reviews

DC New 52 Review: Green Arrow #1

September 14, 2011 by krisis

Green Arrow rounds out my first week of DC New 52 reviews – just in the nick of time, as I’ll be reading week two books in a matter of hours!

I don’t have much of a preamble about Green Arrow, which is maybe why I left him for last. I know he can be a bit angsty and I had his Kenner Super Friend toy. That’s about all I’ve got.

I have a bit more to say about the art on this book. Jurgens was the cornerstone of the 80s and 90s, penciling everything from Avengers to Superman. When I see his name I think of handsome, broad-shouldered heroes and their petite, curvy sidekicks and love interests. Here he’s inked by Perez, another Avengers alum, was the master of the team book, and the man behind Wonder Woman’s post-Crisis relaunch (which I own and adore).

This is about as cold as I can come into an long-established hero. Will this all new take on him be the perfect introduction, or was I better off not knowing a thing? And how will two old-school talents translate into a New 52 book?

Green Arrow #1

Written by J.T. Krul, art by Dan Jurgens & George Perez

Rating: 2.5 of 5 – Okay

140char Review: Green Arrow #1, Batman/Hawkeye model of a young/cocky xtreme hero on a narrowly interesting adventure. Felt 80s/90s, esp. w/Jurgens pencils.

CK Says: Consider it.

GA defeats a foe on the river Seine.

Green Arrow presents a cocksure hero who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty or bloody when necessary, which earns him enemies both in the villain department and from within his own Queen Industries.

Not much happens in this issue, strictly speaking, but you could never call it decompressed. Krul packs word balloons into every panel, providing a style of constantly narrating hero that the 2000’s have eschewed thus far. Yet, despite the retro writing, Green Arrow is a modern take-no-prisoners hero.

The issue’s art straddles the same old-but-new divide. The Jurgens/Perez team-up lends the issue a decidedly 80s rough-hewn look – except for on GA himself, who is drawn more crisply throughout. The effect makes him seem a bit more high-tech than his surroundings, even if he is a guy with a compound bow. Add to that a modern coloring job and the art has the same nouveau retro feel as the writing. Jurgens’ background shots of Paris are especially great.

Green Arrow is a fun single issue adventure – the kind that ought to be in the hands of every eight-year-old comic reader in the world. It feels a little skimpy coming off of some of the highs of week one, but it’s an effective and interesting issue that’s worth picking up for the throwback vibe.

DC New 52 Review: O.M.A.C #1

September 13, 2011 by krisis

In 1974 legendary comics auteur Jack Kirby was falling out of favor with DC’s editorial staff thanks to his far-ranging yet low-selling Fourth World saga.

Deposed from the universe he wanted to cultivate, Kirby created a new and more cynical hero inhabiting our near future. His name? One-Man Army Corps, or OMAC. OMAC was a man, a symbol, and later a cyborg who policed a world living in enforced pacifism, inheriting his powers (and commands) from an Orwellian all-seeing satellite named Brother Eye. He spends his debut rescuing a damsel in distress who turns out to be both an android and a bomb.

Sound weirdly dystopian enough for you?

DC has brought back OMAC for a few different rounds of encores over the years, but it was still a surprise to see the book on the slate of 52 for this month. Would it bring newly imagined? Kirby-eseque delights? And, if it did, would they be worth reading in the modern day?

O.M.A.C. #1

Written by Dan DiDio & Keith Giffen, art by Keith Giffen & Scott Koblish

Rating: 1 of 5 – Bad

In a Line: “Probably in there organizing toilet paper … or something.”

140char Review: OMAC #1’s inconsistent artwork ruins a simple story that could’ve packed a bit of punch. Like a bad free comic in a box of stale 90’s cereal.

Plot & Script

The DiDio/Giffen is plain and easy to read. It reminds me of the comics I’d read as a kid.

I suppose DiDio is an old-school writer in that way. His dialog is plain and declarative, and he’s not above using the occasional narration box to advise on the action (which is great, since the action is so incomprehensible).

Nods to existing continuity will tickle if you know your DC Kirby history, as everything we meet in the underground Cadmus lab is a love letter to older readers. However, if you aren’t ready for the barrage of old-time Easter eggs OMAC’s series of obstacles will surely fall flat.

