Review:
Part quick-reference, part origins recap, part celebration, this is a fascinating and quirky little volume.
If you have grown up reading or watching the wider DC universe, sampling the full range of villains from the creative to the goofy to the universe-shaking, you already know every one of the characters spotlighted in this volume.
Which is why the publishers made it more than just a directory of villainy.
There is no shortage of directory-style entries. Taken from the Countdown books, these all follow a similar pattern: two pages, text-heavy origin narration paired with a handful of illustrations from key moments in the villain's history, a bullet-point summary of their powers, weapons, affiliations and essential storylines. These entries are all authored by Scott Beatty and must have been an interesting challenge in his writing career: give a precis of what makes this villain worth knowing and caring about.
He delivers to us a series of fine, if unspectacular, capsules. The rotation of artists on the assignment provides us with perfunctory, uninspired visuals, handcuffed by their need to illustrate one specific moment rather than using their graphic-narrative skills to tell us a story.
If this book was only made up of those 2-page summaries, this would be such a disappointment. Fortunately, we get lots more!
Lex Luthor leads off the collection with Jeph Loeb's fascinating retelling and reinterpretation of his origin story, from Lex 2000 #1. Framed as a biographical TV documentary introducing the new President, it is narrator-driven and text heavy, yet absorbing and a clever updating of this uber-villain's mythology.
By contrast, the Sinestro tale is packed with action and typical hero/villain dialog, drama and combat. Sinestro's vicious schooling of rookie Green Lantern Dr Soranik Natu is harsh, dark and intense. Yet author Dave Gibbons leaves us feeling that Sinestro is not 100% evil. Maybe just 97%?
Darwyn Cooke's "Date Night" story of the sexy cat-and-mouse game between Batman and Catwoman is a classic and can be found in many other collections. It is always a delight and is a great choice to give the reader a glimpse of the complexities of their relationship and of Catwoman's status as a beloved anti-hero.
Batman gets a second story-length entry, reprinted from Batman #614. It is another tale written by Jeph Loeb, and like the Lex Luthor one earlier in the collection, it uses a similar narrator-driven approach. Batman's inner thoughts and turmoil are on raw display as he pummels the Joker to within an inch of his life. But Joker's survival was not his original intention - his memories of the pain and suffering caused by this most famous of DC villains drive him to finally, finally avenge them all by killing his enemy. Robin. Batgirl. How many others? It ends here, Batman promises.
Harley Quinn intervenes but is easily batted aside. Catwoman tries to stop him, but he uses his knowledge of her weakness to stop her interference. Finally, Commissioner Gordon gets through, he succeeds in keeping Batman on the right side of that fine line.
Jim Lee's visuals are dark, ferocious. The brutality of the violence in these close-ups is almost intimate. Watercolors, charcoals, line sketches, Lee mixes in so many techniques to convey the memories, the pain, the emotional intensity of this story - a gut-punch of an art job!
A book-length ode to supper-villains is bound to be dark and chilling, and this fits the bill, cover to cover. It ends with the cold-blooded killing of Ted Kord / Blue Beetle by Maxwell Lord. This powerful story is a pivotal moment in the arc of DC Comics history, but what is missing in this collection is much sense of Lord's own origin story. There are hints and nods in the dialog, but readers not familiar with his power, influence and multi-layered villainy may find it a confusing ending.
Description:
To coincide with an exciting new documentary from Warner Home Video about the history of DC Comics villains, DC Comics proudly presents this collection of tales starring DC's most popular villains from some of the biggest names in comics!
Collected here are stories featuring such popular creators as Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Pete Tomasi and Darwyn Cooke, all taking on the baddest of the bad in the DC Universe. The Joker, Bane, Lex Luthor, General Zod, the who's who of evil goes on in this action-packed trade paperback!
Collects: Action Comics Annual #10, Batman #244, 614, Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins 2005 #1, Black Adam 6, Countdown #2, 6-9, 10-11, 14-15, 16, 19, 27, 29, 33-34, 36-37, Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1, Green Lantern Corps #14, Solo #1, Superman: Lex 2000, Wonder Woman #214
Authors: Various
Artists: Various
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Sept. 10, 2013
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401245030
Pages: 192 pages
Comments
Post a Comment