A belated Doomino Effect for the past two weeks

Well, a lot has changed since I last did one of these here Doomino Effects. I got hitched, Doom DeLuise passed the Countdown review over to Jean-Claude Van Doom, Jean-Claude Van Doom decided to move and spend less time on comics, Doom DeLuise resumed his position as the weekly Countdown reviewer, and I came back from my honeymoon and bought two weeks’ worth of comics. I’m not sure what came out which week, and I don’t care, and by the end of this review, neither will you! So let’s get going!

Speaking of getting going, Justice Society of America #7 attempts to move the series along after the conclusion of the rather stupid Lightning Saga. I kind of enjoy these stories about characters that nobody really cares about, because to me, that’s kind of always what the JSA has been about. It’s like “Hey, here are some old characters and new characters based on old characters that used to be important, except you wouldn’t know if they actually were important or if we’re just making them up.” Either way, I don’t really care. That’s just been the charm of the series for me since the beginning.

I’ve always found Dale Eaglesham’s art to be rather stiff and fluid at the same time. He has these nicely flowing lines wrapped around awkwardly wooden poses and expressions, like painting a pretty seascape on a concrete wall. It works for this series, because it manages to reflect an older, classic style while also having enough modernity to it to not seem deliberately retro. But speaking of not getting going, I see that this Alex Ross painting of Citizen Steel has been de-bona fide, presumably by someone in editorial. Or maybe he just got out of the pool. No wait! I know what happened! He peeked at the cover for Justice Society #8!

And speaking of glorifications of the male reproductive organ, that leads me to Madman Atomic Comics #3, perhaps one of the most meaningless masturbatory comic books I have ever read. First, the good: I’ve always loved Madman and Mike Allred. Mike Allred has always been one to humbly honor and respect other great comics creators. This is a tribute to some great artists of the past and present. Now, the bad: Other than the first two issues of MAC, has Mike Allred done anything in the past few years that wasn’t just a celebration of himself and his influences? This issue should not have been an issue of a series. It existed entirely to draw in other people’s styles. The story-sponge was squeezed dry by about page 3, and the whole rest of the issue was blatantly “Keep talking in circumlocutory psychobabble so I can fit more artists in! Oh wait, I’m almost out of pages! I’d better make the panels smaller!”

Maybe this was fun for Allred. Maybe it was neat for other creators to see themselves honored in this way. But this was tedious hell for the reader. I can’t believe I’m seriously about to drop the new Madman series. Madman and Mike Allred have been two of the most exciting things about comics for me since the very beginning of my comics reading experience. I would loan non-comics fans “The Oddity Odyssey” and pick up used copies to give away because I thought it was so fantastic. I wouldn’t let a non-comics reader anywhere near these. I don’t think I’d even loan these to a comics reader. I want them to trust my recommendations!

Speaking of books I wouldn’t recommend, that leads me to Countdown #43 and #42 (I’ll hit both at once). I’ve got my early vote for biggest surprise of 2007: that the weekly-follow up to 52 would be simultaneously written by Paul Dini and it would suck really bad! That Bart funeral was just awful. Talk about taking the speedy wind out of his heroic sails…they try to build him up before his death, and then the majority of this issue was like “Oh yeah, here’s why we all hated him and didn’t buy his comic!” And what is the deal with the Monitor? He’s getting pushed around by Jason Todd and Donna Troy. I realize that Donna is powerful and whatnot, but can’t a Monitor just be like “You know what, I’m not going to argue with some kid who used to run around in teenie greenies. I’m a monitor, and we’re going to find the Atom!” No, instead we get this stupid argument like one of the 52 guardians of the multiverse is no more than Jimmy Olsen or something.

And then in 42, we get more of the “Is Mary Marvel wearing underwear under her little skirt or isn’t she?” mystery, which at this point, is so consistent in its representation across different artistic teams that I’m convinced it’s written into the script. This book has just gotten stupid, but there’s been no shortage of elaboration on that topic on this site, so I’ll move along.

