Undermining Itself, Daredevil: West-Case Scenario Is A Mediocre Exploration Of Matt Murdock!

The Good: Killgrave story is interesting, Some of the artwork is good, Hints of character struggle
The Bad: Fractured storytelling, No real character development, Mediocre artwork
The Basics: Daredevil: West-Case Scenario packs in two stories and three vignettes for an anthology that is hardly as engaging as it ought to be!


As I worked through my anticipation and dread for the second season of Netflix and Marvel's Daredevil (reviewed here!), I figured that it was a good time to return to the books to catch up on some of the recent Daredevil storylines. The last book I read in the series, Volume 3 (reviewed here!) highlighted my concerns with what might happen with season two of the television show; the book featured The Punisher and was not nearly as much about Daredevil as I would have liked. So, when I picked up Daredevil: West-Case Scenario, I was hoping to be reminded why I fell in love with the character of Daredevil in the first place.

It failed.

Daredevil: West-Case Scenario is part of the Marvel Now! relaunch of Marvel Comics titles and in this iteration, Matt Murdock lives in San Francisco, where he has a nine year-old son (Jack, named after his father), a wife, and enemies who have followed him to the West Coast. The result feels almost more like an entirely new character than a continuation of the character's journey I was once invested in.

Opening with a one-shot, which was used to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Daredevil, Matt Murdock has an adventure in San Francisco with his son, wherein The Owl's demented daughter plagues the city with blindness by using a new technology she devised. Stana Morgan is then given a few pages to tell her son how much she loves him before she is, apparently, killed by Bullseye. The one-shot finishes to a flash back to Mike Murdock, Matt Murdock posing as his own twin brother to throw off people who suspected Matt was Daredevil. The net result of the fiftieth anniversary celebration is to remind viewers of very different eras and moods for Daredevil. It is not at all a cohesive story or a complex one that ties into the rest of the book. The flash back and, apparently, flash forward only serve to reduce the sense of menace readers might take with them into the rest of the book.

The bulk of Daredevil: West-Case Scenario is split into two stories, both involving some element of mind control and Matt Murdock at a crisis of perspective. Both stories also seem to occur before Matt had his son, Jonathan Murdock. In the first, Murdock is wrestling with new, possibly false, memories he had implanted in his mind as a result of his participation in the fight against The Orb. The new memories make him believe that his father was actually abusive and menaced his mother. So, he hunts down Sister Maggie to try to learn the truth. Unfortunately, in doing so, he stumbles into a conspiracy that finds his mother being used as a pawn by a corrupt U.S. General and the government of Wakanda. Sister Maggie is one of three nuns practicing civil disobedience against an illegal weapons lab who are then quietly extradited to Wakanda. Daredevil uses his S.H.I.E.L.D. contacts to go rescue them.

The initially interesting character aspects of the story quickly fall away to a series of predictable super hero confrontations that gloss over the emotional depth of Matt Murdock finally reconnecting with his mother. The only truly delightful aspect of the story is the reversal that comes during the climactic fight between Daredevil and the new ruler of Wakanda. Instead of yet another physical fight, Daredevil reverts to his lawyer mode and that works pretty well to resolve the situation.

The final story in Daredevil: West-Case Scenario marks the return of the Purple Man. Like many fans of the Marvel Universe, I fell in love with the character of Kilgrave on the Netflix series Jessica Jones (reviewed here!). Kilgrave was so distinctive in the show that I had forgotten that I read a story involving the Purple Man in The Essential Daredevil, Volume 1 (reviewed here!). The generic villain from that story left absolutely no impression. In Daredevil: West-Case Scenario, Kilgrave makes an impression.

While Matt Murdock is getting closer to his new law partner, former D.A. Kirsten McDuffie, Kilgrave pops up in San Francisco. He brings together his five children, whom he has kept tabs on over the years, and when they are together, he manages to unleash their power. So, while Matt Murdock is wrestling with an offer to write a book for McDuffie's father (who is a publisher), Kilgrave's children are learning how to exert their influence over people near them, simply by feeling the emotions of what they want to have happen. They team up to have Kilgrave walk in front of a train and then push Murdock into a crippling depression. Daredevil must then figure out how to stop both Kilgrave and his pusher children before they destroy all of San Francisco.

Daredevil: West-Case Scenario very quickly rushes toward resolution, which is why neither Kilgrave, nor his Purple Children, are able to develop into truly credible or compelling adversaries. That said, having seen Jessica Jones, I had a new appreciation for The Purple Man and the idea behind his offspring is a clever one.

That said, Kilgrave popping up is not enough to sell me on Daredevil: West-Case Scenario. The book feels like what it is; a loose assemblage of comic books instead of one cohesive, compelling story. A lot of information - much of it contradictory - is thrown at the readers and it works to undermine itself. Matt Murdock meets his mother (finally!), but she is gone by the next event in his life. Daredevil is menaced by Kilgrave and his children - who cares? . . . the reader already knows from the first story that Matt Murdock will survive and find some measure of happiness at least a decade in the future. Kirsten and Matt make a cute couple . . . but, don't get invested; they'll have a falling out, he'll marry someone else, but don't get invested in her, either, because even before she is introduced into the narrative, it sure looks like she'll meet an unfortunate end thanks to Bullseye.

Ultimately, Daredevil: West-Case Scenario is diverting, but not substantive, making is a harder book to recommend than it ought to be.

4.5/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Very Average Daredevil (Volume 3).

The Good: A fast read, Some of the artwork, Moments of charm
The Bad: Erratic artwork, Little character development, Lack of resolution
The Basics: Daredevil (Volume 3) continues the story of Daredevil as more of a team-up story than a truly Matt Murdock-driven tale.


As I prepare for Friday's Netflix debut of Jessica Jones, I've been trying to get back into a Hell's Kitchen kind of mindset. Rather than rewatch Daredevil Season 1 (reviewed here!) yet again, I figured I would read a new (to me) Daredevil book. It has been a while since I picked up Daredevil's story and I was pleasantly surprised by how effortlessly I was able to catch up by picking up Daredevil (Volume 3). Daredevil (Volume 3) picks up the story of Matt Murdock and his New York law firm after he has come into possession of the Omega Drive, a database of the identities and workings of the five biggest crime organizations in the Marvel Universe. Collectively known as Megacrime, the existence of the Omega Drive has made Daredevil a target for A.I.M., HYDRA, Agence Byzantine, and The Secret Empire.

Daredevil (rather annoyingly, no subtitle, but it seems to be commonly referred to as "Volume 3"), picks up after Daredevil has proven the worth of the Omega Drive by using its secrets to have S.H.I.E.L.D. destroy the crime organization Black Spectre. With a death mark on him, Matt Murdock is forced to ally himself with others to survive and that is where Daredevil (Volume 3) begins.

Daredevil is approached by Frank Castle, The Punisher, after he betrays Reed Richards by taking the Omega Directive away from the Baxter Building. Castle is intrigued by the idea of the Omega Directive and wants to use it to get vengeance on the four big crime organizations left in the world. After he and his new sidekick, Rachel Alves, attempt to take the Omega Directive by force, they reluctantly team with Daredevil for a "no kill" mission. Joined by Spider-Man, the quartet lays a trap for Megacrime. Unfortunately, during the operation, where Daredevil intends to publicly destroy the Omega Directive, Alves betrays the others and tries to steal the database, putting all of them in jeopardy.

