Comic Reviews – 15/9

Three reviews this week. two from DC and one form Marvel. Unintentionally, they’re all team books, so I guess that’s a theme for the week.

Thunderbolts 148

The Thunderbolts concept has been reinvented several times in the almost-fifteen years that the book has been around. Currently, the team consists of reformed villains acting as supervisors and wardens to a new team of supercriminals, some hoping to win their freedom, others indulging their passion for violence and mayhem.

Jeff Parker continues to cement his reputation as one of the best team-book writers in the business, with a good mix of interplay between the characters in combat and downtime. He’s given everyone very distinct voices and allowed their personalities to come through effectively. The art on this issue is from Declan Shalvey rather than Kev Walker who drew the previous few issues. Shalvey’s art isn’t as sharp and angular as Walker’s can be, and is inked quite heavily here, given a thicker look to everything.

I’m enjoying the current direction of the book but feel it is suffering from constant tie-ins. Last issue was a cross over with Avengers Academy, this issue is part one of a two part tie-in to the Daredevil-centric Shadowland event. While Parker avoids the tie-in from overpowering his story, and finds time to progress his subplot involving the Asgardian girl and also Crossbones’ mutation, it still rankles that the book is not being allowed to stand on it’s own two feet, this early into the run.

Luke Cage, the hero currently directing the Thunderbolts programme, sends the team into Ninja-held territory in Manhattan (No, I’m not making this up) in an effort to locate the kidnapped son of an old friend. Ninjas tend to get a mite prickly when their territory is invaded so, unsurpsingly, wacky hijinx ensue. The issue ends on a good cliffhanger, unforced and natural. While I am unhappy at the tie-in nature of this story, I’m looking forward to the next issue.

 

Birds of Prey 5

Well, the first storyarc ended last issue, but segued nicely into this initial half of a a two-parter. Following her capture of the White Canary, Black Canary travels to face her nemesis, the sociopathic killing machine Lady Shiva. Her colleagues ignore the Canary’s warning to stay away, and head to Singapore in hot pursuit of their friend.

After Gail Simone’s critically acclaimed run on the previous Birds of Prey series, the book tumbled through a rapidly changing creative line-up before finally being cancelled,  a shadow of its’ former glory. This re-launch has sold like gangbusters but somehow doesn’t have the same zing that her previous work on the book did.

The inclusion of Hawk and Dove still baffles me, but I am a firm believer of TIG (Trust in Gail) as she’s an excellent writer and writes arguably the definitive versions of the book’s three main heroines.

Much hoopla was made of Gail reuniting with her first BOP collaborator Ed Benes. Benes is a great artist for a female-centric book. He’s capable of fantastic cheesecake shots, but equally brutal fight sequences. The guy is GOOD. Here’s the problem though; he’s not the artist here. In fact he only did half of the previous issue and has handed the reins to Alvin Lee & Adriana Melo. They’re not terrible, but they seem torn between closely aping Benes’ style and drawing like a mid-90s Wildstorm book. In the same way that Joe Quinones’ noses are a distinctive part of his work, so too are eyes here. Take a look, you’ll see it too.

While I’m happy to see Gail steering the book again, I’ve not been as enthused by the story as her previous work. Maybe she’s written her best material for these girls already? Or maybe she’s doing a slow burn here and I need to just TIG.

 

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors 2

Firstly, i should point out that the cover is a bit misleading. The event shown happens on the very last page. So the actual cliffhanger gets spoiled by a cover that doesn’t really reflect the issue’s content. Guy Gardner, Earth’s number one mean, green, ass-kicking machine is preparing to head into the depths of space on a mission for the Guardians. Two other Green Lanterns, the former drill sergeant Kilowog (I' can’t wait to see how they pronounce that in the movie) and Arisia volunteer to accompany him.

All three of them have personal demons they’re struggling with at the moment and this road trip might be just the way clear things up. Peter Tomasi’s one of the unsung heroes of DC’s writing corps these days. He’s solidly produced some cracking Green Lantern tales and his run on Nightwing was excellent, the best the book had been since Chuck Dixon left.