The problem is that this fails as a compelling debut. We see OMAC clear a number of obstacles, but don’t really get to understand what his powers are. He doesn’t have a character when in OMAC form, so really the only personality we get is the obstinate commands of Brother Eye.

For a book that could easily be something you’d hand to a kid brother, I don’t understand why the scrip makes a point of having a the female lead say “ass” twice. Oh, and the issue’s title (“Office Management Amidst Chaos”) is kinda dumb.

Artwork

Art team Giffen and Koblish don’t have a gift for figures or for action, which leaves little to enjoy in this issue of terrible artwork.

Okay, maybe that’s not entirely fair. More accurately, Giffen’s wide, plaintive faces seem to be a deliberate homage to OMAC-creator Kirby, but the modern gradient coloring renders them a too-busy mess. His bodies are a mess of mismatched limbs, perspectives, and proportions that make no sense. He seems to have a specific problem with placing a limb that’s partially obscured by someone’s torso that seems to indicate a failure in the fundamentals of anatomy.

Oh, and all of his men look like they are wearing MC Hammer pants.

There’s no helping Giffen’s incomprehensible action, which unfurls like freeze-frames from a low-budget video game. Movement simply doesn’t track from panel to panel. OMAC seems to have the ability to materialize projectiles from thin air, similarly vanishing their debris afterward. Punches from OMAC might to have the power to dissolve entire bodies beneath them, which is the only explanation for the totally whacked perspective in those panels.

And OMAC himself? Does his hair omit electricity? He looks silly to begin with, and the inconsistent scale of his limbs to the trunk of his body just makes things worse. Is he squat with long-reaching arms, or limber with lean muscular legs? Are his fists really bigger than his head? Apparently, all of the above. Maybe he’s a shape-shifter. You would never know the different from the artwork in this book.

From a graphic design perspective, this is one of my favorite logos of the relaunch. I love the layering of the letters.

OMAC’s 1974 debut, scripted and drawn by Jack Kirby.

CK Says: Skip it!

O.M.A.C. is an embarrassing failure on all fronts, a condition only amplified by the fact that writer Dan DiDio is DC Comics’ co-publisher.

The issue is not even exciting enough to warrant calling it a fun comic for kids – nevermind the two gratuitous uses of the word “ass” making it inappropriate. A flat, barely-existent script could have been a fun bash with a flashy penciler, but the Kirby-imitating, wildly-inconsistent art places this issue just a step above a comic you’d get for free in your cereal box.

Let’s hope this is the worst book of all 52 re-launched by DC, because I’m not sure how much farther downhill a marquee debut comic can go from here.

DC New 52 Review: Animal Man #1

September 13, 2011 by krisis

Similar to my avoidance to yesterday’s Justice League International #1, I was really putting off my read of Animal Man.

Past authors (including Action Comics’ Grant Morrison) have done great things with this bizarre mid-60s hero, who harnesses the powers of the animal kingdom, but that simply didn’t sound like a feat that would be repeated by Jeff Lemire in his relaunch about Animal Man as a family guy with a daughter who is developing powers.

Add to that a somewhat hideous front cover, and this book lingered at the bottom of the pile.

Was I right to judge a book by its cover and its solicitation copy written by some intern in Marketing?

Animal Man #1

Written by Jeff Lemire with art by Travel Foreman & Dan Green.

Rating: 4 of 5 – Excellent

In a Line: “Gotta fix those damn floor-boards. For now, I just take on the weight of a bumblebee so I don’t wake the kids.”

140char Review: Animal Man #1 equals former scribe Morrison’s Action Comics #1 at finding sophisticated nuance in DC’s world, here w/an indie & horror tinge

Plot & Script

Lemire knocks this debut plot out of the park with a nuanced first issue that’s absent a major villain but crammed with memorable character beats. He renders Animal Man Buddy Guy as a tangible, relatable family man who occasionally nips out to tackle a problem on the police scanner … but only if he has a freshly laundered costume.