Following that, Matt Murdock goes on a date with D.A. Kirsten McDuffie, where Murdock tells her the story of how he and Foggy Nelson became friends. Their date, however, is ultimately disrupted by the appearance of a very active Black Spectre agent, who promises Daredevil death and destruction. Daredevil goes out into Times Square where Megacrime descends upon him and the Omega Directive is very publicly stolen. Before Murdock can reflect upon what that means for the world, he is captured by Latverian scientists who use nanobots to rob him of all his senses!

The last two chapters of Daredevil read almost like an entirely different book than the rest of the volume and there is something very frustrating about the lack of resolution within this volume. Because Daredevil compiles issues from Daredevil, UItimate Spider-Man and The Punisher, it's pretty clear what the main story is supposed to be. Unfortunately, the latter chapters take the story in an entirely different direction that remains unresolved at the end of Daredevil (Volume 3).

That said, Daredevil (Volume 3) is such an otherwise straightforward story that it makes for an exceptionally fast read. It also does not allow for much in the way of character development. In fact, more than anyone else, Rachel Alves has the most clearly defined character arc; the others are mostly along for the plot ride. Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson's story is more of an explanation of how the two became who we've always known them to be than a story rich with new and surprising character development.

Because so many different books are represented in the anthology Daredevil (Volume 3), the artwork is incredibly inconsistent, as is the tone. Spider-Man's constant quipping undermines the practical menace of Frank Castle. And, after two chapters of deep, rich, artwork, the book becomes much simpler in its look with the volumes from the Daredevil comic book. Even the good art is not flawless - as evidenced by an A.I.M. operative being trapped in a web when Spider-Man was not part of the mission to lure A.I.M. into the trap.

Ultimately, Daredevil (Volume 3) is a thoroughly mediocre volume that might be good for a read-through, but is hard to recommend to buy to add to one's permanent graphic novel library!

For other Daredevil books, please check out my reviews of:
The Essential Daredevil Volume 1
Daredevil Vs. Bullseye
Daredevil: Visionaries Volume 1 - Frank Miller
Marked For Death
Born Again
Typhoid Mary
Guardian Devil
Parts Of A Hole
Daredevil: Yellow
Daredevil: Father
Batman/Daredevil - King of New York
Daredevil Noir
Daredevil: Golden Age
The Devil: Inside And Out, Volume 1
The Devil: Inside And Out, Volume 2
Daredevil: Hell To Pay - Volume 1
Daredevil: Hell To Pay - Volume 2
Lady Bullseye
Return Of The King
Daredevil: Shadowland
Shadowland
Daredevil Reborn
Daredevil: The Official Comic Adaptation

5/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Digest Origins: Daredevil: Season One Underwhelms!

The Good: Moments of character
The Bad: Most of the character arc is rushed, Incomplete plots, Simplistic artwork
The Basics: In rebooting Daredevil (yet again!), writer Antony Johnston gets the highlights of Matt Murdock’s early adventures without giving a truly meaty origin story . . . to the detriment of Daredevil: Season One.


I have often said that one of the problems with having characters that are decades old is that it is tough to keep them fresh and relevant and tell new stories. At some point, it has all been done and one of the obvious solutions in the comic book universe is to end the story and then reboot. DC Comics has done that remarkably ineffectively with The New 52 (most all the stories were rebooted and rebegun, but essential pieces like Green Lantern hinge on recent major crossover events like Blackest Night, so it makes absolutely no sense to have the story continuing and rebooting at the same time) and I understand Marvel has done something similar with Marvel Now! I’m not even sure if Daredevil: Season One is a Marvel Now! work (it does not say that anywhere on the graphic novel), but given that it is the origin story of Matt Murdock as the Daredevil, I suspect that it might be.

Actually, what Daredevil: Season One is is a digest version of the earliest adventures of Daredevil, like writer Antony Johnston went and read The Essential Daredevil Volume 1 (reviewed here!) and condensed it into a much slimmer volume. As a result, Daredevil: Season One is not so much an origin story of Daredevil (the first page glosses right through the accident that gave Matt Murdock extraordinary abilities) as it is a summary of the first few adversaries and adventures Daredevil has.

The core characters from the beginning of Daredevil’s career are here and the basic story is familiar to the fans: in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer by day, working with his best friend Foggy Nelson. Both of them pine for the firm’s paralegal, Karen Page, who is dating Nelson, but is obsessed with the costumed heroes fighting crime in New York City. At night, Matt Murdock takes up the mantle of Daredevil and in that guise, he attempts to bring justice to the guilty. He incapacitates Slade, the triggerman who shot his father and he tries to get a confession out of The Fixer, who arranged to have Jack Murdock killed. When The Fixer dies of a heart attack before confessing, Daredevil is left with a sense of failure and a lack of resolution, not to mention a public relations problem.

But, Daredevil has some early seminal victories: he thwarts Electro and manages to stop The Purple Man from using his influence to rape Karen Page. The firm of Nelson & Murdock looks over the lease for the Baxter Building for the Fantastic Four. Daredevil rescues Page from the Owl and goes a couple of rounds with The Matador and Mr. Fear’s crew. Threaded throughout the battles with super criminals is the story of Matt Murdock trying to save his local church from the efforts of City Councilman Doyle’s attempts to destroy the church through a land lease deal he has with the mob! What Murdock cannot achieve in court, he uses Daredevil to do on the streets!

Fundamentally, the problem with Daredevil: Season One (other than being entirely under-developed versions of previously-told stories) is that it is already being rendered as a formulaic adventure. While there is the legal not-so-thriller for the dayside which makes leaps in the narrative to reach its conclusion without having an actual detective story to it, the nighttime adventures of Daredevil are already trapped in a predictable formula. Daredevil encounters a villain, gets thwarted because he does not understand their powers and abilities and then he comes back prepared the next time and incapacitates his adversary.

But none of the villains are particularly well-defined in Daredevil: Season One. Mr. Fear is a coward who uses a gas to make others cowardly, the Purple Man can simply push his will upon others and Electro just shows up, ostensibly because he did in the original Daredevil comics as one of Daredevil’s earliest adversaries (or, if you’re jaded like me, as an obvious cross-promotional event to try to build an audience for Daredevil based upon the existing popularity and audience of Spider-Man). Because none of the villains in Daredevil: Season One are particularly well-motivated, Daredevil’s heroics seem somewhat less impressive; he’s just a guy going through the motions, just like the super-villains he is thwarting.

In a similar fashion, Daredevil: Season One entirely underplays Matt Murdock’s blindness and his super-senses. That’s a tough balance to find for the audience who knows Daredevil and I understand Johnston trying to avoid being repetitive. The problem in Daredevil: Season One is that it is so underplayed that Murdock’s blindness and radar sense are treated as afterthoughts. He does not significantly use them in Daredevil: Season One to do anything genuinely extraordinary. Similarly, Murdock’s blindness in his day to day life is not treated as much of a challenge. The result is a book that feels like a Batman volume more than a Daredevil book.

The artwork in Daredevil: Season One is very simplistic. Gone are the dramatic painted panels of the early 2000s that helped one get into Daredevil by giving it a distinctive visual style that was different from other comic books. The world in Matt Murdock’s radar sense is depicted almost as mundanely as the panels that show an objective perspective of the world. In short, there is nothing special about the look of Daredevil in Daredevil: Season One.

Ultimately, that makes Daredevil: Season One a much tougher sell than it ought to have been. It, truly, is an unremarkable reboot – it is a simplistic retelling instead.

