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The first two books of Flash Rebirth gave me a somewhat kind introduction to some of the ideas surrounding Flash and the speed force. We have to remember when reading this that the scientific ideas contained within most comic books (especially the Flash) are a blend between real science and total fiction, weighted heavily towards the latter. So when making a work of scientific fiction such as this, writers like Geoff Johns are charged with the difficult task of not only explaining this new science to us, but also with convincing us that such a science is plausible. I have always thought that the best way to do such a thing would be to keep your audience in the dark in terms of the science and just let them assume it’s possible.

Johns is going about it a totally different way. He assumes that if he gets really technical with everything and lets us see the phony science, we will think it to be so complex that we may as well just be in the dark. Now I am sure there are more than a few Flash fans out there with some real scientific know-how that could either confirm or disprove my theory that Flash authors kind of just make things up and let us use our own super power, suspension of belief, to do the rest. Now that’s normally fine with me, but issue three here actually went so far as to contain an equation that explained the relationship between speed, time, and Barry Allen. Come on, Geoff.

So why did I just spend two whole paragraphs rambling about bogus science? Because it did take away from the issue for me a little bit. At this point in the Rebirth event, it’s time to move beyond technicalities and into some plot directions or action or something. Sure, the story is inching forward (definitely not tapping into the speed force), but it’s starting to feel like the overworked Geoff Johns is stalling.

Don’t think that I hated this issue, though. I really did enjoy the snippets of real plot and the art throughout. I have read a few reviews claiming that Van Sciver’s art is starting to look inconsistant from page to page, but so far I think that each frame presents art of superior quality that doesn’t let up up for a second. The writing of the issue isn’t totally pointless. If my experiences with DC writers lately has taught me anything, it is that boring issues are necessary to facilitate some really exciting ones.

Geoff Johns has recently done some brilliantly exciting work with his Green Lantern run, Agent Orange. But it isn’t fair to compare the two. Johns has tons of momentum from previous Green Lantern stories in order to build up to what he has now. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen Barry Allen in a while; so I think he has done a great job thus far with bringing a practically new character to life, building a brand new momentum, and hopefully bringing it into an exciting climax within the next few months.

(3.5/5)

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Solomon Grundy 1 was one of the first comics that I reviewed on the site, and since then I have more or less ignored the title. It was still on my pull list throughout the past months and I have been reading it, but it unfortunately fell along the wayside as the events of Battle for the Cowl and the Blackest Night preludes unfolded. So once again, I am shamelessly combining my reviews of the second, third, and fourth issues of Solomon Grundy.

In its own right, Solomon Grundy is just as much of a prelude to Blackest Night as any Green Lantern title, in that the events that unfold here will do so and conclude before Blackest Night is in full swing. The premise is that the tragic villain must learn the details of his own murder, find his killer, and forgive him or her before the dusk of the Blackest Night. Being a dead man, Solomon might not fare well when the Black Lanterns start recruiting.

As far as I know, Solomon Grundy has always been a second tier villain in the DC Universe. He’s the type of villain that I like to see as part of a team, but would probably never constitute a large enough threat to any major hero to worry me too much. In the Solomon Grundy series, we see him as that major threat, but also as several other things. We see that he was murdered in the nineteenth century and that his place of burial was cursed by the blood of a demon felled several ages ago. For the most part, he is probably quite misunderstood by the heroes of the DCU in that he most likely has no evil intentions in any of his actions. Better yet, he doesn’t seem to have much of any intention in anything that he does. Up until this series, his modus operandi has been to steer clear of society and live (kinda) a solitary “life”.

Now Grundy has been given the opportunity to finally die and stay dead. I suppose that someone who has apparently died and resurrected on a weekly basis for longer than a century might find the thought of staying dead pretty alluring. Unfortunately, such a permanent slumber isn’t going to come easily.

By only the second issue, our Solomon Grundy finds himself in both an explosive and ironic battle with Bizarro (he just wants to be friends!). I have to say, once I saw that cover I was hooked on this Solomon Grundy for the long haul. A battle between two of the most brutal yet sweetest villains in the DCU just can’t be anything other than pure fun, which it absolutely was.
With the next issue, the great Scott Kollins gave us Grundy versus Poison Ivy. So far, I think this third issue is the weakest of the bunch, but it was still great and provided several important plot points to move the story along.

Lastly (so far, at least) there is Grundy versus Alan Scott as Green Lantern. This one was probably the most enjoyable read in the series thus far for me. In that situation, it was hard for me to decide who to root for. Scott Kollins really does some great work exploring the grey areas of humanity as far as which violent actions we can morally justify and where we draw the line with someone we wish to think of as a hero (at least in the context of this miniseries).

Speaking of Scott Kollins, wow! It is difficult to believe that he is pulling all of this off on his own for the most part. The colorist, Michael Atiyeh, really does some amazing work. He and Kollins really make the art entrancing. On top of the writing and pencil work, Kollins is also creating the magnificent covers. Bravo!

If you have the extra bucks, you should really consider this series in your next trip to the comic shop. When I say it could be thought of as a prelude to Blackest night, I am not saying that I believe the information is going to be essential when the event rolls around, but I do think this series is a good look at how it can effect some of the other characters in the DCU that won’t be playing major roles in the latter half of this summer.

(4/5)

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Most of the characters and ideas presented in Final Crisis were completely new to me, but of few of them weren’t. I had barely met the Tattooed Man in some of the other stuff I was reading when he was brought to us in Submit, a Final Crisis one-shot starring Black Lightning. In Submit, Black Lightning help the Tattooed Man and his family excape the clutches of the zombie-esque mob inflicted with the anti-life virus. Along the way, the Tattooed man realizes some of the better points of heroics over villainy and helps the Justice League by tattooing vital schematics onto his body. But all of this has passed.

