Review: Batman/Superman World's Finest #32

I continue to chip away at a backlog of reviews after a brief vacation. So today I am reviewing Batman Superman World's Finest #32, a book released 2 weeks ago!

Writer Mark Waid has used this book as a sort of team-up title with Superman, Batman, and a young Dick Grayson Robin interacting with some classic characters from the DCU. This is the second issue in an Eclipso storyline with our heroes teaming up with the JSA. The Satellite Era JLA have been trapped. Our heroes have been possessed and are now pawns of Eclipso. And so the JSA needs to step in and try to save the day and the World's Finest duo.

I have loved this title since its inception but this storyline seems a little bit looser than I am used to. Eclipso is pretty cool. Seeing the JSA, including many of my faves, is also fantastic. But I don't know if I understand how Eclipso is doing what he is doing. I have had to stop overthinking the insanity and just sort of roll with it. Waid usually feels 'tighter' than this. This is still a very good book and a good story. But the bar is high.

Adrian Gutierrez is on art, stepping into Dan Mora's huge shoes. I like the style as it has a little frenzied feel to it which works with the story. I admit I sometimes have a hard time following the action on certain scenes. But overall, I like what I am seeing and glad he has been named the ongoing artist here.

On to the book.

Review: All-Star Comics #58

I have been running this site for almost 6 years and I have done my best to truly concentrate on Supergirl as a character, keeping Power Girl out of the spotlights intentionally. I truly believe that Power Girl is a separate character altogether.

However, with the new 52 Power Girl actually having been Supergirl on Earth 2, and with my reviews of Worlds' Finest appearing here, Karen has been nudging her way more and more onto the blog. And with the characterization of that Power Girl being neither Kara or Karen enough, neither classic Supergirl or classic Power Girl, I thought I would let Kara Zor-L bask in the spotlight again by reviewing her first appearance All-Star Comics #58. I was lucky enough to find this at a convention for $5 in decent condition.

It really is amazing how much of Power Girl's personality was already in place in this very first appearance! Writer Gerry Conway not only brings Power Girl around but also Star Spangled Kid and a new maturity in the Earth 2 Robin. Yes, this young trio becomes a Super Squad adjunct to the JSA. Karen is already shown to be fiery, determined, and strong. 

And as much as Conway shows the prototype Kara Zor-L, artists Ric Estrada and Wally Wood defined Power Girl's looks right off the bat. You can read this issue and immediately understand who Power Girl is and who she was for the next decades in the DCU.

The issue starts in a very classic way. The JSA has gotten word of three catastrophes that will strike the Earth simultaneously. Seattle, Peking, and Capetown are all in danger.

And in classic team comics style, the 6 JSAers split up into 3 groups of 2: Flash and Wildcat, Hawkman and Dr. Mid-Nite, and Dr. Fate and Green Lantern. Now I don't know if that is the best breakdown of teams. Fate and GL are the heavy hitters of this group. Maybe they should be on different teams.

And the villain of the piece is revealed early. Brainwave, the mad psionic, is going to lay waste to the world.

Some things that I love about this. Brainwave is obsessed with beauty since it was denied him in prison. So he is hoarding objets d'art on his satellite headquarters. At least it isn't a love of money driving him.

Second ... and 40 year spoiler alert ... this isn't Brainwave's real body. It ends up being a projection from his small spindly body. His love of beauty is so great he cannot deal with his real less-than-perfect looks.

But lastly, I love how this Brainwave look is eventually co-opted by his son Brainwave Jr. in Infinity Inc.

Now there is some fun stuff with Star Spangled Kid in Seattle and Robin in Capetown and the disasters thwarted there. But this is a review of Power Girl's first appearance.

In Peking, a volcano suddenly surfaces, spilling lava all over the place. I don't know just what Wildcat could do against something like this. And I don't know if the Flash could easily stop this. Hmmm ... wouldn't GL or Dr. Fate have come in handy here? (To be fair, GL and Fate fail in Capetown despite their combined might.)

Just when things look bleak, someone unknown appears on the scene, showing the lava back into the volcano, sealing it.

And there she is in all her glory, Power Girl. It is clear that how she looks has been defined from the very beginning. There are those urban legends about Wally Wood increasing Kara's pulchritude each inking session, baiting DC to tell him to stop (which they eventually did).

