Swamp Thing #0
Well that was uncharacteristically boring. I guess the point of the Alec Holland origin story is that Anton Arcane has been driving it from the beginning. What it really reads as, is Anton Arcane #0.
Kano does a great job on artwork. He draws the book very similarly to Marco Rudy. Multiple artists or not, this isn't a book that will suffer because of it when the trade is collected.
Just a "meh" comic this week from the usually involving Scott Snyder. Lets get on back to Rotworld next issue.
Animal Man #0
Now this was a proper origin story for a character. Its a little silly the way Jeff Lemire wraps the new around the old, but the fact that he tries to integrate the previous Animal Man mythology into this one shows that he really cares about his work.
The Red has had many totems over the centuries, but once Anton Arcane keeps killing them, they have to make a new one. So they wind up being responsible for duping Buddy Baker with a fake "aliens granted me powers" story to make him their temporary Avatar until his daughter is ready to take on the role.
Steve Pugh's art looks great and this #0 doesn't miss a beat in the grand scheme of Lemire's Animal Man.
Action Comics #0
The backup story this issue by Sholly Fisch and Cafu was essentially a throwaway. It sets up a story for upcoming issues of Action, but nothing that seems very interesting.
The meat and potatoes of this story was the main story by Grant Morrison and Ben Oliver. I'm not a big fan of Oliver's work (light ink, most of the characters look like they have cataracts) but its good enough to sell Morrison's story about Clark's early days in Metropolis. There's a lot of talking. Lots of dialogue between characters and its great seeing the interplay between them. If anything has been missing from some of the Superman titles, this is it. Morrison nails it giving us believable versions of Clark, Jimmy and Lois.
A lot of what makes the Superman characters so interesting is their interaction with each other. The superhuman stuff is good, but its the regular human stuff that makes them great. Morrison does some of his best work this issue.
Green Lantern #0
For as much as I don't think there needs to be a FIFTH Earth Green Lantern, Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke tell a cool story about Simon Baz, the guy who gets the ring after Hal and Sinestro die (get sucked into Black Hand's ring).
Baz's checkered past makes him different than the other Earth GL's. Even Hal was more of just a trouble maker than having done anything illegal. Baz gets the Ring under some heavy circumstances that puts the U.S. government and the Justice League out looking for him.
I will never agree that there should be five Green Lantern's from Earth all operating at once but Baz has some potential and it could be cool to watch him grow from the very beginning.
Panel of the Week:
Steve Pugh draws easily the most amusing panel this week from Animal Man #0.
-Gint
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