Action Comics #6

I still have a lot of early New 52 books to read. I'm on the #5's and #6's with most of the titles that I kept following. I read up to #7 on most of those, and that was when I realized that the comics were stacking up unread again and I stopped buying them regularly.

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 6
Date: April 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison, Sholly Fisch
Penciler: Andy Kubert, Chriscross
Inker: John Dell, Chriscross
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Jose Villarrubia
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau, Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

Superman gets some help from time-traveling members of the Legion of Superheroes to deal with a threat that is hiding in plain sight. This story had a lot going on, and a ton of plot twists. Some of the paths taken to get to the end were a bit awkward and overly complicated, but the good moments were really good, including a really awesome Superboy/Legion ending.

Backup story is another look into the past. This time, it's Clark Kent's last day in Smallville before heading to college. It's sweet and sentimental, with some amusing bits of dialogue.

This was worth the slogging through all of the time-travel silliness.

Rating: 8/10

Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #36

Ruh-roh! Continuing with a selection of my son's small but growing comic collection.

Title: Scooby-Doo! Where Are You?
Issue: 36
Date: October 2013
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Sholly Fisch, Darryl Taylor Kravitz, Jymn Magon
Artist: Fabio Laguna, Karen Matchette, Leo Baltic, Horacio Ottolini
Colorist: Heroic Age
Letterer: Saida Temofonte, Randy Gentile, Travis Lanham
Editor: Jessica Chen, Kristy Quinn, Jeanine Schaefer
Cover:Fabio Laguna, Jason Lewis

Three stories in this comic, all of them vaguely automobile-themed.

First up, Shaggy ends up taking over for champion drive Earl Daleheart (no, really) in a championship stock car race. As it turns out, when properly motivated, Shaggy drives away from monsters even faster than he runs away from them.

The second story hits a pet peeve of mine. I am something of a purist when it comes to Scooby Doo. I prefer my Scooby Doo with no real supernatural elements. To me the whole point of Scooby Doo was showing kids that the monsters weren't real and there was always a rational explanation. At some point the cartoon abandoned that and introduced real ghosts, which I always felt missed the point.

The story itself is a pretty harmless comic relief bit involving a ghost who hitches a ride on the Mystery Machine and runs afoul of Scooby, who is protecting his precious Scooby Snacks. Oh, and Velma loses her glasses. Seemingly for no reason than to remind readers that Velma losing her glasses is supposed to be funny.

Next, please.

The third story involves a cross-country race and a ghost car that keeps running other cars off the road. There is also a maze for readers to solve, which is actually incorporated into the story pretty well. This story was actually a pretty nice tribute to highway ghost legends, and it has enough of a plot twist to make the mystery entertaining.

One reasonably good story and two that were just there.

Rating: 4/10

Action Comics #5

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 5
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison, Sholly Fisch
Penciler: Andy Kubert, Chriscross
Inker: Jesse Delperdang, Chriscross
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Jose Villarrubia
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau, Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

Variant cover is pictured.

This issue is almost entirely made up of retellings of bits of the Superman origin story. It's effective, but not terribly groundbreaking. There's some retconning, of course, but again, nothing that is all that shocking.

When we finally get into current plot, it's a messy time travel story that doesn't really go in any direction except toward the needlessly complicated.

Backup story is more Superman origin stuff, this time focusing on Jon and Martha Kent in the early years of their marriage and their struggles with infertility. It's generally good, although it very quickly goes down the path of "everything happens for a purpose" which is pretty much the least interesting thematic direction this could have been taken in.

All of that being said, there are some good details throughout the issue, and it does a nice job of laying seeds for future stories.

Rating: 5.5/10

Action Comics #4

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison, Sholly Fisch
Penciler: Rags Morales, Brad Walker
Inker: Rick Bryant, Sean Parsons, Brad Walker
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Jay David Ramos
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau, Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

In the midst of a full-scale robot invasion, the people of Metropolis begin to realize that Superman is one of the good guys. I particularly liked Clark's reaction to the police who try to arrest him (As a huge robot looms over them: "Slap on the bracelets, boys. Otherwise, stand back and let me do my job.").

The alien force behind the robot invasion is the same force that "collected" Kandor. Now it's grabbing a significant chunk of Metropolis (including Lois Lane). Meanwhile Superman has his own problems in the form of John Wayne Corben AKA Metallo.

But Superman has some backup too. As it turns out, Corben isn't the only guy named John who can put on a suit of armor.

Steel gets the backup feature, and his introduction is handled in short-and-sweet style that integrates nicely into the overall plot. And references back to the original tale of John Henry are always fun in Steel's stories.

Rating: 7.5/10

Young Justice / Batman: The Brave And The Bold Super Sampler

Title: Young Justice / Batman: The Brave And The Bold Super Sampler
Date: 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Art Baltazar, Franco, Sholly Fisch
Artist: Mike Norton, Rick Burchett, Dan Davis
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual, Travis Lanham
Colorist: Zac Atkinson, Gabe Eltaeb
Cover: Mike Norton, Alex Sinclair
Editor: Jim Chadwick, Michael McCalister, Cynthia Clugston Flores

This is the 2011 offering from DC comics for their all-ages titles.

First up is Young Justice taking on Psycho Pirate and Atomic Skull. Young Justice, we are told is a special team of "sidekicks" who handle covert missions for the JLA. They are quite possibly the least-covert team of heroes of all time. Let's see, who do we have that would be good at keeping secrets and remaining discreet? I know! Teenagers! In brightly-colored costumes! And this was the Batman's idea?

They attempt to do a scene where the characters have to face their greatest doubts/fears, but it comes off as wordy and clunky compared to many, many scenes that have done a better job with this same (and rather tired) idea. Once we get back to action it gets better, and Kid Flash gets a well-deserved spotlight.

The second story was from Batman: The Brave and the Bold. It was also an idea I've seen done before. There was a charity party, which Bruce Wayne was supposed to be attending. He was a no-show, because he was off doing his thing as the Batman, so all of the high society guests took turns mocking him. Their observations were then contrasted with the action of the story, which was the Batman and the Flash battling Heat Wave and Firefly (The third-rate villain, not Joss Whedon TV show, but you knew that, right?). Much like the facing-worst-fears bit in the first story, this came across as wordy and forced.

I feel like in the effort to write for a younger audience the writers here lost track of the need for good writing.

Rating: 5/10