Comic Round Up – Dec 13

posted by JediSheltie @ 9:14 PM

Not a big week, with one exception perhaps. I'll try to keep this one brief.

Infinite Holiday Special

Yeah, you know they really wanted to call it Infinite Christmas, it does roll of the tongue so much better, after all. But such is the season. Here we have a part seasonal/part promotional collection of stories featuring some of the more recent releases and would-be releases along with a few classics. For me, the collection was hit or miss, and mostly miss. With such a broad range of characters and stories, it's going to be hard for any one person to find all them great.

The Green Lantern story that kicks off the book is mediocre at best. Hector Hammond could probably have thought of more direct ways to “ruin Christmas” for Hal Jordan. The Shadowpact story that follows did not make me sorry I've not added it to my box, drunk reindeer not withstanding.

Fortunately the Supergirl story provides a bit of a pick-me-up, despite the rather bitter tone of the story. Sure, it was basically a “meaning of Christmas for the alien” tale, but instead of some schmaltzy by-the-numbers family togetherness action, we get a broken family with an absentee father who has no desire to return home. He “sees the light,” or rather the onrushing pavement, during a near-death experience courtesy of the Maid of Might.

I suppose were I actually reading “Trial's of Shazam” I'd know what the hell was going on in that story. Like the Shadowpact tale, it did do much for my desire to actually read it.

Like the Green Lantern story that kicks things off, The Flash's entry does not rise much above mediocrity. There's even some more background on Bart, in case readers might not aware he's the Flash now. “Lights” was more of a disappointment than most of the stories, as, though we find out some family history on Kate Kane, Batwoman, the rest of it wasn't really all that engaging. Let's hope Kate get's some better stories should she ever break out of 52.

Finally, there's “Yes, Tyrone There Is a Santa Claus”, which, more than anything else, reminds us why the Silver Age ended. Honestly, even I didn't get half of this. It had the helpful “Elseworlds” logo at the end, though if you hadn't figured that out by the time Pretty says “Lane! Be a peach and get me some coffee, sweetheart!”on the second page, then you really weren't paying attention.

JLA Classified #30

Speaking of comics that, I hope, end with an “Elseworlds” logo on the last page... For everyone who wants a red state fix with their JLA, this last arc has certainly served it up in spades. Beyond the weird “US President is good” “UN is bad” inversion from “normal” popular fiction, it seems to invert the personalities of Clark and Bruce. Perhaps this is some kind of low-key Bizarro world JLA story, everyone just has their faces all nice and smoothed out.

Granted, a reviewer from Newsarama's Best Shots pointed out this story could never have actually happened, considering the state of the characters in the line up Chaykin chose.

Oh, and will the Dutch guy who peed in Howard Chaykin's Cheerios please apologize? I've never seen such a virulently “anti-Dutch” sentiment in... well... anything, much less a comic book. I know some very nice Dutch people via IM, and I was actually feeling a little bad reading this book. Not to “spoil” anything, but the point of this arc is that an “evil Dutch mastermind” is using some presumably South American backwater conflict to perfect a meta-human serum (a la Luthor's Everyman project from 52, I suppose) to enact a new age of Dutch superhero hegemony.

Seriously.

Anyway, there's one issue left before the palate can be cleared and a new arc will begin. Trust me, this is one you can skip.

Justice League of America #4

Ah, a more true-to-form rendering of the JLA, only one that's moving along at a slight more “sedate” pace. Yes, Meltzer's JLA is still not quite formed up yet, even as all the principals gravitate together to form the group. They're getting closer as of the close of issue 4, where the rather “out of left field” reveal of the “evil mastermind” brings focus to their efforts.

Still, I think the “unclassified” JLA's antagonist is far more believable than an evil Dutch mastermind.

There is action here, and as well as the last issue. What has many, with a bit of grudging approval from myself, a little worried is the fact the “Trinity” hasn't done much but sit around and talk a lot. Yeah, I know all these secondary characters need some introduction, and we need to “get to know them” as people to anticipate how they'll relate in the group dynamic. Yeah, they need to be more than just “colorful” background decorations. Lord forbid the “big” characters overshadow the rest of the group...

But I kinda want to see Clark punch some stuff, too. And Bruce kung-fu stuff... And Diana lasso stuff...

You get the picture. I think Meltzer might be erring too far on the side of caution in the lack of focus on the Trinity. After their break-up facilitating the events of Infinite Crisis, this book more than any other, is the one we expected to deal with how they've “patched up” and work as a team. So far we've seem them sit around and talk, a lot. I know, if the opposite of what we were seeing was true, there'd the “outcry” that the lesser characters aren't getting their due. Comic fandom is a zero-sum, damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't kind of thing.

Still, the story has been good to the point, and very engaging. I'm definitely interested in “what happens next”, part of me is just really pulling for some top-tier action. It seems... seems... next issue will bring the poundage, but again, there are no guarantees.