Grey vs Green - Review of Earth 2 Volume 1: The Gathering

Review:

It has long been a well-worn trope of comics that, just because a hero or villain dies, it does not mean they're gone for good. Sometimes, publishers make a huge promotional event, as if to say "No, no! this time we mean it!" Other times they treat the moment with an elevated level of dignity and care. See Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the deaths of Supergirl and Flash. Or Batman's 1988 Death in the Family arc about Joker killing Robin, followed by the Death of Superman in 1992 with all the attendant media coverage. Marvel Comics takes turns, too, for example with the death of the Human Torch in 2011.

So, when the Earth 2 series starts by killing off Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman within 7 pages of each other in issue #2, the surprise is muted, and the emotional possibilities neutered by the very narrative setup. But this time it's not about shocking the readers, or mourning and memories, or cloning and magical resurrections. It is an intentional setup of a very different heroic landscape. The world sees not a single "Wonder" for five whole years following their sacrificial deaths.

That is, not until the sudden emergence of Flash, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern and the Atom. We wind up with a cleverly rebooted Justice Society, a reimagining of heroes with roots tracing back to the Golden Age of superhero comics. This book collects the earliest issues of a series rewriting familiar heroes in a new universe, and much is teased but saved for later.

They are sparked to life by a variety of forces, just in time to battle the entropic decay of The Grey and its champion, Grundy. He seeks out all life, to destroy it, and specifically challenges and summons the "Green Knight" champion of Earth's life force. With Green Lantern's power coming from the force of life of the whole planet, this is not your magical or Oa/Guardians-powered Lantern. No mantra, no recharging.

Adding political layers to the story is a world-spanning yet somewhat secretive organization, for whom the Atom and Sandman work, and who seek to control the world and especially the Wonders.

Nicola Scott's combat scenes are vivid and engrossing, and her renditions of decay are by turns gruesome and bland. She handles the wide diversity in characters well, and the subtle colorings of the Green embraced by the Grey are perfect!

This is a promising beginning to familiar but new heroes and the universe they inhabit. Definitely worth picking up future volumes.

Description:

A New York Times Bestseller!

Earth's greatest heroes have defeated grave threats from Apokolips, but not at a grave price. Left in their stead is a group of young, untrained hereoes who pick up the pieces in the dusty aftermath. The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and the Atom are humanity's nascent guardians, but not the ones we've all known and revered. These are different heroes, in a strange and foreign world with dangerous new villains. This is Earth 2.

Award-winning writer James Robinson (STARMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE) joins forces with artist Nicola Scott (SUPERMAN, TEEN TITANS) to remiagine the classic Justice Society of America for DC COMICS--THE NEW 52 universe--and sometimes in controversial, unconventional fashion. Don't miss one of the most talked about graphic novels in recent memory!

Collects: 

Authors: James Robinson
Artists: Nicola Scott
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Oct. 8 2013
Parental Rating: 
ISBN-10: 1401242812
ISBN-13: 978-1401242817
Language: English
Pages: 160 pages

Why Are All My Fathers Crazy? Batman Beyond 2.0 volume 2 - Justice Lords Beyond

Review:

In this collection, storylines from Justice League Beyond and Batman Beyond 2.0 converge for an extended series of chapters as our heroes battle the Justice Lords, led by Lord Superman and Lady Wonder Woman. The fate of two worlds hangs in the balance.

Writers Kyle Higgins and Christos Gage have scripted a solid story, with plenty of twists. You will find a handful of particularly memorable moments, such as when Lord Superman gives a "heat vision lobotomy" to Terry / Batman, or Mr. Miracle escaping from the very prison cell he himself designed and built to be unescapable.

Unfortunately, their narrative efforts to bring forward the Justice Lords storyline from the Beyond TV series into this DC universe world bogs down under its own weight. They need to provide some background for the reader unfamiliar with those shows or episodes, introduce some new developments, and use both to move the plot forward. It all leads to several stretches of extended narration. And the accompanying visuals by Thony Silas and Dexter Soy fail the "show me don't tell me" test.

Silas and Soy do structure their art using a novel and occasionally stunning layout structure. Pages are filled to the brim, with nary a white border to be seen. The layering of panels also adds to the dynamism and unique flow. Alas, it often produces pages with a series of stacked, narrow, horizontal images. When it succeeds, it evokes the closeups of a widescreen TV experience. But on paper, it too often leaves the images too small, cramped, cropped and dark. The online digital chapter originals might have worked better, with back-lit images and the ability to view on a larger surface and even to zoom in.

