Please note, all the comics that are reviewed below represent those books that I am actually purchasing. What this means is while I would love to review every book that comes out in a given week, comic collecting can get expensive and I can only buy so many. Therefore, some weeks might only contain a few books while other weeks will contain more; it all depends on what I can purchase. It’s the reality of budget comic book buying. However, if there is any missing title that deserves to be represented each month, please leave a comment below voicing this opinion. I am constantly on the lookout for more titles to read and review.
ACTION COMICS #32
Review by John Dubrawa
For someone like me that has no interest in the current “Superman: Doomed” crossover event, reading just Greg Pak’s Action Comics each month has been fairly comprehensible. Action Comics #32 more or less continues the trend of the previous issue—Superman is infected and his friends need to help contain him—while continuing to heavily feature its strong supporting cast. Lana Lang and Wonder Woman’s brief conversation is especially intriguing given the relationship both have to each Clark Kent and Superman respectively. Steel and Metal Zero (aka Metallo) appear a lot throughout the issue as a means to disrupt Superman’s path of destruction and while I know nothing of the two characters, the suggested past that each has with Superman comes through in Pak’s solid writing. Unfortunately, the art from Scott Kolins is not nearly as strong as Pak’s script. His character designs are incredibly rough, with bodies taking on a haggard appearance, not to mention his Wonder Woman is about as top-heavy as it gets. While Kolins’ art is certainly not a complete departure from the style of regular series artist Aaron Kuder, the change, much like the one featured in Superman himself, is distractingly noticeable.
RATING: [usr 3]
BATMAN ’66 MEETS THE GREEN HORNET #1 (of 6)
Review by John Dubrawa
In an unprecedented joint venture between DC Comics and Dynamite Entertainment, Batman ’66 Meets the Green Hornet #1 exists as a piece of unadulterated nostalgia in the best sense of the word. Continuing from the adventures the two crimefighters shared in the “Batman ‘66” TV show (in episodes “A Piece of the Action” and “Batman’s Satisfaction”), this first of six issues is a printed time capsule from writers Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman, both of whom obviously share a love for these characters. There’s not a mocking tone to be found among the dialogue, which contains plenty of alliteration, exclamatory phrases (“Gosh!”) and insane Bat-technology (“Two-way bat-cufflink radios”) directly from the 60s show. Smith and Garman’s script caters to the two heroes well, creating a situation that allows both Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid to exchange pleasantries while onboard a train carrying priceless artifacts in a scene that is itself priceless. Being a first issue, it is very heavy on the set-up of the plot (which involves a familiar foe) and it can be overly wordy at times, but it’s hard to ignore the jubilation involved in seeing these two characters in a comic series together. Ty Templeton’s art is a bit on the rigid side, though his character designs are spot-on. You can almost hear the original actors’ voices coming out in each dialogue balloon.
RATING: [usr 4]
MILES MORALES: THE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #2
Review by John Dubrawa
Last month’s issue of Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man ended with a bombshell of a revelation that Peter Parker is alive and well in the Ultimate Universe. This month’s installment primarily focuses on Miles Morales’ immediate reaction to the sudden reappearance of Peter, and contains another, less earth-shattering revelation: This Peter Parker is a real jerk. His treatment of Miles during the opening pages of this issue—slapping him around and demanding his stuff back—is overly harsh and very uncharacteristic. Or is it? It’s unlikely at this point that we’re dealing with the real Peter and while Miles has a prevailing theory about what’s going on, I am kind of hoping he’s wrong. It’s not only an archaic plot device but it’s one that has been done to death in other Spider-Man titles. Yet despite the possible rehashing of an old Spider-Man plot in play, writer Brian Michael Bendis keeps Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #2 engaging with the same kind of quick-witted, fast-paced dialogue traditional to the series. Rendering such a dialogue-heavy issue, David Marquez’s art is heavily focused on facial expressions, which are used to great effect even if the one on Miles’ face is reused from page-to-page. In this kind of situation, I expect him to be perpetually shocked.
RATING: [usr 3]
ORIGINAL SIN #3 (of 8)
Review by John Dubrawa
Jason Aaron’s Original Sin #3 ends on a note that’s going to spur a lot of heated conversation in comic shops across the world, there’s no doubt about it. That’s good since Aaron’s narrative, while not necessarily bad throughout the series so far, has been a slow burn that has not left a lot of talking points in the wake of the prior two issues. Like last issue, this issue slowly builds to a crescendo of sudden revelations, but unlike that previous issue, this conclusion is head and shoulders above the reveal of two Z-list villains. Original Sin #3 also sets in motion the basis for the upcoming Original Sin tie-in books with just enough information to peak my interest (Thor: “I have a sister?”), if I can manage to keep all the titles of those books straight when the time comes. Aaron’s construction of this intergalactic murder mystery has been fascinating thus far as he frays a lot of seemingly unrelated plot threads that will no doubt tie together as the event reaches its conclusion. Just in this issue alone we have the discovery of gamma-radiated bullets that kill underworld beings, giant shell casings floating out in space, and the mention of an impeccable sniper able to cross into multiple dimensions. Mike Deodato’s art continues to keep up with Aaron’s imagination as his rendition of a living planet lives up to the creature’s epic namesake. Original Sin remains visually superb and the plot is getting more unpredictable with each passing issue.
RATING: [usr 4.5]
Greetings true believers! John is the Comics Director of GNN and when he isn't reading books with pictures and made up words, he can be seen on twitter @thisjohnd or on Facebook. To contact him the old fashioned way, his email address is john.dubrawa@gnnaz.com.
