Comic Book Review - 01/25/07

Justice League of America #5

So I have to admit that the prospect of Solomon Grundy being the “mastermind” behind this current story arc is a bit…well…silly.  HOWEVER, I’d like to admit that my kung fu regarding the DC-verse isn’t that strong and maybe there’s more to Grundy than being an uber-strong zombie-tank that I originally took him for.  The high profile DC titles of late really dip into DC history it seems.  A great deal of references being made to previous titles and past storylines which invariably turns me off collecting the current story but…for some titles I’m willing to make an exception.

Pencils – Ed Benes – Benes is exceptional.  If someone came to me and said, “You only get one kind of art ever again in your comics and that one person is………..ED BENES!”  My response would be,  “Bring it on, fucker.”  I feel like I’m reading a comic book when I read work done by Benes.  Which might not make sense to some, but to explain it further when I read comics I generally prefer them to be larger than life.  The characters are ultra good or ultra bad and ultra gorgeous.  The universe inside Ed Benes’ mind is a beautiful one and it shows in his art.  Benes did exceptional work in Birds of Prey and if Huntress comes over to the JLA, you can sign me up for a lifetime subscription to JLA.  Benes draws female characters like…well…if I was a superhero around the women I’d get my ass handed to me because I would be distracted…a lot.

Words – Brad Meltzer – I love Meltzer’s work.  The owner of the comic book shop I spend too much money at gave me Brad Meltzer’s run on Green Arrow.  He had it all wrapped up and told me if I didn’t like them, bring it back.  He’s a clever bastard and the following day, I was in the store buying all his Green Arrow back issues.  His work on Infinite Crisis was solid as well with just enough drama, action and character development.  I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to weave a story around such overwhelming personalities ontop of coming up with viable threats to the heroes in the JLA.  Meltzer does an excellent job of this.  He did it in Infinite Crisis and now he’s doing it in the newest version of the JLA.  He needs to come up with some new villains though.  Dr. T.O. Morrow?  Man.  Old-timey comics are teh 5uCk.

So I hadn’t realized just how much I’ve been digging this comic and this whole run until I wrote about it.  I’ve read this issue six times now which is a rare thing for me when it comes to DC comics.

All in all this issue gets a 9 / 10.  Great art, great story with solid emphasis on the peripheral characters as opposed to the “Big Three”.  I love the evolving role of Arsenal and I look forward to seeing how he becomes influenced by the greatest heroes in the DC-verse.  Get this book.  Get the whole run. 

Justice Society of America #2

Pencils – Dale Eaglesham – So I know who this guy is and I know his past work but for some reason his name never stays with me.  It’s a shame because his work is superb.  It’s nice to see DC is really pushing to make JSA a success.  Part of that fight comes from pulling in new readers and much of that is done initially by strong art.  Eaglesham knocks it out of the park.  The level of detail he provides is stunning and where Benes is flashy and gorgeous on the JLA, Eaglesham is refined and beautiful on JSA. His chracters look different from one another where in some comics an artist would draw the two teenage girl heroes with the same face but with different hair, Eaglesham adds details to each of them that you can see they’re different by looking at a single part of their face and comparing.  His work is great, that’s all I gotta say.

Words – Geoff Johns -  I like that guy’s stuff, plus we got into a sorta debate on Newsarama.com two years ago, and then he ended up sending me a bunch of rare covers of comics, all signed by him.  So yeah, now I’m like an ultimate fan-boy of his.  The think with Johns is that he assumes that everyone knows as much about the DC-verse as he does and his storylines can get to be a bit, “WTF” at times.  With that said, I like what they’re trying to do with JSA and I like the characters involved.  They’re all pretty much new to me and I want to learn more about them as I find them a breath of fresh compared to the JLA.  Some people might think the JSA is the second-string JLA but I think DC has big plans for the JSA and I’m fully signed up for the ride.

All in all, I’d give this an 8 / 10.  I’m concerned that my desire to like this comic is outweighing the quality  of the title but we’ll find out over the next four or five issues.  The thing that hurts the title the most, I think is that the reader isn’t getting eased into the story with the new characters.  After Crisis and the one year jump, when they said they were hitting the reset button for some teams I figured they would be explaining more regarding the JSA but perhaps that will come in time.

