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Advance Review: DC REBIRTH #1
CIVIL WAR #0
SUPERMAN: AMERICAN ALIEN #7
THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA #5
FUTURE QUEST #1
MAE #1
GRIMM TALES OF TERROR #8
SUPERMAN: AMERICAN ALIEN #7
In stores today!DC REBIRTH #1
Writer: Geoff JohnsArt: Gary Frank, Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, Phil Jiminez, Frank Prado, Joe Prado, Matt Santorelli
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Rob Patey (Pre-Rebirth Optimous Douche)
FLASHPOINT and the New 52 made the construct of comic reality too rigid, too superficial and tied to media strategy over storytelling. It was the suits swooping in to entice demographics over imagination. CONVERGENCE made DC comics too fluid for the OCD of true comic fans. The pick your own universe approach made serial storytelling a toothless tiger of consequence and commitment to the lives of characters. REBIRTH is NOT a reboot, it’s a course correction of mediation between these two polar opposite approaches to storytelling and universe construction. It’s a reparation letting us have our New 52 cake and eat our old continuity too. While this is a big book, what’s even bigger is the single embrace around the DC mythos from the golden age to today, and Elseworlds that we never thought would enter the fray.
Our guide on this journey is a Flash (a John’s staple I won’t fault since it works), Wally West of yore to be specific. While I know “a Wally” was introduced in the New 52, all of us fangeezers were never going to lose the flip and fun visage of the ginger we once knew. The new Wally was cool, and a nice lockstep with the TV show in both form and function, but he wasn’t THE Wally. The Wally who worked alongside Barry for years, the one who owned the mantle of the Flash for almost another 25 years before FLASHPOINT. The new Wally, along with much of the new 52, was a forced lobotomy hoisted upon us. But through REBIRTH the incision now stings much less than before. We asked for simplicity in our comics and the answer was a reboot that turned into a false promise. Wally is now here to correct those missteps as we traverse through four chapters of continuity old and new without sacrificing one damn element of any of them.
But to understand REBIRTH you must be versed on the end days of the New 52, or the twilight, since nothing is being erased. While high collar Superman is dead, thanks to CONVERGENCE middle aged Superman is right and ready for battle. The faceless Joker mystery has been resolved in the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE thanks to the Mobius chair whispering there are three Jokers at large all with a coif of a different cut if not color. The Darkseid war has born the craggy one anew from the island of Amazons and anew lord sits upon the throne of Apokolips with a big bald head and a giant S placed falsely upon his chest. I’m being elusive on purpose. All of these were great storylines and you should read them in detail for yourself. We’ve said several times on our Podcast that the DC universe has been better in recent years during its death throes than its beginnings. I’ll say this was true until my eyes were reopened from their cynical slants by REBIRTH.
As Wally tries to find someone who remembers his existence in the DC universe pre-FLASHPOINT and the time lost, Johns frames the conversation around the relationships and love that was lost. Blue Beetle being a team rather than a separated scientist and a kid with an alien scarab (which we find might be more magic than machine); a member of the Justice Society remembering the days before FLASHPOINT, before CRISIS, hell even before the original reboot of Earth 2 took place; a Legion ring and a delusional girl speaking of a world where food is free and the world is in harmony; a moment that lingers for eons and a sense of wanting between the strangers Black Canary and Green Arrow; a universe for two Wally Wests that makes more sense than the usual adoption clause hefted on characters of different races. There are more of these moments, but I don’t want to ruin them here when Johns does the job so much better.
The true walkaway though is unraveling the mystery of who started the FLASHPOINT phenomenon. It wasn’t Barry returning to the Speed Force or Wally being lost in it. It wasn’t anything to do with the Flashes at all. It wasn’t Darkseid or any of that evil nonsense that started the original trials of the New 52 JUSTICE LEAGUE. It was a character we don’t often think of as evil. A character with a manipulation of all time who has “watched” his universe crumble before he built it anew. A character whose life we “watched” unfold backwards the first time he was introduced to us right after CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, and the time “before” that story years later after FLASHPOINT. Put the quotes together and you’ll figure out who is not only watching the events of DC from our omnipotent view, but manipulating it all as well. But that’s the parlor trick of REBIRTH, the means to an end. For me REBIRTH if done well is a redemption of hope and optimism away from the brooding darkness of the 52 and a new continuity for all generations.
