New Comics: January 18th 2005

Finally having finished my stack of comics this week, I present you with the notable issues:

Top Pick: Infinite Crisis #4
The events that lead up to this crisis are revealed to have all bee orchestrated by one individual. Despite DC’s claim that one of the mini-series that chronicled the events would be a direct catalyst for the crisis, the Omac Project, Day of Vengeance, Villains United and Rann/Thanagar War each only provided peripheral and uniformly important understandings of the crisis.

Readers finally learn who will bee the next Spectre, although anyone who hasn’t been reading Gotham Central is left scratching their head.

Booster Gold discovers the identity of the inevitable new Blue Beetle.

Barry Allen returns for three panels, and the speed force disappears, as does Wally West and his entire family, apparently . Speed fans get a treat when Bart Allen beats the snot out of Superboy-prime, who had literally been tearing the Teen Titans, JSA members and Doom Patrol apart before the Kid Flash’s intervention.

Last but most certainly not least, Alexander Luthor succeeds in recreating Earth 2.

Best Line: Freshman#5
I’m not going to set this up. If you are not reading Freshmen, you should be.

Elwood Johns, a.k.a. the Intoxicator : “It’s 106 miles to the dam, I have a pound of weed, two six packs of beer, it’s broad daylight, and we’re wearing super hero costumes.”

Trust me, it’s a lot more heroic and inspiring than it seems when you understand the context.

Favorite Moment: Birds of Prey # 90
Dinah Lance, a.k.a. Black Canary, uses some new moves she learned from the Lady Shiva correspondence course(TM) on Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator, and nearly puts his remaining eye out. She is forced to admit to herself, however, that even if she did blind him, Deathstroke could kill her with relative ease if he were so inclined.

Best Cover: Freshman#5
Yeah, the cover features nice artwork, but it also prints a quote from Mila Kunis threatening to sue Hugh Sterbakov. Seriously, they could have followed Emily the Strange #2 simplistic cover’s lead and just used the quote.

Best Artwork: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4
The truth is, I’m biased. I love Mike Wieringo’s work on everything. While his work isn’t flashy or really even remarkable, it is clean, efficient and most importantly, proportional. To me, Wieringo’s art shows what most other artist’s work lacks; a basic understanding of anatomy and proportion. Some of the books I read always leave me wondering how the pencilers passed basic drawing classes. Unfortunately, style has surpassed fundamental rendering skills such as realistic representations of the human body. If you still don’t follow, compare any issue of any series illustrated by Rob Liefeld to any issue illustrated by Mike Wieringo.

Best New Series: Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy
One of my guiltiest pleasures is a Silver-Age story. Yes, the silver-age was full of campy, clichéd writing and it embodies practically every negative aspect that detractors attribute to comics, but something about the flat colors, ridiculous dialogue and trumped-up crisis’s in those stories appeal to me. The only way I can explain it is that you have to love the Silver-Age for it’s flaws.

I think the first trade-paperbacks (TPB) I ever purchased was The Greatest 1950’s Stories Ever Told. The book itself opened up the world of comic books to me. Yes, I had heard of horror, romance, spy and war comics, but I hadn’t read any stories from such genre books.

One story from the TPB stood above the rest, and that was Sgt. Rock: Calling Easy Company. I challenge any critics of the Silver-Age to read this story. It will change how you think about the Silver-Age. Joe Kubert, one of the greatest living comic legends, returns to Easy Company for a six issue mini-series which he both writes and illustrates. The rock steady E. Company begins another action-packed WWII mission in the middle of a hotly contested No-Man’s land between Russia and Germany in hopes of returning with a valuable package in tow, as it turns out, a very important person, that may hasten the end of the war.

Based on a true story, Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy, marches double-time, giving the reader more story in 23 pages than most series give in 3 issues, and, as if with military precision, refuses to stop for even a single advertisement until the first chapter ends.

One last note: Personally, I suggest you skip Uncanny X-men #468 and Batman: Gotham Knights #73 and save your money. Most of those two books seem to be filler and set-up for later stories. Save your money and think about jumping back on next issue. A lot came out this week and that five dollars would be much better spent elsewhere.

All you need to know from Batman: Gotham Knights #73: After being beaten by hush, Joker nurses his wounds at a closed down circus and for no apparent reason, horns in on the Penguin’s shtick by gaining command of an army of homing pigeons.

All you need to know from Uncanny X-men #468: As seen in #466-7, The Shi’ar Death Commandos have killed all of Rachel Grey’s family, and then kill her grandmother. Understandably, Rachel is upset.