He continues his work here, showing us Arisia’s guilt-induced nightmares of her former partner Sodam Yat and Kilowog’s frustration at yet more rookie Lanterns destined for ignominious deaths. Guy is worried he’s experiencing a relapse following his possession by a Red Lantern rage-enhancing ring.

Fernando Pasarin came onto the book from Justice Society of America and he seems more comfortable here. The art has shades of Dave Gibbons, which is appropriate given the title, but still manages to be distinctive and individual. The design for the new big bad, Zardor, is nice. Very different to the usual hi-tech sci-fi that the Corps faces off against.

My one complaint on the issue would be this: The art is fantastic but there are two points where it is very graphic and not suitable for an all-ages book. I don’t want to see a “mature Readers Only” label slapped on here but maybe the editor needs to find a way to tone down some of the more disturbing and unsettling imagery. I’m a big fan of the belief that you can scare more by showing less.

CLiNT Magazine Review - Addendum

I’ve been told I came across a little harsh in my recent review of CLiNT. They’re right, I was harsh and possibly a little too angry at the finished product.

In an effort to take a step back, I thought I’d clarify a few things and my feelings on it.

I love the fact that someone has tried to launch a new modern comics periodical in the UK. It’s a laudable endeavour and vital in maintaining an interest in the medium. In an age of immersive video games, online or not, comics are losing ground rapidly in the UK, even faster the the US. Comics aren’t as readily available in the UK as in the States and so face an even steeper uphill struggle to gain market penetration.

Where I take issue, is the fact CLiNT feels like a sniggering boys-club product. It’s Mark Millar and his mates having a laugh. I suppose this is good, because you should enjoy what you do, but bad because they’re only setting out to entertain themselves, rather than their audience. If you want existing comic heads to buy it, put in mostly NEW material. If you want new readers to pick it up, put in BETTER material.

Reprinting lacklustre, facile and bland comic strips will not sustain this project. As I said in my initial review, Kick-Ass 2 is a draw, but not enough. Did I mention that there’s no “Previously"…” details for Kick-Ass? If you’ve not seen the film or initial comic, you won’t have clue one about what the hell is going on.

Ahhhh, maybe it’ll improve once the reviews are in, but I don’t hold out much hope. Sorry Mark!

Review – CLiNT Magazine #1

So yeah, Mark Millar’s new magazine CLiNT came out this week, via early release at Forbidden Planet courtesy of Titan Publishing. Bit of a lengthy review, this one, but I feel it’s warranted.

It’s a brave move from Millar/Titan; I can’t remember the last successful launch of an anthology comic in the UK. 2000AD’s continued existence shows that there IS a market for regular serialised comic books in this country but beyond the American format X-Men and Batman reprints currently on the shelves, there’s no real outlet for NEW material currently.

What’s really noticeable about CLiNT is that fact that most of,  the material is reprints. That and the fact it’s £3.99. :-/

Issue 1 gives us the following: 8 pages of Kick-Ass 2, before it gets printed in the US by Marvel. The entire first issue of Jonathan Ross' and Tommy Lee Edwards’ Turf clocking in at 26 pages, 11 pages of the Frankie Boyle-penned Rex Royd and 23 pages of Millar’s recent project Nemesis. Including covers, the magazine clocks in at 100 pages. Now I would imagine that they’re aiming this at people who don’t necessarily buy the American editions of the books reprinted within, so that’s a fair whack of funnybook for your hard earned 3.99. Ads are kept down to 10 pages total too, only appearing between strips, rather than in the midst of them. It's a nice touch and one which I really appreciated.

The strips themselves are a mixed bag. The much touted Kick-Ass 2 is painfully short giving you two amusing but short scenes. John Romita Jr’s art is typically good, less crosshatching than he’s been using recently, so it looks a little cleaner. The colouring is muted, retaining the real world feel of the previous volume, but has gone a little overboard with the Photoshop textures. The story segues nicely from the end of the previous volume and could very easily have been a follow-on issue, rather than the new series. One criticism I would level at it, is that there is no “Previously, on Kick-Ass…” so if you haven’t read the first volume or seen the movie, you’re going to be pretty confused. The Kick-Ass 2 strip is clearly the big hook for the magazine, with the strip getting published here several months ahead of an American release.

