Riddle Me Nothing - Batman Volume 5 Zero Year - Dark City

 

Review:

Set amidst the Zero Year DC Comics crossover event of 2013-14 that spanned all Batman-related titles, this collection pits a still-new, still-learning Batman against the sadistic brilliance of the Riddler. Can Batman survive police opposition and pursuit, rookie mistakes, and the Riddler's multi-faceted plans long enough to defeat him and save Gotham?

Zero Year was Scott Snyder's innovative and clever reinvention of the Batman and much of his surrounding mythology and origins. In Greg Capullo's renderings, Bruce Wayne looks more like a Marine than a Playboy, Riddler's red muttonchops give him a roguish retro look that becomes all the more playful with his green blazer and fedora.

In these nine chapters, Snyder saves his most radical re-imagining of backstories for Jim Gordon, giving him a shady history redeemed by the touchstone of two gifts: a trench coat that becomes his signature look, and a puppy loaded with significance and symbolism. No spoilers here, you'll need to read it to understand what the puppy represents.

Snyder's Doctor Death storyline is fairly boilerplate but leads in nicely to the Riddler's multi-dimensional plot and its strongly nihilistic endgame. While Snyder's backstories often lean very heavily on exposition, they still work better overall than the Doctor Death sequence which, while grotesque and somewhat mysterious, does not particularly stand out from other Detective Comics tales.

The real star in these pages is artis Greg Capullo. His renderings of Doctor Death and especially the remains of his murder victims are horrifyingly gruesome, with distorted bodies and bones leaving us with a shudder. And his handling of flashbacks stands out with their memory-soaked sepia tones and cleaner, simpler lines evoking an earlier, presumably simpler if still more dangerous time.

The story and art are always intense, often sharp-edged and twisted, occasionally heady and always dark. A few nods to steampunk-Batman perhaps in the police blimps and dirigibles. Overall, this is a taut tale backed by a despotic and destructive Riddler and solid to strong art, weighed down by its own intensity. I like what Snyder and Capullo are doing in this Batman reinvention, and it is worth checking out more, including the many crossovers published in the Zero Year collection.

Description:

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Before the Batcave and Robin, the Joker and the Batmobile ... there was ZERO YEAR.

The Riddler has plunged Gotham City into darkness. How will a young Dark Knight bring his beloved hometown from the brink of chaos and madness and back into the light? From the critically acclaimed, New York Times #1 best-selling creative team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, BATMAN VOL. 5: ZERO YEAR--DARK CITY is the concluding volume to Batman's origin story, as you've never seen it before.

Collects: Batman #25-27, 29-33

Authors:  Scott Snyder
Artists:  Greg Capullo
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Oct. 7, 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1401248857
Pages:  256 pages

Emotional Exercises - Green Lantern New Guardians volume 3 Love and Death

 

Review:

The best super-teams bring together characters with a range of powers and personalities. They bond as a team, learning each other's strengths and weaknesses and how best to deploy them in their battles.

The New 52 era Green Lantern: New Guardians team consists of one representative of each of the seven different Corps. As such, there is a sameness to their powers - rechargeable power rings able to manipulate light at the bidding of its wearer. And their personalities, while distinct (and paired visually to their physical characteristics too), are tied to the emotion driving their power rings. Atrocitus's rage bubbles over on a hair-trigger; Carol Ferris's love drives her decisions, including giving her a willingness to manipulate others when it benefits her passion. And so on.

With this foundational sameness, writer Tony Bedard needs to take extra care to distinguish the nuances in this team. He does not always succeed in the larger group settings, but in the smaller scenes where two or three are gathered, these emotions and motivations do shine through. The goading of Atrocitus, the raw self-centeredness of Larfleeze, and more do peek through at appropriate moments.

Green Lantern Kyle Rayner visits each in turn as he seeks their guidance in his quest to master all the colors of the emotional spectrum.Anyone who has struggled with mastering any one of their own emotions will marvel at how quickly he masters most, with only one or two stretching more than a few pages. Yet he is under immense pressuere to succeed. Can he master them all in time to stop the end-of-life plans of the Guardians of the Universe?

As impressive as is the combined might of the seven Corps, as powerful as Kyle Rayner becomes once he achieves mastery and becomes the White Lantern, they still need the assist of a back-from-the-dead Black Lantern Hal Jordan to defeat Varthoom the First Lantern and the Guardians themselves.

Lead artist credit in this thick 9-chapter volume goes to Aaron Kuder, although he only drew half the book. Nearly two dozen other artists finished the rest, which leads to a loud and stylistically erratic visual experience. Where this works best is in the series of manipulations of time and emotional experiences that the First Lantern puts each member of this team through.

