Thursday, August 28, 2008

Reviews: August 27, 2008 (part 2)

Runaways v3 1
Ugh, more bad art. I bloody hate cartoony art. I've seen webcomics that look better than this. I can barely talk about the story; the art was so distracting that it was hard to follow.

So... am I mistaken, or has Chase gotten even more immature? And what, Karoline killed 7 billion people while she was off-planet? That's impressive for a teenager. My guess is that she didn't do any such thing, of course.

I don't mean to obsess over the art, but I have a very visual memory, so it's actually a little difficult to remember everything that happened. What was the deal with the station manager? Did he have a heart attack? Did someone push him? The art was so horrendous that I couldn't even follow what was going on there. Please God let them get a new artist next time. I'm not so tied to this title that I'm willing to insult my eyes every month just to follow it.

Look... I know there are different artistic styles. I'm not asking for Alex Ross here. But I'd like the people to actually be shaped like people, you know what I mean? That weird panel with Chase ripping into the sandwich... I mean, what were they thinking?

Superman 679
So Superman is getting his butt handed to him by Atlas. And Lana shows some moral fiber and gets fired from LexCorp by the cyberghost of Lex Luthor.

At least they cleared up that Zatanna thing between Clark and Lois. I was afraid they were heading for some serious creepiness there after last month. Honestly, I wouldn't put anything past TPTB at DC these days. Superman having an affair with Zatanna? Why not? But thankfully, it wasn't anything like that.

Still, Clark grew up in Kansas. Culturally, he isn't really an alien. So why didn't he get Lois' comment about Ireland? He's got a super-brain, no? And... is this before or after Lois winds up in a hospital bed so a Monitor-ette can bribe Superman into tootling around the multiverse in a Yellow Submarine? I'm so freaking confused about the timeline in the DCU these days.

It was nice to see Kara, though. Supergirl is into cats, clearly. I mean, we knew that from Streaky. But one of those cats looks distinctly unhappy about it. Does Supergirl just not notice that it's trying to eat her? And who shot her from space? Does Cat Grant have friends in the military? I mean: "hussy"? I did like the Hotel Hell touch, though. Even if the "4" was the triangle kind instead of the kind that actually looks like an upside-down "h".

I'm trying to figure out who's more protective of whom: Kal or Kara. I mean, Superman acts like a big brother ("Not her. Never--"), but Kara still remembers him as a baby, and when she heard he needed help, she was there.

Anyway, here's hoping that the next issue doesn't bite. Heh.

Blue Beetle 30
"I printed out this picture from my armor. The paper is made of dead skin cells and sweat." Awesome line of the week.

I want to see a teamup between Jaime and Ryan Choi. Honestly, that would be amazing. And I love the way that Jaime cares about the villains he's fighting. He's got heart. He's a teenager and he has teenage friends, and they act like teenagers. Granted, I could do without the little hearts floating in the air... it reminds me of the little kid Justice League over in Superman-Batman, but this is how to write a comic.

Reign In Hell 2
Meh. Yeah, I don't really have much more to say about it than that.

DC Universe - Last Will and Testament 1
Okay... I'll admit it. I don't have a clue what this was about. I mean, the world is ending? Superman has told them all that this is the end? Since when? What's this coming off of? Is this just out of order? Something that comes off of Final Crisis?

Not one single word of explanation about what's going on. Lots of great characterization. Robin being jealous of Nightwing's relationship with the Bat. Rocky playing pastor to everyone. Clark and Pa Kent. The defeat of Deathstroke. The dissolution of Brion Markov. But it was all painted against a backdrop of a situation that near as I can figure doesn't exist. That's frustrating. There's no bloody context here. Gah.

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