Highs and lows this week, folks. Highs and lows.
Superman #35
The total amount of enjoyment I'm getting out of Superman in comics these days might lead me to believe that maybe I don't like Superman. But I love Superman. Honest. So why am I constantly disappointed by so many attempts at the character?
Where Scott Snyder and Jim Lee's Superman Unchained pretty much lost me from the start, Geoff Johns and John Romita, Jr.'s had some ups and downs to lead me to believe it was going to be good. Well, the final tally is in: its not. It makes me think that maybe wierdo sci-fi is what Superman stories are really about and I'm just missing the boat wanting them to be more grounded and character based.
There isn't much in this arc that's really engaged me. Between new villain the Machinist and new sort-of good guy Ulysses, neither character has me giving ONE shit about them, let alone two. Romita Jr.'s art, which I remember being flawless has had me saying, "THIS is the guy that did those amazing Spider-Man books?" Maybe he's uninspired by Johns' story too.
Once again I expected to finally get the Superman story I've been waiting for, and once again I'm left disappointed.
Futures End #25
Every time some writer has Superman taking a sabbatical I think its dumb. When the world is in crisis, Superman doesn't bail to anonymously help farms in Africa. If he's having some emotional struggle he just deals with it while he's helping the world. C'mon, DC. Do you even know who this character is?
Hey, news flash: super creepy evil Dr. Yamazake is a bad guy! Go figure. For all the excellent story beats the writing team has given us through 25 issues, this was not one of them. The heavy-handedness of Dr. Yamazake's evil were telegraphed from day one.
The big takeaway we get from this issue is Brainiac, the REAL Brainiac is a terrifying god. Not the tough robot we've seen up to this point, but a for real god who will probably just squash Superman. And he's coming to Earth. The writing team does a nice job of giving us the old "oh fuck" feeling.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #18
After tons of teases through Dan Abnett's run Adora finally gets the Power of Grayskull and becomes She-Ra. Together, when her and He-Man call down that power, they have the ability to level an entire city. Its pretty intense.
This issue wraps up Adam and Adora's trip to Anwat-Gar and should really start getting the ball rolling on Hordak coming back to the real world. So far he's trapped in some ghost dimension.
Dan Abnett apparently has some cool shit planned for this book. Next up will be something called Eternity War, which sounds pretty awesome. My hope is that we finally get to see Skeletor and his crew, who have been noticeably absent during all this Horde stuff.
Aquaman #35
What a great fucking book. Jeff Paker and Paul Pelletier are magic on this book together. They know what it takes to make a good Aquaman story. I love the tone they give the character. One of quiet reverence. He's quiet and thoughtful. There's a subtle difference in Aquaman from Superman and Batman that can only be pulled off by the king of the seven seas.
This issue kicks off Maelstrom: Part 1. A story about Atlantis being tied biologically to Arthur and its inhabitants. Atlantis is shaking itself apart because it knows Arthur is not 100% Atlantean. Aquaman with some help needs to find out why this is happening and where the potential real King of Atlantis is.
Parker, taking cues from Geoff Johns relaunch of the book has built a really cool world surrounding Aquaman. Doctors Shin and Daniel Evans are infinitely more interesting than Ulysses, mentioned above.
Panel of the Week:
Paul Pelletier's Aquaman believes in everyone having equal rights. I guess if that means Jason Momoa's Aquaman will have dark hair, so be it.
-Gint
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