Blackest Night #0 (Free Comic Book Day Edition)

Back to the stack of random unread comics. Here's one of DC's Free Comic Book Day offerings from 2009, and the start of one of their big multi-book crossovers.

Title: Blackest Night
Issue: #0 (FCBD Edition)
Date: June, 2009
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Ivan Reis
Inker: Oclair Albert, Rob Hunter
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Eddie Berganza, Adam Schlagman

Blackest Night was one of those crossovers that felt like it had a ton of potential in the beginning, but (for me anyway) failed to hold interest as it stretched on and on. Since this is the #0 issue, this is still in that stage were the story intrigued me.

Most of this issue is a discussion between Hal Jordan and Barry Allen as they visit the Wayne family plot and talk about the nature of life, death, and resurrection as they have experienced it.

At this particular moment in the continuity, Bruce Wayne is dead at the hands of Darkseid and his Omega Beams (or, as I like to call it, the "dis that don't miss"). This would be a death that did not last long. Aquaman and Martian Manhunter are also apparently spending some time "dead in the DC Universe", so there is a lot of death to discuss between two individuals both fairly recently resurrected themselves.

Given all of the overarching silliness of this, the dialogue is actually quite good. There are some nice insights into both characters and into their relationship with the Justice League.

The dialogue ends and we segue into a tease of what is to come in Blackest Night, including a very awesome Black Lantern Oath.

Backup feature is a handy guide to all the different colors of lantern corps, featuring lovely illustrations and some basic info on each set of ring-followers.

This was very heavily invested in DC Universe continuity, but still managed to be enjoyable, if a bit on the grim side.

Rating: 6/10

Action Comics #957

This is the last of the small stack of DC Rebirth tie-ins that I picked up over the summer. Like most of these, this one came from one of the Newbury Comics locations that I visited.

Title: Action Comics
Issue: #957
Date: August, 2016
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Patrick Zircher
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Editor: Mike Cotton, Paul Kaminski
Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Sonia Oback

As I mentioned in my review of Detective Comics #934, I love the fact that DC has restored the original numbering to these two long-running series. Looking forward to checking out Action Comics #1000 somewhere down the road!

In the meantime, though, this issue is something of a soft reboot for Superman. The original Superman is missing, possible dead (well, "Dead in the DC Universe", anyway). With Metropolis missing its greatest hero, Lex Luthor has stepped in, with what basically looks like his version of John Henry Irons' Steel suit, complete with Superman chest-shield symbol and cape.

This does not sit well with one Clark Kent, currently moving into a home in upstate New York (Maryland? Anyway, it was upstate somewhere) with his wife and newly-super-powered son. This, apparently, is a Superman from one of the (52? Is that still a thing?) alternate Earths in the multiverse.

He confronts Luthor with predictable results, but if Superman is battling Luthor, then who is the Clark Kent who just showed up to cover the story for the Planet?

In spite of all the multi-universe nonsense going on, this was a really well-paced story that was told in a nicely straightforward and logical way. Even with it being something of a weird situation in terms of continuity, this issue succeeds both as a jumping-on point for new readers, and as a fun entertaining read.

As a side note, nice to see Maggie Sawyer back in action.

Also, excellent cliffhanger ending with a least a reasonable attempt at a logical buildup.

Rating: 7/10

DC Universe Rebirth #1

Second of a small stack of new comics purchased at Newbury Comics at the Cape Cod Mall, Hyannis MA.

Title: DC Universe Rebirth
Issue: 1
Date: July, 2016
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank, Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, Phil Jimenez, Joe Prado, Matt Santorelli
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Jason Wright, Gabe Eltaeb, Hi-Fi
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Andrew Marino, Eddie Berganza
Cover: Gary Frank, Brad Anderson

This is DC's reboot of their previous reboot. Well, in some sense, it's just the latest reboot in a long series, but this reboot in particular is aimed at correcting some of the more unpopular aspects of DC's New 52.

As is typical for this type of event, this plays more for serious fans than for casual readers. In fact, in some sense, I am the target audience: A longtime fan of DC comics, who read the early New 52 issues extensively, but lost interest and am no longer reading current DC comics on a regular basis.

The narrator and main character here is Wally West, who was trapped in the Speed Force as a result of the Flashpoint (the triggering event for the New 52 reboot (and by "trapped in the Speed Force" what we mean is "written out of the current continuity"). No one remembers Wally West, and he is only capable of appearing on Earth for brief moments before being pulled back into the Speed Force. He's desperate to escape, and he has a warning to bring: Some unknown force has been tampering with time and space.