Green Arrow #70

Pencils – Scott McDaniel – Either you like McDaniel’s work or you don’t.  I straddle that.  Sometimes during an issue I hate his stuff and then sometimes I love it.  He’s no Benes or Eaglesham but sometimes different is better and his work definitely gives Green Arrow a different feel.  When I’m reading it, I feel like I’m watching a quirky t.v. show with tonnes of potential that only I know about and tell all my friends to watch.  McDaniel’s work lends to that feeling, when compared to Benes’ work where I feel like I’m watching a Hollywood blockbuster.  Sometimes…sometimes smaller, and less polished is endearing.

Words – Judd Winick – I can take or leave the storyline for this arc.  As much as I love Batman I want to watch G.A. beat on some new villains as opposed to fighting alongside Batman against Brick and the Red Hood.  Batman is always hella bad ass in comics other than his own.  It’s great to see how other heroes perceive the Bat and Winick does a great job of making Ollie and Bruce more like peers.  They respect each other’s work but they’re not about to hug and talk about each other’s problems.  I can do without Speedy in the title altogether.  She’s in the Titans so leave her there.  Winick has some solid and entertaining dialogue in this issue and I almost always find myself smiling and chuckling a few times whenever I read his stuff.

All in all, I’d give this issue a solid 7 / 10.  Not a great jumping on point for new readers but if you follow G.A. you should pick it up.

Justice #9

Art – Alex Ross & Doug Braithwaite – I used the word “art” instead of “pencils” because that’s what Ross does.  Art.  His stuff is crazy.  If you don’t know about this cat then you’re missing out.  Him and Braithwaite do exceptional work as usual in the Justice run and they have a complete fan-boy-wet-dream moment when they deck out the entire JLA in armor.  Batman, Green Lantern and Plastic-Man look especially brilliant…well…and Flash and Wonder Woman look wicked too.  I think you need to be a comic book fan to appreciate the work in Justice.  The effort put into every panel is insane and I think some of the appreciation is lost when showing the work to people that aren’t into comics.  I remember showing my wife some work of Ross’ of Batman.  Her response.  “ Hee hee, Batman looks chubby.  Is that like…old Batman or something?”

After seeing she crushed me she added that it looks more realistic than even anything seen in a movie with real actors.  Like Batman is “real” when Ross draws him.  Which was a bit better but all in all I think the work in Justice can get lost on the “average citizen”.

Words – Alex Ross & Jim Krueger – There’s a story?  I suppose so.  Something silly about Braniace and Dr. Sivana and mind-controlling microbe-bots and … yeah…bleh.  As much as I loved the art of the “armored JLA” I can’t help but think the story is being shoehorned in around the art.  Like Ross that an armored JLA would be awesome to draw which I’m sure it was.  Awesome to look at; which is definitely is…  Nine issues in and I can’t remember anything really great about the story.  Maybe it’s due to the huge delays in shipping. Maybe if I sat down and read all nine issues consecutively I might appreciate the story more.  Uhm…yeah…maybe not.

All in all I’d give this a 7.5 / 10.   I’d say ninety percent of that score comes from the art.  A truly forgettable story hurts the entire run.

 Powers #22

Pencils – Mike Avon Oeming – I love Oeming’s art.  I can’t imagine Powers without him working on it and hopefully I will never have to know.  The only problem sometimes is that usually once an issue I don’t know what panel to read next.  If you’re a fan of the comic then you’ll know what I mean.  I have nothing bad to say here.  Oeming’s art might be an acquired taste for some but I love it.  It’s gritty and artistic and realistic as well as being able to shift to fantastic and sensational when the story slips into the super heroics that come from time to time.

Words – Brian Bendis – I think the guy is working on too many things.  During the first run of Powers I could tell you EVERY storyline.  Every issue had special moments where you’d laugh right out loud or evoke some manner of emotional response.  Twenty-two issues in and I’m getting bored.  I’m not as entertained.  Deena Pilgrim is nowhere near as entertaining as she once was and Christian Walker has zero personality now…atleast compared to how they used to be written.  This issue is definitely an improvement over the last few however and hopefully when this arc wraps and they start the next it will get closer to the glorious title it used to be.