But there is so much to love here. She wants to be Power Girl to differ her from Superman, so there is no confusion. Unlike the earliest Earth 1 Supergirl, this one is her own woman from the get-go. And she also has been hidden away ... maybe as an emergency secret weapon?? She wasn't supposed to reveal herself quite yet!

Again, it feels like this is sort of the essence of Power Girl all in the first two panels.

The Chinese must take offense to the save, their military arriving and firing on the heroes. Despite Wildcat feeling like he can finally do something (slugging the Chinese soldiers), Power Girl ends the battle quickly with a super-stomp. Already Wildcat feels useless.

It set up an ongoing subplot of Wildcat being irritated at the 'liberated' Kara in the book. His 'old fashioned' attitude made him feel antiquated. Which was sad because I like Ted.

But things get even better. Power Girl. She sort of takes control of the whole situation. She already knows about the Capetown and Seattle disasters. And she can't understand why the JSAers can't handle the relatively mundane natural disasters happening. Hmmm ...

Again, this just is Power Girl.

She quickly mobilized Flash and Wildcat. It is time for them to regroup and attack Brainwave.

Something else great here. We are dealing with old-school Kryptonian powers. She can't fly but she can leap great distances. Fascinating ... and fun.

So there it is, the first appearance of Power Girl. And what a smashing introduction. It is incredible reading this to see just what a foundation this All-Star Comics run was for the character. I mean, this is a primer for Karen and who she has been ... that is up to this jumbled New 52 version. Impressive! She has grown as a character but the resolve and confidence has been a constant.

Overall grade: A+

But wait, there is one more treat in this book.

Holy cow there is a letter from Roy Thomas! A fan letter! From fan Roy Thomas!!

Okay, so Roy Thomas was already a prolific comic writer when this was released. But I love that he wrote to DC about this comic. Of course, Thomas ended up being 'the Guy' for Earth 2 writing All Star Squadron, Infinity Inc. and Young All Stars.

So this is obviously a key issue for Power Girl fans and I would say Supergirl fans and I would even add DC fans. It introduces Power Girl but re-introduced Earth 2 to a monthly comic world. The Huntress would be added soon after and the books kept coming.

Supergirl Sighting In JSA All-Stars #17; Variant Costume

One of the fistful of comics I currently collect nearing cancellation is JSA All-Stars.

All-Stars has always been a sort of fringe title for me, one that I enjoy just enough to keep buying. I definitely like Power Girl, Star Girl, and Cyclone as characters. But I could not care less for Wildcat 2, Citizen Steel, or King Chimera. On the JSA side, I love Wildcat, Jay Garrick, and Dr. Fate.

Matt Sturges has concocted some fun stories for the All-Stars and I have enjoyed the down time scenes he has written for the team such as sparring, training, and having strategy meetings. But the big draw for me on the title and really the reason why I have stuck around has been Freddie Williams III's art. I just think it is great, stylish and energetic.

So how could I not post about a brief Supergirl sighting in JSA All-Stars #17?

In the issue, a super-being called The Prince tries to convince Power Girl that he comes from an alternate timeline. In the other timeline, the greatest hero was someone named Regal who led the Justice Guild and made a perfect world. A villain named Dr. Hate, the Prince's mother and Regal's mortal enemy and lover, has changed history such that Regal never existed, the Guild never eradicated evil, etc.

The Prince is sad because he is stuck in this absolutely flawed world when he knew the paradise of the Regal-led world. In that timeline, he and Power Girl were friends, he was married to Judomaster, and everyone was on this massive super-hero team that looks like a mix of the JLA, JSA, Titans, and a couple of others. It is nice that most of his discussion about his predicament is with Power Girl who actually might understand his feelings and simply wants the Prince to relax so they can talk.

Anyways, Freddie Williams III gives us this great double page spread of this mega-team. Just spectacular stuff. And look on the top left.

Yep, that's Supergirl on the team! And in a different costume. It is a sort of mix of Silver Age (blue dress) and Matrix (pointy belt). One thing I do know, if I ever run into Freddie Williams III at a convention, I am definitely getting a commission.

And as a fan of the Matrix costume and the red dress, I actually thought this looked very nice.

Another thing that I think is interesting is how this costume (full shirt and blue dress) or some close version of it keeps popping up here and there. Could the belly shirt be on the way out?

Just a couple of months ago I showed this panel from Red Robin #19 where Marcus To had the Supergirl avatar in the UnterNet leading an future JLA and dressed like this.