I previously commented on Turf in one of my weekly review columns so here’s the Cliff Notes version: Nice art, but obscured by overly wordy & excessive amounts of dialogue. Nothing ground-breaking in the story but an ambitious mash-up of Prohibition-era period drama, horror and sci-fi. Without the famous writer attached, I doubt it would have done particularly well. As of now, only 2 issues of Turf have been published. If CLiNT is going to stick to it’s schedule of every 4 weeks, expect Turf to get a reduced page count, or skipped entirely while they wait for the material to get published in America.

Rex Royd reads very much like a 2000AD story. The art is similar to, but nowhere near as good as, John McCrea of DC’s The Demon & Hitman fame. A corporate heavy realizes he is in fact the real CEO and had asked to have his real identity concealed so he could enjoy being normal for a while. By the end of the strip, this has been turned on it’s head and did pique my curiosity enough to consider buying the next issue. Not bad Mr Boyle. I don’t like your comedy but your comic is better than Wossy’s so far.

The last major strip is Millar’s other movie-treatment cash cow Nemesis. Ugh, I really can’t describe how much I dislike this stuff. Steve McNiven turns in arguably his worst work  in years, Millar pumps another attempt to hit Hollywood gold with a few quips in an effort to make this seem like a comic, rather than a licensing bid. McNiven can produce crisper, art than this, look at Marvel's Civil War to see what I mean. Here's his work looks drab, maybe that's more down to the colorist, but I didn't get the dynamism form his art that I did when he drew Civil War. All in? A waste of pages. In case you’ve been lucky enough to miss any of Nemesis so far, here is the premise: What if Batman was a villain? Oh and wore white. How revolutionary, the bad guy is wearing white. See what he did there? Reversing your expectations? Spare me…

There’s a short strip featuring a redneck, desert dweller fighting a zombie ninja and struggling to have his friends believe him. By that point I think I was losing interest. Not sure if it was a one-off or to be continued.

The remainder of the magazine features an interview with Jimmy Carr (Good) and a short Q&A with Christopher Mintz-Plasse who played Red Mist in the Kick-Ass movie (Bad). There’s an article on Charles Manson’s Celebrity to-do list (Creepy) and the revelation that English Language films use voice actors when they’re dubbed in different languages (So?). The last two points I’ll cover are what made me feel this was really little more than a vanity project for Millar and his friends: Deeply Moral babes showed a rather overly made-up Oxfam worker in her civvies, while reading “Top Ten TV Mums” was like listening in on teenage boys sniggering on the bus. What age group is this aimed at? the comics are usually labelled mature readers while the features swing between the puerile and the informative, if irrelevant.

I’d love for the format to take off and be a success, but based on the content of the first issue, I don’t feel there’s anywhere near enough to get people hooked long-term. They can’t string Kick-Ass 2 out forever, surely?… By all means, give the first issue a try. As I said, there are a lot of story pages in there, a smattering of articles and you might enjoy the stories if you've not read comics in a while.

Movie Review – The A-Team or “It’s like the Losers, but not as smart”

Having languished in Development Hell for over a decade, arguably the most wanted 80’s revamp hits the big screen in the middle of the Summer Blockbuster season. Liam Neeson, Sharlto Copley (District 9), Quinton Jackson (MMA fighter) and Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) take the reins previously held by George Peppard, Dwight Schultz, Mr T and Dirk Benedict. They all certainly look the part, as you can see from the poster:

They’ve not reinvented the wheel here; at its’ heart The A-Team is a very daft, loud, brash bit of nonsense for two hours. While it’s true that the original show was pretty basic and unfeasible daft, I feel that  just aping that feeling is a bit of a waste of time. In this day and age viewers have come to expect more from even their most basic action flicks and, unfortunately, this is where I felt the film was a let-down.

