Post by ryokowerx on Oct 6, 2011 17:13:38 GMT -5
(cross-posted from my Facebook account. I hadn't originally intended on picking up all the new #1s but the 50% off deal at DCBS turned out to be too good to pass up. Feel free to discuss, agree or disagree)
So what the hell is this? I'm going to try to write a review of each of the new #1 issues put out by DC Comics. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, DC Comics (home of Superman, Batman, etc.) is completely restarting most* of the history they have established with their comic books since 1939. (* some continuity remains but all events that remain are considered to have happened within a five year span of time) If you're still confused, think of it as everything being set back to square one and all these superheroes are new things to show up rather than a given part of the world.
Anything I say from this point on is my opinion and reflects only my feelings. Please take your nerd rage elsewhere if you disagree or at least be civil in your disagreement.
NOTE: I have not read Flashpoint #5 which kicks off this new history so I'm going to try to approach these issues as if someone completely new to comics were picking them up for the first time. If you're interested in what I have to say, I'd encourage you to go to your local comic book shop (if you have one) or you can buy them digitally at Comixology (http://www.comixology.com).
PLOT SUMMARY:
The issue opens with Madame Xanadu talking about the vision of the future she has had and how things will be bad. We cut to a unnamed city with a young girl named June Moone wandering down the street when a demon appears and disappears behind her. She enters a bar to only see on television, multiple June Moones on the freeway being hit by the traffic. Meanwhile, Shade the Changing Man is having a disagreement with his girlfriend about him leaving her anytime his vest indicates there is trouble. He ends up dispelling her as she was a piece of imagination made real. In a rural farm The Enchantress is trapped in a envelope and has gone quite mad, her madness spilling out into the real world as magic gone awry and terrorizing the countryside. Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg go against the house but her magic is too strong and forces them to retreat. Zatanna talks Batman into letting her go up against The Enchantress. She binds Batman to the floor when he insists on going with her. In London, John Constantine is sucked into a magical vortex while June Moone shows up at Dove's apartment looking for Deadman. At Madame Xanadu's, Shade finds her passed out on the floor where she tasks him with gathering a group of people to prevent the future from happening.
THE ART:
The art for the issue is done by Mikel Janin and it is excellent. His character work is just exceptional with faces being incredibly expressive and lifelike, something pretty important when most of your characters are mentally damaged or troubled in one way or another. There is also a neat color trick being played here by Ulises Arreola although I'm not sure it is intentional. Anything happening in "the real world" is muted but magic and the environment it is in is vividly colored, searing the boundary between what is real and what is not. This is another one of those titles that you could buy for the art alone.
THE STORY:
The story is by Peter Milligan and, those comic readers who remember his work with the Vertigo imprint, knows that he can bring the weird. While this is a tamer weird that than you'd get in one of his older books, it is still pretty cool. However, if you're looking for my comments on the story, I'm not going to be able to help you because I'm not sure what it is. Shade obviously has to collect various mystical personages to stop The Enchantress from bringing her form of chaos magic into our world but there is much more going on than that but they remain mysteries and unclear as of yet. I'm damned intrigued to find it out though.
VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY:
They had me the moment they announced this one. I will happily pay $2.99 a month for this. I'm not really sure why they needed to tag it as "Justice League" (outside of trying to sell more copies because of the name) but I'm willing to let that go. It's just a title - the story inside is what matters to me and I'm getting one coupled with great art. The comic is off to a interesting start and I look forward to reading what happens as things move forward with these characters. And, for the record, I'd be happy with a imaginary woman.
NEXT WEEK:
All Star Western #1
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #1
So what the hell is this? I'm going to try to write a review of each of the new #1 issues put out by DC Comics. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, DC Comics (home of Superman, Batman, etc.) is completely restarting most* of the history they have established with their comic books since 1939. (* some continuity remains but all events that remain are considered to have happened within a five year span of time) If you're still confused, think of it as everything being set back to square one and all these superheroes are new things to show up rather than a given part of the world.
Anything I say from this point on is my opinion and reflects only my feelings. Please take your nerd rage elsewhere if you disagree or at least be civil in your disagreement.
NOTE: I have not read Flashpoint #5 which kicks off this new history so I'm going to try to approach these issues as if someone completely new to comics were picking them up for the first time. If you're interested in what I have to say, I'd encourage you to go to your local comic book shop (if you have one) or you can buy them digitally at Comixology (http://www.comixology.com).
WARNING! SPOILERS OFF THE PORT BOW CAP'N!
PLOT SUMMARY:
The issue opens with Madame Xanadu talking about the vision of the future she has had and how things will be bad. We cut to a unnamed city with a young girl named June Moone wandering down the street when a demon appears and disappears behind her. She enters a bar to only see on television, multiple June Moones on the freeway being hit by the traffic. Meanwhile, Shade the Changing Man is having a disagreement with his girlfriend about him leaving her anytime his vest indicates there is trouble. He ends up dispelling her as she was a piece of imagination made real. In a rural farm The Enchantress is trapped in a envelope and has gone quite mad, her madness spilling out into the real world as magic gone awry and terrorizing the countryside. Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg go against the house but her magic is too strong and forces them to retreat. Zatanna talks Batman into letting her go up against The Enchantress. She binds Batman to the floor when he insists on going with her. In London, John Constantine is sucked into a magical vortex while June Moone shows up at Dove's apartment looking for Deadman. At Madame Xanadu's, Shade finds her passed out on the floor where she tasks him with gathering a group of people to prevent the future from happening.
THE ART:
The art for the issue is done by Mikel Janin and it is excellent. His character work is just exceptional with faces being incredibly expressive and lifelike, something pretty important when most of your characters are mentally damaged or troubled in one way or another. There is also a neat color trick being played here by Ulises Arreola although I'm not sure it is intentional. Anything happening in "the real world" is muted but magic and the environment it is in is vividly colored, searing the boundary between what is real and what is not. This is another one of those titles that you could buy for the art alone.
THE STORY:
The story is by Peter Milligan and, those comic readers who remember his work with the Vertigo imprint, knows that he can bring the weird. While this is a tamer weird that than you'd get in one of his older books, it is still pretty cool. However, if you're looking for my comments on the story, I'm not going to be able to help you because I'm not sure what it is. Shade obviously has to collect various mystical personages to stop The Enchantress from bringing her form of chaos magic into our world but there is much more going on than that but they remain mysteries and unclear as of yet. I'm damned intrigued to find it out though.
VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY:
They had me the moment they announced this one. I will happily pay $2.99 a month for this. I'm not really sure why they needed to tag it as "Justice League" (outside of trying to sell more copies because of the name) but I'm willing to let that go. It's just a title - the story inside is what matters to me and I'm getting one coupled with great art. The comic is off to a interesting start and I look forward to reading what happens as things move forward with these characters. And, for the record, I'd be happy with a imaginary woman.
NEXT WEEK:
All Star Western #1
