Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis Is Too Fractured To Be Worthwhile!

The Good: Moments of character, Some fun panels
The Bad: Inconsistent artwork, No real character development, Plot falls apart.
The Basics: Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis starts strong, but then becomes a mess as the series it anthologized abruptly came to an end.


When it comes to questionable ideas in comic books, I will be the first to admit that I thought Ame-Comi Girls had hit the conceptual jackpot for terrible ideas. The entire comic book like was created around the DC Collectibles statue/toy line that reimagined popular female characters from the DC Universe in more of an anime style for the costumes and, frankly, overt sexuality. But somehow, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray made it work with Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 (reviewed here!) and its sequel, enough that I felt the desire to actually complete the saga, picking up Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis, the final compilation of the Ame-Comi Girls comic books.

Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis picks up in the middle of the story begun in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac (reviewed here!) - in fact the abrupt ending to the story was one of the problems with the prior volume. Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis is a compilation of, essentially, three stories - Hawkgirl's entrance to the narrative, Sinestra's attack on Earth, and then vignettes featuring the Teen Hellions, Space Pirates and random heroines (White Canary and Mera) fighting as "auditions" to join the Justice League. The end of the book is a tremendous departure for Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis and in addition to losing narrative cohesion, it is there that the book loses its charm. There is an abrupt quality to the fight involving Sinestra and the resolution is hardly a satisfying one; so the transition away from the (now) familiar characters is jarring. In some ways, the last portion of Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis feels like the equivalent of test marketing for the new characters!

Opening on Thanagar with Shayera Thath at age ten is rapidly becoming a streetbrawler, much to the dismay of her stepmother and father. Five years later, she is married to Katar, the boy she was protecting while fighting off older boys and the pair work together on the Thanagarian police force. The two are working together when Sinestra and her forces attack Thanagar, killing Katar and making him into a Black Lantern. While fighting against Sinestra, Shayera is rescued by Alana Strange from Rann, who reveals to her the weapon built to try to stop Sinestra - Metra, a manufactured godess.

Alana teleports the newly formed Justice League to Rann to brief them on the impending fight with Sinestra. While all life on Earth is teleported to a safe planet, the Justice League witnesses Alana awakening Metra, which evaluates them and makes them into ringbearers of her light. As Sinestra's ship draws near the abandoned Earth, Supergirl, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Alana Strange bring the fight to space where they are beset by Sinestra's Lantern Corps. The battle is going surprisingly well until Black Lantern Katar arrives and kills Hawkgirl, converting her to a Black Lantern and Sinestra blasts the women fighting on Earth, converting some of them. With the battle turned impossibly against the heroes, Metra enters the fray finally, resolving the fight in an unexpected way.

What follows is the Black Lantern Flash trying to adapt to life after being killed and running around as a Black Lantern, stopping crimes. She is patrolling Keystone City one night when she encounters Red Raven, a vampire, and Red Raven tries to recruit her to the Teen Hellions. Red Raven wants The Flash to accompany her, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Grrl, and Tempest on a mission to thwart her demon father, Trigon. Protecting Raven's physical body, The Flash helps the team send Trigon back to his own realm.

Big Barda leads space pirates against Empress Darkseid, which leads to Barda being reunited with Miss Miracle. Back on Earth, White Canary fights Pinky Violence and Mera and Black Manta fight one another. And then the book abruptly ends.

Alana Strange and Shayera are given backstories that are extensive enough to allow readers to care about them, though Alana's especially kills the narrative flow of Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis. Obviously, the only way readers are going to care about Alana Strange is by getting her personal history, but it is revealed through several pages of exposition at a time when the main plot narrative is picking up steam. Similarly, Red Raven's sudden backstory in the middle of a fight is distracting from the flow.

Following the battle between Metra and Sinestra, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis falls completely apart. The vignettes that follow are packed with obscure characters and the artwork is very inconsistent. In fact, it becomes a labor to continue reading short stories of characters who then go nowhere.

Ame-Comi Girls Volume 3: Earth In Crisis is a disappointing ending to a series that started as a pleasant surprise.

For other big team-up books, please check out my reviews of:
Justice
Kingdom Come
The Brave And The Bold Volume 1: The Lords Of Luck

3/10

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

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Two Stories, One Book: Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac Is Mostly Fun!

The Good: Moments of character, Well-defined backstory for new characters, Wonderful artwork
The Bad: Odd story breakdowns, Short, Poor characterization of love/male influence
The Basics: Resolving the conflict of Brainiac, the gynocentric Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac then works to set up the next volume!


When it comes to my book reviews, I can think of no other work that pleasantly surprised me of late quite like Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 (reviewed here!). Based on the oversexualized statue and toy line from DC Collectibles, the Ame-Comi book was one that I picked up on a complete lark, not at all expecting it to have any serious merit. I'm a big enough person to admit when I am wrong and I was wrong about Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1. Based on the strength of the first volume, I picked up Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac.

Right off the bat, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac seemed like it was something of a misnomer; after all, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 had very powerfully introduced Brainiac to the narrative, so it seemed like readers already knew Brianiac was rising. Beyond that, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac is an anthology of the first four Ame-Comi Girls comic books to follow the introductory ("featuring X Character") series and it picks up immediately after Volume 1. As such, it is a story in progress and it is impossible to review Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac without referencing where Volume 1 left off. Unfortunately, because only the first two (of four) chapters deal with the dangling plotlines left from Volume 1, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac starts to feel like something of a cashgrab by transitioning awkwardly into the next story instead of having Volume 2 tell the whole next story. In other words, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac is an awkward bridge between two stories; the fast resolution to one and the slow build to another (without any resolution or strong character development). That fracture makes it a tougher sell than it ought to have been.

Opening with Wonder Woman squaring off against the black Kryptonite-infected Supergirl, the battle between the heroes and Brianiac's forces seems to be going quite poorly. As Batgirl, aboard Brainiac's ship, searches for a weakness, Wonder Woman finds the possessed Supergirl's weakness and utilizes the Lasso Of Truth to turn the tide of battle against her. Seeing which way the wind is blowing Duela Dent abandons Brainiac's ship. While Brainiac activates the computer at the Earth's core and sends devices up to the surface all around the Earth, the heroes fight off Brainiac's drones in Kansas. Power Girl makes it to the Earth's core, but finds it filled with giant, mechanical bees controlled by Brainiac. After Power Girl manages to communicate with the drones, she discovers that Brainiac is already in the core waiting for her!

Gaining access to Brainiac's ship leads Brainiac to shut off life support. Rising to the occasion, The Flash passes through the door and hunts down Brainiac as Power Girl fights the Brainiac in the Earth's core. After battling Brainiac, the alliance between the heroes begins to fracture when Power Girl becomes determined to save Supergirl's life, regardless of Wonder Woman's advice. Forming a Justice League to come together should another threat to Earth arise, the group splinters apart to return to their own lives.