For other Daredevil origin stories, check out my reviews of:
Daredevil: Yellow By Jeph Loeb And Tim Sale
Daredevil: The Official Comic Adaptation (Of The Film)
Daredevil Visionaries By Frank Miller

2.5/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Return To Form For The Xth Reboot Of The Title: Here Comes . . . Daredevil!

The Good: Decent plot, Good character development
The Bad: Mediocre artwork, Very much an incomplete story
The Basics: For the latest reboot of Daredevil, Matt Murdock returns to New York City to resume his law practice amid feelings of guilt and rumors that he is Daredevil in the fairly decent Here Comes . . . Daredevil.


As a fan of the vigilante superhero Daredevil, I’m pretty psyched about the impending Netflix series focused on the blind superhero. As such, I am doing what I can to catch up on the Daredevil graphic novels that I’ve missed in recent years. My Daredevil Year ended amid the Shadowland Saga and, to date, the only post-Shadowland volume I’d managed to pick up was the comparatively unmemorable Daredevil Reborn (reviewed here!). The next volume in the new chapter of Daredevil is Here Comes . . . Daredevil and it does (almost) all of what one hopes a reboot would do. Actually, Here Comes . . . Daredevil does what it ought to do from a storytelling perspective, though the artwork in the book is unfortunately unimpressive.

Given that Daredevil has had a number of effective reboots over the decades, one of the challenges to Here Comes . . . Daredevil was to reinvent the character in a way that still felt fresh. Here Comes . . . Daredevil manages to do that, while still continuing the story that has been going on in Daredevil and the Marvel Universe for years. As such, Here Comes . . . Daredevil has to deal with the effects of Civil War (reviewed here!), in addition to the Shadowland Saga. Interestingly, Here Comes . . . Daredevil does a better job negotiating some of the problems lingering for Matt Murdock following Civil War, in which he was outed as Daredevil.

Now back in New York City, Matt Murdock has reestablished Nelson & Murdock to help try the cases that other law firms are unwilling to take. Unfortunately for Matt Murdock, rumors that he is Daredevil continue to hound Murdock into the courtroom and jeopardize his ability to practice law productively. The association between Murdock and Daredevil leads one of his clients, who is being harassed by local corrupt business interests, to get a continuance as opposed to a verdict. Murdock comes up with a solution to the law problem around the same time as Captain America comes looking for him to prosecute him for the crimes committed in Shadowland. Steve Rogers, not being a big believer in the supernatural, suspends judgment on Murdock and leaves.

Murdock discovers that the case against Jobrani is related to Jobrani hearing voices and that those voices are not in his client’s head. That puts Murdock in the grip of Klaw, the master of sound (who was thought dead for years). Klaw is trying to reconstitute himself from disparate sound shadows of his former self and when those echoes capture Daredevil, it looks like he might succeed now that he has a body to alter. After defeating Klaw’s echo, Murdock coaches Jobrani on how to win his case while representing himself. Nelson and Murdock’s strategy becomes coaching their smart, innocent clients to win their own cases. The tactic raises the ire of the local gangsters and causes Murdock to reach out to a young blind man who was terminated from his employer after hearing something his employer did not want known. The investigation into the firing puts Daredevil in the middle of a multi-organization terrorist plot. Beaten up by the Bruiser, Daredevil makes his way to the boat where representatives of A.I.M., H.Y.D.R.A., Black Spectre, Angence Byzantine, and The Secret Empire are meeting to put down the young man’s employer for failing to enforce their agenda.

First, Here Comes . . . Daredevil does what it is supposed to do in terms of starting a story in a compelling way that makes one want to come back to the storyline. The union of villainous organizations against Daredevil puts the protagonist in peril within this book, but promises a much deeper conflict in the future. In fact, the alliance between the secret evil organizations is not entirely explained in Here Comes . . . Daredevil, though the balance of power between them is well-written in this volume.

Second, the book does a good job of continuing and developing the Daredevil character. Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson continue their friendship and there are some legitimately charming lines in Here Comes . . . Daredevil. The willingness of Murdock to come to the aid of Austin is well-presented as a dog of a wrongful termination case before it becomes something deeper. The tenacity of Matt Murdock to investigate a case that seems to have no merit and develop a motive for the villains makes for a compelling hero. One of the differences in this incarnation of Matt Murdock and prior ones is that Murdock is not romantically involved with anyone in Here Comes . . . Daredevil, but he still works exceedingly hard to protect his anonymity. In other incarnations of Daredevil, Murdock has a romantic interest who he is working to protect by keeping his secret identity concealed. Lacking that grounding, why Murdock does not just confess in Here Comes . . . Daredevil makes far less sense.

A more serious detriment to Here Comes . . . Daredevil is the artwork. The coloring in Here Comes . . . Daredevil is simplistic, lacking depth, shading or a sense of style that recent incarnations of Daredevil possessed. While the characters are all recognizable, the book looks simplistic and far less adult than its content deserves.

That said, Here Comes . . . Daredevil is a decent starting point or continuation of a story that could otherwise be perceived as bland and done to death. Matt Murdock returns to the forefront with a compelling new direction and the promise of more!

For other Daredevil volumes, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
The Essential Daredevil, Volume 1
Batman/Daredevil: King Of New York
Daredevil The Official Comic Adaptation

7/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Graphic Novel Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Resolution With (Largely) Underwhelming Results: 52: Volume 4 Concludes The DC Universe Event!

The Good: Commentary pages, Most of the artwork, Moments of character
The Bad: The final resolution is entirely anticlimactic,
The Basics: Resolving all the disparate elements of the many plotlines to the event, 52 – Volume 4 is fair, not exceptional.


All good things come to an end and with the DC Universe crossover event 52, the end comes over the many chapters of 52 – Volume 4. Because it is the end of the yearlong saga, 52 – Volume 4 is virtually worthless without having read the prior volumes in the series, especially 52 – Volume 3 (reviewed here!). In fact, if one does not read the extensive set-ups in the three prior volumes, it is virtually impossible to care about 52 – Volume 4. After all, despite the reappearance of the Big Three of the DC Universe (albeit in muted, secondary roles), 52 – Volume 4 is very tightly focused on the secondary characters in the DC Universe.

For those unfamiliar with it, Infinite Crisis (reviewed here!) led to a schism in the ranks of the major superheroes. The Big Three (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) opted to take a year off and other major heroes had abandoned Earth or were lost (Green Lantern and the Flash) during or after the Crisis. So, the year the big players were out of commission led to minor characters in the DC Universe having their chance to shine and that was a great concept. Unfortunately, the DC Universe is a pretty broad place with a shit-ton of secondary characters to service. Starting with the seeds sewn in 52 – Volume 1 (reviewed here!), 52 – Volume 2 (reviewed here!) grew the story and fully convoluted the multiple directions that the universe was going in before 52 – Volume 3 started to provide answers and make clear some of the foreshadowing in earlier volumes. 52 – Volume 4 brings it all to a close while setting up the next crossover event fairly well.

52 – Volume 4 is a whole boatload of resolutions and it is impossible to discuss the book without spoiling a little bit of Volume 3. In fact, the cover of 52 – Volume 4 spoils a significant aspect of Volume 3 simply by putting a formerly (apparently) dead character on the cover! Unfortunately for those looking for firm resolutions to some of the biggest events in 52, they are not forthcoming, solely because the next big event in the DC Universe needed to focus on one of the primary villains of 52. As well, some of the seeds of Final Crisis are sown in 52 – Volume 4. In other words, while there is a great deal of resolution, there is still a bit of foreshadowing for what comes next, so there is the sense that this Saga falls into a larger continuum of DC Universe history.

