Quick DC Comic Reviews

Villains United #3
by Gail Simone, Val Semeiks & Prentis Rollins

The villainous Secret Six have been captured by the Secret Society of Super-Villains, and torture is the name of the game. While cracks begin to emerge in the inner circle of the Society due to the differing goals of the members, the Six attempt to escape, leading to many pages of villain-on-villain violence. So far this has been my favorite among the Infinite Crisis prequels, as Simone has shown a deft ability to write the protagonists as the amoral badguys they are, and it's interesting to see that as the villains are attempting to united, they are possibly doing themselves more harm than good. Semeiks & Rollins continue to turn in the goods, providing a visually interesting spectacle that doesn't sacrifice clarity for excitement.
Rating: 3 (of 5)


Flash #223
by Geoff Johns, Howard Porter & John Livesay

More villain-on-villain action as the old school rogues fight against the younger villains, The Flash & Kid Flash try to break them up, and Zoom is acting on whatever sort of strange agenda is going through his twisted psyche. There's not much room for character intereaction or subplot advancement here, just wall-to-wall fight scenes; but hey, any comic that has Gorilla Grodd can't be all bad, right?
Rating: 2.5 (of 5)


Gotham Central #33
by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Kano & Stefano Gaudiano

A kid in a Robin costume shows up dead in an alley, apparently haven fallen from the rooftops above. We know it's not the 'real' Robin, and to their credit most of the GCPD think that it probably isn't either, but they have to go through the motions anyway, treating this as a redball case and working around the unwanted participation/interference of a certain caped vigilante. This is Brubaker's swansong before he goes off to waste his talents in an exclusive at Marvel, and he and Rucka have chosen a doosy of a premise to run with. They make lemonade out of lemons, using the stupid post-War Games status quo between Batman and the police to come up with a plot that could only work if they're not talking to each other. This is also the debut of the 'new' art team as Kano & Gaudiano switch duties; it works well: Kano provides clean layouts, good figurework and strong storytelling while Gaudiano's inks give it all a gritty edge. This continues to be one of the best comics published monthly by DC.
Rating: 4 (of 5)

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

Today's cover, by Steve Ditko from 1960's Konga #7, features a giant ape vs. alien ape creatures from outer space in their flying saucer. That's just plain cool.

(standard disclaimer about apes not really being monkeys applies)

Image is courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

2000 Covers

Yesterday I uploaded my 2000th cover scan to The Grand Comics Database, Alex Ross's cover to JSA #75. To celebrate, I used those 2000 covers to make a mosaic image of JSA #75. You can download it by clicking here or on the cover image to the right. (Bandwidth warning: it's a 5.6 MB file, so be prepared to wait if you're on a slow connection!)

Among the other interesting covers that I've uploaded are:

2001 Nights #1
Adam Strange #8
Akiko #15
Aria: The Uses of Enchantment #1
Athena #14
Beautiful Stores for Ugly Children #1
Blip #2
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs #5
Channel Zero #5
Crying Freeman #2
Dark Horse Presents 100 #1
Dark Horse Presents #115
Dreadstar #64
Electric Girl #3
Electropolis #1
ESPers #6
Finder #35
Gotham Central #11
Gen13 Bootleg #7
Gifts of the Night #3
Green Lantern Special #1
Grimjack #61
The Hacker Files #6
Hammerlocke #9
Hellblazer #190
Hellshock #3
Hepcats #9
Icon #13
Impulse #41
Invisibles vol. 3 #8
The Jaguar #7
Justice League Adventures #5
Justice League Unlimited #8
Joe Matt's Peepshow #7
Kabuki #3
Kane #16
Lost in Space #16
Lum #7
Madrox #1
Mars #1
Moonshadow #1
Muppet Babies #5
Mythography #5
New X-Men #146
Nexus: Executioner's Song #4
Oni Double Feature #2
Otherworld #3
Paranoia #1
Power Pack #4
Prime #19
Quit City #1
Sandman Mystery Theatre #63
Scud #9
The Shadowmen #1
Shanda the Panda #9
Spirit of Wonder #5
Stanley and His Monster #3
Star Wars Tales #1
Star Trek: The Next Generation Special #3
Subhuman #1
Supreme #56
Those Annoying Post Bros. #27
Uncanny X-Men #405
V #11
World's Finest Comics #251
X-O Manowar #20
Xombi #4

Plus over 1900 other covers--that's a lot of covers! (And there's still tons of stuff I have in my collection that GCD doesn't even have entries for...)