Following the Brainiac Incident, in China, the blind mountain-climber Jade Yifei is in the middle of an ascent when she is attacked by the Flying Guillotine. Before she can hit the ground, though, she is chosen by Oa to be the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. Saving her family and getting her attacker to flee, Jade takes up the mantle of Green Lantern with surprising ease. In the anti-matter universe, Parallax finds a way through to the matter universe and on Earth's moon, Carol Ferris finds a downed space ship belonging to a Star Sapphire and she becomes one of the ringbearers for the violet light. Returning to Earth, Ferris attends a party where she steals James Olsen away from Kara Jor-El, in the process revealing herself to be a Star Sapphire. After a fight between Power Girl and the Star Sapphire, Kara Jor-El enlists Avril Palmer (The Atom) to aid her in saving Supergirl's life. The volume ends with the set-up for the next major conflict with a backstory detailing the rise of Sinestra!

First off, and I couldn't truly discuss this when writing about Volume 1 as it came right at the end, the black Kryptonite is one of the coolest ideas that Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray brought to Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac. The transformation of Kara Zor-El into a villain under Brainiac's control is a cool idea that is executed fairly well in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac. In fact, Supergirl is only stopped by the Lasso Of Truth and that is treated as a temporary fix, with Kara Zor-El being in a state of mortal peril for pretty much all of Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac.

I was initially disappointed that Catwoman had survived the events of Volume 1 to participate in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac. After all, the artwork in the first book made it look like dark Supergirl has snapped her neck and the potential casualty lent some weight to the somewhat light volume. In Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac, Catwoman's survival is blithely described as a function of using up two of her nine lives and that is a bit disappointing as there is nothing else in the text to indicate Catwoman had anything remotely supernatural to her. Keeping her alive is sadly pointless given that she has no substantive role in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac.

There is something thematically disappointing about Steve Trevor's role in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac. As Power Girl and Wonder Woman form the Justice League, Steve Trevor is the voice of pragmatism and reason, the only one in the room discussing the legal ramifications of non-U.S. citizens launching military-style missions from U.S. soil and the superhero team including minors (Barbara Gordon and Carrie/Robin). Trevor is also the only one who brings up the idea that members of the team could be killed and that leads to liability issues. While Trevor's counterpoints to the budding Justice League are a good place to finally address "Girls" (as opposed to "Women") in the title, it is troubling that Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac uses a male character to negotiate practical and rational elements in a female-centered super hero team. In the real world, there are enough problems with getting women to work together for their common goals; it would have been refreshing in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac to see the female characters model it well for any young women actually reading the book.

In a similar way, Star Sapphire basically uses a love potion (mind control) on James Olsen and that pulls the reader way out of the narrative. In a book filled with accomplished, powerful women (including Carol Ferris, the way she is first introduced and described by Olsen), it seems particularly lowbrow that the Star Sapphire sells herself as the best looking woman at the party. It's a shallow reason for Olsen to want her and it does no service to the concept of love that the Star Sapphire is supposed to embody. For sure, the Green Lantern comics have had trouble reasonably and consistenly defining the Star Sapphires and their powers, but Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac is not doing any favors to the struggle by picking a pretty shallow portrayal of love with Ferris obsessed with Olsen. At least Kara Jor-El is rational enough to see Olsen's near-infidelity for what it truly was and not make the book go too far in the direction of melodrama.

On the opposite side, Princess Diana is presented in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac as a refreshingly strong character. Not at all plagued by self-doubt or a sense of melodrama, she comes across as a natural leader. Similarly, Kara Jor-El is characterized well as a powerful, articulate woman not requiring the traditional trappings of stereotypical American relationships. Jor-El is not jealous and her protective nature of James Olsen actually comes across in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac as her desire to see her boyfriend not be victimized by a woman willing to use mind control over him.

The addition of Green Lantern to Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac is an interesting one and the book has a decent re-imagining of the Green Lanterns. Jade's mantra is different and her story sends the book in an entirely different direction. Her backstory is dwarfed by the extensive backstory given to Sinestra at the very end of the book. Sinestra, having once thwarted Brainiac on her own, becomes the next great villain for the Ame-Comi saga . . . right before the book ends.

Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac is somewhat sloppily written in that Kara Jor-El (Power Girl) is referenced as Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) is a scene where the artwork is clearly of Power Girl in her mundane outfit and Supergirl is still in stasis elsewhere in Metropolis.

Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac includes bonus features, in the form of rough character sketches for Brainiac at the end of the book. Between the variant cover gallery and the sketches, the bonus features are mildly amusing, but leave the reader wishing there were more story (substance) as opposed to fluff.

Despite being terribly short and broken up to sell more books as opposed to finish and begin narratives at logical places, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 2: Rise Of The Brainiac is still worth reading and a fun book.

For other books featuring characters that had Ame-Comi reworks, please check out my reviews of:
Wonder Woman: Gods And Mortals By George Perez
Superman: Brainiac By Geoff Johns
Harley Quinn: Power Outage By Amanda Connor

5/10

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

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Collectibles Become Comic Books With Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1!

The Good: Good characters, Good story, Some knock-out artwork
The Bad: Incredibly erratic artwork, Fractured story at points
The Basics: Against all my first instincts, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 becomes a joy to read and a set-up graphic novel worth championing as the DC Comics Universe as re-imagined in a gynocentric way!


A few years ago, when my wife and I were still living in Upstate New York, we made a day trip to Albany. I thought it would be fun to visit the state capital and we ended up doing a lot of generally geeky things, like visiting comic book shops, trying local restaurants (okay, that's not geeky) and going to the movies. While at one of the comic book shops, I came across a Wonder Woman figure that I had never before seen. The figure was the Ame-Comi Wonder Woman, the first one which featured a barely-dressed Wonder Woman holding the head of Medusa. At the time, $39.95 seemed a bit steep of a price for me, so I passed on picking it up (which was aided by my wife staring me down and asking me point-blank, "Where the hell would you display that?!"). I did not think much about the Ame-Comi toy line, despite occasionally seeing them in my sidebar advertisements and seeing the prices for some of the figures (like that Wonder Woman I passed on all those years ago!) going quite high. But, given how intensive September is turning out to be for Marvel Comics-based reviews, I figured that I would branch out a little bit with my DC Comics reviews and that was when I discovered that there were actually comic books based upon the Ame-Comi toy line.

The concept of building a supporting work around a collectible or toy is not a new one. As much as I loved Masters Of The Universe growing up, I know that the television series was based on the toy line, not the other way around. So, DC Comics is now creating supporting materials for the popular collectibles from DC Collectibles, like Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 and a comic book based upon the DC Bombshells line of statues. Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 is the anthology of the five volumes (three issues each) of the main characters - Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Power Girl, Duella Dent, and Supergirl - reformatted for the printing and without the "To Be Continued" line at the end of the chapters that would have delineated the original issues.

