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Arrow S02E09 – Review

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, Ben Sokolowski (story)

The Story: This will teach Oliver to distrust the life-saving powers of rat poison.

The Review: I still get a little mental jolt every time I encounter a decidedly non-comic-booky person who says he or she loves Arrow.  As delighted as I am, it’s all I can do to stop myself from asking suspiciously, “Why?”  The popularity of superhero movies, each one a massive dose of generally undemanding escapism, I can understand.  A TV show requires a certain amount of commitment, so how does Arrow earn it without playing on pure fanship?

For this episode, I tried looking at it through the lens of someone who had little to no connection with the DCU or its mythology at all, which was perhaps bad timing on my part.  Arrow has long outgrown throwing in the obligatory Easter Eggs; DC mainstays now make up a significant demographic of the show’s population, and it’s not just second or third-tier figures, either.  Here, the show is clearly confident enough to take on the big leagues, from the return of Deathstroke (with eye-patch, most importantly), the birth of Solomon Grundy, and Barry Allen’s transformation into the Flash—and you don’t get any bigger than that.
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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E10 – Review

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Shalisha Francis (story)

The Story: It’s our second-favorite super-soldier to the rescue!

The Review: I’m not the first critic to point this out about S.H.I.E.L.D., but it always bears repeating that this show hasn’t done a very good job convincing anyone that it takes place in a universe of superheroes.  As “The Well”‘ demonstrated, even episodes which directly tie into an Avenger’s storyline seem to have a distant relationship to the actual Avengers, and aside from a few obscure references, S.H.I.E.L.D. has barely leveraged Marvel continuity at all.

This would be acceptable if the show at least had integrity in its own material, but the writers have done a poor job creating any sense of cohesion among its various moving parts or across the season thus far.  Most of the proffered episodes could easily stand alone, with only a couple minor character arcs to give you the sense there’s a bigger story here.  This episode is thus crucial to the show’s long-term prospects; before we break for the holidays, we have to get at least some kind of plotline we can invest our interest in.  Skye’s search for her parents and the interminable angst surrounding Coulson’s termination just won’t cut it.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Trillium #5 – Review

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Jeff Lemire (story & art), José Villarrubia (colors)

The Story: Looks like someone got up in the wrong timeline this morning.

The Review: You got to give credit to Lemire; the man does not let the grass grow under his feet.  On the face of it, a time-travel romance sounds like it should be a slow burn of a read, but Lemire has taken the complete opposite tack.  Not only has Nika and William’s relationship deepened in an incredibly short amount of time, but the series has really sped through its plot points, causing more cataclysmic changes in just five issues than some titles do in twenty-five.

Certainly you didn’t expect that by issue five the whole fabric of the Trillium universe would be rewritten, switching the places of our two protagonists and amending the time-space continuum to accommodate the change.  It’s an unexpected development, but it’s also important for what it means for the story.  It means the temple Commander Pohl foolishly tried to destroy last month can do much more than send people back and forth to predetermined points in time, a purely passive ability of a man-made object.  The breadth and completeness of the reality change indicates some higher, thinking power at work.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews, Vertigo | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Swamp Thing #26 – Review

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Charles Soule (story), Jesus Saiz (art), Matthew Wilson (colors)

The Story: What Buddy didn’t want for Christmas: a throwdown with Swamp Thing.

The Review: You don’t need to be an English major to recognize certain archetypical characters and relationships in storytelling.  For any consumer of popular fiction, one dynamic that should be particularly familiar is that of teacher-student, also known as master-apprentice or mentor-mentee.  Sooner or later, to the point of being a foregone conclusion, there’ll always be that tension when the pupil wants to know more than the instructor is willing to give.

Jason Woodrue fits very neatly into the subservient half of this age-old relationship.  His development from well-meaning, tree-hugging nerd into a manic-obsessive pawn of both the supernatural and occult follows well-worn paths of countless overeager students before him, and while Soule executes these old tropes with great credibility, he does little to set Jason apart from other desperately ambitious characters in the same class.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Hinterkind #3 – Review

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Ian Edginton (story), Francesco Trifogli (art), Cris Peter (colors)

The Story: If there’s one thing all can bond over, it’s the addictive qualities of daytime soaps.

