We had a split this week. Two good, two bad and I was honestly surprised at the low quality from our Third and Fourth Place entries.
Fourth Place:
Supergirl #5
This issue, well ... sucked. Supergirl has been a strong book so far, but this has been its weakest issue.
Most of the issue takes place in Kara's inner monologue as she's talking to herself while she's flying to Krypton. The rest is her father telling her what happened to Krypton through a Sunstone. The book ends with a Kryptonian Worldkiller (I guess an alien assassin of some sort) finding Kara and trying to recuit her to her cause. Kara resists, they fight and the alien leaves her on a floating remain of Krypton.
The story was boring, the Worldkiller was an uninspired design and the usually flawless color by Dave McCaig felt dark and muddy.
Overall this was a pretty empty issue.
Third Place:
Wonder Woman #5
Well, perfection is a hard target to hit. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang have been chasing the dream for four issues, but stumble on issue #5. Partly because Cliff Chiang isn't the artist. Tony Akins fills in and though his style is similar to Chiang, it just isn't the same.
Also, we get a whole lot of talking. Now talking isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't need tons of action in my books. I could read a whole issue of guys talking around a table if its written well. And this isn't written poorly, it just seems to be more exposition and explanation than necessary to lead up to issue six.
So that's that. Better luck next time.
Second Place:
Voltron #2
Brandon Thomas and Ariel Padilla's second outing on the Defender of the Universe was better than the first. We follow Keith Kogane and the team in the year 2124 while following Doctor Zarkon (foreshadowing tells us he's the creator of Voltron) in the year 2014. They balance the story well going back and forth without any confusion as to what year of the story we're in.
The Voltron robot has been stolen. Keith and Co. shoot their way out of trouble to get to a secret military facility for help getting off planet. Meanwhile Doctor Zarkon alludes to his son that something else is afoot with the government program he's been working for.
Its a pretty quick moving story and an easy read. Sometimes it moves so fast that it feels like a panel is missing. That's really the only storytelling problem apparent in this book: you're left to assume a little bit. But its really minor.
The art could also be better, a little sharper, but its serviceable. Like I said, you're never lost or pulled out of the story.
I'm not all that familiar with Dynamite as a publisher. $oss reads The Boys on a regular basis, but this is really my first foray into their world. So far so good.
First Place:
Green Lantern Corps #5
Peter Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin did a great job making this read like a big budget, sci-fi epic. We're in the meat and potatoes of this arc now and the creative team really kicked the story in gear.
Guy Gardner is leading a group of Lanterns against Willpower-weilding aliens. Before they can attack they need to make them feel fear, something the Lanterns themselves do not. So they break two Sinestro Corps members out of the Sciencells and steal a crapton of guns and armaments from some space pirates. Its a big story that really uses the comic medium of being able to do whatever the hell you want.
And Fernando Pasarin has full art duties which is as it should be. A fill-in artist on this book seriously detracts from how good Pasarin draws the world of the Green Lanterns.
Its great to sit down and read a really good issue. Green Lantern Corps #5 succeeds.
Panel of the Week:
You know how I like 'em: creepy and sexy at the same time. Fernando Pasarin's work on Green Lantern Corps this week was clearly the better overall artwork but this panel spoke to me. Good lighting, nice angle, solid work.
-Gint
No comments:
Post a Comment