Rob works for IBM when he puts down comic books. IBM.com if you want to see his other world.
CIVIL WAR II #0
Writer: Brian Michael BendisArtist: Olivier Coipel
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man
Marvel’s head writer is back with yet another mega cross-over event from the House of Ideas: CIVIL WAR II. Bendis had earlier penned HOUSE OF M, SECRET INVASION, SIEGE and AGE OF ULTRON. Although he’s probably slightly more famous these days for being the guy who created Jessica Jones. Our Artist Coipel, hit it big on the relaunch of THOR with J. Michael Straczynski and worked on SIEGE with BMB.
First, let’s talk about things I find amusing. One being BMB has jumped on another concept, as it becomes the title of a feature film. As the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY headed to theaters, Bendis took over the comic. Now as (CAPTAIN AMERICA:) CIVIL WAR is in theaters, he writes new a CIVIL WAR comic. Another odd thing to me was seeing the characters highlighted on the first intro page, are all derivative characters: Captain Marvel from the ‘original’ Captain Mar-vel, War Machine from Iron Man, and She-Hulk from the Hulk- also the Inhumans mentioned are not the originals led by Black Bolt, but a new spin off concept of the Inhumans. I guess it all makes sense, since this is second CIVIL WAR.
Ok, let’s talk about the book, which is gorgeous looking. Coipel just continues to do some really fine work. Dare I say, he is even getting better. The whole courtroom scene is amazing. Major props to colorist Justin Ponsor too. His coloring gives a real mature / cinematic pop to Coipel’s drawings. It’s kind of a bummer Coipel’s not drawing the whole thing.
As to the story, well overall it’s pretty boring, though it is a #0 issue. Spoilers start here: She-Hulk whines about the legal system judging ex-super villains guilty, even when they are not. Turns out the guy (The Jester) she was defending even got himself killed in lock-up. So not too happy is the She-Hulk. Maria Hill was a deaf ear for her as well. She figured the Jester was going to do something bad again at some point. Meanwhile Captain Marvel whines to Doc Samson about running S.W.O.R.D.S., how it’s such a big responsibility, blah, blah, blah (reminded of the old hook-hand days of Aquaman, where an issue couldn’t go by without him brag/whining about being responsible of 3/4 ‘s of the Earth). Next some no name teenagers become Inhumans- apparently this is very bad. Last, and probably the best idea of the issue, the President of the United States wants to groom War Machine to run for the Presidency. Mind you, reading Rhodey for years, I don’t see it in him. Sam Wilson on the other hand, I could see him running and winning. Still, great angle for a story.
Oddly enough, the one person missing from this issue #0, is the one guy on all the promos- Iron Man. The main theme of the series is barely touched upon either, which is suppose to be some kind of “Minority Reports” concept. Which reminds me of Marvel’s ORIGINAL SIN, as (white) Nick Fury was killing potential threats to the world. Curious if Bendis is going have any of that factor in here (money says he won’t).
As usual Marvel’s #0 issues for their big events are all quite dull. They don’t set-up the story and can’t really do much of anything, as it might detract from the story. I’ve said before, I wish they would go back to what the #0 issue was intended for. Which was for a series to step backwards, to give greater context to the current storyline- not kick off a series with a non-tale. So this #0 issue gives us no clue what CIVIL WAR II will be about, or if it will be any good. But at least the issue looks great.
