(no subject)

[dewinged]

Not that I know why I'm still bothering, but hey, I'll finish something for once.


Green Arrow #45: We now return to Judd Winick's ongoing Public Service Announce-er, his run on Green Arrow. See, when he was writing Ollie and the gang taking on bad guys, it was pretty much straight-up street-level superhero stuff, with some weird shit thrown on. But now, Mia is HIV+, which makes this Winick On A Mission. Now, I am all for comics as a medium raising public awareness (like, say, Outsiders, also written by WInick), but this book suffers the same problem that the other one does: Winick writes it with all the subtlety of a Flourescent Musical Rock. We're beat over the head with it, repeatedly. Hell, we even open up the issue with Mia giving a speech to a school assembly, going for full-on Afterschool-Special effect. It's informative, and it even reads like a pamphlet.

The only thing I liked about this issue, and I wish Mia hadn't spelled it out at the end of it all, was Ollie going off on his own. He does care, he's dealing with someone he cares about who has HIV. You can't beat-up HIV, so he goes and royally beats the crap out of Brick instead, which is something he can deal with. Had Mia not said just that at the end, it would have had more impact with me, even if it was a telegraphed ending to the fight that still worked. Art's not bad, with this kinda-blocky-noir-ish feel to it. It fits a book that is 'street-level,' but wouldn't work with something more cinematic, I think.


JLA #108
JLA #109: Okay, granted, I have my biases in comics. I favor some creators over others. All fans do. But, I try to keep myself level-headed enough to be objective about it, and admit when there's a screwup.

And the fact that Kurt Busiek has screwed up badly enough to the point where I notice it, then it's just personally painful. We're on Part 3 of a 'This never will end' Crime Syndicate Arc, and so very, very little has gone on. The League, again, barely makes an appearance, and we're left with just a bunch of nonsense that spins its wheels and doesn't even try and go forward. It's actually infuriating. The art? It's Garney, so you pretty much know what you're getting, and I wish it helped flesh out the story a little more. But, how do you draw nothing happening, seriously.

Shame on you, Busiek. You can do better than this. I've seen you do better. Shame.



JSA #68: So, when folks ask me what I think comics should be, I usually consider getting them all the TPBs of the current JSA run and bashing them between the eyes repeatedly with them until they get the hint. It's merely my payback to how fandom usually treats me, so. :)

Anyway...okay, sure, Alex Ross did the cover and oooo, it's Alex Ross from Kingdom Come and wow and all that. But, hello, there was a whole issue of story /inside/ the book. *gasps of shocked amazement*. Yes, kids, the JSA is actually a /comic/ and not just a bloody /cover./

But, on to the insides, in the awaited JSA/JSA crossover, where the current JSA (plus Atom Smasher) end up going back into the 1950s to help out the original JSA, who have been disbanded by the HUAC, with Per Degation (yes, that is his name) behind the scenes in an effort to wipe out the entire JSA because they can spawn Infinity Inc. who end up nailing his sorry ass in the future. Atom Smasher is apparently there to balance out Al Pratt of the original JSA, which proves Geoff Johns is either willingly ignorant or Just Not Paying Fucking Attention.

That, or he's setting up for some brutal swerve in mid-storyline, but I find my lack of faither in other people all too sustained as of late.

Now...Per Degation is a 'Time Travel' villain. You know that when a Degation story happens, the Timesteam gets twisted into knots, this time Rip Hunter (sans the Linear Men, who Degation already went back in time and killed ancestors of) is involved, and you know that it's all giong to be put right again at the end, with that usual 'cosmic reset button' that happens with these kinds of stories.

Even so, it does not make the attack scene on Courtney's house in the middle of the issue, our of freaking nowhere all the less brutal. It's going to be fixed, but the fact that Courtney will remember what she saw, and that kind of effect... (Besides, considering who Courtney is based on, while Johns doesn't 'Mary Sue' her much, he wouldn't do that to the character.)

