Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes, page 36

Book Review: Nightwing Vol. 4: Blockbuster

Nightwing Vol. 4: Blockbuster by Tim Seeley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 22-28 of Nightwing. The first four issues are the titular Blockbuster arc and find the new Blockbuster (brother of the original) confronting Nightwing and asking for his help to take down Tigershark and free the city from crime. But whose side is he on and what are his motives? It's a nice four-part arc with a lot surprises and a lot of great guest villains.

A former criminal, Gizmo, who was helping Nightwing as a hacker is murdered and in the second three-issue arc, Night Wing teams up with the Huntress to find who killed his friend and who's behind the Second Hand, a group sending alien technology into Bludhaven and this three-part arc takes him back to his time at Spyral. Overall, another solid story.

The book's side characters deserve a comment. Shawn, his girlfriend at the start of the book (formerly the supervillain the Defacer) goes on a journey in the story as she begins by wanting Dick to get a job. However, she ends up breaking up with him and goes into a very dark place when Gizmo dies. The journey she takes as well as that of other former supervillains is an interesting and engaging one. The end for Shawn isn't catastrophic but is heartbreaking in its own way. I hope we see more of her character. It's a testament to writer Tim Seeley that this character has become that important.



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Book Review: The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection Volume 4 (1983 -1984)

The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection Volume 4 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects two full years of Spider-man goodness from 1983-84 and we're given several storylines.

Some highlights.

The good:

---Peter is sent to the Bermuda triangle and encounters Namor who almost becomes the lead character. Peter doesn't don his webs but there's great Sub-mariner action.

---A totally 1980s story in which video games machines are changing people's personalities and turning them evil including Aunt May.

---A true twisting turning adventure tale that goes on for eight months and just begins as a racketeer trying to kill Jameson and includes amensia, blackmail, love triangles, and much more.

---Mary Jane has a growing place of prominence in Peter's life leading up to the marriage even though there are some very contrived efforts to keep them apart. Also, the gives her a grown up career selling computers.

---Spidey goes to a lot of trouble to save an impersonator.

The bad:

----Jameson being dumb enough to pay an obvious Spidey impersonator $50,000 for his "secret identity."

----The Last Storyline (partially collected here) spent weeks dragging on through repetitive scenes of our hero talking to spymasters.

----Spidey's overall cluelessness/creepiness with women. It seems someone (maybe Stan Lee) though Spidey had a love interest in every story and so he falls in love with someone in every tale in which MJ doesn't take a role and pursues them in the most cluelessly annoying way possible even when they're clear they have no interest in him. In the final storyline, Spidey acts like an unserious idiot while a female agent is discussing a risk to world security. Once she rejects him, he sneaks and takes the same tact as Peter Parker. Really?

Overall, despite my annoyances, I enjoyed this one. It's made even better by an introduction that provides context on how these sort of strips are written. A nice read for Spidey Fans who can tolerate a little nonsense if they get the good stuff.



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Book Review: The Flash Vol. 5: Negative

The Flash Vol. 5: Negative by Joshua Williamson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 28-32 of the DC Rebirth run of the Flash along with an excerpt from DC's Holiday Issue.

Once again, Barry's life continues its downward spiral now that Barry's girlfriend Iris left him once learning he'd been hiding the truth about being the Flash from here. Now, he possesses the power of the negative Speed Force which is more dangerous and harder control even while his work life falls apart.

The first two issues in the book focus more on Barry's personal collapse with fights more incidental, in the third and fourth issues, he solves a mystery of missing evidence that leads him to a new rogue named Bloodwork, and then the final issue sets up his new status quo.

Overall thoughts, the art on the first two issues is painful to look at. It reminds me of one of those grungy too hip for its own cook indie comics. It's just unpleasant. The rest of the art is okay, though not spectacular. The story is too dark for the Flash, Josh Williamson should keep mind that he isn't writing Batman. The Flash has historically been a book full of amazing feats and colorful sci-fi. That said, the story does take a few turns that indicate that Barry may be going in a more positive direction even though so much is messed up.

The little Holiday special comic was a bit hokey and cheesy but with all the depression in the Flash book, we could use a little hokiness in this book.

***I received a free digital copy from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review***



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Book Review: Green Lantern: Earth One, Volume 1

Green Lantern: Earth One, Volume 1 by Gabriel Hardman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Green Lantern, Earth One, Vol. 1 marks an interesting new beginning for the Green Lanterns Corps as Hal Jordan discovers a power ring while mining an asteroid on the finger of a dead Abin Sur (though he's never identified by name.). He's carried away by the ring on an adventure. Joining forces with Kilowag, who has a ring but doesn't know what it's about, they search the galaxy for other bearers of the ring.