In Ink we get a reformed Tattooed Man who has developed a knack for stopping criminals rather than acting as one. The problem is that money is getting tight, and his son may not have taken all that his father did from Black Lightning. To top it all off, someone else is now running around Liberty Hill and killing innocents in the same way that our new hero used to do. Now Mark Richards is going to have to save his son from gang life, pay the bills, and clear his name before he loses hope and returns to a life of crime.

This first issue adds up to all of that, basically an introduction into what Mr. Richards will be going through throughout the next five months. Eric Wallace writes the story well. He merges typical comic book plot with real world issues like inner city violence and social inequalities. One thing I would have liked more would be if he made Chief of Police Halstead a normal guy who distrusts a former criminal rather than douchebag cop who thinks to highly of his own authority. I think the political themes running throughout the issue would have been much more intense that way.

The artist/colorist teamup here (Fabrizio Fiorentino and Michael Dimotta) is nothing short of fantastic. Picture a tattoo coming to life. Chances are you imagined exactly what these two men were able to accomplish on the page. Everything is very dark and moody until those tattoos come to life and explode the pages into colorful glowing brilliance. I can’t imagine this done any other way!

Overall, this is my second favorite title (below Dance) so far in the Final Crisis Aftermath quartet. Origionally, I had planned to only buy Run; but I am glad that I decided to go with Ink and Dance. Escape still has something to prove in my opinion. Ink is one of many representatives of my favorite type of comic book. Firstly, a comic book should be created because it can do things and go places that no other form of media can accomplish. Check! Secondly, it should at least attempt to say something of value about the real world. Check! Lastly, it needs to have a kick-ass story. Check! Pick this one up, folks.

(4/5)

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FCA Dance is one of those rare comic books that is both annoying and ingenious at the same time. As I read through it, I couldn’t believe that the author would introduce the main characters with a close-up shot of an iphone or have the narration dictated to the reader through twitter posts. Lame, right? Then I took a good long look at my own iphone and realized that the majority of readers who have found my website have done so through twitter. Everything clicked!

The protagonists of this story are the members of the Super Young Team which consists of Most Excellent Superbat, Big Atomic Lantern Boy, Shiny Happy Aquazon, Shy Crazy Lolita Canary, and Well-Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash. These have to be the dumbest names I have ever seen in my relatively short experience with comic books, but I’m pretty sure that’s the point. The Super Young Team was probably the most annoying part of Final Crisis for me, but I can be honest. I didn’t get it then, and I’m only starting to get it now.

Writer Joe Casey is taking over the writing of the SYT for Grant Morrison who created the characters during 52. In Dance we see the characters enter their new satellite headquarters which is commercially funded by a group of investors that we have yet to really learn about. As they get a tour of their new base of operations, their sleazy publicist tells them all about the preplanned party that is to take place in the latter half of the issue. The party is attended by celebrities that attained their status through no virtue of their own; celebrities like Paris Hilton or Kevin Federline.

Think of what the issue contains: iphones, Twitter, dumb celebrities, emo crushes, Japanese cultural influences, fortune and glory without hard work, thick layers of advertising, product placement style of promotion, and plenty more. These definitely do not describe everything about me personally, but these are the marks of our generation. It’s hard to say whether or not a work of art accurately displays a culture until we give it about a decade or so and go over it again with the benefit of hindsight. I think, I am going to read this series in the future and remember what it was like to live in 2009.

The art is alright. I think penciler Chriscross was a good choice for this series. It seems as though he is pretty good at displaying motion within a single frame; which is absolutely essential for displaying a fast-paced culture like our own.

Again, half of the things about this comic annoy me, but half of the things about the culture of my generation annoy me as well. I can’t really get mad at Joe Casey for calling them how he sees them. I will definitely go back and read Final Crisis again once the revelations of this storyline are exposed.

(4/5)

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I’m going to be honest and say that I really don’t know too much about Wonder Woman, the Metahuman Affairs Unit, Amanda Waller, Tom Tresser, or anyone else that fits into that group. That being said, Escape 1 was very confusing for me. But even if you know what’s going on with all of that, you will probably still find yourself scratching your head a bit while flipping through the psychedelic pages of this issue.

We begin with agent Tom Tresser awakening in a dreamy world with seemingly robotic women serving him his favorite breakfast. Luckily Tresser lives in the idealistic comic book world in which people start asking the questions before they start enjoying the omelets. Upon further investigation, Tresser learns that he is not in a room at all. He’s in the twisted inner workings of someone’s imagination.

As tresser learn more about the levels of imprisonment that he is trapped in, we understand less. Wonder Woman is a disassembled piece of equipment, words in the narration become replaced with [word deleted] or [name deleted], and Omacs seem to be the only ones who know what is going on.

Clearly, this series is going to be unforgiving to people like me; those who aren’t acquainted to the DCU in its entirety, those who tend to lean towards Batman or Green Lantern, or those who like their mysteries served straight up. I don’t like wondering what I am supposed to be wondering, but that’s the feeling I get when I read Escape. Unfortunately, such a feeling prevents me from getting emotionally attached to the characters involved, and I find myself not really caring if Tom Tresser escapes or not.

The art in the book is a bit disappointing as well. The cover has an impressionist style to it that complements the euphoric undertones of the story; however the art on the pages utilizes a more tie-dye look to try to convey Tresser’s funny feeling. It doesn’t quite work.

The only reason I am reading this series is to try to keep up with what is going on with the DC Universe and learn about characters that are new to me. If you don’t really care about any of the characters mentioned above, then there is no real reason for you to read this issue. If you do, maybe you will like it more than I did.

(2.5/5)

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