SUPERMAN: AMERICAN ALIEN #7
Writer: Max LandisArtist: Jock
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Lionel Putz
Max Landis caps off his seven-issue series SUPERMAN: AMERICAN ALIEN this week, and while I don’t think that the final installment quite lived up to the previous entries (or possibly just my unreasonable expectation of it), this series will be remembered as one of the definitive Superman stories, like ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS, and RED SON before it.
As with the previous six stories, this issue is a single-story told in a single day in the life of a still-nascent superhero and DC universe, a day that presents Clark—now in full Superman uniform including what I can only describe as “Liefeld-esque” pads and pouches as well as the old-school undies—squaring off against the original, accept-no substitutes, Main Man himself, Lobo, presented in full pre-52 glory* complete with cigar and chopper. Turns out the bounty hunter is in town to eliminate a Thanagarian deserter, and he’s being less than discrete about finishing his job. A surprisingly and viscerally violent confrontation ensues as the world watches on, seeing the full might and power of Superman for the first time. The issue closes with Lois sitting by a badly-beaten Clark’s bedside, finally ready to admit her feelings (he had confessed his love to her earlier in the day to a less-than-reassuring response) and face their now shared future.
(*The New 52 “re-imagining” of Lobo represents such a gross misunderstanding of a character and property that we should all just be grateful that it died a quiet, unobserved death last fall and hope that Landis’ inclusion of the original character signals a return to form for the upcoming REBIRTH event.)
The battle between Superman and Lobo is certainly epic, and well-illustrated by this issue’s artist, Jock. We get a sense of the true power of Superman, a guy who spends every day and every encounter holding back his true strength, but the problem is that we’ve certainly seen that particular beat played out before in other offerings. The true strength of this series—and the reason it will be remembered fondly in the years to come—is that it found new ways to comment on and enrich the Clark Kent story because this book was always about Clark Kent, not Superman. So the choice to focus the final issue on a knock-down, drag-out battle was a bit jarring, if not narratively necessary to cap the evolution of the character into fully embracing his role as the Man of Steel. As complaints go, it’s actually pretty minor, and the interaction was bookended by Clark texting Jimmy about his disastrous declaration of love to Lois and then her returning of those feelings by his bedside, so the story was not without its character moments. That said, when I think back over this pretty incredible run, I will remember a child Clark shouting out for his mother as he floats up into the night sky; or a twenty-year-old Clark crashing Bruce Wayne’s birthday party as Bruce Wayne and then hooking up with future super villain Barbara Minerva; or Clark in a really half-assed costume splitting his lunch with a rooftop construction worker; or any of a dozen other really genuine moments that add so much character and humanity to a character that is at once DC’s most- and least-human character. Him tossing Lobo into outer space? A fine beat, but a footnote when compared to a moment like Pete Ross asking Clark if he’s just trying to get famous or be known as the nicest guy on the planet.
If you haven’t picked up this series yet, or been swayed by my previous reviews of the earlier issues, I’m not sure what else there is to say. This series managed to put a fresh, modern, human, and completely original take on a character with close to 80 years of history while also honoring that history. Max Landis’ passion and enthusiasm for Superman is in the DNA of this book, and he should be commended for treating such an unabashedly good, noble, and pure character without a hint of cynicism or shame. This is a celebration of Superman by way of celebration of Clark Kent, and we are all luckier for having it out here in the world with us.
Lionel Putz is a lawyer by day. He watched Matlock in a bar last night; the sound wasn't on, but he's pretty sure he got the gist of it. Email him at lionel.putz@gmail.com
THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA #5
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-SacasaArtist: Robert Hack
Publisher: Archie Comics
Reviewer: Lyzard
I’m not sure what I expected coming off of issue #4 of THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA. It was by far the highpoint of the series, full of chills and thrills, scares and despair. The book wouldn’t be easy to top. Perhaps it was the months-long break and the expectations that grew and festered as I waited for issue #5, but this book seemed to lack… dynamism. Rather than the shock and emotional turbulence Aquirre-Sacasa provided us in the first four issues, this most recent comic went for a much more subtle style of horror until returning to form at the very end.