In the end, the boy Zod is revealed to be the heir and offspring of Lord Superman and Lady Wonder Woman, stolen by Brainiac and sent to the Phantom Zone. On learning this shocking revelation, Zod spurns them both. Does he choose in favor of his friends? Nah, that's too warm-and-fuzzy for this world; he just rejects them both as unworthy. But in the climactic battle he utters the line of the book, "Why are all my fathers crazy?"

With its source material coming from online-first digital chapters, this physical, trade paperback book lacks some of the customary transition points between chapters. Where a TPB reprinting traditional comics would usually include the covers and the common use of large or full-page visuals near the start of a story, the cues marking the seams between these chapters are much more subtle. The result is a more fluid narrative, but the freedom from the usual structures is only illusory and you quickly pick up the demarcations between digital chapters.

Overall, for excessive verbosity and visuals that are frequently hard to parse, 2 capes out of 5.

Description:

Contains the epic "JUSTICE LORDS BEYOND" crossover! Wonder Woman is back, but it seems like she's hiding something. Meanwhile, Batman's journey through the dystopian world of the Justice Lords takes an unexpected and deadly turn as he must face Lord Superman!  Can an exhausted Justice League and Terry McGinnis against this deadly foe?

Collects BATMAN BEYOND Universe print issues #9-12.

Collects: Originally published as Batman Beyond 2.0 digital chapters #17-24 and Justice League Beyond 2.0 digital chapters #17-24 

Authors: Kyle Higgins and Christos Gage
Artists: Thony Silas and Dexter Soy
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: March 17 2015
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN-13: 978-1401254643
Pages: 176 pages

Date Night from Hell - Justice League Beyond - Power Struggle

Review:

This collection is a solid and entertaining read, from cover to cover. It blends clever, imaginative tales, earth-threatening villains, superb portrayals of team dynamics - and all the awkwardness and anxiety of a first date!

In this Beyond world, Superman is a middle-aged widower. In a twist from the classic Clark Kent as Reporter alter ego, this one is a firefighter, where his bravery and self-sacrifice in the face of danger fits well with his super-powered mindset. All the more so as he struggles through a period of lost powers.

After fellow firefighter Rita coaxes him into a date, author Christos Gage gives us a truly delightful chapter of anxiety as Superman seeks advice from his fellow League members. It is followed by a disastrous date itself, interrupted as it is by the attack of a giant robot.

Gage dazzles in these chapters with well-balanced drama, conflict and relationships. His handling of Zod - the boy whom still-powerless Superman rescues from the Phantom Zone and an abusive father - is masterful. Gage also achieves the rare task in a team book of portraying all members of the League with a richness of depth and nuance. The Brainiac storyline slips a bit into world-conquering supervillain tropes, but does give a solid platform for the relationships and team interactions to shine. And while Brainiac's conquest of the earth is too quick and complete for a satisfying story, the conversion of the Earth into a tentacled Brainiac skull is very cool!

Artistically, the collection is a mixed bag. Through much of it, Iban Coello gives us timely stylistic shifts that are often picture-perfect to the tone of the narrative. Yet elsewhere the images veer toward the gratuitously gruesome, as in the freeze-frame panels catching the moment of impact of the super-blows and the ripples in the flesh and frozen, blood-drop-spattered expressions of pain.

3.5 capes out of 5

Description:

The World's Greatest Super Heroes of Tomorrow are here! Now with a few fresh faces and a newly-constructed Watchtower, the Justice League are back to being a well-oiled crime fighting machine! But when Superman's powers begin to rage out of control, the League must figure out a way to protect the world--and themselves--from the Last Son of Krypton.

JUSTICE LEAGUE BEYOND: POWER STRUGGLE is collected here in its entirety for the first time, written by Christos Gage (Avengers Arena). This volume collects issues #1-8

Collects: Originally published as Justice League Beyond 2.0 digital chapters #1-16

Authors: Christos Gage
Artists: Iban Coello
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Oct. 7 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN-10: 9781401250737
ISBN-13: 978-1401250737
Pages: 176 pages

Ugly Me vs Pretty Me - Review of Teen Titans: Earth One Vol. 2

 

Review:

After the beautiful visuals of volume one, there is a noticeable drop in artistic power in the sequel. Andy McDonald still gives us some beautiful graphics - the New Mexico sunset scene is one standout example. But it falls short of the richness of the art in volume 1 and is especially noticeable in the faces of our heroes.