Speaking of books by Paul Dini, that leads me to Detective #834. Batman and Zatanna survive being trapped in an electric chair and being shot in the throat (respectively) by breaking out of the chair and casting a spell to heal the throat (respectively)!! Who saw that one coming? At least Zatanna put on her fishnets for Batman this time.

But speaking of books that keep getting stupider even though they’re written by people who are supposed to be good, that leads me to Wolverine #54. Let me give you a sentence: “Wolverine has a sequence of flashbacks which involve fights and it leaves him confused.” Am I talking about Wolverine #50, Wolverine #51, Wolverine #52, Wolverine #53 or Wolverine #54?

And speaking of flashbacks, that leads me to Superman Confidential #5. I will say this much: this book has been more entertaining than not, so I don’t regret continuing to purchase it. But I will also say this: The story carries itself as if we’re getting another “Daredevil: Yellow” or “Batman: The Long Halloween,” like it’s some kind of timeless epic. Except it’s moving so slowly and it’s at times so cute and so poignant that it’s almost become a parody of the Loeb / Sale genre. I realize this is written by Darwyn Cooke and that Jeof Loeb has gone off to write jibberish like Wolverine (can you imagine that series illustrated by Tim Sale???), but the creation and emulation of Loeb and Sale’s own genre still exists. And anyway, there’s some sentient power within the kryptonite, and Tim Sale really doesn’t know the difference between Lex Luthor and the Kingpin.

But speaking of Superman, that leads me to Superman #664. Superman fights a secret military group called Squad K who are designed to take him down. He also hunts down the pie thrower and convinces the Justice League he’s not under control anymore. Oh, and Carlos Pacheco continues to give Lois Lane that bizarre haircut that makes it look like she’s wearing some strange black skullcap with an unfastened chinstrap. Next!

Speaking of Superman again, that leads me to Action Comics #851, the return of the Johns / Donner / Kubert story! This could be a reprint of Madman Atomic Comics #3 and it would be better than that disastrous Fabian Nicieza fill-in! But it’s even better than that! It’s yet another appearance of Mon-El in another book! This guy has become like the Wolverine of 2007 – all of a sudden he’s popping up everywhere! Of course, it does make sense for him to appear here, since Superman is in the phantom zone. What doesn’t really make sense, however, is that you can just build ships and fly out of the phantom zone. That seems to somewhat defeat the purpose of having a phantom zone. But oh well, they “explained” it.

And speaking of explanations, that leads me to Green Arrow: Year One #1. It’s the origin of Green Arrow! I guess I didn’t realize that his origin was secret, but I also didn’t ever care enough to know how much of this is based on previous story and how much is Andy Diggle’s creation. I think Andy Diggle is the guy who wrote the first art in Batman Confidential. It was awful. I dropped it after the first issue even though I was really excited about Whilce Portacio’s return to “monthly” comics. Anyway, the art is by someone called Jock, and on the cover, where they list the creators, it says “Diggle Jock.” I’m not sure why but that just seems dirty. I don’t know if my mind is glancing past and seeing “Dick” or “Jiggle Cock” or what, but it’s triggering my Catholic guilt and I don’t know why.

Speaking of green people, that leads me to Green Lantern #21, the next chapter in the Sinestro Corps War! I’m not sure which chapter, though, because the cover says it’s part 2 and the inside says it’s part 1. Decent progression of the story and everything. I’m still way pumped. Ivan Reis is one of the most spectacular artists working today. I was first exposed to his art in the Rann-Thanagar miniseries, and I’m so glad he’s on Green Lantern. His physiology is dead on, no matter what kind of creature he’s drawing (and it’s believable for creatures that don’t actually exist, since it obviously couldn’t be accurate). Yeah, the ladies all have supermodel bodies and big boobs, but they’re at least in a realistic supermodel / big boob proportion, unlike many comic artists who insist on supermodel bodies and big boobs who draw distractingly unrealistic humans (see: Michael Turner).

