Rapid Reviews - 25 May 2005 - Part II

JLA #114: "Enemies and Enemies and Enemies": Ooh, we get to see the Crime Syndicate Universe's version of Aquaman... Barracuda on the attack! Wahoo. My desires for that universe are now fulfilled. The rest of the story? Eh, fun. Not bad. I liked it. But hey, Barracuda, yeah!

Green Lantern #1: "Airborne": Not a perfect start to a new series, but far from the worst start. I like most of the art. I'm already bored with the story, and we haven't even met the villain yet (I don't think). Well, we'll see if this improves.

Flash #222: "Rogue War Chapter 3": I liked the last couple of issues, but now that the Flash is more involved, I'm finding it less impressive. I do want to know who the mother of the new Captain Boomerang is, but that's about the only mystery I'm intrigued by now.

Day of Vengeance #2: "Some Enchantress Evening": Wow. I really liked this issue. The magic gang figures out what is wrong and formulates a good solid plan to fix it, then as always the plan goes wrong before it can even start to be put in motion. I don't think we'll be seeing Tempest in this storyarc, but I'm really enjoying it anyway.

Barbarossa and the Lost Corsairs #2: A solid second issue, as our adventurers are sent to another world and must battle monsters. The artwork is decent, though I sometimes have a little difficulty telling some of the characters apart. The cast is a bit large as well, and that makes it difficult. But the story moves along nicely, and the mystery of just what is happening is dealt with immediately, although not completely solved. A fun little book.

The Golden Plates #2: "The Liahona and the Promised Land": When I read the Book of Mormon as a kid, I was never as interested in the sections that are covered in this volume of The Golden Plates (1 Nephi 15 through 2 Nephi 27). In particular, Second Nephi is not something that excites the imagination of a child. It also really doesn't lend itself to the comic book form. So the interesting bits of this one end, for me, less than halfway through. The rest is grindingly difficult reading that I just didn't want to go through, even with Allred's excellent artwork. I flipped through the final pages, but I didn't read most of it, which is probably not what Allred had in mind. I can't say I'd recommend this one to the casual reader.
A little more on this subject: I meant to do an in-depth review of the first issue, but I was waiting to see what my husband thought of it first. He still hasn't read it. I probably won't get around to writing the review, so please don't hold your breath waiting for it. Maybe when the series is finished I'll have something more to say about it as a whole, but I don't think I'll be saying much more than my capsule reviews for now.