The cover work is amazing! Each cover is included at the start of the chapters in this volume, and they are filled with raw, intense emotion, so visually striking!

The final chapter of this story feels very much like an end, with moving visits around the team to wrap up their final fate after the cosmic battle. It does give a satisfying conclusion to this otherwise jumpy and chaotic collection.

Description:

Tying into the latest Green Lantern event masterminded by comics' hottest writer Geoff Johns, Kyle Rayner and his fellow Ringer bearers must join forces to beat back "The Third Army" and survive "The Wrath of the First Lantern!" Green Lantern Kyle Rayner must master the emotional spectrum itself in order to stand a chance against the Third Army. But even then, a more dangerous threat lurks in the shadows--The First Lantern!

Collects: GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #0, 13-20

Authors:  Tony Bedard
Artists:  Aaron Kuder and more than 20 others
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Feb. 4, 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1401244064
Pages:  288 pages

Overmatched by Overmaster: Wonder Woman and Justice League America volume 2

 

Review:

Note: My review of Wonder Woman and the Justice League America volume 1 was published several months ago and can be found here.

Overmaster is back, and with his amped-up powers he threatens to kill every living thing on the planet. His citadel lands atop Mount Everest, causing global tectonic tremors and disasters that pull our heroes into rescue missions, and dividing their forces, making a direct assault on Overmaster that much less likely to succeed.

This extra-thick trade paperback collects the entire 7-part story of the Justice League's battle with Overmaster, crossing all three of the then-current Justice League titles. It's loud, it's brash, conflict and super-powered slam-downs jump from nearly every page.

Wonder Woman gets top billing in the title of this collection, due to her leadership role with the Justice League America. Unfortunately, her minor role within the story consists mostly of convening team meetings and arguing with Captain Atom, whose hot-headed reactions and unwillingness to follow her direction further fragments the team at this critical moment.

Dan Vado and Mark Waid take turns telling the tale in their respective books and do a solid job of weaving together a consistent and coherent narrative. The action directly continues across all three JL titles. You have to read all the issues to get the story from beginning to end, there are no "meanwhile, in another part of the world" tie-ins here! That makes this collected TPB essential to get the full story from beginning to end - back in 1994 when these were published, you'd have to make sure to pick up each book every month and read them in the right order.

Vado and Waid also put these characters through the proverbial wringer too. Ice spends most of the story under the mental control of Overmaster and actively working against her former teammates, before ultimately being slaughtered by him; Metamorpho sacrifices himself to save the team; Booster Gold is badly hurt in battle and dies in the hospital operating room - sort of.

Since we are in the middle of a series of reviews related to Booster Gold and his history and evolution, this is a significant moment that we need to include. 

After Booster's futuristic suit was shredded several issues back, beyond the abilities of late-20th century tech to fix, Ted Kord builds him a heavy suit of armor. After years of the sleek, image-conscious playboy hero, the visuals of this chunky battle-gear are jarring, even if the chest star and general blue-and-gold color patterns remain.

His memory of historical events is also crystal-clear here, a rare case. Booster has always leveraged the fact that he came from the future in enhancing his wealth and celebrity, but more often than not has had to rely on the memory banks of his robo-sidekick Skeets for the details. And fair enough - how is your own memory and knowledge about events that happened 500 years before you were born? But here, he has much better recall - THIS was a climactic event in Earth's history and, even clearer in his mind, he himself would play a critical role. This was his moment!

But maybe history is not so pre-determined and set in stone? Or his memory is faulty? Because that's not how it turns out. Not only is he not the hero of the day, but Booster Gold is also soundly defeated and critically injured by the battle-ax-wielding Devastator. With his left arm severed at the shoulder and a major gash across his chest, Booster loses too much blood and, despite Captain Atom's efforts to get him to a hospital, Booster dies. But only for a few panels - it seems Overmaster's influence on the Earth has somehow temporarily paused dying. It gives Booster a chance to return to the frontlines of the battle, but once Overmaster is defeated, will he return to being dead?

The art in this collection fits perfectly with stereotype characteristics of the mid-90s comics scene. The men are extremely buff, the women lithe and sexy, the battles blast-heavy and everything strongly inked. From these pages, the work of Marc Campos really stands out. His images pop from every page that he draws, with an intensity three notches above the other artists. And nearly every one of his pages boldly breaks the bounds of the typical rectangular layouts. He often forgoes panels altogether, overlapping and blending his images together into a cascade of intense action, emotion and colors.

