Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 22

Book Review: Nightwing: Knight Terrors

Nightwing: Knight Terrors by Benjamin Percy

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I checked and I've not given any graphic novel/comic collection a one-star rating in fifty-six months. Meet Nightwing: Knight Terrors, the book that broke the streak and might just be the worst mainstream comic collection I've ever read.

This book completely derails the unresolved plotline from the previous volume in favor for some good old fashioned editorially mandated tripe. Dick Grayson, for 77 years, one of the DC Universe's most beloved heroes becomes Ric Grayson, moody navel-gazing cab driver who you don't even care about. All of this because of a bullet to his brain in Volume 8 of Batman. But don't worry Rik Grayson may be done as a superhero (because he's too whiny for that) but there's a whole team of police officers who decided to play vigilantes because of a stockpile of weapons and equipment Nightwing left around for funzies.

The Nightwings are indistinct and dull, so I found it impossile to be invested them. Scott Lobdell does such a bad job with characterization that in one of the last issues he has to tell you who the wreckless one is and who the cautious one is because if you didn't have him tell you, you wouldn't know from reading the story. Scarecrow is in this and he's doing typical Scarecrow things only in a badly written manner.

The art isn't the worst of all time, but its bad, and bad art in a stupid story makes this a simply dreadful book that makes this one of the worst examples of a company destroying a character since One More Day.



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Book Review: Atomic Robo: Atomic Robo and the Temple of Od

Atomic Robo: Atomic Robo and the Temple of Od by Brian Clevinger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


We get an Atomic Robo story set right before World War II as Robo goes to occupied Manchuria in 1938 to rescue a scientist captured by the Japanese who has discovered an energy source that could change the course of the war.

As a story, this is a pretty good Robo tale. There's plenty of robot hitting mad science things action, and we get some fun supporting characters in the Ghost Bandits. The re-appearance of Robo's ex-girlfriend Katie McAllister and her new boyfriend don't actually have a whole lot of impact emotionally, but they don't detract from the story either.



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Book Review: Luke Cage: Second Chances Vol. 1

Luke Cage: Second Chances Vol. 1 by Marc McLaurin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects the first twelve issue of Luke Cage's solo series from the 1990s plus an insert from Marvel Presents #82. This book starts off really bad in the first couple of issues, then has a decent enough two-parter featuring the Punisher, Nitro, and most interestingly kickback. Then we get the awful Evil and the Cure four-parter. The final third of the book is pretty good with a two part story featuring the Rhino and the Hulk, a Christmas tale, and then a double length 12th issue that includes the reunion with Danny Rand. From a writing perspective, the best thing about the book is the subtlety of the arc which allows most tales to be read in their own right, but in retrospect, fit into the larger story.

Why the book doesn't earn a higher rating from me comes down to the art. The art is horrible. It's an example of why 1990s comic art is loathed. An ugly book with a few good stories.



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Book Review: The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 5

The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 5 by James Robinson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is probably the weakest of Robinson's Starman omnibuses. The Opal City cast of characters is placed on hold as Jack and Michael journey off into space and a new artist is brought in to boot. '

Nevertheless, the book is enjoyable for what it is: A romp through the cosmic DC Universe with visits to figures such as Adam Strange, and even an encounter with a more sinister and traditional version of Solomon Grundy, all in search of a previous Starman Will Payton...which ultimately ties into the story of yet another Starman Prince Gavin.

Outside of the space arc, there's a big filler issue at the start that kind of bleh. We get a times past story involving the Shade, which worked well enough. There's a visit from a Starman of the Future to Ted Knight as part of the DC One Million event which was fine. There was a story about the original Starman in the FBI from JSA All-Stars that was decent and featured Tony Harris back on art. Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0 is in here Jack guest stars along with his dad and the book mostly sets up that comic and tells a story about the original Star Spangled kid. It's okay, though a bit out of place. Then there's a story at the end featuring from All Star Comics 80-page Giant featuring a sparring match between Jack and Wildcat which is not bad, but is kind of pointless.

Overall, not the best in the series, but still a pretty good read.



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Book Review: Firefly: Legacy Edition Book Two

Firefly: Legacy Edition Book Two by Joss Whedon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After the movie, fans of Firefly wanted to find out what happened next and the comics were declared canon, so that seemed like a good bet. Yet, Serenity/Firefly comics had given us two mini-series set between the TV show and the movie and a graphic novel providing backstory on the Shepherd and a few free comic book day one-shots all (except for one one-shot) set before the movie.

