Comic Review Day

Tally ho!

A big week for Peter Tomasi in comics. Today, my review will focus on Tomasi's Blackest Night Batman tie-ins so far. Maybe a sprinkling of Booster Gold, and definitely Adhouse Books Skyscrapers of the Midwest and The Aviary.

The ratings are as follows:

Marvel
Ultimate Avengers #2 - Awesome. You should be reading Mark Millar's work. Good return to lots of intrigue and character struggle.

Ender's Game: Command School #1 - Great so far. If you read Yost's graphic version of Ender's Game: Battle School, you know that his pacing and Pasqual Ferry's pencils make for a pretty reimagining of the sci-fi classic.

DC Comics
Green Lantern Corps #40 - Continuing his awesome work in keeping the readers up to speed on everything Hal Jordan and Barry Allen aren't doing in Blackest Night, Tomasi uses sensitive backstory to draw out the best in characters like Kyle Rayner and Salaak.

Blackest Night: Batman #1 and 2 - Okay, I was hesitant to pick this up until I saw the cover for issue 2, so I bought them both today. I've been saying for a while that whenever Bruce Wayne comes back (because you know someone is gonna do it) that Dick Grayson and Tim Drake should reconcile and while Bruce plays Batman for the JLA and the World's Finest and whatever, Dick and Tim should either look after Gotham in his stead, or move to some other crime-ridden city and be the daring duo; Batman and Red Robin. Neither of them sidekicks, but partners. Like Hawk and Dove, you know? That's just what I'd like.
All that aside, Batman's got it pretty bad in Blackest Night. Not only is he one of the only guys in this little zombie apocalypse with no super powers or ways of killing Black Lanterns, but also, he's got lots of dead people to worry about coming for him. Namely his parents known as the Flying Graysons, Tim's parents, Bruce's parents, and God knows who else that would make him sob. This tie-in does a good job supplementing the "all grown up" story revolving around Dick becoming the real Batman. It shows how mature he is now, and how far he's willing to go. As he said to Damian, "Not only to honor Bruce's memory... it's our code." Tomasi, Winick and Morrisson have all done a great job using little lines like that to show the reader, even out of context, that Dick, as a character, is maturing into a hero with a lot to offer. I would certainly enjoy a small arc of JLA with Dick Grayson wearing the cowl, just to see/show his real quality as part of a team, and even more so part of the "Trinity" of leaders in the League.


Booster Gold #24 - As always, Jurgens never disappoints. This book had a few big reveals and concluded the business that started way back when Booster broke into the Batcave to steal the photos Bruce had of Booster trying to save Barbara Gordon the night she was shot by the Joker (also from earlier Booster Gold issues). The events following led to the Black Beetle, whose true identity is yet unknown, conspiring to aid Deathstroke and Ravager in murdering Dick Grayson before he ever becomes Batman, resulting in an alternate future where Trigon rules the Earth (I know, right? Why can't Booster Gold prevent all these alternate dystopias?! OMAC? Then Starro? Now Trigon?!). In the photo below are resistance fighters Kyle Rayner and Ollie Queen, staging an assault on Trigon's minions to get whatever it is they need to kill him. But wait! It was all a trick for the Black Beetle to get a new scarab; a red scarab that is apparently more powerful than the Blue or even the Black. Now the Black-Red Beetle can travel through time much more freely than our heroes Booster Gold and Rip Hunter. In the small scale battle, Booster did save Dick Grayson by disguising himself as Deathstroke and throwing the fight with the Titans in which Dick would have been killed. In the long run? What will the evil Beetle do with his new powers? We'll have to wait and see...



Adhouse

Skyscrapers of the Midwest - A strange series of tales in a world with cat-people, robots, and cicadas. This is a funny, but very sad, look at the life of a poor 5th grader that life could not be more cruel to. It's filled with hilarious mock ads like the one pictured below, that and the robots help keep the book from being too awkward and depressing. I thoroughly enjoyed it.


The Aviary - This was a weird ass book. Darkly humorous, a little sad, and Tarantino style storytelling. I can't really summarize the plot, it would ruin parts of it, but it's told in a series of vignettes that focus on a wide and varied cast of jacked up characters who have much more in common than even the reader may realize. It is a tad confusing at the start, but if you stick with it, it's very rewarding. A good book, just don't do any drugs before you read it. At least not the first time through.

Salamander Dream - A touching little story about a young girl's fantasy, smothered by harsh reality. It really is sweet, but sort of bittersweet. The art is clean and clear. Short, but not too short.

Remake - Um, I have no idea. This book is wild. Made of of lots of episodes starring a child superhero named Max Guy, this book is anime/silver age inspired zaniness. Fun.

Johnny Hiro - This could be my favorite funny book to date. Half-Japanese, half-sitcom, all action. It is so freaking funny I nearly choked on soda. Hiro is a half-Japanese fella living in NY with his (utterly racistly portrayed) girlfriend Mayumi, the thing is, he's kind of super. I say kind of because his superpower seems to be mildly good luck in situations caused by abysmally bad luck. Very funny.

That's all I've got for today. Have a groovy one! Enjoy the Steelers game, I am!

-Steve