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Snapshots for 11/12
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.
CAPES #2
by Robert Kirkman & Mark Englert (Image Comics)
 Capes is 2/3 of the way over now, and it feels like it's just getting started. While I hate to complain about a book that gets in, says what it wants to and gets out, especially in these "six issues of story and nothing happens" times, I feel like Capes is a story that would be more entertaining if I talked about it in a bar with Kirkman rather than reading it in a comic. Which isn't to say that I don't find the book somewhat entertaining. It's clear that Kirkman has some funny ideas about super-heroes as wage slaves, and he marries likable characterization and funny gags together well. In addition, though Englert's Larsen-esque art style isn't my cup of tea in general, I have to credit him with comedic timing and the ability to pull off subtle, background funny as well as the more in-your-face humor that I'm accustomed to with Larsen's work. Notable chuckles this issue include Bolt slamming his cape in his car door and the fight between Vault and Thomas in the background. However, while there's definitely plenty to like here, and a lot of fun ideas, it feels like it's moving at too much of a breakneck pace, and the character and plot developments are just a bit too rapid-fire to really have the resonance they need to. 6/10
CONAN THE LEGEND
by Kurt Busiek & Cary Nord (Dark Horse Comics)
 I was already pretty excited about the upcoming Conan series from Dark Horse thanks to the excellent trade collection they recently did, but this 16-page preview from the Conan creative team has sealed the deal. Busiek tells the tale from the point-of-view of a decadent and cynical prince in a corrupt kingdom, which is clever both in terms of creating an interesting framing device and creating an instant contrast with the character of Conan as ruler. Rather than try to tell an entire story in 16 pages, Busiek does what the writer of a 25 cent comic should do, he teases the reader with promises of things to come, spectacular (and bloody) battles, exotic lands and beautiful women. Those hoping to see an edgier Conan will be happy to know that there are no less than two decapitations in this issue, and if Busiek's storytelling is impressive, than Nord and colorist Dave Stewart's work can only be fairly described as breathtaking. It's reminiscent of the work being done on Marvel's 1602, but with a little bit less surface gloss, a little more grit, which makes it feel much more appropriate to the tone of the book. Nord's digitally painted panels have the majesty of a Frank Frazetta or other classic fantasy artist, and by the time you've reached the end of these 16 pages, you'll have no doubt that the classic barbarian is in very good hands. 10/10
CRUSH #1
by Jason Hall & Sean Murphy (Dark Horse Comics/Rocket Comics)
 Given how much I've enjoyed most of Hall's work in comics, I'm disappointed at how formulaic Crush feels. Hall pushes Liz, the goth outsider girl who is the lead of Crush, way too far in one issue in an attempt to show us how bad her life is, and it comes off as cartoonish and silly. The abusive father and drunk mother who forget her birthday, the circle of friends which consists of one girl who happens to be a badass, the fascination with magic and mysterious destiny, it's like a bad mixture of Harry Potter and Tim Burton, with a dash of the Hulk thrown in for good measure. The concept itself isn't too bad, but the dialogue and the presentation is so over-the-top that it feels more like the work of 60's Stan Lee than modern-day Jason Hall. Which is a shame, because the artwork, a stylized Jim Mahfood meets amerimanga style by Sean Murphy, is terrific, and has great coloring from Lucas Marangon. 4/10
FALLEN ANGEL #5
by Peter David, David Lopez & Fernando Blanco (DC Comics)
 The first multi-part Fallen Angel story continues, and I once again remain thoroughly intrigued and highly entertained. I'm mildly irked that I can't recall all of the intertwining plotlines, and feel that the book desperately needs a "what has gone before" page, a shame since the early issues were such a nice balance between self-contained single issues and promising mysteries, but I'm still very much in this book's corner. David has struck a nice balance between full-on mature readers Vertigo and the more teen-oriented DC Universe style, and that results in a pretty strong indication of Lee's confidence, both in her willingness to fight half-naked and her willingness to call Asia Minor's bluff, which was obviously designed to make her struggle with her morality and feel like less of a person. There's also a nice balance between super-hero, supernatural and noir, as Lopez and Blanco don't pull any punches in depicting the violence of the book and David doesn't pull any punches in showing some of the insanity and darkness that seems to surround Bete Noire and its inhabitants. I wouldn't mind going back to the somewhat more single-issue stories, especially if the multi-parters aren't going to provide more of the answers about the nature of Bete Noire and the cast of Fallen Angel any faster, but this is still a terrific book, one I always anticipate between installments. 8/10
GOTHAM CENTRAL #13
by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark & Stefano Gaudiano (DC Comics)