Opening with Steve Trevor briefing the U.S. President on the rumors of Themyscira hours in advance of Kasnia launching an attack on the island, Princess Diana of Themyscira trains in hand to hand combat with the minotaurs on the island. When the Kasnian army invades, the Amazons easily repel them, but when Queen Hippolyta realizes that the battle was turned by Diana, she is angered. Hippolyta wants to send an envoy to the strongest, most democratic nation on Earth and have the envoy trade protecting Themyscira for the Tears Of Panacea, the elixir that grants Amazons vitality. After dressing Diana in a surprisingly skimpy outfit and charging her with becoming the Themysciran ambassador to the world, Hippolyta sends Diana off to the United States to learn wisdom and humility. While Diana speaks to the United Nations, she is attacked by Cheetah. In the process of thwarting Cheetah, Diana saves the Kasnian Ambassador and Diana learns that even Cheetah does not know who hired her.

Right off the bat, Wonder Woman is characterized as strong and sassy in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1. While training, she is a formidable opponent to three minotaurs, even if they claim she is vain and narcissistic. Despite the claims of her sparring partners, she is eager to defend her homeland and that selfless quality is one of the hallmarks of Wonder Woman. In that way, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 quickly asserts that while the art style might be new, the characters at the heart of the narrative are going to bear familiar traits. This makes sense as the volume generally tells a familiar origin story for Diana with new artwork in a moderately-altered setting.

Batgirl's origin story is second in the book and it features Barbara Gordon and her cousin Carrie heading out for a night on the town. After being seen off by the wheelchair-bound Jim Gordon, Barbara and Gordon go out as Batgirl and Robin to thwart some crime in Gotham. They do not have to go far, as Poison Ivy is in the park tormenting a young couple on their first date. While the pair is easily able to stop Poison Ivy, she is soon joined by Catwoman and Harley Quinn, who are being monitored by Duela Dent. Despite their best efforts, Batgirl is captured by the trio and taken back to Duela Dent's lair where they are joined by Cheetah. Robin has to rescue Batgirl, while Barbara does her best to learn about Duela Dent's new lair and who might be behind designing the futuristic prison she has built. While Barbara realizes that Duela has her aboard a spacecraft that she could not have possibly invented, Carrie goes to Steel (Natasha Irons) for assistance in mounting the rescue of Batgirl.

The female-dominated narrative of Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 comes out very strongly in the second chapter. The reversals to the originally-established DC Comics universe are fun, like Jim Gordon being stuck in the wheelchair instead of Barbara. The idea of Barbara looking after Carrie, much like Bruce Wayne looks after the young men who become Robin is a similarly cool twist. But the Barbara Gordon chapter is either where the concept of the book starts to play as awkward or I am just out of touch. Carrie uses phrases like "the soundest crew in Gotham" and "Mom is tranquil" and dialogue like that either embodies youthspeak I have no experience with or it is intended to mimic bad translations in American comic books/Manga. Whichever, the second chapter features some truly off lines.

In addition, the Batgirl chapter has decidedly inferior artwork compared to the first chapter as the characters are rendered far more simplistically. The sense of movement, like the dialogue, is a bit off, which makes for a poor flow and a less enjoyable reading experience. How Batgirl survives being submerged in the death tank Duela Dent made long enough for the spikes to deploy makes less sense than Batgirl being able to dodge the spikes!

Duela Dent's chapter in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 offers the reader explicit backstory on the female steampunk Joker character. She is presented as the daughter of the Joker, who grew up in the twisted landmark House Dent. One night, while playing hide and seek with her father, she ended up in the attic, where she was attacked by bats and, in the aftermath, was forced to cut her hair and get rabies shots. Shortly thereafter, her father was killed (paralyzing Jim Gordon in the process) and Duela Dent began her reign of terror on Gotham City. Acting as an agent of pure chaos, Duela brought Gotham to its knees until Batgirl showed up. Duela Dent's backstory is well-conceived and illustrated enough to be captivating. It is also the first chapter clearly intended for more mature readers (as if Wonder Woman's outfit didn't make that clear in the first chapter of the book!). Duela Dent is a cunning, cruel adversary, who is surprisingly well-conceived.

Duela's chapter then flashes forward to where Batgirl's chapter ended, with Duela and her lackeys cornering Batgirl on the ship. After incapacitating Batgirl in a futuristic trap, Duela demands fealty from her crew. Catwoman resists and the two fight, leading Catwoman to be jaded when Duela reveals her ally. Duela Dent is working with Brainiac, who intends to reduce humanity (outside Gotham City and Atlantis) to savages before abandoning the planet for a few million years. While Duela revels in her plan to rule the world (or the ashes of it), Catwoman frees Batgirl and tries to get her off the ship.

The third chapter greatly expands the scope of Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 by introducing Brainiac and The Flash (Jesse Quick). The artwork is erratic, but still better than the second chapter. While the character arc for Catwoman is fairly predictable, it works because many, many DC Comics volumes have been written on how super-villain societies have a tendency to fall apart because villains do not work well together. Catwoman is characterized as smart enough to understand the human desire for respect, whereas, Duela Dent is a somewhat monolithic agent of chaos who demands fealty. While the plot of Duela's chapter is somewhat predictable and a little fractured, it progresses the overall story of Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1.

The fourth chapter introduces Power Girl to the narrative as the Kryptonian Kara Jor-El rescues James Olsen from pirates he wants to interview off the coast of Kenya. After rescuing Olsen, Power Girl returns to Metropolis, the city of the future that she has built based upon Kryptonian technology and environmental practices. While giving a tour of her facility, she is attacked by the Silver Banshees who out her as an alien and attempt to kill her. The Silver Banshees are armored women working for (presumably) Lex Luthor, who has built a giant mech to lay waste to Metropolis, kill Power Girl and (in his mind) prevent a Kryptonian invasion. No sooner has Kara saved Metropolis than a ship carrying her cousin, Kara Zor-El, crashes down in Smallville . . . with Manhunters right behind!

The artwork of the fourth chapter is more stylized than the earlier chapters, with the pirates having bodies with proportions that are noticeably off. Similarly, after Power Girl melts their firearms with her heat vision, the guys keep holding the red-hot weapons, which looks utterly ridiculous. Ironically, Power Girl herself looks the most similar to her non-Ame-Comi rendition, which might be a statement in and of itself. In fact, Ame-Comi Power Girl might have more of a costume - whatwith her somewhat pointless leg armor - than her mundane comic counterpart. What does an indestructible woman need with armor? That is not made clear in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1. Power Girl's chapter is such a disconnect from the other chapters that it makes Barbara Gordon's shock at aliens influencing Earth seem nonsensical as Kara is out and about as an alien in love with humanity. Fortunately, just around the time the reader is thinking "How are the Manhunters so bad at their job that they arrive in force to stop Kara Zor-El, but not Brainiac?!" Brainiac's ship arrives and reduces that qualm as the Manhunters recognize the Coulan ship instantly. The female Manhunters are well-rendered for the gynocentric reinterpretation of the DC Universe - their fire hair is pretty cool.

