Big review week this week. Eight books. And they really ran the gamut from atrocious to amazing. Lets start with the atrocious.
If I could have had this book finish below Eigth Place I would have:
Superman #1
Where the fuck do I start with this mess? It took me less time to read The Stand. How about there? I don't think I've seen so many words in a comic book. I saw George Perez got credit for breakdowns. Shame they didn't just let the books penciller Jesus Merino do his job.
I don't mind a good dense read, but from exposition, to monologues, to a Daily Planet story written by Clark Kent interspersed throughout the story, this book didn't let the art tell the story at all.
And its not even a good story. Its same old same old boring Superman. It felt like a post One Year Later arc, but not good. Fire-alien mysteriously comes to Metropolis and Superman has to beat him down. I thought DC was really trying to push the envelope and make each new issue great? Surely someone at DC read this and went, "George, we're going to need something more."
The best part of the story was the last two pages where you actually get some emotion from these characters, but they're the promo pages we've already seen.
And now for the nitpicking:
Lois Lane shouldn't have purple eyes. Real people don't have purple eyes.
The new Perry White is played by Nick Fury sans eye-patch.
New character Ms. Izquierdo utters, "Madre de dios," catapulting her into a Latino parody.
And Clark Kent looks like Superman. Rags Morales did a great job in Action Comics making Clark be believable as NOT Superman. Jesus Merino has no luck.
This is an OLD book. Nothing new about it. I won't be returning for issue #2.
So after I wrote this review it was announced that Keith Giffen will be taking over Superman with issue #7. There is a god. Giffen maybe not be Bendis or Johns, but he can't do worse than this garbage.
In a boring Seventh Place:
Teen Titans #1
Well... it wasn't awful. But that's not really a glowing endorsement is it?
This issue introduces us to three of the soon-to-be members of the Titans: Robin (Tim Drake), Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) and Kid Flash (Bart Allen). Unfortunately Scott Lobdell only writes one of them as likable. That's Robin. Tim is essentially Tim, but Lobdell makes him feel dumb. Granted its one issue, and I shouldn't expect Lobdell to immediately infuse Tim with the subtle brooding depth that Geoff Johns and Fabian Nicieza did. He should have time to grow. But I can't shake the feeling that this Tim just isn't a natural leader even though he's putting the team together.
Kid Flash is an idiot and Cassie is just a bitch. Cassie, even more so than the bad guys is the least likable part of this book. I just can't believe Cassie would be stealing cars and tearing up the town. It feels fake and forced.
Brett Booth's art is serviceable. Very Mark Bagley-esque. I'm not expecting many Panels of the Week.
But after issue #1, I don't know how many issues I'll be getting to give him a chance. This book is another example of, "if they have better stuff coming down the pipe, they should have opened with it."
A passable Sixth Place:
Green Lantern: New Guardians #1
The final book of the Green Lantern titles to be released, and this one is my least favorite. I don't have high hopes for this book since I'm not a big fan of the creative team (writer Tony Bedard and penciller Tyler Kirkham), but I imagine it will be passable. And it was. It just didn't get me juiced up like Green Lantern or Green Lantern Corps.
This book starts with a revisiting of Kyle's early beginnings the night Ganthet gives him the ring. While its nice to see a little more detail of what happened with Kyle that night, and while I'm guessing this will be important later, it felt like the pages could have been better used getting into the climate of what's happening in the DCnU now.
Kirkham's art is adequate. A buddy of mine said he liked it because it reminded him of 90s artists. I only started religiously reading comics in 2001, so I missed out on the Image boom and all that. But I know the negative connotations the term "90s comics" carries with it. What I do like about Kirkham's art are his page layouts. The art inside the layouts may not be mind blowing, but the layouts are very cool.
Green Lantern: New Guardians sets up an interesting plot as one of each colored Corps ring comes to enlist Kyle Rayner. It didn't knock me off my seat, but its interesting enough to keep picking up.
An interesting Fifth Place:
The Fury of Firestorm #1
Co-plotters Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone do a fine job introducing Firestorm to the DCnU. The combination of Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch both being Firestorms has great potential and Van Sciver and Simone have a lot of options as to how the science of Firestorm can work.
Personally, I liked the pre-DCnU Firestorm where Jason and Ronnie shared the same body. In this version they're separate, but that doesn't mean they will be forever. They also create something called "Fury" which seems to be a Super Firestorm with a bad attitude. I'm not so sure about that one.
What Van Sciver and Simone introduce are the racial and social differences between white Ronnie and black Jason. Its an interesting direction to go in providing Jason and Ronnie get to stay in high school for a while.
Yildiray Cinar offers up some good pencils and even better page layouts. His facial distinctions are pretty solid to start.
This story and these characters have a LOT of potential. This book could be great. Here's hoping the creative team finds their stride to take it there.
A lone Marvel Fourth Place:
Annihilators: Earthfall #1
Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are at it again in the Marvel cosmos. After a brief hiatus and time spent on a couple Flashpoint tie-ins DNA continue the story of Marvel's cosmic characters.