Did I mention this was 'Part 1?'

Just read it, I say.


Astonishing X-Men #7: According to Fandom, because I read Astonishing X-Men, I am a 'hopeless fanboy,' a 'mindless sheep', a 'wagon jumper' and all sorts of derogatory terms, and of course I only read it because They Guy Who Wrote Buffy is doing it.

Did it ever occur to these...*insert angry term of choice here* that I read this book because, as a book that pretends to be nothing more than a superhero comic at its core, it might just be good? That maybe I take this book as my karmic payment for suffering through the five years of crap writing before the Reload? I am capable, contrary to some people's beliefs, of having my own independent thoughts, and they're not to be casually dismissed, either.

Cassady's art? Brilliant. Whedon's writing...excellent, but damn could you do more with words? Too many splash panels, where he could be putting more in. At 22 pages a month, there could be more.

Line of the month for this book:

Emma: J. Jonah Jameson will tounge-kiss Spider Man before the X-Men get any good press.
Kitty: Why do you insist on saying things I can never un-hear?

Or:

Piotr: Who is the "Hilton" girl?
Hank: It doesn't matter. On a lot of levels.

I will tell folks to read it. Not because *gasp* it's Whedon, not because it's the 'in thing' right now (And isn't that 'Asexuality' anyways?), not because I am telling you to (But maybe I should, because I'd have a lot more comics I like still around if I had). Read it because it's good. Hell, it's why I read it.

And, sorry, terrasias. I think he's really dead. :P



Identity Crisis #7: Okay, I have been dreading this review. Mostly because I need an asbestos LJ for it. Few comics raise reader's emotions to the levels I've seen than this one. If that was his whole intention, Meltzer succeeded.

Anyways, Morales' art has had a lot of improvement since his Hawkman days, and I'm damned curious to see what he's going to do after this infamous book. Lovely, pretty stuff.

Overall: The issue could have been stronger. 5 pages of plot, and 17 pages of angst and reflection with plotlines still left hanging. When does Meltzer expect to get around to explaining the rest of it? (i.e. Batman, the new Boomerang kid, Ralph ending up pretty much ohfuck insane, and other little danglies).

On to the story. One: moose_man was right, and I thank him for beaning me over the head with the clues that pointed out the killer beforehand. This is why I usually don't get into mysteries. Also, with the clues, it does make more sense than a tacked on 'Oh, it was Mirror Master!' kind of ending that I have seen some mysteries have (And some later Anita Blake Books; can't fit in actual clues when the main character is shagging everything non-human. Fucking Hamilton.)

But, the reaction to Jean being the killer brings up something from a few years ago for me.

Okay, back in the original series of Thunderbolts, the buildup to issue #25, there was the Crimson Cowl, a villanous mastermind who was assembling a new 25-person Masters of Evil. The Thunderbolts, because it was their book, stop the Masters and unmask the cowl...

...only to find it's Dallas Riordan, their liason with the NYPD/Mayor's office.

Hell, I was surprised.

Everyone I talked to about it said the same thing: Oh, she was mind-controlled.
Me: Why is it mind control now? Why can't it just be that she was an evil bitch all along?

A note: this is before I was given research material showing the Crimson Cowl was traditionally 'someone who was mind controlled into being the Cowl while the real one hides away'. It turned out that Dallas /was/ being controlled, and that it was following the Crimson Cowl tradition.

And now we have Jean Loring as the killer...and I have heard every theory under the sun as to why. These theories range from mind control to possession to Dr. Light controlling her to 'Jean was set up even though she confessed' to 'It was J'onn!' to 'It was the White Martians' to 'It was the Durlans!' to 'It was the Skrulls!'

The fact that the Skrulls do not exist in the DCU doesn't deter them. That's scary enough.

But I have never seen such an outpouring of rationalization like this before. Why is the idea that Jean...well, lost her mind not even considered? It looks like that was what happened; confessions and pages of evident clues in flashback kinda make me biased, I admit.

