May 31st Comic Roundup

posted by JediSheltie @ 9:59 AM

Ah, took off for Memorial Day, back just in time for the big number 850 for Action, not that it ultimately mattered much...

Action 850

“Fifties” aren't quite the milestone that your average “00” is, but they're the closest second you can get. “Twenty-fives” were kind of hoping to make the bronze, but you really have to draw the line somewhere... no pun intended, of course. Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns, and Fabian Nicieza team up to bring you Action 850, which packs on a few more pages, basically to tell a story you already know. Well, in the strange way you know it, but you don't know exactly how it happened.

We find Supergirl and her pals in the Legion of Superheroes looking for a way to send her back to her own time. Not coincidentally, Supergirl is about join the Teen Titan, so the recent mentions of her looking for a way to return in the Legion comic and this Action issue are merely the boilerplate that means I'm dropping Legion and starting to pick up Teen Titans. I don't see why she couldn't be in both, but I'm betting the whole massive personality disjunction between the “future” Supergirl and the current one is getting a little too broad for anyone to swallow, even me. With any luck, they'll be wrapping that up soon, and I'm betting our newfound Multiverse will come into play.

Kara's efforts to return to her own time start with a machine that allows her to see her past and the past of people to whom she was connected. Unwilling to swallow the pill of her own past, she instead chooses to look at the past of her wet blanket of a cousin, the stern authority figure to whom she wishes to rebel, mild-mannered Clark Kent. The framing device out of the way, we learn some elements of the story of Superman, post Infinite Crisis.

Don't expect any world shattering changes here. There's very little shown that alters any of the generally established continuity to which we're mostly familiar. Any elements that are now subject to continuity revision were pawned off as some kind of inter-dimensional static and not able to be shown to Kara as she looked back, primarily the time that would have included Superboy. We do confirm details like Clark having powers from infancy and that Krypto was around, though his current whereabouts remain unknown.

The few “historical” beats will probably be the focus for the issue as a whole, but that would be overlooking some well crafted emotional beats that show Clark growing up and his relationship with his adoptive parents. Busiek & Co. craft a story that illustrates the loneliness in Clark's life as he lives with the knowledge he's the last of his kind. The irony is pointed in who is watching the story, and is, eventually, not lost even on a self-centered teenage girl.

850 is one of those “jumping-on” issues, it seems. Fill in character background to get new readers up to speed and keep them going. This is kind of odd, especially since we're back to “Last Son” next issue, it would seem. Going from jumping-on to “Part 4” could be a bit confusing to new readers, especially since they can't just do something simple like pick up the last 3 issues to see the other parts to the story.

Just want to keep my promise and point out what I feel is exceptional art when I see it, and Renato Guedes is amazing. Beautifully detailed and expressive, he does pencils and colors on this issue, with Jose Wilson Magalhaes doing inks. I know they nailed down the new artist for Action after the Bizzaro World arc, but I wouldn't mind seeing this team long term.

Amazons Attack 2

Seems from the general reviews of #1, I was one of the few to have actually read the lead-in issues of Wonder Woman when I wrote mine. I mentioned it wasn't particularly confusing, but perhaps my “involuntary” knowledge of the background lead me to make that statement. Not like I could “un-read” those issues and look at it from a purely stand alone perspective. I still think the first issue wasn't exceptionally complicated. The “our story thus far” is pretty simple actually: tall broads in curvy breastplates appear in the middle of Washington DC and start tearing the place up.

In a six part series do you really expect to have everything laid out for you in issue one?

In issue two the idea the series can stand alone outside the current Wonder Woman arc is pretty much tossed out the window, though. Wonder Woman 9 brought about a couple big plot developments that would leave a lot of readers out of the loop if they barreled in to AA 2 unawares. Crass cross marketing tactic? You bet. Not to worry, Jodi Picoult's work over there is good. If you're enjoying AA, then you're probably reading Wonder Woman anyway. If not, then just skip both and you're fine.

AA 2 is pretty much the Justice League issue. The explanation of why there's no full frontal assault is fairly effective. Clark and Bruce agree and the League shifts into rescue/evacuation mode to clear civilians out the immediate war zone. The mole in CTU... er... the Department of Metahuman Affairs is revealed and Nemesis takes over command. This is one of the crossovers from WW 9 they actually show again. Those AA readers who are wondering what happened to Circe will have to pick up that issue though.

AA 2 sees the war expand beyond Washington, to Vandenberg AFB and to another location I wont spoil, but it seems the Amazons (and editorial) are at least aware of who the need to keep otherwise occupied lest their war end quite prematurely.

With Circe's departure, the war seems to be running purely on Hippolyta's misandry-driven bloodlust. Confrontations from Donna Troy and her own generals don't seem to harsh her man-hate buzz as she expands the attacks. AA 2 is purely build-up as we have 4 more issues to go, but as build-up goes, its handled well.

Pete Woods art is great, rendering both character and combat with equal skill. With a couple minor exceptions, most of the combat in this issue is off-page, so the character work really shines here.