The final chapter of Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 is Kara Zor-El, Supergirl's, chapter. Opening with a brief flashback to Jor-El and Zor-El appealing to prevent the destruction of Krypton (it's not clear why those characters weren't female scientists instead of Power Girl and Supergirl's fathers!), before they are condemned to the Phantom Zone, the story flashes back to exactly where the prior chapter ended. The Manhunters agree to pardon Power Girl and Supergirl in exchange for their aid in arresting or destroying Brainiac, which they set about to doing right away, much to the chagrin of Duela Dent and her team aboard Brainiac's ship. As Brainiac sends a legion of androids to slaughter Supergirl, Power Girl and the Manhunters, Earth's metahumans take a stand against them!

The final chapter of is a cliffhanger, which promises a change in format from the character-centered chapters that defined Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1. In many ways, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 is a set-up that brings together, essentially, a female-powered Justice League. It also raises the stakes in the final chapter by apparently killing one character (it would be hard to believe a mere human could survive the beating from an extraterrestrial!) and creating a new villain for the next book. And, while there is something troubling about the word "bitch" being used in such a pro-woman book (it comes up twice in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1, the final time out of Wonder Woman's mouth, which is just disturbing!), for the most part, the book has a strong respect for girl power themes.

Somewhat understandably, Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 is a series of origin stories. Duela Dent's is the most concrete and explicit and, given how she is more or less unique to the narrative, inherently interesting. The explanations for Power Girl and Supergirl together is handled well-enough to accept. Supergirl and Wonder Woman's origin stories are familiar and bookend the volume well. Indeed, Supergirl's story being infused with the story of Brainiac makes for a compelling introduction of Kara Zor-El.

The artwork in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1, like the statues and toys upon which they are based, is fun, at the very least. I noticed, however, that the artwork became less detailed as each chapter went on. There are panels, for example, of Wonder Woman's fight with Cheetah that lack the richness of detail that were present in her fight with the Kasnian forces on Themyscira. By contrast, Duela Dent's chapter starts with amazing artwork to explore the architecture of her childhood house to further her characterization in a compelling way. By the time Power Girl's chapter ends, though, it is hard not to acknowledge that Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 is very much a graphic novel for people who like breasts. That's not a dig, but the artists are pretty obsessed with rendering large-breasted women and somewhere there is a young teen geek who has a copy of Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 stuffed between their matress and boxspring!

I was not entirely prepared to like Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 when I sat down to read it. The statues upon which the book was made seemed exploitative and over-sexualized (which is fine, but that being a gimmick to rework characters from seemed like it would lead most naturally to a porn parody as opposed to a serious, compelling, work) and the artwork in Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 mirrors that, especially in the final chapter. But Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 isn't just softcore with a story; it is surprisingly character-driven and against all odds, it works. In the Ame-Comi incarnation of the DC Universe, Earth and Krypton are mere creations of Brainiac's and she is coming to Earth to feast and that raises the level of threat in the book far beyond Duela Dent or Cheetah.

It also makes for a strong adventure where young women are working together for common purpose to save each other and the world. Regardless of the artwork, it is hard not to champion that. Ame-Comi Girls Volume 1 is a decent set-up that makes for a fun read and makes the reader eager to continue with the story . . . for more than just the appreciation of the costumes and boobs.

For other books that contain the characters that the Ame-Comi versions are based upon, please visit my reviews of:
Wonder Woman: Blood By Brian Azzarello
Batgirl: The Darkest Reflection By Gail Simone
Supergirl: Death & The Family By Sterling Gates

6/10

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

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Fourth Wall Shatters For A Ridiculous Team-Up In Harley Quinn: Power Outage!

The Good: Some fun lines, Generally good artwork, Sense of scope
The Bad: Utterly ridiculous plot, Fourth-wall breaks are incongruent with the story that preceded it, Generally exploitative of Quinn and Power Girl.
The Basics: Harley Quinn: Power Outage pairs Harley Quinn and Power Girl for a fairly lackluster adventure that sweeps them across time and space in a fight against villains ridiculous.


For those of us who are fans of well-written graphic novels, it is utterly unsurprising that the film Suicide Squad (reviewed here!) is doing exceptionally well at the box office. In addition to August being historically plagued by weak releases, Suicide Squad is buoyed by an exceptionally popular anti-hero protagonist in the form of Harley Quinn. While the cinematic representation of Harley Quinn is popular for obvious reasons, most basically the physique of Margot Robbie, I've been trying to discover what made the character so popular before she hit the big screen. To that end, I picked up the anthology Harley Quinn: Power Outage.

Harley Quinn: Power Outage picks up where Hot In The City (reviewed here!) left Harley Quinn and is comprised of the five chapters of Harley Quinn books, plus three supplements. Harley Quinn: Power Outage is marginally interesting on its own, but highly incongruent with the volume that preceded it. In many ways, all the two volumes have in common is that Harley Quinn has moved to Brooklyn and joined a roller derby team. That and the addition of Big Tony as a character to Quinn's narrative are the common threads in two very different stories.

Tony asks Harley to stand in in a burlesque show he is producing where he asks her to play a 1950's sexy alien character for an actress who had to bail on the play. Unfortunately, when it comes to a kiss scene, Tony's direction is to treat the woman on stage with her like her ex-boyfriend and Harley Quinn freaks out, recalling how poorly The Joker treated her. When the police come to arrest her, Quinn finds herself abducted by a rabid fan. After talking her way out of becoming part of his collection, Quinn and Sy Borgman go to Quinn's roller derby fight club. Quinn is initially excited at the prospect of a no-rules fight, but she is pitted against a giant woman who has a 40-0 win/loss record and she begins pounding the crap out of Quinn. After Sy gives Quinn a way to win her match, she is disqualified and she meets Mason, a man who flees the moment the police pass by.

While Harley Quinn is getting her butt kicked by Maria, in a distant galaxy, a couple that is bent on world domination unleashes their captive creature to kill their enemy when it turns on them. Their adversary, Power Girl, crashes to Earth on the beach Quinn is at and with the help of Mason and Big Tony, Quinn gets her back to her apartment building. There, she discovers Power Girl has lost her memory, so Quinn has one of her tenants make matching outfits for her and Power Girl. After waking Power Girl up, Quinn tries to convince her that they are roommates and that Power Girl works by day as a strongwoman in the freak show downstairs. On a trip to the mall, the duo encounters Sports Master and Clock King, who teleport them to a distant world. After a trip through space, a fight with a piece of space pizza and a fight with Manos and his children, the pair passes back through the ring to the mall. After a surprisingly brutal fight with Sports Master and Clock King (which involves the latter going back a minute in time to save his comrade from his own bomb), Quinn and Power Girl have a heart to heart and their partnership comes to an abrupt end.

Then, there is a one-shot that features Harley Quinn at Comic-Con interacting with fans and cosplayers as if they are really her friends and adversaries.

Harley Quinn: Power Outage includes a number of fourth-wall breaks, including a reference to Daredevil, which is odd given Daredevil is a Marvel Comics book. The whole experience with Edwin the abductor hinges on an unsettling break in the fourth wall (why would young people at a comic book shop know anything about a psychotherapist, now-landlord?) that makes Quinn seem like a lame attempt for the character to be Deadpool. Similarly, the reference to Manos in the penultimate chapter seems like a somewhat lazy poke at Marvel Comics (has no one in Marvel's pantheon truly ever asked what Thanos intends after he gains control of the universe?!).

