Justice League #5: Counter Point

I don’t claim to be an expert on superhero comics. My favorite comics are all in the mystery/crime/horror genres. I feel superhero comics just aren’t that interesting anymore. But Justice League #5 was an excellent issue, despite what my esteemed colleague seems to think. His main problem was with some of the art. While I do agree that some of Jim Lee’s distance shots are a little shoddy, those are few and far between. The rest of his art is absolutely impeccable. I believe that where some people may find faults in Lee’s art it is only because he is held in such high regard than any minute detail that is imperfect is hard to ignore. Lee is able to convey such detail in his emotions: anguish, defeat, confidence, surprise and fear.

           Enough about the art. Let’s say that those few panels mentioned in the previous post by Snapper Carr really were disappointing and not up to scratch. The story made this issue worth any error or ineptitude. Just look at what happens in this issue. Superman gets kidnapped by Darkseid’s minions, Darkseid kicks the crap out of Superman and breaks Lantern’s arm, Lantern shows his leadership (I got chills when Batman tried to hold him back and Lantern yelled “Then I die!”), Batman takes off his mask and reveals he’s Bruce Wayne, he lets himself get kidnapped by Darkseid’s minions in order to save Superman, all leading up to a shocking conclusion. While I may not like spending $3.99 on comics, this one was worth every penny. I’m not one to usually enjoy an issue that’s all fighting because its hard to have really good writing that goes along with a fight scene. So much of the issue is usually just “SMASH!” “KRACK!” BAM!”, but so much happened in between the fights of this issue.

Aquaman and Cyborg are a bit quick to fall in line behind Green Lantern’s leadership (Cyborg doesn’t even know what his powers are yet). But this is Justice League, not Everyman-For-Himself-While-Trying-To-Remain-In-Charge-And-Let-The-Baddy-Roll-Through-Town-And-Take-Over…..err, League. While it seemed a bit rushed, I’m okay with them coming together to take down Darkseid. I’m sure there will be plenty of tension between Aquaman and Green Lantern next time. All in all, really good issue, faults aside.

Rating 8.5/10

Gabriel Partridge

Justice League #5: Stale and Sour

Justice League #5: Written by Geoff Johns. Art by Jim Lee. 

Justice League #5 hit the comic stands a week late, which had me more excited than usual when I bought it. Rumors were spreading that it was because of Jim Lee's art. I opened the book and I was actually disappointed by Jim Lee. Did anyone else notice the sloppy art? Let's start with page 4: the first two panels. The Flash looks decent but Superman looks awful. He has a Jay Leno chin. Also, Superman's look reminded me a lot of Bizarro. Now, take a glimpse at page 10. The first two panels are meh. I just don't think Lee is that great at drawing scenes that look out from the distance. Aquaman looks a paint splat. I know for a fact that Lee's art was much better when he drew the Batman: Hush storyline.

Let's take a look at the story, which was really disappointing. Since Issue 1, all of the characters have been standing around looking at each other and questioning the situation they're in. Four issues later, it's still happening. It was interesting watching Green Lantern lead the team, but the others were way too comfortable with him leading. Just two issues before, Aquaman said he wanted to lead and suddenly he agrees to take orders from a surface dweller. By the way, Cyborg suddenly joins the team and decides not to ask any questions. Come on Johns, you are better than this. However, the touching scene between Batman and Green Lantern was enjoyable. We are so used to them arguing back and forth. It was fun to have Batman convince Green Lantern that he needs to step up and lead their depleted team. I hope for Issue six, we get a rare glimpse of Green Lantern in a J.L leadership role

Rating: 5.5/10

P.S. After you read this, check out our new poll!!! 

Darkseid Arrives. Logan's a Decent Teacher. Starfire is now Human?

Justice League #4: Written by Geoff Johns, Art by Jim Lee

This issue was the best one yet. The story is moving along and the dialogue is fantastic. The scene where the team is debating on who should lead them was classic. Johns' writes each character perfectly and its fun watching Hal be the "class clown". The back and forth banter between Batman, Green Lantern and Aquaman was quite enjoyable. Watching these characters quarrel, reminds me how much I missed these characters in JLA pre52. I have one problem with the issue, the art seemed sloppy. Did anyone else notice that?  Did you notice page eight? Wonder Woman and Aquaman both looked odd. However, I do applaud Lee, when he has the sharks jump out of the ocean to eat the Parademons. That was a cool scene. By the way, the introduction of Darkseid sent chills down my spine. I love the new costume design. In the final scene, he raises his hands, the ground shakes and all the heroes fell to their knees.  That was a lot of fun to read.

Rate 8/10

Wolverine and the X-Men #3: Written by Jason Aaron and Art by Chris Bachalo

After reading this issue, I have decided that I am Team Wolverine. I'll say it now, I am not a fan of the art but I think it fits this story arc. Jason Aaron's first arc is a lot of fun. I'm still not happy with the New Hellfire Club. Jason Aaron hasn't done enough to convince the reader why they exist.  I LOVE Quentin Quire. He's this annoying punk who is trying too hard to be "cool".  I'm really excited to watch him become an omega level character. My favorite part of the comic is the supporting cast. The Brod Kid, Idie and Kid Gladiator are so much fun to read. The best scene was the back and forth banter between those three and Quire. Quire was devastated that none of these new students knew about his juvenile record when he attended Xavier’s school. The focus on the characters is something missing in Uncanny X-men and in this series, it helps the story grow.

Rate 8.5/10

Red Hood and the Outlaws #4: Written by Scott Lodbell and Kenneth Rocafort.

