Slightly Delayed Reviews

Sorry about that. Out Christmas shopping. 50% sales at Macy's! Woohoo!

*ahem*

A fairly small week for me, but some decent stuff and some stuff that was...eh.

Action Comics #4

Man, I just love this book to death. Rags Morales artwork is simply sublime, and he does such a fantastic job of rendering those jeans and old work boots! Grant Morrison's writing isn't too shabby either. I love his weaselly version of Lex "I for one, welcome our alien overlords!" Luthor.

Bad things are happening, with machines being randomly taken over, including the army's secret weapon against Superman. Lex of course has sold out to our mysterious alien friend, who naturally betrays him. What I find quite amusing is Lex's indignation at being betrayed. Superman is fighting the good fight of course, with varying degrees of success, while Jimmy and Lois are right there too, and Lois doing her best to get through to John Corben. Too bad it's not working. And then Steel shows up, swinging his hammer and being all cool and stuff. There is also a nice extra story in the back, all about Steel, by Solly Fisch and Brad Walker, which is very well done.

This book is fabulous. I have always liked Superman, but in a nebulous sort of way. THIS Superman is great.

Green Arrow #4

I mean it this time, I think I'm going to drop this book. Which pains me to say, and perhaps it will get better when Anne Nocenti takes over, but it is just so...generic and rather dull. This Ollie isn't anything much like the crazy OLD Ollie. No Hal, no Dinah, no rants about nazis...it's just not the same. The art is pretty of course, by Dan Jurgens, and I really do like Keith Giffen, but this just isn't singing for me.

As for the plot, some ninja type named Blood Rose shows up with a serious hate for Ollie for some reason, that I'm sure will be eventually shown.

Justice League International #4

I...don't quite know what to do with this book. It is about some of my absolute favorite people, and I do like Dan Jurgens very much. The artwork by Aaron Lopresti is also very nice. The new JLI continues to fight against Peraxxus, the baddie introduced in the last issue, and it turns out that he has usurped power over the four giant robot-thingies, which were placed there by a now extinct alien race, because he wants to harvest all our minerals and stuff, and apparently make a killing on the intergalactic stock market or some such thing. Not a bad premise by any stretch of the imagination.

It's nice that Ice and Godiva had a few stand-out moments this issue. It's always a bit of a problem with team books, making sure that everyone gets a few moments to shine. The bit where Godiva is using her hair to look for a weapon in Batman's utility belt, and finds...something else, made me snicker. It pleases me to no end that there are actually a LOT of women in this book, and for a change, all of them are actually covered decently, instead of having their boobs hanging out all over the place, ala Benes. Their costumes are practical and attractive, and I like that.

What does annoy me to a degree, is that it seems as though everyone in the team has been defeated just so...so easily. None of their powers seem to work against this guy, who really doesn't seem to me to be that big of an obstacle. Guy in particular is a bit of a misstep. He's a Green Lantern for God's sake. An HONOR GUARD Green Lantern. He should be able to take this guy out with one hand tied behind his back, before even having his morning coffee! And yet, Peraxxus defeats him and beats him up and hauls him off, and all Guy does is stand there and sneer a bit and spout a few tough guy aphorisms. He doesn't ONCE use his ring to actually even defend himself or land a blow on this villain. I find that quite perplexing.

Booster has all these nice powers, so does Fire, so does Ice, so does Rocket Red, and even General In Iron. Vixen and Godiva's powers aren't quite so amped up, but they should be able to hold their own. And Batman isn't doing too well either, which I am actually enjoying for a change. Well, I assume that they'll all get their shit together by next issue. Maybe they're being psychically influenced or something.

So...not my favorite issue, but still, I'd rather have the JLI around to mock, than not, so I'm still happy. In a confused comic books sort of way.

Red Lantern #4

Meh. Peter Milligan uses this issue to focus on a few more Reddies, giving us their backstories, and Atrocitus continues to be a Red Lantern version of Hamlet. He does a lot of standing around and soliloquizing, without actually doing too much. He likes to talk to Krona's rotting corpse apparently, and is highly indignant, when it disappears at the end.

Again, I'm not really loving this too much. Needs More Dex-starr!

Swamp Thing #4

This is pretty darned good in comparison however. Alex Holland is still being told by the Green, to get his act together and help them out, but he's resisting being turned into a muck monster again...and really who can blame him? Abby has shown up, and he can't help but feel some emotions towards her. They are after her little brother, who is not a very nice person at all. Her family is prone to causing Rot, as opposed to the Green. It's a little hard to explain, but I like it. Pretty artwork too.

That's it for this week. Some highs, some lows, but I do have to say that the artwork for the most part has been awfully nice lately. That's always a plus.