The Review: There are few true victims in the conflicts between races.  Oh, there may be an a genuine dispute if you go back far enough, but at a certain point, no one can really claim to be on the high road anymore.  Whether one is the instigator or the one reacting in vengeance, both are doing wrong to the other, and for as long as the conflict continues, there are no people on the side of justice—only those who profit and those who don’t.

That’s pretty much the scenario we see between humanity and the Hinterkind, or most of them at least.  It’s unclear how many subscribe to the view Jon Hobb self-righteously proclaims to Prosper in this issue, that the Hinterkind simply let humanity do its own thing then “retreated into myth” as a consequence.  It’s impossible to believe the Hinterkind were as passive as all that, especially when so many of them seem so naturally inclined to prey on humans (“Eat you all up, an’ suck out your marrow!”  “Leave nothin’ but a rag, a bone and a hank of hair!”).  It’s much more likely that the more uncouth Hinterkind gave in to their impulses and mankind defended itself, with prejudice.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews, Vertigo | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Earth Two #18 – Review

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Tom Taylor (story), Nicola Scott (pencils), Trevor Scott (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: Earth-2 experiences a horrifying moment of déjà vu.

The Review: I don’t know if it was James Robinson or someone higher up who decided Earth-2 should come out a little unluckier in the war against Apokolips, but whoever it was, he ought to be congratulating himself right now.  While Earth-3 had the luck to fall quickly to the invasion, Earth-2 has just experienced a seemingly endless decline.  Each issue visits more devastation on the planet, and just when you think it can’t get worse, you read the next month’s issue.

It didn’t have to turn out this way.  When the first wave of new Wonders appeared in #6, that could have been a turning point for this world, a dawning age of hope for the traumatized planet.  Nope.  Instead, we get the return of Apokolips, led by its infamous general, supported by three new, unstoppable heralds, one of whom is a perversion of Earth-2’s (formerly) noblest protector, who proceeds to eliminate the world’s combined military forces, destroy a continent, and then unleash another horde of monsters upon the planet.
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Action Comics #26 – Review

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Greg Pak (story), Aaron Kuder (art), June Chung (colors)

The Story: Superman, this is no time to play fetch with the rampaging monster!

The Review: Last month I expressed bafflement over what I took to be a back-up feature in Pak’s debut issue on Action Comics.  Now that I see that little ditty was just the springboard for his first true arc, I don’t know whether I should be feeling chagrin, embarrassment, or validation over my earlier remarks.  While the folks who caught #25 will be glad to get right into the action, those who skipped it will have missed out on some important logistical groundwork.

Not that important, though, which makes you think the only reason Pak put his prologue in #25 was to get some additional breathing space here.  The trade-off pays off, as Pak delivers a tale of heartfelt action-adventure worthy of our star.  While the issue starts off in typically superhero fashion—Superman warding off a giant underground cave monster—it quickly takes on shades of light comedy, human drama, and sci-fi reminiscent of All-Star Superman.  Weirdly enough, it feels more like All-Star Superman than even Grant Morrison’s beginning run on this series.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Green Arrow #26 – Review

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Andrea Sorrentino (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)

The Story: Even on a deserted island, there are local treasures.

The Review: I never did read the early run of this series, so I don’t have a precise idea of what the general direction or tone of it was, but my understanding is that pre-Lemire, Green Arrow was a more high-tech, street-driven version of your typical Batman comic.  Had the series remained on this track, it probably would have been doomed to failure.  It invited too many unflattering comparisons, and prevented its star from truly developing his own identity.

So while Lemire’s efforts on the title have produced mixed results in terms of individual issues, the whole scheme of Green Arrow has definitely changed for the better.  The introduction of the Outsiders and the various weapon clans that compose them drew the title away from the urban crime it used to wallow in before, and with this issue, Lemire firmly leads Green Arrow into a newer, more mystical era.  Within that framework, Ollie is less a vigilante in the sub-Batman mold, but an adventurer and survivalist a la Indiana Jones or Nathan Drake.*
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Young Avengers #13 – Review

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Kieron Gillen (story), Jamie McKelvie (art), Stephen Thompson & Mike Norton (inks) Matthew Wilson (colors)

The Story: All it takes is one kiss to save the universe.

