Sirens 1 (September 2014)

Sirens #1 Sirens is a whole lot of work. George Pérez clearly had this series in mind for a while, considering it’s a sequel to some other long-running series in his imagination. He’s not introducing the cast of beautiful and empowered caricatures he calls Sirens, he’s reintroducing them.

So there are a lot of characters, all of them in different times through history–not sure any of the time periods are particularly realistic. The Wild West one, where the schoolmarm is teaching the kids secular reads on religion themes? Not realistic.

The art’s okay. Everything’s really busy and detailed and it’s a bunch of new characters so who cares.

Pérez spends more time on the supporting casts–in terms of writing–in these various time periods, than he does on the lead characters. They’re supposed to be a surprise, sure, but they need some kind of depth. Even if it’s shallow.

CREDITS

From Time to Time; writer and artist, George Pérez; colorist, Leonardo Paciarotti; letterer, Ed Dukeshire; editors, Chris Rosa and Dafna Pleban; publisher, Boom! Studios.

The Flash 293 (January 1981)

The Flash #293 Conway fills in on both stories–one where the Pied Piper comes up with a new plan to get rich, with Heck on art, and then the Firestorm team-up, with art from Perez and Rodin Rodriguez.

The Firestorm team-up is goofy, with Conway not giving Perez much to draw, though I suppose there’s an interesting deep action scene with events happening in three places. Conway also seems to be writing it to bring regular Flash into the regular Firestorm backup, given the characters don’t really mesh, and it’s an odd perspective.

The feature’s quite a bit of fun, however. Conway has a great time with the Flash figuring out the Pied Piper’s plan and then the plan itself. It’s sort of obvious, sort of not. There’s a lot of amusing dialogue too. It’s a shame the second story didn’t get any of these touches.

It’s definitely a mixed bag.

C+

CREDITS

The Pied Piper’s Paradox Peril!; artist, Don Heck; colorist, Gene D’Angelo; letterer, Gaspar Saladino. The Deadliest Man Alive!; pencillers, George Perez and Rodin Rodriguez; inker, Rodriguez; colorist, Jerry Serpe; letterer, Milt Snapinn. Writer, Gerry Conway; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

The Flash 292 (December 1980)

The Flash #292 Bates sure does try hard to get the reader to pay attention. He has another sequence this issue where the Flash discovers some clue and Bates calls out the reader to try to figure it out too. There’s only one problem with it… Bates still writes the revelation scene like the reader didn’t figure it out. So if the reader has figured it out, he or she has wasted some engagement time.

Engagement time–there’s no reward to figuring it out. It’s a DC no prize.

The story itself is a neat one, with the Mirror Master outsmarting Barry for a while. Heck doesn’t do great on the art and Bates writes the new love interest real annoying… but the main plot works out well.

The Firestorm backup is all action and lots of good Perez composition. He and Conway pack the limited pages. The pluses outweigh the lackluster finish.

CREDITS

Mirror, Mirror, Off The Wall…; writer, Cary Bates; artist, Don Heck; colorist, Gene D’Angelo; letterer, Milt Snapinn. Firestorm, The Hostages of Precinct 13!; writer, Gerry Conway; pencillers, George Perez and Bob Smith; inker, Smith; colorist, Lynne Gelfer; letterer, Ben Oda. Editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

The Flash 291 (November 1980)

The Flash #291 Even though Bates comes up with a lot of excitement for the Flash this issue–and the reader too–there’s something off about the feature story. Bates and Heck (inking himself to questionable success) put Barry through a bunch of different types of action. There’s a couple regular fights, a supervillain fight, a mid-town disaster sequence with a helicopter getting shot out of the sky, plus all the stuff with Barry’s neighbor thinking he’s trying to kill her.

But it’s almost too much. Bates gives up on any attempt at character development, save one scene with Barry’s neighbor (not the girl, but some dude), and the action goes so fast it’s hard to find any footing.

It’s a darned interesting approach–giving the readers their money’s worth–but it’s messy.

And then the Firestorm backup has a lot of character development, but it doesn’t leave Conway time to give Perez anything phenomenal to draw.

B-

CREDITS

The Sabretooth is a Very Deadly Beast!; writer, Cary Bates; artist, Don Heck; colorist, Gene D’Angelo; letterer, Milt Snapinn. Firestorm, The Hyena Laughs Last; writer, Gerry Conway; pencillers, George Perez and Bob Smith; inker, Smith; colorist, Lynne Gelfer; letterer, John Costanza. Editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Batman 400 (October 1986)

830781 I hate this comic. I hate how DC used it, I hate how Moench writes it, even if it was an editorial decision.

There are nods to Moench’s run, but only so far as he gets to give each of his characters a page to sort of say goodbye. There’s no closure on any of the story lines, not a single one.

There’s also a lot of crappy art. It’s an anniversary issue with a lot of big names drawing either poorly or against their style. Rick Leonardi and Arthur Adams are some of the worst offenders, but not even Brian Bolland does particularly well. Ken Steacy is the only decent one.

Moench’s writing for a different audience than usual, the casual Batman reader, not the regular. Apparently he thinks the casual readers like endless exposition and incredible stupidity. It’s a distressing, long read; a terrible capstone to Moench’s run.

D-

CREDITS

Resurrection Night!; writer, Doug Moench; pencillers, John Byrne, Steve Lightle, George Perez, Paris Cullins, Bill Sienkiewicz, Art Adams, Tom Sutton, Steve Leialoha, Joe Kubert, Ken Steacy, Rick Leonardi and Brian Bolland; inkers, Byrne, Bruce Patterson, Perez, Larry Mahlstedt, Sienkiewicz, Terry Austin, Ricardo Villagran, Leialoha, Kubert, Steacy, Karl Kesel and Bolland; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterers, John Costanza and Andy Kubert; editor, Len Wein; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman 3 (January 2012)

Perez spends the first three or four pages recapping Action Comics. Because it seems likely someone buying Superman isn’t buying Action. Yeah, sure.