Though, my DCU-FU is admittedly very spotty. Before this, where since Zero Hour has Jean Loring appeared?

When Hal Jordan went nuts, where were all these theories from the fans? (I'll get to Rebirth in another post.)

When Magneto was shown as some drug-addled schizo being written so out of character reading it made me physically nauseous, why weren't the Skrulls (or Morrison) blamed for it? How come there's no theories like this about Wanda (which it would make more bloody sense. No such thing as Chaos Magic my ass).

he whole issue could have explained more. Owen's parents are not yet identified, and Ralph talking to no one at the end, acting like Sue was alive, was not poignant. That was just downright creepy. Where the first issue has a lot more emotional impact overall...this just didn't, so now it's over.

One last part. I'm saving that, for when I'm ready for it. Hopefully sometime today.

Comments

[c-jyd.livejournal.com]

I'm just going to leave IDC alone, aside from the note that I read JLA in the late 70's-early 80's, and even played Ralph Dibny on B&B - I don't anymore, really, uhm, lost a lot of desire to play him. Nothing wrong with your review... just, nevermind.

Otherwise, fantastic reviews.

Whedon is making me actually want to read an X-title again with good writing, and fantastic dialogue that has been missing for ages, but was a trademark of his characters when they're written well. I second your statements. I don't care about bandwagon - I've always read what's good.

Green Arrow - spot on. Green Arrow is one of those characters with a history of being involved with 'statement' comics. Some of them have been among the best stories DC has ever had. This isn't one of them. I'm glad that they're attacking a tough subject, but Mia should never talk like a pamphlet, it loses the character badly.

JLA - I'm with you, I read the first two over at Lithera's. Not sure I care to keep reading.

JSA - I haven't read the newest one yet, so kind of skimmed the review. But from issue #1 on, it has remained one of the best comic series ever. This is up there with early-80's Avengers run. I actually either have, or have read enough of the older JSA series to be pretty familiar with Degaton and plots involving him. I'm really looking forward to this. Atom Smasher did seem a touch odd still.

Well thought out and done.

[infinitepryde.livejournal.com]

Clearly you're doing this to save me from reading GA #45, which I'd been about to pick up this afternoon when we head to the comics shop. :D

[technis.livejournal.com]

Regarding Green Arrow, I must first point out that I don't read it so am entirely unqualified to comment. However, I recall that one of Judd Winick's castmates on The Real World was Pedro Zamora, who was HIV+. Judd and Pedro became close friends, even after the show finished, and I think Judd may even have been there when he died. He works a lot for AIDS charities and even wrote Pedro and Me about his friendship with Pedro. That would seem to add a lot of weight to your theory of Winick on a Mission, and based on other things I've read by him, he may not be well equipped to handle an issue like this in this particular medium.

Um... everybody knew all this already, didn't they?

[c-jyd.livejournal.com]

Yup. I don't doubt that he's passionate about the issue. Its obviously impacted him, and he picked great characters and a great title to go on a mission in. That I have no issue with.

I just think he could be a lot more effective if he stayed focused on Mia's personality in paerticular, since that's part of what makes all of this so powerful, if done right. Having it hit someone with a developed personality and role in the book that has some real time and development involved, so it comes across as more real than doing it through someone introduced just for the purpose of hitting an issue. It just loses a lot when he loses touch with his characters while trying not to miss any information. Good intentions, good idea, questionable execution.

[graveyardgreg.livejournal.com]

I made the mistake of reading your review of Identity Crisis #7...and I hadn't read IC #7 yet.

WAH! CRY! WOE!

Ah well. :D

[razorsedge74.livejournal.com]

Why no mind control of Jean? Mostly because Silver Age Jean Loring was pretty batshit all along. This isn't too much of a stretch for people who know the history of the character. It's not like Gwen Stacy sleeping with Norman Osbourne...