Ahh, finally all caught up.
- Countdown to Final Crisis #22 of 52 (backwards), by Paul Dini, Tony Bedard, Keith Giffen, Carlos Magno & Rodney Ramos (DC)
- Countdown to Adventure #4 of 8, by Adam Beechen, Allan Goldman & Julio Ferreira, and Justin Gray, Fabrizio Fiorentino & Adam DeKraker (DC)
- The Death of the New Gods #3 of 8, by Jim Starlin, Matt Banning & Mark McKenna (DC)
- Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #36, by Tony Bedard & Dennis Calero (DC)
- Doc Frankenstein #6, by Andy and Larry Wachowski & Steve Skroce (Burlyman)
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Supergirl and the Legion #36 not only wraps up Bedard and Calero’s “bridge” run between Mark Waid’s run and Jim Shooter’s run (which starts next month), but also ends the “Supergirl” portion of the title, as she returns to the 21st century in this issue. It’s been a reasonably enjoyable run, but it feels like it ends with a whimper and not a bang, which is too bad. Still, I can understand clearing the decks for a new writer like this.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Shooter brings to the book in his return to both the title and to writing comics generally. On the other hand, I’m also interested in finding out what Cosmic Boy’s actually been up to given the tasty teaser that Mark Waid left us with, when Cos was apparently recruited by a team of heroes from the 41st century and went with them. While I couldn’t really fault Shooter if he shrugged off that story element because it didn’t interest him, I’d be even happier if it did interest him. |
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I don’t think an issue of Doc Frankenstein has come out since I started writing in this space – small presses often have trouble keeping on-schedule, so this isn’t really a big surprise. I’m an unusually patient reader when it comes to the small presses. Anyway, Doc Frankenstein is written by the Wachowski Brothers – the guys behind the film The Matrix – this began as a “high concept” comic in which Frankenstein’s monster survived into the present day and became a scientific and engineering genius with a large following, but one whose very existence is perceived as an atrocity by the church, which is constantly trying to destroy him.
It started off bright, but has gotten bogged down in the minutae of Frankenstein’s history, and this issue is perhaps the worst one yet, with an extensive and boring excursion into the history of Jesus Christ (I think it’s supposed to be funny and irreverent, but it’s not). Steve Skroce is a really good artist – his style reminds me a lot of Bryan Talbot‘s – and some of his drawings here are very impressive, but he’s really wasted on this unfocused story, which also is squandering a fairly nifty idea (albeit one which was also plumbed – though not much more successfully – in Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers mini-series). |