Welcome to second installment of Comics Bulletin’s reviews column devoted to DC’s Wednesday Comics series. This week's column is by Charles Webb.
As you might imagine, it's difficult to comment on weekly one-page comic strips without "spoiling" the action. However, efforts have been made to minimize the problem of giving out too much of the story. Be aware, though, that some spoilers may be embedded in the commentary.
Charles Webb: 
This week’s issue of Wednesday Comics sheds a little bit of the quality from last week. Perhaps because seven days later it’s a known commodity and the luster of innovation has worn off, or maybe it’s because many of the stories are in transition. Overall, though, I wasn’t feeling this issue as much as I did the last.
Here’s what I thought of the individual pages.
“Batman” (Azzarello & Risso): This installment ends with an odd shot that makes it unclear who’s crouched over the grieving widow. Given the precision with which the first installment was delivered, it was off-putting how “broken” the moment seems. Nonetheless, it wasn’t bad--though it lost the title of being one of the top three most impressive strips visually, but not due to lack of quality. Several other strips (like the next one) stepped up their game a bit.
“Kamandi--The Last Boy on Earth” (Gibbons & Sook): Behind Paul Pope’s “Adam Strange,” this is my favorite strip of the entire issue. Still trading in the “Prince Valiant” style, this installment introduces us to Prince Tuftan, the tiger-headed leader of the Mutant Tiger Nation. When DC’s 12-week experiment is over, I think I will miss this strip quite a bit. Anyway, the Prince and Kamandi mix it up with some feral rat men who are no match for a well-dressed Tiger and a wild boy. It’s great adventure comics.
“Superman” (Arcudi & Bermejo): The sharpest drop in quality comes with this strip, where Superman has a rooftop chat with Batman who seems to be acting like more of a jerk than usual. Visually, it’s still very nice but the voices seem wrong in this character-building installment--and the characters seem half-formed. Based on the cryptic utterance of the brawling alien from last issue, a weird and mopey Supes complains about feeling alienated from his adopted planet. Hardcore Batman tells his pal that the alien got better than he deserved, and he advises the Big Blue Boy Scout to take a “super Prozac.”
“Deadman” (Bullock & Heuck): As he attempts to intervene in what appears to be another murder in progress, Boston Brand talks a little smack to the divinity who gave him his renewed life (of sorts). The layouts in this one are still some of the best in the entire pamphlet. I especially love how the whole thing appears to be enveloped in inky blackness with the main story sort of blooming from within. The writing is sufficient to get us from the previous installment to the next--though I’ve never been a fan of enigmatic voices telling a character not to do something without providing any sort of clear reason why.
“Green Lantern” (Busiek & Quinones): Hey look, it’s Hal Jordan! This installment isn’t bad, but I really enjoyed the swinging mood of last issue. Here Hal is battling Baltic spies with jet packs bent on grabbing American nuclear secrets. There’s also an astronaut who has what looks to be a dangerous skin problem. I’m curious to see how that element will develop next week. I just wish this issue had given us more of the free wheeling fly boys of the 60s that the first issue seemed to promise. It seemed like such an interesting direction to go with the characters.
“Metamorpho” (Gaiman & Allred): This installment was more sure-footed than the last, perhaps because the relative lack of dialogue didn’t give me echoes of Madman. Here, Metamorpho and all arrive in their Arctic . . . lush paradise? Cleverly using his central panel, Allred gets his motley crew through the entrance to the Hidden Valley as they take in the geographical anomaly. There’s a second strip under the strip (what’s called a “topper” even though it’s at the bottom). This topper is meant to clue in readers to the fictional legacy of Metamorpho and other characters with the elemental powers of Ra. The joke doesn’t quite land--perhaps because there’s very little interesting going on visually in the topper with the little kids telling us why Metamorpho is so cool. Still, the main portion of the strip was enjoyable.
“Teen Titans” (Berganza & Galloway): Nope, still light on detail and the least attractive of all the strips in the collection. Worse still, we’ve got first-person narration that doesn’t even bother to carry over from the previous installment. Berganza writes a very unlikeable Tim Drake, who’s fairly petulant and whiny. This strip adds the least to the total package and, in some ways, detracts with its high-stakes, low interest tone.
