Snap Judgements: Final Crisis #4, Final Crisis: Submit, Daredevil #112 and More

Short comic reviews based on initial, lizard-brain opinions. Arranged from BEST to WORST. Beware some potential spoilers.

Final Crisis #4 gets an A- from DEgan
As much as I'd hate to admit it at this point, I think I'm finally figuring out what's going on-apparently it just all takes place between the panels and between the books. And as begrudgingly as I may admit this, I can't shake the fact that I'm really enjoying these books. It seems Morrison's greatest ability as a writer is to give you stories that make no sense but you can't help but love. And now that we're pretty far along, I'm actually seeing where some of these puzzle pieces land... this thing may end like a season of Wire and leave us all blown away... or it may end like every other crisis event in comic history: disappointingly. Only thing I know for sure-I'm digging out all my past issues of Final Crisis to see what it is exactly that I've missed.

Daredevil #112 gets an A- from DEgan
The last issue left me torn; I wasn't sure how I felt about Matt and Dakota North sleeping together. My first reaction was "ugh, typical." But then, the more I thought about it, the more it actually made sense... I mean, come on, it was actually pretty inevitable; she's a former supermodel detective... he's a crazy loner who's lost every woman he's ever loved...she was just beaten to a bloody pulp... he's, well, a crazy loner who's lost every woman he's ever loved. It was gonna happen. This issue deals mostly with the angsty aftermath-and Matt's reaction is lovably predictable. I'm also kinda digging Lady Bullseye even though she's done little more than lurk in the shadows and watch things happen. You have to give it to Brubaker-I didn't think anyone would be able to follow Bendis' (possibly my favorite single run on any superhero title). But he's doing a great job-still one of my favorite monthly titles. Now, just give me something to review other than soap opera who-slept-with-whom BS.

Reviews for Final Crisis: Submit and the DC Halloween spcial, after the jump...

Final Crisis: Submit gets a B+ from DEgan
Oh look! Another Final Crisis title! God forbid I miss a single one! Sigh, all the attitude aside, its yet another FC title that has me confused and happy. Lucky for me, my friendly neighborhood comic retailer told me to read this book before Final Crisis #4.... as the book ends about 30 seconds before #4 begins. I woulda been double plus-pissed if I had read it the other way around. Apparently freedom of the press is the super hero community's #1 priority in this crisis as both of the books have JLA second stringers running paper boy duties (I saw the opening splash page of Black Lightning running with the Daily Planet Satchel and immediately thought, "ah, Grant Morrison's writing this one too") Also, there are some great black superhero vs black supervillain moments in this book (some comically bordering on the cliched) that made me care more for Black Lightning than I ever have. Now, Mr. Morrison, pull this sucker together!

DC Universe Halloween Special Thing gets an F from AHR
This was the most incoherent piece of crap I've ever read. Seriously. Worst edited book I've ever read. It seems like there might be some fun things in here (Duncan Rouleau's story at least looks interesting), but it's just not worth the head scratching. As happy I was to see the Dibneys back as ghost detectives, their dialogue is embarrassingly bad, to say nothing of all the grammar and punctuation errors. Throw this crap in the trash.

Panel Discussion: Comic Scans From Batman and the Outsiders, All-Star Superman, Criminal Macabre and More

Best Actor - Lex Luthor, All-Star Superman #12
That is a sneer to end all sneers. The low angle perfectly captures the fact that given super-powers, Lex is exactly what he always accused Superman of being; a selfish overlord with no respect for the people below him. Delicious.
Also there's this, my all time favorite kind of panel. That would be the "Bus Smashes Into Superhero Panel", seen on previous Panel Discussions here and here. Bonus points for showing the driver flying out of the car, which is certainly what would really happen.

Vampires get it in the face, Penguin gets it twixt the legs, and Superman just doesn't get it, after the jump...

Most Unpleasant Panel - Batman and the Outsiders #11
That's The Penguin down there, if you can't tell. This looks like an illustration from a fan art no one, and I mean NO one wants to see.

