2 books about evil super-beings and one about a man who dresses as a bat.
Irredeemable #20
So, the Plutonian (i.e. evil-Superman) has been captured by some aliens who are apparently all-powerful even though we only learned of them 3 issues or so ago thanks to a recorded message from a character who died in issue 1. Huh, you would think if there was something that could take down super-man we would have learned of them earlier as a bit of foreshadowing instead of having them serve as more of a plot device to lock the Plutonian up with other super-baddies. I harp on this because that is really my only big complaint with this comic. The art is good (but not great), the story is moving along nicely with the heroes in utter disbelief that the man who ruined their planet is finally under control--although one of the heroes seems more than a little unsteady, and the whole "throwing the Plutonian in with general space-prison population" seems like a nice oppurtunity for our hero/villian to get knocked down a peg by other super-creatures. All-in-all I enjoy this book, but I don't quite love it.
3 out of 5 stars.
Supergod #5
Speaking of evil super-folk, here is the concept taken to the extreme with a dash of religion thrown in. What if nations didn't just make huge bombs but instead created their own deities to worship? Well, as the back of the wrap-around cover states, "Praying to be saved by a man who can fly will get you killed." Quite. I've always been a fan of Warren Ellis and this comic has been quite enjoyable although at times it seems more like Ellis is just doing an essay with hints of a story disguised as a monologue by our main generic professor character. The art by Garrie Gastonny has also been quite impressive, especially with the hideous flesh-monster in this issue (until you read it I realize that sentence makes little sense).Over the issues leading up to this last one there has been a bit more of an "actual story" feel and there are some amazing ideas thrown about. Plus, we've got one creepy-romantic moment in the comic I honestly did not expect at all considering how the previous issues were more about people with powers beating the hell out of each other. The conclusion felt abrupt, not as if the story were coming to its natural end but as if Ellis realized he had run out of space to write, but in a way it made sense. In closing, snazzy art, an overall satisfying story even if the end petered out, and some brain-streching concepts. Yeah, this was worth 3.99 an issue.
4 out of 5 stars.
Detective Comics #871
I've been loving the Grant Morrison Batman comics since he first started his run, switched it over to "Batman and Robin" along with "The Return of Bruce Wayne" and now going into "Batman Inc." I am quite excited. However, many people who are way smarter than me have already talked about Morrison's work to death, so I'm instead going to cover Scott Snyder and "Jock" on their take of a batman comic. So what is it like? In a word, dark. It has an actual detective-work/mystery vibe going on, and the art fits the story quite well. Snyder also makes sure to point out (but not in an annoyingly blatant way) that we are dealing with Dick Grayson as Batman instead of Bruce--something writers other than Morrison have been having trouble doing...I'm looking at you Tony Daniel. It's quite good stuff and I'm excited to see where it goes. With Morrison doing his own take on the Batman-mythos it's good to have at least one book that has a more (sorry I keep using this word) dark, gritty,and grounded-in-Gotham feel as opposed to Inc.'s somewhat-zany and globe-trotting storyline. Oh, there is also a Commissioner Gordan story where he recognizes someone who is supposedly dead but in video-footage is alive and well. I don't know a ton of bat-history so please excuse my ignorance in having no clue who it is supposed to be. It could be the fault of the somewhat murky art or it is just all on me. I'm not sure.
4 out of 5 stars.
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