Sabrina’s mourning for Harvey Kinkle is short-lived. For one, she must first focus on facing the witches’ council for her sins of cavorting with a mortal and two, she has already been offered help by Miss Porter to see her lost love again. Porter, or as the reader’s know her to be Madam Satan, calls again upon Betty and Veronica (who are ironically playing witches in their school’s production of MACBETH) to assist Sabrina through both of these tasks. It doesn’t take a horror aficionada to know just how wrong the raising of the dead can go. As the bard once said, something wicked this way comes.
The writing takes too much time to build in this issue, bubbling like a cauldron but hardly coming close to a boil up until the very last few pages. It is Hack that provides the creepiness, visual frights that may be overlooked on first read. His drawings are not just about gore, which there is plenty of, but subtle spooks. For instance, his recreation of the iconic Archie milkshake three-way is unnerving given Betty and Veronica’s new portrayals.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this issue was filler. It was heavily expositional and underwhelming in comparison to what otherwise has been an outstanding run. It’s just that good isn’t good enough here. But the last few pages do give me hope that the goosebumps left on my arm will be raised yet again come issue #6.
Lyzard is Lyz Reblin, a graduate student at the University of Texas pursuing a master's degree in Media Studies... which is just a fancy way of saying she plays a lot video games, watches far too many horror films, and then tries to pass it all off as "research."
FUTURE QUEST #1
Writer: Jeff ParkerArtists: Evan “Doc” Shaner and Steve “The Dude” Rude
Published by: DC Comics
Reviewed by: BottleImp
When I saw the announcement several months back that DC was going to be adapting and (shudder) updating the cartoons produced by the Hanna-Barbera studio for a new series of comic books, I suppose my reaction was not unlike many of those who read this news. I’m not old enough to have been around when the majority of these ‘toons first flooded the networks, but just like any other child growing up in the 1980s, I saw them rerun ad nauseum every Saturday morning. And, having been so familiar with Fred Flintsone, Wilma, Barney and Betty, and Scooby and the Mystery Machine gang since such a young age, DC’s inexplicable choice to attempt to update them so drastically for the new Millenium makes me just a little bit sick. I’m not going to use the “raping my childhood” hyperbole here, but maybe “inappropriately leering at my preteen years” would apply here. The Flintstones rendered as realistically proportioned (yet still immaculately shaved and coiffed) cave people? Fred, Velma and Daphne all sexed up while Shaggy looks like every hipster cliché thrown on a mannequin at Urban Outfitters? Thank you, no.
It was the third title that DC was promoting which intrigued me, a comic which promised to team up nearly all the heroes from the adventure cartoons put out by Hanna-Barbera. Ironically, I never watched Space Ghost or Johnny Quest or the Galaxy Trio when I was a kid—my appreciation of these characters came years later, when my love of Bruce Timm’s animation designs for Batman and Superman led me backward to the clean, uncluttered animation concepts of Alex Toth. But perhaps it’s this latter-day love of elegant design which drew me to FUTURE QUEST—because from the very first page, it’s clear that this comic was created with that very same love in mind.
The story opens in the past, as a decimated troop of interplanetary soldiers (shades of the Green Lantern Corps, though the color palette here is orange and blue) desperately fight back a tentacled, vaguely Lovecraftian monstrosity called the Omnikron. The Space Force succeeds, but at the cost of the lives of all but one of its soldiers. Who this last remaining soldier is, we have yet to know—though readers familiar with these cartoons (or canny enough to study this issue’s cover) have all the clues they need to figure this out. From then we fast forward to the present, where Johnny Quest and Hadji (along with their trusty bodyguard Race Bannon) are investigating strange energy portals that have been popping up all over the world, offering glimpses through time and space into other strange vistas. Of course, they aren’t the only ones investigating these strange and dangerous phenomena.
