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Hawkeye: Freefall 3
Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt continue to delight. Kudos all around!
Captain Marvel 15
The same goes for Lee Garbett’s art here, and the confrontation between the two Captains is stellar writing by Kelly Thompson.
DCeased: Unkillables 1
No way I’m waiting for the trade for this one, Tom Taylor continues to rule this alternate universe he’s created.
Crisis on Infinite Earths 1-12
It’s amazing how closely Marvel and DC’s first major intra-company crossovers (Secret Wars and Crisis) mirror their eventual cinematic universes thirty years later - Secret Wars combines all of their most popular characters in a rollicking fun adventure that gives the readers what they’re looking for, while Crisis is an overwritten, plodding mess of a story with tons of pointless action starring people with no personalities at all.
Marv Wolfman’s basic plot is decent enough, given the need to combine the myriad of DC universes. But his basic MO is to take a plot point, have a ton of D-list characters fight over it for an issue, then repeat. It’s horribly grindy, and I kept wondering what a modern writer could have done with the premise. (Though with my luck, that writer would be Jonathan Hickman, and I’d be left with another incoherent mess…) This is a story that could have been effectively told in half the number of issues. Twelve was completely unnecessary.
I must give Wolfman credit for how he handles Supergirl’s death. The magnitude of the conflict, the peril of the situation, and the enormity of the sacrifice all solidly connected with me, really for the only time in the whole series.
And let’s not forget the art of George Perez and that epic, truly classic cover.
And speaking of massive crossovers involving George Perez:
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| This image of heroes charging towards a huge pile of rocks in space... |
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| ...totally reminded me of this shot years later in Infinity Gauntlet. |
I may never read Crisis again, but I also can’t expunge such a cornerstone of comics history from my collection.
Regret buying: No
Would buy again: No
Would read again: No
Rating: Didn’t suck
Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths 1
Wolfman returned years later to write what’s essentially Crisis 4.5, a lost tale of how another Earth perished. Meh. This I can easily cut.
Regret buying: No
Would buy again: No
Would read again: No
Rating: Didn’t suck (Cutting)
Official Crisis on Infinite Earths Index 1
I don’t know what company ICG is, or why they had Mark Waid write an in-depth synopsis of each issue, but I just like that this exists. I may never read this, but I like owning it.
Regret buying: No
Would buy again: No
Would read again: No
Rating: Boring
DC Nation 0
Something I got for free, it has three chunks in it. The Bendis Superman story is meh, the JLA story is stupid, and the awesome Tom King Joker story is reprinted in the Batman trade, so I can safely chuck this.
Regret buying: No
Would buy again: No
Would read again: No
Rating: Fine (Cutting)
Demon 0, 40, 42-52, 54, 56
I bought these in the period after Garth Ennis stole my heart with Hitman, one of the best comic titles ever crafted. This is where Tommy Monaghan made his first appearances, as well as the beloved Baytor.
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| Truly the master. |
While these issues aren’t bad, I have a couple of problems with them. At the end of the day, I don’t care at all about Jason Blood or Etrigan. Not even Ennis could make them interesting to me. His rhymes are actually pretty funny, but I’ve never been fond of that schtick for The Demon.
Second, as a massive fan looking for more Hitman material, this feels like the first season of Park and Recreation or The Office, something brilliant that needed a little bit of time to find its footing. The characters are the same, but there’s so much rough around the edges that it’s totally skippable.
I’m cutting all of these issues, I haven’t wanted to read these since I bought them, and this hasn’t changed my mind.
Regret buying: No
Would buy again: No
Would read again: No
Rating: Fine
Dial H for Hero 1
I gave every launch title of Bendis’ Wonder Comics imprint a try. Aside from the fun conceit of Joe Quinones paying homage to famous art styles, there wasn’t much here that grabbed my attention. I didn’t continue buying this, and see no reason to keep the issue. Original review.
Regret buying: Yes
Would buy again: No
Would read again: No
Rating: Didn’t suck
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