I'm not a huge fan of the Flash, but it was very clear from the writing that Geoff Johns is, and I have to say that he won me over by the end. This was a nice mix of nostalgia with some teases for future storylines.

There was also a surprise twist ending that came from so far out of left field, that it almost felt like DC Comics is trolling us. No spoilers here other than to say that it's definitely aimed at the serious comics fans. Your mileage may vary, but it worked for me in terms of 1) I really was surprised, and 2) I am intrigued to see where this is going.

Mission accomplished.

Rating: 8/10

Justice League #12

Title: Justice League
Issue: 12
Date: October 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Jim Lee, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, David Finch
Inker: Scott Williams, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, David Finch, Sandra Hope, Jonathan Glapion, Mark Irwin, Matt Banning, Rob Hunter, Joe Weems, Alex Garner, Trevor Scott
Colorist: Alex Sinclair, Gabe Eltaeb, Tony Avina, Sonia Oback, Pete Pantazis
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Katie Kubert, Brian Cunningham
Cover: Jim Lee, Alex Sinclair, Scott Williams

I've totally fallen behind on my New 52 reading, and this one generated a bit of buzz with the Superman/Wonder Woman kiss on the cover, so I skipped ahead to it.

This issue begins a transition into some membership changes for the Justice League that will go along with the release of a new Justice League of America title.

It also wraps up a plotline involving David Gray, who has abducted and possibly killed Steve Trevor as part of a scheme for revenge against the Justice League, who Gray blames for the deaths of his wife and children.

The final battle takes place on Mount Sumeru, which is conveniently labeled via caption as the "Mythic Valley of Souls". Not quite sure how it can be a mountain and a valley at the same time.

The battle pits the League against what appears to be the spirits of their deceased loved ones. It's well-handled, but nothing exceptional. This sort of thing has definitely been done before. A lot. Once the actual brawling starts, things proceed at a nice pace to endgame and about half the book ends up getting devoted to epilogue material, all of which is pretty good.

Most noticeably for me in these scenes is the fact that somewhere between issues 6 and 11 Hal Jordan stopped being a complete jerk. His scene here is great, and a lot more in keeping with the hero that Hal ought to be. Maybe the memories of the awful Green Lantern film are finally being put to rest.

Wonder Woman's scenes with Steve Trevor and with Superman were also good. Clark and Diana's  kiss (not really a spoiler here, since it's on the front cover) comes somewhat out of nowhere, but the lead-in dialogue worked well, and the earlier scene involving Steve was genuinely powerful.

Not disappointed I picked this issue up.

Rating: 8/10

The New 52 FCBD Special Edition #1

From my Free Comic Book Day haul.

Title: The New 52 FCBD Special Edition
Issue: 1
Date: June 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, China Mieville, James Robinson, Paul Levitz, Howard Mackie, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, JT Krul
Artist: Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Kenneth Rocafort, Gene Ha, Chris Burnham, Mateus Santolouco, Nicola Scott, Trevor Scott, Kevin Maguire, George Perez, Ian Churchill, Norm Rapmund
Colorist: Rod Reis, Alex Sinclair, Blond, Art Lyon, Dan Panosian, Ariel Olivetti
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Editor: Kate Stewart, Dan Didio, Eddie Berganza
Cover: Jim Lee, Alex Sinclair, Scott Williams

This was DC's major 2012 Free Comic Book Day edition. This is all teasers, but it's good eye candy for the most part. The giant fold-out center spread is gimmicky but fun.

The story focuses on the origin of Pandora, who was the mystery woman drawn into the backgrounds of all 52 of the reboot issues. She is the same Pandora we know from mythology, but she's part of a trio of ancient sinners who were cursed with eternal torment in one form or another. The other two beings appear to be reboots of the Phantom Stranger and the Question.

And speaking of reboots, welcome back Etta Candy (now black and skinny). Not minding the change there. She was a character who went through an awful lot of reimagining over the years.

There is a lot of back-and-forth with Pandora infiltrating top-secret labs and storage facilities for alien/mystical technology. Steve Trevor is clearly being shoehorned into the Nick Fury role, which comes off a bit generic. Also, he demands "Find me John Constantine!". Be careful what you wish for, Steve. Oh, and Black Orchid gets namedropped.

