena investigate the strange creature they found at the end of last issue, a bizarre amalgam of sea life and machines that is somehow tied in to the destruction of the city. Pfiefer really shows off how versatile Aquaman’s powers are with the right creator behind him. Have you ever wondered what good it is to “talk to fish”? Find out this issue.

Other writers, over time, have painted Aquaman as a superhero, a monarch and occasionally as a warrior. Pieffer’s take uses elements of each of these to create a character that, in essence, is an aquatic crimefighter. Aquaman is using his powers to look for clues and solve a mystery that only he can. I’ve never seen him written this way before, but it works beautifully. With storytelling this good, maybe the character will finally be taken seriously.

Gleason’s artwork is an interesting blend as well. His human characters look like they fell from a crime comic, but his monsters are good and gross. The funky creature Aquaman fights looks just great, and the action scene works really well. The underwater scenes carry the sort of grandeur and majesty that you want in a story that takes place beneath the waves, and it all looks wonderful.

Peter David had a great, fabled run with this character not so long ago, but Pfiefer’s interpretation is even more accessible and just as exciting. It’s incredible, after all these years, that we finally have an Aquaman worth reading.

Rating: 8/10

Aquaman (2003) #17

April 12, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: American Tidal Part Three

Aquaman frees hundreds of people in the underwater ruins of San Diego… but how did they all survive the earthquake that has trapped them beneath the ocean for five weeks?

Writer: Will Pfeifer
Pencils: Patrick Gleason
Inks: Christian Alamy
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: Alan Davis & Mark Farmer
Publisher: DC Comics

Will Pfeifer continues the best Aquaman story in a very long time. The city of San Diego was toppled into the Pacific Ocean and thousands of people were lost, presumed dead, until Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter discover that the people still in the submerged city have been converted into water-breathers and no one knows why. In this issue, the rescue and recovery mission begins to help the people who will never be allowed to go to the surface again. Meanwhile, accompanied by the girl whose memories helped him find the survivors in the first place, Aquaman begins the search for the cause of their astonishing transformation.

People who have complained about Aquaman having lame or limited powers should be made to read this issue. What good is it to be able to talk to fish or breathe underwater? All you need is a writer good enough to craft a gripping story set underwater, and that’s what we get here. Pfeifer also avoids the trap of making Aquaman’s story too centered on Atlantis, which may also have turned off people in the past, by dropping the entire population of an American coastal city right underwater with him.

Patrick Gleason and Christian Alamy do lovely underwater work, with colors by Nathan Eyring. Swimming characters, floating debris, assorted underwater creatures and beautiful effects like shafts of light cutting through the tides all come together to give this book a wonderful visual feel. There’s a bit more of the gore that struck me about this team’s first issue on the title, including a strangely hideous revelation, but none of it feels superfluous, and it all helps to give this title a more mature feel.

Aquaman is a book that I’ve never read more than sporadically over the years, but as long as Pfeifer is handling the writing chores, I think I’ll be a regular reader. It’s just that good.

Rating: 8/10

Green Lantern Corps (2006 Series) #54

December 14, 2010

Title: The Weaponer Part Two

Writer: Tony Bedard
Pencils: Tyler Kirkham
Inks: Batt
Colorist: Nei Ruffino
Letterer: Steve Wands
Cover: Patrick Gleason
Editor: Adam Schlagman
Publisher: DC Comics

The Weaponer has captured Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend, Soranik Natu, and issued an ultimatum to Kyle: bring him her father, Sinestro, or Soranik will die. Kyle has come to Earth to face off against Sinestro and bring him to Qward, by force if necessary, to save her life.

Sinestro really is a right bastard, isn’t he? His own daughter’s life is on the line, but he can’t lower himself to work with Kyle. (Sinestro is still smarting over the beating Kyle gave him back in Green Lantern: Rebirth.) Over in the parent title, Sinestro has been dancing over a fine line between being a full-on villain and being something of an antihero. This issue is definitely heavy on the villain side. Whether he turns up again before this storyline sees its conclusion will say a lot about who the writers want Sinestro to be.

We also delve more into the Weaponer himself this issue, learning a bit more about his history through his interactions with Soranik. He actually feels like a bit of a sympathetic character here – not so much that you’ll start rooting for him, but enough that you can sort of feel where he’s coming from. That extra layer makes for a more entertaining villain over all. Perhaps the best bit of this issue, though, is the set-up for next month. We’ve got the extended cast of this title assembled and ready to charge, which is what you’re waiting for when the time has come for a big ol’ smackdown.

