7/05/12

ACTION COMICS #11—Kind of a meh issue. Not terrible, but not particularly full of wow & wonder, either. It’s an interesting idea for Superman to dump the Kent identity, but I wonder where Morrison’s going with it. Not surprisingly, the best material happens on the two-page rooftop conversation with Batman. The backup, still not bad, just not as top-drawer/knock-the-lights-out as I’d prefer from one of DC’s flagship titles. I guess at least Tony Daniel isn’t writing it.

ANIMAL MAN #11—All the wackiness thus far appears to climax just in time to clear the decks for Swamp Thing’s imminent arrival. Hey, speaking of, where the hell is that fellow this week?

OZYMANDIAS #1—Well, if anyone has the right to clock in on these non-Moore prequels, it’s Len Wein, creator of Swamp Thing and guy who first hired Moore to take over and launch his fabled and critically-acclaimed run on these shores thirty years ago now. Wein was also the sole editorial influence upon WATCHMEN. So, if anybody is qualified to drag these characters kicking and screaming out of ideaspace for more monies, it would be him. He makes an interesting choice here, in that pages and pages of narrative captions seem to be lifted verbatim from Veidt’s secret origin soliloquy to Rorschach, Dan, and Laurie. I mean, pages, the ball of hashish in the desert, all of it. Haven’t gone back and looked but don’t feel like I’ve got to. So that’s weird. With anyone else, I’d be indignant that Moore didn’t get a credit, but that’s pretty far past the point here, in these circumstances. What we have here is a fairly engaging narrative further elaborating the origin for the anti-villain we know and love from the original series. The inciting incident that sets him down the path of crimefighter is fairly boilerplate. I hope Moloch winds up being in all of these minis by the time all is said and done. Moloch, the Wolverine of BEFORE WATCHMEN!

BEST OF WEEK: THE BOYS #68—Man. Save something for later, Ennis. This scene, THE scene, you know just as soon as they start talking, that exact same creeping sensation as when Tony Soprano and Ralphie Cifaretto start in on each other over poor old Pie-Oh-My. Grim grim shit. Doesn’t come close to outweighing it, but The Female’s first ever line of dialogue, delivered off-panel, natch, is almost as thunderous. Time to go to work. I’d like to talk more about this one but had better not.

MORNING GLORIES #20—Another whopping 32-page issue that gives us a double-flashback montage of Georgina and Lara growing up, elaborating upon their sororal dynamic (shouldn’t that be a word? The opposite of fraternal?) and of course raising more new questions than it answers, in the mighty Island tradition. So, if Lara’s really just as bad as everyone else, what’s the deal with her helping Casey? And when the hell are we going to get around to Casey, anyway? This one continues to engage.

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #7—This one continues to hold interest here in the second act. Coipel’s contributions cannot be overstated, but Hickman’s dialogue certainly doesn’t hurt. T’challa bitchslapping Tony was a treasure and delight for all, Hickman seems to suddenly be all over the King of Wakanda. One suspects he’ll figure prominently into the new Avengers lineup. It was kind of funny seeing Hawkeye get roasted and die, leaving the reader just enough to time to really hope he heals up in time for his new Fraction/Aja series next month before they say on the next page that he, in fact, did not get consumed in the righteous fury of a direct hit from Phoenix fire. Even now, Cyclops is such a douche, you just root for Namor to take the whole thing over. War!