The second half of the book is just preview pages from new titles. The most intriguing of those was Dial H, featuring the first comic writing by China Mieville. It looked like it had some potential. World's Finest was amusing and engaging. It was nice to see the Unknown Soldier in the GI Combat preview, but the rest didn't interest me much.

Rating: 6/10

Aquaman #5

Title: Aquaman
Issue: 5
Date: March 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Ivan Reis
Inker: Joe Prado, Eber Ferreira
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz, Pat McCallum
Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Rod Reis

We start things off with Aquaman dropping into the middle of a desert and then flash back to see how he got there. Nothing against this format. It is effective here. It just feels really overused in mainstream comics right now. It's like an automatic solution to all pacing problems to start the action in media res and then flash back. Instead of, you know, having a nice logical buildup to the climax.

That being said, this particular story is reasonably effective, especially considering that it's a bit of a laundry list of infodump and setup. Arthur has a delirious conversation with his dad to provide background and plant some seeds for future plot. Check. Explanation of the Atlantean ship in the Trench (and inhabited by, um, the Trench). Check. Remind readers that Aquaman gets no respect from the media. Check. Some teaser background on the sinking of Atlantis. Check. Introduce some new villains. Check.

I liked the visuals of Aquaman in the desert, and the small-scale character interactions were good. Enjoyable issue, but totally skippable.

Rating: 5.5/10

Aquaman #4

Title: Aquaman
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Ivan Reis
Inker: Joe Prado, Eber Ferreira
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz, Pat McCallum
Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Rod Reis

Aquaman and Mera have a debate about the morals of wiping out an entire species. Arthur seems to be on the side that says even a species with a dumb a name as the Trench deserves to live. Mera points out all the issues involved: voracious appetites, preferences for human flesh, natural food supply has run out, etc.

It's starting to look like this actually could be a real dilemma. Until Aquaman, in the grip of the Trench Queen (no, really), decides that now would not be a good time for philosophy, and sets of a volcanic eruption resulting in the genocide that was pretty much the only way this was possibly going to end.

Oh, and while this was going on, Mera is off hauling the captive humans to safety because she's not the one with her name on the title of the book. And because she's a girl.

It was obvious where this was going, and I'm probably being a bit harsh in the above assessment. The pacing was solid. Aquaman and Mera's dialogue continues to be good. The conclusion was feel-good (almost to the point of ridiculousness, but it worked for me).

And the art was awesome, especially on the Trench Queen.

Still, considering that the Trench were hyped as the most shocking new villains in the relaunch, they certainly have not made much of an impact. There were some hints that there may be more to this story than appears, but I'm not sure if I'd prefer that or if I'd rather just move on to something else.

Rating: 5.5/10

Aquaman #3

And here we go with the #3's!

Title: Aquaman
Issue: 3
Date: January 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Ivan Reis
Inker: Joe Prado
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz, Pat McCallum
Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Rod Reis

Introductory flashback scene and then it's right back into the brawl we left off with last issue. Better job this time of showing the police/soldiers involved in the fight in the background and making it look more like the pitched battle it was meant to be. Added bonus for showing a female officer among the casualties. Diversity does need to extend to the redshirt roles.

Eventually, the Trench deep ones retreat back into the sea and I guess we can call it a draw. Then comes the detective work of figuring out where the monsters came from. Because they didn't actually mention their collective (dumb) name to anyone.

Oddly, Justice League member Aquaman apparently only knows one competent marine scientist, and it's a guy who's definitely on the mad side of the scientist spectrum. This is basically an excuse to 1) Infodump, 2) Establish some more of Arthur's backstory, and 3) Set up a future villain. Still, all I could think of through the whole scene was why doesn't Aquaman just pick up the (bat) phone and call Bruce Wayne.

Then it's over. Next issue will finally take place... wait for it... under water!

This issue was a bit short on plot and long on exposition. In general, "The Trench" feels like a two issue story that is being padded out to four or five issues with long fight scenes and unnecessary explanations. The science involved in the analysis of the origins of the deep ones was weak, and all it really established was where Arthur and Mera need to go searching. I'm not sure if this was the best introduction for Atlantis-obsessed Dr. Stephen Shin since it didn't feel like Arthur really needed to call on him, but it may have been important to establish him for upcoming plotlines.

On the good side, Arthur and Mera continue to have a really strong vibe, and their dialogue is sharp. The art looks great and this issue in particular is loaded with cool background details (the establishing shots of Shin's house were perfect).