The whole skate fight club seems like a cheap excuse to have Harley and her friends do some skinny dipping, which falls on the heels of Harley kissing another woman in the burlesque show. The result is that Harley Quinn: Power Outage opens with a strong exploitative feel to it that does not gel with the prior graphic novel. Similarly, Power Girl's presence in Harley Quinn: Power Outage might lead to a number of mildly amusing jokes, but it's hard not to gripe about just how much of the book is spent exploiting the way Harley Quinn and Power Girl look. For sure, Quinn's Power Girl-esque outfit is fun (especially from the back!), but after Quinn psychoanalyzes Edwin, her part in the book is largely an obvious sex symbol without anything nearly as cerebral to it.

Harley Quinn: Power Outage looks good, but the chapters that feature Power Girl do not ultimately advance Quinn's character. Quinn tries her old tricks on a new mark and while the process is enjoyable to read once, it does not excitingly advance the character in any meaningful way. The result is that Harley Quinn: Power Outage is an insular, self-referential book that does not hold up well over multiple readings.

For other New-52 reboot graphic novels, please check out my reviews of:
Batgirl: Batgirl Of Burnside
Green Lantern: The End
Wonder Woman: Bones
Supergirl: Girl In The World
Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman
Red Lanterns: Blood And Rage
Justice League: Origins
Trinity War
Green Lantern New Guardians: The Ring Bearer
The Flash: Rogues Revolution
Forever Evil

2.5/10

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

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition: Not Enough To Sway Non-Gamers!

The Good: Awesome graphics, Engaging storyline
The Bad: Requires a genuine gamer to get the most out of most of the game play options
The Basics: Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition was enough to convince me I will never truly be a "gamer."


During the brief time earlier this year between my fully defeating Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (reviewed here!) and my beginning a months long gameplay that borders on the obsessive with Star Wars Battlefront, I spent a couple of weeks absolutely enchanted with playing Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition. When I told my brother-in-law that I was getting a Playstation 4 (reviewed here!) for the family for the holidays, he picked me up Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition because he knew of my love of the DC Comics universe. After months of not playing it - Star Wars Battlefront truly is addictive for me! - I went back to the game today so I could review it as part of my DC-themed week in the lead up to the cinematic release of Suicide Squad (reviewed here!).

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition is, at its core, a fighting game, which is not something I am generally a fan of. My brother-in-law was right in his thought that I might enjoy the game because of its setting - I did. However, Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition was the definitive video game for me that caused me to recognize that I will never be a true gamer. The reason for that is simple (and I learned it from playing Injustice: Gods Among Us); people who are raised on gaming seem to develop the ability, like musicians, to see something on the screen and translate that to their fingers. As someone who was a pretty terrible clarinet player more than twenty years ago and who never was much into gaming, that type of mental/physical acrobatic is not part of my skill set. Even more importantly, remembering complex controller button and joystick movements and applying them is not something I have the ability to do well. As a result, I discovered by playing Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition that for me, more complex gameplay is essentially just pretty lousy button mashing to try to get through surviving rounds.

Basics

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition is a video game that encompasses multiple universes in the essential DC Comics multiverse. As a sweeping DC Universe game, the players are able to play mainstream characters like Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern and second-string heroes and villains like Solomon Grundy, Zatanna, Deathstroke, and Lobo. Fans of DC Comics properties might also be psyched about how villains like Killer Frost, Black Adam, and Aquaman are playable in multiple skins and personas. Major locations in the DC Universe are presented and players can play through the main movie story - where the story progresses until each battle point and then players play through the battle that the story has led to - or they can choose combat between two characters and do one-on-one battles, much like Street Fighter.

The main story game is fun and provides players with something intriguing to watch between simple button-mashing battles. The story-based battles do not allow players to choose the characters they play, nor the adversaries they face. As a result, players get the chance to play the full pantheon of heroes and villains and try all the many attacks offered by them.

In the simple fighting game, players can choose which character they want to fight with - including various skins (appearances, for non-gamers) - against any one else. This is the opportunity to see how a fight might turn out between Green Arrow and Cyborg or Wonder Woman and Solomon Grundy. Sadly, however, fans of the DC Universe will quickly discover that player proficiency outweighs any sense of fidelity to the powers and abilities of the characters represented in the game. The idea that Green Arrow would last more than two seconds in a fight against a psychotic Wonder Woman, for example, is utterly ridiculous to fans of the DC Comics source material.

Story

Opening on Earth where Metropolis has been destroyed and millions of people killed, Batman interrogates The Joker about where he obtained the nuclear bomb which destroyed the city. Superman, overcome with fury, breaks into the interrogation and accuses The Joker of drugging him and causing the destruction which led to Lois Lane's death. Superman, in his grief, kills The Joker while Batman is powerless to stop him. Elsewhere in the multiverse, the villains create a coordinated attack, organized by Lex Luthor. While Batman is incapacitated by Deathstroke, on Earth most of the primary heroes are forced to deal with the threat of Doomsday, while the Justice League Watchtower is attacked by Luthor himself and defended (poorly) by many of the sidekicks of the a-list heroes. When Batman learns that Luthor has given The Joker a nuclear weapon, he rushes to stop him. In the ensuing fight, Batman, The Joker, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow and The Flash are teleported to the universe where Superman killed The Joker and has now taken over.

There, the heroes from "our" universe fight the heroes who have allied with the tyrannical Superman. The alternate universe Superman has taken up with Diana and has control over most of the people still standing. The heroes from "our" universe struggle to aid the alternate universe's Batman in getting into the Batcave to get a weapon that can stop the tyrant Kal-El. In fighting the alternate universe heroes and villains, the heroes from "our" universe gain compassion for the victims of the citizens of the alternate universe and they strive to break up Superman's powerbase and save that universe . . . before they are trapped there forever.

Game Progression

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition is a pretty straightforward video game that features a side-on view for the battles, set in key environments with pretty active backgrounds. The battles are very straightforward and while the story progresses and there are different styles of one-on-one battles - from simple conflicts to tournament-style battles that feature consequences from one battle that carry over into the next conflict - the gameplay is essentially the same from the first battle to the last. Defeating an adversary is entirely based upon one's ability to hit the right buttons in the right order faster than one's adversary.

The exception to this are the major attacks. There are meters in the lower left and right corners of the screen that show players how their power is building to a major super-powered attack. Each character features an attack that, when activated, deals extreme amounts of damage to an opponent's life-meter and plays a little movie with exceptional graphics to illustrate the extreme nature of the fight - like Doomsday pounding his opponent through the entire core of the Earth and then beating them back into the main battlefield. Those unblockable attacks are very cool and players have to figure out when best to play the attack to get the most out of it.

Players can also learn to use the environment of the battlefield itself to do damage to their enemies. Players can throw their enemies into the background and throw statues at their enemies. They can also break walls to send tidal waves against their enemies and throw enemies through walls to access alternate battlefields!

