I’m not sure what the problem is anymore. I’ve read a lot of Geoff Johns comics that I like a lot. I don’t have any strong feelings about Jim Lee’s art. I love the Justice League, I love the Fourth World, I love the idea of Cyborg being on the League.
But I do not love this comic. In fact, this comic is pretty awful. — more
Thanks to Rachel Talalay’s 1995 film I’m familiar enough with the character of Tank Girl, but until Bad Wind Rising, the latest collected miniseries from Titan Books, I’d never really experienced her comics. Going into this series relatively blind is a pretty interesting experience. You’ll need to check your expectations of traditional narrative structure at the cover, and your sense of decency too. Fortunately, those are two things that don’t really hinder me, so I was more or less prepared for the weird world constructed by Alan Martin and Rufus Dayglo. — more
There will always people for whom World War II and especially Adolf Hitler provide a source of endless fascination. Perhaps it’s because Hitler seems like literally the most evil person to ever exist — people feel the need to analyze and unpack this larger-than-life figure who caused the world unimaginable misery. Those people will likely be captivated by the contents of this eighth volume of the 1980s serial Charley’s War reprints, subtitled Hitler’s Youth. — more
Batwoman #5: JH Williams III and W Haden Blackman’s first story arc ends as Batwoman figures out how to defeat the supernatural “Weeping Woman” who’s been abducting Gotham City children. Williams’ lush, creative art is obviously this book’s biggest selling point; simply put, no one crafts comic pages like him. But a conversation I had on Facebook last month made me realize another one of this book’s biggest strengths: story-wise it just has so much going on. — more
After 30-some issues plus assorted one-shots and minis, IDW’s line of Transformers comics has reset to #1 — two #1s, in fact. This week’s More Than Meets the Eye is the first volley in a soft reboot of the Transformers comic franchise. And while reboots seem to be all the rage in comics right now, ultimately they’ve got to be judged by what they bring to the particular story they’re telling. If MTMTE #1 is any indication, IDW’s made a strong decision here. — more
SPOILERS AHOY.
Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke’s Green Lantern deserves a lot of complimentary adjectives, but I think “surprising” is probably right there at the top. — more
Action Comics #5: I’ve been pretty harsh on Grant Morrison’s Action Comics (except for last issue, which I really enjoyed) but this installment disappointed me in a different way than the first three issues. I honestly found this book, most of which is devoted to baby Kal-El’s trip from a doomed Krypton to Earth, to be fairly pedestrian. — more
When we were all making our snap judgments on what New 52 books to buy last June, I’m willing to bet that few if any readers accurately guessed what they’d be in for with Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman‘s Animal Man. Though I predicted a quality read based off of Lemire’s previous Top Shelf publications, nothing about those books or this character would have led me to guess that Animal Man would become one of the premiere horror titles in DC’s lineup, if not its very best. Yet here we are five issues in and Animal Man still finds ways to shock me visually that no other mainstream comic pulls off. Though there are plenty of good books to come out of the New 52, I’m not sure any swing for the rafters as consistently as this one, and it makes reading this title a very rewarding experience. — more
For me, All-Star Western may have been the biggest surprise to come out of the New 52. I always expected it to be good, but I never imagined I’d like it as much as I do. At the end of the year, I think it sits only behind Batwoman as my favorite monthly comic, and that’s really saying something. There’s no other book like this from DC, and what a wonderful thing that is. Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Moritat are giving us something really special here. — more
In his review of Justice League #3 last month, Tom Tomorrow called the book a “big dumb Michael Bay action movie.” I don’t disagree with his assessment, necessarily (I might substitute a nicer word for “dumb,” like… unreflective?), but I do disagree that that’s a bad thing. After all, those blockbuster popcorn movies serve a purpose, which is to entertain as many people as possible. Yes, that means a lot of the time applying the slightest critical eye will unravel their seams in an instant, but there are few things quite like a full-blown action movie that’s also pretty good. Consider Terminator 2, for instance, or Die Hard. That’s the bar Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s Justice League can and probably should reach for — a loud, colorful story full of explosions and fights that manages to provide a compelling, un-idiotic plot and characters you at least enjoy spending time with. — more
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