The TV show always started  with a voiceover before the credits and iconic theme tune, explaining that the team had been convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. In this film, we see these events in detail and follow the team as they try to clear their names. The plot is accurate to the spirit of its’ TV predecessor in that it’s wafer-thin and doesn’t stand up to close examination. Framed by the obvious, moustache-twirling bad guys, Hannibal and co stage a pretty impressive series of escapes and try to unravel the conspiracy. Quite why it takes them so long, when the audience are likely to be facepalming at their stupidity, escapes me.

Cooper and Copley are the highlights of the film, ace-ing  the roles of Faceman and Murdock. Cooper’s Faceman is a smart-ass fixer and ladies man. He’d have been the guy dealing in black market chocolate and nylons for your grandma in WW2. He’s Hannibal’s second in command but he’s very much his own man, not just a yes-man. Sharlto Copley continues to impress in only his second starring role. His performance in District 9 was great and there’s more evidence here that he’s able to provide a wide variety of styles and personas on screen. Murdock’s mania is funny and unpredictable but never overdone. In fact I was never quite sure whether or not he actually was mad, or just acting like it for one reason or another. Damn good pilot too.

The other half of the team are less impressive. Jackson is stretched about as much here as Mr T was in the original. He stands around, looking mean and occasionally punching/kicking someone very hard. Liam Neeson seems to be part Qui-Gon Jinn, part Hannibal Smith. He certainly LOOKS like Hannibal, but the character has some very Jedi homily moments which don’t seem to fit with the breakneck action sequences. Neeson actually looks bored. When delivering Hannibal’s catch phrase “I love it when a plan comes together” I felt like he was going through his to-do list in his head, the delivery is that flat and lifeless.

In terms of pure action at least, the film does dazzle. The trailer has already spoiled the parachuting tank sequence, but it’s still one of the highlights. The jailbreaks and the initial heist are very clever. Shades of Ocean’s 11/12/13 in the imaginative methods used. the CGI effects are nice enough but suffer form the common problem nowadays of looking TOO good, and as a result, less believable, paradoxically. this is especially true during a sequence at a dockyard, late in the film. Crazy to find fault with effects being too perfect, but that perfection takes away the suspension of disbelief I had. The Spider-Man films are another good example of this.

Clocking in at roughly 2 hours, The A-Team could have done with some tighter editing to keep it shorter. Had it been 90-100 minutes, I think the film’s shortcomings might not have been exposed so glaringly.

Yes, the van is in the film. Yes, the old school theme is heard several times and yes, it is still cool. There are blink and you’ll miss them cameos form two of the original actors but my favourite in-joke is subtle enough that many will miss it, but those who clock it will smile: While in the hospital, Murdock watches a film with the other patients. The actors names that show on the screen during the film’s intro sequence are all characters from different shows played by the actors from the original TV series. Reginald Barclay represent!

It’s a no-brainer film, silly, funny in parts but unnecessarily long.  See it if you still have fond memories of the original but bear in mind that The Losers did the same thing much, much better earlier this summer.

Comic Reviews 1/7

Well, this week DC took us back to the future but also brought an unnecessary revamp to an icon, Marvel took us to Mars and Image started a war in space. Quiet week, then…

Justice Society of America 40

Wow, here’s a good lesson in how NOT to wrap up your previous year’s worth of stories. This issue sees the climax of the recent Fatherland arc and ties up a lot of the threads that Willingham has been working with for the past year. Unfortunately, this wrap-up involves a big ol’ continuity reset button, retroactively re-writing the past 12 issues. In 22 pages. Right…

Willingham writes Fables, arguably one of the best new books of the past decade and consistently engaging, yet his work on Justice Society of America has been remarkably underwhelming and lacklustre. The sheer fact that he’s used Nazis as the villains, (Nazis!) shows a real lack of ideas. That’s not the best start on what was one of DC’s biggest selling team books. These characters and this franchise are one of my favourite things about the DCU but under Willingham’s stewardship, they’ve seemed bland and uninteresting.