Best Interrogation Technique - Criminal Macabre - Cell Block 666 #1
Man, I love when heroes don't let the villains deliver their big speeches. Some bonuses include the subtle "click click" sound effect of the hammer clicking in the first panel, and the vampire's hilarious self-absorbed posturing as he's about to launch into his speech. Not today, sucka!


The Magic of Comics - DC Universe: Decisions #1
Just a small example of the between the panel magic of sequential art. Wonderful clean work here, from the rustle of the newspaper to the air brushing through Lois's hair. And judging from her expression, Superman is definitely not getting laid tonight. What a nerd.

Snap Judgements: Reviews for Walking Dead, Captain Britain and MI13, DC Universe: Decisions and More

Short comic reviews based on initial, lizard-brain opinions. Arranged from BEST to WORST. Beware some potential spoilers.

Amazing Spider Man #572 gets an A from Albo
Dan Slott and John Romita Jr. continue to deliver an awesome, classic Spidey story. This ish has Norman Osborn getting even more unstable, and even trying on his old Goblin duds. They still fit! And speaking of old costumes, Mac Gargan (the new Venom) slips back into his old Scorpion outfit to create a terrifying Scorpion/Venom amalgam. These developments plus the trashing of New York in their hunt for Spidey makes me feel like pretty soon the feds are going to notice that their team of "heroes" are actually just the new Sinister Six. So good.

All Star Superman #12 gets an B+ from AHR
This book has tons of great moments. Lex is a such a wonderfully brilliant-yet-oblivious bastard in this book, and his brief super-powered reign of terror is a pleasure to read. But this book just wraps up so damn fast; no mention of the Bizzaro plotline, or the insane meta-bottle universe that was actually Earth Prime (or something)? I wanted more of this book, and it bums me out that the incredible mythos Morrison created will likely dead-end with this miniseries, unless of course....there's a sequel....

Reviews for Captain Britain and MI13 #5, DC Universe: Decisions, and The Walking Dead #52 after the jump...

Captain Britain and MI13 #5 gets a B from Albo
While Captain Britain bores the pants offa me, the supporting characters of this book are worth reading. The Black Knight and Faiza make this issue worthwhile, in a scene where they are trying to get the blessing of Faiza's conservative Muslim parents for her new life as a superhero. Black Knight's attempt to ingratiate himself by speaking their language backfires when Fiaza's dad points out that the Knight picked up the language while fighting in the Crusades. Anyway, great stuff. Blade's there, too, but probably not for long so don't let that turn you off of this solid book.

DC Universe: Decisions #1 gets a C from AHR
I thought between a smart writer like Bill Willingham and the aggressively-progressive Judd Winick, this book might actually be a political satire. Nope! The politicians are cardboard stand-ins with no real-world counterparts, and they exist in a completely bloodless political landscape. The Republican nominee is a black woman, and yet the JLA is shocked, SHOCKED, by an assassination attempt...who could imagine a motive for such a crime? And indeed, the perpetrator is being mind-controlled, no doubt by some villain with some sort of non-partisan world domination scheme. We're coming up on the most important election of our lives, if DC wants to cash-in on the hype, can they please grow some balls first? All that said, the JLA interaction is funny and fun, even though Ollie looks like a dumb pushover, that's pretty much par for the course.

The Walking Dead #52 gets a C from AHR
This issue is a perfect example of why this book needs to be read in trades. Some interesting things happen, the writing is good as always, but it's so damn short! There's no satisfaction in reading a detailed, deliberately paced story like this in 30 second bursts. It's not the book's fault, the fault is in comic companies business model that makes everything a serial. C'mon Kirkman, you're in charge now, cut out the middle man and release these as trades! Please?

Panel Discussion - Scans From Buffy Season 8 #16, Batman RIP #678, and House of Mystery #3

Gnerd is still recovering from our 4th of July Blowout, sorry for the junior sized Panel Discussion. More interesting stuff was probably going on in the Marvel Universe, but that's not my department. As always, beware of SPOILERS after the jump. -AHR

Achievement in Sound Design - House of Mystery #3
That's a hell of a KA-THOOOM. The "KA" is igniting, the "TH" is made of bricks that are shattering against the inky black "OOO" and the "M" is...well it's just a big chunky red M in sort of Sam Kieth font.


