Comics

Reverse-Flash #1

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Reverse-Flash #1I’ve been very selective in my choices for the villain .1 issues DC has put out as part of their Forever Evil tie-in. Some have been okay, while others have been mass printed travesties (kind of like the New 52 in general). I was hopeful for The Flash #23.2 as timing actually matched up well for co-writers Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato to offer up the origins of the New 52’s version of the Reverse-Flash. As my pal Aaron likes to say, some presents are best left unwrapped.

There’s really no kind way to state how awful this comic truly is. I can’t lay the blame at artist Scott Hepburn who does a fair, if somewhat uninspired, job standing in for Manapul. I can, however, blame the two writers who spend an entire issue focusing on what only can be described as a whiny bitch of a character.

This comic, and Danny West‘s constant complaining, are brutally uninteresting. He whines about his childhood. He whines about his father. He whines about the accident that gave him super-powers. He whines, in case you haven’t gotten the point, incessantly.

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Red Sonja #3

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Red Sonja #3Lost in the mountains, delirious and near death, Red Sonja‘s encounter with a white stag forces the She-Devil with a Sword to cease fighting the plague which is slowly killing her and lay down in the snow to await death. However, it appears the world isn’t quite down with Sonja just yet as Ayla and Nias arrive with news of a cure.

Most of Red Sonja #3 takes place in an extended flashback sequence giving writer Gail Simone her chance to relate Red Sonja’s bloody origins and the young warrior’s first kill (slowly followed by 20 or so more) after being forced to watch her village ransacked and burned and her family and friends killed for no reason other than the boredom of the horde that cuts through them with wicked glee.

In the sequences that follow we see Sonja bury the members of her tribe before setting out for vengeance against those who have wronged them. One-by-one the forest girl hunts down and takes her own bloody vengeance on those who have destroyed everything she loved.

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Astro City #4

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Astro City #4It seems like a foregone conclusion in comics that someone born, or later gifted/cursed, with super-powers will one day take their place as either a super-hero or super-villain. According to the latest issue of Astro City, that’s not necessarily the case.

Focusing on Martha Sullivan, a telekinetic who uses her powers not for personal gain or glory or to save the world, Astro City #4 gives us a look at an individual who uses her powers to get by but has no interest in using them as part of a grander design. Ben Parker may have called this selfish, but Martha and others known as Sideliners simply want to live their life in peace and relative anonymity.

Of course when villains such as the ridiculous Majordomo show up to forcibly recruit those like Martha who have no interest in their conquest, the Sidelineres do know how to defend themselves. Once again writer Kurt Busiek and artist Brent Anderson find another niche in super-hero comics to explore with entertaining results. Worth a look.

[Vertigo, $2.99]

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #25

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #25Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine comes to a close with Buffy and the Scoobies fighting for their lives inside The Deeper Well against Simone and the demon Maloker. With the new seed ready to burst, and return magic back into the world, Buffy’s friends are able to make it to safety leaving the Slayer one-on-one with the turned Simone for control of the Scythe.

There’s plenty of action in this final issue as Buffy is finally able to stake the bitch and make it out of The Deeper Well and rejoin her friends. With magic returned, Willow and the Scoobies are able to bring Dawn back and set everything right with the world. Well… almost everything.

The issue’s final panels show us the rules have changed as the laws of magic, vampires, and possibly much more are all different under the new seed than the old. Although Buffy and her companions survive (sadly without Illyria who doesn’t make it out of the Well), the world they return to may be far different than the one they left. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Codename: Action #1

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Codename: Action #1Set during the Cold War, the first issue of the new six-issue mini-series from writer Chris Roberson and artist Jonathan Lau is an old James Bond-style spy thriller. Codename: Action #1 introduces us to newly appointed Operative 1001 who will work with the much more seasoned Operator 5 to stop a hidden force pushing the world to the brink of World War III by replacing influential figures on both sides of the Iron Curtain with doppelgangers determined for war.

Codename: Action #1 works as a spy thriller, although I’m not sure how the super-hero element (such as introducing Captain Action at the end of this issue) is going to work without changing the tone of the mini-series.

I have mixed feelings about Jonathan Lau’s art, but the action scenes definitely have a spy flavor to them and work better than the less action-packed panels. With Operative 1001’s graduation assignment, the car chase, and an aerial training manuever by a bevy of French female spies, there’s plenty of action for a comic with the word in its title. Worth a look.

[Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99]

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