Artwise, Jesus Merino continues to do a good job of detailing the action sequences and the quiet moments. He’s yet to develop a distinctive style of his own, showing glimpses of a lot of other artists. I think a year or two from now, he’s going to be a great artist, but right now, he’s functional without being exceptional. I hope he takes the step up.

It’s a good issue to jump off the title, written as if Willingham isn’t coming back after the two month crossover with Justice League of America. As I said above, that’s probably not a bad thing.

Batman Beyond 1 (of 6)

Wooooo! A new mini-series continuing the adventures of Terry McGinnis, the Batman of the future in Warner Bros “Batman Beyond” cartoon from 1999-2001. As part of the animated DC universe, Batman Beyond shows a futuristic Gotham that, for all its’ progress, still suffers from the same kind of urban crime that plagues it during Bruce Wayne’s tenure as the Dark Knight. Now an elderly recluse, Bruce provides Terry with the high-tech suit and Batmobile he uses to great effect i protecting Gotham from an ever-present number of wackos and supervillains.

This mini-series is set after the end of the animated series, but before the revelatory Justice League Unlimited episode “Epilogue”. Adam Beechen, who has experience of teenage heroes and Gotham from his tenures on Teen Titans and Robin, gives a great first issue. We’re shown the city, the relationship between Bruce and Terry and a mystery villain starts making his presence felt. Ryan Benjamin’s art is very fluid, but his faces are a little too manga for my tastes. The colour palette used here is interesting too, a lot of glowing greens and blues from the neon metropolis, or areas bathed in a red glow from emergency lights.

The pacing works extremely well here, giving us a good cliffhanger that makes me eager for the next issue.

Secret Avengers 2

Ed Brubaker continues to write Steve Rogers, former Captain America, in as many books as possible (this is his third currently ongoing series featuring the character). Leading the equivalent of the Avengers’ black-ops team, Steve and co go to Mars to investigate why contact has been lost with a research dig on the planet. Leading light of Marvel’s cosmic characters, Nova, has previously been dispatched and also gone radio silent.

It’s strange reading Brubaker write such and out of this world tale, involving alien planets, alien artifacts and mystical mind control. I’ve enjoyed his urban tales such as Criminal, his superhero work on Captain America and the grey area between on Sleeper (nothing to do with the lovely Louise Wener, sadly). Seeing him write and plot this story is a real sea-change for his usual content.

While I'm a big fan of Brubaker’s work, I really find it hard to read a book with Mike Deodato on art chores. His style is very dark, faces  seem to only have two expressions, deep consternation or wide-eyed surprise, and everyone stands like they’re posing for a statue. Seriously, It may sound like I’m being excessively harsh here but, in my opinion, his art REALLY doesn’t suit Brubaker’s writing or these characters. His design for the group’s aircraft is clearly the bastard lovechild of an Imperial Shuttle from Star Wars and the SDF-1 from Robotech. Yay for originality, huh?

It’s nice to see him use Nova, Beast and the current Ant-Man. They’re all interesting choices for an Avengers team, especially Nova. I’m indifferent towards Valkyrie and War-Machine right now. Actually I’m struggling to understand why an Asgardian warrior maiden with an attitude problem is even on the team. Unless she’s supposed to the team “Wolverine” what with him being unavailable due to already being on 4(!) different teams. Black Widow fits the team’s mission statement and Brubaker’s written her extremely well in Captain America for the past 5 years.

I’m looking forward to reading the end of the first arc before I decide if I'm sticking with the title. If I do continue reading, i sincerely hope there’s a new (read: better) artist in the wings.

Invincible 73

This issue continues the “Viltrumite War” storyarc and begins the actual war proper. the issue takes place over several months, with the scene shifting back and forth between Invincible’s convalescence on an alien world, watched over by his father and half-brother, and Allen and Tech-Jacket’s efforts with the Coalition of Planets to defeat the Viltrumite Empire. It’s not quite a filler issue, as there are some plot developments of note here. It does however suffer form the same faults that blighted issue 60 of this series: Lots of stuff happens off-panel, or in only one or two panels, and it deserves way more page time.

