$oss' Pull-List Reviews 2-2-12

Voodoo #5 

Voodoo makes her way to the crash-landed Daemonite spaceship on her mission the retrieve valuable information. Standing in her way is another of her alien kind who doesn't agree with Voodoo's mission. Queue Daemonite brawl.

Sami Basri's pencils were unusally bland. It doesn't seem like drawing backgrounds was a priority this month. Every panel feels empty, just characters drowning in a pool of empty space. Come on Sami! You are better then that! 

Justice League #5 

It amazes me that JL misses the mark as much as it does. A book featuring the talents of Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and Scott Williams shouldn't ever be mediocre. This whole arc has felt very empty. It's just one big slugfest. Substance, you go sit over there in the corner for now. 

I finally agree with Gint about the portrayal of Green Lantern. It's pretty awful. He flies around getting his ass kicked and screaming cheese-ball battle cries. How is the reader supposed get behind this doofus? It's like Johns sits down at the computer, cracks his knuckles and says "How can I make Hal Jordan look like a dickhead THIS month?" 

I'm anxious to see how a cap-less and cowl-less Batman is going to save the day in issue #6. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if he hit Darkseid in the face with a creampie and called it a day. Actually, that's the ending I'm rooting for. 

Batman: The Dark Knight #5

Scarecrow cracks Batman's mind open with a cocktail of Venom and fear gas. This would have been one impressively wild ride if Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo didn't do something similar last week in Batman. It's weird that the DC's editorial staff lets stuff like this happen so frequently. Batman's Venom fueled temper tantrum doesn't go unnoticed. Superman shows up to try and make sense of the situation but then things get out of hand. 

David Finch worked some overtime to make this book look amazing. There are several panels worthy of this weeks Panel of the Week. 

Superior #7 

With his town being destroyed by Abraxas, Simon makes the choice to sacrifice his soul to become Superior one last time. Now I don't want to give the ending away but I would like to say that before signing off on any agreement of soul-swapping magnitude it's best to read the fine print. 

 Issue seven marks the end of the series and now I can look back and say that this was a highly entertaining read. While the ending felt like a bad Saturday morning cartoon the story as a whole had a great balance of action, surprises and sad moments. Simon's battle with M.S. and the choices he is forced to make to save his friends and family were truly heart wrenching. If you are looking for a break from the familiar hero's from Marvel and DC I recommend giving Superior a read. 

Justice League Dark #5 

The world is getting REALLY weird and there is only one way to get it back to normal. Too bad this involves Constantine banishing Deadman's possessed girlfriend to parts unknown. I have a feeling this is going to put a dent in team morale. 

Mikel Janin provides more of his skin-crawling art. A rain storm of rotting teeth never looked so cool. I'm sad that this is the end of the first arc. Hopefully the same creative team will stay on for another five or six issues. -$

Panel of the Week: Images come pouring out of Batman's mind.