Action Comics #14
This issue was the story of two Superman's: a well done Superman, and the Superman I'm beginning to give up on.
The first half of the story was Grant Morrison's Superman which I've liked less with each passing issue. He's too powerful, he's too alien, and he's too smart. Its hard to relate to a guy when he's saying things like, "Can we generate a scalar field extending into the 5th dimension?" Morrison has taken the down-to-earth guy who had a regular job and lived in a shitty apartment that we met at the relaunch and turned him into a hero normal people SHOULD be afraid of.
On the other hand was Sholly Fisch's backup story. Superman has been going to the Hayden Planetarium in New York every 382 days to try to get a glimpse of Krypton's passing. Supes doesn't have much dialog, but he's written as a normal guy getting an assist from Earth's science community to help him figure out what happened to his planet. Its a quick 8 page story that packs more emotion and humanity than Morrison's entire issue in the first part of the book.
I have a particular image of what Superman should be in my head. DC apparently has something incredibly different in mind. Superman may not be the only Superman book getting dropped from the Pull-List.
Ps, a minor thing that makes J'onn J'onzz so likeable is his love of Chocos (Oreos). Supes goes in the opposite direction when he says stuff like, "Oh, I don't have to eat or sleep." That equals creepy alien, not the man humanity should aspire to be.
Animal Man #14
Buddy and the land of the Red are attacked by Arcane's forces to draw buddy to Arcane's castle where he's holding Maxine.
Its a good solid issue that uses the breadth of the DCU to show us just how bad Rotworld is. We see disgusting versions of Hawk & Dove, Deathstroke and Grifter. We also learn that some DCU denizens have gone turncoat and sided with Arcane to save themselves. Steve Pugh and Timothy Green II split art duties and both do a great job with their pages.
This story is moving along at a great pace, right beside its partner Swamp Thing. Speaking of...
Swamp Thing #14
Scott Snyder is really on a roll. Everything he writes these days turns to gold. I hope he's making bank now because as the comics industry has shown, sometimes it doesn't last.
This was a really cool issue as we learn more about Alec's powers in the green, and what happens to them the farther away he gets from the Parliament of Trees. We simultaneously learn what Abby was up to when Animal Man and Swamp Thing entered the Rot way back when. The story sets up some interesting hints that we should see next issue.
Had you told me years ago I'd be this into Swamp Thing, I'd have said you're crazy. Scott Snyder has made me a believer.
Green Lantern #14
I really thought we were going to do away with the familiar "when heroes first meet they fight" setup, but we kinda didn't. Still, Geoff Johns changed it up enough for my satisfaction.
Simon Baz meets the Justice League and everything looks good until his ring (technically still Sinestro's) lights up and hands the Justice League their ass real quick.
We also get to know a little more about the First Lantern and what the Old Guardians are up to in their prison. Having the Old Guardians hidden away for centuries is clearly a deux ex machina for being able to write the real Guardians as lunatics. But I like them anyway. I hope once this is over Johns brings these new Guardians out of the dark and finally give us Guardians we can trust.
I still think Simon Baz's GL outfit is kind of dumb, but Doug Mahnke continues to be flawless. AND he draws one of the hottest Wonder Woman's in my opinion.
Panel of the Week:
Soss thinks the Third Army with their big eyes look stupid, but they kind of scare me. And the way they create more soldiers is equally scary, as illustrated by Doug Mahnke.
-Gint
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