Category: DC

Written by Gail Simone
Pencilled by Aaron Lopresti
Inked by Matt Ryan
32 pages, color
Published by DC Comics

I always feel like I need to give credit to a new creative team, when their run follows up on what came before. It seems like a natural thing to ask for—but so often everything that existed before the new regime is thrown out (cast members, setting, raison d’étre) in favor of something new and different with which the new people can make their mark. So with Gail Simone’s taking over of Wonder Woman, she’s juggling two previous takes on the character along with her own. And here, at least, it almost seems to work.

Continue reading “Wonder Woman #20-21”

Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Jesus Merino
32 pages, color
Published by DC Comics

One thing I’ve noticed that happens on a pretty regular basis in super-hero comics is a periodic retooling of a supporting character. More often than not, it’s a villain, one that a writer often seems to feel was handled in a way that should be fixed, or at least changed. Sometimes it’s generally viewed as successful, like Geoff Johns’s handling of the Flash’s Rogues Gallery during his time on the book. Other times, it’s a change that seems to anger most readers, like Doctor Light in Infinite Crisis. With the new Action Comics, Johns is clearly hoping for the former as he tackles a character with one of the stupider names in comics—Toyman.

Continue reading “Action Comics #865”

Written by Bob Haney, with Gardner Fox
Penciled by Ramona Fradon, Joe Orlando, Sal Tripani, Jack Sparling, and Mike Sekowsky
Inked by Charles Paris, Jack Sparling, Mike Esposito, and Bernard Sachs
560 pages, black and white
Published by DC Comics

One of the great things about the Showcase Presents line is that it brings back into print comics that many of us almost certainly would have never encountered. For me, that would have definitely been the case with Showcase Presents: Metamorpho, collecting all 17 issues of the titular character’s comic from the mid-60s, as well as a handful of other appearances. And reading the book, it’s easy to see both why he was chosen to be plucked out of obscurity years later, and also perhaps why the book was cancelled in the first place.

Continue reading “Showcase Presents: Metamorpho”

Written by Derek Kirk Kim
Art by Jesse Hamm
176 pages, black and white
Published by Minx/DC Comics

After creating the multiple-award-winning Same Difference and Other Stories, all attention would certainly be on Derek Kirk Kim’s next major project. Good As Lily, teaming him with artist Jesse Hamm, at first seemed like a slight and perhaps forgettable new book. The longer it’s been since I’ve read Good As Lily, though, the more I find myself thinking about it—and in a good way.

Continue reading “Good As Lily”

Written by Jim Shooter
Penciled by Francis Manapul
Inked by Livesay
32 pages, color
Published by DC Comics

If you ask long-time Legion of Super-Heroes fans what eras make up the high points of the series, almost every single one will include Jim Shooter’s run on the book. Famously beginning writing the series at the age of 14, Shooter created numerous long-running characters for the series, and to great success. Now, some 30 years after he last left the book, Shooter has returned to the book that began his comic book career. But are the two still a good fit for each other?

Continue reading “Legion of Super-Heroes #37-38”

Written by Andi Watson
Art by Josh Howard
176 pages, black and white
Published by Minx/DC Comics

With DC Comics’s new Minx line, the closest the imprint seems to get to a trade dress is having covers be a mixture of photographs and drawn art. Looking closely at Clubbing, the book mixes the London club scene with the pastoral hills of England’s Lake District. It’s a bit of a mish-mash of a cover, the two pictures and the piece of Josh Howard art not working very well together, looking like it’s trying for several different feels and not succeeding at any of them. And, unfortunately, that’s also a pretty good synopsis for the book itself.

Continue reading “Clubbing”