Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Geoff Johns

Collecting The Avengers Vol. 2 (1996-1997) & Vol. 3 (1998-2005) as graphic novels

The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide on collecting Avengers comic books from 1996 to 2005 – including Heroes Reborn and Avengers by Busiek & Pérez – via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels. A part of Crushing Comics – Guide to Marvel Comics. Last updated August 2024 with titles scheduled for release through December 2024.

Avengers: Reborn and Disassembled

Avengers, Volume 3 (1998) - 0025This run continues from Avengers (1963) – see Guide to Avengers (1963 – 1996) for collection details.

In 1996, The Avengers were presumed dead at the hands of Onslaught in the Marvel Universe, but they were just hidden – trapped in a pocket dimension without realizing they had been removed from their own reality. This was an attempt by Marvel to revitalize some of their most-established (but not especially popular) properties by handing them to the creators who left them for Image Comics.

The experiment was short-lived, but Marvel took advantage of the heroes return to restart The Avengers third volume in 1998 with a bang – they brought in Kurt Busiek and classic DC artist George Perez.

The series remains popular to this day, as does the following run by Geoff John. However, Marvel hasn’t shown any recollection love to the two Chuck Austen stories that followed prior to Brian Bendis thoroughly disassembling the franchise to launch New Avengers. [Read more…] about Collecting The Avengers Vol. 2 (1996-1997) & Vol. 3 (1998-2005) as graphic novels

DC New 52 Review: Aquaman #1

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Aquaman is the Rodney Dangerfield of DC Comics – he doesn’t get any respect.

Mostly it’s about overlap. Aquaman has super-strength and he’s bulletproof, but so is Superman. He’s the rightful sovereign of a mythical kingdom, but so is Wonder Woman.

Where does that leave him? He swims fast and talks to fish. Or, at least, that’s the mocking media narrative that has emerged from Gen X fans who grew up having Aquaman lose every fight they staged with their Super Friends toys.

That’s not to say he hasn’t starred in some fantastic stories in the modern comics era. In fact, Aquaman’s under-the-radar status has allow authors like Peter David to completely reimagine his personality for the purpose of telling exiting, innovative stories.

Here the pen is held by DC’s major architect Geoff Johns, who reinvigorated the Green Lantern franchise but has proven a bit of a bore so far this month. Which way will he take our seaborne

Aquaman #1

Written by Geoff Johns, art by Ivan Reis & Joe Prado

Rating: 3 of 5 – Good

In a Line: “Fish don’t talk. Their brains are too primitive to carry on a conversation.”

#140char Review: Aquaman #1, our hero is mocked from all sides & decides to quit the sea. Funny, mostly saved by great art, no-telling if #2 will be any good

CK Says: Consider it.

Aquaman #1 is self-aware to a fault, giving readers the catharsis of getting all their Entourage-fueled mocking on their hero out on the page where we can all see it.

It’s an amusing approach from deconstructionist Johns, but forcing the real world’s obsession with making fun of Aquaman into a comic is a cheap trick. It’s fun while it lasts, but gives no hints as to why we should come back for actual adventuring in the next issue aside from a few pages about incredible hungry piranha people.

We’re effectively along for the ride in a day of the life of our hero, who is starting to feel the public’s lack of appreciation for him. He foils a bank heist, though the robbers try to run him over and gun him down in the process – apparently unaware that neither will work. The cops don’t understand why he showed up, since no fish were at risk. Later, he stops by a restaurant only for them to balk at him ordering fish – isn’t that like cannibalism?

The utterly pedestrian vibe of the issue has a saving grace in the attractive artwork of Ivan Reis and a bright, colorful set of colors from Ann Reis. The Reises make Aquaman out to be a golden-haired hunk, and manage to render his gold and green swimsuit as credible superhero armor (thanks in no small part to his rather fierce rendition of the trident). Regular people in a restaurant are a realistic mix of dumpy and cute, but Aquaman’s lover Mera is a knockout – their two pages together will almost make you wish this was a romance comic.

