July 5th Comic Round Up

posted by JediSheltie @ 11:48 PM

Get ready for your quarterly allowed dose of Johns and Donner in Action...

Action 581

Man, it's getting really hard to care. I want to, I really, really do, but no matter how great this story is in that fanciful “objective” sense, the endless delay and piecemeal presentation are just killing it. Now we have another piece of the puzzle, and a promise the final chapter will arrive in an Annual... when it's finished, basically. Great, apparently Adam Kubert is the George Broussard of comic art. (You're gonna have to earn that one, kids.)

Guess we'll review the plot, since age may have dulled your recollection. Zod has unleashed pretty much every Kryptonian criminal in the Phantom Zone on Earth, while dumping Clark inside said Zone to exact the kind of poetic revenge guys like Zod live for. This isn't a comic about the world's superhero community fighting against the whole lot of villains who are just as strong as Superman, though that would have made for a great comic.

This is about Clark and his time in the Phantom Zone, “3D” and all. Lacking any 3D glasses, I didn't really get the full benefit of these panels. Apparently this was one reason Kubert was taking so long, so I guess I should feel a bit cheated not have gotten the “full experience.” Since it seems official now that Clark was zipping around the future as Superboy with the Legion of Superheores, he meets Mon-El inside the zone, the lone “good guy” who had been sent there by young Clark Kent to save his life from lead poisoning.

Mon-El provides some exposition and helps in Clark's ultimate escape from the Zone. Perhaps his most interesting point was how exactly Zod and Ursa managed to do the dirty deed in the Zone, when they were supposed to be, you know, “phantoms.” For such a hyped event, Clark's entrapment in the Zone barely makes the entire issue, while the world outside burns in a few stray panels featuring Kara, and Hal Jordan up against some nameless villains.

We finish up with Superman going to the only person on the planet who considers himself prepared to repel an invasion from Krypton, and his new Superman Revenge squad. Johns sets up an interesting conclusion of Superman and a group of his most famous villains teaming up to save the world form the menace of a bunch of Kryptonian super-criminals. It's kind of epic scale story Johns is known for weaving, and it's too bad the pace was destroyed and the entire affair now seems rushed.

I suggest you not hold your breath waiting to find out how it ends.

Supergirl 19

Not sure if this review is a spoiler. Kind of like an anti-spoiler. Granted, our esteemed host, Tygrrius, would certainly argue that finding out someone doesn't die at the end is certainly a spoiler, I still disagree.

Well, in so far as pandering covers go, this is certainly an accomplishment. Honestly, I have to assume there was some kind of editorial modification to the content of this issue, since, despite what the cover would have you believe, there's no dieing here. Superman, Supergirl, everyone else lives happily ever after. I'm sure we all expected that, actually... but... there's not even any kind of cheating “dream sequence” death. There's not even some grand “metaphorical” death. There's no death at all.

In a story that provides the epilogue to Kelly's run on the comic, we see Kara faced with another dead character, whose identity I wont spoil, but whose presence is significant for the character. Might be the reason she appropriates a red head band shortly thereafter for most of the rest of the comic. Personally, I liked that touch. It's kind of amusing to think back to the fact a 80's fashion craze is forever immortalized in comics due to its appearance in the death of the original Kara Zor-El.

Kara spends the rest of the issue visiting her recent boyfriends / acquaintances / girlfriends /pissed-off Power Girls she's encountered since Kelly took over the comic. I'm sensing the audience was supped to see how Kara had grown over the intervening year. I see some of it, but ultimately I think the effort was a bit wasted. Kara has grown as teenage girl, but not so much as a superhero. Her rogues gallery is a lonely place, populated mostly by Power Boy, of whose existence we are briefly reminded.

Agreeably, Kara learns why cats are woefully inadequate pet substitutions for a loyal Shetland Sheepdog. Really, why does Streaky have to be a cat? Any one whose had an “energetic” sheltie would certainly agree such a name would fit perfectly.

Just as the cover starts us off with the wrong impression, the solicit at the back ends us oddly as well, claiming we're heading back to the “end of WWIII”. Since I was wondering if we were just getting a fresh retcon out of nowhere, I checked DCComics.com and discovered its really an Amazons Attack tie-in. I guess that's still kind of “World War-y.”

Tony Bedard takes the reigns next issue. I'm still banking on the new Titan's writer, McKeever, taking over sooner or later. I'll probably end up grabbing Titans regularly now that Kara will be a member of the team. I'm curious to see how McKeever handle's her as compared to Bedard. Renato Guedes takes over art as well on #20, and his work on Action 850 was spectacular, so I'm quite excited to his work on this book on a regular basis.