Batwing #9

Writer: Judd Winick

Artist: Marcus To

07:40 pm in Gotham City. Talk about wrong time and place. During his stay in America, Batwing finds himself tackling one of the Talons rampaging the city; but this is no cookie-cutter, random Talon; Judd Winick takes the time to build a history and a distinctiveness to the assassin, which gives the fight much more significance. Despite having its main character in a foreign land, the story has a subplot that anchors it to the ongoing theme of the book.  While the first half of the issue is mostly setup, the second half is all-out action, and that works out well, because it makes it a self-contained story even though it is part of a crossover. This issue also marks the debut of Marcus To in the series; and boy, is his work a welcome sight. Let's hope this is a long stint, because once he gets acclimated to the title, his pencils will be stunning.

      

Justice League International #9

Writer: Dan Jurgens

Artist: Aaron Lopresti

Despite being in the middle of an ongoing arc, this issue is a great jumping point as british hero Lady Godiva introduces herself and several of her JLI peers to new readers while fighting the menace of OMAC. The series is cemented on tons of action combined with funny, light moments; a mix that doesn't always work on most titles, but in this one it does just fine. Batwing also joins the fold, which is a huge step to give the character much deserved exposition, and provides him with the opportunity to win new fans. Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, and Hi-Fi deliver great artwork with dynamic pages, clean lines, and crisp colors, while Dan Jurgens moves the plot quickly, with a somewhat balanced attention to all his characters, and overall keeping the story fast paced and entertaining. The issue closes with things heating up in Paris as the team heads right "Into the Firestorm".  Fun issue!

The Avengers

This is not necessarily a review of The Avengers, it is more about my experience watching the movie.  I went to the midnight opening on Friday, and to my surprise, between 2D, 3D, and IMAX, there were more than 12 screenings at the same time, and that was barely enough to house the plethora of people that was coming to see it at the cineplex.

What Marvel pulled here has never been done before.  It took five prequels to build a universe big enough to contain this array of fantastic characters; it doesn't matter what comes later, we probably will never see anything like this again.

Three things surprised me most about this movie: First, the fact that every character got a lot of screen time; there was plenty of spotlight for everyone, including the Black Widow, who I thought was going to be relegated to the damsel in distress role, but ah-ah... none of that non-sense, she rocked.  Second, how much humor there was without ever crossing to the comedy genre; it is a slippery slope when movies start doing the goofy thing, but that did not happen here; every punch line -literally- was placed in the right spot, and the source of the funniest moments was quite unexpected.  Last thing that caught me by surprise was how big this movie was.  When Thor came out last year, it successfully tested the fantasy/sci-fi waters; but the scope, the grandeur of The Avengers blows everything else out of those waters.  Not once there was a period longer than 10 minutes in which the audience did not go crazy in laughter or cheering up for the Earth's Mightiest Heroes; the energy was simply contagious.

The wait was definitely worth it, and the result was greater than life.  Thinking of sequels and spin-offs at this time is almost a disservice to the film; I am still trying to let it sink in and assimilate how amazing it was.  Once that happens, I will be ready to go see it five more times.  Best comic book based movie ever.

Detective Comics #9

Writer and Artist: Tony S. Daniel

It's 08:26 pm in Gotham, just about 90 minutes after the attack on Wayne Manor, and the Talons invade Arkham Asylum to pass judgment on its enigmatic owner. Several inmates are introduced to new readers, with a focus on Black Mask. I did not follow the title prior to the relaunch, so more backstory would have been appropriate to explain his relationship with Dr. Arkham. The Talons' onslaught is pretty convincing and well staged, as well as Batman's timely arrival. This issue evidently takes place after Batman #9, which has not come out yet, so it kind of spoils on what happened at the mansion. The artwork, as always, is A+. Daniel's style creates this idea in the readers that they are reading an old, old book. As a tie-in, the story is clean, has a clear resolution, passes the plot over to Nightwing, and moves on to the next thing. Felt like a quick read, but overall was very good.

   

Worlds' Finest #1

Writer: Paul Levitz

Artist: George Perez & Kevin Maguire

Today: Picking up right after the conclusion of the "Huntress" mini-series, Huntress and Power Girl find themselves in Tokyo starting a new chapter in their lives. The former more cynical and at peace with her fate; the latter, aggressively searching for a way to get back home. Yesterday: Picking up right after the events in "Earth-Two" #1, Supergirl and Robin are lost to their home world as they get thrown into ours while pursuing a mysterious character. Not much is revealed of what happened afterwards, but it will be great finding out month after month what they did during the five years that followed their arrival. My only objection was the quick and almost dismissive manner in which Levitz got rid of the Helena Bertinelli persona. Just because the same thing was done to Helena Wayne after "Crisis," there was no reason to go all "eye for an eye" on Ms. Bertinelli. A fantastic and much deserved start for these two great characters.

Avengers vs X-Men #3

Writers: Aaron, Bendis, Brubaker, Fraction, Hickman

Artist: John Romita Jr.

As expected, the arrival of the Phoenix and the battle between the prime teams of the Marvel Universe take a back seat so the spotlight can go to the one who was always meant to be the center of the story: Wolverine. Wolverine recovers from his injuries, Wolverine realizes that the X-Men have an escape plan, Wolverine gets betrayed by one of his own, Wolverine gets in a fight with Captain America, Wolverine takes upon himself to fix things his way. Five writers, and none of them can think of something more creative to do with the story than make Logan the star, and barely in its second month, it is so diluted among the many tie-ins and companion titles, that almost nothing is left to tell in the main series. John Romita Jr. is not having a good streak with this run either; it could be the bi-weekly installments, but his artwork here is just a shadow of what he can truly do.

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Earth-Two #1

Writer: James Robinson

Artist: Nicola Scott

A glorious era ends and a new one begins in "The Price of Victory." Right in the middle of a bloody and messy battle, James Robinson finds the time to give the biggest heroes of Earth-2 much deserved personality and depth, while Nicola Scott knocks it out of the park with beautiful pencils that effectively depict the ominous war against the forces of Apokolips. All this, plus quick and to-the-point introductions for Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, and Al Pratt; a fantastic first issue that told more than other titles tell in six months. It is a shame the conflict ended the way it did, but it was necessary in order to give this world the uniqueness it needs, and open the doors to the immense possibilities it holds within it. This book is without a doubt the star of the New 52's second wave, and a strong contender for best single comic of 2012.

Supegirl by Nicola Scott

Inks by Trevor Scott.  Colors by Alex Sinclair

Dark Knight #8

Writer: Joe Harris

Artist: Ed Benes

"The Madness" confronts Batman with Tweedledum, Tweedledee, and the Mad Hatter after several Gotham citizens are compelled into committing atrocious acts. The issue opens with a gruesome tone, but once the Hatter's involvement is revealed, it takes a somewhat campy approach. The book felt improvised and put together at the last minute: the "Wonderland" announced in solicitations was not addressed, White Rabbit, who was featured in the cover did not appear, and overall, it seemed to set the stage for the "Night of the Owls" tie-in. The ongoing subplot involving Jim Gordon is reaching an intriguing point, though. It isn't until he actually voices all the things he's had to put up with that one wonders how much longer this guy will be able to keep it together before he breaks. Ed Benes did a great job, especially giving these bad guys -who are so hard to take seriously- a creepy aspect.

The Most Viewed in April 2012

And the most checked reviews in April by the followers of this blog were:

1.  The Avengers vs. Ultron

2.  Avengers vs. X-Men #2

3.  Uncanny X-Men Omnibus I

4.  Avengers vs. X-Men #1

5.  Batman: The Dark Knight #7