The Review: Looking at the cover to this issue, there’s a bit of false advertising going on.  It seems to suggest this title is about a group of diverse, confident, noble youths, working as a team to do some good in the world, when it’s actually about a god accomplishing his own ends and figuring himself out while a group of diverse, confident, noble youths try to do some good in the background.  Heck, Loki isn’t even on the cover, yet he’s dominated the series thus far.

You can’t really blame Gillen for playing favorites; Loki has been a pet character for him since Journey Into Mystery and under Gillen’s pen, Loki has been more charismatic and interesting than he has in ages—outside the movies, of course.  But when you hold a series out as a team effort, there are limits to how much you can train the spotlight on only one member.  Once Gillen reveals Leah as a magical byproduct of his own guilty conscience,* making Loki his own antagonist, it takes the series’ singular focus to a kind of excess.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Fairest #21 – Review

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Shawn McManus (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Cinderella discovers a love-hate relationship with mice.

The Review: When I finished reading this issue, I immediately went back and flipped through it again—not because it was so great that I had to experience it again, but because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing pages.  Without a doubt, this is the thinnest issue, plot-wise, that I’ve ever read.  I’ve done some short reviews in my time, but I think this will have to be the shortest because there simply enough material to review.

I want to make it clear from the outset that this doesn’t mean the issue was bad, necessarily, only that it’s grossly inefficient.  The first three pages, for example, are a complete waste, a partial retelling of Cinderella’s original origin story that’s charming, but far less so than what you’ve seen from Disney pictures.  Why Andreyko decided to start here and not with the invigorating sequence of Snow White fending off an assassination attempt by a band of ninja mouse-men is baffling, to say the least.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews, Vertigo | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Batman/Superman #6 – Review

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Greg Pak (story), Brett Booth (pencils), Norm Rapmund (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors)

The Story: Batman versus Superman.  Round one.  Fight!

The Review: A little aside, if you will, before we get down to business.  So I just lived through one of the most hideous final exams in my life, and I’ve taken some real doozies in my time.  It was one of those exams where the week or so studying for it was quite nearly as awful as taking the damn thing itself.  I was positive all along that the experience was going to be horrible, and it was, but not quite as much as I’d imagined.

Sadly enough, I can’t say the same for this latest installment of what has been a most bizarre story arc.  Not that the plot itself is all that complicated.  It’s easy enough to understand that through some highly advanced technological means, our dual heroes and the world around them has been transformed into one highly realistic video game.  The real question is: why?  I ask that not only of the story itself, but also of Pak’s intentions in writing it in the first place.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Arrow S02E08 – Review

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns (story)

The Story: No time for nerd love when there be superhumans romping about.

The Review: Not that Arrow has ever been ashamed of its superhero roots, but for a long time, the show shied away from anything that would classify as “super.”  Obviously, this was part of an attempt to present Arrow as a semi-realistic and grounded superhero adaptation in the mold of the recent Batman movies, but there’s also always the risk that bringing in characters flashier and more powerful than our hero himself would marginalize him in his own show.

That doesn’t quite happen in this episode, but you can see the potential threat the moment we’re introduced to a bona fide superhuman as well as the mere promise of one.  The former, gifted with most basic gifts of prodigious strength and durability, gives Ollie so good a thrashing that his allies are forced to resort to the most drastic measures to save his life.  The latter, even with no special powers to speak of at present, receives such prominence—which is due just from his iconography—that he at times overshadows even Ollie’s presence in the episode.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Letter 44 #2 – Review

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Charles Soule (story), Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque (art), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Everyone stay calm, and try not to die until oxygen is restored.

The Review: I don’t know what this says about my childhood, but I distinctly remember that my first exposure to aliens involved a lot of old-school TV: the Coneheads from Saturday Night Live, Spock on Star Trek, and Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Even as a kid, I found it puzzling that so many supposed aliens were basically humans with a lot of makeup on.  Now I see it as evidence of the difficulty people have in seeing beyond their own experiences.

