By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Scott Clark, Joe Prado (artists), Vicente Cifuentes, David Beaty, Mark Irwin, Christian Alamy (inkers)
The Story: Dead Zone: The Martian Manhunter is hunting a murderer, but discovers some creepy truths about his resurrection in the process. Boston Brand, Hawk and Dove plumb the subtleties of the white ring. Firestorm (Ronnie and Jason) discover that their club may not be as exclusive as they thought. And, Aquaman gets the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from Mera. Oracle also makes a nice cameo.
What’s Good: Johns and Tomasi have a lot of irons in this fire, but they haven’t made any major missteps yet. The tension is each vignette is palpable and complete for the issue. And each set of events for each character pushes forward the plot a little more. The little secrets of the white lantern and of the resurrections are being unraveled *very* slowly, but it is fun. The writing is well done and depends on readers who want a bit of subtle coloring to dialogue and events. Johns and Tomasi have such control that they mixed humor and drama together in a couple of scenes without having one trump the other. The white ring saying “He loves cheeseburgers” is hilarious, but when you think about the implications, and that this is the second big message about the meaning of the white lantern, it gets your hair standing on end. Same thing with Ronnie’s drunk (or hangover), but for different reasons. Only with Johns and Tomasi are you going to get the equation Humor + Drama = Chilling Insight That Made You Wish You Hadn’t Laughed.
Artwise, it’s sometimes hard to figure out where one artist’s/inker’s contribution ends and another starts, but overall, the quality of the work is evocative, effective, textured, clear and natural. The action and layouts told the story with beauty and economy. There were tense, emotional moments that could not have come from a writer’s pen alone. Mera and Aquaman had a really painful scene that showed in their expressions. Martian Manhunter’s stiff upper lip belied the situation, but said a lot about his clinical personality. Jason’s reactions, to his classmate and Ronnie, said worlds about the emotional place he’s in.
What’s Not So Good: While all the art told the story and had its good moments, some of the art on Firestorm and the later Martian Manhunter seemed a bit crude to me (proportions, perspective, texture, even shadowing). Faces looked different on different pages (Oracle, Martian Manhunter especially, while Superboy looked nothing like his appearances elsewhere). Under other circumstances it might not have stood out so much, but when the same issue also contains some really first rate artwork, you’ve got the fire on all cylinders.
Conclusion: Minor art problems aside, this book is certainly worth its $2.99 cover price and is a good investment for fans of the cosmic in the DCU.
Grade: B
-DS Arsenault
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