Comic Book Reviews (Updated) - 11/19/2008

I haven't come up with a clever name yet for the Reviews articles but I will be posting some Short Attention Span reviews tomorrow. And without further Apu (I've been zinged!)....


Supergirl #35 (New Krypton Part 5)

OK, it’s official, I have now enjoyed two issues of Supergirl in a row. I have approached this title as one might approach a cute dog that has bitten you before. Much apprehension and some hope that it will just sit there and let you pet it.

Part 5 of New Krypton gives us some insight (and retconning, albeit well done retconning) of Supergirl’s past. We also get and explanation of how she ended up on Earth in the Superman / Batman books encased in a Kryptonite meteor.

The art and writing are much better than this book has seen in a long time and it continues the momentum of New Krypton while introducing some new characters (like the mysterious new Superwoman). Kara’s parents act like normal parents of a teenage girl, trying to run her life but then helping her with a problem even though she is resistant. As we figured, much of this book will be Supergirl’s conflict between her heritage and her adopted home now that the Kryptonians are here on Earth.

-Jason (Super-parents just don’t understand…)

JSA Kingdom Come Special : Magog #1

Following on the heels of the previous JSA Special regarding Superman, we follow the story of Magog. Let’s go back a little bit. I always liked the character of Magog in Kingdom Come. I agree with the way they wrote him as a Superman who does what needs to be done.

In comes Geoff Johns who, back in JSA #??, gives us the birth of Magog in a way that totally took me by surprise. In JSA Kingdom Come Special : Magog, we witness the evolution (albeit a very quick evolution) of the newborn super-being into that character that we saw in Kingdom Come. This is a basic and classic story : well-meaning individual takes things a bit too far and is looked at as a villain in many people’s eyes. And in this story, Magog runs into some people that have hurt and killed members of his special ops team and he shows little to no mercy. This showcases his brand of quick, brutal and no-holds barred vengeance against those who have done wrong, just like he did with the Joker in Kingdom Come.

The writing by Peter Tomasi is keeping up with my high expectations of Tomast’s work lately and the art by Fernando Pasarin is well done.

There is also a backup story in this book which I was not expecting. The Secret Origin of Starman by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins. I don’t know too much about Starman except what they have covered in JSA, but I like the character. He’s a little dull since Gog cured his schizophrenia because I always enjoyed his random utterances and nonsensical conversations. Many things are covered in this including the origin of his suit that was hinted at in a previous issue. We still don’t know what his mission is in our time but I’m very interested to find out.

I have to admit that I was skeptical about these Kingdom Come Specials because the story in JSA was becoming a bit drawn out, but so far we are 2 for 2 with well done issues. Next time : The Kingdom

- Jason (Magog should be head of Project Bad-Ass & Starman should be crazy again)



Ambush Bug : Year None #4

So many people ripped on this book when it came out but I have found it amusing, but this last issue was downright laugh-out-loud hilarious. Allow me to walk you through the hilarity (Spoilers Ahead):

The first page makes fun at a mistake that was made in the second issue. An entire page was printed without speech bubbles or sound effects. Here, they provide a cut and paste page to add in the missing pieces, inviting you to be the DC Comics production department.

Then we get 3 pages of ripping on Dan DiDio (he had to have approved this so we see he has a sense of humor) ending with his death. I'm sure this delighted many, as he is far from the most popular DC employee at the moment. Further along in the book we see many references (all exaggerated and clearly poking fun at rampant fanboy rumor mills) as to how he died.

After that, there is Batman's Secret Space Prison for Embarassments From His Past which is ruled over by the 60s era campy TV show version of Dick Grayson as Robin, many, many funny refernces to the 52 storyline (Rip Hunter's chalkboard : instead of Time Is Broken, The Shipping Schedule is Broken), the villain dressing up as a girl to try and pick up a drunk Renee Montoya and last but not least the funniest parody of fanboy trivia knowledge that I have seen in a while

I understand that this book is not to everyone's liking. Giffen clearly enjoys poking fun at the culture of comic book geeks so you need to have a good sense of humor about this because, yeah, he's laughing at you.

- Jason (Teleporters are a bitch to track)