However, with this book, we finally catch up to the crew of Serenity, as we get two six-issue miniseries and a one-shot.

Leaves on the Wind: As the first mini-series ends Zoe's expecting, a new resistance movement is looking for Mal and the crew, and Jayne has gone home. They take Zoe to a hospital to deliver and the alliance captures her, and they have to figure out how to get her back. Leaves on the Wind is just perfect. It's a worthy continuation from the movie with great art, and perfect dialogue. Jubal Early and the Operative both appear and neither appearance feels like a gimmicky fan service idea, but rather they work well in line with the entire narrative.

The Warrior and the Wind: A short story where River is babysitting Zoe's baby and tells her a story, a fairy tale about the crew of Serenity and her dad in particular. It's a beautiful, very emotional story for its short length.

No Power in the Verse: In the second mini-series, times are getting even harder for the crew of Serenity and the jobs they can get even less profitable, they come to the rescue of a friend they met in the previous mini-series and find themselves caught between a ruthless rebel leader and a dangerous new force from the alliance that has designs on River. This is not quite as good as the first story, but its still solid, with a lot of interesting twists. Some character relationships are frayed and several characters shift in significant ways (including Mal) but I think the change is realistic.

Overall, this book was just superb and left me hungry for more. I hope Boom Studios eventually follows up on the foundation laid here, because this shows there are still a lot of great Firefly stories be told even if they can't be told on screen.



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Book Review: The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection Volume 5 1985-1986

The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection Volume 5 1985-1986 by Stan Lee

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects every Spider-man newspaper strip from 1985-86.

It starts off by resolving the terrorism plot the last volume ended with. It was okay.

Then, to raise some money Spidey decides to sell an interview to the Bugle with Peter pitching the idea. He's interviewed by a writer named J.S. (who to Peter's shock) turns out to be a woman (which happened with another character in 1973). However, Jenny is probably one of the best comic strip girlfriends created for Peter and unlike all the others, she does actually like him. She's a widower with a little girl who is showing some troubling signs.

Aunt May guesses that the girl has been molested. The book deserves credit for taking on the issue and bringing it out into the light. The book even bravely makes Peter a survivor of sexual abuse. However, there are problems. For one thing, it's suggested at the start of the story that Spidersense can detect child molestors in progress as evidenced by the fact that Spider-man spidersense goes off when he's over the school before even meeting Jody. In addition, the story is drug out by some silly interlude.

Next, we get the return of Mary Jane, Peter's decision to propose, and to reveal that he's Spider-man. Unlike in the comic books where she always knew. She's genuinely shocked and says she can't marry Peter, first because she wants him to stop being Spider-man and then she changes to saying she couldn't deal with a kid having Spider powers.

There's a somewhat dull and obvious story about ATM robbery and then Spidey tries to help out Mary Jane's Uncle (who's a judge) who is also being pressured by a political figure to let a mob boss with dirt on the political figure off. This is an okay crime story.

Mary Jane leaves town towards the end of the book just as Jonah begins to receive a mysterious phone calls to sell the Bugle and the Bugle is firebombed. The year (and the book) ends before Spidey can get to the bottom of it.

Overall, this is probably the weakest volume in the entire series. In two years worth of strips, we get three full storylines (plus the soap opera stuff) and parts of two others that aren't horrible, but also aren't that great. No member of Spidey's rogue's gallery puts in an appearance. Probably the best that can be said is the art is good and the strip was unafraid to tackle some tough issues (even if it's efforts were a bit clumsy.)

The only reason to read this is if you're a completist or want to make sure the rest of the series gets published. The Spidey strips did have better moments than this, but in 1985-86, the comic books had far better Spider-man stories than you'll read hear.



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Book Review: Thing Classic Vol. 1

Thing Classic Vol. 1 (The Thing by John Byrne

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Taking place right after Marvel Two-in-One ended, the Thing got a Comic where he wasn't required to have a guest character. The book was written by John Byrne and went in a very introspective perspective with Ben Grimm, which was always a huge part of the character.

On one hand, the book has some interesting explorations such as when Ben's about to meet an old flame who's not seen him since he got hit by cosmic rays, but also the book can be a bit of a bummer. However, there are some highlights, including the Thing crossing over with the Inhumans to prevent Quicksilver from exposing their baby to harmful energies. The book also has the hilarious Assistant Editor's month issue. All this is helped by the fact that Byrne doesn't draw book. Ron Wilson does a fantastic job and captures Ben how Kirby drew him.