Grant Morrisson's master plan and Slayers on Broadway, after the jump...

Most Underwhelming Payoff - Batman #678
Yeah, so....Grant Morrisson's run on Batman has been referencing "Zur-En-Arrh" since it started over a year ago. Zur En Arrh is the name of a futuristic (circa 1950) planet with it's own super-tech powered Batman (here's the long version). I have to hand it to artist Tony Daniel for making this purple, red and yellow eyesore look even slightly wearable (the torn up coat is a nice touch, evoking a swarm of bats). But Bat-Radia? Molecule Guns? Old School Bat-Mite? I want to trust GM wherever he goes, but future-techspeak and alternate universe crap is my least favorite part of DC, and till now it had stayed safely out of my Bat books.

Broadway Shout-Out - Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8, #16
Trust a musical theater nerd like Joss Whedon to reference Xanadu, the most cultastic new musical on the boards today. First episode of Doctor Horrible is online July 15th, I'm waiting with baited breath...

Comic Picks and Pans: Special Forces #1, Batman #670, Countdown #26

Our friends over at Pop Culture Shock have invited us to be a part of their Picks and Pans feature this week, and so we're running our contributions here in place of our usual Snap Judgments. The reviews are a bit more in depth than Snaps, and they may not be quite as spoiler-free. Consider them "spoiler lite".

Albo Picks Special Forces #1
Written and Drawn by Kyle Baker

Usually when comic books reference real world politics, both directly and allegorically, I cringe so hard my testicles crawl up into my ears. For some reason, it seems to be a really hard thing for a comics writer to pull off without appearing to be a neophyte fishing for a couple of “hell yeah!”s. This book, by notoriously political Eisner and Harvey award winner Kyle Baker, is all about politics (specifically troop enlistment), yet somehow manages to keep my gonads mostly clear of my cochleae.

The story starts with a desperate Sergeant Ramirez, who scrapes some wretched souls (psychos, criminals, the physically unfit) from the bottom of society’s barrel and enlists them in the military in order to reach a recruitment quota that will keep him from having to go back to war himself. Unfortunately for him, one of his recruits gets killed attempting armed robbery the day he is set to ship out and Ramirez finds himself back in Iraq, assigned command of the miserable lot he sent to war.

The book is drawn in Baker’s usual cartoony style, with exaggerated action, bold color choices and a busty protagonist whose clothes become scantier and scantier with each new page. In spite of the naked girl and generally comedic tone (or maybe because of this), Special Forces is the grittiest, most emotional and meaningful war comic I’ve ever read. I’m not claiming to have read many, but this sure beats all that Garth Ennis schlock. There is palpable danger threatening the squad, a point made clear by the fact that almost all of them die by the end of this issue. My heart wept for these people as things kept getting worse, and I can’t wait to pick up next issue and cheer for them as things get better. If they get better.

AHR's Pick and Pan right after the jump!

AHR Picks Batman #670
Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Tony Daniel

It’s finally here; Ra’s Al Ghul: The Final Resurrection Tour! This issue’s cover indicates a mere “prelude” to the big comeback, but rest (resurr-rest?) assured the man himself does in fact appear in this story, and he’s less than pleased to find his grandson running around in a dead Robin’s costume and talking all sorts of sass. Ra’s Al-Ghul vs Damian Al-Ghul-Wayne? Ra’s for the win, I’m thinking. Last month marked the end of artist J.H William III’s fantastic three-issue run on this series, and I was all set to talk about how I missed his consistently jaw-droppingly gorgeous art. As it turns out, I didn’t have time to reminisce about artists gone by with everything going in this issue. Morrison sets the scene for a epic-scale story about the struggle for control of the League of Assassins and (sniff) the bonds of family, but instead of feeling like a rev up to a big storyline, the action starts on the first page and doesn’t stop. The issue is filled with actual gasp-inducing surprises, which is something of a rarity when so many DC superhero books simply kill (or appear to kill) a character rather than think of more original plot twists. Here, there’s something exciting on every page, not the least of which is a special appearance by World Public Enemy. Remember that awesome band? Kinda like the Misfits from Jem, but more super-villainous? C’mon, they were featured in issue of Batman from 1966, remember? No, neither does anyone else, except of course for Grant Morrison, Champion of the Forgotten. Here he throws the pop-tart trio into the mix as a mere diversion, but much he did with the men of the Club of Heroes, Morrison gives these flash-in-the-pan villianeses funny and instantly recognizable characters, and their brief appearance just about steals the show.

