Use a Microphone Like Shazam Used Tights

Sorry this is kinda late--I was a bit busy reading the new HARRY POTTER, and, well, you know how it goes. Those nasty old books without pictures take a lot longer to read. Anyways...

SHAZAM! MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #4



Jeff Smith’s long-awaited miniseries, named for a classic Golden Age Captain Marvel adventure, drew to a close this week, and the only bad thing I can say about it is that was only four issues long. Sure, I could complain about the liberties Smith took with Cap and his supporting cast (the talking tiger Mr. Talky Tawny is explained away as a helpful spirit called an “Ifrit”, the titular Society is composed of bugs and mysterious robot monsters rather than the Marvel Family’s Rogues Gallery), but that would miss the point of what Smith attempted to do with this book—that is, create an all-ages, stand-alone adventure that serves to introduce Captain Marvel to a new audience while creating a fun new epic for established fans. The final installment makes it plain that Dr. Sivana (recast here as “Director of Technology and Heartland Security”, and an unrepentant war profiteer) and his ilk are the real bad guys, both in Smith’s story and in the real world (although the political message is not at all preachy, buried as it is under layers of cartoon fantasy). Smith leaves the door wide open for a sequel, which would hopefully include other Marvel mainstays like Black Adam and Captain Marvel Jr.—let’s just hope we don’t have to wait another four or five years for it.

WORLD WAR HULK #2



Hmmm…I gotta say, there is a serious cathartic thrill to this book—it’s a little unsettling how refreshing it is to see the Marvel heroes rally together for a common cause after all of last year’s CIVIL WAR nonsense, only to find it doubly refreshing to see the Hulk and his alien pals whomp the living crap out of all of them. Unfortunately, all of the crossovers—some of which are not bad at all (I’m talking about WWH: X-MEN and WWH: FRONTLINE here) serve to dilute the narrative of the actual series a bit, which was a major problem with CW. That is to say, the actual WWH series is beginning to feel like a somewhat skeletal framework that needs the crossover books to fill in the blank spots. Also, I can’t possibly see how this can end well, since the heroes will either need to kill off the strangely absent Bruce Banner or just exile ol’ Jade Jaws all over again, but I guess that’s part of the fun. Still, this is probably among the top two or three Marvel Event Books ever…although, given their weak track record, that’s not saying much.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #11



Gene Ha (TOP TEN) steps up to fill in for series regular Ed Benes in a stand-alone story about Red Arrow and Vixen being trapped under a toppled building. This might have made a decent eight-page backup story, but it kinda stretched my patience as a full issue. It’s not bad, but I don’t think it’s really what I want from a JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA comic, I guess. Ha’s painted art is terrific as usual, what little of it there is—the story is told in narrow strips of comic panel set against black backgrounds. Good for claustrophobic effect, not so good for fans of the artist’s lushly detailed work. Scripter Brad Meltzer departs after next issue, and I’m sad to say that might be for the best; I’ve defended the writer’s controversial run up until this point, but now I think I just really want to see what Dwayne McDuffie will do with this series.

THE ORDER #1

Formerly known as THE CHAMPIONS (named after the 1970s Marvel series, whose title was subsequently usurped for an RPG system when the copyright lapsed—at least, I think that’s what was responsible for the last-minute title change), this new title by Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson spins out of CIVIL WAR by introducing L.A.’s signature superhero team. The Order is headed up by a has-been actor who was also an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor of Tony Stark, so he’s understandably upset when his team very publicly boozes it up after their debut. Much like Milligan and Allred’s X-FORCE/X-STATIX from a few years back, this title promises to deal with the celebrity angle on superheroics while maintaining those titles’ signature rotating team lineup. Not a bad first issue, although I kind of hope it’s a mini and not an ongoing—I think the concept has more promise as a finite idea. I like Kitson’s art here more than I usually do (his stuff takes a George Perez-esque turn (although that could be just all the little tiny panels in Fraction’s script), but his character designs are all kind of boringly similar.

ALL FLASH #1




Well, it’s not a stretch to say that this a huge improvement over how the last FLASH series started out, but something about this feels a bit off. I’m glad Wally’s back, and some of the art here is really nice (why isn’t Karl Kerschl going to be the regular artist on the relaunch again? He’s clearly more than capable, as this book shows), but this whole switch-em-up just seems like a big backpedal on DC’s part. Maybe they should have tried to do something decent with a brand new Flash—not Bart, but somebody brand new—rather than consigning Wally to a frustratingly non-committal “death” where they could trot him back out if the new book tanked. It almost makes me wish they had just gone ahead and brought Barry Allen back—instead, we’re left with lots more questions and a lot of assurances that this is all part of some long-term plan that dovetails with FINAL CRISIS in May.