Effects

The Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition game was designed for high definition systems, like the Playstation 4, Wii, and similar systems. We played it on the Playstation 4 connected to our Sony Bravia HD TV (reviewed here!) and it looked and sounded great. This might well be the first video game I have played since getting into gaming (at all) with which there were no perspective issues, which was incredibly nice. Other than Wonder Woman being rendered so incredibly topheavy from cleavage as to be occasionally disturbing to watch, the characters are pretty impressively rendered. The other interesting aspect of the game's look (for me) was that changing a character's skin (outward costume) did not change their ability. So, for example, playing Doomsday as a Black Lantern did not suddenly give the player the ability to either raise the dead or transform the enemy into a Black Lantern as well.

The sound effects are accurate to the sound effects from the DC Television Universe's, including using Stephen Amell for voice of Green Arrow in at least one of the skins. When things are destroyed, though they sound like real damage is being done. The characters sound good and the inclusion of actors like J.G. Hertzler for characters like Deathstroke is pure geek genius casting!

Replayability

Because Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition has the linear narrative and the freeplay combat option, there is high replayability to the game, though once one has not played it for a few weeks, going back through the tutorial to recall all of the sophisticated moves becomes pretty much essential. I was surprised by how quickly the moves came back to me after not playing for six months. That said, I discovered that more sophisticated moves - like punching someone through a wall and moving them to a secondary battlefield - was not part of the simple instructions available at the beginning of any battle.

As well, the online component to Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition was more frustrating than it was at all enjoyable. While professional gamers probably see things like server lag and such as cheap excuses, even when I was at my best - winning consistently against the AI on Very Hard settings - getting my ass kicked repeatedly online by players around the world was absolutely no fun.

Overall

The Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition is a great environment for a fighting game and the movie/play content makes it well worth trying for DC Comics enthusiasts. However, it is - at its core - a simplistic fighting game with incredibly complicated move controls that make it a tough sell for more casual gamers or those who just love the DC Comics Universe.

The various skins for this game include content from:
The Killing Joke
Blackest Night
Flashpoint
The New 52, as well as Red Son, Arrow, the Arkham City video game franchies and the alternate universe from the game itself.

For other video games, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Season Pass
Angry Birds Star Wars
Star Trek 25th Anniversary for Gameboy

5.5/10

For other video game reviews, please check out my Software Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Hard To Hoot For: Harley Quinn: Hot In The City!

The Good: Amusing, Amazing artwork, Neat character twist
The Bad: Generally mundane plot, Very little character development, "Cool" factor is used to outweigh reason.
The Basics: Harley Quinn: Hot In The City compiles the stories that kick off Harley Quinn's solo storyline . . . with a truly mixed bag of elements.


As part of my lead-up to Suicide Squad tomorrow night, I'm continuing to review as many DC Comics-related products as I can find in my collection that I have not yet reviewed! I thought, given how heavily Harley Quinn has been promoted in the advertising blitz for Suicide Squad that it would behoove me to read at least one, full, Harley Quinn graphic novel. Applying that logic, I chose to start at the beginning - or the recent beginning - with Harley Quinn: Hot In The City. My only prejudice going into Harley Quinn: Hot In The City was the thought that Margot Robbie is hotpants was fun, of course, but did not a character make. My hope in reading Harley Quinn: Hot In The City was that I might find out what has made Quinn so popular, outside her physicality.

Harley Quinn: Hot In The City is part of the New-52 reboot from DC comics and the book gives Quinn a chance to explore life as a solo act, away from the Gotham City Sirens and Suicide Squad. Writers Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti do a decent job of not completely isolating Harley Quinn in Harley Quinn: Hot In The City by having Poison Ivy pop up for some key moments. Almost immediately, Harley Quinn: Hot In The City establishes an atmosphere of fun by breaking the fourth wall in a prequel that allows over a dozen artists to contribute pages and play with various notions about Harley Quinn - her psychotic nature, her violence, her sex appeal. The prequel ends with the essential set-up for the rest of the book, including setting up the visual style that artists Stephane Roux and Chad Hardin and colorists Paul Mounts and Alex Sinclair utilize for the story.

When one of her former Arkham Asylum patients dies and The Joker blows up her Gotham City storage locker, Harley Quinn decides to move to Coney Island. Her former patient left her an apartment building in their will and Quinn settles in to managing the four-story building. Her life is almost instantly beset by two issues: financially maintaining the building and avoiding hired assassins who are hunting her. Harley Quinn takes in a dog (to accompany her dead, stuffed beaver whose voice she hears in her head!) and finds that to maintain the property, it will cost $6,000/month and she sets out to get gainfully employed. After breaking out a kill-shelter's endangered animal population with the help of Poison Ivy and surviving the effects of berries that make any man she encounters try to lustily take her, she takes a day job as a therapist at a nursing home.

The nursing home job proves to be too much for Quinn in many ways; she is emotionally unable to detach from the emotional stories her patients tell her. As a result, she abducts the neglectful family of one of the residents . . . only to discover that her patient has Alzheimer's. She is approached by Sy Borgman, another resident, who has a fifty year-old mission he wants Quinn's aid in completing. After hunting down former-Soviet mobsters, Quinn returns to her apartment building to find Poison Ivy there waiting with two more incapacitated hitmen. With Ivy's help, Harley Quinn discovers who put the hit out on her and the pair (with the help of Big Tony)

InHarley Quinn: Hot In The City, Harley Quinn is portrayed as socially awkward and schizophrenic. Her stuffed beaver starts as an amusing way to make some jokes about vaginas, but it slowly develops into a somewhat disturbing way for Quinn to deliver exposition and inner thoughts. This is almost as problematic as the final chapter, which is essentially a denouement for the main story and an introduction of the next major thread; the transition being, I kid not, a shit-flinging catapult.

Between the gross-out factor of the final chapter and the pretty consistent carnage throughout Harley Quinn: Hot In The City, the book feels like Conner and Palmiotti are trying to write a PG-13 Deadpool book that might appeal to young women as well as geeky guys. The result is a book that is high on flash, a little lighter on substance than I enjoy.

It's not all bad in Harley Quinn: Hot In The City, of course. In chapter four, there is an awesome reference to A New Hope (reviewed here!) that every geek will instantly recognize and appreciate. Playing Harley Quinn as Han Solo is playful and a cool way to characterize the antihero as a rogue. The problem, however, is the humorous allusion comes after readers have already seen Quinn violently dispose of her would-be assailants. In other words; readers already know she has a willingness to use lethal force and has a playful side to her.

By the sixth chapter, Harley Quinn begins to feel like a sidekick in her own work. Giving heavy roles to Sy Borg and Poison Ivy, the writers inadvertently highlight the fundamental problem with Quinn headlining her own book - she has an unclear skill set, tormented backstory, and what seems to be her appeal (outside her physicality) is in her unpredictable nature. Recasting Quinn as a landlord is a stroke of creative genius, but her utilizing roller derby as an outlet for her frustration quickly turns to the predictable violence that she is unable to contain. The established character is more erratic and violent than she is skilled, which forces the writers to give her a sidekick (her dead beaver) and two skilled operatives who swoop into the narrative to give Quinn both direction and an actual story.