All fairly standard comic book adventure stuff here, though thankfully this comic is free of the sturm und drang that weighs down most of DC’s superhero comics these days. This comic does suffer a bit from the common malady that afflicts many premiere issues; the readers need to be introduced to the world, the protagonists and antagonists, and the plotline within a fairly short span of pages. There’s nothing here in the writing that really grabs onto you and makes you say, “I can’t WAIT to find out what happens next!” Luckily, that emotional response is served up handily by the amazing artwork on display.
I wrote earlier about the appeal of uncluttered, elegant design. Too often in modern superhero comics the artists are focused on making the pages as detail-heavy as possible. Costume designs, once bold and graphic, have become exercises in complication. The comics, it seems, have taken their cue from the recent proliferation of comic book films. In these movies the spandex and flexible steel have been reinterpreted for the real world, and somehow these heavily textured and detailed fabrics have become the go-to for modern comic book costume design. Thankfully, the creators of FUTURE QUEST knew that putting seams and piping on Space Ghost’s white suit would take away from the brilliant simplicity of that design. Ditto for Birdman, or even Johnny’s basic black long sleeve t-shirt. Artists Shaner and Rude have ignored the popular conventions and embraced the deceptively simple cartoon aesthetic, while at the same time imbuing their pages with all the dynamic energy of a moving picture. The story may need a few issues to get up to full steam, but the artwork is barreling along at breakneck speed right out of the gate.
It’s not going to be easy for this title to find an audience. Readers old enough to remember the source material might not be interested anymore. Younger comic fans most likely will have trouble disassociating these characters from their thinly-veiled caricatures that have found fame with “The Venture Bros.” cartoon. But the beautiful artwork goes a long way in dispelling the cynicism and sarcasm that has become attached to these Hanna-Barbera properties over the years. FUTURE QUEST is a joy to look at, and I’m willing to stick around for subsequent issues to see if the writing will grow to encompass that same sense of exuberance. It’s setting up for what could be a super fun comic book ride.
Painting signs, exhibiting in gallery shows, trying to keep his toddler from doing irreparable bodily harm to herself—once in a blue moon Stephen Andrade finds the time to emerge as the BottleImp, writing reviews for AICN’s comics and horror columns and talking horror flicks on AICN’s Cannibal Horrorcast. You can see his work at sandradeillustration.com!
MAE #1
Writer/Artist: Gene HaPublisher: Dark Horse Comics
Reviewer: Humphrey Lee
I’ve always noticed that when it comes to “niche” genres within a medium – especially the world of comic books – that things start to feel somewhat crowded real quick when even just a couple of versions of the archetype show up. I remember just a decade or so ago when it felt like the community was overwhelmed by this big influx of crime fiction onto the racks each week when essentially it was just what Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, and pre-“I want to write ALL the super teams!” Bendis were peddling a good bit of, as they became the hot commodities for the Big Two. And this was a very generalized wave seeing as how it wasn’t exactly all the came crime all the same time; each of these folks were putting their own spin on their fiction and spanning multiple genres with the material. In this case, coming to a book like MAE here, which is a piece of “portal fiction” as FABLES scribe Bill Willingham refers to it in his introduction to this debut issue, there really is not even that much of it out on the stands and yet it immediately draws (most likely unfair) comparisons. That premise of the whole “transported to a magical realm where a cipher of a protagonist becomes the awesome superstar hero king/queen!” is such a distinct one it immediately starts fighting for shoulder space with those alongside it, even if the isn’t a relatively crowded car. Therefore and ceasing my “crowded blowhard” archetype of column opening, standing out in some aspect when telling this type of story feels essential however you can muster.