One face that is deliberately deformed is the twisted child-monster and Starfire-clone named Blackfire. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

This original Graphic Novel follows on the heels of the conclusion of the first volume. Jeff Lemire's tale moves our central chars - Gar Logan, Vic Stone, Tara and their new aquatic friend they call "Tempy" or Tempest - to a hideout in suburban Seattle. Stealing food to survive and pain-killers to help ease Vic through his increasingly metallic transformation, they eventually draw the attention of the authorities.

Niles Caulder, the mad genius behind the whole project, learns of their location and sends in his other team of children whose DNA has had Starfire's grafted on, resulting in tremendous powers. Wonder Girl, Kole and Flash descend on our runaways, easily capturing them and hauling them to Caulder's Utah base.

Meanwhile Jericho, and his uneasy control of Slade's body, tracks Raven and Starfire to New Mexico and apparently captures them.

It all comes to a head in Utah, with the death and destruction spreading out from the secret base into the streets and drawing the attention of the wider public. Facing defeat, Caulder releases the failed first effort, a direct clone of Starfire that went horribly wrong. This deformed Blackfire, dubbed "Ugly Me" by Starfire, attacks "Pretty Me" with enthusiasm and some real success too. And when Jericho jumps into her body, things turn really nasty.

Our tale has a happy, almost sappy ending, belying the long stretches of teen angst, confusion, anger and violence. There is nothing uneasy about the peace between the two sets of children, they truly have become a united team by the end.

Far from sidekicks in the shadows of their mentors, these Teen Titans are ready to stand on their own and face the challenges of the future that they know are coming. Just not yet, and in the meantime, they will enjoy their quiet New Mexico days and evenings.

Some elements of volume 2 do not work as well as the amazing first volume, in many ways it is the "ugly sister" of the two. But in combination, these two volumes are a powerful, moving and stunning reinvention of the Teen Titans. Heartily recommended. 

3.5 capes out of 5

Description:

The sequel to the NEW YORK TIMES best-selling original graphic novel is here with TEEN TITANS: EARTH ONE VOL. 2!

Picking right up after the cliffhanger ending to the first volume, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Terra and Aqualad are in desperate straits--they're homeless, destitute, and on the run from Cadmus, the project that created them. Unfortunately, Cadmus has more surprises up its sleeve... and a whole new set of teenage weapons, with none of the bothersome morals of the originals!

From writer Jeff Lemire (SWEET TOOTH, ANIMAL MAN) and illustrator Andy McDonald comes the highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed original graphic novel in TEEN TITANS: EARTH ONE VOL. 2!

Collects: Not applicable - an Original story

Authors: Jeff Lemire
Artists: Andy McDonald
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Aug. 16 2016
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN-10: 1401259065
ISBN-13: 978-1401259068
Language: English
Pages: 144 pages

Putting the Teen in Teen Titans - Review of Teen Titans: Earth One Vol. 1

 

Review:

The Earth One imprint of DC Comics was given an unusually free hand in rebooting and reintroducing some of the central DC characters to new readers. Their updates to the origin tales and some of the foundational mythology of the DC universe has been received with rave reviews from critics like me.

This entry, part one of a two-part Teen Titans reboot, fits that same pattern. It is another solid original graphic novel, a complete self-contained story without the usual constraints of 24 pages per issue per month and is all the stronger for it.

The Teen Titans started life as a team of sidekicks. Here they are spared their original junior-partner treatment; instead, they are allowed to grow and blossom all on their own.

The Teen part, however, is retained. In fact, Jeff Lemire's story makes it a central, core theme as he fills these pages with teenage stresses, priorities, moods, conflicts and more. Many of the Marv Wolfman-era favorites are here:

• Raven - a Navajo girl living on a New Mexico reservation with her grandfather
• Gar - or Garfield as his classmates relentlessly tease him, an intelligent but young newcomer to the high school
• Vic - a tall, sullen African American kid with a testy relationship with his mother; he is honest but a touch lackadaisical
• Tara - Vic's high school sweetheart, filled with barely suppressed anger at everything, especially her drunk mother and absent father
• Joey - another newcomer at the high school, a quiet young man, a bit aloof and mysterious

In the span of just a few hours, they all begin manifesting their latent powers. Tara causes earthquakes. Gar changes into a cat-faced guy. Vic starts to turn to metal. Lemire's tale lingers on their fear, their confusion and sense of loneliness. The body changes come on much more quickly than puberty, and with even more shame and anxiety.

The Vic's mother knows more than she lets on and moves to both capture the teens and reassert her control over Starfire, an imprisoned alien.