But then Perez fills the issue with content–Superman’s big action sequence isn’t even until the second half–and Nicola Scott isn’t up to the detail. Overall, the art isn’t bad. When reading a page, it seems completely passable and occasionally good. But on any closer examination, the problems become clear. And Trevor Scott’s inks seem way too sharp for this comic. With the two Scotts on art… Superman loses its previous retro vibe.

And that retro vibe was one of the comic’s pluses.

The art isn’t even the major problem though. Perez begins the comic on a narrative gimmick (a news story about Superman) and he’s never able to recover. Instead of a clear focus, the narrative jumps around.

The comic’s not offensive, it’s unpleasantly middling.

CREDITS

A Cold Day in Hell; writer, George Pérez; pencillers, Pérez and Nicola Scott; inker, Trevor Scott; colorists, Brian Buccellato, Brett Smith and Blond; letterer, Carlos M. Mangual; editors, Matt Idelson and Wil Moss; publisher, DC Comics.

Green Arrow 3 (January 2012)

If you illegally download, you want to watch psychopaths murder people. Krul makes the world so simple. I was shocked Ollie didn’t break the fourth wall to tell any comic book downloaders they were killing him.

Then the comic ends with this lame “growing up” speech. Krul forgot to make Ollie Steve Jobs and turned it into the Iron Man movie.

But I still appreciate Green Arrow as one of the new DC’s less offensive bad comics. It’s simple-minded and Krul’s not willing to commit to much (oh, the people watching Green Arrow get killed on the Internet aren’t bad… they’re just lonely), but the art’s competent superhero art.

Jurgens and Perez continue to make Arrow look like a book from the nineties. It’s like a book people tell you to read; you do and you’re perplexed. Then they say, “Oh, I meant the back issues, it’s crap now.”

CREDITS

Green Arrow’s Last Stand; writer, J.T. Krul; pencillers, Dan Jurgens, George Pérez and Ray McCarthy; inkers, Pérez and McCarthy; colorists, Tanya Horie and Richard Horie; letterer, Rob Leigh; editors, Sean Mackiewicz and Pat McCallum; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman 2 (December 2011)

What is the deal with Merino’s Clark Kent… and, to a lesser degree, his Superman?

Clark looks like an eighties beach bum with the bouffant hairdo and then Superman looks like he’s fourteen. I know the new DC Universe is younger and hipper… but Superman should at least be old enough for a cigarette. And bouffant hair hasn’t made a comeback….

Has it?

Other than those art details, I can’t come up with an actual complaint about Perez and Merino’s Superman.

Sure, it’s retro. It reads like an idealized version of a seventies or eighties issue, but Perez’s writing is surprisingly strong. His Lois has a real voice and so does Superman’s narration. Perez’s Superman is unsure of himself, juxtaposed against the completely assured Lois.

It’s too bad Perez isn’t sticking with the book; it’s some of the better modern Superman ongoing series (i.e. All-Star doesn’t count).

Fine work.

CREDITS

Flying Blind; writer, George Pérez; pencillers, Pérez and Jesus Merino; inker, Merino; colorist, Brian Buccellato; letterer, Carlos M. Mangual; editors, Matt Idelson and Wil Moss; publisher, DC Comics.

Green Arrow 2 (December 2011)

What a dumb comic.

I mean, Krul’s a bad writer with bad dialogue and bad ideas. There’s nothing as strange as Ollie being Steve Jobs this issue, instead it’s Krul turning Paris Hilton into a supervillain. And then Green Arrow has a completely inappropriate conversation with her about whores or something.

Maybe if the art team were something new and hipster, it wouldn’t be so off, but it’s Jurgens and Perez. You’ve got classic DC artists–guys who drew comics when eight year-olds could read them without wondering what Green Arrow meant by “nasty”–and then Krul’s desperately modern scripting.

Besides the lame running around on rooftops sequence–oh, and in the New DC Universe, at least as Krul writes it, GPS is far from reliable–the art’s okay. It’s not good, but it’s that DC superhero stuff I grew up with. It’s inoffensively uncreative.

But Krul definitely offends.

CREDITS

Going Viral; writer, J.T. Krul; pencillers, Dan Jurgens and George Pérez; inker, Pérez; colorists, Tanya Horie and Richard Horie; letterer, Rob Leigh; editors, Sean Mackiewicz and Pat McCallum; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman 1 (November 2011)

The “Ultimatizing” of the DC relaunch continues… with Samuel L. Jackson as the new Morgan Edge. Sorry, cheap shot, but Superman is the first book where there’s an effort to make the DCU more diverse.

I was looking forward to this comic because I figured George Perez could write a decent Superman comic and he does. There are some problems with the newspaper copy he uses as a narrative device (it’s a poorly written newspaper article) and then there’s the art, but otherwise, it’s good.

The art isn’t Perez’s fault. While he gets the breakdown credit, Jesus Merino handles the heavy lifting and Merino’s… Well, he’s problematic.

The action is all good—but I assume it was broken down. The problem is with the regular stuff. Merino’s people look terrible. He doesn’t draw the human head properly.

Still, that problem aside, Perez’s respectful scripting makes Superman a somewhat homely success.

CREDITS

What Price Tomorrow?; writer, George Pérez; pencillers, Pérez and Jesus Merino; inker, Merino; colorist, Brian Buccellato; letterer, Carlos M. Mangual; editors, Matt Idelson and Wil Moss; publisher, DC Comics.