Thursday, April 17, 2008

Comics of the Week (4/16/08) - part 1

Got six books this week, so again I'll split them into groups I can manage.

Countdown to Final Crisis #2 - not even an Adam Kubert cover could save this issue. It was really just a huge, chaotic battle with some characters totally out of character (since when does Superman stay out of a fight?) and the ending of Death of the New Gods spoiled to boot (that final issue comes out next week). And if this ending is what Countdown was leading to, what do we get next issue? Disappointed.

Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #13 - this was more a spotlight issue on Superboy/Superman with some nice homages to the Superman films and Smallville television show thrown in. It worked okay for an issue. Given the way the animated comics are going, this will be the only one on my pull-list in another month or so.


Salvation Run #6 - the big throwdown between the Joker and Luthor spotlights this issue. It just goes to show how dangerous the former can be. Not a lot of death and destruction this issue, but that will change with the final issue is the last couple pages of this one are any indication.

2 comments:

Michael O. said...

Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.

I'm commenting here on Countdown #2, after having just finished reading #1 - the big "finale". What..the...hell? What a waste of a year. What a waste of the whole DC Universe. While I had issues with the ending of the whole "52" series, it ended up, overall, being a great read, one that actually made me anxious for the next issue. This one was a complete mess. Bad planning, bad writing, really bad "we hired this guy off of eBay" art throughout. We waited for THIS? Did someone actually sit in meeting and pitch the idea of a giant Jimmy Olsen fighting a giant Darkseid and everyone said "What a great idea!"? No one ever felt in character, the art completely took me out of everything (hint - I don't care how momentous of a DCU moment you think you're giving us, if it's drawn by people who don't understand even comic book standards of human anatomy who don't know how to illustrate any facial emotions besides "Rage", "Shock" and "Sit-Com Winking Ha-Ha", no one is going to care. This is much like shooting Godfather II on a camcorder and expecting to win the Oscar). This whole series was a joke, and a waste, and, frankly, an insult. At this point, I could really care less what the "Final Crisis" is. This series soured me on the whole thing so much I may not even bother. Time will tell if curiosity gets the best of me, but based on the problems I already have with Grant Morrison, I may well be done with DC now. For a brief, shining couple of years there, the company made books for grownups. Whatever they're making now, it's just not for me.

Except for Booster, of course... :)

Martin Maenza said...

Michael, I'll have a bunch to say about Countdown to Final Crisis #1 and the whole series in general this weekend. Thanks for your comments and for reading my reviews.