Tyler Kirkham is up and down for me on the artwork. I find I prefer his work on the more alien characters, like Hannu and Boodikka, than I do on the human or humanoid characters like Kyle and Soranik. When he does a character that’s human, he goes overboard with the tiny lines and details, like he’s imitating a 90s style (which I was honestly never a fan of in the first place). Hannu, on the other hand, looks much more natural and impressive than the rest of the cast.

A really good story is buoying up so-so art and keeping this book on my recommended reading list.

Rating: 8/10

Untold Tales of Blackest Night #1

November 16, 2010

Title: Sea of Fear
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils: Patrick Gleason
Inks: Sandra Hope
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Steve Wands
Cover: Ethan Van Sciver
Editor: Eddie Berganza & Rex Ogle
Publisher: DC Comics

What, you thought just because Blackest Night ended like eight months ago that DC was done with the franchise? Not long ago they released this one-shot, featuring “lost” tales that could have been told at various points during the main saga. Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason present the book’s framing sequence, in which Sinestro Corps member Lyssa Drak begins to examine the lost pages of the Book of the Black, to discover what happened to some of the characters who didn’t get the spotlight in the main title. It’s an effective enough framing sequence, one that fits in well with the character and the various Corps and gets us into the short stories easily.

Title: Deleted Scene(s) From Blackest Night
Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Oclair Albert
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano

The first two short scenes are literally “deleted scenes,” each of which was presented in script form in the “Director’s Cut” edition of Blackest Night #1. Both of them are really very strong. We’ve got a Ragman scene, where Nekron attempts to raise all of the hundreds of souls that make up his patchwork suit of rags. In the second scene, a group of villains from Keystone make a suicide pact to escape the swarm of the Black Lanterns and join the “winning side,” but a miscalculation thwarts their plans. These scenes were both excellent and fit well into the framework of Blackest Night, but I can see why they were left out. Neither of them advanced the main plot – they’re nice and add color, but aren’t necessary. A one-shot like this is a perfect place to feature them.

Title: The Evolution of Species
Writer: Adam Schlagman
Pencils: Jason Fabok
Inks: Ryan Winn
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Travis Lanham

The first full story in the book is an Animal Man tale with a nice twist. The dead chosen to rise were those that would get the strongest emotional reaction from our heroes, so Buddy Baker finds himself trying to save his son from a rampaging horde of extinct animals. It’s a clever idea, but Schlagman doesn’t stop there. He follows through Animal Man’s adventures throughout the Blackest Night, including the point where those heroes who returned from the dead were all turned into Black Lanterns and, later, into White Lanterns. The Black Lantern Animal Man makes a couple of disturbing proclamations, and it would be interesting to see if anyone is planning to follow up on the items he drops here.

Title: A Losing Battle
Writer: J.T. Krul
Art: Ed Bennes
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Letterer: Rob Clark, Jr.

J.T. Krul, who wrote the magnificent Blackest Night: Titans miniseries, picks up where that left off in his Donna Troy story. This feels very much like an epilogue to that miniseries, featuring a Donna who has been “infected” by her own dead child. Dove tries to cure her, but the story follows through to the point where the Black Lanterns attacked. While this story is structured well, and Krul is very good with the characters, this story feels very superfluous. No real new insight is gained or added to the concept.

Title: Blackest Nightmare
Writer: Jeremy Love
Art: Brett Booth
Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Steve Wands

The Scarecrow takes center stage in the next story, which shows us the moment he’s chosen to join the Sinestro Corps. This story, while also superfluous, is at least really cool. Sinestros have to face their own fears before they instill them in others, and digging into Scarecrow’s psyche to see what he’s afraid of works well. It’s not particularly surprising, mind you, but the execution is good and Booth’s art fits the character.

Title: An Incident on Korugar
Story and Art: Ethan Van Sciver
Letterer: John J. Hill

Ethan Van Sciver, co-creator of the multiple Corps, takes a rare turn as a writer this issue. When he and Geoff Johns were creating the Sinestros, he brought forth a lot of new character ideas, including Karu-Sil, who here faces her own Black Lantern (during the tentative peace treaty with the Green Lanterns) and unwittingly reveals a lot about her own past. This is probably the strongest story in the book, giving us some real meat for a character that’s only gotten a few minor appearances to date.