We get some nice bonding between Omni-Man and his son Oliver, now kid Omni-Man back on Earth. Having not seen him since he was a baby, Nolan’s reactions to him ring true and sound like a father eager to make up for missing out on his son’s childhood.

Allen and Tech-Jacket borrow a leaf out of the “Han Solo Guide to Avoiding Lasery Death in Space” (Good book, I recommend it, perfect for a scruffy looking nerf-herder like me) before leading the effort against the Viltrumites. A lot of battles and campaigns seem to take place out of the readers view, which is a shame as there’s plenty of scope for good stories there. A mini-series please, Mr Kirkman?

Ryan Ottley’s art is awesome as usual. Crisp, expressive, characterful and conveys motion and impact extremely well. I would love to see him on a book at DC or Marvel, but would hate to see him leave this book. :-S

Oh and Battle Beast returns. Roar, I say! Roar!

Movie Review – The Losers or “What if Shoot ‘Em Up and The A-Team had a kid together?”

The Losers is a bit of a weird one, based on the comic of the same name, it is nowhere near as dark as its’ source but manages to be fun, snappy and highly enjoyable nonetheless. Starring a solid array of actors, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Idris Elba and Chris Evans, the movie is a 90 minute action flick that it’s hard not to love. Even in the scenes where no-one’s shooting or blowing anything up, it keeps its’ momentum and moves on with no sections dragging.

Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) leads a US Special Forces team consisting of Roque (Idris Elba from TV’s The Wire) his second in command, Pooch (Columbus Short) the team’s transport specialist, Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) the taciturn Hispanic sniper and Jensen (Chris Evans) the wisecracking wannabe ladies man who serves as tech and comms officer.

When we first see them, the team are in Bolivia to laser designate a drug baron’s villa for a bombing run. Just as they call in the airstrike, the team spot a bus-load of schoolkids being unloaded at the villa to serve as human shields. Clay aborts the airstrike only to be told by a mystery voice that operational control were aware of the kids and don’t care. Clay smashes the designator to force the incoming jet to target by sight and buy the team enough time to rescue the kids. This choice doesn’t go over well with the mystery man so as a result the team are framed for an atrocity and marked for death. That’s the first ten minutes or so. They cram in a lot of action in this movie.

While the comic did feature some great interplay between the characters, the dialogue here is equally sharp and quick-fire but can be more light-hearted at times. While not ostensibly played for laughs, there are some genuinely laugh out loud lines and moments, often provided by the film’s villain; Max.

Arguably the biggest departure from the comic, Max is literally a white cat short of being a Bond villain here. From the locations we see him in, to his master plan (heavily modified from the original), he is ironically enough, perhaps not quite as sinister, evil and calculating as his two-dimensional inspiration. Jason Patric makes him a great villain and delivers some of the film’s most killer lines with a flair that almost makes you like him for his dark sense of humour. Personally I find there’s two ways to make a screen villain memorable, either: Make him sympathetic to the audience to a degree by justifying his actions so that the viewer can understand their actions even if they don’t agree with them OR make him wholly immoral, cruel and intelligently wicked. Look at Alan Rickman’s turn in Die-Hard or Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.

Chris Evans, as the team’s tech expert Jensen, steals the movie. While less combat focused compared to the rest of the team, Jensen’s moment in the sun comes when he infiltrates an evil corporation (Aren’t they always) to get a cipher the Losers need. The rest of the team are almost entirely absent from this sequence with the exception of Clay’s voice in Jensen’s earpiece and Cougar’s welcome cameo at the very end.

If there is a weak point in the film, it’s that Zoe Saldana is functional without being exceptional as the film’s sole significant female. I get that this has been packaged as a very macho, testosterone driven action film, but the Aisha we get here is not the dangerous stone-cold killer from the comic book. Maybe the director thought she’d threaten the guys or undermine them.

