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Review Date: 08/15/2008
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Action #867
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Gary Frank & Jon Sibal
Cover by Frank
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This is the comic line that began it all,
of course, way back in 1939 with the debut of Superman.
It's still considered the flagship of the D.C. line,
with D.C. honoring the title's heritage by preserved
the numbering continuity all the way through the current
issue #867. I'm giving away my age by recalling
how back in junior high we were all excited with the
issuance of Action #400! I can't wait to see issue
#1000 hit the store shelves about 11 years from now,
a numbering milestone first in the history of comics.
Issue #867 is part 2 of a multi-issue
story arc entitled Brainiac-HIde and Seek. Highly-respected
writer Geoff Johns has been plotting Action Comics for
about a year now, with Gary Frank pencilling and Jon
Sibal inking. This creative team definitely has
their act together, if issue #867 is an indication.
Superman and his cousin Supergirl
(Kara Zor-El) are currently co-starring in Action.
It's an excellent team-up, with Johns writing some very
believable, natural human dialogue between the pair,
as in this issue they advance a multi-issue storyline
of taking on long-time Superman Family nemesis Brainiac.
Credit has to be given to Geoff
Johns for putting a very fresh spin on the often-repeated
Brainiac-Superman conflict. This issue is mostly
a set-up for the rest of the story arc, with Superman
and Supergirl searching for Brainiac all the while recounting
his evil past deeds. The creative spin to this
plot is that Superman and Supergirl actually have
no idea that Brainiac shrunk and stole the famous Kryptonian
city of Kandor. It's intriguing listening to Kara
Zor-El tell her cousin of the "famous Kryptonian story"
of how Brainiac once made the city disappear, but no
one's sure what exactly happened to it.
I think it's going to be a
lot of fun seeing the pair obviously discover the truth
to the Kandor mystery as this story arc unfolds over
the next few issues, and they meet their fellow Kryptonians
in the famed Bottle of Kandor. The art is also
great in this series, so an all-around strong recommendation
to check-out the current stroy line in this classic
D.C. title. |
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Army@Love
Second Season #1
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D.C.'s Vertigo Line comic Army
@ Love had an initial 12-issue run in the past year;
after a few months hiatus, its back with the 13th issue
listed as "Second Season Issue #1." And that's
a very accurate way for Vertigo to approach this series,
as more than any comic book out there right now, reading
this comic feels like watching an HBO or Showtime t.v.
series. This is definitely not your father's war
comic!
The comic is an incredibly
wild and wacky take on the ongoing Iraq and Afganistan
wars. The continuing storyline is set "a few years
fron now" in the fictional country of Afbaghistan, as the
U.S. has outsourced the war to private corporate America.
It's a wild soap opera of a comic full of pop media
references, sexual intrigue and very accurate satire
on our current foreign policy and general political
climate in America.
The creative team behind this
comic is Rick Veitch as writer, with inks by Gary Erskine
and color by Brian Miller. There's been a lot
of media accolades given to Veitch in the past year
for the strong vein of dark humor that he mixes into
every issue of Army@Love,
and its well-deserved. He also very skillfully
weaves together multiple sub-plots, ranging from such
extremes as the war setting itself, Yeti territory in
the Himalayas and suburban life in Edgefield, New Jersey,
of all places. The key here is that it all works,
and you really want to come back for more of this roller
coaster media blitz of a ride in each and every issue.
Just a reminder, this is a
Vertigo Line comic for mature readers only, not suitable
for the kids. But I'm convinced that the entire
comic series is really a visual set of t.v. scripts
for a cable series on this title, so everyone will most
likely see this on the small screen at some point in
the future. |
Contest Winner!
Last week we opened our contest seeking your
suggestions for who should be cast as Wonder Woman
and Wonder Girl in the possible upcoming movie. And
the winner is...(drumroll please)...Dan MacInnes with his
suggestion of casting Evangeline Lilly from Lost as Wonder
Woman and Amanda Bynes as Wonder Girl. Great suggestions,
Dan, you win from the good folks at That's Entertainment
a Wonder Woman graphic novel.
Check-out my next column for another
contest. Keep those e-mails coming to Gordon_A@msn.com.
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