I'm going to be honest with you, I wasn't a fan of the art at first but it's really grown on me. First, Rocafort does a tremendous with the face expressions. Take a glance at the bar scene, everyone has a different expression. You know what that means? The artist isn't lazy and works hard to give each character a personality. The first Starfire seen was artistically beautiful. Last issue ended with an emotional bang and this issue started slow but it improved along the way. In the first three issues, Lodbell slowly introduces the mindset of each character. In this issue, he gave us a lot. For example, Starfire and Roy explain why they are teaming up with the Red Hood in the first place. It’s fun to watch these characters become actual good friends. Finally, we get the first appearance of the villain. Oh but wait....the villain isn’t the villain. It seems as if Red Hood's detective skills failed and he's been tricked. By the way, I think Starfire lost her powers and is now human...maybe???

Rate 7/10

The Year-end Review of the New 52.

In 2011, the biggest thing to hit the comic book world was the New 52. The announcement of 52 new titles from DC (some of them reboots of age old series, some being new origins, some new series altogether) was unquestionably awesome. Some big things happened in the new 52: Barbara Gordon is out of her wheel chair, Superman’s red undies are now presumably beneath the tights, Sinestro is fighting against his own Corps, Barry Allen is no longer married to Iris (oh, and Where’s Wally?), Cyborg has finally made it into the Justice League, Superboy got a new origin, and somehow Geoff Johns made Aquaman cool again. But, as expected, the New 52 has been met with mixed reviews. When you publish that many new titles, you’re bound to have some hits and some misses. Most critics agree that Animal-Man, Action Comics, O.M.A.C, Swamp Thing and Aquaman got the job done. However, a lot of the new releases haven’t been quite as well received. Hawk and Dove, DC Universe Presents: Deadman, Red Hood and the Outlaws (wired.com) and The Fury of Firestorm (MTV Geek) all got sub-par ratings from critics.

The New 52 was undoubtedly a truly inspired marketing move. Whether you hated the idea or loved it, you bought some of these comics, just so that you could voice your opinion on how they did with their reboot. Starting fresh is always an appealing move. It makes die-hard fans buy the comics so they can say how they feel about it and it also lures in new fans because it makes the titles approachable and easy to start with.

Just as the critic’s opinions vary about how well DC did on their reboot so do we here at The Illumi-Nerdi:

Snapper Carr:  First of all, thank you 52. Since 1993, I have been a fan of comic books. I felt alone in loving comics. But after the new 52 came out, I was no longer alone. Now, two of my friends are huge fans of comic books just because of DC’s reboot. Out of all the new 52, I read 33. I love some of the titles and others bore me. My favorite comic so far is Action Comics. Superman is young and an amateur. He is not that powerful and his marriage to Lois has been made void. The most underrated comic book of the new 52 is Red Hood and the Outlaws. Yes, Starfire isn’t the one from the Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans but she is much of a badass as her counterparts.  When Connor Kent died I was sad and when he returned I was so excited for comic books again. After reading the first issue, I can’t wait to see the development of an emotionless new Superboy. I was soooo excited for Grifter but by the end I found his origin to be mundane. It simply lacked excitement. For the last 30 years, there have been so many Supergirls. Some origins have been interesting, others have sucked. The new 52 Supergirl is boring and lame. The first two issues were an entire fight scene. I expected a fresh origin story but what I got just made me fall asleep. My least favorite comic was Stormwatch. I felt so thrown into a conflict that I was unfamiliar with. Also, I was disappointed with Martin Manhunter being on the team. He is the soul of the Justice League and he is on a team with known murderers. What a bummer…

 

Gabriel Partridge: My favorite new title is All-Star Western. I got this on a whim at the last minute when it came out and was instantly, pleasantly surprised. I didn’t expect all of the awesome references to Gotham. Seeing Arkham, hearing about the Waynes and Mayor Cobblepot, were pretty cool little references. Plus, it has been a pretty damn cool murder mystery with Jonah Hex, a pretty underrated character. I also loved Detective Comics. It hasn’t quite been universally well received but I think it’s fantastic. The Dollmaker is a freaking awesome original villain. He has the chaos of the Joker but the brilliant planning of Lex Luthor. Tony Daniel weaves a genuinely well done mystery yarn with the world’s greatest detective. I thought Deadman was also underappreciated. First of all, it’s a pretty cool concept, but that’s nothing new. Second of all, I really like what they’re doing with him. Boston Brand going against the god, Rama and trying to take a little more control of his own destiny is pretty damn cool. In keeping with the Justice League Dark theme, Hellblazer seemed to be an influence here, and that’s a pretty damn good lead to follow. 

So far, I’ve really liked Justice League also. It’s a completely new origin story, with genuinely likable characters. I’ve never been the biggest Green Lantern fan but Hal was pretty funny in the first few issues. I also love that Cyborg has finally been included in JLA. I like the hint at the metamorphosis of Victor Stone into Cyborg in the most recent issue. That being said, I’ve been pretty disappointed in most of the Superman titles. Action Comics has been a complete let down to me. I guess I just found the story really uninteresting and unexciting. It really didn’t do it for me. Superboy was also a really boring story. Half of issue one, Superboy was in a tank, the other half didn’t even actually happen.

            In keeping with the “52” theme, our combined score of the reboot is a 37 out of a possible 52. Even though we at The Illumi-Nerdi disagree on many of the titles, we’re definitely happy the New 52 happened. It has revitalized comics in a way that we can only hope Marvel can follow in 2012. Check out our post next week when we argue the validity and need for Marvel to reestablish itself in 2012.