Green Lantern 2 (December 2011)

Yuck to Johns’s pacing. This issue features Sinestro showing off to Hal Jordan how much of a bad Lantern Jordan’s always been.

It’s lots and lots of talking, which the occasional action sequence or something ring-related.

For the most part, Mahnke and the inkers do a fine job. There’s sci-fi action, there are monsters, there’s superhero disaster stuff. The art never bests what the artists do in the first few pages, when they show how pissy Jordan gets over Sinestro having the ring.

I think the issue takes place in about twenty-five minutes, which is about six times longer than it takes to read the comic. And Sinestro is so much stronger, as a character, than Hal Jordan. Does Johns always write him this way?

He’s turned Sinestro into the Dr. Doom of the DC Universe; “evil” or whatever, but right about how to fix the world.

CREDITS

Sinestro, Part Two; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Doug Mahnke; inkers, Christian Alamy and Keith Champagne; colorist, David Baron; letterer, Sal Cipriano; editors, Darren Shan and Brian Cunningham; publisher, DC Comics.

Aquaman 1 (November 2011)

Ha, ha, Aquaman’s lame. He’s so lame bloggers make fun of him when he goes out for fish and chips.

Geoff Johns’s take on Aquaman is to make him into an ironic superhero. Everyone mocks him, but the women still want him and the men still want to be him. Because his staff makes a Wolverine “snikt.” Johns is actually just rehabbing Aquaman for a movie. Seriously, I’d go see a movie with this Aquaman in it.

He’s like Robert Downey Jr. in the Iron Man movies.

A lot like him.

Anyway, moving on. It’s not awful. Johns is being silly, but… who doesn’t like laughing at Aquaman? It’s mildly amusing junk.

Then, about halfway through the comic, I realized I’d be reading it even if it wasn’t part of the relaunch. And I realized why.

Ivan Reis’s fantastic artwork. Whether it’s people, Aquaman or the sea monsters, it’s awesome.

CREDITS

Trench, Part One; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Ivan Reis; inker, Joe Prado; colorist, Rod Reis; letterer, Nick J. Napolitano; editors, Sean Mackiewicz and Pat McCallum; publisher, DC Comics.

Green Lantern 1 (November 2011)

I thought Sinestro had a big silly head. Doug Mahnke gives him a big forehead, but no big head.

Not being a Green Lantern reader, this issue sort of confuses me. But what frustrates me is Geoff Johns. He can plot out the issue, get all the beats down, even write good dialogue half the time… but the other half is weak. It’s not bad dialogue, but it’s all declarative statements.

Johns needs to work on letting his characters listen.

I’m surprisingly impressed with the comic. Though the cover suggests Sinestro will play a big part, he takes a back burner to Hal adjusting on Earth without his ring. Johns knows how to split the comic between the two.

And even if it does read pretty fast, the plotting suggests some things have happened in the pages.

I’m not exactly an immediate Green Lantern supporter, but I’m suddenly rather hopeful.

CREDITS

Sinestro, Part One; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Doug Mahnke; inkers, Christian Alamy and Tom Nguyen; colorist, David Baron; letterer, Sal Cipriano; editors, Darren Shan and Brian Cunningham; publisher, DC Comics.

Justice League 1 (October 2011)

So what’s Geoff Johns’s big insight into relaunching the DC Universe? Make it a lot like Marvels. A super-lot.

And there’s another difference. It’s not superheroes in the new DC Universe. It’s super-heroes.

What other big changes? Jim Lee draws Superman like a teenager and everyone’s costume now has small, unbelievable (and nonfunctional) bulky little patches. Maybe Lee likes to draw egg shapes or something.

I’m trying to think of what else is so special. Batman talks about Green Lantern like his fights with the Air Force are the Hulk fighting Ross… Oh, wait, there’s a “special” moment. When it becomes clear Johns’s “Year One” Batman talks exactly like Rorschach out of Watchmen. Better than Frank Miller, I guess.

Pre-Cyborg Vic Stone shows up for a useless scene. Johns should’ve told the comic through him.

Lee gets lazy immediately after the pages DC released as preview ones.

CREDITS

Justice League, Part One; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Jim Lee; inker, Scott Williams; colorist, Alex Sinclair; letterer, Pat Brosseau; editors, Rex Ogle and Eddie Berganza; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman: New Krypton Special (2008) #1

Someone has pointed out Johns casting Lois Lane’s dad as a jingoistic, sadistic supervillain really just is… you know, the Hulk, right? I mean, someone besides me. It’s so startlingly uncreative, one has to wonder.