One thing I've loved about the Marvel cosmic stories is that they had nothing to do with Earth. So when I heard this next arc would take place ON Earth, I was disappointed. But what DNA have done is look at Earth from an outside perspective. Earth in this book is just another planet that's been infested with the Universal Church of Truth and the Annihilators have to stop it. Unfortunately, that means facing off against the Avengers.
DNA set this heroes vs. heroes fight up perfectly and even said this won't be your classic "heroes fight heroes over misperception, heroes realize mutual bad guy, heroes work together to beat bad guy" story. The Avengers and Annihilators won't like each other and don't have to.
Tan Eng Huat is back on pencils and does OK. There's some goofy shit, but nothing too offensive.
The one question this book reminds me of is will we ever rescue Star Lord and Nova or are they really dead? This story moves on without mention of the past and acts like that chapter is closed. Its pretty interesting either way.
This was a nice "Welcome Back" for the only Marvel representative on my Pull-List.
A surprise Third Place:
I, Vampire #1
I've been saying getting this book was a real roll of the dice. I know nothing about Joshua Fialkov (writer), Andrea Sorrentino (artist) or these characters or what they do. I was really stepping into the unknown, questioned by everyone from $oss to our local comic shop employees. I am thrilled to say I put my money on the right horse.
The Twilight-ish cover doesn't do the interior of the book justice. Don't get me wrong, its a beautiful cover but it sends the wrong message. The message that should be sent is that this book is way more The Dark Tower meets Hellboy than it is lovey horror romance.
Andrea Sorrentino does a great job on the art. Her style is very similar to Jae Lee, but different enough to stand on its own. It has a much harder edge to it. I've seen Jae Lee imitators and its been bad. Sorrentino is the perfect artist for this dark book. She's capable of making scary scary and then turning on the creepy-sexy. I like me some creepy-sexy.
Fialkov immediately makes you care about the characters as well. For as fucked up as main character's Andrew and Mary's relationship is, and while it may be hard to understand, you see where each of them is coming from.
What has the potential to be very cool is the integration of this vampire lore in the regular DCnU. We don't see them in this issue, but I, Vampire is clearly set in the DCnU with mentions of Superman, the Green Lanterns and Wonder Woman. This doesn't feel like a different world. It just feels like a dark corner of this world we haven't explored yet.
I hope more people take a chance on this book because it deserves it. Its clearly the dark horse, but well worth giving a read.
A surprising artist-written Second Place:
The Flash #1
What's funny is I think I like Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato's Barry Allen better than Geoff Johns.
After reading George Perez's Superman and hearing enough about David Finch's The Dark Knight to know artists-turned-writers have had a rough time on The New 52, I went into The Flash (written by artist-turned-writer Francis Manpul) with some hesitation. I can't say I'm not still nervous for whats to come, but issue #1 went a long way to douse the fires of anxiety.
Manapul and co-writer Brian Buccellato kicked things off right. I've read enough New 52 books to know that there's some books that have a buzz and excitement about them and some that feel ho-hum same old. Manapul and Buccellato avoid origin retellings or slow builds to Barry Allen's life. They jump in without any baggage. They give you just enough in the dialog to cover the bases of Barry's relationships with Iris West and Patty Spivot and who Barry is as The Flash and as Barry. They set up an interesting story and detective-style mystery that hopefully will continue as good as issue #1 was.
What stands out is the art. This book is beautiful. Between Manapul's pencils and Buccellato's colors its gorgeous. Manapul uses some J. H. Williams III tricks handling panel layouts and storytelling. It really works. From a more technical standpoint Manapul does a great job drawing distinctive faces. You know who some of these characters are without the standard different-hair-color tricks. I'm looking at you, Mark Bagley.
As far as a new #1 issue goes, The Flash is a clear winner.
An Atlantean First Place:
Aquaman #1
I've always liked Aquaman. Even the diesel one with the beard and hook hand. I'll admit I like classic Aquaman better. And its no surprise Geoff Johns does him right.
If written properly with a decent creative team, any character can be more than what they're intimated to me. Johns doesn't define Aquaman by his powers or his Atlantean roots. Johns defines Aquaman by his quiet confidence and depth of character that needs a subtle touch to pull off. This is helped by the spectacular acting in Ivan Reis and Joe Prado's art. Aquaman has a lot on his mind this issue and you don't need a single word balloon to know that.
This is the kind of feeling I wanted to get from Barry Allen when Johns did The Flash: Rebirth. For whatever reason that didn't work like Aquaman works. It seems like such a simple first issue, but it makes you ask, "why hasn't anyone done it like this before?"
In my humble opinion, Aquaman #1 is another homerun for The New 52.
Panel of the Week:
I could have picked a number of pages from Aquaman #1 or The Flash #1 as those were the two best-drawn books this week. BUT I wanted to showcase something about superheroes that I don't think we get enough of. The big action scenes are great, but these quiet "normal people" moments are what make us love these characters.
-Gint
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