With one of the least inspired stories, Rene Montoya (The Question, new) wrestles with the death of Charlie (The Question, original) and rekindles her relationship with Kane (Batwoman, Rene’s ex-lover). Her quest to stop Intergang puts her at odds with Crime Bible fundamentalists and takes her back to Khandaq to meet with Black Adam, who once sentenced her to death. Now, she accepts the mantle of the Question, which seemed like the most obvious possible direction for her character to go.

On Ooolong Island, the crime syndicate manages to actually do something impressive when they use their combined intelligence and resources to capture Black Adam following his destruction of the Four Horsemen. Tortured for weeks, Black Adam is used as a tool by Chung Tzu until the whole villain’s island experiment falls horribly apart.

In deep space, the trio of heroes who is trying to get home finally parts ways with Pope Lobo. And who really cares?

In Metropolis, Natasha has uncovered Lex Luthor’s quest to become a Meta himself and with the help of her uncle, John Henry Irons, she manages to stop the superhuman version of Luthor. However, when his hearing comes up, it is only Clark Kent who is able to stop Lex Luthor and bring him to justice in an entirely mundane resolution to that entire plotline.

What is much more exciting is the way Skeets is finally revealed and stopped. Despite making some temporal abnormalities in the 52 storyline, the villainous Skeets becomes embroiled in a temporal game of cat and mouse with Rip Hunter and Booster Gold. Traveling through time, we discover the villain pulling the strings of Skeets and the resolution to that plot is marginally satisfying. Having had very limited experience with such obscure villains as the one using Skeets as an incubator, I was impressed more by the imagination than the execution of the resolution to that plotline.

Osiris is evicted from the Teen Titans and soon meets a most unfortunate end at the hands of an unlikely enemy in Khandaq. That abrupt turn of events helps push Black Adam over the edge and while there is some resolution to the Black Adam plot, the once sympathetic villain’s killing spree ends up making him virtually impossible to empathize with. He is a godlike man filled with loss and in 52 – Volume 4, he is actually set up to be one of the truly biggest villains in the DC Universe.

The heart and soul of 52 – Volume 4 is in the Ralph Dibny plot. Having searched far and wide for a way to resurrect his murdered wife Sue, Ralph reveals himself to be a much more cunning detective than anyone might have guessed. Here, he not only reveals the villains exploiting him in his quest for resolution to his wife’s untimely death, he reveals just how far ahead of them he was all along and is given an easy-to-empathize with arc resolution. Ralph Dibny becomes an unlikely hero and the way he stops further harm from coming to those who would be his adversary’s victims is downright heroic.

The artwork in 52 – Volume 4 is better than in the prior volumes and that makes the story easy to follow and easy to become engaged in. That makes the book a good resolution to all the prior storylines, if not an exceptional standalone trade paperback anthology.

For other major DC Universe crossover events, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Crisis On Infinite Earths
Idenity Crisis
The OMAC Project
Final Crisis
Blackest Night: Green Lantern
Brightest Day, Volume 1
Flashpoint

6.5/10

For other book reviews, check out my Graphic Novel Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Gosh I Hope This Is Going Somewhere Good . . . 52 – Volume Three . . .

The Good: Commentary pages, Moments of engaging plot
The Bad: The story is way too broad, so each character group gets neglected, Inconsistent artwork
The Basics: While it has its moments, 52 – Volume 3 is too jumbled of a story to make it worth recommending . . . at least on its own.


I think it says a lot that the last of the volumes I read in 52 was back in December. I love reading and I love a good story, but following 52 – Volume 2 (reviewed here!), I think I felt my patience in the saga of the missing year in the DC Universe was a bit taxed. It took until, literally, a few minutes ago (appropriately, as today is the annual Free Comic Book Day!) to pick up and finish reading 52 – Volume 3. And now that it is done . . . I’ll admit, I am pre-depressed about Volume 4. Here’s why: this 2007 graphic novel series was followed by a few other DC Universe-altering events, some of which were quite good. All of that went away two years ago with the reboot from DC known as “The New 52.” The reason I am pre-depressed about how the 52 Saga might end is that the characters I care most about based upon the events of 52 either do not get stories of their own in the wake of the event or their stories are undoubtedly cut off as part of the New 52 reboot. So, no matter how much I might enjoy parts of 52 – Volume 3, my ultimate feeling is “I know I shouldn’t get invested in any of these characters!”

For those unfamiliar with it, Infinite Crisis (reviewed here!) led to a schism in the ranks of the major superheroes. The Big Three (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) opted to take a year off and other major heroes had abandoned Earth or were lost (Green Lantern and the Flash) during or after the Crisis. So, the year the big players were out of commission led to minor characters in the DC Universe having their chance to shine and that was a great concept. Unfortunately, the DC Universe is a pretty broad place with a shit-ton of secondary characters to service. Starting with the seeds sewn in 52 – Volume 1 (reviewed here!), 52 – Volume 2 grew the story and fully convoluted the multiple directions that the universe was going in. In 52 – Volume 3, some answers are finally given, but the bulk of the book seems to be setting up a cataclysmic event that does not yet come.

52 – Volume 3 is essentially two quiet, intimate character journeys – those of Rene Montoya (The Question) and Ralph Dibny (formerly the Elongated Man) hidden between giant plot-driven stories that literally span the DC Universe. In Volume 3 of 52 the Black Adam plot that dominated much of Volume 2 is underplayed in order to bring to the forefront some of the other threads, namely the LexCorp Everyman Program and the space battle that is seeing the trio of Animal Man, Adam Strange, and Starfire trying to get home and running into the forces of Lady Styx. As with the prior volume, 52 – Volume 3 has so much going on that none of the plots are very thoroughly developed and the characters are (largely) glossed over for plot exposition. At least we get answers, including the identity of Supernova and what is going on on Oolong Island.

As Ralph Dibny searches for ways to resurrect his dead wife, Sue, he goes to The Spectre and the result is pretty horrific. He encounters Jean Loring, his wife’s murderer, possessed and floating in space. There, he is given the opportunity to exact vengeance upon her in exchange for Sue’s life back. Unable to cruelly punish even Loring, Dibny’s search continues, bringing him to a reconciliation with Cassie Sandsmark and to the bottom of the ocean in search of mystical pieces that will help him resurrect Sue.

Simultaneously, Rene Montoya (The Question, new) cuts her time with Charlie (The Question, original) short to return to Gotham City to rescue Kane (Batwoman, Rene’s ex-lover) from the forces of Intergang. In defiance of prophecy, Montoya is able to save Kane’s life, but the price seems to be Charlie’s life as he is dying of invasive lung cancer. In a desperate bid to save his life, Montoya journeys early in the new year to Nanda Parbat to try to keep him alive.

On Ooolong Island, the crime syndicate that has been assembled finally reveals its plans. After Veronica Cale gets Will Magnus off his meds, Magnus begins construction of a new Metal Man, Plutonium Man. This invention is set to be included in the machinations of Chung Tzu (the villain in Wonder Woman known indelicately as Egg Foo Young). The plans become evident when four super-powered machine-creatures are created and are primed to be dispatched against Black Adam.