What is consistently cool is the artwork. Harley Quinn: Hot In The City is one of the most lushly-colored mainstream graphic novels from The New 52. Every frame (after the experimental prequel) features instantly recognizable characters and a generally good sense of movement.

Alas, the artwork is not enough to make the otherwise mediocre book seem extraordinary. If Harley Quinn: Hot In The City truly embodies the anti-heroic female, Suicide Squad should be a lot of fun and look good, but the much-touted protagonist might be way too far down the murderous road to truly rally behind. Certainly, that is how Quinn is in Harley Quinn: Hot In The City.

For other New-52 reboot graphic novels, please check out my reviews of:
Batgirl: The Darkest Reflection
Green Lantern: Sinestro
Wonder Woman: Blood
Supergirl: Last Daughter Of Krypton
Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman
Red Lanterns: Blood And Rage
Justice League: Origins
Trinity War
Green Lantern New Guardians: The Ring Bearer
The Flash: Move Along
Forever Evil

5.5/10

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

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Concluding In Apocalypse: Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four Puts The Final Crisis In Motion!

The Good: Resolves the story, Moments of character
The Bad: Much of the artwork, Not all the tangents pay off as well as they ought to.
The Basics: Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four has all the major players in the storyline pushed to Apokolips for the multiverse’s great destructive event that the story has been building to.



The very title to Countdown To Final Crisis foreshadowed how the massive crossover event would end. Obviously, the entire saga was building to Final Crisis (reviewed here!) and with Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four, it finally gets there. The fundamental problem with Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four is how the storyline gets to where it is going. Building directly on the momentum from Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three (reviewed here!), Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four finally explains what Darkseid’s endgame is and what the story has been building to.

Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four finally resolves the disparate plotlines of the Countdown event, but it does so with almost no real character development and without fully justifying the full range of the cast that was used in getting to the end. In other words, the resolution hardly seems worth the effort and it seems to include a pretty huge plot hole.

In Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four, the secondary characters in the DC Universe are focused on, with all of the main characters that have been a part of the Countdown books ending up on Apokolips – Darkseid’s home world – for the first part of a climactic showdown that comes through a use of force that hardly seems epic. Indeed, with so many characters who have the ability to think their way out of problems, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four comes down to a frustratingly brawn-related solution and the near-end “fake out” is both unsurprising and unsatisfying.

With the Challengers – Donna Troy, Jason Todd, Kyle Rayner, and Ray Palmer - teleported to Apokolips, Darkseid’s endgame begins. They discover Jimmy Olsen and when Holly Robinson, Mary Marvel, and Harley Quinn help liberate Themyscira from Granny Goodness, Darkseid recalls one of his most important pieces back to Apokolips. There, Darkseid tells the remaining Monitor, Solomon, that he is preparing to wipe out the multiverse and create the Fifth World. When the Karate Kid’s body is riddled with the Morticoccus and Brother Eye goes to war with Apokolips, it seems like Darkseid might get his wish to rewrite all of reality.

Mary Marvel is given the chance for unlimited power again, a trade that Darkseid is willing to give with only one favor as his price. The price is Jimmy Olsen’s life; a price that, if paid, will release all of the New Gods’ powers to Darkseid. When the multiverse travelers see firsthand just what Morticoccus can do, the remaining heroes realize they must stop Darkseid from getting unlimited power at any cost!

The big plot hole in Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four comes late in the book, but it is worth noting. Morticoccus is a tremendous virus that mutates so profoundly and fast that it actually becomes a giant creature briefly. It does so right near Jimmy Olsen after he finally learns that he is a receptacle of all the powers of the now-killed New Gods. So, why doesn’t Ray Palmer figure out that to destroy the Morticoccus, he just needs to infect Jimmy Olsen? The godly powers within him should have been enough to kill even the Morticoccus. Gods don’t get sick; Jimmy Olsen has all the powers of a number of gods, therefore the faux-apocalypse should have been averted pretty easily.

Beyond that, the story is more dull than audacious. The resolution to the story does not seem nearly as complicated as the set-up and some of the elements – most notably the Pied Piper’s part in the resolution – seem ridiculously and ambiguously presented. Piper plays his potentially final song which blows up a location . . . which is seen pages later intact with no explanation.

Also missing from Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four is genuine character development. Mary Marvel makes her choice for no particularly clear reason (undoing the development she made in the prior volume). Jason Todd seems like a jackass the nature of which does not seem to be a natural evolution from having been Robin. Ray Palmer hardly seems like the smartest man in the world.

Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four has mostly good artwork, but it finishes poorly. The later parts of the book actually have the most rushed artwork in the series. There is almost no sense of movement in the panels themselves and between the panels there is little action as well, so this book has a stiff visual quality to it. Some of the later chapters actually have much sketchier artwork and given how, in many of those chapters, there is a troubling mix of familiar and unrecognizable characters, that is problematic.

Here at the climax, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Four is not at all an engaging story, though it brings about an end. The end leads into the poor Crisis event in an indirect fashion and fans who are obsessed with the DC Comics Universe will find it an unnecessary crossover.

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

3/10

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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What It’s Been Leading To: Why Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume 3 Succeeds. . .

The Good: Plot progresses exceptionally well, Actual character development on the important fronts
The Bad: Some of the artwork, Still has some ridiculous tangents.
The Basics: Blasting toward the conclusion of the countdown crossover event, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three starts to end some of the plot threads and, in the process, it starts to actually present interesting characters doing compelling things.


As one who was not a fan of Final Crisis (reviewed here!) , it might seem strange that I am bothering with the massive saga that connects Final Crisis to its vastly superior predecessor, Infinite Crisis. Thus, I found myself trudging through Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two (reviewed here!) and not at all excited about Volume Three. But, for a change, life tossed me a pleasant curveball; Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three was actually pretty incredible.

Volume Three of Countdown To Final Crisis is the book where writer Paul Dini and his team begin to actually prune several of the plot branches they created in order to lead into the final volume. But more than feeling like the exceptional number of problematic plot threads were simply being trimmed out of existence, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three has a feeling of momentum and an organic plot and character progression.

In Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three, the secondary characters in the DC Universe are focused on, with a significant progression of story moved mostly by the search for Ray Palmer and the abrupt and powerful entrance into the narrative of Superman Prime. Outside a brief appearance from another universe’s version of Batman, Volume Three is all about the secondary characters.

Just as in the first two volumes, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three has multiple threads, none of which are fully developed, but some of which actually have a feeling of resolution to them.

The bulk of Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three is in four main plotlines. Mary Marvel has teamed up with Eclipso, the evil version of Jean Lorring who has been possessed by an evil gem. After Eclipso turns Mary Marvel over to Darkseid, Mary Marvel turns her life around. Fighting against Eclipso’s attempt to steal even more power, Mary Marvel makes a profound choice that has the potential to forever change her.

Mary Marvel’s choice is a truly heroic one and while on a plot front, there seems little point to her story other than to end up on Themyscira where Holly Robinson and Harley have ended up, but the journey there finally turns the good girl gone bad back onto a more positive direction. Mary Marvel was briefly turned into a wicked sex symbol, but in Volume 3 she turns it around in a compelling way.