The husband-and-wife team of Terry and Rachel Dodson fills the pages with eye-popping art. Every panel is gorgeous, drawing the reader inside the story. Backgrounds are rich, foregrounds are packed with emotional wallop. The visuals match exactly the moods and frustrations and joys and sorrows of the characters. And there are so many little details to watch for. A personal favorite is the mouthful of braces on one kid as he openly mocks the new kid Gar, and the irony in that whole scene.

4.5 capes out of 5 for a powerful reimagining of the Teen Titans, one that is overflowing with believable emotion, dramatic tension and outstanding visuals.

Description:

A new original graphic novel in DC's popular "Earth One" series, TEEN TITANS: EARTH ONE follows in the tradition of SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE and BATMAN: EARTH ONE, both of which were #1 New York Times bestsellers.

The Teen Titans never felt like normal kids... but they had no idea how right they were. Their seemingly idyllic Oregon upbringing hides a secret -- one that will bring killers, shamans, and extraterrestrials down on their heads, and force them into an alliance that could shake the planet to its foundations!

Superstars Jeff Lemire (ANIMAL MAN, GREEN ARROW) and Terry Dodson (WONDER WOMAN) reinvent DC's youngest heroes, with an all-new mythos in an all-new world!

Collects: Not Applicable - an Original story

Authors: Jeff Lemire
Artists: Rachael Dodson, Terry Dodson
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Nov. 25 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN-10: 1401245560
ISBN-13: 978-1401245566
Language: English
Pages: 144 pages

Wait, how many men? Y: Last Man volume 9 - Motherland

Review:

The penultimate volume of the original set of TPBs collecting the landmark comic series Y: The Last Man hits another home run. With two solid standalone stories framing the Motherland story arc, every element comes together for another amazing, fun and moving volume. Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra dazzle and enthrall us anew!

The titular tale and main story arc, Motherland, is moving and powerful. I wept multiple times at the beauty, the tragedy, and the layers of emotional complexity in these characters. The twists and revelations keep the reader on the edge of our seat, and the action scenes become the emotional tension relievers, a role often reserved for humor.

In this story, medical complications in Dr Mann, stemming from her own attempts to give birth to her own clone, brings our troupe into the care of her mother. But since she was last seen being abducted by the ninja-warrior Toyota, 355 must once again confront a nemesis who has already defeated and scarred her in the past.

But the big twist - spoiler alert! - is that Allison's father is still alive! Another male on the planet! All these years after the gendercide, here he is, not only alive but claiming responsibility for the elimination of all (other) males on the planet.

His reasoning, and other family secrets, produce lots of talky bits, and the pages become text-heavy in these passages. His work and the theory of why and how all the males died takes the reader a little effort to work through, but it is interspersed with well-paced and well-spaced moments of relational tension and the Toyota-355 conflict. 

And in the end, it is the very power of these revelations and personal resolutions that carries and conveys the story's punch. By the end many of the loose plot threads of the previous 4 years' worth of stories are brought together at last, the characters we have grown to love must face some choices that are as gut-wrenching for us as for them, and the final showdown of Toyota and Agent 355 becomes a fitting climax of the battle between arrogance and grit, or confidence vs courage.

The standalone chapter The Obituarist follows the conclusion of the Motherland tale and gives us a moment to recover from its shocks and high drama. We return to the model-turned-body-collector from one of the very first issues. It's another brilliant choice of symbolism-laden counterpoints, that one who formerly had been admired and paid for her body over herself becomes a leader in the disposal of all the male bodies, emptied now of anything that made them their own selves. Lest the reader miss some of the nuance and pathos of this contrast, the chapter ends in a stunning final sequence! Visuals and text merge perfectly as, in progressive panels, we pull back from extreme close-ups to finally a full-page final image, encompassing an entire football stadium, one of the world's great temples to testosterone, now filled with charred male corpses. And in the midst stands a defiant woman, proclaiming that we are "more than just bodies." This is visual storytelling at its best!

Standing in the shadow of these gold-standard stories hides the final standalone tale in this volume. Entitled Tragicomic, it brings back the acting troupe we last saw en route to Kansas many volumes ago. These women continue to seek to enlighten society with their message, and have now moved to the Hollywood world of films. When that does not work out as planned, the leaders seek a new medium for their art, leading to the hilarious uber-meta conclusion of a "The Last Woman" comic in a comic.

There are not enough superlatives to shower on this volume, a solid 5 capes.

Read all 10 reviews of Y: The Last Man here: Volume 1 Unmanned; Volume 2 Cycles; Volume 3 One Small Step; Volume 4 Safeword; Volume 5 Ring of Truth; Volume 6 Girl on Girl; Volume 7 Paper Dolls; Volume 8 Kimono Dragons; Volume 9 Motherland; Volume 10 Whys and Wherefores.