Animal Man’s complex powers are explained with ease during a brief battle as Buddy Baker quickly cycles through sets of animalistic powers (effectively, he can take on the physical ability of any animal he can connect to, scaled to the size of his body). His special confrontational “cocktail” of abilities is not only funny, but a nuanced glimpse at how power sets could really work – not exactly Green Lantern creating a massive emerald fire truck, if you catch my drift.

An extended dream sequence is heavy with portents for future stories and leads to a chilling final panel. Here the affable everyman vibe melts away, and we’re into a fantasy/horror comic. I wasn’t as fond of this, but I took it for what it was – foreshadowing. I wouldn’t expect entire issues to have this tone.

An intro interview with Buddy in the half-hipster half-stodgy style of actual magazine Believer is a treat.

Artwork

Look past the ugly, over-lined cover – the watchword for Foreman and Green’s artwork is “sophisticated.”

Foreman draws Buddy Baker’s domestic world in plaintive, clean-lined panels that would look at home in a b&w indie title. Faces are hyper-real and beautifully clean.

It’s in Buddy’s connection to animals and in his dreams that the cover style emerges, and there it is in context. Faces are cluttered with sketch-marks, with ink crackling across them like razor-fine gashes.

The latter half of Foreman and Green’s artwork may be an acquired taste, but it fits the tone perfectly and sets a beautiful contrast to the cleaner half of the book – especially as it bleeds into Buddy’s waking life.

Foreman communicates so much with faces. Animal Man’s wide, hazy smile during his first outing in costume perfectly captures the conflict between his home life and his heroic adventures.

Credit where due to the colors from Lovern Kindzierski. When Foreman left faces and bodies unlined and open, Kindzierski indicates contrast with varying screens of the same color. Though comics tend to sketch all shadows as black, that’s not how we really see a face – this is!

Animal Man’s new costume is a little awkward – the blue and white colors are great, but the wide stands of the “A” emblem across his hips can give the illusion of his body being oddly proportioned.

Animal Man’s 1965 debut

CK Says: Buy it!

Animal Man completely toppled my pre-opinion of it from its solicitation. I was sure that I was squarely uninterested in the domestic life of a C-list superhero, or the trite passing on of his powers to a young daughter.

I could not have been more wrong.

In a single issue I’m more sold on the split between superhero and family man than I’ve been in anywhere else, aside from perhaps Pixar’s The Incredibles. That Lemire establishes such a compelling “everyman” hero in just a single issue with Buddy Baker is a delight.

Whether the book sticks with the divide between domesticity and heroism or veers to the horror vibe of its cover and creepy final panel remains to be seen, but you should absolutely pick up the next issue to find out.

DC New 52 Preview: On Sale 9/14

September 12, 2011 by krisis

If there was ever a time to become a fan of DC Comics, this is it. They’re launching 52 comics in a single month, and each is available digitally on the same day as they hit comic shops.

Week one of DC’s onslaught of rebooted books was a lot better than I thought it would be. Despite my lack of history with (and, yes, sometimes distaste for) their slate of heroes, a few books really floored me – especially Batgirl, Action Comics, and Animal Man.

Will week two have the same effect? Here’s my preview of the new titles DC is launching this week, from my perspective as a lifelong Marvel fan.

Batman & Robin #1
Written by Peter J. Thomasi, with art by Patrick Gleason & Mick Gray

I don’t know what surprised me more – that DC would allow a character like Batman to be aged by having a secret tween son, or that they didn’t take their reboot as an opportunity to sweep the kid off the board. It’s a testament to the success of recent Batman books including the concluded Batman & Robin that this possibly troublesome story element is staying around. Can longtime DC editor Tomasi keep the book on top amdist DC’s flood of new bat books? And, how long can the father/son gimmick last before it becomes rote?

DC New 52 Review: Justice League International #1

September 12, 2011 by krisis

On Saturday I realized I had been actively avoiding Justice League International.

As a fair representation as a lifelong DC skimmer, I look at this cover and see Batman, a lame alternate version of Green Lantern, and a bunch of unidentifiable nobodies. Not exactly the most-inspiring reason to read a comic book.

