Mister Terrific 2 (December 2011)

Making fun of Gugliotta’s art seems like a low blow. There’s so much to mock about Mister Terrific, Gugliotta’s actually not high on the list. Oh, there’s some bad art, but he’s improving in some ways. Instead of drawing Mister Terrific like a white guy, he’s at least going through the motions with keeping the hair accurate. The same—accuracy—can’t be said for Gugliotta’s approach to Karen Starr, but maybe inker Faucher decided to draw her head tilted in physiologically impossible ways.

No, the real fun making is reserved for writer Wallace, who somehow manages to be worse than I remembered him. Wallace loves expository dialogue—I’m not sure there’s a single line without it in here—and his attempt at fusing a feel good superhero (the public adores him!) with science fails.

I miss the first issue’s reverse racism, but Mister Terrific shows some xenophobia, which almost compensates.

CREDITS

Blinded by Science; writer, Eric Wallace; penciller, Gianluca Gugliotta; inker, Wayne Faucher; colorist, Mike Atiyeh; letterer, Dave Sharpe; editors, Kate Stewart and Joey Cavalieri; publisher, DC Comics.

Mister Terrific 1 (November 2011)

I’m confused… when Eric Wallace has a black woman (who, incidentally, penciller Gianluca Gugliotta draws identical to blonde Karen Starr—the colorist adds the… ahem… race) go off on Karen Starr about being black, is it reverse racist?

I might be giving Wallace and his totally not terrific Mister Terrific too much though. Wallace doesn’t talk about race much, which is good. Gugliotta occasionally forgets Mr. Terrific doesn’t have wavy Peter Brady hair. Terrific’s son, from an alternate timeline, shows up at one point and switches race a couple times between panels.

If Mister Terrific is DC’s idea of a strong black character, they’re failing miserably.

It doesn’t help Wallace isn’t smart enough to write the character. When Terrific talks about “differential equations” like they’re impossible for anyone to understand, it’s clear Wallace shouldn’t be doing first person narration. Mr. Terrific sounds dopey.

It’s an icky comic and politically limp.

CREDITS

Software Update; writer, Eric Wallace; penciller, Gianluca Gugliotta; inker, Wayne Faucher; colorist, Mike Atiyeh; letterer, Dave Sharpe; editors, Kate Stewart and Joey Cavalieri; publisher, DC Comics.

Our Fighting Forces (2010) #1

Off

You know, when I saw B. Clay Moore’s name on the cover, I was horrified at the thought of reading the issue. Then, as it turned out, Moore’s absolutely capable of writing a mediocre war comic. Chad Hardin and Wayne Faucher apparently aren’t capable of illustrating one, but Moore fills it with so much of the standard war story dialogue… the word balloons cover the ugly, trading card static artwork.

More than anything, this issue is a testament to the strengths of the war story as a genre. Even when it’s nothing intelligent, it’s able to convey a compelling narrative.

Moore has the Losers up against some Germans, outnumbered and overwhelmed. They try, they succeed. It works.

Moore’s format is unsteady—he starts out like he’s going to give every member a fair share of pages, but he doesn’t—and he’s got weak anachronisms.

But it could be much worse.

The Last Days of Animal Man (2009) #6

Last days of animal man 06

Umm. Huh.

I really don’t know where to start, given how Last Days of Animal Man ends. Conway, at the end, makes it something incredibly different, even for an imaginary story, inserting a lot of reality into it, raising a lot of questions, even if the life and death stuff seems like it’s out of a fortune cookie. It’s a strange ending, which breaks the reader from his or her expectations (trips them, more like), and it’s hard to know what it’s all about, because it’s less about something literal, it seems, than it’s about the experience of reading.

I’m wondering if anyone thinks the ending is cheap; I’d love to talk to them about it if they do, because it doesn’t read as cheap to me. It reads as Last Days being about something more than it seems (and succeeding at it).

Maybe I just like superhero stalker stories.

The Last Days of Animal Man (2009) #5

Last days of animal man 05

No way, there’s a surprise in store for the last issue? Conway really hypes his new villains here, as they take out the League of Titans–or is it the League or Justice–lots of typos in Animal Man, apparently, as the year keeps jumping around (from 2018 to 2024 with something in between). I’m almost wondering if Conway didn’t just have an idea in mind for a final hero story and DC let him do it with Animal Man. Like I said before, as unfamiliar with Animal Man as I am, I have no idea if Conway’s getting all the details right.

This issue is basically all just ramping up to the final issue. There are some okay family moments, but only when read quickly. They’re barely personal to the characters, much less revelatory to the reader (I kept wondering why Ellen didn’t ask about Starfire).

Still, it’s good.