Or this one I posted from Titans #30 by Fabrizio Fiorentino? This is, in theory, in continuity.

And then there was this version from Supergirl #32 by Ron Randall ... again, a Supergirl from the future.Yes, there is no belt here and the cape is different, clasping on to the S-shield but the full blue dress is similar.

And while those are all timeline twisted or future versions of Supergirl sporting the full shirt and blue dress, the current Kara has at least thought about it. Remember this great panel from Final Crisis #3 where we got a look into Supergirl's apartment. Here she seems to be designing new versions of the costume.

There in the lower left is a very rough sketch of the solid blue dress.

I doubt that any costume change is going to happen any time soon. But it is interesting that we keep seeing this particular motif pop up every so often. After being a staunch supporter of the red skirt, I have to say the blue skirt look is growing on me.

Review: Justice Society Of America #43

Justice Society of America had been on my 'drop list' for some time. I sincerely wanted to love the title because I have a natural affinity for the 'Earth 2' heroes. But as much as I tried to (and I gave it nearly 4 years), it just never grabbed me. It was never a 'top of the pile' book. It always landed in the middle.

So the end of 'Dark Things' seems like the perfect time for me to drop the title. I know I am not even giving the upcoming creative team Marc Guggenheim and Scott Kolins a chance but I just need to move on.

James Robinson wrote and Jesus Merino illustrated Justice Society of America #43, the epilogue to 'Dark Things' which tied up a couple of the loose ends that were still dangling after the last chapter. I get the sense that Robinson has the same love of these Golden Age characters that I do. There is a feeling of respect for these older characters in their speech, the way other characters react to them, and the way they are drawn on the page. This is clearly a Green Lantern story. Throughout this arc, Alan Scott has been shown to be not just a great super-hero but also a great man. The very title of the arc, Dark Things, is a play on his mantra. And so, we needed to see exactly how the major events of this plot settled out. My only hope is that the changes that are the result of this storyline stick around a while and aren't just swept under the rug.

The title of the issue, The Emerald City, is obviously appropriate. The green energy fortress the Starheart constructed on the moon has remained intact despite Green Lantern regaining control. And there is the giant Starheart gem acting as a beacon at the top of the highest building.

The architecture of the place is wildly varied with pod cities amidst castles amidst temples. But clearly Green Lantern seems proud of it, his arms wide as he shows it to Obsidian.

It turns out that the chaotic power of the Starheart has really acted like a beacon for all the magical beings on Earth. Elves, fairies, dragons, and the like have all flocked to the city and taken up residency.

Furthermore, since he houses the Starheart, Green Lantern is acting as the steward of the city. He needs to keep the peace amongst the various groups living there. He has needed to make peace agreements with a variety of other magical realms ... Mordru's Sorcerer's world, Nightshade's dimension, even the Gemworld. The Gemworld!! Fantastic.

Anyways, this is something that basically should impact all of the DCU and should be commented on when appropriate. How will this effect Zatanna's title for instance? Are mystical creatures able to ignore the Starheart and remain on Earth if they want? Does the average person know that there is a magical city on the dark side of the moon? Are super teams like the JLA happy with this new arrival, this new power base? It certainly shakes things up and I hope as a result it isn't just ignored. Hopefully when the editors agreed with this ending, they informed the other editors that it was happening.

Just as there were a handful of splash pages of Jade throughout this arc, there have been just as many of Alan Scott. Robinson must really like that whole family.

I thought this was a dramatic piece. I suppose that Alan Scott fans will love this. As for me, I love it when these characters get their due. I love how he calls himself the 'original' Green Lantern. Very nice.

Assuming he has a love for the character, I would love to read a Robinson Wildcat story. Ted Grant needs some love.

All that power doesn't mean much to Obsidian if he can't reunite with his sister. He actually lashes out at his father for not doing more to fix things between them.

Scott explains what is going on. Jade is predominantly powered by the lighter aspects of the Starheart (although she clearly is tainted a bit by the darkness as well). Obsidian is powered by the darker aspects. The two simply cannot be together for they would unite the two halves and endanger the universe.

I admit I lost track of Obsidian around the time Crisis on Infinite Earths ended until this current title. But from what I have read he became evil for a bit and then became a wraith of a sort. Both of those things make sense if he is essentially powered by corrupted chaos magic. That probably explains why he fired on his father in frustration. He seems like a hero on the brink ... constantly challenged to maintain his focus and do good. The dark side is simpler ... but it is the dark side. That sort of internal struggle usually makes for great reading.

