Supergirl #14
This is kind of a throwaway issue. Its part of the H'El On Earth crossover, and since I'm not getting the Superman issues because they're not good, I'm entering this one kind of lost.
The issue opens with Superman and Supergirl in some secret lab with a giant space dragon being dissected. If you're not keeping up with H'El On Earth, you'll be as lost as I was. Mike Johnson does as good a job as he can getting everyone caught up. Soon after, H'el pays a visit to Supergirl offering to kill the already captive Superboy and take her back to before Krypton explodes.
Had Mike Johnson (and Michael Green) constructed H'El On Earth I might be interested. But I've seen enough from its creator Scott Lobdell to not want any part of it.
Mahmud Asrar is his usual strong self on art, but I'm patiently waiting for H'El On Earth to be over to get back to our regularly scheduled Supergirl.
Voltron #9
If I were Dynamite, I would buy out whatever contract they made with N. Steven Harris and get a new artist on this book. Its really awful. For something coming from a "professional" comic publisher, its embarrassing.
Brandon Thomas' story can only make the book so bearable. And it IS a great story. Zarkon is dead and Lotor is trying to make up for all the evil his father has done. But the Voltron Force doesn't believe him. There's also another Voltron robot terrorizing the universe, and it could be REALLY COOL if it was drawn by anyone with even a little bit of talent.
I guess we only have to endure this horror for 3 more issues if Dynamite is doing a different issue for each six issue arc.
Wonder Woman #14
Aaaand DC's revolving door of artists marches on. Cliff Chiang, who is few and far between on this book anymore is nowhere to be seen. His presumed back-up Tony Akins is present, but just does layouts leaving the bulk of the art chores to Dan Green and Rick Burchett. Their work is passable, but a step down from Akins and an even bigger step down from Chiang.
As for Brian Azzarello's story, well, its plodding along. There's a lot of talking. A lot of exposition and pretty much a lot of not too much happening. I suppose the story has moved forward, but it moving forward v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.
Wonder Woman is a book that started incredibly strong and has trailed off over the run of the book. Something substantial needs to happen. And soon.
Green Lantern: New Guardians #14
Tony Bedard has come a long way since he started writing in the Green Lantern Universe. His stories are starting to feel at home in the greater world Geoff Johns and Pete Tomasi have built.
Kyle Rayner continues his quest to master each emotion in the emotional spectrum. He gets about an issue to learn each one and I think in reality he'd need more time. I know he's been called the "torchbearer" and all that, and it SHOULD be him since he's the most emotional of the Lanterns, but it still feel like he's mastering these other Rings too quickly.
As far as the art goes, we get another split issue. Andrei Bressan and Amilcar Pinna share duties. Bressan's work is in the same vein as Pat Gleason and Doug Mahnke and fits well in the GLU. Pinna's is similar, but doesn't work as well. The bigger commentary is that I'm reading too many issues with split art duties and fill-in artists. Again, is it SO HARD to find artists who can produce good work in a timely fashion?
New Guardians is still a step down from Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, but its still a damn solid read month to month for the discerning Green Lantern fan.
Justice League #14
Tony Daniel can draw some shit. He puts that to work in issue 14. I'm not sure if he's the kind of guy that can hang on a monthly, but I'd love to see it.
Geoff Johns sets up some intrigue toward the end by introducing some twists that weren't part of the original story. Its nice seeing his Superman take Wonder Woman to a Smallville diner just to hang out. Its nice seeing a Superman that I actually care about since Scott Lobdell is doing such a terrible job.
The Johns/Gary Frank Shazam backup story is just as good focusing on Black Adam reentering society. Frank draws a really creepy Sloth.
Next month kicks off the Throne of Atlantis crossover and I couldn't be more excited.
Sword of Sorcery #2
We're only three issues into this book, so there's plenty of time for the artists to change and for fill-ins to ruin the great art run this book is on. When I found out Aaron Lopresti would be doing the main title, and Jesus Saiz would be on the backup, my mind was made up that I'd be buying it.
Christy Marx and Lopresti's Amethyst in the main title has been great. Marx and Lopresti have both been great at individualizing the characters, and besides all the crazy names, they make it easy to know who's who.
But I think the real surprise of the book is Tony Bedard and Jesus Saiz's Beowulf backup. Saiz is one of the best artists in the biz right now and his work on Beowulf is top notch. What's nice about the story is that it takes place in some far distant Dark Tower-type future where it looks like a different land, but there are hints that let you know this is some far flung future of the DCU we know and love. Also, THIS is how DC's Masters of the Universe title should be being handled.
Its nice taking a chance on a book and having it exceed your expectations.
Panel of the Week:
Tony Daniel can really throw some pencils around. It might be time people started mentioning him with the best currently working in the business.
-Gint
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