 Man, could this book use a role call. Don't get me wrong, the second issue of "Soft Targets," the story that puts the Joker with a sniper rifle up against the Gotham cops, is as tense and harrowing and engaging as you'd expect from this creative team, and this really is the Batman book everyone should be reading, but there are so many characters that I can't always remember who's who. Fortunately, I can remember enough of them to make the character drama here, from inappropriate expressions of grief through violence to difficult political situations muddied by grudges, absolutely riveting. Lark and Gaudiano make the characters and the city they live in feel absolutely real, and with Rucka and Brubaker providing strong and realistically flawed characters as well, the result is that you can feel the tension and fear that must be going on in Gotham. I'm also very pleased to see that the super-hero elements, from Batman to Oracle, remain on the periphery, so that we see how the cops have to deal with this type of thing but it doesn't turn Gotham Central into just another Bat-book. 9/10
INVINCIBLE #6
by Robert Kirkman & Cory Walker (Image Comics)
 I don't think it's exaggerating to say that if you're enjoying Ultimate Spider-Man, you should really be reading Invincible. They are two different books, but like Bendis's work on Ultimate Spidey, Kirkman has turned in a really fresh angle on the teen super-hero in Invincible. It's interesting to contrast this with Capes, one of Kirkman's other Image super-hero series, because it has some of the same strengths (lots of neat ideas, terrific characters) and none of the weaknesses (too-rapid pacing, a limited duration). Little moments of super-power usage like Mark and his father playing catch by throwing the ball around the Earth are delightful, and Kirkman and Walker deliver a few of them this issue. There's some borderline goofy but ultimately likable interaction between Mark's mom and dad, a surprising payoff from a gag that showed up in the very first issue and a hilarious moment where we see just how flimsy the secret identity can be with friends who truly know you. There are also some weirdly unresolved questions, such as what was the robot actually trying to accomplish on campus and (most maddeningly) what Atom Eve sees on the last page, but hopefully the next issue won't be quite so late, and we'll get to find out those answers sooner rather than later. At any rate, it's clear that Kirkman and Walker have hooked me, because I am dying to know what happens next. 9/10
JSA #54
by Geoff Johns, Don Kramer & Keith Champagne (DC Comics)
 It's not rare for me to enjoy JSA, but it is rare for me to think of it as a funny book. But in this issue, Geoff Johns tells another form of traditional super-hero story, the goofy down-time story, and it's full of fun moments and gags, along with the more uncomfortable and real moments of characterization that have always marked the strongest issues of Johns's run. It is unapologetically super-hero, and what comes across as likably goofy to this DC hero fan will no doubt come across as stupid and banal to those who seek more realistic, modern heroes... but if you're a fan of old school super-heroes, this is definitely an issue to pick up, even if you're not usually a JSA fan. Johns has a blast playing with the regular cast and the guest-starring JLA, teasing old rivalries and new ones as well as having fun playing up the similarities of characters such as Batman and Mr. Terrific or Impulse and Jakeem Thunder. Don Kramer's work is a little more uneven, with a little too much exaggeration and inconsistency in some of the faces of the characters for my taste, but is in general pretty strong, and has the comedic timing necessary to pull the issue off. I'm as big a fan of the super-hero epic as anybody, but I always enjoy the breather issues where not everything is life and death, where we see the more fun side of being a hero, and Johns and his collaborators pull that off nicely here. 8/10
THE LEGION #26
by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Chris Batista & Chip Wallace (DC Comics)
 Superboy joins the Legion. Frankly, after last issue's big hullaballoo, I was expecting something a little more involved than the modern incarnation of Superboy just flying through space with the Legion, but I buy the "lost in time" excuse for any continuity problems and there is a certain joy in seeing Superboy alongside the Legion again, even if he's a bit of a jerk instead of the classic nice guy or he's wearing his modern costume rather than the traditional (although that little touch is fixed by the end of the issue.) I was disappointed to see the usually reliable team of Abnett and Lanning delivering some truly groan-worthy would-be teen dialogue ("Switch to a power other than Ultra-Sarcasm, Jo" and "We are so not covering ourselves with glory" being a couple of the worse examples), but pleased that at their work on the relationships between the characters, whether it's the strain between the returned Live Wire and his fiancee Saturn Girl, the 20th century bonding of Superboy and Ferro or the surprising but welcome relationship between Cosmic Boy and Kid Quantum. In addition, it was a pleasure to see Batista taking on full art chores again, especially when he does such great design work on the "darkened" vision of Darkseid's henchmen, who if I'm not mistaken represent the Justice League, including Green Lantern, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Orion and Big Barda. Plenty of potential here, but the sooner we lose the faux-Buffy dialogue, the better. 7/10
LONE #2
by Stuart Moore, Jerome Opena & John Wycough (Dark Horse Comics)
