Metropolis

Thought I would throw these reviews out on Monday to try and ride the coat tails of the CAPTAIN AMERICA 600/REBORN media train going through comic book land on this most auspi….ah. Who am I kidding?  I was just too lazy to post them over the weekend.
 
Lets get right in to it, m’kay?
 
BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM! 5 – This issue a new creative team takes over for Mike (HEROBEAR) Kunkel and for once it doesn’t take me 20 mins to read an issue.  Ah, but I kid. I kid. But seriously – the absence of Kunkel, who took his inspiration from Jeff Smith’s under-rated MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL graphic novel, has seriously hurt this book. Instead of the childlike whimsy and wonder that Kunkel filled each panel with, not to mention beautiful artwork, the book took a quick walk into the deep end of “kiddie” comics. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it was a major disappointment from expecting Calvin & Hobbes style adventures and humor and receiving  Hagar The Horrible action and drama.  EH.

 
WAR OF KINGS: THE SAVAGE WORLD OF SKAAR 1 (of 1) – The short answer is that this is an obvious money grab for any suckers willing to shell out their cash for anythign bearing the WoK banner, like me.  You might be surprised to find a fun, if light and ultimately forgettable, little jaunt by Gorgon of the Inhumans and Starbolt of the Imperial Guard, as they face off against the Son of Hulk himself, Skaar.  I’m not sure if the plot threads that are developed in this one-shot,i.e. both Shi’ar and Inhuman/Kree looking to harness the power of Skaar for their side of the conflict, will pay out during th WoK itself or be touched on later in another book. It would seem silly to hold the story for a different crossover altogether, but then again the WoK only has two more issues to go (right?) so they better hurry it up.  OKAY.
 
BUCK ROGERS 1 – What mystery lies behind that awesome Matt Wagner variant cover? Let us find out…together. Shall we? A bear with a blaster? Sweet!  This issue is pretty much just set up as Buck arrives in the future and meets Col. Wilma Deering.  …and a bear with a blaster.  GOOD STUFF.
 
DOCTOR WHO: AUTOPIA 1 (of 1) – This is the first Doctor Who comic written by an American, veteran John Ostrander, and it more or less hits all the necessary beats. The Doctor uses his wits and the strengths of others to overcome obstacles, relies on humor to keep the levity of the situation from becoming overbearing, etc. etc. All in all – it isn’t bad, and Ostrander really knows how to capture the voices of The Doctor and Donna. GOOD STUFF.
 
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL 30 – Am i the only one who hopes we don’t see Bad Cop again? EH!!
 
R.E.B.E.L.S. 5 – Not at all standard for the Machiavellian twists that have been common in the first four issues, but still quite good. For once Starro the Conqueror might actually be a cool villain (to me) and, as much as I love seeing Vril Dox twist the proverbial knife, I really enjoyed seeing an issue of non-stop fighting.  FANBOY FUN!
 
FLASH: REBIRTH 3 (of ?) – I’ve been complaining about how boring this book has been to me thus far, and this is the issue that makes me eat my words. To be fair though, I think the real fun for me was seeing all the supporting characters and their inner turmoils brought to the surface. Bart worrying about his mentor Max Mercury, Liberty Belle and her shocking vision of Johnny Quick. Those two (Quick and Mercury) were always two of my favorite speedsters, so….ah, but that would be giving it all away.  At any rate – this issue made me care. FANBOY FUN!!!
 
RED ROBIN 1 – Not nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. I’ve slowly become a fan of Chris Yost’s work at MARVEL, so i expected good things from this. The plot, Tim Drake sets out to find Bruce Wayne, is kind of so-so and leaves way too many questions open ended for me. Shouldn’t Tim still be in high school? But the biggest disappointment has to be the art by Ramon Bachs. I’ve usually enjoyed his slightly cartoony work, but it looks like he has tried to adapt his style to a darker edge, and the results aren’t nearly as satisfying as I would have hoped. I’m in it for the long haul, so hopefully as the book goes on his art will be more confident and slick. OKAY.
 
BATMAN 687 – This issue serves as an epilogue of sorts to the Battle For The Cowl mini-series, and as a set-up for the new status quo of the BATMAN: REBORN event in the DCU. Its works on every level, and pretty much makes the whole BftC mini totally redundant and unnecessary. It gives Dick Grayson a valid reason and emotional touch point for picking up the cowl, gives some human emotion to the Bat cast as they mourn their fallen mentor (the scene with Alfred and Superman will break your heart), and really touches every base in establishing Dick Grayson as his own man, honoring the memory of Bruce Wayne while setting up the new Batman and Robin team.  BUENO EXCELLENTE!!!
 
GREEN LANTERN CORPS 37 – After the first few pages just about ripped my heart out I was pretty much unable to comprehend the endless butt kicking ring slinging action going on throughout the rest of this book. This issue is relentless! Daxam fights back. The Alpha Lanterns rally the troops and the Blackest Night marches closer.  Whew….FANBOY FUN!
 
ANNA MERCURY 2: ULTRASPACIAL DREADNOUGHT VANAHEIM 1 – If you enjoyed Warren Ellis’ wild take on video game aesthetics and over the top action brought into a real world/parallel worlds scenario then this is the book for you. You can still find the original mini-series at all the better comic book store (if they don’t have it, they CAN order it). In the first series Ellis took the strong female archetype, mixed in the TOMB RAIDER-esque acrobatics and ultra violence of [insert favorite Asian action flick or mega-violent video game here] and turned it all on its ear with his own brand of pseudo science and futurist thinking. The result was a little off-putting at first, an overall better read in a collected format, but really worth while. This sequel looks to be even better with some very interesting political questions being asked and, oh, all that ass kicking I was telling you about.  BUENO EXCELLENTE.
 
ABSOLUTION 0 – It is about damn time this book made it to the stands! I first heard about this book back in 2008, met with writer/creator Christos Gage at Wizard World Texas, back in November, got an autograph on a promo poster for the book – and then patiently waited for Avatar to wow me yet again. My patience finally paid off. Not sure what the holdup was for, but…I finally have a book to also slip into the bag and board housing the poster I got way back when. Avatar usually takes a more interesting turn with these zero issue, making them necessary to the story and at less expense to the reader while filling the issues with enough extras to really make the book a value to the reader. But enough about that – in just sixteen pages Gage really unleashes a super hero who has had just about enough out of the scum of the Earth and he takes matters into his own hands. Now – I’m not talking SUPERMAN 4: QUEST FOR PEACE style “taking matters into his own hands”. Nuh-uh! I’m talking DEXTER MORGAN style kill the killers and get a thirst for it style action. With Gage and Avatar’s track record of late – this might very well end up being one of my all-time favorite books.  BUENO EXCELLENTE!!!