Action Comics Annual #1
Sholly Fisch and Cully Hamner give us a pretty solid Superman story in the main part of the book. But the real magic is in Max Landis and Ryan Sook's backup story.
The main story is your standard Superman tale of the Government/Luthor creating a response to Superman in the form of the Kryptonite Man. Its competently written and Cully Hamner does a good job on art, but the highest praise it can get is, "that was cool."
The backup story however was AWESOME! Its only eight pages long and has no dialog, but all you need to know is in Ryan Sook's artwork. It tells what's seemingly the story of someone getting stranded on an island and missing their wife. But the second half flips around everything that you thought you knew in the first half. Its really fucking well done and one of the best comic stories I've read in a while. GREAT stuff from Landis and Sook!
Swamp Thing Annual #1
This was a nice little story, but it felt like something Scott Snyder just wanted to tell. It didn't feel like a very integral part of the Rotworld arc.
He teams up with Becky Cloonan on art as he did on Batman and she does a great job. Her work feels very "indie comic" to me and I hate indie comics. But her work for some reason really gets it done. She's able to draw the cutesy flirting between Alec and Abby and also the disturbing Anton cutting the skin off a person. She flexes her muscles all over the place including mimicking some really cool Marco Rudy/Swamp Thing-style panel layouts.
Final verdict? A good solid, if not necessary issue.
Aquaman #13
The Others arc wraps up in grand fashion with Aquaman having a showdown with Black Manta.
Arthur, Mera and The Others track down Black Manta after he kills Vostok and steals the scepter of Atlantis. Any mystery surrounding who Manta's been working with has been blown away by previews of the upcoming arcs which clearly show its Arthur's brother Orm. By book's end Arthur learns the valuable lesson that he can't do things alone all the time and that killing in revenge is bad. Geoff Johns had Arthur going down some dark roads this arc. Roads probably too dark for Aquaman to be going down.
The next arc, Throne of Atlantis is setup, and if all goes as planned, it will dovetail nicely with whats going on in Justice League the next few months.
Justice League Dark Annual #1
A masterful work by Jeff Lemire and Mikel Janin riiiiiight up until the end.
Janin's artwork is great. He never slips up on a panel. And his Madame Xanadu is probably the sexiest chick in the DCU right now. He draws distinctive faces very well. You can tell between Xanadu and Zatanna by just looking at their faces, without seeing their costumes or hair (take note Mark Bagley). The same goes for the other characters from panel to panel. Really excellent work that doesn't get talked about as much as it should.
The JLD track down Nick Necro at Nanda Parbat and enlist Frankenstein, Amethyst and Andrew Bennett for the big throw down. I've been reading Sword of Sorcery and I, Vampire, so its nice to see Lemire really intertwine the DCU here. They get to the Books of Magic and **SPOILER ALERT** they look like a Mother Box. (play disappointing sound effect). I don't like the New Gods. Never have. Always thought they were dumb. Still do. SO, if Lemire and the gang introduce the New Gods as part of some magic/science combo, I'm gonna be SO fucking disappointed.
Here's hoping they don't and the book continues to be one of the best reads on the shelves.
Panel of the Week:
Ryan Sook can draw his ass off and needs to be on an ongoing. But alas, with all artists that can draw their asses off, they just do covers and shit cause they can.
-Gint
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