I'm enjoying this series, but much like the deep ones, I'm waiting for an issue with a bit more meat to it.

Rating: 6.5/10

Aquaman #2

Continuing with the New 52 second issues. I really liked the first issue of Aquaman. Let's see how the follow-up fared.

Title: Aquaman
Issue: 2
Date: December 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Ivan Reis
Inker: Joe Prado
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz, Pat McCallum
Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Rod Reis

First of all, awesome cover! My favorite so far of the New 52.

We pick up right at last issue's cut scene with a fishing boat being attacked by, um, The Trench. That name is already awkward. There seems to be some sort of gimmick going on here with Trench (Trench dwellers? Trench members? Trench warriors? Trenchmen? Trenchpersons? Johnny Trench? Oh heck, I'm just going to call them Deep Ones and be done with it), spitting paralyzing slime. At least that seems to be what is implied. The Deep Ones kill some humans now, and they slime, paralyze, and cocoon others to snack on later. Waste not want not, you know.

So they make short work of the fishing boat. But it's the kind of short work that occupies about four pages of comic. Then we go to the town dock where a kid is saying "Look! Daddy's boat is coming in!" and we finally cut. The book could easily have opened with that scene and cut out all the preliminary mayhem on the boat and no story would be lost. When it's a horde of Deep Ones against a few fishermen with one flair gun, the Deep Ones win. We get it. Keep things moving please.

Aquaman and Mera are summoned to the scene of the attack, and the town is now being swarmed by police, Coast Guard, and various other authorities. Apparently large numbers of people are missing and nobody thought to look inside the hold of the fishing boat that is right at the center of where all the disaster started.

The rest of the issue is a zombie apocalypse style brawl except with Deep Ones instead of zombies, but it's the same basic idea. Aquaman and Mera are fighting, but the numbers are getting the better of them. All the guys with guns around them appear to be pretty much no help at all (despite the fact that the Deep Ones are not depicted as being particularly bulletproof).

The nine pages of this issue that did not involve the Deep Ones were pretty good. Still a touch of the meta "Aquaman gets no respect" vibe from the first issue, but more subtle (in a good way).

The action scenes were nicely drawn, but it just felt like in spite of all the mayhem this issue had not actually accomplished all that much by the end.

Rating: 6.5/10

Aquaman #1

More from the new DC Universe. Here's the debut of Aquaman.

Title: Aquaman
Issue: 1
Date: November 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Ivan Reis
Inker: Joe Prado
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz, Pat McCallum
Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Ron Reis

A surprisingly meta take on the King of the Sea, this issue spends most of its time slyly answering the whole "aquaman gets no respect" meme. Helpfully, we get Aquaman's powers turned up a couple of notches, as he flips over a truck, leaps tall buildings (it actually takes him two bounds!), and the general effect of machine gun fire on him is to get him annoyed.

He puts up with constant pestering from the (Boston!) general public, especially when he sits down at a restaurant and order a fish and chips. Sadly he doesn't stick around long enough to see if he puts malt vinegar on it.

Throughout the story, Arthur's dialogue is great. He comes off as a guy with a lot of pride, a lot of intelligence, and just enough patience to tolerate the pestering morons who seem to constantly make their way into his presence. There's also a good scene with Mera that sets up the general direction for the series. We'll be spending our time in Boston, not Atlantis, it seems, and that works well. Maybe he could replace Crawford in the outfield.

Oh, and there are villains. They are possibly referred to collectively as "the Trench" (Really, DC? Really?). They're Deep Ones from the works of Lovecraft. They speak in gibberish (translated for our convenience into phrases like "There's food up here.") and they are about to give a whole new meaning to "Deadliest Catch". The design of the Trench is excellent, although nothing we haven't seen before in designs of sahuagin in D&D and all manner of other fish-creatures going back to The Creature from the Black Lagoon. So, they're not terribly original, but they do look good.

This whole book looks good, in fact. Reis and Prado do excellent work, especially in the introductory splash page for Arthur, the variety of bystanders at the restaurant, and the scene with Mera. They also make the ocean look awesome in several panels, and that's going to be important moving forward.

The in-jokes won't carry this much further, and I'm a bit dubious about the Trench (this sort of horror plot is often a bad fit with superheroes), but taken on its own this was an enjoyable debut.

Rating: 8/10