“Strange Adventures” (Paul Pope): From low quality with “Teen Titans” to high art with the next installment of “Strange Adventures” wherein our lead delivers some rough justice to the invading army of blue apes from last week. I’m still not convinced all of this action is actually happening--the opening issue left it up to debate a bit. Still, this strip is beautiful to look at and provides huge action--promising some clever shenanigans on Adam Strange’s part next issue to get himself (and Rann) out of the sticky situation in which they’ve found themselves.
“Supergirl” (Palmiotti & Conner): Here’s another cute piece from Palmiotti and Conner. No disrespect intended to the regular creative team on the monthly Supergirl, but part of me wishes this pairing were in charge of the regular series. It’s light-hearted but not stupid; fun but not vapid. It’s Kara flying around trying to track down a couple of rampaging super pets, and I bet there are a few of you out there grinning at even that brief description. There are also some cute little details--like how Streaky and Krypto have their own little back-lit glossy publicity photos used by a newscaster to identify them to the television audience. Charming stuff.
“Metal Men” (Didio & Garcia-Lopez/Nowlan): I think this strip would be as good a place to start as any for someone who’s never read a Metal Men story before. This week gives us the full role call (sometimes a little awkwardly, but what can you do?). Here, Didio has them taking on the gang of bank robbers from last week--dispensing with them using heavy metal justice. What’s not working for me is Didio’s Will Magnus, whose incessant fussiness threatens to derail any of the fun the story contains. Part of it, of course, is the nature of this interpretation of the character, but I’ve enjoyed some of the other recent interpretations of Doc Magnus where he has a little more recklessness about him. It’s not bad, I just wasn’t sold on the characterization.
“Wonder Woman” (Ben Caldwell): At least this installment is less crowded. While still problematic, this strip has a little bit more room to breathe than it did last week. Reading it this week, I was reminded of Jeff Smith’s Bone in some respects–particularly with its lead who’s reluctant to accept some of the magic goings-on around her. However, given the format, I can’t say this was an especially enjoyable read. It’s too cluttered and too into itself. I was unable to get a clear read on events (save that the young Princess is in pursuit of seven Maguffins). Of course, ending again with the “it was all a dream . . . or was it?” device that also ended the strip last week makes it all feel a little flighty. However, I have to commend Caldwell on his costuming and character design--whatever faults I have with the story, I can say that his visual representations of the Amazonian Princess are some of the most interesting I’ve seen in years.
“Sgt. Rock and Easy Company” (Kubert & Kubert): This story is perhaps moving a little too slow, as we get to the beginning of the inevitable flashback informing us of how Sarge got put in the chair at the very end of the strip. Of course, it all looks great--but I keep wanting something to actually happen other than watching our hero get the tar beaten out of him.
“Flash Comics/Iris West” (Kerschl & Fletcher/Leigh): Of all the stories this week, “Flash” and “Iris West” grabbed my interest the most. Leading off with Iris West this time, we have the romance portion where Barry is having some trouble being the stable man his wife needs him to be--stable in the sense that he can’t stop himself from vibrating out of time.
The Flash portion of the strip gives us two Barrys--and a bit of confusion as to what exactly is going on (don’t worry, the Barrys are just as befuddled). I like the weird balance of super heroics, soap opera, and sitcom to the whole thing. It’s mostly played for laughs but still has an identifiable gravity to it.
“Demon/Catwoman” (Simonson & Stelfreeze): No real surprises here – there was a bit of a gap in quality between this week and last--mostly because this installment seemed a little perfunctory. We know Catwoman will rip off Jason Blood, and we know that the Demon will be on her trail at some point. It’s all done well enough, and I’m not going to say it’s anything but quality. I just wish there were some twists in the formula. It looks good, and I can say that without reservation.
“Hawkman” (Kyle Baker): I stated earlier that Paul Pope’s “Strange Adventures” was my favorite visually, but one panel of “Hawkman” almost shook Pope’s work loose from the first place slot. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have here Kyle Baker’s version of Carter Hall delivering a thumbs up to a child while clinging to the exterior of an airplane.
The dialog in this installment is less . . . problematic . . . than was last week’s. It’s still in its own head a bit--with a very introspective Hawkman narrating the beat down that the terrorists are about to receive. The whole thing is gorgeous with the utter disintegration of a huge chunk of the plane and the grim, deadly movement of Carter’s flock. I hope next issue gives us a little mace to face action--because sometimes that’s what you really want in your Hawkman stories.
And that’s it for this week. Some winners and a couple of losers (I’m looking at you, “Teen Titans”). Let’s see if next week can elevate the total package back up to the level of quality in the first installment.
If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at Monster In Your Veins
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