There’s some nice visual flourishes in The Losers, whenever the location changes we get a sweeping vista with the location name layered on top, in a manner reminiscent of the way Zombieland showed you the post-zombie apocalypse rules. Certain scenes will shift to slow-mo when there’s a particularly difficult jump, or a long-range sniper shot. I think this is what Michael Bay could be like if he wasn’t quite so over the top.

The film still works well, but I did find myself wondering what a more faithful adaptation would have been like. The possibility of a sequel exists, not least because one of Max’s plans is briefly mentioned but never explained during the film, although The Losers didn’t do great guns at the US Box Office and that more than likely hurts its’ chances. Go see The Losers, it’s 90 minutes of fun dialogue, great action sequences and you’ll be hard-pressed to find another film so unrelentingly kick-ass this summer.

Comic Reviews 13/5

Apologies, I know these are late, both last week and this were big weeks for comics in terms of quantity and quality, happily enough.

And… Here… We… Go! (Comic Movie Reference, kudos to the first reader to email the film title to me)

Birds Of Prey 1

Gail Simone and Ed Benes re-launch the title they collaborated on several years ago. After Gail’s unfortunate departure from Wonder Woman (Bringing an end to arguably one of the the best runs on the character, up there with Rucka, Jiminez and Perez) she’s come home. BOP traditionally features an all female main cast, operating like Charlie’s Angels under the direction of Oracle, the now paralyzed former Batgirl.

Gail’s given each of the main three women a very distinct voice: Oracle’s the controlled one who still struggles with being removed form the front-lines. Black Canary’s fierce but with the wisdom her experience has given her, not as headstrong as other heroines. Huntress is still angry, still impulsive and still more likely to aim her crossbow at something vital than the other two would like.

Over the years, under Gail’s stewardship, the ladies of the BOP have developed and grown very credibly. Huntress has calmed a little, Oracle’s opened up a little and Canary has accepted her role as one of the senior heroines and role-models of the DC universe.

The rest of the cast is the gloriously wild Lady Blackhawk, a time-lost WW2 pilot who looks like she should be on a cheesecake pin-up shot, albeit with a pair of nickel-plated automatics in her hands and the returning duo of Hawk & Dove. The last two are a curious addition, not least because Hawk is a guy. Hey, who let a dude in the clubhouse?! Hawk and Dove are avatars of War and Peace, respectively and have both come back from the dead. Quiet where these characters are going to fit in the BOP, I’m not sure and I’m curious as to how Gail’s going to make me care about them. I’ve always been apathetic about them, bordering on dislike.

Looking at the art now, Ed Benes work is light years better here than his turn on Justice League of America where it was over-inked into oblivion. The lines here are thinner and while not as clean as his earlier BOP work, still retain the fluidity, sense of motion and cheesecake-without-excessive-exploitation that made him such a big name to begin with.

This first issue sees Oracle put the band back together to track a mystery villain who’s threatening to expose the superhero community’s secrets unless the Birds stop him. That’s it. We have no further information on the mystery villain, or even if it IS a he. The issue ends with the Birds trying to prevent the Penguin’s murder at the hands of the White Canary (Who I’m guessing is Lady Shiva…), a new villainess wearing a negative version of Black Canary’s outfit but with the lower half of her face masked.

It’s a good start, it feels like Gail never left the book which, given the less than stellar nature of the previous volume after her departure, is no bad thing. These are characters that existed for decades before Gail wrote them, but who she has made into her own creations. Birds of Prey looks set to be another success for the creative team, bravo!

Booster Gold 32/Justice League: Generation Lost 1

I’m reviewing these together as A) They both feature Keith Giffen co-writing, B) They both feature Booster Gold “The Greatest Hero You’ve Never Heard Of!” and C) They cross-over at the end of Booster Gold 32.

Giffen & DeMatteis return to write Booster’s adventures in his ongoing title, having previously written him in the Justice League titles of the late 80’s and early 90’s and the critically acclaimed Formerly Known As The Justice League and I Can’t Believe It’s Still Not The Justice League a few years ago. While they’re famed for what many see as an irreverent take on superheroes, the pair have written some extremely strong tales with a lot more maturity than their critics might admit.

