Rapid Reviews - 10 August 2005 - Part I

How about this, people. Comic book reviews on the day the comics came out! Don't expect this as a norm.

Action #830: "The Great Society": More mind control, but this time not of Superman. I guess I can live with that. This issue ties in with Villains United, as well. I think it also stands ok on its own, which I wasn't expecting. Nice action, nice little chunk of drama, and good references to what just happened. Not bad at all.

Green Arrow #53: "Family Relations": I didn't like this one much at all. From the writing to the artwork, everything was a little poor. The story itself wasn't so bad, but the execution of it just didn't work. Not impressed.

Rann/Thanagar War #4: "Deadly Harvest": Still more confusing DCU space stuff. I think this will read slightly better as a whole, but as a monthly it's completely forgettable.

Outsiders #27: "Tick Tock" part two: Was there any point whatsoever to having Batman show up in this issue? Any? For that matter, was there any sort of resolution that wouldn't have happened anyway? Was there any point to this story?

JLA #117: "Crisis of Conscience" Part three: I want to know what is happening with J'onn. The rest of the League doesn't interest me so much, but we only got the start of J'onn's problems in this one. Still, it's better than most of the superhero books I've read today.

Villains United #4: "A Weapon To Unify": Ah, things fall apart... the center cannot hold. I think I forgot the key aspect of villains. They just don't trust each other. So the storyline is clicking a little more into place for me. I didn't know about Firestorm's disappearance, except for a throwaway line in the JLA issue, so that was also a surprise. I'm still not sure what to make of this... but I'm liking it a little better than the last issue.

Shanna the She Devil #7: "The Killing Season" Chapter Seven: That's it?!????? That's all???!??!??!????? Sheesh, what a rip-off. This whole mini could've been told in two issues and been far more interesting. Then they could have given us a third issue with an actual resolution. You know, the thing that STORIES have? This was just a sad excuse for Cho to draw pretty girls and dinosaurs, and I'm really sorry I bought it.

Seven Soldiers: Zatanna #3: "Three Days of the Dead": Sir Justin's story runs smack into Zatanna's, and I couldn't be happier. At least this thing is beginning to pull together. True, it doesn't make a lot of sense right now, but it's pulling together. I have my doubts that this one will make any sense even read as one full story, by the way. Still... I'm following it well enough.

Still to review: Samurai: Heaven & Earth #4, Noble Causes #12, OZF5 Gale Force One Shot, and True Story, Swear To God #14. Also, G.I.Spy from Boom! Studios, which will hit the shelves next week and was sent to me to review for you. And... I'm still working on my Flipping Through Previews post. It'll be done soonish, I hope.