Captain Atom 3 (January 2012)

Here’s what I love about Krul’s Captain Atom. It’s not just Captain Atom, but his Flash too. He makes them sound like grown-ups. They don’t feel like younger versions or hip and modern versions. They sound real.

Krul had some problems last issue, but they’re gone here. Until the last page, the issue is absolutely fantastic. Williams has a great double page spread, Krul continues his gentle rip-off of Watchmen. It’s a friendly Dr. Manhattan, one who innocently helps the world.

Not much happens, even though there’s a lot of action. Most of the issue is the Flash and Captain Atom walking around talking. Sure they’re doing it at super-speed so no one can see them, but they’re just talking.

The question of Captain Atom’s naiveté is very muted (another success from Krul).

Not even Williams can sell the issue’s obvious and predictable cliffhanger. It’s too bad.

CREDITS

Divine Intervention; writers, J.T. Krul and Freddie Williams II; artist, Williams; colorist, Jose Villarrubia; letterer, Rob Leigh; editors, Rickey Purdin and Rachel Gluckstern.; 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.

Captain Atom 2 (December 2011)

More great art from Williams and only one or two pages of lame exposition from Krul keep Captain Atom at the top of the New 52.

The exposition is really bad though, I must say. Having someone recount Captain Atom’s origin while he’s in the room… doesn’t strike me as a particularly inventive way of getting the information across.

Here, we meet some of his acquaintances, including a lady who likes him and a gentleman who doesn’t like the lady liking him.

It makes Atom feel contained and manageable. There aren’t forced ties to the rest of the DC Universe. When Captain Atom goes off and uses his powers for what amounts to real world magic, it’s passable. Krul doesn’t quite get the significance of the act down–even if Atom doesn’t get it, we should see he doesn’t–but it passes.

It’s less of a surprise, but still solid.

CREDITS

Rebuilding Blocks; writer, J.T. Krul; artist, Freddie Williams II; colorist, Jose Villarrubia; letterer, Rob Leigh; editors, Rickey Purdin and Rachel Gluckstern; 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.

Captain Atom 1 (November 2011)

I hate to say it, but I like Captain Atom. Notice I’m not saying Captain Atom is good, though J.T. Krul’s writing on this title is about the best I’ve ever read from him. He basically just gives Captain Atom the same internal monologue Firestorm had back in the eighties. It works.

And for the plotting—besides having a Stephen Hawkings knockoff, which might be in bad taste—Krul is basically cribbing plots from the Superman movies. Solid things to rip-off, in terms of action sequences. Oh, and Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones. Krul likes his movies apparently.

But the reason I like Atom is because Freddie Williams II is a terrible choice for the series. It looks like he’s drawing Atom is colored pencil and doing the rest somewhat regular. It’s not great art, but it’s distinctive and distinctive counts these days in mainstream comics.

It’s peculiarly engaging.

CREDITS

Evolution of the Species; writer, J.T. Krul; artist, Freddie Williams II; colorist, Jose Villarrubia; letterer, Rob Leigh; editors, Rickey Purdin and Rachel Gluckstern; publisher, DC Comics.

Green Arrow 1 (November 2011)

Okay, I’m not recommending Green Arrow, but it needs to be read to be believed. Oliver Queen is Steve Jobs as a superhero and blond and young and single. Really. He made a “Q-Pad” and a “Q-Phone” and he uses the profits from those devices to run around the globe fighting really lame supervillains as Green Arrow.

Except, J.T. Krul apparently read a lot of Birds of Prey so he decided to give Ollie an Oracle stand-in. That’s right… the new Green Arrow is the old Black Canary. Only as Steve Jobs.

It’s a terrible comic—Ollie lectures the bad guys about wasting their lives and yada yada when he’s fighting them—but it’s so bewildering, it must be read.

And Dan Jurgens? With George Perez inks? It’s classic nineties DC, only with an idiotic “new media” bent.

If DC were really committed, Ollie’d have a Facebook.

CREDITS

Living a Life of Privilege; writer, J.T. Krul; penciller, Dan Jurgens; inker, George Pérez; colorist, David Baron; letterer, Rob Leigh; editors, Sean Mackiewicz and Pat McCallum; publisher, DC Comics.

Superman / Batman (2003) #75

Sb75

Levitz wraps up the arc with a Legion of Super-Heroes story guest starring Batman. Superman’s in a panel or two. Lex’s planet has paid-off (in the future), with a Kryptonite-infused Lex clone going through history after Superman (and Superboy).

The story’s unpredictable and funny. And Ordway’s mostly just drawing, not trying to look painted, so the art’s much better.

The rest of the issue is two-page anniversary stories.

Seagle and Kristiansen’s is pointless self-indulgence. Tucci’s actually funny. Hughes does a poster; great art, of course. The big surprise is the Krul one (with Manapul on the art). The writing’s actually funny. Thompson’s got a couple pinups. Green and Johnson (art by Davis and Albuquerque) are unmemorable.

Rouleau’s got a fantastic one, so do Azzarello and Bermejo.

Finch and Williams’s one is atrociously written.

Tomasi and Ha’s entry is pointless but looks nice.

Excellent feature though.