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Snapshots for 2/4
There's no way that Don and I can cover all of the material we have for review in full reviews, so these capsule reviews will offer some brief comments on other recent releases.
COURTNEY CRUMRIN IN THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM #2
by Ted Naifeh (Oni Press)
 It's interesting to see how Courtney's role has evolved, from powerless to powerful, without losing the outsider quality that defines her. Even amongst a bunch of other young witches and warlocks, she stands out as someone more reserved, far more intelligent and of course disliked for these qualities. While Courtney can seem a little mean-spirited, however, Naifeh never fails to remind us that she's got her caring side, whether it's her soul-searching this issue over her selfish use of magic or her sudden interest in protecting a young warlock in over his head. In amidst the story of Courtney and some young warlocks and witches messing with forces they really shouldn't, Naifeh continues to flesh out the details of Courtney and her uncle by means of a little backstory, revealing that maybe their outsider nature and considerable power comes from a historical place. As always, Courtney Crumrin remains fascinating, charming and just the right side of creepy and dark at the same time. 9/10
JSA #58
by Geoff Johns, Don Kramer & Keith Champagne (DC Comics)
 Shocks and surprises abound in the action-packed fifth part of "Black Reign," which is turning out to be an exception to the general rule that inter-title crossovers suck. In fact, this issue is as strong as the issue of JSA that kicked the whole thing off, without the worry that Johns is going to over-simplify too much the moral questions facing the heroes and villains, making it my favorite chapter of the story so far. Fantastic action courtesy of Kramer and Champagne (check out the giant-sized Green Lantern-created Hawkman on pages 2-3, the brutal sequences featuring Eclipso and Nemesis or Doctor Mid-Nite looking as badass as he ever has) is only half the equation, and the other half is a story that explores the line between hero and villain and has several big twists and surprises. I'm still a little less on the "heroes don't ever kill" side of the fence than Johns's stories tend to be, but he's exploring the moral gray areas in an interesting enough way for me, and there are two big surprises this issue featuring guest characters (one hero and one villain) that I didn't see coming but which just delighted me. Over the last year or so, JSA had become a title I sort of took for granted, but it's right back up there as one of my favorites again thanks to "Black Reign." 9/10
THE SILENCERS #3
by Fred Van Lente & Steve Ellis (Moonstone Books)
 I didn't much like Silencers #1 and was won over by #2, and now I"m back to being nonplussed by #3. Van Lente tries to get overly cute by jumping the story around in time and using an unreliable narrator, the former Silencer Euphoria who has started telling tales to the feds. Unfortunately, with even the slightest bit of scrutiny this overly cutesy narrative device falls apart, because Euphoria is on the outs with the team, and therefore doesn't really have the insight to give this information to the feds any more than the feds themselves have. In addition, the story jumps around so much that Van Lente overcomplicates a fairly simple plot, the revelation of the mysterious drug Black Kiss, and while the goal may have been sophistication from simplicity, instead I wound up mostly frustrated and irritated at all the unnecessary complexity. Ellis's artwork continues to look pretty sharp, very much in the same vein as Mike Avon Oeming on Powers (which I'm sure is no accident) but I wish that the writing was less erratic in tone and quality. 4/10
SUPREME POWER #7
by J. Michael Straczynski, Gary Frank & Jon Sibal (Marvel Comics/MAX imprint)
 Bruce Jones could take a lesson or two from Straczynski's work on Supreme Power. While Supreme Power has the slower pacing and conspiracy elements that fans of Jones's Hulk run are in favor of, it also has one important thing that the Hulk is lacking lately, and that's a sense that this is all going somewhere, and that Straczynski has a plan. The climactic confrontation that closes out this issue is the result of build-up throughout the first six issues, not a random plot twist thrown in to try and shock increasingly jaded readers. The slowly developing realization for Mark Milton that the government might not be as nice as he was led to believe in his upbringing, and the resulting development of his own headstrong personality, is fascinating to read. And the introduction of the "Aquaman" analog this issue is fantastic, perhaps as alien and weird and powerful as any take on the character has ever appeared, with full credit due to Gary Frank for the bestial and yet beautiful fish-like appearance and use of MAX's nudity for character purposes rather than titillation. I worried early on that Supreme Power might represent a title delving into all the excesses possible in the unrestricted MAX format, serving up a hopelessly decompressed, pointlessly violent and sexual book, but instead Straczynski is turning in a truly adult look at superheroes that is always an entertaining read. 8/10
Y: THE LAST MAN #19
by Brian Vaughan, Pia Guerra & Jose Marzan Jr. (DC Comics/Vertigo imprint)
 Well, it's not the last thing I expected to see, but an issue devoted to sex talk between Yorick and a deluded dominatrix certainly wasn't really something I would have guessed at in the pages of Y. Vaughan reveals a surprising fact from Yorick's past related to his sexual experiences, as well as a less surprising but well illustrated examination of his first time with Beth, and in so doing spends a fair amount of time shedding light on Yorick's views on sex, which are pretty important in a world where he might be the last man alive. Though Vaughan keeps things light, with Yorick's joking demeanor serving as a nice balance to the fairly dire circumstances he finds himself in or the secrets he's forced to divulge, there's a one-page glimpse of what he went through between the end of issue one and the start of issue two that is just horrific, a well-done and creepy image by Guerra and Marzan that will stay with me. This is an unusual issue, being largely an exploration of Yorick's backstory with a very odd framing sequence, but the finale has me wondering where exactly Vaughan (and for that matter, Yorick) is going with all this. 8/10
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