In deep space, the trio of heroes who is trying to get home, now with the aid of Pope Lobo, encounters the world-destroying forces of Lady Styx. Lady Styx is creating a zombie empire that is destroying worlds and the Oan Guardians of the galaxy are fearful of her advancing empire. In attempting to stop them, Lobo must return to violence and one of the members of the team from Earth may pay the ultimate price. As more of an evaluation than plot synopsis (because the book is so plot-driven, it takes so much space in a review to simply relay what is going on in 52 – Volume 3!), it is worth noting that this plot line is severely truncated, much to the detriment of the story. In one chapter, the Lady Styx is the universe’s ultimate evil and appears unstoppable. Then, after a pretty quick goading, she is stopped within two pages. Moreover, what exactly is happening when Lobo takes the eye from the flying skull thing and what is going on with the Green Lantern trapped in its eye socket is not well-relayed on the page. In other words, the plotline feels rushed and incomplete, missing panels of information and exposition that make the dramatic twists in it seem choppy and erratic, as opposed to well-conceived or clever.

In Metropolis, Natasha and Infinity, Inc. have become celebrities and are the chosen of Lex Luthor himself. With his Everyman Program growing dramatically, the Justice Society Of America decides it is time to retire. With their collapse – which happens publicly with Alan Scott and Obsidian getting into a fight with a young woman calling herself Jade on Thanksgiving – the heroes of the Everyman Program rise to a stature that makes their collapse when Lex Luthor turns off their abilities on New Years tragic and horrifying. In investigating, Natasha Irons is put in serious danger and is exposed to an even greater evil than Lex Luthor!

At the same time, Skeets continues his hunt for Rip Hunter and the identity of Supernova is exposed.

Osiris, in a comparatively minor plot, gains the ability to join the Teen Titans when Black Adam exposes the mundane forms of himself, Isis, and Osiris to the world, an event which puts them at the mercy of the Suicide Squad. But the Suicide Squad’s mission is not truly to kill the Black Adam family, but rather start a public relations war that will once again discredit the Prince Of Khandaq.

There is also a pointless Nightwing/Batwoman subplot thrown in for a few pages and a digression that has Nightwing and Robin finding Batman . . . for no particular purpose that seems to have anything to do with this story.

Outside the Dibny and Montoya plots, 52 – Volume 3 is a very plot-based book. The character elements are underplayed in favor of a lot of plot exposition and sequences that (I kid not) use the word “BOOM!” in big letters.

The artwork in 52 – Volume 3 is unfortunately erratic. Splashes like the revelation of three of the four Horsemen are exceptionally detailed and beautiful to the eye. More often than not, though, the panels are underdetailed or there is a choppy progression between the panels that makes it less clear than it ought to be what exactly is going on in the book. This is an unfortunate contradiction of form and content and it seriously undermines 52 – Volume 3.

As the end nears, I am unfortunately uninvested in the outcome. That’s a terrible place to be, especially at the end of Volume 3. That, however, is how it is.

For other major DC Universe crossover events, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Crisis On Infinite Earths
Idenity Crisis
The OMAC Project
Final Crisis
Blackest Night: Green Lantern
Brightest Day, Volume 1
Flashpoint

4/10

For other book reviews, check out my Graphic Novel Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Telling Too Much Of A Story To Keep The Reader Caring, 52 – Volume 2 Fails To Grab.

The Good: Consistently decent artwork, Commentary pages, Moments of engaging plot
The Bad: The story is way too broad, so each character group gets neglected
The Basics: So thoroughly plot-based, to lead to the neglect of actual character growth, 52 – Volume 2 continues the events of the lost year in the DC Universe.


I have a lot of patience for complicated stories. I honestly do. But, I want my complicated stories to make sense and make me care, well before the end. In the DC Universe, the last story that was like that where I found myself invested early and glad with the payoff was Justice League: Generation Lost (volume 1 is reviewed here!). Unfortunately, as I go back now, I am finding myself much less wowed by the massive DC Universe crossover event 52. With 52 – Volume 2, the saga begins to truly reveal its cracks and the fundamental issue with the concept of the story.

For those unfamiliar with it, Infinite Crisis (reviewed here!) led to a schism in the ranks of the major superheroes. The Big Three (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) opted to take a year off and other major heroes had abandoned Earth or were lost (Green Lantern and the Flash) during or after the Crisis. So, the year the big players were out of commission led to minor characters in the DC Universe having their chance to shine and that was a great concept. Unfortunately, the DC Universe is a pretty broad place with a shitton of secondary characters to service. Coming off the many threads begun in 52 – Volume 1 (reviewed here!), 52 – Volume 2 goes off in a slew of directions. The fundamental problem with this is that few of the plotlines are actually serviced well. In 52 – Volume 2, the only plot that is genuinely developed completely within the volume is the Black Adam/The Question plotline that involves the rising menace in Kahndaq.

52 – Volume 2 is intriguing because it takes a villain from out of the mainstream and uses love to reform them. Black Adam has plagued the Marvel Family for years and in 52 – Volume 2, his love for the new Isis leads him to a new sensibility. Over the fifteen weeks encapsulated in 52 – Volume 2, the most solid plotline focuses on Renee Montoya, Charlie (The Question), Black Adam, and Isis. Renee Montoya and Charlie arrive in Kahndaq, under Black Adam’s rule, following a trail of evidence that suggests that the weapons from Intergang found in Gotham City came from Kahndaq. In Kahndaq, Renee and The Question find the evidence they need, but not before they are captured as traitors. After breaking out, they arrive at the wedding of Adam and Isis where Renee is forced to save lives by shooting a suicide bomber, who happens to be a child. This puts Renee in a dark place, but saves her and Charlie’s lives and puts Black Adam and his growing Black Marvel family on the side of the heroes who would stop Intergang. While Renee wrestles with having killed a child, their team liberates Isis’s brother, Amon, who is empowered with a portion of Black Adam’s power to become the new Osiris. In tracking down Intergang, Black Adam’s team discovers a possible link to another thread in the story.

Unfortunately, all of the other threads are spread quite thin in 52 – Volume 2. Booster Gold is almost entirely discredited at the outset of this volume, so in his despair, he does one final heroic act which results in his heroic death in Metropolis. This sends Skeets on a mission that has the robot realizing what Booster Gold did not live long enough to learn. Professor Magnus is stymied when Dr. Morrow goes missing and he is soon abducted away to an island where all the mad scientists have ended up working for an unknown purpose. The group of heroes trapped in outer space are facing death in the middle of an asteroid field when they are rescued by Lobo, who has become an archbishop and runs his own religion now.

Back on Earth, Lex Luthor’s metagene therapy project continues to grow, though more people outside John Henry Irons seem to realize that Luthor has an agenda surrounding it that he has not told anyone. Irons, still desperate to get his niece out of the program, realizes that Luthor has the ability to turn the gene back off, which allows him to control the participants (and leads to one death). Ralph Dibny’s plotline is neglected most of the book. He pops up in the company of a slew of magicusers, apparently on a quest to find the next Dr. Fate. As something of an afterthought, Supernova continues to do heroic works in Metropolis . . . occasionally.

52 – Volume 2 illustrates what a wide net authors Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, and Mark Waid were forced to cast in writing an epic about the DC Universe. Unfortunately, 52 – Volume 2 serves mostly to illustrate that their reach exceeded their grasp. Wondergirl, who was integral to Volume 1, has about four panels in this entire book and Ralph Dibny’s character arc seems mostly done as well. While killing off Booster Gold early frees up space for other characters’ stories, the survivors of the Justice Society (like the gigantic Hawkwoman seen in Volume 1) do not make even a token appearance in 52 – Volume 2.