Taking the reins after Booster’s creator, writer & artist Dan Jurgens, finished his recent run on the title, Giffen & DeMatteis give us a neat “done-in-one” story that continues the premise of Booster being a time-cop, a la Sam Beckett from TV’s Quantum Leap, diving into the past and future to ensure events play out the way the universe needs them to. During this issue’s mission: Booster fights a classic Legion of Super-Heroes villain, saves a young girl, brings her back to his base of operations to save her life and discovers that Max Lord the man who murdered his best friend, is alive. Hold on tight, it’s going to be a wild ride…

I was pleased to see Chris Batista on pencils here, I never read the Steel series he worked on but I really liked his style on 52. I find it to be clean, crisp and is just as good at portraying widescreen action sequences as it as facial expressions and close-ups. I’m hoping that the writers will bring back some of the more notable JLI-era opponents for Booster to tackle as I’d love to see Batista handle Despero or the Extremists.

Justice League Generation Lost is a bi-weekly title featuring the surviving heroes and heroines who joined the Justice League during the Giffen/DeMatteis era: Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Captain Atom and in the next issue or two; Rocket Red and Blue Beetle. Following on from the return of Max Lord, all the heroes of the DCU are searching for him. Max’s last plan involved mind-controlling Superman, so they’re understandably worried at the thought of Max being loose. Captain Atom, Fire and Ice track a nuclear weapon in Yemen while Booster is sidelined by the League as they question his objectivity should he find Max first.

Following up a lead, Booster does find Max but is bushwhacked and left for dead while Max executes his Keyser Soze moment, in  a bathtub full of ice with a lot of IV blood on standby. Booster manages to call for help and is found by the other three, battered and bleeding. As other heroes arrive, the four heroes are worried to realise no-one else knows who Max is. He’s used his telepathy on a global level to force everyone to forget he exists. Quiet why the former-leaguers are immune hasn’t been revealed yet, this is only part 1 of 26!

Aaron Lopresti brings the same art skills he showed to great effect on Wonder Woman here to a team book. Similar in style to Batista’s work on Booster Gold (deliberate move by DC Editorial?) it’s clean, fluid and great at conveying expression and feeling.

The issue is solid, a good introduction to the characters and the plot, each character gets a page or two dedicated to themselves showing who they are and why they’re relevant here, before the story proper takes over. I’m a sucker for this era of the Justice League. From the characters to the dialogue, I loved it. To now have the same characters together again and being co-scripted by Keith Giffen, this is a book I’ve been excited about ever since it was first announced months ago.

 

Super-Short Reviews

So much came out last week, I’ve had to bump some books from full reviews to shorter ones:

Siege 4

The endgame of Bendis’ masterplan for the Marvel Universe over the past 5 years reaches it’s climax. There are no surprises here, everything had either already been spoiled or was obviously coming. Pretty pictures and some typically snappy Bendis dialogue. At least you didn’t have to read the tie-ins to understand it all.

Sentry: Fallen Sun

SPOILER WARNING – The Sentry dies in Siege 4, he gets hit in the face with the HAMMER Helicarrier, then Thor drops Mjolnir on him and fries his ass with lightning and just for good measure throws him into the sun. His funeral shown here is weird, Rogue reveals she had an affair with him(!) and the Fantastic Four wax lyrical about the Sentry’s finer points, glossing over the fact he was a drug-addled, wife-beating crook with a split personality. Glad to see the back of the Sentry but depressed that the foundations for his return are seemingly laid here.

New Avengers Finale 1

This book reads like an epilogue to Siege and the New Avengers series that closes here. Standing amidst the wreckage of Asgard, the Avengers round up those villains who took part in the assault and attempt to track down the Hood who commanded them. Pretty pictures from Bryan Hitch, much better than the scratchy stuff he turned in for Captain America: Reborn last year. Cheeky price point for a book with so many splash pages but worth a read.