Week Twenty-Three

Twenty-three is a good number. Michael Jordan used to wear it on his jersey, and now we’ve got Lebron James flying the banner high in the sky. My first ATM pin number was “2323.” I like the number quite a bit; however, I hated this issue. It’s the first issue of “52” that I can say that about. I absolutely, positively hated it. I don’t even feel like reviewing it after it left that awful, awful taste in my mouth, but I will anyway.

I don’t know who Drew Johnson is, but I’m a better artist than he is. If you’re fortunate enough to have ever seen anything I’ve drawn, you’d understand how much of an insult this is. I suck, big time, but this guy goes to an entirely new, undiscovered plateau of suckitude. Maybe it’s the fact that the rest of the series so far has been so uniformly enjoyable that makes this issue stick out so much, but, one thing is for sure, and that is that the art in issue twenty-three is very, very bad. This is non-negotiable.

Let’s talk about what actually happens, though. William Magnus is delivered by the giant robot from last issue to the Island of Doctor Morrow, where all the “kidnapped” mad scientists are hanging out and creating new stuffs. Lots of robots, lots of nerds, and lots of hot babes. Wait, hot babes? Yeah, they must be robots, too. What’re they doing? We don’t know, and I don’t really care. Next, we catch up with Montoya, the Question, Black Adam, and Isis. They break up an Intergang cult meeting and rescue Isis’ little brother. He’s nearly dead, but Black Adam implores the chap to say his name. Upon saying the name of Black Adam, the kid is reborn as Osiris, but he may as well be called Black Adam Jr. Together, the Marvel family heads off to China at the close of the issue (on a really poor splash page–have I mentioned the art looks like a third-graders’ doodles?).

I don’t really have any complaints about the issue besides the art and the island. I mean, we’ve been led to believe that all of these mad scientists are being kidnapped for evil purposes, and that it’s all part of a bigger, nastier scheme; the truth is, though, that they’re just kickin’ back and playing with their toys on an island. Kinda lame, if’n ya ask me. Oh, and the art is bad, bad, bad.

I hope they fix that by next week.

See ya in seven.