Despite all of its problems – and, for a change, Lobo appearing in the book is not a huge detraction! - 52 – Volume 2 does a good job with the one main storyline. Gotham City is shown going to hell without Renee there, but the search for the origins of Intergang and its weapons is well-executed. As someone who had absolutely no emotional investment in Black Adam, that this story could get me invested in the murderous despot is a sign of pretty strong writing. Adam’s temper is tempered by Isis and they make an intriguing pair. Having not read the rest of 52 yet, I can only theorize on the impending tragedy that must make Black Adam back into a villain, but I am enjoying this unlikely storyline so far.

As well, the artwork in 52 – Volume 2 is homogenously good. With vivid coloring and a decent sense of movement, 52 – Volume 2 is presented in a visually interesting way. There are, however, a few places where there are abrupt transitions between panels, but the characters rendered in this book are good enough to be recognizable whenever they come up.

Ultimately, though, as a single volume, 52 – Volume 2 tries to take on too much and given that only one sliver of it tells an engaging-enough story to recommend, it becomes impossible to eagerly endorse this book.

For other major DC Universe crossover events, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Crisis On Infinite Earths
Idenity Crisis
The OMAC Project
Final Crisis
Blackest Night: Green Lantern
Brightest Day, Volume 1
Flashpoint

3.5/10

For other book reviews, check out my Graphic Novel Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Mediocre Origins, Impulse: Reckless Youth Tells The Origins Of Bart Allen!

The Good: Moments of humor, Decent pace of character development
The Bad: Stories have abrupt resolutions, Implausible origins
The Basics: Impulse: Reckless Youth provides the origins of Bart Allen and his earliest adventures as Impulse in Alabama.


When DC Comics began its “New 52” strategy, I knew it would, ultimately, be a failure. It takes a special form of arrogance for a company to reorganize itself during a recession with a new strategy to put out fifty-two comic books a month. The most ridiculous aspect of the strategy was that it only works so long as all fifty-two publications are being produced, before it becomes some macabre commentary on overreaching ambition. As the first “New 52” titles that are getting the ax have been announced, I cannot help but feel a little smug. After all, it was an entirely foreseeable thing that not all of the titles would survive and putting the number of titles in the jingly little reboot name was hubristic. Moreover, DC Comics should have known better; at one point their ambition exceeded their grasp and comic books like Impulse were produced.

Actually, I should not knock Impulse too much, as I came into Impulse: Reckless Youth as part of my Flash Year actually liking Bart Allen. Of course, most of my enjoyment of the character came from the resolution to his arc that came the second time he had a comic book of his own. At the point when Bart Allen was Impulse, he as a wisecracking secondary character in The Flash and, frankly, there was enough of him in the background role to satisfy me. Impulse: Reckless Youth was, in many ways, an unnecessary volume for me in my Flash Year.

That said, Impulse: Reckless Youth finally provided me with the introduction of Bart Allen, so it is hard to complain too much. Split into two essential parts, Impulse: Reckless Youth gives the origin story of Bart Allen, the speedster from the future, and – after an extensive summary of the storyline he had in The Flash - provides his first adventures with Max Mercury in Alabama following Wally West’s return after defeating Kobra.

When Wally West and Linda Park move into a place outside of town, Linda is deep into research on the disappearance of several obscure religious cults. Her investigative reporting could not come at a worse time as Wally soon finds himself distracted by the sudden reappearance of his aunt, Joan Allen, in normal time and space. Joan did not come alone: she brought her grandson, Bart Allen. Bart is a speedster who is only two years old, but has the body of a twelve year-old because he is tapped into the Speed Force. Raised in a virtual reality simulation, Bart Allen is unused to the real world, so Barry must chase him down and realign his metabolism before the boy ages himself to death! While Wally tries to do that, Linda comes under attack from the footsoldiers of Kobra, with only the Pied Piper to protect her!

This first section features some artwork that looks more akin to Archie Comics than what one expects from a DC Comics title. However, the sections from The Flash provide the initial framework for the Bart Allen story, as preposterous as it may be. It is problematic only in that the story is deeply ingrained with the rising action of a long character and plot arc involving one of Wally West’s great, unique to him, adversaries, Kobra. Because this volume is the only one that has those key chapters, it annoyingly becomes essential to readers of The Flash, but given how it is diluted by the Bart Allen introduction, it does not seem as vital or as important as it becomes. So, it is a catch-22. Those who want only the Bart Allen story are likely to be annoyed by the major plot developing (unresolved) in Impulse: Reckless Youth and those who want to read the origins of the Kobra plot will be irked by how much space is devoted to exposition on Bart Allen’s hard-to-swallow origin story.

The second section of Impulse: Reckless Youth is the first six issues of the Impulse title. This is more of a series of vignettes than it is a strongly serialized storyline and it was actually originally surprisingly engaging. Finding himself stuck in Manchester, Alabama as the charge of Max Mercury, Bart Allen works to blend in. This is not easy for him as he does not have much interaction with actual people, late-20th Century technology, or reality in general. It is further complicated by the fact that he starts his tenure in Alabama running onto a missile testing ground. When he interrupts a missile launch that is aimed at a prototype hovertank, he and Max are intrigued by the fact that the testing range was in the opposite direction as the official testing ground for the tank. They quickly reason that someone is out to destroy the prototype and they work to discover who . . . before lives and jobs are lost.

Following that incident, Max instructs Bart to make some friends and in annoying his peers, Bart Allen sets off a schoolwide brawl that he manages to walk away from unscathed. Bart’s predilection to do things without planning ahead finds him poorly infiltrating the gang of White Lightning, a spoiled girl who is causing mayhem and is drawn like a hooker who is entirely age inappropriate for the twelve year-old protagonist of this book. The volume finishes on a story of child abuse where one of Bart Allen’s friends, an aspiring filmmaker, may be being abused by his father. Asked by the school’s assistant principal, Bart befriends him to find out what is going on.

The first and final stories in the Bart Allen section of Impulse: Reckless Youth are actually surprisingly good, despite artwork that continues to give Bart disproportionately larger feet and hair. They are, however, not enough to contain the interest through the ridiculous second and third stories. The second story feels like a reimagining of Tom Sawyer using his peers to whitewash the fence, but Bart Allen’s version does not produce anything (save videos that one of the students sells). The White Lightning plot has decent development for the relationship between Max and Bart, but for as smart as it is for such things as Max Mercury’s level of thought on the importance of preserving the car that Bart takes over the edge of a cliff (instead of just focusing on the people in it), it never addresses how White Lightning actually manages to get away. She is not a speedster and while Bart is seen preoccupied with getting all of her accomplices rounded up, it fails to address how he manages to do that at superspeed, but not catch the villainess.

Despite what the back cover to Impulse: Reckless Youth indicates, the artwork in this book is hardly top-notch. Instead, it is troublingly simple, with most of the panels looking more like a comic strip than a well-written and well-presented comic book or graphic novel.

Outside the fans of the whole Flash Saga or franchise, it is hard to see who might pick up Impulse: Reckless Youth and want to read more of this character.

For other works where Bart Allen is significant, check out my reviews of:
The Flash: Terminal Velocity
The Flash – The Fastest Man Alive: Lightning In A Bottle
The Flash – The Fastest Man Alive: Full Throttle

4/10

For other book reviews, please visit my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Common Experiences Bind Two DC Universe Superheroes In Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave And The Bold

The Good: Decent artwork, Moments of character
The Bad: Repetitive plots, Develop Hal Jordan much more than Barry Allen.
The Basics: Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave And The Bold works hard to express the friendship between Barry Allen and Hal Jordan through numerous adversaries set throughout their lives.


