Comic Reviews Week of 7/22/09

It's the week of the San Diego Comic-Con...which means very little to me!




Final Crisis - Legion of Three Worlds #5 (of 5)
Written By Geoff Johns
Art By George Perez

I am torn. On the other hand, this issue really isn't that bad. It's well-written, it's got good art, and it saves Gates, one of my favorite reboot Legion characters, from comic book limbo...literally.

However, this issue also allows Geoff Johns to essentially rollback the Legion to what it was in 1986, and...I don't think that's a very good idea. First of all, as a practical matter, the differences between the three iterations of the Legion were pretty minor, meaning there simply can't be a lot of Legion stories that Geoff Johns wants to tell that need the old pre-Crisis Legion in order to work. Second, the old Legion was overrated anyway, because there aren't that many good stories that came out of that era, and the ones that are famous (i.e. any good at all) all come the early-to-middle part of the Levitz run.

I also just realized that I hate every single version of Superboy that currently exists in DC continuity. I mean, I always knew I hated Superboy Prime, but I just realized how much I dislike Connor Kent. He started out as this mildly amusing joke character, then became the star of his own light action book....and then Geoff Johns got a hold of him and set a new world record on fastest injection of angst into a character. Does anyone really like the character of Connor Kent at this point? Once you suck all the fun out of a character like that, what's left? A mopey teenage Superman.

But, as long as you are able to completely disconnect the contents of this issue from both the larger story being told, and what it means for the DC universe, it's a good comic.



Power Girl #3
Written By Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Art By Amanda Connor

Hey, the art's great! That's got to count for something....

Here's the thing, Power Girl is a rather ridiculous character. I believe her origin story at this point is that she's Supergirl from an alternate universe, except she ended up on the main earth at just the wrong time, so when her universe's earth got re-created, a copy of her was made, so that she was in effect replaced by another Power Girl on her own earth. Yeah, that's easy for new fans to digest.

Anyway, this is the concluding part of "Gorilla Warfare" where Power Girl has to fight a gorilla with the mind of a mad scientist. It's the very definition of mediocrity, really. But then again, how do you write a character who is best known for her cup size? Shit, the fact that this comic isn't just cheesecake and boob jokes shows an almost inhuman amount of restraint that deserves to be commended.



Incredible Hulk #600
Written By Jeph Loeb and friends
Art By Ed McGuiness and others

If you start a new volume of a series for the sole purpose of making money, it seems wrong that you can go back to the old numbering at any time.

Anyway, this issue is features the Red Hulk fighting the Green Hulk...again, and....I can't write about this comic anymore, it's just two oddly proportioned hulks hitting each other until a big explosion blows everything up with explaining much of anything. But apparently there's a war coming, which would be a lot more interesting if World War Hulk hadn't come out less than two years ago.


Gotham City Sirens #2
Written By Paul Dini
Art By Guillem March

Oh man...this is not good. It's so bad it features a scene where Catwoman is given the equivalent of a truth serum and is forced to divulge that Bruce Wayne is Batman...except no one believes her because there's no way that the dilletante Bruce Wayne could be living a double life as the Caped Crusader.

This is a comic that is based off one above-average episode from a cartoon series that ended over a decade ago. Not the strongest foundation for an ongoing series I've ever heard.

Mini-reviews:

Runaways #12: This is still going on...amazing, really.

Amazing Spider-Man #600: I feel compelled to make a joke about Aunt May being forced to make a deal with the devil that retcons her marriage out of existence. Also, how old is Aunt May. I mean, she appears to be the contemporary of J. Jonah Jameson's father, who is himself a generation older than Peter Parker....makes you think.

Green Lantern #44: Again, I feel compelled to point out that zombie Martian Manhunter ain't scaring anyone. Show me a zombie of a character who wasn't cannon fodder and we'll talk.