Description:

Featured in THE NEW YORK TIMES and on NPR, Y: THE LAST MAN is the gripping saga of Yorick Brown, an unemployed and unmotivated slacker who discovers he is the only male left in the world after a plague of unknown origin instantly kills every mammal with a Y chromosome. Accompanied by his mischievous monkey, Ampersand, and the mysterious Agent 355, Yorick embarks on a transcontinental journey to find his long-lost girlfriend and discover why he is the last man on earth.

This volume of the critically acclaimed series features Yorick and Agent 355 preparing for their ultimate quest to reunite the last man with his lost love, while the person, people or thing behind the disaster that wiped out half of humanity is revealed! Collects issues #49-54 of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's award-winning Vertigo series.

Collects: Y: The Last Man #49-54

Authors: Brian K. Vaughan
Artists: Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan
Published By: Vertigo 
Published When: May 2 2007
Parental Rating: Mature
ISBN-13: 978-1401213510
Pages: 144 pages

Do Good Movies Make Good Comics? Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier Prelude

Review:

The titular Prelude tale of this collection rightly earns top billing, despite its shameless and blatant movie tie-in opportunism. Peter David's story is taut and well-paced, with well-timed dramatic twists. No small feat, as it must be tucked neatly between the end of The Avengers film and the follow-up Captain America: Winter Soldier.

Rock-He Kim's art is also a gorgeous series of painted pages, that blend a softness of character with the rock-hard seriousness of the threat posed by our villains. Well worth a reader's time and attention.

The rest of the collection, however, feels slapped together, a mish-mash whose primary purpose seems to be to ensure the volume becomes thick enough to merit the $15 USD / $17 CDN price tag.

One is a two-part movie adaptation of Captain America: the First Avenger. It is a classic example of the challenges of storytelling in different media. The movie was fast-paced and well balanced in tension, drama, romance and character development. The comic adaptation, on the other hand, falls flat, jumping from one scene to another, disjointed and confusing. Peter David is a well-established name in comics writing, but this is far from his finest work. Wellinton Alves' art looks like cartoonified stills from the big screen.

Rounding out the collection are several truly odd choices. While the origins of Hawkeye, starting as an Iron Man villain in this Tales of Suspense extract, is indeed fascinating, given his eventual evolution in the Marvel universe, why is it in this collection? Rumor has it some Hawkeye scenes were filmed but cut from the movie, but other than that tenuous connection this story has no place in the theme of this collection.

The Ultimates #2 is also included. While it is a key moment in Captain America's history it still feels an odd inclusion given that the Hulk, Ant Man, the Wasp and Iron Man have much more panel time in the tale than Cap. Still, Mark Millar weaves an intriguing story that begs for the next chapter, and Bryan Hitch's art is compelling and engrossing.

The origin of the Falcon from 1968 has its own curiosity, although Stan Lee's story is a strange one. A body swap between Captain America and Red Skull leads to layers of confusion, until the true captain realizes he is just wearing a mask. Huh?

Finally the Out Of Time story line from Captain America (2005) #6 is frustrating, with some out of character choices and large plot holes tearing at the integrity of the tale. I'd come to expect better of Ed Brubaker, who made a name for himself a few years earlier with his Batman and Catwoman work. This was his first Marvel assignment, perhaps he was just warming up.

This is a hodge-podge collection, claiming very tenuously to be wrapped around a single story, trying to benefit from movie tie-in hype. It ultimately turns incoherent and falls flat. 1.5 stars out of 5.

Description:

Prepare for Marvel Studios' newest big-screen blockbuster by boning up with this essential collection of classics! First, relive Steve Rogers' transformation from 98-pound weakling into the living legend of World War II...and the tragic loss of his best friend Bucky! Next, thrill to an all-new Infinite-style adventure set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! And experience the dynamic debut of Cap's partner the Falcon, the Black Widow's first encounter with the Amazing Spider-Man, the startling revelations that lurk behind the mask of the Winter Soldier, and the ultimate introduction of Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Collects: Marvel's Captain America: the First Avenger Adaptation #1-2, Marvel's Captain America: Winter Soldier Infinite Comic #1, Captain America (1968) #117, Captain America (2005) #6, The Ultimates #2, material from Tales of Suspense (1959) #57

Authors: Stan Lee, Ed Brubaker, Mark Millar, Peter David
Artists: Gene Colan, John Romita Jr., Brian Hitch, More
Published By: Marvel 
Published When: April 1 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN-10: 0785188770
ISBN-13: 978-0785188773
Language: English
Pages: 152 pages