MAE’s version of portal fiction essentially stands out for one reason: Gene Ha. Ever since TOP TEN with Alan Moore the man has been one of the most distinct visual masters in the business and it is that uniqueness that immediately sets the book aside. BIRTHRIGHT from Image brings a sibling twist on the portal fiction mythos to make its table spread appealing, “The Magicians” series of novels makes its presence known by being a kind of “Harry Potter mashes with Narnia meets finger banging and other naughtiness everywhere!” flare to the table; MAE just stands out because Ha himself stands out. From a fundamental basis when it comes to MAE, the storytelling aspects are pretty solid. Mae herself – like the aforementioned BIRTHRIGHT – is not the portal warrior as we come to find, her sister Abbie is. Titular Mae, we find, is kind of a typical small town girl, who grows up to be a little bigger than her surroundings but seems to have a begrudging comfort with her tethering. She’s nerdy and fashionable, is worldly in a bookish sense, runs an antique shop, and is an ideal cipher for this kind of story and how Gene Ha wants to tell it. Basically, she’s boring, and the point is that the exciting bits will play off that well.
The problems is, to be upfront about this, the main downside to this book is that while the best strength of it is Gene Ha’s almost unparalleled design aesthetic, and yet he does not really give himself anything exciting to do with all that talent. Now, the execution of what Ha does whip up here is top notch as always. The detail work is intricate as can be, especially in the character design, and his artwork continues to at the upper tier of expressiveness. That said, most of that modeling he crafts here is put into making some excitable, go-getting twenty-something females look very stylish for eighty percent of the book before we get some freaky, feral-Ewok looking bugger toward the end once Mae and Abbie have their sisterly reunion and the latter drops the bomb she was some other dimension’s chosen one most of their childhood together. And I get the world-building aspect of it all, establishing the sibling relationship a bit (though this consists mainly of alluding to periods where Abbie disappeared when they were kids before saying why) and whatnot, but none of it really stands out except showing off some quality conversational skills as Mae sits down a friend for some coffee before Abbie stampedes back into her life.
All of that is kind of where I was going with in the opener, that while it is almost entirely unfair to draw comparisons immediately to a like work, in a niche like this take of the “fantasy fulfillment” genre it’s almost reflex. And in this knee jerk twitch, again, the main thing that stands out is Ha’s artwork and he barely begins to flex his muscles. I feel like this is all a big case of “pilotitis” though, pointing out a bit of double unfairness here, that being I’m passing judgment on something that is deliberately not setting its best foot forward so as to build to that moment while also comparing it to things it shouldn’t be compared to. That is kind of the name of the game though, because this is indeed a debut issue and its purpose is to impress certain things upon you, and those impressions are that so far MAE has some very solid character building and design, great art that doesn’t do anything super exciting, and a version of this “portal fiction” genre of story that doesn’t transport us anywhere we haven’t been before, yet.
“Yet” is the optimal word, though, and with a talent like Gene Ha crafting such a story, with such characters, and his amazing aesthetic, I’m assuming I’ll be eating that word with subsequent issues of MAE. The charm is inherently there, that is for sure. Mae might not be the swashbuckler in the family but she has the pluck, and her current bookishness plays well when bashed against her sister’s hyper-extrovert personality. I expect lavish and extraordinary worlds filled with distinct and imaginative beings while being grounded by some good old family ties and bickering. At the least I expect this to be a gorgeous and entertaining take on the genre that will distinguish itself for the obvious reason, but will trust in the talent at hand that it will go beyond that. If the former is the case, then this will end up being a simple case of “your mileage may vary” and whether or not the Gene Ha touch on such storytelling finds its way into the sweet spot of your interests, but the potential of the next level, that next level could truly be up in the stars if Ha’s talent rockets MAE there.
Humphrey Lee has been an avid comic book reader going on fifteen years now and a contributor to Ain't It Cool comics for quite a few as well. In fact, reading comics is about all he does in his free time and where all the money from his day job wages goes to - funding his comic book habit so he can talk about them to you, our loyal readers (lucky you). He's a bit of a social networking whore, so you can find him all over the Interwebs on sites like Twitter, The MySpaces, Facebookand a blog where he also mostly talks about comics with his free time because he hasn't the slightest semblance of a life. Sad but true, and he gladly encourages you to add, read, and comment as you will.