Again, I hope that the upcoming writers of Obsidian build on this rather than change his personality altogether. Right now, if any character was going to keep me reading JSA it would be Obsidian.

Green Lantern calms his son down by telling him that he (along with Dr. Fate) have tried everything in their powers to bring Jade and Obsidian together. They have looked into all the possible futures and no matter when the siblings reunite, disaster happens.

To prove his point, Scott reviews some of the potential outcomes.

In one future, a war between the Fey and vampires explodes over the globe. The metahumans pick sides (or are turned into joining) the war which ravages the planet. It's was pretty striking to see which heroes ended up sprouting fangs. But I was thrilled to see Supergirl leading the charge of the elvish army.

In another future, Jade-sidian again appears and tries to murder their father. Jade is able to shake off the Starheart's control briefly enough for the construct to be killed.

You can see the pain on Green Lantern's face knowing he just killed his children.

There simply seems to be no way for Todd and Jennie to be close to each other physically.

In the best line of the book, Alan sums it up succinctly. 'Our lives are strange, son.' It is going to sound weird but that was the best line in the book. No need to dress it up with fancy language ... it is what it is. If you are a superhero, you should expect weirdness.

I said it before but I'll repeat it. I really liked Dark Things. And this epilogue was like a nice after dinner liqueur. Sweet and nice ending.  I really felt that what was sometimes missing in Robinson's Superman run was resolution. Here, we got it.

I just wonder if these changes ... with magic gathering on the moon ... will become canon for the DCU.

Jesus Merino does solid work here. I always have liked his work. His splash pages here are great, conveying the right emotion and matching the text nicely.

Overall grade: B+

Review: Justice Society Of America #42

Justice Society of America #42 came out last week, the penultimate chapter to 'Dark Things'.

From the outside, I have to say I am impressed that this story came and went so quickly. While officially 5 parts, it has been building for a bit in Justice League. And, more incredibly, all the issues were drawn by Mark Bagley. That's 5 issues in 2+ months by one artist. Compare that to ... oh let's say ... Justice League Cry For Justice which suffered from near endless delays ... from initial announcement to initial release to final issue being put out. And all that without Mauricio Cascioli doing every page and panel. Yes, I know there is a difference between penciling and painting. But there is also a difference between respecting a deadline and fan expectations and laughing at them. The bottom line is I would like to thank Mr. Bagley for not only being a great artist (his work has completely won me over in the last couple of months) but also for being a timely one.

As for the story, James Robinson has written each issue and the plot has been building and building nicely. My concern has always been the payoff. Are things that have happened in this story going to be explained enough to satisfy me? I can't always say that Robinson has met that goal elsewhere. In Superman, for instance, many plots were started ... many things hinted at ... and just left to wither on the vine without explanation.

Will there be an explanation here for why the Starheart chose now to return? Why was Jade inside? Why the Black Lantern symbol when she touched her father's Lantern? Why take over Alan Scott? Why did the Starheart pick Earth to run roughshod on? While the periphery of the story (heroes and villains being overwhelmed with chaos energy for example) I can just roll with, I need more explanations of the roots of this plot ... why the story is happening.

Last issue ended with Kyle Rayner showing up on the moon as an emissary of the Guardians. They want to shut the Starheart down even if that means killing Alan Scott and severing it's link to humanity.

Now Jade has just come back to life, is dealing with some sudden guilt for not having gone to see her father immediately after being resurrected, and has lingering feelings of love and abandonment with Kyle. When you add all that together, Jade becomes pretty confused and upset. So upset, that she decides to join her brother Obsidian in protecting their family (despite Obsidian being obviously controlled by the Starheart).

Now I don't know if she literally wanted to join her brother, but that's what ends up happening. We get a Rebis-like concoction of Jade and Obsidian.

Does this sound like an interesting twist of events? Does it look frightening and strange? Yes and yes. But again, and maybe this is a bias to Robinson I am going to need to work on, I asked myself 'is there going to be an explanation for this?' Why did they merge? Is this part of the Starheart's plans? Or is this just something thrown in?

The Obsidi-Jade amalgam seems quite powerful however, heaving out bolts of black and green energy that fry the heroes.