Overall, a solid if somewhat melancholy volume.



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Book Review: Gambit Classic, Vol. 2

Gambit Classic, Vol. 2 by Howard Mackie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


We get two 1990s mini-series in this book.

The First is the Rogue Mini-Series which is in this book because not only does Gambit feature but it's a sequel of sorts to the first Gambit mini-series. In that series she accidentally stole the memories of Gambit's then-comatose ex-wife, Belladonna. Belladonna decides to seek vengeance by kidnapping the boy Rogue accidentally put into a coma. It's a decent story with pretty good art for the 1990s, Rogue is good, and she has some nice character moments. I'm not sure this is worthy of a four-issue mini-series, but otherwise it's fine.

Then we get the second Gambit mini-series in which Gambit robs Cuban monsters, is met by the spirit of a person who's not dead who tells him he's going to work for the Lord, a naked woman falls down from the sky and Gambit to avoid demons while getting her to Vatican City. While there are details missing, they really don't help much. This is an incoherent story plotwise and the art seems to grow worse as the mini-series goes on. It's yet another story ostensibly addressing religion or a character's faith but doing so in such a shallow way that it's utterly meaningless.

Overall, a sort of meh collection.



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Book Review: Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Vol. 2

Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Vol. 2 by Marv Wolfman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book continues collecting Crisis on Infinite Earths tie-ins.

Detective Comics #558 drops us in the middle of a lot of stuff going on with Batman with not a whole lot of forward momentum.

DC Comics Presents #86: Features a Superman/Supergirl team-up as Supergirl tries to find out what's behind the crisis and we get some foreshadowing of her fate in Crisis.

Swamp Thing #44: Not quite as confusing as Batman, but still off doing its own thing with the Crisis element being relatively small.

The Losers Special #1: We learn the fate ofWorld War II-level heroes in a solid war comic, we get a look at the end of three World War II war story heroes.
Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 was probably the most surprising story in the book. It was written by Wolfman in the 1990s to introduce Earth-D where his idea of a more diverse identity for the DCU was in place with a Black Superman, Native American Wonder Woman, and a different take on Batman. The heroes from Earth 1 arrive to try and stop the crisis. It's a very moving story and quite well-done.
The bulk of the book is Infinity, Inc. #18-25 and Annual #1 and Justice League of America #244 and #245. Infinity Inc. is pretty good, but I don't think its as good as All-Star Squadron in the previous book. It focuses on the second generation of heroes in Earth 2, many of who were rejected for the Justice Society. There was a lot of good stuff, including the wedding of the Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott and the introduction of a new Doctor Midnight and Hourman. There's also a team up with Solomon Grundy in the middle of the crisis. On the other hand, some of this is over-angsty. The final JLA-JSA crossover is pretty lame. Add to that, that this run begins in the middle of one story and ends with a cliffhanger for another, and this is good but not great reading.
New Teen Titans Vol. 2 #13 and #14 concludes the book and its pretty good. There's a lot of stuff that's been going on, but like a good soap opera, it draws you in. The highlight of this may be seeing the Crisis affect another planet.
Overall, while I liked this a little less than the first volume and I think the Detective Comics and Swamp Thing books feel tangential, this is a worthwhile read for fans of 1980s comics and Crisis on Infinite Earts.



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Book Review: Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, Volume 2

Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, Volume 2 by Paul Kupperberg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the final pre-Crisis Sueprgirl books. The Daring Adventure title is dropped after the first issue of the book and it continues with the same continuity of her studying in college in Chicago.

We get a couple costume redesigns, the last one of which sets up her new iconic Crisis look. It includes the goofy and unnecessary excuse for her headband that citizens of Krypton wear headbands and then was made more complicated when someone realized that only men had been portrayed as wearing headbands on Krypton. "I like headbands," would have made it simpler. I mean it was the 1980s.

In this book, we see the introduction of Blackstar, a villain stirring up hatred and antisemitism with an unusual tie to the holocaust, she meets up with Ambush Bug, deals with a mystery of her life being stolen, and then has to face the Parasite in a parallel crossover with Superman in Action Comics (which isn't reprinted even though it's also written by Paul Kupperberg) and in the last issue plus she has has to deal with one of her professors who's turned into a monstrous future creature.

Overall, these are fun stories with a likable lead, and an appropriate dose of goofiness.



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