My favorite thing about his art, though, is the intricate hatching he uses. You see how fine it is and you can almost feel the nib scratching on the paper. And it’s perfectly restrained, only showing up where it needs to, unlike the early 90s, when artists would put cross-hatching on the sun if they could.

And speaking of a good use of cross-hatching, that leads me to Sub-Mariner #2. When this was our book of doom, I praised artist Phil Briones in how he reminded me of a post-Image Barry Windsor-Smith. The art is still great in this series (though his Wolverine splash page wasn’t as impressive as the Venom one), but I wasn’t as impressed with how the story progressed. Issue 1 got me hooked, but this one seemed to tread water, no sub-marining pun intended. I don’t know, maybe I’m being a little too hard on it, because there was some plot advancement. I do think I was soured a bit by the teases of Venom and Wolverine interfering. That’s just such a 1992 trick. But I’m going to keep reading.

And finally, speaking of keep reading, which hopefully you all have done, I can’t praise New Avengers enough. I picked up #32 in this batch o’ comics, and I can now say with all confidence that this is my favorite comic going. It happened with Civil War, when this title became a series of solo stories behind the war, and then after the war, when this became the book of the underground renegades. It’s just got such a blast of fun, intrigue, action, drama, whatever else, and awesome art by Leinil Yu. I just ripped on Sub-Mariner #2 for what seemed like nothing in terms of plot advancement, and one could very easily lob the same accusation this way. The whole thing takes place inside of a plane flying back from Japan. But the way the dialogue and interaction between the characters advances the implications of the discovery that Elektra is a Skrull is fantastic and has got me more excited for Marvel comics than I have been in quite a while.

Marvel appears to be doing what DC had mastered for so long, in terms of the creation of the multiverse and the lead-in to Infinite Crisis: they took editorial decisions and continuity problems of the past and integrated them creatively into a story. They’re not only setting up to hide weaknesses – it looks like they’re going to transform weaknesses into a strong backdrop for the impending Skrull invasion story.

Wolverine’s monologue midway through the story sums it up perfectly. So well that I’m even going to type it all up!

“…No one is talking because no one on this plane is completely sure that everyone on this plane is exactly who they say they are. (CAGE: Including you.) Including me. Sure. But let’s look around the plane, shall we?

“Well, we have Clint Barton – Hawkeye – back fro the dead and all dolled up as the ninja of the 21st century…where you been the last few months? Don’t feel like sharing? Dead, alive, dead, alive. And here you are, no bow and arrow…and with us instead of your old Avengers friends. Well, that’s not suspicious at all.

“And Jessica Drew, the woman of a thousand allegiances. Who’d your daddy work for? Where were you before the New Avengers got together? S.H.I.E.L.D.? Hydra? Hey, where’s Nick Fury, Jess?

“Echo. Kingpin’s assassin is now, all of a sudden, the scourge of the underworld. The only two people that vouched for you were Captain America, but he’s dead, and Matt Murdock, and he’s…wherever he is.

“And why is Captain America dead? Because all the super heroes in the world have spent the summer beating the crap out of each other. And let me ask you, Peter Parker – the man who spent every single second of his adult life trying to protect his identity as Spider-Man from the world – who just went and told the world he was Spider-Man and escalated the war – hey Pete, who benefited the most by you doing that?

“And Luke Cage…who used to be a satin-shirt, metal-tiara wearing hero for hire…but now went and turned himself into a husband and father and leader of a super-team that years ago he wouldn’t be found dead on. And now he rarely speaks to his so-called ex-partner Iron Fist, who all of a sudden has a plane. (IRON FIST: I didn’t all of a sudden get a plane.)

“And Doctor Strange, nothing suspicious about you…master of the mystic arts. Where were you during the Civil War? (STRANGE: And where were you?)

“Exactly! And then there’s me! Who is everywhere at once and all of a sudden knows exactly who he is.”

Beyond that, it’s just a great monthly comic.