Shortly after I began my Flash Year, I found there was an implication that Hal Jordan and Barry Allen were great friends with one another. Unfortunately, the more I have read of the Flash as I study him for the year, I discovered there was ridiculously little textually to back up the implied friendship. In fact, books like Green Lantern/Green Arrow (reviewed here!) actually forge the idea that Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen were more regular buddies than Jordan and Allen actually were. Enter Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave And The Bold, a volume that seems to retroactively create the strong bond between Allen and Jordan that had not been present in earlier Green Lantern or The Flash volumes I read.

Following the deaths of Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, during the tenure of Wally West and Kyle Rayner as the Flash and Green Lantern, respectively, Hal Jordan’s co-worker, Pie, writes of the great friendship between Hal and Barry. Over the course of their grand, heroic period, Green Lantern and the Flash spend enough time together to actually forge a friendship in their alter egos and their mundane lives. Threaded throughout the six vignettes that span their long careers, Hal goes through a number of women and jobs while away from Ferris Air, constantly borrowing money from Barry Allen.

In their first adventure together, Barry Allen is running late for a visit to Coast City. After running out there for a party Hal Jordan is attending, they are both pressed into service as Green Lantern and the Flash when one of the guests’ shadows erupts into something malevolent. Reasoning that the shadow is a conduit to someplace else, Hal leaps inside and the Flash follows him. They find themselves on an alien world that is under attack by the Khund. To fight the Khund, these aliens are harvesting evil from other places, most notably, Earth! Together, Green Lantern and the Flash must stop the invasion of the evil harvesters and their own evil shadows.

In “Lightspeed,” Wally West is visiting with Hal Jordan (who is now in insurance) and Wally West, when Central City is attacked by Mirror Master and Black Hand. After Wally’s powers are sapped by Black Hand, Hal Jordan grants him Green Lantern powers and it is up to Wally to rescue the pair from the villains! In “A World Of Hurt,” Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and Alan Scott go camping on a planet with Barry Allen and Jay Garrick, a world that the Green Lanterns have trouble defending when things go wrong for the group.

That story is followed by “How Many Times Can A Man Turn His Head,” where Green Arrow – a friend of Hal Jordan – arrives with Hal during their tour of America. Barry is compelled to spring Green Lantern and Green Arrow from Central City’s prison. Fighting the new oppressive mayor, the trio fights for the value of freedom over authority and control. In “The Man Without Fearlessness,” the Guardians of the Universe conscript the Flash to rescue the Corps from a yellow-hearted sun that turns out to be the weapon of none other than Sinestro! Green Lantern’s nemesis, Star Sapphire pops up on “Running On Empty,” which puts the Flash into conflict with both the Carol Ferris Star Sapphire and the classic Flash villain from the Seventh Dimension Star Sapphire!

I admire what writers Mark Waid and Tom Peyer tried to do with Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave And The Bold. The purpose of Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave And The Bold seems largely to be to put Hal Jordan in situations where Barry Allen has the ability to help bail him out. Only Mirror Master and, in the background, Captain Cold, appear from the extensive Rogue’s Gallery of Flash villains. Instead, Green Lantern’s adversaries like Sinestro, Black Hand, and Star Sapphire pop up and part of the point seems to be to illustrate the powerful differences in their nemesi. The final story with Star Sapphire seems only to have the purpose of showing how the two comic books borrowed ideas from one another back in the day.

The artwork in Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave And The Bold is simple, but the coloring is consistent and rich. The story is interesting enough for the fans, but outside the section that acts as a “lost chapter” for the “hard-traveled heroes” with Green Arrow, this book does not actually deal with much with larger themes or bigger ideas that make a friendship deeper than anything other than shared adventures. In other words, what actually binds Barry Allen and Hal Jordan is the idea that they are friends. Hal Jordan constantly using Barry for money and Allen observing his chaotic life seems far less of a strong bond than the battles they fight together.

Fans are likely to enjoy Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave And The Bold, but those looking for an engaging read that creates a series of characters one will fall in love with and want to read more from, will find this volume lacking.

For other books in the The Brave And The Bold series, check out my reviews of:
Volume 1 – The Lords Of Luck
Volume 2 – The Book Of Destiny
Volume 3 – Demons And Dragons
Volume 4 - Without Sin

5/10

For other graphic novel reviews, be sure to check out my Graphic Novel Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Jumbled Phenomenon Begins With 52 - Volume 1!

The Good: Consistently good artwork, Refreshingly complicated plots
The Bad: Not at all the whole story, No real character development, Far too many characters/plots to keep the initial format.
The Basics: When the DC Universe was deeply affected, consequences reigned and exploring those consequences began in 52 - Volume 1.


I have a bit of an appreciation for the second string heroes in the DC Universe. In addition to villains that are created with a sophisticated depth to them, the DC graphic novels I seem to enjoy the most have to do with the background characters getting their chance to shine after the first-string heroes are otherwise incapacitated. So it is actually pretty surprising that it has taken me so long to start picking up the volumes of 52 as it has. However, that all changes with my getting in 52 - Volume 1.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, 52 - Volume 1 follows on the heels of Infinite Crisis (reviewed here!), which left the main triumvirate in the DC Universe shaken and unwilling to continue their roles as superheroes. While Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman take a year off from crime fighting and being superheroes. 52 is a week by week account of the missing year and Volume 1 are the first thirteen weeks of that missing year.

And the volume works, for the most part, though the initial format – that has day by day accounts, bouncing between any one of the many main characters – is quickly sacrificed in order to tell stories that have actual depth to them. This is a plot-heavy book and it is a chapter within a larger conceptual story – the Crisis Series – that defined and redefined the DC Multiverse.

Opening in the rubble of the prior Crisis, Booster Gold quickly and publicly takes point for fighting crime when Mammoth descends on Metropolis. As Ralph Dibny wrestles with the loss of his wife, the superhero community comes together for a memorial service for their fallen, most notably Superboy. But events at the memorial service do not turn out like Booster Gold knows they should and as he works to get Skeets repaired, Ralph Dibny begins a quest of his own, a journey that begins with the desecration of his wife’s grave. As Booster continually miscalculates his heroic attempts, Renee Montoya tries to figure out who she is.

As Power Girl tracks down one of the remnants of Luthor’s Secret Society, she encounters Black Adam, who has taken to protecting the African state of Kahndaq and Steel finds managing his niece – the Teen Titan Steel – is becoming increasingly complicated. There is a ramp up in action as Lex Luthor, thought dead when his corpse is discovered, declares that all the wrongs done by him in the past year were the actions of the dead alternate universe Lex, a declaration that pales compared to Black Adam tearing apart a minor supervillain publicly when the Kahndaq embassy opens in New York.

At the end of the first month, Montoya’s stakeout reveals alien weapons and astronauts manage to communicate with the heroes who left Earth to deal with the Rann-Thanagar War. Ralph Dibny tries to have a vision of his wife, thanks to a Kryptonian cult and the next month kicks off with Alan Scott explaining the JSA’s freakish end in space as the survivors are cared for at a metahuman hospital. Lex Luthor, revealing a metahuman gene therapy, tries to exploit the absence of the heroes. Also exploiting the absence of the main heroes is Booster Gold, who is staging events with actors portraying villains to get lucrative endorsement deals.

As the Green Lanterns – Hal Jordan and John Stewart – run into jurisdiction problems in Chinese airspace, Booster Gold makes it to Rip Hunter’s time lab and discovers he may be the cause of the fabric of reality tearing itself apart! On the distant planet, Starfire, Animal Man, and Adam Strange work to repair a ship to get home, while on Earth Booster’s staged events come to light, thanks in part to a deeply hurt Ralph Dibny.