AHR Pans Countdown #26
Writer: Paul Dini
Art: Tom Derenick

I hate to write a bad review of Countdown when the book already takes so much flack on the internet, but honestly it was the only book I read this week that I didn’t enjoy, and this feature is called Picks and Pans. But it pains me to pan Countdown, because Paul Dini is one of my all-time favorite comic book writers. Hell, he’s writing some great stuff currently on the stands - get yourself an ish of Detective Comics and Madame Mirage, and that’s a recipe for a good afternoon. Unfortunately, in twenty five issues as Head Writer on Countdown he has not succeeded in shaping this omnipresent series into entertaining read. We were told this book would have a slow start, and that the issues of exposition were necessary for a big payoff. Accepting that, I’ve been waiting for the twist that would kick start the real action, but here at the halfway mark things have still been moving at a glacial pace in dealing with characters who keep talking about the same thing; Kyle and Jason don’t like each other, causing Donna to roll her eyes. Trickster throws a calculatedly tame gay joke at Piper, who in turn rolls his eyes. Between these repeating character dynamics and the endless fake-science explanations of the Karate Kid and Jimmy Olsen storylines, the overall feeling of this series is sterility, and this issue is no exception. The whole thing is essentially a clinical explanation of the story so far as told by those Ben Steins of the DC Universe, the Monitors. If you do happen to be a big Monitor fan, you’re in luck, because the single piece of plot information revealed in this issue relates to them. The tone of this issue can be gleaned simply from a look at the backgrounds; a mail-order typical space-station, two separate planets that consist of nothing but craters and sand, and a whole lot of brick walls. Are we having fun yet?

Click here to read the rest of the Pop Culture Shock Picks and Pans!

Clark Duke is a Geekanerd

If you don't know him, Clark Duke is the co-star/creator of Clark and Michael, an internet series he does with Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad). He also plays the part of "Party Teenager #1" in Superbad. AND, he's like the biggest Geekanerd ever. Check it:

I recently got the Morrison New X-Men Omnibus. I had all the single issues, but it’s great to have them all in one place. This is how nerdy I am – I’ve got all four Flex Mentallo issues…hard copy. No Internet for me! That’s like the coolest thing in my collection, along with my complete run of Miracleman. That one took a while – the last six issues were impossible to find. It took me years on eBay – issue #15, the one with Kid Miracleman, that cost me like $80, but it was worth it. It was a CGC copy that I took out of the case.

Wowee! Go to Newsarama for the full interview and be awed by his great taste in current comics, and also check out our past "...Is a Geekanerd" segments.

Snap Judgements: Batman Confidential, Killing Pickman, Batman, The Boys, Daredevil

Madder Love - Batman Confidential #8

While the general public likes to snicker about the supposed homoerotic relationship between Batman and Robin, the more obvious gay subtext in the Batverse has always been the Joker's obsession with Batman. Frank Miller famously interpreted the character this way in The Dark Knight Returns, Paul Dini and Grant Morrisson have both played around with the concept, and the current arc of Confidential dips into this oh-so-dogey territory once again. Writer Michael Green does a great job of laying the groundwork for the twisted relationship between Batman and his greatest foe, and highlights the similarities between the two - such as the fact that they're both batshit crazy, particularly well illustrated in a sequence that finds Batman playing the peeping tom on a lovely lady, while simultaneously obsessing about his war on crime.