Description:

Comics writers Mark Waid and Dan Vado are joined by Marc Campos and a team of veteran artists as they present one of the most action-packed stories in Justice League history with WONDER WOMAN & JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA VOL. 2.
 
With Wonder Woman leading the Justice League America, the team has had to battle enemies from within and outside threats too big for any one hero. Now they have to contend with the return of the Overmaster and his Cadre, who are more powerful than ever before. The only way to defeat this cosmic
threat is for Wonder Woman and her team to join forces with the Justice League International and Justice League Task Force! But will the cost of victory be too high?

Collects: JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #86-91, JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #65-66 and JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE #13-14

Authors:  Dan Vado, Mark Waid
Artists:  Marc Campos, Others
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Oct. 10, 2017
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1401274009
Pages:  192 pages

It's Like Doomsday is Here - Superman and Justice League America volume 2

Review:

The landmark early-90s Death of Superman storyline was a can't-miss event in DC Comics history. The nearly unstoppable fighting machine Doomsday tore through everything in his path, including the Justice League America, and was only stopped through the mutual destruction - and death - of Superman.

This collection of nine JLA issues plus one JLA annual leaves lots of gaps - to get the full Death of Superman story, including the JLA's ongoing involvement in that conflict, you'll need to turn to one of the other TPBs or a Superman Omnibus that collects the full tale. Here, we see only the Justice League's inability to stop Doomsday (#69) and the fallout as they mourn him and assess the impact on the league (#70)

And the impact is significant - Blue Beetle is left in a deep coma; Booster Gold's hero days are done after the destruction of his super suit and its tech from the future. Ice is also badly hurt, and Fire expended so much flame-energy in the battle that her powers have disappeared.

So, after their time of grieving, Maxwell Lord and new team leader Wonder Woman begin recruiting new members. And it's a very mixed new rookie class. They bring on board the wanted fugitive Agent Liberty, the self-doubting and reluctant Black Condor and the young raw talent of the Ray. Can Wonder Woman balance the demands of caring for the outgoing members and honoring their contributions on the one hand while forming the recruits into a new team on the other?

And will their powerful enemies allow them the time to do all that team building? Not likely. Doctor Destiny puts them through a dangerous, dream-world wringer for four issues, as they meet old friends like Hawkman and other classic JLA heroes who have turned into fascist thugs, capturing and torturing the likes of Sinestro. And Wonder Woman, Guy Gardiner et. al. And does the key to defeating Doctor Destiny lie deep in Beetle's coma-filled subconscious?

No sooner is the Doctor Destiny threat overcome than the secret of Bloodwynd is revealed, in a story that gives the Ray and the Atom a chance to shine.

Dan Jurgens' run on JLA as writer and occasional artist ends with the final issue in this collection. His work here is loads of fun. The abrupt transition between mourning Superman's death in #70, recruiting new members in #71, and the reappearance of a classic JLA roster but with cold-blooded wielding of fascist powers, is as jarring and bewildering to the reader as to the League members. These are all strongly written tales, until the Bloodwynd two-parter that closes the collection.

We are currently also surveying some of Booster Gold's history and evolution in a series of reviews, and we find several key moments in these pages. It's Booster who gives Doomsday his name, blurting out "It's like Doomsday is here" to Superman at one early point in the battle. We also see how much of his identity and self-worth is tied up in being a hero, as he reacts poorly to the end of his hero days. He becomes sullen and angry, frustrated at the destruction of his powered suit, rendering him a mere mortal or, worse, ordinary again.

It also answers the question, "Where's Skeets?" - Booster's flying robot sidekick is so central to his solo adventures but is nowhere to be seen in Justice League stories. At least not until Booster fishes Skeets out of a box in storage and turns him back on in an attempt to repair his super-suit. Poor Skeets!

Most powerfully, of course, is Jurgens' portrayal of Booster's deep friendship and concern for Beetle. In a poignant and moving final page of #70, his bedside watch over his comatose friend closes the grieving issue on a somber note, with heavy inks painting the darkness all around them. Beautiful!

The intense violence, death and mourning make this an intense read. The art is solid and occasionally brilliant, most of the stories engaging. A solid entry in JLA history.

Description:

THE JUSTICE LEAGUE—RIPPED APART!
 
The Man of Steel has died! Falling at the hands of the monster Doomsday, the Justice League's most powerful member is now gone. And in addition to killing Superman, the creature grievously injures Leaguers Blue Beetle, Booster Gold and more!

How will the Justice League re-collect in this moment of crisis? Who will be the newest members? And how will they cope in a world without Superman?
 
