Welcome to the new version of Wednesday Is New Comic Book Day! We’ll now be split up by author to help you guys navigate easier. (i.e. make it seem like we have more content than we do, wink wink, nudge nudge!). We still have the same basic rating system though:
0: Uwe Boll will direct the adaptation of this comic
0.1 – 1: Burn upon touching
1- 1.9: Abysmal
2.0 – 2.9: Art. Writing. Editing. All bad.
3.0 – 3.9: You’d be a masochist to pick this up.
4.0 – 4.9: “I’ll give it another month…but that was not good.”
5.0 – 5.9: “Really? The Watcher? In the face? I guess it was fun.”
6.0 – 6.9: “Hmm. That was decent.”
7.0 – 7.9: Well made but a few problems
8.0 – 8.9: Nearly flawless
9.0 – 9.9: Outstanding
10: Perfection. Issue of the year contender
This week, I decided to do a bunch of reviews for books that I didn’t think I’d like at all, plus one I knew I’d love. My books this week are Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #4, Thunderbolts #145, Justice League: Generation Lost #4, Hulk #23, and Green Arrow #1. Which is which? Find out after the jump!
Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #4
The last time I reviewed this book, I tore it to shreds for it’s incredible insensitivity to any sort of decency as well as it’s downright absurdity. This time? I don’t even need to. I’ve said it all before. Justice League: Rise of Arsenal could have been something really special, but instead is a perfect example of what not to do when a company charges you with revamping a character to fit certain future goals. On the same hand, this is also a perfect example of when you should just say no to a job offer, because this is going to be a big black spot on JT Krul’s work for the rest of his career.
Picking up with Arsenal locked in an asylum and hallucinating his daughter berating him, we get another 22 pages of Arsenal becoming the least likable super hero in all of the DCU. Last issue, we had drug use, friend punching, mangled cats, and impotence. This issue, we deformed daughters, prison break ins, and murder. I don’t even feel bad about “spoiling” that – Arsenal flat out kills someone because his dead daughter tells him to. Not only that, but when all is said and done, he kills his own fictional daughter. Seriously. He spends the whole issue hallucinating that his daughter is alive only to lock her in his home and then light it on fire.
In all honesty, I don’t feel the need to spend a paragraph berating the writing here. You get it, I get it, and I’m sure somewhere out there Krul gets it – this is a bad comic. This is a VERY bad comic. None of this comic has made any sense whatsoever, and I’m sure that in comparison most people would probably call Justice League: Cry For Justice “the next Watchmen.” That’s honestly how bad of a comic it is. It’s only real peer is Ultimatum. I honestly see nothing redeemable about this having happened, and the rest of the story being picked up in Titans almost assuredly makes that book worth avoiding. Krul has managed to make Arsenal one of my least favorite characters in all of the DCU, and the art direction here is terrible. A two-page spread of Ollie punching out Roy? Was that really necessary? It’s not dramatic. It’s goofy and tacky, as well as absurd and underwhelming.
In the end, I found myself chuckling at this in the same way as I did Sea Bear/Grizzly Shark. It’s just a ridiculous comic that I can’t take seriously even if I try. Poor, poor Roy Harper. I feel bad for the writer charged with the task of making you a character worth caring about again, because this hole you’ve been dug is pretty damn deep.
Continued belowFinal Verdict: 0.1 – Don’t even look at it
Author’s Note: I gave it a 0.1 as opposed to a 0.0 for two reasons. The first is that the art isn’t that terrible. The second is because according to our rating system, 0.1 is the lowest we can give. Pick which ever reason you like more.
Justice League: Generation Lost #4
On the other side of the Justice League tie-in banner, we have Generation Lost. It’s amazing – out of the two main “Brightest Day” series, this is the one that I really think people should be buying, even if they’ve never read a single issue of the Justice League International. Hell, if your budget is so tight you can only choose to get one 26 issue series? Get this one.
Generation Lost has ended up being a book with plenty of action, diverse locations, and an excellent cast that becomes better and better with each issue. As the plot thickens even more, the group reforms, and the cliffhanger leaves us begging for the next issue, it’s easy to note that DC has a real knock out with this book. On top of that, it’s connection to the Brightest Day mythos becomes much more clear in this issue, which helps bring it into the larger story as well as offer some very slight clues as to what could be going on with the overall story.
Winnick and Giffen have made a surprisingly strong team. I initially had strong reservations against the book, but both writers have surpassed my expectations for four issues now, and the book is definitely a lock in in my pull now. This issue’s end especially has my excited for the upcoming issue in two weeks, and is one that I’m sure long time fans are dying to hear. It’s basically one of those moments that we as fans have always wanted to see since reading the prelude to Infinite Crisis, and to finally have it is incredibly exciting. Plus, the “re-introduction” and formation of this team leaves the reader rather satisfied and keeps up a steady and positive pace for the book that it’s companion is so lacking.