The characters in Letter 44 all, to a certain degree, grapple with this same difficulty as they try to wrap their heads around the outer space visitors hanging out in the asteroid belt.  In explaining to Stephen why the Carroll administration took the steps that it did after the initial discovery of the foreigners, Dr. Portek offers a highly logical and straightforward analysis that’s still infected by all-too-human reasoning.  A big linchpin in his argument for defensive action is, “[i]f they wanted to learn about us, they would already be here talking to us.  Exploration and anthropology do not require constructs the size of the moon.”  But isn’t this an entirely terran framework Portek is using?  Who’s to say how an advanced species would approach its studies?
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Filed under: Oni Press, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Pretty Deadly #2 – Review

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (story), Emma Rios (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors)

The Story: Give two women some swords and it turns into a bloodbath.

The Review: Every writer has the prerogative to let a story develop at her chosen pace.  That means some information will be purposely kept from us until the time is right, which in turn means a waiting period between payoffs.  Until then, if a writer expects us to invest in something we don’t quite understand, she’s got to use the rest of the story to convince us that there’s something worth waiting for.  Stories like these can ill afford any low points.

This is why DeConnick’s bunny-and-butterfly framing device has me kind of concerned.  While it may serve as a visual treat for Rios, it doesn’t really do anything but distract your attention from the narrative at hand.  Every time they pop up, you can’t help having a slightly jarring What the…? moment, and not in a pleasantly surprising sort of way, but sort of mildly irritating sort of way.  DeConnick surely has a plan in mind for the two creatures, but frankly, it’s hard to imagine any kind of use that will sell a whole series’ with them as narrators.
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Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Saga #16 – Review

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Brian K. Vaughan (story), Fiona Staples (art)

The Story: What’s worse than being a war criminal?  How about a war criminal who acts?

The Review: If there’s one thing I’ve learned from both creative writing and improv comedy, it’s the magic of details.  It really doesn’t take all that much to flesh out a story; even just one salient detail or factoid can suggest a wealth of information about a character, place, or thing.  The power of human experience to flesh out a story with only a little prompting is unparalleled—which is why any story that feels lifeless or flat is truly a stain on a writer’s craftsmanship.

Conversely, a mark of excellence in a writer is the ability to leverage a single detail to his advantage, something which Vaughan does constantly.  Alana notes in passing that, “I used to check [the Open Circuit—a semi-illegal entertainment channel] out after my mom passed out.”  In that one statement, you have a big chunk of Alana’s formative years in miniature: a neglectful, substance-abusing mother who simultaneously afforded Alana the freedom to explore the seedier side of life early on, partly as a form of escape from an unhappier circumstances.  In turn, this informs us on the person Alana has become; she nurtures Hazel in a way her mother didn’t; she’s freethinking and daring because she’s been brought up that way; and she’s always ready to run from the harsh realities of life.
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Hawkeye #14 – Review

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Matt Fraction (story), Annie Wu (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors)

The Story: She got more bounce in California than all yours combined.

The Review: Apologies for the long delay between reviews, but I’m sure you understand when I say I really needed to take advantage of the holiday break.  With Thanksgiving behind us, I hope everyone is counting their blessings right around now.  I, for one, am very thankful to have a title like Hawkeye on my monthly pull list.  After so many titles fraught with implausible plots and high drama, it’s refreshing to get a comedic dose of street-based entertainment.

That’s especially the case with this issue, which once again gives Kate Bishop a star turn.  I’d say Kate has really been the breakout character of this series, charming readers with her irresistible blend of confidence, sensitivity, and strong moral compass.  In fact, she reminds me a lot of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, which is a big plus in my book.  What draws you to both characters is how little division there is between their civilian and costumed selves; whether suited up or not, their personalities remain essentially the same.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Aquaman #25 – Review

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Geoff Johns (story), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Rod Reis (colors)

The Story: This ocean ain’t big enough for the two of us.

The Review: To say that Aquaman is as much a creature of the land as the sea seems to be stating the obvious until you consider the dearth of Aquaman stories which take place on the surface.  Writers naturally put Arthur in the water by default, but doing so probably marginalized Arthur’s value on land over time.  By returning Arthur to his lighthouse home, Johns was pushing to show that Aquaman can be as much a hero out of water as in it.

