|
|
|
|
Review Date: 09/05/2008
|
Green
Arrow & Black Canary #11
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Mike Norton and Wayne Faucher
Cover by Cliff Chiang
Size: 32 Pages
Price: $2.99
|
After reviewing a sub-par issue of Justice League last
week, I was hoping that a read of this comic starring
two Justice Leaguers would be an improvement, and it
certainly didn't disappoint. Issue #11 is part
three of an ongoing story arc entitled "A League
Of Their Own," written by Judd Winick, penciled by Mike
Norton and inked by Wayne Faucher.
The story centers on Green
Arrow and Black Canary taking on perennial bad guy Ra's
Al Ghul's League of Assassins, while at the same time trying
to find and rescue Green Arrow's kidnapped son, Connor.
Batman and Plastic Man join the superhero duo in this
installment of the story arc, with Batman proving early
on that the League is being manipulated by a Ra's impersonator.
This leads to a reluctant and interesting alliance between
the four good guys and the League of Assassins to solve
the mystery of the impersonator's identity and motivation.
There's a very well-plotted
middle to this issue, serving as a flashback to how
and why a certain League member joined the assassin's
group in the first place, and the issue concludes with
a nice surprise clue as a bridge to the next issue,
as the search for both the Ra's imposter and Green Arrow's
missing son continues.
Judd Winick has hit a nice
stride in writing this title. The dialogue, action
and sense of mystery is all mixed together very nicely,
and it was all paced so well from page-to-page that
I didn't want it to end. It made me want to check-out
the two previous story arc issues and also see how things
proceed in issue #12.
I also enjoyed Norton and Faucher's
artwork very much. While most D.C. comic art right
now is excellent (at least in the books that I've been
reading), it's all very detailed as the artists strive
for a high degree of realism. This team's artistic
style is very conventional, more toward the style of
superhero t.v. series animation. It's a nice traditional
comic book change of pace, and it feels more relaxed
and enjoyable than a lot of the other ongoing comic's
artistic styling.
So all in all, with a
mix of very entertaining storytelling and enjoyable
old school artwork, along with an interesting mystery
to keep the pages turning, this comic's both a thumb's-up
and a just plain fun read. |
|
Daredevil
#110
COVER
BY:
MARKO DJURDJEVIC
WRITERS:
GREG RUCKA AND ED BRUBAKER
PENCILS:
MICHAEL LARKMICHAEL LARK
INKS:
STEFANO GAUDIANO
COLORED
BY: MATT HOLLINGSWORTH
LETTERED
BY: CHRIS ELIOPOULOS
|
Daredevil #110 is the concluding
story in a multi-issue storyline entitled "Cruel &
Unusual." Its written by Eisner Award-winner Ed
Brubaker along with Greg Rucka, and drawn by Michael
Lark and Stefano Gaudiano. Brubaker's been getting
a lot of attention with his current scripting run of
Daredevil, and issue #110 confirms that its well-deserved.
Page one includes a six-paragraph narrative of the story
to-date, a detailed tale of blind lawyer Matt Murdock,
a.k.a. Dardevil, trying to exonerate a death row convict
who insists ontaking the fall for a murder he didn't
commit.
The written story is superb,
portraying involvement in the plot among federal security
agencies, various crime figures and the well-established cast
of Matt Murdock's friends and foes. Brubaker and
Rucka are adept at weaving back and forth between Murdock
dealing with his personal life struggles and the bigger
superhero picture. I really enjoyed how quite
often they scripted Murdock as solving the major storyline
mysteries in his civilian role, then donning the Daredevil
costume just to wrap things up. It makes for a
much more complex and reality-based story and character.
Few writers can top Brubaker with his ability demonstrated
in this issue of leading a very complex story to a complete
and satisfying conclusion.
I also have to give the writers
grateful credit for their page one narrative that catches-up
the reader to the previous story issues. I've
previously complained in some of these reviews that
its often very difficult to pick-up a multi-issue storyline
after the first issue. Finally, a writing team
that takes a moment right up-front to get the reader
caught-up and into the action of the current issue!
I hope more writers follow their lead.
While issue #110 is excellent,
something very special is heading your way starting
in the upcoming issue #111, with the teaming of Brubaker
with guest artist Clay Mann for a new storyline starring
the introduction of Lady Bullseye. Marvel is heavily
marketing this run, including a three-page preview at
the end of the Daredevil Saga hand-out currently available
at That's Entertainment. The art and story preview
look pretty special, so I'd recommend not missing-out
on this upcoming story.
|
Contest
Winner Announcement!
The latest contest, asking you to pitch the generally popular
superhero that you personally could easily do without, generated
some very interesting responses.
Ken Carson made a well-put, logical
case for The Eternals, stating that they're pale copies
of the Marvel Universe gods already existing, and that to
him, these old Kirby creations don't seem to warrant
the amount of attention that Marvel seems to be putting
into promoting them at the moment.
Mike Dooley made an interesting
case for Green Lantern, e-mailing that his all-powerful,
all-purpose power ring is too convenient for solving every
situation, thereby making him too contrived and cartoonish.
Besides, Mike writes, he only has one ring, while Tom Brady
has three! So there! In your face, Green Lantern!
I asked you to go out on a limb
and take a real chance on your pick, and Stu (no last name)
went farther out on that limb than any of you, pitching
Superman as not worth the ink! I may not personally
agree with you, but much credit to you, Stu, for taking
me up on the challenge.
But enough already, let's get to
the judge's decision. And the winner is...Ted Van
Liew, with his submission of Marvel's character Antman as
his favorite least useful, waste-of-ink character.
Ted nominated the Bugster on the case of him being
a Marvel contrivance just to add the carbon-copy of
an Atom-like character to the Marvel Universe.
Mix the dweeby ant helmet with the cheesy dialogue
and personality often written for him and what do you get?
A guy who socializes with bugs but can still only lift his
own weight!
Congratulations, Ted, you win a
box of chocolate ants! Just kidding, see the good
folks at That's Entertainment for your
graphic novel prize.
Thanks for all of the entries,
and stay tuned for another contest announcement coming-up
soon.
One
More Comment & Then I'll Shut-Up For The Week
Dept.
Just a quick note, whether or not you're a fan of cartoonist
Lynn Johnston's newspaper comic strip "For Better Or For
Worse," check it out for yourself regarding something groundbreaking
that the strip is starting.
Lynn has naturally aged the
Patterson family characters in her strip over more than
20-plus years, and feels that she's done all she can in
the direction that she took the strip. But instead of retiring
it, starting on Monday, September 1 she wound back
the clock and is starting all over again, with fresh strips
and all of the characters reverting to the same
age as when she started it.
I don't think any cartoonist in
the history of newspaper comics has ever put their characters
in a time machine and started it all over again decades
later, so it will be very interesting to see how this plays-out
with both fans of her strip and the comic strip industry
in general.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|