Detective Comics 794 (July 2004)

148822 For some reason–editorial interference one suspects–Tarantula takes center stage this issue. I guess she needed some exposure, but Gabrych gives it to her at the expense of Batman’s time.

Gabrych splits the issue between Tarantula, Batman and regular people. He does great on Batman–he even takes the time to do an epilogue to the previous arc, which sadly features Matches Malone. Even with the rest of the Batman stuff tying into Tarantula’s case, it’s good stuff.

The regular people of Gotham stuff is good too much. Gabrych and Woods give the setting a lot of texture to Gotham; Gabrych has a very nice third person voice for his narration. It feels very Batman.

The Tarantula stuff, however, even though Gabrych writes it pretty well… is just a waste of time. Her first person narration is annoying; she seems sort of incompetent.

At least the awful backup concludes.

CREDITS

Monsters of Rot, Part One: Cleansing Fires; writer, Andersen Gabrych; penciller, Pete Woods; inker, Cam Smith; colorist, Jason Wright; editors, Michael Wright and Bob Schreck. The Tailor, Conclusion; writer, A.J. Lieberman; penciller, Jean-Jacques Dzialowski; inker, Dan Green; colorist, Giulia Brusco; editors, Nachie Castro and Matt Idelson. Letterer, Clem Robins; publisher, DC Comics.

Detective Comics 793 (June 2004)

148821 Gabrych spends about a fourth of the issue with Bruce describing the surgical procedure for a cesarean section delivery. Just before the delivery, there’s a long argument between Bruce and some Lady Macbeth crime lord. It’s different to be sure.

A little later, when Batman heads out to fight Mister Freeze, Leslie is shocked at the decision. It’s a slightly meta textual scene, with her stunned he’s all of a sudden going to bring supervillains into their real, tragic situation.

The fight scene is a fight scene–Gabrych has already done the issue’s biggest work–and the Woods art is definitely nice.

He closes off the story with Bruce and Leslie in a nice little scene together. Gabrych is trying to do something with the character.

The backup has some truly awful narration from writer Lieberman. It goes on and on and nothing happens, just setup for the next installment.

CREDITS

The Surrogate, Part Three: Deliverance; writer, Andersen Gabrych; penciller, Pete Woods; inker, Cam Smith; colorist, Jason Wright; editors, Michael Wright and Bob Schreck. The Tailor, Part Five; writer, A.J. Lieberman; penciller, Jean-Jacques Dzialowski; inker, Dan Green; colorist, Giulia Brusco; editor, Matt Idelson. Letterer, Clem Robins; publisher, DC Comics.

Detective Comics 792 (May 2004)

148820 Less detection, more action. There’s even a sequence where Batman’s on a motorcycle driving across a bridge’s suspension cables. It’s a little much. Along with Mr. Freeze messing around with drug dealers, it seems like Gabrych and Woods are trying to bring some measure of realism to the comic. Not a lot, but a little.

It mostly works, though Gabrych then has the problem his flashbacks are more interesting than the present action. Young Bruce and Alfred visiting Leslie in Africa. Alfred has the hots for her, Bruce has to beat up guerillas. It’s a lot more compelling than Batman driving all over Gotham looking for clues.

The villains and their whole plot is too intentionally confusing and repetitive. Freeze’s little gang brings some pep but then the story hits the cliffhanger.

Still, some great parts.

The backup art’s Dzialowski again. Otherwise, it’s still terrible. Lieberman’s just a bad writer.

CREDITS

The Surrogate, Part Two: The Blinding; writer, Andersen Gabrych; penciller, Pete Woods; inker, Cam Smith; colorist, Jason Wright; editors, Michael Wright and Bob Schreck. The Tailor, Part Four; writer, A.J. Lieberman; penciller, Jean-Jacques Dzialowski; inker, Dan Green; colorist, Giulia Brusco; editor, Matt Idelson. Letterer, Clem Robins; publisher, DC Comics.

Detective Comics (1937) #789

Detective Comics 789

So Batman finds this rock Indiana Jones once lost and it turns you into a violent superman. While under its influence, he kills a helicopter pilot who’s being held hostage.

Bolles is such a crappy writer, he doesn’t even seem to acknowledge it once the helicopter explodes. Moments later, Batman has the good old “no, I’m not a killer” thing and saves the bad guy. That poor helicopter pilot’s corpse is, in the meantime, burning.

And then there’s the finish. Batman commits the mastermind to Arkham. Why? Well, she’s bad. Can he prove she’s bad? No, not at all. Bolles might be a moronic writer–with some of the worst exposition in a comic ever–but the editors okayed this crap.

The backup, about Batman’s costume manufacturer, is dumb too. A.J. Lieberman’s script starts decently, but once he gets to the plot it all goes to pot.

Awful comic.

Detective Comics 789 (February 2004)

148817 So Batman finds this rock Indiana Jones once lost and it turns you into a violent superman. While under its influence, he kills a helicopter pilot who’s being held hostage.

The backup, about Batman’s costume manufacturer, is dumb too. A.J. Lieberman’s script starts decently, but once he gets to the plot it all goes to pot.

Awful comic.

CREDITS

The Randori Stone, Part Two; writer, Paul Bolles; penciller, Mike Lilly; inker, Dan Davis; colorist, Jason Wright; editors, Michael Wright and Bob Schreck. The Tailor, Part One; writer, A.J. Lieberman; penciller, Jean-Jacques Dzialowski; inker, Dan Green; colorist, Giulia Brusco; editors, Nachie Castro and Matt Idelson. Letterer, Clem Robins; publisher, DC Comics.