Which is why it’s such a shame to see Johns backtracking from that initial push as his run on the title winds down.  After so many issues developing Arthur’s domestic life in Amnesty Bay, this issue renders all that effort moot by committing him to his undersea kingdom indefinitely.  Granted, this was always going to be his destiny anyway; choosing to remain in a small coast town would limit his adventures pretty severely.  But leaving now feels premature, since Johns has only scratched the surface of Arthur’s surface life.*
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #28 – Review

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz (story), Mateus Santolouco (art), Ronda Pattison & Ian Herring (colors)

The Story: Just because they’re all a bunch of reptiles doesn’t mean they can’t be family!

The Review: City Fall has been by far the most ambitious storyline on this series yet, not only for its scope—the sheer number of characters involved is nothing short of impressive—but also for the layers in its plot.  On one level, the arc is about a city under threat from a massive reorganization in its society from an invading force.  Yet beneath all that, this arc is about family, and the loyalty one does or doesn’t owe as a result of that bond.

So even though City Fall ends with Shredder’s ultimate and near-absolute triumph, having taken effective control of the city’s underworld, the issue spends hardly any time relishing in the event.  Instead, we see the members of Shredder and Splinter’s respective camps grappling with the consequences the battle they just survived, all forced to reevaluate their definition of family in light of this most recent trial.
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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E09 – Review

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon (story)

The Story: If you think oil and water don’t mix, try romance, religion, and science.

The Review: Each time I watch an episode of this show, I can’t help imagining what the pitch meeting was like.  I see a generic executive’s office, all mahogany, plush carpet, and glass, a pristine city skyline in the background.  An unnamed businessman, with excellent hair and a gray suit from Brooks Brothers, reclines in his leather spinny chair, his fingertips pressed together.  In front of his desk, a member of the Whedon family, perched eagerly on the edge of his seat.

“It’s a tie-in,” Whedon says, “a ‘spin-off,’ if you want it in TV talk—to the Marvel movies.  You know, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America…”

“Oh, right,” says the exec, checking his gold-plated iPhone for texts from his hooker.

“Well, anyway, it’s about a group of people with special abilities who come together to save the world from crazy, superpowered threats.”

“The Avengers?”

“No—S.H.I.E.L.D.”  Upon the exec’s unblinking stare, Whedon goes on, “It’s that group of government agents who help the Avengers.  See, they won’t have superpowers, but they’re pretty good at fighting and shooting things and sometimes doing science.  Most of the episodes will be about them flying around in a giant plane investigating things that might have something to do with superheroes but mostly won’t.  When they’re not doing that, they’ll pretend that they’re a cross between Firefly and Mission: Impossible—not the movie, but the show.  And Clark Gregg will kind of be like the Peter Graves character, only with less impressive hair.”
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Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Wake #5 – Review

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Scott Snyder (story), Sean Murphy (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors)

The Review: I discovered one of my all-time favorite books when I was in elementary school: D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths.*  Though nearly every story within its pages is a treasure, one that really struck me at the time was the Deucalion legend, when Zeus flooded the land for what he saw as man’s transgressions.  The similarities to Noah’s Ark were not lost on me, and noticing that was perhaps the first subtle shift in my understanding of religion, history, culture.

As it turns out, the Greeks and Hebrews weren’t the only ones with flood tales, or “hafgufa,” as Dr. Marin calls them in this issue.  He cites, in rather chilling fashion, ancient texts from Babylon, China, and India, all recounting the anguish and near extinction of humanity from an unimaginable and unexplainable torrent of water.  Though the cause of this seemingly universal disaster remains a mystery in the real world, Snyder uses it quite effectively for his own purposes, simultaneously linking his present storyline with the one to come, and laying out the relationship between The Wake’s creatures and mankind: hostile.
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Daredevil #33 – Review

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Mark Waid & Chris Samnee (story), Jason Copland (art), Javier Rodriguez (colors)

The Story: One devil gets tempted by another.

The Review: If there’s one area where the mainstream superhero genre falls short and will always fall short, it’s in achieving a sense of fatality.  Comic book resurrections are so ingrained in the business now that pretty much no one takes a superhero’s death (or, more accurately, the appearance of it) seriously anymore.*  Nowadays, you don’t encounter such occasions with emotional interest so much as curiosity as to how the inevitable recovery will come about.