Jimmy Olsen’s story actually develops as well. On Apokalips, Jimmy Olsen finds himself the brunt of the wrath of various paradamons and cruel overlords. Fighting against the forces of evil on the evil New Gods’ planet, Olsen hunts for Forager and, in finding her, he begins to learn the clues about what is happening to him! Almost resolved in Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three, the Pied Piper and The Trickster run for their lives from Deathstroke. There is a fatality and the last one standing is left almost crazy and alone in the Mexican desert.

The other major enduring plotline in Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three focuses on Donna Troy and Jason Todd searching with Bob the Monitor for Ray Palmer. In Volume Three, they actually succeed in finding Ray Palmer and where he is hiding out overlaps with the compelling plot that is added to the storyline. Ray Palmer actually explains how he is supposed to be the key to the coming Crisis and why and the answers are all good.

That storyline intersects with the reappearance of Superman Prime. Cutting through the Multiverse killing Lex Luthors in search of his origin, perfect, universe, Superman Prime is a pretty badass villain. He also comes to introduce some of the book’s useless plotlines, most notably a diverging story with Mr. Mxyztplk being tortured by Superman Prime while an alternate version of Zatanna watches on. But between Ray Palmer and Superman Prime, all-out war breaks out in one of the universes in the Multiverse and that makes for an incredible ending that makes the reader want to come right back.

Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three has mostly good artwork. The characters look good and – outside the fact that several are b or c string characters seen in these pages out of costume/make-up – are generally recognizable. Ralph Dibney, notably, looks like anyone but Ralph Dibney or the Elongated Man. There are panels late in the book that have a poor sense of movement and some that are simplified, but otherwise, Volume Three looks good.

In the final analysis, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Three stands alone better than the earlier two volumes and encourages the reader to keep reading . . . and read on. This might be the peak of the storyline; it certainly feels like a worthwhile ascension, even if it is not an ending. This makes the minor characters extraordinary and paves the way for a powerful finale . . . if only the fourth volume can get there.

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

7/10

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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Loping Toward Coherency, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two Is Still Engaging!

The Good: Moments of character, Artwork, Generally interesting plot progression.
The Bad: Largely secondary characters who do not captivate one’s full attention, Huge gaps in the storytelling.
The Basics: Continuing the countdown crossover event, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two finds the minor characters in the DC Universe moving toward the potential end of the Multiverse.


With so many recent major crossover events in the DC Universe dealing with the potential end of the universe, it is somewhat surprising to me that the company did not use one of their many Crisis events as a way to reboot the DC Universe for the New 52. It seems like Final Crisis (reviewed here!) could have conceivably been an intriguing end to the story of the main DC Universe. So, knowing even as I read Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two that this was not actually leading to the end of the DC Multiverse, I found it hard to be as engaged as – I am sure – readers were when it was originally released five years ago.

In leading up to Final Crisis, the Countdown event acted as a second transition between the main crossover story that was coming - 52 followed up on Infinite Crisis and as the title suggests Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two continues to lead from Infinite Crisis into Final Crisis. I had a big problem with Final Crisis in that it had huge gaps in its own narrative, especially near the resolution, and Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two does not seem to be leading as directly into Final Crisis as one might hope as it remains firmly focused on peripheral characters in the DC Universe. Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two picks up where Volume One (reviewed here!) left off, but because so many plotlines were left dangling at the end of the first book, it is unsurprising that Volume Two is scattered, though as the book progresses, it does begin to take some focus.

In Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two, the secondary characters in the DC Universe are focused on, save brief cameos from the Flash, the Justice League and Wonder Woman (with Kyle Rayner’s Green Lantern becoming more important as the story progresses).

Just as in the first volume, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two has multiple threads, none of which are fully developed. Some, like the inclusion of the members of the 31rst Century Legion Of The Super Heroes, are entirely under-developed and when they pop to the forefront of the story, they are at a completely different place (often with additional characters) than they were when they were last seen.

The bulk of Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two is in four main plotlines. Mary Marvel continues to be edgy and she makes her way to Zatanna’s domain where the magician begins to teach Mary how to use her powers. Unfortunately, Mary quickly loses patience and Zatanna exiles Mary Marvel from her magical home. Feeling isolated, Mary Marvel goes in search of power and an easier way to use the abilities that are no longer easily accessible to her (her word-based magic was taken away). She ends up in a secret magic market in China where she confronts a new adversary who wants some of her power for its own!

This incarnation of Mary Marvel continues to be edge and more of a butt-kicking wet dream as opposed to a naïve girl who is used occasionally as comic relief. This version of Mary Marvel is essentially lost and she falls prey to those who recognize her power and want to take it for their own.

Just as Mary Marvel struggles to define her new powers, Jimmy Olsen continues to try to find out what the limits of his own powers are. He keeps putting himself in danger and after failing to join either the Teen Titans or the Justice League Of America, he turns to John Henry Irons to learn what is going on with him. Unfortunately, his quest turns toward the unfathomable as he heads toward CADMUS Labs and becomes a target from powerful enemies.

Continuing to progress through Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two, the Pied Piper and The Trickster run for their lives from all of the heroes in the DC Universe. The heroes fall back after the pair ends up at the mercy of Poison Ivy, Deathstroke, and Batman. When the Wally West version of the Flash returns (not at all explained in this book), they try to convince him that they were working undercover to foil a plot surrounding the wedding of Oliver Queen and Black Canary. The two men go completely rogue to flee both heroes and villains alike.

One of the other major plotlines in Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two focuses on Donna Troy and Jason Todd in the Palmerverse. Along with the Monitor, Bob, they are joined by Kyle Rayner (and lose Ryan Choi) and they leave the submicroscopic Palmerverse in favor for the Multiverse. As targets for the Monitors, who believe that because Todd, Troy and Rayner should not be alive in the main DC Universe, the small band of heroes flees to an alternate universe where they are prey to the alternate universe’s Justice League!

Elsewhere, Holly Robinson and Harley Quinn survive an Amazon Battle Royale to get a chance to emigrate to Paradise Island. At the same time, the Karate Kid continues to search for why he is back in the 21rst Century and he learns that he might be carrying an evolution of the OMAC virus!

Despite never settling on a single actual plotline or truly developing the characters involved, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two has consistently good artwork. The characters look good and – outside the fact that several are b or c string characters seen in these pages out of costume/make-up – are generally recognizable. Some of the new characters, like those in the Multiverse or Palmerverse sequences, look good and continue the quality level for modern character designs.

In the end, Countdown To Final Crisis – Volume Two finally pushes the stories along in ways that makes one feel like the Final Crisis the various plotlines are leading to might actually be worthwhile. Still, given how many gaps there are in the storyline that forces the reader to accept jumps in the plot and characters between sequences, this book does not hold up on its own as well as readers trying to get the whole story would want it to.

For other major DC Universe crossover events, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Crisis On Infinite Earths
Idenity Crisis
The OMAC Project
Infinite 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!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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