The book features solid art. It's dark, but not grimdark. It's appropriate for beautifully rendering a search through dingy backwater planets that are not pleasant. Jordan's heroism and determination make him a likable protagonist. In many ways, he's more likable than the main DC universe Jordan as he doesn't have that edge of arrogance about him. Rather he has a past and some things to atone for.

While this volume works well, there are some directions, I'm questionable about. For example, the rings don't seem to choose the user. It appears to be a bit of a crapshoot as to whether the person who gets them will use it responsibly or be fit to wear it. Also, the lack of experienced Lanterns is a problem. Will they just make up their own traditions if they reconstitute the Corps? That could be good or awful.

Still, while I'm dubious about the direction of future books, this book has enough working for it to make it an enjoyable read.



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Book Review: Essential Miss Marvel, Volume 1

Essential Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1 by Gerry Conway

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the entire Miss Marvel series from the 1970s (1-23) along with two previously unpublished stories that were released with Marvel Superheroes Magazine #10 and #11 in the 1990s, and Avenger Annual #10. While Carol Danvers had been introduced in 1968, this book really marks her heroic beginnings as Miss Marvel.

Throughout the book, Miss Marvel is a battler, having the knowledge of a Kree Warrior. The character was introduced when seventeen page issues had become the norm and this leads to some tight and exciting battles. My favorite stories in here are found towards the back of the book. Issues 17 and 18 have her dealing with a murderous plot involing SHIELD and the Avengers. Issue 19 sees Ronan the Accuser trying to take her and Captain Marvel back to the Kree homeworld in a good team up. In Issue 20, she gets a new (much better) costume and begins a two part story involving sentient lizards in the desert. The story in Marvel Superheroes #11 shows how she began investigating the death of a friend and ultimately ran into the then villainous Rogue and Mystique and lost her powers and memories to them. Avengers Annual #10 is a great story about the Avengers having to fight Rogue, but Miss Marvel's main role in this is as the inciting character and to chew the Avengers out over something they did in an issue not collected in this book.

The biggest challenge with this book is the character of Miss Marvel and Carol Danvers. Probably the main point of sympathy is her relationship with her dad, class A chauvinist who won't accept that she can do anything and when she was younger refused to pay for her college because he was spending all the college savings on her brother. Beyond that, the writers tried to give her some feelings of duality for the first dozen issues. But beyond that, she comes close to becoming an example of the "Strong, Independent Woman" archetype that replaced the damsel in distress...and is just about as interesting. In the first issue, she's hired on to edit a magazine for J. Jonah Jameson, says in the interview that she'll ignore the his vision of the magazine and edit the thing her way. She bulldozes him so that Jameson gives her the pay rate she demands to run the magazine the opposite of how he actually wants it run. Again, this is J. Jonah Jameson.

To be clear, the stories are all good fun, if you're looking for some fine comic action. The writing is by Gerry Conway (for the first three issues) and then by Chris Claremon, two comic book legends. The art is all competently done. This book will give you some fun action. If you're looking for a deeper and more well-rounded female character, however, you'd do better to check out Spider-woman and She-hulk books that came out a few years later.



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Book Review: Better Days and Other Stories (Serenity, #2)

Better Days and Other Stories by Joss Whedon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the three issue story, "Better Days" as well as three shorts published in 2008 and 2010.

In, "Better Days," the crew appears to have struck it rich. However, Inana accidentally puts not only the money, but the crew's life at stake when a client of her's gets under the impression that Mal is a Dust Devil, someone who fought on the war on the side of the Independents and continued to fight using terrorism.

This is a good story that captures the feel of a typical episode of Firelfy. It's not a great episode, but a good one.

In, "The Other Half," the crew is defending a stagecoach for a client who is secretly scheming to sell them out.

"Downtime," finds the crew snowbound and having a typical day in the life. The story plays for laughs the design of the infirmary as being totally open with no privacy curtains. And of course some people get killed because Firefly.

Finally, we get, "Float Out," whcih was written by Patton Oswalt and finds three friends of Walsh memorializing him. This is the first comic set after the movie and has a nice emotional feel.

Overall, these are worth additions to the Firelfy canon and worth a read for fans of the series.



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Book Review: Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension Volume Two

Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension Volume Two by Nick Abadzis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the second half of the Lost Dimension trade.