Fool's Gold

News from the Anime Expo (via Pata at Irresponsible Pictures) is that TokyoPop have signed Amy Hadley to do an OEL manga called Fool's Gold, a slice-of-life series about an aspiring fashion designer living in a Colorado tourist town. I have no idea if the story will be good, but the premise sounds intriguing and these model sheets are fantastic. I'm not sure when it is set to debut, but I'll be looking forward to it.

Quick Wildstorm Comic Reviews

Wild Girl #6
by Leah Moore & John Reppion, Shawn McManus, Andrew Pepoy, & J. H. Williams III
Wild Girl began with promise, but here at the conclusion it turns out to have been empty and hollow. What exactly has happened and, more importantly, what was the point? Other than looking at some admitedly rather pretty art from both McManus & Williams, there doesn't seem to have been much of one. A disappointment.
Rating: 2 (of 5)


Albion #1
by Alan Moore, Leah Moore & John Reppion, Shane Oakley & George Freeman
A bunch of obscure old British comic characters get the ol' 'Alan Moore' treatment. Near as I can tell--and the scripting by L. Moore & Reppion is not helping any--the premise of this series is that the comic book adventures really did happen, but the public believes that they were simply comic book adventures and the 'truth' has been covered up and swept under the rug of history. The only referenced character I've ever heard of before is Dan Dare, and maybe if I knew better the other characters this would resonate with me more. This is another mini that shows promise, but given the track record of Wild Girl I'm justifyably skeptical. Props though to Oakly & Freeman for turning in a distinctive style full of moody dark inks and being able to swtich styles on a dime to present a pseudo old-style comic adventure.
Rating: 2.5 (of 5)


Astro City: The Dark Age - Book One #1
by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson
The 70s were a time when so-called mainstream comics began to lose their innocence: while most super-hero stories continued to be escapist fluff, sometimes 'relevence; would seep in as side-kicks became hopped up on drugs or vigilantes ruthlessly killed mobsters. So too it would appear was the case in Astro City, as through the eyes of two African-American baby boomers--one a cop, the other a petty crook--we begin to see a change in how the heroesand villains and the city and its people relate to each other. The social tensions of a big city are being reflected in the heroes, and as usual Busiek's man-on-the-street perspective gives us a different lens through which to view those old 'relevant' stories. This is another start of a series that shows promise, but in this case given the track record of the creators we can feel fairly confident that they're up to the challenge.
Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

New This Week: July 7, 2005

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:


The Pick of the Week is Jill Thompson's The Dead Boy Detectives Digest from Vertigo/DC. Aside from her wonderful Scary Godmother, this is the book that Thompson was born to create.


In other comics:

Alias have the debut issue of the Biblical David: Shepherd's Song.

Dark Horse have the Freaks of the Heartland collection.

DC have new issues of DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy (#2), Firestorm (#15), Gotham Central (#33), The Intimates (#9), Swamp Thing (#17), and Y, the Last man (#35); and at last the long-delayed final issue of Warren Ellis & Chris Sprouse's Ocean (#6).

Image have the second issue of Strange Girl and the debut issue of Todd Nauck's new Wildguard mini: Fool's Gold.

Lightspeed have the latest issue of Carla Speed McNeil's excellent Finder (#37).

Marvel have the debut of David Lapham's Daredevil vs. Punisher mini, plus new issues of Mouse of Him (#3), Incredible Hulk (#83), and Ultimate Spider-Man (#79).

Viz have oodles of new GNs, including the inaugural volumes of their Shojo Beat-branded line: Full Moon, Ouran High School Host Club, and Tokyo Boys & Girls. They also have the third volume of Doubt, which is also shojo, though not part of the Shojo Beat line. This might get a bit confusing...


A relatively light week, although there's still plenty of good stuff to choose from. If you can't find anything to your liking, then you're just not trying hard enough. And if you find yourself with a few dollars left over, so yourself a favor and pick up the first issue of The Surrogates.

Sidebar Update Post

Added to the blogroll on the sidebar today are The Flying Inn, Listen to Us, We're Right, and Seven Hells; also, Chris Tamarri's Crisis/Boring Change takes the place of his old blog, Wednesday Week.

Go pay 'em a visit and say hi, and tell 'em that YACB sent'cha.