 Plenty of good zombie comics out there right now, including The Walking Dead and The Goon, which means that a zombie comic has to offer up a little something more to keep my attention. Lone does just that, not just with the post-apocalyptic setting but with stylish art and an intriguing mystery that deepens quite a bit in this issue. Moore's work here is clearly meant to be a Western riff in some ways, but he doesn't just transpose the Old West into a post-war era, but takes the likable elements like gun-toting outlaws, frontier towns and lawlessness and infuses them with a mild conspiracy/horror element in the mysterious Gunfathers and science-fiction guns and robots. Opena does the same mix, from the dusty western settings to the punk rock look of the characters, and this reads sort of like a lost 2000 A.D. story as a result... but one of the good ones. 7/10
POWERS #35
by Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming (Image Comics)
 It's the "I Love the 80's" issue of Powers. Well, not really, because Bendis shows a surprising amount of restraint in mocking both the super-hero comics and the fashions of the 80's (one hair joke, and that's about it) and instead furthering the story of Walker's slow journey from super-powered immortal monkey to modern day cop. This being Powers, of course, this chapter includes plenty of swearing, super-hero threesomes (with nudity, as drawn by the incomparable Michael Avon Oeming) and a goofy rap-based super-villain group that gets stomped within a couple pages of their first appearance. The real meat of the story, however, is a talking heads scene between Triphammer and Walker which introduces the power-drainers we've seen in the modern Powers stories and the notion of how and why Walker went from super-hero to cop. It's a two-parter, which makes it a little more unsatisfying than the single-issue tales that have made up most of this arc, but it's still a solid read, and I'm guessing that the second part will have some pretty important revelations about the transition from Diamond to Christian Walker as well. 8/10
TEEN TITANS #5
by Geoff Johns, Mike McKone & Marlo Alquiza (DC Comics)
 The first half of this issue contains one of the best super-hero slugfests I'm likely to read all year, which alone is enough for me to recommend Teen Titans. In one fell swoop, Johns, McKone and Alquiza show that the teenage heroes who once made up Young Justice can be great action heroes as well as vehicles for comedy, and McKone does some pretty spectacular stuff with super-powers in motion, reminiscent of classic super-hero illustrators like George Perez, Alan Davis and John Buscema. The ending of the fight is a little bit weird for me, a little anti-climactic given how much build-up there has been to the Terminator/Jericho/Titans fight, but it soon gives way to some interesting character development, notably a quiet scene between Superboy and Wonder Girl that gives way to a pretty nice cliffhanger for the next issue. Some folks complain that the super-hero genre dominates the comics market, and that may be true, but really good classic super-hero titles are few and far between, and Teen Titans strikes me as a fantastic example of that kind of thing. 8/10
USAGI YOJIMBO #70
by Stan Sakai (Dark Horse Comics)
 One way you can tell that Stan Sakai has been at this for a long time is his ability to mix and match seemingly incongruous tones together and make it work. Case in point, the 2-part "Fathers and Sons" which has elements of homage, humor, suspense and action and does everything equally well. You get to see just how dangerous Usagi is, even as you see his noble spirit and obvious affection for his nephew. You get to see Jotaro and Gorogoro as playful children and potentially deadly warriors. And you get to see the criminals threatening them as legitimately dangerous foes as well as buffoonish louts meant for laughs. Sakai makes all of these different interpretations of the characters work together, and he gets a lot of story into a single issue, developing relationships between characters, establishing his villains and pulling a clever scam on those villains, as well as working in a couple of really entertaining action scenes. 9/10
THE WALKING DEAD #2
by Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore (Image Comics)
 Though Robert Kirkman is doing a lot of comics right now, The Walking Dead is far and away my favorite, and issue two builds nicely on the zombie apocalypse premise that was the first issue. Kirkman has wisely set up his protagonist in a situation where he can be in the dark about everything that's going on without having to be a moronic horror movie cliche, and this issue parcels a little bit more information out without giving the whole story away just yet. While I'm enjoying Kirkman's pacing on the exposition, I'm just as pleased that he took what could have been a long-running subplot (and could have easily gone too long) and turned it into a surprisingly happy ending for the issue. Moore is also very much on his A game here, with terrific use of realism in terms of the horse, the people, the backgrounds, even the zombies. The gray-toned art turns out to be a good choice, not just a cost-cutting measure, as it heightens the classic feel and stark scary feel of the whole thing, as well as helping to enhance the desolate feeling of the world that Grimes has woken up too. Great zombie comic, great disaster comic, great action comic, basically just a great comic. 9/10
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