Aaron Lopresti’s art really sells it here as well. Sometimes, when you have a book that has rotating artists, they have difficult times segueing into one another, but Lopresti and his companions all have such a great mutual style that the book manages to hold on it’s own as a solid display of art while also functioning as an even part of a whole. It makes the experience of this comic that much more enjoyable.
Suffice it to say, if you get one 26 issue book this year, make it this one. Generation Lost has been a blast so far, and a real treat for readers who are both old and new fans. If you’re looking for a large comic to get into that has a good deal of bwa-ha-ha with it’s action, and enough heart to go around, you’ve found your story.
Final Verdict: 8.9 – Buy
Thunderbolts #145
I have kind of a love hate relationship with this title. A lot of people adore the book and have for a long time. Me? I’m a late bloomer, so to say. I started with Warren Ellis, worked my way up through Andy Diggle’s run and then stopped. I didn’t really care for the direction I saw the book heading in and shyed away from it. However, I did end up paying attention again during Siege and, due to strong convincing on the behalf of others, I picked up the book with it’s start in the Heroic Age despite initial reservations.
As it turns out, the book has ended up being a great new start. I really enjoy the direction that we’re seeing. The last issue clarified the why of the team (which you either bought or you didn’t) and this issue helped show the end dynamic. That’s what I was really curious about – with a team including Crossbones and Moonstone, is this a group that will work? The answer is not entirely, and I love that that is addressed. The first second they get to disband, they do, and of course Cage reels them all back in. Ghost is easily my favorite member of the team due to his technology and snark, and I loved his reaction to Zemo’s appearance. The issue brings us through some loose ends left by Siege and brings back John Walker, addresses Nuke, and sends the team out to Asgard to help with the clean up in their own way.
Continued belowI know Jeff Parker can be a good writer if given the opportunity, as I said in my review of Underground. I don’t like AoA or any of his Hulk work, but this is turning out really great. I’m glad that Marvel has given him the keys to something new, a chance to show that he can write a good story beyond what he is always tagged with being a writer for. I think that Parker understands the team dynamic here, and despite forming the WEIRDEST team imaginable in a post-Civil War/Secret Invasion/Dark Reign/Siege universe, he’s pulling it off well. The book definitely flows, is fun to read, and keeps us as the reaeder intrigued to the plot.
My only major contention here is the art. Kev Walker’s art is definitely different in the book, and there are some decisions I don’t really agree with – specifically Songbird. She looks very odd to me, and the hair doesn’t quite make sense. She looks like someone out of Dragon Ball Z, but even their hair falls every now and then. Walker reminds me of a less refined Francis Lenil Yu, and some of the characters like Crossbones and Man-Thing look GREAT while others look ok half of the time and poor the other half, i.e. Juggernaut and Cage. So it’s a toss up on the art, but if Marvel has taught me anything it’s that sometimes good or great writing can be accompanied by odd character designs.
So Thunderbolts wasn’t something I had planned to read, but now Parker has me at least through the Avengers Academy and Shadowland crossover. I can only hope the book stays good though, because Thunderbolts has been notoriously the book I drop and pick back up at random times. We’ll see how long Parker and Walker can reel me in for this round.
Final Verdict: 7.9/8.0 – Buy
Hulk #23
I think that I, like most rational and intelligent people reading comic books today, know that without a doubt if I’m going to bother to sit and read a comic by Jeph Loeb, 9 times out of 10 these days it’ll be bad. This is especially true with the Hulk series he started with the brand new Red Hulk. With the last issue of the comic, we had the reveal of who the mysterious Red Hulk was – General Ross. Since then we’ve all called BS on it and bashed it to pieces, so I thought it would be a lot of fun to read Hulk #23 in celebration of it.
The funny thing is, the issue isn’t terrible. It tells an intercut story between Rulk being de-powered (and Betty mysteriously running off for no reason, I guess to be in Incredible Hulk) and how Rulk became Rulk. It starts very early on into the Hulk series, going far back in time and showing the reasons it was Ross who eventually became Rulk before flashing forward to World War Hulk and the death of Captain America. At this point, the comic reveals all the trickery it had previously played, such as why Ross was standing over Rulk earlier (it was an LMD being operated by MODOK) and how Rulk came to work with Banner before finally revealing why Glen Talbot is back and setting everything up for the finale.