While I enjoyed this debut issue for its information dump and poking fun at our hero, it’s just another boringly “different” plot from DC workhorse Johns. While I’m sure he’ll lead this awkward plot to water and the foes within sometime soon, I wish one of the more ACTUALLY transgressive writers in the relaunch drew this straw. However, I can’t deny that Johns’s script delivers some zingers, which together with Reis’s artwork is strong enough to lift this one past average.

DC New 52 Review: Green Lantern #1

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I don’t like Green Lantern.

There, now you’re really going to trust my review!

One Earth man specially selected by alien to wield the power of green light to defend the universe I can take. Hell, I even dig that multiple men have borne the ring over the years.

It’s when you add to that all the various other Green Lanterns, and the home world, and the power battery, and the other colored Lanterns – and then make that one of the central mythologies of the DC Universe – that my interest wanes.

All of those credulity-stretching elements make Green Lantern just another employee – a foot solider in a galactic brigade with the same standard issue weapon as all his comrades. Heck, sometimes other Green Lanterns can even operate in the same sector! Even when Marvel has expanded their most popular lines of comics, they’ve never trivialized an original hero concept quite as much as that.

DC went all-in on Lanterns in their reboot, not knowing at the time they set the slate that the Ryan Reynolds summer blockbuster would tank. But, flop or not, this is the obvious title that new fans would be flocking to. Is it up to the task?

Green Lantern #1

Written by Geoff Johns, art by Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy w/Tom Nguyen

Rating: 1.5 of 5 – Weak

In a Line: “You’ve been off-planet too long, you’re beyond out-of-touch with everyday life – and people!”

#140char Review: Green Lantern #1 aimed at anyone BUT a new reader. It’s confusing. No denying Hal Jordon is magnetic to read; pity it’s >half about Sinestro

CK Says: Skip it.

This debut issue could not be any more unfriendly to a new reader or non-DC collector reading all 52 books. And, friendliness aside, it’s not very good.

I’m not entirely sure what to say about it, because it was clearly not aimed at me. The plot feels like it picks up from some prior action that remains unnamed. We follow a seemingly destitute and clueless Hal Jordan (even though I don’t think he’s the latter) as he gets evicted and botches a date, and a seemingly newly-introduced and highly moral Sinestro (even though I’m pretty sure he’s neither) as he zips around in space, seemingly planning something awesome and not at all sinister.

That’s it. You have now read Green Lantern #1.

This book lacks just about all there is to lack in the plot and script department. Some caption boxes or thought bubbles would have been kind to orient the reader, or even to add a little texture to an absurdly fast read. There is no explanation of how the ring works, anywhere. There is no mention of the fact that last week we saw Guy Gardner as Earth’s GL in the present and Hal as a member of the Justice League five years in the past. We meet a council of blue-headed dwarves who apparently act as the DMV for the apparently noble green power rings, but they are asses and kill one of their own for disagreeing with them. And what is a Star Sapphire ring?

Uneven art does the issue no favors. Sinestro is both red and pink throughout. Backgrounds of tight shots are vague and empty, as in one shot of Hal and Carol at dinner with a blank wall behind them when it’s been established that one doesn’t exist in any direction. One non-red-robed blue-headed dwarf guy appears out of nowhere (why is his robe different?) only to be zapped a panel later? We see the detailed emptiness of the apartment Hal leaps into (pictured higher than his own window) only to be confronted by a half dozen people in it a page later (when it is clearly below his window).

We get zero context of why Sinestro was imprisoned, except that he turned dictator on his own planet (which was maybe a good thing?), only to then visit his planet and see a Sinestro Corps (?) of Yellow Lanterns (?) enslaving other pink/red people (?). Sinestro easily dispatches a yellow-ringed scout, even though I’m pretty sure yellow is what the green ring is weak to.

The one thing the issue did bother to establish is that the ring chooses the wearer, and it implies that there is one ring bearer per sector. The final page cliffhanger neatly refutes both points.

While this intercutting issue may have been a thrill for fans who know the Green Lantern mythology, it’s a toss-away for new adult readers and those with a vague understanding of GL’s background. It barely makes a lick of sense, and though Hal is sympathetic the only likeable character is Carol Fenris. It is a decent issue for younger readers, with its simplistic “plot,” no bad language, and limited violence.