Confidental seems to be jumping on the Dark Knight train by setting this story arc almost exactly where Batman Begins left off - the Joker hasn't quite become the Joker yet, Bats is still getting used to crime fighting, and there's a really fun sub-plot involving the origin of the Bat Computer. The scratchy pencils by Denys Cowan really stick in your head, even though he tends to shade the character's faces into almost German-Expressionist territory. But God knows there's enough wierdness going on in this book already, so you just go with it.

Murder as Flirtation + Scratchy Art + Mentally Divergent Batman + Cool Alfred = A-

Batman, Killing Pickman, The Boys, and Daredevil after the jump!

The Silver Age...OF TERROR - Batman #667

Now that he's got that Batman #666 unpleasantness out of his system, Grant Morrison is doing what he does best; taking strange, forgotten characters from the DC archive and making them modern, human, and hilarious. Here he gives us a modern day version of The International Club of Heroes, a bizarre conglomeration of multi-ethnic Batmen that one would expect to be padlocked in the Silver Age vault. Here, they behave like a clutch of has-beens who either live in the past or never really cared about superhero-ing in the first place. They've all got tons of personality and are immediately endearing, making the subsequent Agatha Christiesque mystery storyline all the more creepy. Humor, character, and action...no one nails the hatrick like Grant. Throw in some solid art bolstered by ace colorist Dave Stewart, and it's good to be a comics fan.

Bickering C-Listers + Scary Violence + Batman Teh Cool = A


Don't Go In There! - Killing Pickman #1
From Archaia Studio, the folks who brought you Mouse Guard, comes a gorgeous new title about a cop's hunt for a serial killer. Judged by the script alone, this is a solid crime story in the vein of Se7en,with a few unique touches, such as supernatural elements and an Asian-American lead (pretty much the only one on the stands, other than DC's new Atom). But story aside, what sends this books off the chart is the art by Jon Rea. Despite the fact this comic had the least amount of gore out of all the books I read this week, the visual story telling in Killilng Pickman creates such a distinct atmosphere of dread you have to steel yourself before turning each page. At times, words and commentary are etched into the panels like hidden messages, and it gives the feeling of a demonic third-person presence as you're reading. It's spooky stuff, and I can't wait for next month.

Real Deal Art + Atmosphere Over Gore + Scared To Turn The Page = A


Holy Scandal, Batman! - The Boys #9
This book has been very fun as a glimpse into a debaucherous world inhabited by heroes that look a lot like those we know and love, except they do some really dirty shit. Which is why this issue's high point is an intimate situation between three icons and the low point is pretty much the rest where they're still caught up in a mystery that I've totally lost interest in and have totally forgotten why I was supposed to care in the first place. If my vote counted I would hope issue 10 took us back to less talk, more stomp. Also, am I the only one that finds it extremely distracting that the main character is painstakingly drawn to look like Simon Pegg? He always comes off looking so stiff because Darick Robertson won't cartoonify him, instead going for accuracy in every panel. It just doesn't work.

Dirty Fun - Some Sorta Dull Mystery - Simon Pegg Gimmick = C+


So Grimy You'll Need a Shower - Daredevil #99
Daredevil is in such a fun place right now. His story is separate from those mega-events that are rocking the rest of the Marvel Universe, and it's a comfy little corner to be in. In case you haven't been keeping up, everyone pretty much knows Matt Murdock is Daredevil, though he still denies it and legally persecutes those who make such claims publicly. Most of the book these days is spent outside of the costume (though there is a good old fashioned information gathering beatdown break this ish), following Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson dealing with the troubles of being an outed superhero and trying to keep Matt's blind wife safe and happy. Oh, and there's also the girl that's hanging around who has the mild superpower of making every man she meets fall in love with her. The reason I'm telling you all of this is... I'm trying to catch you up so you can start grabbing this book off the shelves. Because it's solid, gritty, superhero crime fiction. Much better than the other superhero crime fiction on the stands (COUGHpowersCOUGH).

Crime Tastes Good - Maybe Almost Drags a Little + A Unique Superhero Situation = B