The fall of Booster Gold comes in tandem with the rise of Lex Luthor’s experiments and Natasha Irons becoming frustrated enough to push her uncle away to become a part of the program. In deep space, Adam Strange and Animal Man find Starfire . . . by walking into a trap. Facing being fired, Clark Kent snags an interview with Metropolis’s new superhero, Supernova. And a growing conflict between Black Adam’s anti-meta-human xenophobes and Lex Luthor’s new wave of metahumans becomes evident.

52 - Volume 1 is clearly building toward something and it takes a lot of faith for the reader to believe that all the many, many plots are going to somewhere satisfying. Plots like the space team that is lost in some distant corner feel far more like they are tying up loose ends, as opposed to telling a new and engaging story. Moreover, because there are at least five main plots and heavy characters in 52 - Volume 1, none of them manage to go as far as is satisfying. In other words, 52 - Volume 1 would have been much more engaging had it followed two or three main characters with much clearer plots, in a way that develops the characters.

52 - Volume 1 is largely devoid of actual character development. Black Adam is given a passing amount of character conflict to grow through as he falls for a woman given to him as a gift. Beyond that, the heavy lifting for the consequences of Infinite Crisis comes from Ralph Dibny. Dibny is broken by the loss of his wife and when the Cult Of Connor wants to use magic to resurrect Sue, he is deeply torn. Dibny adds an element of realism to the book and Cassie Sandsmark’s supporting role makes sense for her youthful passion for Connor Kent.

Having read DC volumes that followed long after 52, one of the best statements I can make on Volume 1 is this: the book managed to surprise me several times and it left me wanting to read the next one, even if it was not at all great literature.

For other major DC Universe crossover events, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Crisis On Infinite Earths
Idenity Crisis
The OMAC Project
Final Crisis
Blackest Night: Green Lantern
Brightest Day, Volume 1
Flashpoint

5/10

For other book reviews, check out my Graphic Novel Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Flash: Full Throttle Explores Bart Allen’s Tenure As The Fastest Man Alive!

The Good: Surprisingly well-constructed, Decent character development, Good artwork
The Bad: Somewhat fragmented (additional stories do not wow)
The Basics: The Flash: Full Throttle has Bart Allen taking up the mantle of the Flash and working to save the world from the Rogues and his evil clone, Inertia!


As we enter the latter half of my Flash Year, I am actually thrilled that my local library has managed to get in some of the books I have never even seen in comic book shops! One of the ones that came in that excited me pretty much instantly was The Flash: Full Throttle. The reason for my excitement was simple; The Flash: Full Throttle captures an era I did not even know existed! The Flash: Full Throttle has Bart Allen as the lead protagonist! Before opening the pages of The Flash: Full Throttle, I had no idea that Bart Allen ever took up the mantle of Flash in full.

Bart Allen, for those unfamiliar with the Flash lore, is the grandson of Barry Allen, the principle Flash who sacrificed himself during Crisis On Infinite Earths (reviewed here!). While Wally West assumed the role of Flash in the aftermath of that event, it was not until Iris Allen returned from the distant future with her grandson, Bart, that the younger Flash role was “restocked.” After a time as Impulse, Bart Allen joined the Teen Titans and took on the persona of Kid Flash. Between then and The Flash: Full Throttle, Wally West has (apparently) died, Bart Allen’s body has aged (there are oblique references to him being a sixteen year-old in a twenty year-old’s body in The Flash: Full Throttle) and now Bart Allen is the fastest man alive.

Opening with a one-shot that focuses on how Bart Allen dislikes Christmas, The Flash: Full Throttle tells two primary stories. The first is the two-chapter Speedquest. In Speedquest, Bart Allen, as the Flash thwarts a plot by Abra Kadabra which ultimately puts him in a confrontation with Inertia, a speedster clone of himself who travels in time. When Inertia captures his girlfriend, Val, as Val is wrestling with her demons related to her father (the electric creature Mota), Bart must come to the rescue. But Inertia’s insane plan puts Bart in a position where he must choose between Valerie’s life or his own!

The “Speedquest” story sets up a decent character conflict, both between the Flash and Inertia and Bart and Valerie. Inertia is the primary villain throughout The Flash: Full Throttle and while his motivations are unclear, he seems to resent the fact that Bart taps directly into the Speed Force, while he is forced to use a drug to achieve his superspeed. As for the relationship between Bart and Val, The Flash: Full Throttle starts with Bart moving out to Los Angeles in order to try to be close to Val after she left him previously. While she is actually in Las Vegas, they quickly reconnect and the relationship dynamic between Bart and Val reads as both very true and very similar to the early relationship between Wally West and Linda Park.

The Flash: Full Throttle continues with the main, five-chapter story. In “Full Throttle,” Bart settles in to training with the LAPD. When he comes across some Apokaliptian technology, he witlessly stores it in his storage locker, drawing the attention of the New God, Steppenwolf. Bailed out from near-death by the Justice League, Bart rejects Robin’s offer to return to the Teen Titans and he continues focusing on his training, despite his superiors suspecting he was somehow involved in trashing the facility.

Meanwhile, Inertia has been assembling the Rogues. Offering something none of the Rogues have had the chance for before, Inertia claims to be bringing the group together to use 30th Century technology to use the Rogues to stop time. Enlisting Captain Cold, the Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, Heat Wave, Abra Kadabra, and the Pied Piper, Inertia sets in motion a plan to kill Bart Allen. But someone else is also working to take out Bart Allen and when they enlist the help of Zoom, Allen finds himself in a race for his life, one which may already be preordained for him to lose!

The Flash: Full Throttle concludes with the follow-up to The Lightning Saga (reviewed here!) and saying more than that could spoil two books, so I shall not do that here.

Instead, The Flash: Full Throttle puts Bart Allen in the driver’s seat of the Flash and it is refreshing to see how much the character has grown. No longer an impulsive (sorry, but it is the right word!) youth, Bart Allen uses information as well as instinct throughout The Flash: Full Throttle and that makes his character far more interesting for the bulk of the book. He becomes a compelling hero with, what appears to be a very bright future and when he sets his sights on joining the Justice League, it is hard not to see him as very cool.

The character work between Bart and Val and Bart and Iris Allen (his grandmother) is very good. Allen comes across as appropriately smart and he seems much more emotionally aware and mature throughout The Flash: Full Throttle than in any of the other books that feature him that I have read. He makes a nice contrast with the maniacal Inertia, who just seems overly emotional and legitimately crazy. There are some decent romantic pages between Bart and Val that add a layer of humanity that is seldom present with the character.

The artwork through the main stories of The Flash: Full Throttle is great. While the first and last story have several panels that are underwhelming and simplified, most of the book is well-drawn and exceptionally well-colored. The panels in The Flash: Full Throttle have clear characters and a good sense of movement both within the panels and between them.

Ultimately, The Flash: Full Throttle is an engaging story of one man’s rise to stop a collection of villains that none of his predecessors have effectively defeated. And in The Flash: Full Throttle, Bart Allen (arguably for the first time) proves that he is truly up to the task!

For other Flash graphic novels, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Born To Run
The Return Of Barry Allen
Terminal Velocity
Dead Heat
Race Against Time
Emergency Stop
The Human Race
Wonderland
Blood Will Run
Blitz
The Secret Of Barry Allen
Flash: Rebirth
The Life Story Of The Flash

8/10

For other book reviews, be sure to check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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