Random DC Comic Reviews

 John Stewart: The Emerald Knight #1.....1.5 Stars There are certain writers at DC that are making me re-learn the hard lesson of pocket book pain when it comes to comic books. In short, comic books in Canada cost around $7.00 to $8.00 dollars or more, which is a far cry from when I was little and was able to buy a comic for under a dollar. Back then, there was no such thing as pocket book pain in relation to comics, because if I bought 10 comics with my monthly allowance, I could live with a few stinkers, because I could be assured that the bulk of them would be of good quality, unfortunately that is not the case today.  Now I am still reeling from the absolutely horrible Grifter Christmas special, plus Zdarky's screw up, (who I generally hold in high regard) so I will make this review very brief, in general the comic was unreadable. The concept of John Stewart becoming an angelic being was quite interesting, but unfortunately it was executed very poorly. The story could have...

  Batman #130 As a self professed Chip Zdarsky fanboy, I have been looking to postpone the painful review of this issue that has been rightfully critisized by comic book fans on forums and you tube. That being said, I'm not going to give it one star, it is very readable, it's just not very realistically written when you take into account the probablity of what Batman realistically can and cannot do.  Realistacally, Batman could fight an epic super villain in space and survive, though the probabilty would be rather low, but what he probably couldn't do is float for hours in space, while guiding a piece of scrap metal debris towards the earth, survive not burning up in the atmosphere with only the fabric of his specialized suit protecting him, and then someohow survive a fall from space to the earth by guiding himself to the fortress of solitude with his cape! Absurd!!!  When reading this, one cannot help but think that your watching a Pierce Brosnen James Bond movie like D...

DC's Grifter Got Run Over By a Reindeer   I don't usually hand out 1 star's, but if your looking to add a little bit of grinch into your festive holiday cheer than buy this, because you will wish that you could return it and get your money back.  There are some interesting characters in here for sure, but one of my guages for determining if a comic is really bad, is if I find it unreadable with some of my favourite characters in it, let alone characters that don't really resonate with me, and this is the case with this comic. I was looking forward to a fun Christmas story arch with Black Canary & Constantine, but what I got instead, was an absurd storyline of the pair in a super hero indie rock band, apparently defeating Granny Goodness by singing and playing instruments. One could see the logic in this story arch, Canary has her cry, and Constantine has his magic, but it was executed so poorly, and was generally (as with the rest of this comic) humourless. Unfortun...

 The Flash # 788 I am living proof  that having duplicate heroes running around the DC Universe is bad for business.(ie; 2 Flash's minus Garrick) Why is that you may ask? Well, I enjoyed Williamson's run so much that when they made the transition back to Wally West, I simply couldn't follow the new run, despite my best attempts to do so, because I became attached to Barry Allen.  It is why I therefore theorize (though I have no evidence to support the claim I'm about to make)  that this may be the reason why Flash sales aren't higher than what they are, because creative is definitely not the problem.  In issue #788, Jeremy Adams brings us a great story about the Rouges being employed by the new mayor of the city Gregory Wolfe, whose out for personal revenge against masked vigilantes in the city (Aka, superheroes). One could argue that the plotline isn't wholly original, but that's okay, because it doesn't have to be. Like altering a cool guitar riff to m...

 Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 I think I've been pretty fair in my assessment of Dark Crisis issues, while others have been panning the series, I've pretty much given every issue I've reviewed on average somewhere between 3 to 4.5 stars, and while there has been plot disappointments, things really didn't break down until now. I'm just going to cut straight to the chase.  For months now, fans have been pondering what this dark entity controlling Pariah is, eagerly awaiting for it to rear it's ugly face in the final issues of Dark Crisis. We even got teased this variant cover for issue 5, of a demonic Grim Reaper entity holding the Anti Monitors decapitated head. The Anti Monitor, arguably one, if not the most threatening villain the DCU has ever encountered.  So who is that apparently has the ability to decapitate the anti monitor? Who is this formidable foe that all the DC heroes must unite together against in a final stand to save humanity. It is.....it is....

  WILDC.A.T.S #1 Old school comic book fans who have been reading for decades often have super teams they've never felt compelled to read, or perhaps were taking a draw down from comics when they became popular, and for me, one of those super teams was Jim Lee's WILDC.A.T.S. In fact, if it wasn't for encountering Grifter in Batman's Urban Legends a few years ago in a backstory written by Mathew  Rosenberg,  I probably would not be doing this review today, but as you have it, I quite liked the character and so here I am, writing a review.  A lot of people don't like Mathew Rosenberg on comic fan forums for some reason, but I think he's a decent writer, I don't rank him up there with the legends of the industry, but he does a job, in short he's readable and his work is enjoyable.  As I've never encountered WILDC.A.T.S. before, I'm not sure if the gratuitous language is what is typically associated in writing this group (they were after all a by pro...

 The New Golden Age  I did a total media blackout on this before I read the issue. The announcement of  Geoff Johns coming back to write the JSA was a big deal amongst DC comic fans, so I did not want to be influenced in anyway by other people's opinions, so no comic reviews, you tube, comic forums or, reddit, before cracking open this book. Thus my thoughts on this issue are as pure and unbiased as I could possibly make them.  The most positive aspect of this comic that stood out for me was the colouring. The inkers are often overlooked, but the deep lush & bright colours in this comic book are amazing. It really helped bring the characters and story to life. So kudos to Nick Filardi & the others (There are a ton of artists & inkers who worked on this book) The art as well in this comic is top notch, but now for the writing.  Geoff Johns is one of my favourite writers of the last 20 years or so, but for me his earlier work is his best, partially bec...