The League at least gives it the old college try to talk this monster down, pleading with Jade to fight whatever is controlling her and help the JLA free her father.But it doesn't work. It seems Jade's broken heart over Kyle is still raging a bit. Look at how Jade blasts Donna, reminding Donna that at one time she also loved Kyle.

I suppose old emotional wounds never quite heal.

Nice use of coloring in this panel, Donna in green within the blast. And very good art by Bagley. You can 'feel' Donna getting buffeted by the ray.

While that battle goes on, Dr. Midnight has freed Starman from the gigantic Harlequin construct we saw last issue. It is a bit of a let down. Midnight says he simply threw a blackout bomb and the two slipped away unseen. I guess unthinking constructs might allow that to happen.

Somehow Starman is still kicking despite having his chest gem ripped out 2 issues ago. He has been dying on screen for a while. One thing I did like here was the heroism of Dr. Midnight. Nothing is going to stop him from trying to find the gem and resuscitate Starman. Midnight is woefully overmatched here but it doesn't stop him from doing the right thing. That's what heroes should do.

In fact, Midnight walks in on some pretty powerful people talking, including Alan Scott who is playing with Starman's gem.

Faust somehow senses that it isn't really Alan Scott up there, but an upgraded construct that includes skin tones and stubble. A convenient slight of hand? Sure. But even so, why would the construct need Fate to keep the JSA contained when all the other constructs have been doing just fine containing the rest of the JLA/JSA/All-Star teams. And why would Scott make this construct more realistic than the others? Am I asking too many questions here?

Midnight realizes he needs to free his friends to get the gem and so while the construct and the JSA'ers talk, Midnight sneaks behind Fate and removes Fate's helmet.With the helmet of Nabu off, the captured heroes are freed of their bonds and smash the construct to bits. Midnight retrieves the heart and (I assume) runs back to Starman. I suppose it took some intestinal fortitude for Midnight to do that. He is really the hero of this issue.

But if that wasn't Alan Scott, that means Scott is somewhere else.

And it turns out he is on Earth getting a little bit of Blond Justice. Incredibly, he seems to be able to withstand the combined attack of the Supergirl and Power Girl. Power Girl does get in one good shot, a wicked right cross that sends him sprawling.

I just have to take a moment to say how happy I am that Supergirl is on a team. And it is great she is in such a headlining book as Justice League. JLA sells more than twice what Supergirl sells. But maybe this exposure will lead some people to try her solo book. But I always thought that Kara should be in a team book.

To turn things more to his advantage, Scott makes Power Girl get 'chaos-mad' again. While Supergirl tries to keep Power Girl in check, Scott must realize that things on the moon are getting out of hand and so teleports away. With Scott gone, Power Girl reverts to normal.

I post this panel to again applaud Mark Bagley for his craft. Power Girl and Supergirl look like the same person but years apart. Not many people can pull that off ... making them look similar but not the same.

As for the team on the moon, they are having a hard time with Obsidi-Jade and the multiple green energy constructs around the place. I do like that the constructs are a mix of old time JSAers like the Al Pratt Atom as well as JSA villains.

During the battle, Dick finally realizes that he's Batman and that mindless brawling isn't going to work. He needs to use strategy. He is Batman after all. I suppose it makes sense that Dick is going to have some growing pains in the role of the Dark Knight. That said, he led the Titans forever and had no difficulties leading that team into battle formations then. As a result I am a bit torn in my feelings about that moment.

One thing I am not torn about is the continued use of multiple images to show Jesse Quick's speed. That is phenomenal.

Batman does indeed figure out how to defeat the Obsidian/Jade being. After being taken down by Mr. America's whip (really?!) and some bat-bombs to the face, Dr. Fate shows up and blasts her/him.

But before the JLA/JSA can take a breath, Alan Scott shows up saying he wants to play.

So we are a mere 22 pages away from the ending here. I have a lot of questions and hope that most of them will be answered. I suppose the chaotic nature of the Starheart might mean that much of what is happening is random and cannot be explained. That said, I am really hoping that the 'why's' of this story are addressed. I usually expect some underlying answers to a story like this to be answered in the second to last chapter. We still have a climactic battle to come ... so some explanation usually happens before that.

And since there aren't many answers here, most of the issue is just action, punches being thrown and verbal barbs being exchanged. There wasn't much movement forward from part 3 to part 4. It's not to say I haven't been enjoying this story. I have. I just am really hopeful that I get a decent payoff here.

Overall grade: B