That’s always been one of my major problems with DC – past the heavy-hitters from Justice League of America and a handful of other heroes we all played with in the 80s as super-friends toys, I’ve never heard of these people. Unlike Marvel, they don’t sprout from one of just a handful of classic lines of 60s and 70s titles. I suppose you could say the same thing for the extended supporting cast of the Avengers or the X-Men, but they’re part of a larger interconnected family of stories. Even when they’re off panel their lives are being affected by what’s happening.

Can you say the same for Godiva or Vixen?

I seriously don’t know! Maybe I’m just projecting my DC distaste – but this weekend I finally sat down to find out by reading this issue.

Justice League International #1

Written by Dan Jurgens, art by Aaron Lopresti & Matt Ryan

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 – Okay.

In a line: “A different Justice League?”

140char Review: Justice League Int’l #1 is a standard “let’s start a team” take on a redebut, cribbing Giant Size X-Men. Plot set motion, but not thrilling.

Plot & Script

Dan Jurgens is a comics veteran – he knows how to structure a first issue and introduce a new team.

He starts with an effective and not-unappreciated device of performing a roll-call of potential members that reveals their countries of origin, though a quick primer on powers may have also been warranted. A UN security guy informs his committee “No masks or hidden identities” … and then tries to pick Batman? The committee members were wise to decline, yet Bats is still on flying the jet when the mission takes off. Doesn’t that make him a hijacker? I think it’s the League’s duty to restrain him.

Everyone gets at least three on-panel moments – their roll call intro, lines within the Hall of Justice, and on the battle field. We also get to see each member in action at least once. As a result, a newer reader has some way of identifying (and identifying with) a team of relative strangers.

The whole scene outside of the Hall of Justice doesn’t especially make sense. We’ve been lead to believe this is a world that hates and fears heroes – or, at least, it did five years ago when Justice League and Action Comics are set. Why, then, are there protesters outside of a Hall of Justice? Who would there be to assemble inside said hall? And, why had they vacated to allow the UN inside? Furthermore, we see that all these heroes seem to know each other and their work, which is also confusing in the context of this week’s books.

Weirdly, the only person who gets any character depth is Guy Gardner, who promptly disappears (I assume he is an act one gun that will come back in the third to save the day.) I was especially confused by the bullish Guy Gardner as a Green Lantern, since we see a different Green Lantern in Justice League. I thought there was only one per sector?

I suppose all will be answered, but the issue felt weirdly out of place against all of the other books this week. Also, this seriously plagiarizes Giant Size X-Men in a number of different ways, right down to the geological horror of the villain.

Artwork

Lopresti ads to the slightly retro feel of the book with a charming, ultra-heroic take on the characters. It’s not super-exciting, but it’s solid pencil work that nicely complements Jurgens’ story. I especially love his faces, which are distinct and expressive throughout, helping to sell a mostly “talking heads” issue.

In the past I’ve found Lopresti to be a bit rigid and stodgy, but that’s not the case here – maybe due to inker Ryan, or maybe from the beautifully understated set of colors. Characters feel as though they have weight, but also momentum. Godiva is especially lovely, Booster is a definitive over-muscled hero, and Batman has a lurking quality with his tendril-like cape. The action is limited to just a few pages at the end, but what we see is effective.

(In the final fight Vixen gets a Phoenix-esque flame effect around her body as she flies off the ground. I was confused as to whether Fire was using harmless flames to lift Vixen into the air or if this was a power beyond the seemingly Black Panther set of agility and claws.)

CK Says: Consider it.

Justice League International has a slight by-the-numbers feel thanks to its hastily assembled multicultural team of heroes (plus hanger-on Batman) responding to orders from a bald guy to face an unspecified geological terror. It’s Comics 101 – and, effectively the first half of Giant-Size X-Men #1.

Jurgens works to quickly establish the personalities and conflicts of all the members within the somewhat rote, old-school story. No Morrison-style existential dilemmas here. We’re given at least a hint of the attitudes of each and their powers were all obvious enough to be telegraphed by the art in a few panels of battle (except for Booster’s, which are unclear).

The bottom line is that this cookie-cutter approach aims the book more towards the DC insider than the newbie. A long-time DC fan will likely be excited to read the B-list characters they’ve grown to love (as I would be on an X-Men b-team). It’s a good intro for a new reader, but I’m not sure it’s worth revisiting in another month.