It starts with the first Lost Dimension special as we find the Fourth Doctor and Romana II encounter problems. This is less significant plot-wise than the previous volumes and doesn't stand up as well, but it does give us a comic book appearance by a pairing we haven't seen in Titan. Overall, their well-drawn and their personality is used enough that I enjoyed it.

The second Lost Dimension special features River Song in her own comic book special. It's a good adventure with plenty of dering-do. How it ties into the Doctor's problem is left for another issue.

The Twelfth Doctor story sees events coming to head as the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS appears. The two doctors team up until things get so out of hand so that a third doctor appears. In the the Omega Issues, we find even more Doctors are required to solve the problem.

This story is pretty good, but has flaws. The solution is a bit silly, while the end of the last book would lead us to believe the Eleventh Doctor's companion Alice would play a far bigger part than the resolution actually does. The resolution itself is something we've seen before in other ways.

Still, despite its flaws, it's a heck of a story. It's a good crossover, that's more focused on making the individual stories count. The art is great throughout. Even if the Destination is the same, the journey ultimately makes this one well worth reading. It's one of the better multiple Doctor stories done in any format.



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Book Review: Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension Vol. 1

Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension Vol. 1 by Nick Abadzis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book collects the first half of the Lost Dimension crossover. It collects the Alpha Issue of the Crossover, the Ninth Doctor Special, and Issues from the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor comics.

The Alpha issue does a great job introducing the crossover. We meet the Doctor's daughter, Jenny, who returns and meets up with the Twelfth Doctor, meanwhile Captain Jack and the Ninth Doctor comic companion Tara are trapped in a precarious situation.

The Ninth Doctor Issue has the Doctor and Rose encountering Vastra and Jenny at sea during the Victoria as Vastra is searching for a lost Silurian Colony. The Tenth Doctor, Cindy, and Gabby rescue a space station that finds itself in peril and also under attack by Cybermen. The Eleventh Doctor's Tardis' fluid link has failed and he and Alice are stranded on pre-time Travel Gallifrey where the Doctor tries to stay uninvolved and somehow construct a new one.

What I like about this first volume is that while it offers a fair bit of fan service, each issue is a story in itself. It's not being dominated by the overarching plot. This makes for a much more fun reading experience. The art remains good and the book concludes on a very tense cliffhanger to set up the next volume.




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Book Review: Back to the Future: Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines

Back to the Future: Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines by Bob Gale

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the initial four issue mini-series of the Back to the Future comic book series as well as the fifth issue. It's written by Bob Gale, the co-writer of Back to the Future, and he gives the entire book an authentic feel.

Gale decided to write a series where there was no real thru storyline. The stories are all things that occurred before the movies or in between films, thus the title. Were given more short vignettes such as how Doc and Marty met and we get to see the newspaper that led Doc to a cheap used Delorean as well as how Doc's how burned down. These stories aren't bad, but they're not particularly funny or brilliant. There's a reason why they didn't film this. Still, the book is never bad or boring, but most of it was kind of so-so. The best most of the stories did was be slightly amusing. However, if you're a bigger Back to the Future buff than I am, you may enjoy this more than I did.

However, the last of these Untold Tales story is really good and addresses a great question as to what happened when Doc went back to the future and how did he get the money for all the improvements to the DeLorean. It's actually pretty finally.

The final issue blew me away. It gave us Clara's story. I'd just always thought of her as the woman who married Doc Brown who was a schoolteacher, but Gale gives her a very moving and poignant backstory that draws on a lot of ideas from the movie and show the challenge she faced growing up a woman with her interests in the 19th century. It also offers more insight on Doc's trip to the dystopian 2015. This issue is outstanding and makes the entire book worth reading.

So overall, I'd give it a 3.5 star rating.



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Book Review: Green Lanterns Vol. 4: The First Ring

Green Lanterns Vol. 4: The First Ring by Sam Humphries

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jessica and Simon are recalled to Mogo for training, meanwhile, Volthoom, the first wielder of a Power Ring is back controlling of the guardian Rami for his own ends.

Simon and Jessica's training dominates the first three issues and these are interesting bits. It's great to see them interact with the rest of the Green Lantern Universe and the characters who are traditionally associated with the Green Lanterns.

Volthoom's story continues in the background in the first two issues and then comes to the foreground in penultimate issue. This is an epic story that goes back to the founding of the Lanterns. Writer Sam Humphries has done a great job slowly teasing this out and there are some key revelations in this issue that set up Humphries' final collection.

The art is great as well. I particularly appreciate the versatility of the artist as they are not only able to beautifully render known characters but also species we haven't seen before.

Overall, this is another great installment of a superb Green Lantern series.



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