By Isaac Mills, Miles Baker and Owen K. Craig
You know the drill: we use a random number generator that selects random comics for us to review. We then blindly read whatever it chooses, regardless of issue, publisher, or knowledge of prior events. Enjoy.
Isaac’s Book
Supergirl #26
Written by Kelley Puckett
Art by Drew Johnson and Ray Snyder
DC Comics, 2008
First of all, Supergirl and I don’t mix. There have been a bunch of different Supergirls through the ages and this latest incarnation has been a… number of things I don’t like. She’s kind of the young pop starlet of the DC universe. So, yes, I was prejudiced against this book going in. That said, this particular issue has a number of things going for it. Most notably some neat twists on convention.
We’re introduced to the story with Supergirl getting out from under a giant rock with Superman standing by, clearly the result of a huge fight from the previous issue. Now she must learn the responsibilities of the comic hero trade: saving lives, not making promises you can’t keep, not breaking the bones of the puny humans you’re trying to save. All three things she fails at in this issue.
At the end of the issue something amazing happens. You know the part where the main character learns the lesson for the issue; that you have to know your limits, responsibility, yada yada, etc.? Well, we reach that part, and Supergirl basically goes and says she’ll find a cure for cancer. It was awesome. It was the exact opposite of what I was expecting, and that’s a good thing. Leaves us wondering what’ll happen in the future.
The art, done by two pencillers (Drew Johnson and Lee Ferguson) and two inkers (Ray Snyder and Marc Deering) is very nice. Simple and clean, it basically gets the job done as far as characters emoting and that sort of thing, however the people interacting with their environment is trouble. We don’t see Superman lift that rock off Supergirl in the beginning, and that’s a no-brainer cool visual to go for. There’s also one page where a building is in danger of collapsing, the art zooms dramatically towards the building, and there are cries in the air of danger but… it looks pretty sturdy to me.
Overall, it was a good issue, with some good ideas, some action and some character development. I still don’t like Supergirl, though.
Miles’ Book
North Wind #2
Written by David DiGilio
Illustrated by Alex Cal
Boom Studios, 2008
Sorry for the shortness of this review, readers, but I’m sitting in a hotel lobby in B.C. today, which is a pretty fitting setting to review North Wind because I’m surrounded by more snow that Ontario has known since the last ice age.
North Wind is set hundreds of years from now when the world has entered a new ice age. People live below ice sheets and scavenge for warmth, even resorting to burning books. The concept is pretty good – but that’s where the good pretty much ends for me. While the setting has some originality, that’s the only thing that does. Our main character is a stock young boy of a stock strong tribe leader whose stock tribe is wiped out. There are some stock villains and even a stock mentor and a stock revenge plot. And it all happens at a fast clip. Within 24 pages or so we meet a boy, his tribe is killed, he’s found by some mysterious man of the ice, years pass and the man-of-the-ice-turned-mentor dies, and then the boy (now a man) swears revenge for all the shit that’s happened to him.
This all could be very good if I’m given enough time to care about any of these characters. But seriously, that zen ice mentor guy needed to give me a little more than two lines of his bullshit “cycle of life” philosophy before dying. Maybe show me something between these two characters.
The writer blew it. He had a good concept but is trying to cram too much into too little space. Kind of like me and this review!
Owen’s Book
Uncanny X-Men #495
Written by Ed Brubaker
Pencils and inks by Michael Choi
Marvel Comics, 2008
I’ve always loved aftermath stories. In fact, sometimes I even find the aftermath stories more fun and engaging than the battles themselves. One of my favourite Buffy episodes (“Restless”) focuses on how all the main characters are feeling after fighting a big bad. As an aftermath issue, though, this one is decidedly mixed.
Brubaker takes a time out to remind readers that Emma and Scott are for realsies in love and that it’s not just loneliness and lust keeping them together. This is shown by having them take a vacation in the Savage Land and visiting with their old pals Ka-Zar and Sheena. All of this is well and good, but aside from the “Scott and Emma’s vacation” montage section it wasn’t too much fun. Still, it was more fun (and necessary) than yet ANOTHER “Tony Stark is a jerk” scene. Yeesh.
What I certainly did love was the Nightcrawler, Colossus and Wolverine buddy-style trip. Wolverine tampering with Nightcrawler’s image-inducer? Just reminds me of old times. And I mean that in the best possible way. Speaking of reminding me of old times, 60s San Fransisco? They’ve guaranteed my money for the next issue.
