Rapid Reviews - 9 November 2005 - Part I

DMZ #1: "On the Ground Part 1": I picked this up because it's Brian Wood. I've enjoyed a lot of Wood's work so far, so I figured there was a chance of me enjoying this. And, while it's not really the flavor of story I'm keen on, I did enjoy this issue. I'm not entirely sure I'll pick up the next issue, but it's certainly off to a good start. If you enjoy gritty survival stories set in familiar places, this might be the book you are looking for.

Star Wars: Empire #37: "The Wrong Side of the War: Part 2": While an Imperial soldier continues to question his actions, Rebels infiltrate the base he's at. I'm curious now as to how this one will turn out. The Imperial is being set up as a good person who is part of a bad situation and isn't sure how he got there or what, if anything, he should do about it. Add in the nice espionage subplot, and this book is actually pretty interesting.

Action Comics #833: "Depths": Hmmm, I'm pretty sure this is a sequel to a JLA story. I'm finding Byrne's artwork less and less attractive, although his storytelling is superb and I wish more artists had his grasp of how to show the story. But the art itself bothers me for some reason. If I knew what the problem was, I'd pinpoint it for you, but right now it's just a vague irritation with it. The story is ok, but the art is distracting me from it.

JLA #122: "OMAC Nation": The mysterious bad guy from the last couple of issues, who is getting more and more annoying the longer he goes on as a subplot, discovers something about the OMACs, and there's a big fight. Aquaman seems to be taking the role of leader in this new not-quite-a-league league, but he's not had good results when leading the league before, so I hope this isn't turned into yet another Aqua-failure. The final cliffhanger is a bit uninspiring, as well. It's just ok.