Green Lantern: New Guardians #0
The positives of this issue were Tony Bedard's writing and that the story wasn't an origin, but a continuation of the story that's been leading up to The Third Army.
The negatives however were negative enough to land it in last place. That would be the art. Aaron Kruder and Andrei Bressan turn in mostly subpar work. N. Nathan Harris on Voltron is still the all-time low water mark for art, but these two aren't far behind. Bedard's writing and characterizations of Carol Ferris and Kyle, and even Tom Kalmaku feel very natural to the GL mythos Geoff Johns has created. But the way Kruder and Bressan act it out pulls you right out of the story and makes it unbelievable. I won't say I expect bad artwork from Dynamite, but I do expect better from DC.
Sword of Sorcery #0
I'd like to welcome Sword of Sorcery to the Pull-List this week. I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship.
So far so good. Both Christy Marx's Amethyst tale and Tony Bedard's Beowulf backup story made for a good comic. Marx's first time out on Amethyst was a little standard. Its your basic story that we've seen before about a kid secretly being the hidden ruler of a hidden world. Marx does a really nice job with it. I'm eager for next issue.
Tony Bedard also does nice work with the Beowulf backup which seems to take place in $oss' favorite, post-apocalyptic future. I'm not familiar with the original Beowulf story so I'm going in pretty fresh.
The best part about this comic? The art. Aaron Lopresti on Amethyst and Jesus Saiz on Beowulf hook... it... up. Lopresti could use some inks, but that's a minor complaint as his work is so sharp. Saiz's work on Beowulf is just as impressive. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Brian Reber's work on color that take it to a whole new level.
I great start for a book that I'm really looking forward to being good.
Wonder Woman #0
In spite of this issue being written like an old silver age comic, it was pretty good.
That's the precedent Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang have set for Wonder Woman. Even the issues that have been "meh," have still been pretty good. And even this issue, complete with old school captions and thought balloons was a pretty sweet read. Diana, as a young teenager was trained by the Olympian, War each night of the full moon. War is a pretty cool character that physically resembles Azzarello quite a bit. Hopefully we'll see more of him as Azzarello's arc rolls on.
Chiang is as flawless as ever. He challenges you to find some bad art in his work knowing there isn't any.
Justice League #0
Ah, the origin of the New 52 Shazam. And it was quite good.
THOUGH, I'm more of a traditional Justice League guy. I don't know how comfortable I am about the book Justice League revolving around Shazam for however long. But that's a minor complaint. Geoff Johns writes and Gary Frank draws a great book. Its kinda sorta the movie Big, but with superpowers. I'd go see that in a heartbeat and don't know why this kind of Shazam hasn't been introduced into movie theaters already.
Johns and Ethan Van Sciver give us a cool backup story threading lines as to how Shazam ties into the upcoming Trinity War and Pandora and all that stuff.
Its really looking like the DCU's flagship title is in good hands going in the right direction.
Supergirl #0
First off, the name Kryptonopolis is ridiculous. But the rest of the issue was damn near flawless.
An incredibly touching comic from Mike Johnson and Michael Green. Initially you want to hate Zor-El for being a dick and going against his wife and brother, Jor-El. But you can't. You can only feel bad for him. The writing by Green and Johnson, with the always incredible art by Mahmud Asrar really makes this an emotional story. Usually, I don't give a shit about Krypton. Superman starts when he gets to Earth. But this story really makes you feel what these characters, particularly Zor-El went through.
Supergirl has had a couple speed bumps lately, but hopefully this will get everything back on track.
Panel of the Week:
Jesus Saiz and colorist Brian Reber made this a sweet looking book.
-Gint
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