Action Comics #855

Written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner

Art by Eric Powell

DC Comics $2.99

Finally, after that painful-to-read Busiek arc, Johns is back with Richard Donner and in less than 30 pages we get to go to Bizzaro World, Pa Kent gets kidnapped and an entire Bizzaro Metropolis storms Superman.  It’s good, classic Geoff Johns storytelling and Richard Donner helping out doesn’t hurt.  I’ll be excitedly following this arc as it progresses and I hope Action continues to ship at such an astoundingly fast rate.  If my count is right, they put out three issues last month.

Eric Powell’s artwork is really great and well suited for this sci-fi type adventure story.  Nothing looks too realistic, but not entirely cartoonish either.  It’s a happy medium and I don’t think ultra-realism would help this story out, the whole story of going to another crazy backwards(and cubed!) world isn’t meant to be realistic, so Powell’s art works great with John’s fantastic setting and highly personalized version of Superman.

Don’t miss this arc.

Justice Society of America

Written by Geoff Johns

Art by Fernando Pasarin, Rooney Ramos and Alex Ross

DC Comics $2.99

I’m fairly sure this is my favorite DC title. Alex Ross’ covers would be incentive enough to buy this, as would Pasarin’s great pencils that suit superheroes so well, but Geoff Johns is so good at writing conflicted characters and the trio is so incredibly pleasant. Thought I had never read a Justice League-oriented comic book before this new series started, I was lucky enough to catch it as it began. The past eight issues have felt like two years worth of story because Johns’ writing is so character driven while the art concentrates on high tension action. It works rather well.

I am really happy to see the focus of this book get back to Citizen Steel, because it’s not only an exploration of the bitterness that comes with a disability, showing how his youth was robbed by the loss of his leg, but it functions as the complete opposite of the common superhero story. I really like the idea of a superhero who doesn’t want to be a superhero but still feels responsible for doing his job. It really reminds me of the old Spider-Man stories I grew up on in the 1980’s.

The back story in this issue, as one would guess, is Liberty Bell, and how her childhood shaped who she has been at different points in her life. And they also kick the shit out of some Nazis.

New comics for August 03, 2007

I’m a week and a half behind, so this week I ended up picking up quite the pile. I was glad to see so many great issues in my pile this go around. I was particularly excited about walking dead, which is already reviewed, batman, dark tower and JLA. I’ll be putting up several reviews per day and working my way through my pile over the next several days.

Action Comics #853 - Kurt Busiek(w), Brand Walker, Livesay, Lee Loughridge(a)
Batman #666 - Grant Morrison(w), Andy Kubert, Jesse Delperdang(a)
Black Panther #29 - Reginald Hudlin(w), Francias Portela and Val Staples(a) Arthur Suydam(c)
Black Summer #1 of 7 - Warren Ellis(w), Juan Jose Ryp(a)
Chronicles of Wormwood #6 of 6 - Garth Ennis(w), Jacen Burrows(a)
Countdown #39 & 40 - Paul Dini, McKeever(w), Jim Calafiore and Jay Leigten(a)
Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #7 of 7 - Peter David and Robin Furth(w), Jae Lee and Richard Isanove(a)
Deathblow #6 - Brian Azzarello(w), Carlos D’Anda, Henry Flint(a)
Fallen Angel #18 - Peter David(w) and J.K. Woodward(a)
Futurama # 32 - Ian Boothby(w), Mike Kazaleh and Andrew Pepoy(a)
Grimm Fairy Tales #16 - Ralph Tedesco and Joe Tyler(w), Andrew Magnum and Roland Salvidor(a)
Justice Society of America #8 - Geoff Johns(w), Fernando Pasarin and Rodney Ramos(a)
Metal Men #1 of 8 - Duncan Roleau(a & w)
Midnighter #10 - Keith Giffen(w), Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Randy Mayor(a)
Raise the Dead #4 of 4 - Leah Moore and John Reppion(w), Hugo Petrus, Marc Rueda and Ivan Nunes(a)
Speak of the Devil #1 of 6 - Gilbert Hernandez(Spider-Man Fairy Tales #3 of 4 - C.B. Cebulski(w), Kei Kobayashi, Christina Strain(a)
Star Trek: Klingons Blood Will Tell #4 - Scott and David Tipton(w), David Messina and Elaina Casagrande(a)
Star Trek: Year Four #1 - David Tischman(w), Steve Conley, Leonard O’Grady(a)
Uncanny X-Men #489 - Ed Brubaker(w), Mike Perkins and Andrew Hennessey(a)
Unholy Union #1 - Ron Marz(w), Michael Broussard(a)
Walking Dead #39 - Robert Kirkman(w), Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn(a)
Welcome to Tranquility #9 - Gail Simone(w), Neil Googe(a)
Wetworks #11 - J.M. Dematteis(w), Joel Gomez and Trevor Scott(a)
World War Hulk #3 - Greg Pak(w), John Romita Jr, Janson, Strain(a)
World War Hulk: Ironman #20 - Christos Gage(w), Butch Guice, Dean White and Gerald Parel(a)
World War Hulk: The Incredible Hulk #108 - Greg Pak(w), Leonard Kirk, Scott Hanna and Chris Sotomayor(a)
World War Hulk: The Irredeemable Ant-Man #10 - Robert Kirkman(w), Phil Hester, Ande Parks, Bill Crabtree and Val Staples(a)
X-Men #201 - Mike Cary(w), Humberto Ramos, Carlos Cuevas and Edgar Delgado(a)

Justice Society of America #6

DC Comis - $2.99

Geoff Johns - Writer

Dale Eaglesman & Roy Jose - Artists

To be honest, I really only started reading JSA and JLA because I wanted to see Alex Ross’ velvet elvis covers, I love his work and he’s been doing an amazing job on these covers, I always look forward to them showing up in the shop each month.

This is chapter four of the Lighting Bolt Saga, which is a story involving some time displaced, amnesia-stricken teenage superheroes from the future. It’s been pretty interesting, not because this miniseries crossover with JLA has been incredible in it’s execution, but virtually JSA’s entire run has been leading up to this and it has been executed in a way that makes all the revious issues so much more relevant to the greater storyline that has been unfolding for the past year.

Remarkably, I just noticed that, throughout this crossover, there has been a rush to save the planet from some kind of imminent villainous threat that everyone seems to think they can surely stop, but that threat has never actually been revealed. I like the idea that they aren’t actually going to tell you what the real fight is about until the end, when it just might be too late.

The more of these uber-planned crossovers I see from DC, the higher regard I have for them over Marvel, who’s books I spent my entire childhood reading nad noticing the lack of sensible continuity. DC has such an amazing amount of organization and planning in their stories, reading new issues makes me go back and read old issues. Countdown and the Justice series have been like watching new episodes of Lost(which I sadly am not watching right now), where a new scene gives you a key to several old scenes. Upon finishing the new issue, I go back to see what I missed back when I didn’t know what to look for.

And it’s Geoff Johns, you can’t go wrong.