CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTH #11 FACSIMILE EDITION
We’ve returned to that “What the hell did we do?!” moment in the Crisis saga. The multiverse is gone and only one remains (at least that’s what we were lead to believe). And Marv Wolfman, George Perez, and Jerry Ordway deliver gut punch after gut punch as we discover what was lost when the universes combined. They also gave George Perez another opportunity to spotlight how many obscure characters he could squeeze into a comic panel. Whether it was at the Daily Planet, or on the Time Bubble, or at Titans Tower, the cameos were overwhelming. Angel O’Day and Sam Simeon, Dolphin, the Atomic Knight, Phantom Lady, Peacemaker, Anthro, Viking Prince, Tomahawk, Bat Lash, etc, etc. This one set up what the new DC Universe was going to be moving forward but there was one final battle with the Anti-Monitor to deal with. A reminder of what a talented creative team could do back in the day. the only unfortunate thing is that it showed corporate DC a new way to tell stories that sell comics. And comic readers would never get the simple wholesome tales we were used to. Ah well. 10 out of 10 Grahams.
CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #3 DC COMICS
It’s Prof’s turn in the hot seat as the Atom Project joins him on a trip to Dinosaur Island. And what a trip it is! Anthro and Embra cameos. A new yet confusing piece of information as we are introduced to the Optimum! And just as we think, we may have discovered what is going on, the Optimum goes sideways and meets the only issue with Ray Palmer’s White Dwarf Star experiment. Nice touch having Swamp Thing create a impenetrable barrier around the island to keep folks away. If writer Christopher Cantwell’s plan was to keep us second guessing everything (no matter how annoying that is) he’s succeeding. One moment, you are sure that something funky is up with the Challengers. The next it seems like the Watchtower heroes are the villains. Just what exactly is going on here. And while I’m glad to see ALL the Challengers back in action, the fact that this all revolves around this All In universe seems like sort of a waste of the characters overall. 7 out of 10 Grahams.
ZATANNA #1 DC COMICS
She’s back! With a new venue, a new show, some new crew, oh and a ghostly apparition of a Lady in White that wants to kill them all. And it’s a one man show as Jamal Campbell writes, draws, does not only the cover but a variant cover as well. Luckily for Letterer Ariana Maher, he didn’t have time for the letters. An interesting look as the art bounces between styles page after page. However, the story doesn’t reach out and grab you by the neck. Lots of initial action but over all a slow burn of a story. Let’s see where we go from here. Hopefully optimistic. (See what I did there … opti MYSTIC! Get it!) 8 out of 10 Grahams.
GODZILLA HEIST #1 IDW PUBLISHING
Again IDW almost got it. The story of Jai who discovered a way to use Godzilla in his criminal endeavors has some promise. I just afraid it’s not going to be enough. The science is sound and the motivations are all there but wirter Van Jensen’s tale is more about the human characters than the King of the Monsters. The easiest way to tell is by replacing Godzilla with some other natural disaster. What if Jai had found a way to make meteors crash into earth? Story still works. And I will admit that Kelsey Ramsay’s artist take on Godzilla doesn’t appeal to me. Although the cover version isn’t bad. But with a promise of Mecha-Godzilla showing up in the future, I’ll reserve my judgement overall. 6 out of 10 Grahams.
