Monday, August 4, 2008

What I Read This Week


Justice Society of America Annual #1 -- Last time in Justice Society of America, Gog sent Power Girl back to Earth-2!  But this is not the Earth-2 we all know and potentially love.  Who is the Justice Society Infinity, for one thing?  And why does Power Girl not remember how she "left" this world in the first place?  Johns and Ordway are game here, with Johns seemingly really pushing for a strong subplot for Power Girl as well as a way to address the new Earth-2 createsd in the wake of 52.  Ordway's pencils are nice in a classic sort of way, but don't always jive with the modern coloring techniques applied to them.  I was disappointed that this was the start of a mystery moreso than a homecoming, but at least it is an intriguing mystery.

Joker's Asylum: Two-Face -- Two-Face meets his opposite number in a man scarred in a remarkably similar manner to him, but instead of becoming a criminal, the man has become a respected member of society.  Harvey, of course, won't stand for this and sets up a social experiment of sorts to determine the true nature of the man, and by extension of Man himself.  Excellent "done in one" by writer David Hines and artist Andy Clarke, which does a great job of encapsulating just what the character of Two-Face is all about, both his neurosis and his philosophies.  The art is evocative, and really well suited to a dark, mean-spirited story like this one.  Fans who recently became interested in Harvey Dent via The Dark Knight will enjoy this story, as will more seasoned Two-Face fans like myself.

Project Superpowers #5 -- The Dynamic family moves to quash the return of the Superpowers on national TV, but the gambit backfires, forcing them to break out a different tactic -- swaying the public opinion.  The main problems with this title as I see it are that the characters which I am interested in -- who have some spotlight this time out, at least -- are not the ones which Ross (and thus Jim Krueger) is interested in telling stories about, so my interest wans as the series goes on.  The art, by Carlos Paul, remains very nice, and I am going to stick with this series until the end, but it's going to tale a big uptick in entertainment factor for me to continue with any of the spinoffs or sequels.  

Caliber #4 -- In what is becoming a theme, the art here is gorgeous, but the story is a big mess.  Very confusing (where did the trapped miners come from, exactly?) and hard to follow overall; I am hoping a read-through of the entire series will be more enlightening.

The Pick Of The Pile is Joker's Asylum, which barely edged out JSoA.  Being self contained almost always helps an issue out in my book, and this issue did so in a very satisfying manner.

So what did YOU read this week?

3 comments:

Diabolu Frank said...

I'm still debating "Project: Superpowers" when its released in softcover. Which characters were you interested in? Not?

Rick L. Phillips said...

I went to my comic book shop last week and didnt see project superpowers #5 so I thought it was late. I guess they sold out. I'll have to see if there is another store that still has it.
Personally I like all of the heroes and I hate that Daredevil has to be called Devil for copyright reasons. If they keep publishing these characters I imagine that Black Terror will become a villain or an anti-hero. It seems that is the road that he is headed down.
I don't understand who Dark Horse can publish the Green Lama Archives but Dynamite can use him in this series?

Diabolu Frank said...

They're all in the public domain, so the only relevant matter is trademark. Dynamite can't put out a book called "The Green Lama," but the character is fair game. You or I could do the same thing tomorrow, if we wished.