Snap Judgments: Countdown #34, The Boys #10, Lucha Libre #1

Geekanerd's Snap Judgments gives you Triple-S comic reviews: short, sweet, and spoiler-free.

Countdown #34 (DC)

Thought I'd give this title another chance. Aaaand it let me down again.

Things started out promisingly enough, with Batman interrogating Piper and Trickster. The Bat's rooftop shakedowns rarely disappoint. But this spark of excitement is soon extinguished, and we're soon wading through boring fake science talk, two scenes that take place in laboratories, Clarion the Witchboy looking like a drag queen, and Holly Robinson fighting Harley Quinn in Gladiatorial Combat. Actually that last part was okay. But still no bang for your buck. Wake me when Eclipso comes back.

Hope Springs Eternal - Disappointment + Harley Kicking Holly Robinson in the Face = C-

Reviews for The Boy #10 and Lucha Libre #1 (awesome) after the jump...


The Boys #10 (Dynamite Entertainment)

Now that this arc is over, I can finally stop buying this book. Not that I haven't been enjoying The Boys - it's been fun, but when reading a hard, nasty series like this, I'd prefer to revel in the opulence of a trade paperback, rather than lurch along every month with single-servings of depravity. But that's just me.

This issue lacked the head-busting finale I was expecting, and continued with an annoying habit of playing gotcha games with certain character's perceived homophobia. I'm all for defying expectations, but how many times do we need to be told that men who use gay epithets may not, in fact, hate gay people after all? Wow, the more you know! On the plus side, this issue features a wonderfully over-the-top epilogue that encapsulates the series' attitude towards super heroes, and for once doesn't involve a splash page of a woman being sexually assaulted. It involves something getting sexually assaulted, but I wouldn't want to spoil the details of that whimsical surprise.

Unsatisfying Mystery Solved - More Lessons + A Touch of Humanity + Absurdist Perversity = C+

Lucha Libre #1 (Image)

It's a good time for Latino characters in comic books. Jaimie Reyes (Blue Beetle) is the best written teen character in the DC Universe, Renee Montoya is getting her own sexy, sexy series, and now we've got Lucha Libre, a slam-bang cartoon style series about five Mexican dudes in wrestling masks who fight monsters in East L.A. I hasten to add that none of these books are in fact written by Latinos, but...well...let's focus on the positive here.

Written by Jerry Frissen, ish #1 introduces a huge cast of characters, including an evil bug-eyed Elvis impersonator, stereo-stealing werewolves, bickering aliens, and of course our heroes, the Luchadores Five. The unblinking absurdity never seems forced, and the tone recalls the comedic glory of Sam and Max, and that, my amigos, is high praise indeed.

Even more impressive is the art, drawn and colored by Bill. Just Bill. His backgrounds are beautifully detailed, and his more subtle depictions of the characters go a long way in supplying some of the depth that can feel lacking in Frissen's writing.

Rockin' Toon Art + Bonkers Plot + Great Extra Story - A Wee Bit Light on Characterization = A-

Review: Invincible #42

Being a big fan of the early Invincible story arcs, but afraid to pick up any new issues in fear that I'd be lost, you can imagine how excited I was to see this cover.

"NEW READER FRIENDLY!"

"DON'T MISS OUT A SECOND TIME!"

"INCLUDES A COMPREHENSIVE RECAP OF THE ENTIRE SERIES!"





Tacky, sure, but VERY alluring to a lapsed fan like myself. Unfortunately these things never work out the way you want them to.

So the gagillion-page recap in the back is written by a fella named David Campbell, and I don't know what Robert Kirkman was busy doing (Other than Ant-Man, Walking Dead, Wolf-Man, and Lord knows what else) that he had to hand the recap duties over to someone else, but it has none of the charm and wit that pervades the book itself. It's just dry dry dry.

Which would be fine if the issue itself were snappy and exciting. Unfortunately, by page two the train's already pulling into Talky-town. They spend so much time talking about what happened PRIOR to this issue that they run out of space for anything to happen DURING this issue.

Which I suppose I should expect from a recap issue. Maybe it's my fault that I didn't come in with reasonable expectations.

Maybe when I saw "NEW READER FRIENDLY" I shouldn't have interpreted that to mean "MORE ATOM EVE HINEY." Sigh.

THE GOOD

On the sunny side, there are short bursts of action that show off one of Kirkman's greatest talents: creating compelling throwaway villains for Our Hero to fight.

First we meet The Giant, an eight year-old boy who was pulled into another dimension when his grandmother accidentally opened a portal while making an herbal remedy for her cat. The boy was enchanted by a sorcerer, turned into a monster and over the course of a year became the king of a vast empire before being sent back to Earth by an enemy, whereupon he embarks on a rampage meant to win him the Presidency of the United States. And you know how many pages he's in the book? Two. He is introduced, given an origin, and dispatched in TWO PAGES. And we'll probably never see him again. Kirkman pulls these guys out all the time, and I love him for it.
Also of note is the awesome-looking one-pager Octoboss, who came to this world and was frustrated that no one understood him so he "take time off" to learn the language as best he could. He also claims to have watched some TV.

THE VERDICT

This issue was not good. I certainly would not recommend it to someone who has never read Invincible before, because then they might get the mistaken impression that it's a boring book. Everyone, including me, should read all the Invincible trades. People that want to catch up without spending all that dough should at least go buy the first trade and read the Wikipedia article (which I swear is better written than the recap in this ish) to prepare for next month's issue, which looks to be the beginning of a new story arc. The last panel of this issue hints at where it may be going (Invincible's rapidly-growing purple half-brother developing powers), and I'm sure Kirkman has some tricks up his sleeve to make it worth your while. Hopefully one of those is the back end of a cute redheaded superheroine.