The book is fun, and a couple of the stories do give us some interesting background information. Ultimately, though, it doesn’t really feel needed, so it’s hard to give it a higher rating.

Rating: 7/10

Brightest Day #11

November 5, 2010

Title: Father’s Day

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils: Ivan Reis, Scott Clark, Patrick Gleason & Joe Prado
Inks: David Beaty, Oclair Albert, Keith Champagne & Tom Nguyen
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald
Letterer: Rob Clark Jr.
Cover: David Finch
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Publisher: DC Comics

Here’s where things are really getting interesting in this series. This issue is basically split between the two most interesting storylines in the book: Aquaman and Firestorm. Aquaman struggles to protect the “new Aqualad” from Black Manta – who purports to be the boy’s real father. As is the case with some of the great foundling superheroes, this issue shows us the sort of mettle this kid’s foster father has, which no doubt will be important in shaping the sort of hero he’ll ultimately be.

The Firestorm story is even more gripping to me. Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond, the two current halves of the hero called Firestorm, are forced together to face their own Black Lantern counterpart, now calling himself “Deathstorm.” Evidently, something about the “Firestorm Matrix” allowed him to retain his own dark semblance of life after the Black Lanterns were defeated, which proves particularly nasty when he makes the move to kickstart his own army.

There was a fear, when this series was announced, that it was something of an afterthought. As great as Blackest Night was, it would have been a mistake to crank something out hastily just to cash in on it. This is really starting to feel like the series is picking up on pieces and groundwork that Geoff Johns lay out in that earlier book, particularly where Deathstorm is concerned. Even if this was an afterthought, it plays out of the Firestorm storyline from that crossover beautifully.

The artwork in this issue is also particularly good, not just the line art, but some truly fantastic color and effect work from Peter Steigerwald. The scenes “inside” the Firestorm Matrix are dark and engaging, a perfect counterpart to the way Firestorm is usually portrayed. Only the glimpse at the Martian Manhunter at the end falls a tad bit short – those pages feel a bit more like I’m looking at a cartoon than the rest of the book, which isn’t a good thing.

Great chapter of this ongoing storyline.

Rating: 8/10

Aquaman (2004 Series) #15

February 7, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: American Tidal Part One

San Diego has fallen into the sea… hundreds of thousands are dead… and only Aquaman can find out why.

Writer: Will Pfeifer
Pencils: Patrick Gleason
Inker: Christian Alamy
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: Alan Davis, Mark Farmer & Nathan Eyring
Publisher: DC Comics

If I’m not mistaken, this is the first issue of Aquaman’s new relaunch (a whopping 14 issues after the previous relaunch). It also has the distinction of being the most gruesome Aquaman story I’ve ever read… and one of the best I’ve read in a long time.

Once you get past the cheesy title (c’mon, Pfeifer, “American Tidal?” What were you thinking?) the book opens up with the horrifying revelation that some cataclysm has plunged the city of San Diego beneath the ocean, killing four hundred thousand people. Nobody knows what happened, and President Pete Ross (what happened to Lex Luthor?) is trying to calm a nation afraid that a second devastating event could occur at any moment. Their only clue is a young man who comes stumbling out of the ocean a month after the devastation… and promptly drops dead.

You get the sense that this is the sort of story that will culminate in a time-travel event or some other such thing to restore a drastically-altered status quo, because it’s hard to imagine DC letting Pfeifer destroy a real city (unlike the destruction of fictional Coast City some years back) – not to mention that Luthor is unaccounted for. Despite that, though, it’s an engaging mystery, and you get the sense that only someone with Aquaman’s unique talents can handle it.

Gleason has a good art style, reminiscent in some points of Mike Mignola. The underwater scenes are really good, including some really grotesque images of corpses in the water and an autopsy late in the book. It’s not bad enough to put this in the “mature readers” category, but it’s worth noting that the ol’ Comics Code seal of approval is absent from the cover.

Aquaman has gotten a lot of flack over the years for being a lame character without much to do. That’s only true if you’ve got a writer who doesn’t know what to do with him. Judging by this first issue, Pfeifer will not have that problem. This is the best Aquaman I’ve read since Peter David’s groundbreaking run on the character.