GRIMM TALES OF TERROR #8
Writer: Anne TooleArtist: Sean Hill
Publisher: Zenescope Entertainment
Reviewer: Lyzard
I’ve reviewed several Zenescope titles over the years, mainly those twisted fairy tales with busty women on the covers. While they are good at peaking my interest, they don’t always maintain my attention. So in comes GRIMM TALES OF TERROR, an exercise in the one-shot. Rather than enthrall over six or more issues, all this book had to do was provide to me a satisfactory tale in twenty-three pages. But first, it had to do so without retreading heavily tramped ground.
The original Monkey’s Paw is one of the most adapted short stories of all time, mostly due to the fact that the object itself can so easily be squeezed into other narratives. But this version of THE MONKEY’S PAW doesn’t just focus on the wish-element of the paw, but rather the desire to obtain it and the consequences of such desperation.
From early 20th century England to present day America, this MONKEY’S PAW tells an all too familiar and tragic tale. Two ex-college buddies, Mike and Josh, bump into each other at a party to find that both are struggling under student loans and startup costs. But Josh doesn’t want Mike to invest in some inevitably doomed to fail tech company. Rather he wants a buddy to help him fund a trip down to Panama, supposedly where two other classmates found a magical answer to all their problems. However, if Mike is going to put his cash on the line, then he’s going to make sure he’s there to have his wish come true too.
As I said, this reiteration is fixated on the journey rather than complications. The overwhelming desire for money still drives the plot along just as in the original, but writer Anne Toole adds her own fresh and unique twists to the mysterious wish-granting animal appendage. New rules. New perspective. Same ol’ message: be careful what you wish for.
SUPERMAN: AMERICAN ALIEN #7
Writer: Max LandisArtist: Jock
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: GalaxyGirl
One of the best parts of superheroes is the origin story and one of my new favorites is the SUPERMAN: AMERICAN ALIEN mini-series. Over the last seven months, we’ve seen Clark Kent grow up from a small-town boy to a big-time superhero--mastering powers, figuring out his place in the world and discovering his Kryptonian roots. In this final issue (written by Max Landis and penciled by JOCK!!!!), we watch as Superman finally takes his place as a powerhouse amongst the DC pantheon with his epic beat-down of Lobo.
Let me preface this by saying that I don’t like Lobo. He’s a super-powered alien bounty-hunter-slash-mercenary that looks like a Metallica reject on two-wheels. I also don’t like Lobo books. It all goes--Lobo shows up, talks his mouth off, Superman beats the crap out of him, kicks him off-world and we wait until Lobo decides to come back for more. It’s boring, tired and I’m not a fan.
But for once, a Lobo story doesn’t disappoint me (too much). Max Landis uses the same-old Lobo story but this time, he does something different. He makes Lobo’s mouth worth something. My favorite part of this issue, and the reason why I’m saying that you have to check this issue out, all comes down to Lobo’s reveal of Krypton’s fate.
Go with me here. In the middle of Metropolis, Superman and Lobo are hovering, having a little conversation before the fighting starts. Superman asks Lobo where he’s from and asks him if he’s Kryptonian. Lobo’s response is so blunt and so brutal that you can’t help but sit there in horror as he lays out the source of Superman’s fear and pain in just a few short pages. It’s beautiful and heart-wrenching. And then Superman shows us why we love watching a guy in tights give a beat-down.
While Jock’s art is spectacular and beautifully renders Superman’s anguish, this book’s writing is the crowning glory. It shows us why Max Landis was so perfect to helm this out-of-this-world mini-series that redefines Superman in a way that I haven’t seen in years. It captures elements so quintessential to the Superman character that have been missing from DC Comics for a long time. I honestly wish that I had this Superman in my monthly pull-list. So go out to your local comic shop and buy out SUPERMAN: AMERICAN ALIEN back issues so we can show DC what they’re really missing.
Because can it get any worse? GalaxyGirl signing off to pray for a better Rebirth or she’s switching to Marvel (God forbid!!).
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
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