Not even the apparent deaths of fully mortal heroes like Daredevil can elicit much reaction.  Indeed, if you were actually inclined to wait on tenterhooks to see his ultimate fate, you’ll only suffer a greater feeling of anticlimax as Matt’s chest wound gets magicked into submission within the first few pages.  It’s a funny thing when the protagonist’s near-death experience becomes the least important part of a story, but that’s the modern comic book for you.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Batwoman #25 – Review

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen


By: Marc Andreyko (story), Trevor McCarthy, Andrea Mutti, Pat Olliffe, Jim Fern (art), Jay Leisten & Tom Nguyen (inks), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Forget the wrath of Mother Nature; there are common criminals to worry about!

The Review: DC’s handling of this title has been so erratic that I didn’t even know that #24 was J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman’s final one until I saw the credits on this issue.  I could have sworn they had at least another issue before departing, but I guess DC was eager to tie Batwoman into all the Zero Year craziness, and Williams-Blackman didn’t feel like being good sports about a crossover given the circumstances of why they left in the first place.

That’s all to say that Andreyko couldn’t have started his run on this series under worse circumstances.  Not only is he coming in while tensions over his predecessors’ departure are still simmering, he has to simultaneously deal with the inconclusive arc left in their wake as well as a tie-in to another storyline altogether.  In this situation, Andreyko is kind of like the hapless stepparent who joins a family that just went through a hideous divorce, leaving the household in debt and forcing them to move.  Unhappiness is nearly guaranteed.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

The Legend of Korra S02E13 & E14 – Review

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Joshua Hamilton & Michael Dante DiMartino (story)

The Story: Korra must learn to use her blues to defeat darkness for good.

The Review: It occurred to me that the separation of the physical and spirit worlds really seemed to be a very sensible decision at the time.  Humankind had only just started to venture from the protection of the lion-turtles, and only some had any power to defend themselves against the more numerous, long-lived, and powerful spirits.  Had the status quo remained, spirits would most likely have dominated humanity for ages, if not forever.

I bring this up in light of—spoiler alert—Korra’s decision to leave the portals between worlds open at the end of the episode, allowing spirits to live alongside humanity once more.  She doesn’t give a very clear reason for this; she only suspects, without explaining why, that humans and spirits weren’t meant to live apart and that Avatar Wan made a mistake in concluding otherwise.  This, even though all evidence at the time went to the contrary.  The better rationale for keeping the portals open is that humanity has finally moved away from the endless wars of the past, and with their rapid technological progress, preserving their spirituality has become more important than ever.
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Young Avengers #12 – Review

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Kieron Gillen (story), Jamie McKelvie (art), Stephen Thompson & Mike Norton (inks) Matthew Wilson (colors)

The Story: As they say, the hope of the future lies in our world’s children.

The Review: It kind of surprised me when I realized that this series is a year old now.  Relatively, one year is nothing in the lifetimes of ongoing comics.  At best, a title can manage to push out two, maybe three, arcs within that period, which isn’t a whole lot of room to establish a fully-fleshed out world, much less rock it with big, revolutionary changes.  But a year’s worth of issues isn’t something to sniff at, either.  You can cover a lot of ground in that amount of time.

With Young Avengers, Gillen hasn’t gotten nearly as far as he should after a dozen issues.  The core Young Avengers were already pretty well-established going in, so it’s not as if Gillen had a lot of character development he had to go through in his story.  In theory, the only work before him was to create a compelling storyline and explore the appeal and dynamics of his heroes.  Somehow, Gillen has fallen short in both tasks.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Wonder Woman #25 – Review

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Brian Azzarello (story) Goran Sudžuka (art), Matthew Wilson (colors)

The Story: Sibling rivalries take on new meaning when gods are involved.

The Review: One of the frequent criticisms of this title, and one that I often levy myself, is that Wonder Woman feels strangely out of place in a series where she’s supposedly the star.  Perhaps this is evidence that Azzarello is not so much interested in his heroine herself as the possibilities of her world.  There’s no denying that he’s taken her mythological background and mined it extravagantly, turning the Olympians into the best part of the series.

So he can hardly be blamed for spending so much of each issue featuring their various schemes at the cost of crowding out Diana.  And I use “crowding out” very purposely; with us barely noticing it, Azzarello has given Wonder Woman one of the biggest ongoing casts of all the new 52 titles.  Give any two or three Olympians a scene of their own, tack on some panels for Diana’s core crew, and naturally she’ll wind up with little page-time for herself.
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Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

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