Rating: 7/10

(2010 Note: The “President Pete Ross” bit reminds me that, although this story took place after the opening arc of Superman/Batman, that first arc was delayed a bit, and this issue came out before that one. It kind of took some of the surprise away from the ending of that epic.)

Brightest Day #8

September 6, 2010

Title: Defiance

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils: Patrick Gleason, Ivan Reis & Ardian Syaf
Inks: Vicente Cifuentes, Rebecca Buchman, Mark Irwin & Ivan Reis
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald & John Starr
Letterer: Rob Clark, Jr.
Cover: David Finch
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Publisher: DC Comics

J’onn J’onzz delves into Miss Martian’s mind, seeing through her eyes her recent encounter with the new Green Martian who is loose on Earth somewhere. Back on Hawkworld, Hawkman and Hawkgirl find themselves almost in a state of worship following their recent burst of White Lantern energy, and the healing properties that came with them.

I hate saying it, but the Hawks’ story still isn’t grabbing me the way the rest of this title is, and spending most of the issue on it lessens my enjoyment of the tale considerably. It feels as if Johns and Tomasi are trying for a sort of “John Carter of Mars” story, having them take on the roles of Earth heroes fighting the cosmic barbarians on a far-off planet. While there’s plenty of potential in that idea, somehow the execution is just falling short for me. I’m finding it hard to keep track of the other players in their story, and I’m not particularly concerned about what happens to the main cast as the tale moves forward.

The Martian Manhunter stuff this issue is considerably more entertaining. It’s easy to forget that the shapeshifting Miss Martian is actually a White Martian that’s fighting off her own worst instincts, and that makes the character herself seem more heroic for the ability. J’onn’s search seems to finally be gaining a focus, as he takes off for one of the DC Universe’s most recently changed cities.

The artwork is back and forth – none of it bad, but the different artists on each section definitely have different styles than one another, and that weakens the book, just a little.

Any time the Hawks take center stage, my appreciation for this book dips. Here’s hoping their story gets better, and some of the more interesting characters move into the forefront soon.

Rating: 7/10

Brightest Day #6

July 30, 2010

Title: Dead Zone

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Penciler: Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Scott Clark & Joe Prado
Inker: Vicente Cifuentes, David Beaty, Mark Irwin, Christian Alamy
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald with John Starr
Letterer: Rob Clark Jr.
Cover: David Finch, Scott Williams & Peter Steigerwald
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Publisher: DC Comics

Realizing that Deadman’s White Lantern ring seems to have the power to resurrect the dead, Hawk tried to force a resurrection for his brother. Failing that (because he’s “at peace”), he turns to Dove’s sister, a soul most definitely not at peace… with highly unpredictable results.

I’m really intrigued by what Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi are doing with this series. The previous storyline, Blackest Night, was reportedly a way to explain how death works in the DC Universe. While we definitely got that explanation, this series has been making it very clear that we only got a partial explanation. There’s more to it, something that we haven’t really been made to understand yet, and something that I think we may be approaching very quickly. Deadman’s story has easily been the most engaging of the various tales in Brightest Day, and this issue is no different.

That said, just because Deadman’s story has been the best doesn’t mean the others aren’t good. Firestorm especially has grabbed my attention. This week we see Jason and Ronnie forced into action when a Firestorm-style stunt is pulled off without their involvement, endangering innocent lives. It seems they aren’t riding alone, and the implication about just who may be somewhere in the Firestorm Matrix with them is pretty chilling.  We also have a nice heart-to-heart between Aquaman and Mera, his wife, who kinda came to Earth to kill him originally, and we see that the Martian Manhunter may have changed up his power set along with his resurrection. He’s not the only one –Aquaman and Captain Boomerang have both showed off altered powers since their return from the dead, and the question of why and how is right up there with “Why did these twelve people – and no one else – come back?”

The only thing that hurts this book a little is the tag-team roundup of artists that provide the interior pages. While none of these specific artists are bad at what they do, nor are they particularly well-matched. It’s really easy to tell when one artist ends his section and another begins, and while the shifts are done to match changes in the characters and stories, it’s still just noticeable enough to be a problem. Not a big one, but it’s still there.

Good issue overall, and I can’t wait for the promised big reveal next week.

Rating: 7/10