Loeb’s writing here, while featuring that tacky sensibility it had through out the series, is a lot more forward. It’s clear that he spent a lot more time sitting and thinking with this issue than he had any others because, while the scenarios that led up to Rulk are expectedly dumb and cliche, the explanations are still plausible in that “well, it’s still just a comic” sense. Nothing in here will really blow your mind, but if you get to that point where you say, “Well, ok, it’s part of his story – I guess it makes sense,” then it’ll be readable. And with the issue being over sized to allow for more content, you do get all but one question answered – why does the mustache go away?
Continued belowThe real selling point to the issue, though, is the array of guest artists working on the book. You’ve got Tim Sale in the opening somewhat reprising his Hulk: Gray style, Mike Deodato, Ian Churchill, Francis Lenil Yu, and John Romita Jr who comes back to tell the story from the point where World War Hulk happens. That’s I guess probably why I ended up liking so much of this comic – it was just great to look at. While the segue between artists doesn’t generally work outside of two instances that are clearly labeled as flashback, the comic is very talented. Romita Jr and Sale’s parts are especially great, harking back to their previous Hulk work and making that element of their timeline in the story seem plausible within the context of the comic.
So it’s not as horrific of an issue as one might expect, but it’s certainly not great. And as Fall of the Hulks and World War Hulks comes to a close, we’ve now seen the Leader and MODOK absolutely humiliated and defeated in both Hulk books. All that’s really left is for Loeb to write what Loeb apparently loves to write these days – large scaled action and face punching. With one issue left, here’s hoping that Loeb can send this humorous facade of a series off with at least a big bang.
Final Verdict: 5.5 – Browse for the art
Green Arrow #1
I literally just tore up JT Krul’s writing a couple reviews up, and it was with buying Arsenal in mind that I wanted to review Green Arrow. Sometimes I enjoy reading comics I don’t think I will like just so I have the opportunity to rip it apart. The sad part is is that when I heard a Green Arrow series was going to be announced, I was really excited. To hear it’d put him in more of a Robin Hood role instead of the business tycoon role got me even more excited. It was Arsenal that ruined everything – but I still trudged ahead.
In the first issue, we’re introduced to our new setting. Oliver Queen has been banished from the city and now lives in “SHERWOOP PARK” acting as the cities quiet protector. The politicians and big businessmen still hate him, but with a new and more violent sense of righteousness (he opens the comic by shooting off someone’s nose) Green Arrow is more vigilant than ever. However, on the other side of town, Queen Industries is being taken over by a new and mysterious tycoon who is oddly covered from head to toe with no visible skin showing (just like a certain character from another book that was recently revealed as a classic villain). Of course, we also have our inciting incident of commisioner of Star City being murdered by someone with a removable face, at which point “anything wearing green” is declared a threat and to be killed on sight. Guess who shows up to check on his pal right then? I won’t tell you, but if you look at the cover for the next issue, I bet you can guess.
Here’s the thing about this book – unlike Arsenal, it’s not grossly overdone or offensive to anyone. Sure, the nose thing is a little ridiculous, but whatever. It almost feels par for the course. The problem I have with this issue is that, despite how much I described in the previous paragraph, the book goes by with nothing really happening. There is a lot of filler to help create the setting of the book and establish a tone, but none of the elements above really made me feel like I should care. Ollie is Robin Hood? Alright, cool. Nothing essentially new there. Some mysterious villains? That’s ok. The issue ends with a teaser similar to what Johns did with Flashpoint, showing us what will be important for the upcoming months and saying, “Who will be his Merry Men?” And I can’t say that I really care all that much to find out. The inner nerd in me will be as curious as any cat, but the more pragmatic “should I spend my money on this?” nerd will probably shrug and wait for spoilers to come out on the internet.
Continued belowOf course, that’s just me. In all honesty, I get the opinion this is a love it or hate it book. You either really enjoy the setting and the way the characters are established or you don’t. There doesn’t feel like a lot of middle ground in this one. The future of Green Arrow looks interesting enough, but you have to get by a lot of really boring writing and dialogue. I think a book like this deserves less exposition and more things being done, and spending a page and a half making “king and queen” puns is really tacky. I also think that a book called Green Arrow should really focus on Green Arrow as the central character and make him feel like less of a side player for a series of events.
I’d say that, for a first issue, if you have any interest in Green Arrow or followed along with the events of Cry For Justice and Rise and Fall, then you might as well pick up the first issue to give it a look over. Who knows – you may love it. It might speak to the archer in you. But if you’re asking me, this book serves one purpose right now and that is to elaborate on the forest. If you don’t care that much about mysterious trees and Brightest Day, then you might be at a loss.
Final Verdict: 5.0 – Browse
