Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artists: Tony Daniel, Art Thibert, & Jonathan Glapion
All Hail Marc Guggenheim! Hail! Hail! Guggenheim is the new master of the Flash, and as I've said before, is bringing this book back from the grave. Flash goes off to face his Rogues and this issue is an all-out race and battle, and ends with a cool cliff-hanger. Guggenheim has a cool handle on the Rogues, and an even better one on Bart. I hated Bart before, but I love him now. He's super-determined and motivated and has accepted that he is the Flash, and so must take on those responsibilities. Tony Daniel is coming into his own here, after an awkward first issue. This may be because his inker on Titans, Jonathan Glapion, joins him on the last half of the issue, but the Thibert inking on Daniel just doesn't work. It still looks like Daniel, but it lacks the flair that comes in the last half of the book and what Daniel had on Titans. This is a short review, because I've said everything before on this book, but everyone definately needs to be checking out the Flash now. Next issue promises to be a big one, with the big push DC is giving it, so definately get this issue before it dissapears in a "flash" next month. A
Writer: Frank Miller
Artists: Jim Lee & Scott Williams
Okay okay okay, let's get the late jokes out. A year after number four, we get number five. All because Jim Lee couldn't stop playing poker, playing videogames, running Wildstorm, or whatever he was doing during this "missing year." Does it show? Suprisingly, no. Jim Lee didn't lose any of his talent, and Frank Miller still writes like Frank Miller. Having just read Hush in the Absolute Edition (Thanks Nick!), looking at this book it's easy to see that Jim is doing a lot of things differently, or at least doing what Miller tells him to do. And it's cool to see that the storytelling does change with artists as they move from writer to writer, but on to what really matters, the story. We start out with a mad as hell Frank Miller Wonder Woman. I call her Frank Miller Wonder Woman, because she thinks like Frank Miller thinks, Noir-ish and angry. Wonder Woman goes to meet the Justice League, still new and consisting of Superman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, and Plastic Man? Sure Frank, whatever. The JLA wants to take down Batman because he is making them look bad with his hell-bent ways and attitude. Wonder Woman wants to kill Batman and parade his head around on a pike, obviously this is one Amazon still fresh off the island. Superman won't let that happen and kisses Wonder Woman to change her mind. Wierd. Well, in Frank Miller's mind, Supes has always had a hard-on for Diana, see DK2 for more on that, if you want... Batman goes out on patrol and Miller uses this opportunity to show us how wild, crazy, and brutal he is without a Robin. He loves being the "Goddamn Batman" and rains pain on thugs like, well, a bat out of hell. Batman here, is scary as hell. It's like he has a death wish, swinging through the city using his bat-rope only when he has to. Miller also shows us the strongest Alfred ever, taking his frustrations out on a punching bag and regretting that "Master Bruce" has grown up to become a demon. Some might say that Miller is doing Batman wrong, but I think he's setting us up to realize why Batman needs a Robin. During the Bruce Wayne: Murderer and Fugitive storylines, Bruce isolated himself and became a brutal jerk, and it was only until after Infinite Crisis that he got back under control. So here, Miller is trying to show us what the unrestrained Batman is like, how he's out of control and actually might do less for the city than when he has a Robin at his side. Is this the Batman who is going to be taking tips from Jim Gordon? Hell no. What we might be seeing here is the evolution of the Batman, and I think when it's all said and done the rest of you might agree with me and like this story like I am. We'll see, just like we'll see if this book comes out on its all new bi-monthly schedule. See you in two months for #6? We'll see... B+
Writer: Brad Meltzer
Artist: Ed Benes
Well, after a great first two parts, this issue falls a little flat. Focusing on a team of Wildcat (2 or 3), Flash, Vixen, and Hal Jordan in Gorillla city fetching another Legion member while Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Power-Girl, and Red Arrow are on Thanagar fetching yet another member. Most of this issue is character interactions, no real battles here, I guess those come in the JSA issues? We do see the plot move forward a little, some villains are revealed and the motives of the Legion members come into question. The best parts of the book happen with Red Arrow and Power Girl as they talk about relationships. Power Girl tells Roy to be careful chasing Hawkgirl, as there is a relationship so weird between the Hawks that even she can't tempt Hawkman. Wha-Huh? That's right Hawkman and Power Girl bumped uglies while on Thanagar, at this rate JLA, JSA, and Mighty Avengers are going to be porno-books before issue 12. These moments make up for the fact that Meltzer sent this team to Thanagar for no reason, since Dawnstar is not there and has already left for Earth. Couldn't they have had these conversations back on Earth anyway instead of in a space-ship? So far, this cross-over is engaging, but isn't blowing anyone out of the water, but that may change in the final 2 issues. Ed Benes returns to his own book doing the very capable job he has been doing on this book. The characters look great, each has their own distinct feel, and the girls are hot, really, what other reason do we have Benes on this book? Here's hoping that we have a great final 2 issues, otherwise people will wonder why this crossover was even needed. C+
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artists: Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino
Finally, a return to form on this title. After about 3 months of fill in artists and stories we finally get back to the "Camelot Falls" arc that Busiek has been weaving since he jumped on the book. There is a lot to like in this book. Superman is investigating Arion's prophecy that because of him, humanity will die. After the vision of the future, Superman goes and seeks out some of the people he saw in the vision to find out if they trully exist, as he doesn't want to trust Arion blindly. He's also investigating the third Kryptonian that was mentioned by the Auctioneer in Busiek's Action Comics run before Johns, Donner, and Kubert plagued it with delays. Busiek writes a very human Superman, as Clark is constantly thinking and narrating, and he doesn't sound alien at all, and he shouldn't since he was raised on earth. Also, Busiek is referencing Johns' Action Comics arc by including the Phantom Zone kid, Chris (still apparently in Lois and Clark's care) and how Bizarro attacked Superman in Action Comics. This is good because it shows that the Superman titles are connected to themselves, they don't exist outside of one another like multiple titles sometimes do (see Batman and Spider-Man's books). These mentions of other runs in different books give the Superman world a cohesive feeling, which only strengthens the storytelling. There are no fights here in this book, but there is a lot of connectivity and character moments to keep you reading from page to page and even come back to the next issue.
Carlos Pacheco is doing a great job on this book, delays aside. Other than Jim Lee, I think Pacheco is my favorite modern Superman artist. He can display the power and strength of Superman, but also his introspective side, as well as a nerdy Clark Kent. His supporting characters are just as well drawn and emotive. If this book had less side stories and fill in artists I would give it a higher rating, but since it's so inconsistent I just can't do it. If Busiek let the fill in artists do the main Camelot Falls storyline, and we had these great stories instead of the silly Prankster comics or last issue's weird Amazon-like lady, then I would be praising this book, it has the potential to be that good. But we're not getting all of that thus, the C+/B- rating that I'm giving it.