This New Krypton Special does raise a couple interesting ideas—one is the People of Kandor being, well, basically stupid jerks. It doesn’t make me want to read the series, however. Oh, another moronic move—a bad guy named “Agent Assassin?” I mean, that one’s worse than the Image stuff.

There’s some great art. I love the way reading Frank’s pages feels like one’s reading a sequel to the Christopher Reeve movies. It’s too bad Johns’s plotting on everything else is goofy. Woods and Guedes are good too, Woods being better.

It’s too bad Johns shoved New Krypton into a nice memorial to Jonathan Kent. It sort of undoes that whole sequence, the subsequent nonsense.

Superman: Secret Origin (2009) #6

So after making everyone wait for months, DC put out this piece of crap?

I mean, it’s not terrible, but it’s garbage. Frank’s artwork is visibly hurried, with Superman looking different in every other panel and the Christopher Reeve likeness looking traced when he uses it here. Lois looks funny, more of the hurrying.

As for Johns, it’s like he was trying to see how many endings he could do in one issue to give Frank the chance to do full page panels.

It’s completely moronic conclusion to the last three issues too, but particularly to the last one, as General Lane is reduced to a cartoon joke. Lex is a goof too.

What’s funniest about the comic is how self-important Johns writes it. It’s clear no one edits his scripts.

I think it’s about a five minute read. People waited three months for a five minute read. That’s value.

Superman: Secret Origin (2009) #5

Ok, so Johns finally did something completely unexpected. He made Superman the Hulk. General Sam Lane–I think that’s Lois’s father’s name anyway–is a psycho warmonger who tries to kill Superman.

Funny how John Byrne is known for Superman and the Hulk and Johns is playing with both here.

There’s some decent character scenes, not as much Christopher Reeve in the Frank art but some… A lot of the scenes play well. Superman posing for Jimmy seems really stupid.

But Johns doesn’t have a good narrative structure here or in the series overall. This issue, like the last, is sequential, while the first two issues weren’t tied by an exacting structure.

It’s like Johns can’t decide if he’s doing Man of Steel or something else. The confusion isn’t helping.

Some of the problem probably stems from Johns’s handle on Superman being a tad trite.

It’s a passionless mechanical story, completely unnecessary.

Superman: Secret Origin 6 (October 2010)

So after making everyone wait for months, DC put out this piece of crap?

As for Johns, it’s like he was trying to see how many endings he could do in one issue to give Frank the chance to do full page panels.

It’s completely moronic conclusion to the last three issues too, but particularly to the last one, as General Lane is reduced to a cartoon joke. Lex is a goof too.

What’s funniest about the comic is how self-important Johns writes it. It’s clear no one edits his scripts.

I think it’s about a five minute read. People waited three months for a five minute read. That’s value.

CREDITS

The End; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Gary Frank; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Brad Anderson; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman: Secret Origin 5 (May 2010)

Funny how John Byrne is known for Superman and the Hulk and Johns is playing with both here.

There’s some decent character scenes, not as much Christopher Reeve in the Frank art but some… A lot of the scenes play well. Superman posing for Jimmy seems really stupid.

But Johns doesn’t have a good narrative structure here or in the series overall. This issue, like the last, is sequential, while the first two issues weren’t tied by an exacting structure.

It’s like Johns can’t decide if he’s doing Man of Steel or something else. The confusion isn’t helping.

Some of the problem probably stems from Johns’s handle on Superman being a tad trite.

It’s a passionless mechanical story, completely unnecessary.

CREDITS

Strange Visitor; writer, Geoff Johns; penciller, Gary Frank; inker, Jon Sibal; colorist, Brad Anderson; letterer, Steve Wands; editors, Wil Moss and Matt Idelson; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman: Secret Origin (2009) #4

Maybe I’ve surrendered. Johns doesn’t introduce anything new to the canon this issue, instead he just does a sequel to the previous issue. The Gary Frank Parasite is hideously wonderful too.

But back to Johns. He does a decent job this issue. Sure, he’s set up a disastrously bad idea, but once he’s writing in that idea, instead of about it, he does fine. A limited series about Superman’s first week in Metropolis (this issue would be the second in that wish) would be good. I’m sure Johns will screw it up next issue, but as a brief reprieve, this issue is welcome.

There’s a lot more of the Christopher Reeve referencing from Frank here, which certainly makes it feel part of a brand… But Superman doesn’t look like Reeve in the rest of the DC publications, so why here?

Oh, and Johns’s Luthor is uncharacteristically dumb. That’s a problem.