Supergirl 2 (December 2011)

Oh, I’m going to regret saying it… but this issue of Supergirl isn’t bad. If it weren’t for some of the art issues, it might even be good.

It’s an all-action issue (again), with Kara and Clark fighting it out over Russia and China. The location makes it a novel idea, but there’s also all this talking, with Clark trying to calm her down and whatnot.

And in those moments, Asrar and Green (and colorist Dave McCaig, can’t forget him here), make this great Supergirl comic. Sure, her costume is still moronic. Asrar doesn’t objectify her, but her costume does? It doesn’t make any sense conceptually and it’s visually confused.

But Asrar’s Superman is awful. Superman looks about fourteen and bears a striking resemblance to “Alfalfa” Switzer. The bad Superman does these moments in.

Green and Johnson actually pleasantly surprised me. I was dreading this issue, but it’s fine.

CREDITS

Reunion; writers, Michael Green and Mike Johnson; penciller, Mahmud Asrar; inker, Dan Green; colorist, Dave McCaig; letterer, John J. Hill; editors, Matt Idelson and Wil Moss; publisher, DC Comics.

Supergirl 1 (November 2011)

Relaunching Supergirl when Superman’s not even established seems thoughtless. Thank goodness writers Michael Green and Mike Johnson are so dull they don’t even engage that question.

Their take on Supergirl is she’s a dumb teenage girl. If they made her like Paris Hilton–someone who turned herself into a brand–it might be interesting. Instead, she’s just a dumb girl.

They do, however, lift moments from Supreme Power and Red Son; their lack of ingenuity is universal, not just Kara.

DC should have hired a female writer. Or at least hired a guy with a teenage daughter. Green and Johnston’s insight into the female condition isn’t laughable. It would need to exist to be laughable.

Mahmud Asrar’s art is actually pretty good. There’s no reasonable explanation for Supergirl to dress like a hooker out of Blade Runner (except DC likes objectifying teenage girls). But Asrar probably didn’t do the redesign….

CREDITS

Last Daughter of Krypton; writers, Michael Green and Mike Johnson; penciller, Mahmud Asrar; inkers, Dan Green and Asrar; colorist, Dave McCaig; letterer, John J. Hill; editors, Matt Idelson and Wil Moss; publisher, DC Comics.

Animal Man 1 (November 2011)

If it weren’t for all the narration, Animal Man would be a lot better. Jeff Lemire’s narration for Buddy isn’t bad, it’s just too omnipresent. After a while, Lemire relies on it for everything.

The opening scene establishes Animal Man as a family drama–with appropriate comedic touches. Once Buddy’s solo though, Lemire goes self-aware, inwardly hip superhero who thinks in lengthy exposition. Maybe it’s because he gets Buddy alone and doesn’t know what to do.

The comic makes a good impression off the family scenes and Lemire’s reasonably solid writing quality. It isn’t sensational, but it’s not bad either. Lemire’s very safe with Animal Man.

He also has a good partner for staying safe in Travel Foreman. Foreman’s style for the book is indie mainstream superhero–he’s sparse in his lines, no shading, but still well-composed action scenes.

Animal Man probably won’t be special, just thoroughly readable.

CREDITS

The Hunt, Part One: Warning from the Red; writer, Jeff Lemire; penciller, Travel Foreman; inkers, Foreman and Dan Green; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Kate Stewart and Joey Cavalieri; publisher, DC Comics.

DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman – The ’90s 1 (October 2011)

I was unsure of Messner-Loebs’s return to Wonder Woman during the opening scene, featuring a bunch of boys in their “we hate girls” club getting lost in a cave. It seems too antiquated, maybe it’s just Lee Moder’s pencils–he can’t draw the boys to look young enough. They’re visually teenagers, too old for that sort of thing.

But then Wonder Woman shows up and the comic immediately gets good. Well, maybe not immediately–two pages after she arrives it does. It turns out Diana is going to be an unofficial camp counselor to a girl’s day camp (for Etta). It’s vapid material teenage girls learning to accomplish things and have pride in achievements and not shoes. Messner-Loebs even manages to be subtle about it at times. It’s a strong story, especially since all Diana’s character development is in the background.

It’s a very worthwhile, if gentle, read.

B+

CREDITS

Wonder Girls; writer, William Messner-Loebs; penciller, Lee Moder; inker, Dan Green; colorist, Christ Beckett; letterer, Dezi Sienty; editors, Chynna Clugston Flores and Kwanza Johnson; publisher, DC Comics.

Blade Runner (1982) #2

Br2

There are some real problems this issue–Goodwin’s got to adapt the stuff without Deckard (who in his adaptation isn’t just not a replicant, but is also a lot more the Deckard from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) and it’s just a mess. The way Goodwin structures it–the noir with Deckard and Rachel–it just doesn’t work for following the rogue replicants. Wait, aren’t they all rogue?

Anyway, Goodwin pulls it together for the conclusion, with a beautifully narrated sequence. Did Goodwin do any detective comics? I’d love to read them.

The stuff with Deckard and Rachel is a lot different from the movie and, if it weren’t for the structure, I’d argue Blade Runner the comic is a completely different animal.

Goodwin ends it with a postscript, a little line about blade runners. I googled the line. He wrote it himself… makes for a lovely comic book.