Veteran comics creator Dan Jurgens is joined by an all-star team of artists that include Rick Burchett and the legendary Dave Cockrum as they chronicle the JLA’s loss of their leader and the world’s greatest hero, Superman!

Collects: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #69-77 and JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL #6.

Authors:  Dan Jurgens
Artists:  Rick Burchett, Dave Cockrum
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Sept. 6, 2016
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1401263843
Pages:  240 pages

Enter Big Blue: Superman and Justice League America volume 1

Review:

Can a group of people survive indefinitely in an environment of chaos and conflict? Of course not, neither in real life nor in comics superhero teams.

As this early-90s incarnation of the Justice League crosses the five-year mark with issue #61, the creative team recognized the need for some changes. Bigger-name characters enter, trying to instill leadership by being the adults in the room; newer characters bring a breath of fresh air and a needed upgrade in the team's power levels.

To make these changes, DC Comics put the Justice League America series in the creative hands of Dan Jurgens, for both the writing and the art duties. This volume starts with Jurgens' arrival. Jurgens brings Superman into the mix, starting a run of major DC heroes leading the JL that Jurgens and others would stretch for the next 30+ issues of the series, and for our purposes they would be collected into four volumes that we will review in turn. The volumes reprint issues from the early to mid 1990s, and were released over 2016 and 2017, tying in nicely with the cinematic release of the Justice League movie.

Jurgens immediately begins having some fun with the art. Fire has a different outfit every couple issues (including a racy lingerie photo shoot); Blue Beetle contorts into stunning acrobatic shapes and movements; various Green Lanterns weave fantastical structures out of their rings - my favorite being the 40-story-tall yellow Guy Gardner; inter-dimensional transfers lead to great use of inks and colors for fading in and out, and landing in stunningly exotic and dangerous landscapes.

Two recurring themes Jurgens weaves into the stories are what it means to lead such a chaotic team, and how it compares to the JLA glory-days of Hal Jordan, Superman, Aquaman and the classic team.

Superman and Batman have a long history, one that is beautifully explored in the Superman / Batman series that followed a decade later. Here, seeing them holding long discussions about working solo vs leading and mentoring this team is a fascinating glimpse into an earlier moment in their relationship, as Batman declines to join the team but cajoles and persuades Superman into not only joining but lead it.

And Hal Jordan, the Atom and Aquaman all pile on in their disdain for the levels to which, in their opinion, the team has sunk.

So, it is all the more amazing to see this team defeat the Weapons Master, with Beetle using brains over brawn to outsmart him; or Guy and Maxima collaborating to scam the alien Chaq and his properly certified deed to the entire solar system. Or the whole crew working together, with a big assist from mysterious new teammate Bloodwynd, to free Maxima's home world from the powerful Starbreaker.

But half the charm of this series is the team dynamics, the interpersonal relationships. And Jurgens has lots of fun in that area too. Flip through these pages and be amazed at how many of the pages are spent in Headquarters or their individual rooms or travelling together to their next battle. These are hardly filler moments, in Jurgens' hands; rather they are central to the stories he is telling.

Since we are doing a series of reviews related to the evolution of Booster Gold, I will end by noting that his involvement in these pages is almost entirely as a supporting character. His participation in the battles make minor contributions; his bromance with Blue Beetle continues, with witty banter and by challenging Beetle's obsession with Bloodwynd; and he hits on just about every woman in the room. The conflict with Fire over those racy photos is brief but very funny! The most poignant is a tender 2-page scene when he attempts to comfort Maxima as she grieves her losses. But is this a real or a put-on sensitivity? By this point in his history, the solo series (also created, written and drawn by Dan Jurgens of course!) has ended, and I anticipated seeing Jurgens make full use of his creation, but was disappointed in Booster's trivial and largely superficial contributions to these stories.

 

Description:

Dan Jurgens takes over as writer and artist on the classic JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA—leading directly into the legendary DEATH OF SUPERMAN!

The Justice League of America is in disarray. With only a few heroes left on the team, they are now a shadow of their former selves. Superman, seeing that the JLA is in crisis, decides to rejoin and inadvertently becomes their leader. Now the Man of Steel—alongside Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice and new members Bloodwynd and Maxima—must face some of the deadliest threats that the League has ever seen.

Collects: JUSTICE LEAGUE SPECTACULAR #1 and JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #61-68 (1992)

Authors:  Dan Jurgens
Artists:  Dan Jurgens
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  March 29, 2016
Parental Rating: PG-13
ISBN:  9781401260972
Pages:  240 pages