This Week’s Reviews: 1st wk April 2009

I’m still trying to play catch-up with my comics. Running out of bags and borders, and with limited funds and three new comics coming out, I was only able to pick up four comics. As it is, I only bought the bags, having a few left over backing boards to hold me until next week, when I’ll get the boards and a few more comics.

However, three of the four comics came out this week. Of course, both Transformers comics were on my list, but so were two super hero comics, including one that hasn’t been put out in a while. Spoiler blocked versions of my reviews are available at ComiXology, but here’s the good stuff.

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #4

PUBLISHER: DC Comics [April 2004; based on DC’s usual cover dating methods, it should be June or July, and the other Johnny DC titles listed in the back page are for the ones that came out the month this comic was supposed to ship, not this month’s.]

WORDS/PICS/HEART: Mike Kunkel

LETTERER: Steve Wands

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Adam Schlagman

EDITOR: Jann Jones

At the Rock of Eternity, Mary is given a plan by the Wizard Shazam to defeat Black Adam and the Evils. (He’s also proud of her for accidentally teaching Billy that neat trick with the magic lightning, even it was a practical joke, from #2, and forgives her for accidentally revealing the magic word to Adam. Cute moment.) Shazam’s plan, which Captain Marvel picks up on, is to defeat all the evils except for Selfishness, and let Black Adam learn that if he goes to the Rock, he can absorb the power of the Evils. Once Adam does so, however, Billy and Mary turn Selfishness against him and use the lightning to defeat Adam and the evils. Billy (not Captain Marvel) slugs Theo a good one, and the Wizard uses his powers to make Theo think he’s just a normal 14 year old with amnesia, where the Marvels drop him off at a children’s home.

What they got right: After no new issues for a few months (right at a cliffhanger), the first arc ends on a high note. The sibling love between Billy and Mary are just warm and fuzzy enough to feel real without annoying the little boy demographic of the comic. The story is serious, but fun (take note, Earth-1). I fell in love with the characters all over again. Theo gets what’s coming to him, and no bloodshed or possessed super heroines required. Everything is just right. Storywise, anyway.

What they got wrong: The art, as always, may not be to certain parties’ tastes, as it’s very cartoony. (In fact, some sad sacks were against the comic for mostly that reason back in issue 1, and missed out on a great comic thus far.) Cap’s cape looks a bit short, but I don’t mind the style at all. I was a little annoyed by the panel sizes, though. I miss the days when the artists weren’t making the panels as big as possible to show off their artwork, thus leaving less room for the story, and Kunkel avoids that. However, on some pages, the panels are too small to compress too much at one time. Still, I prefer that, since it does give us more story, and I’m all about the story.

Recommendation: If personal events are forcing you to delay your comic for months on a cliffhanger, you’d better come back with a bang. Billy does so, or at least a POW. Now bring on Dr. Silvana! (The announced villain in the next arc.)

Transformers: Maximum Dinobots #4

PUBLISHER: IDW [March 2009? Simple, it’s a week late.]

WRITER: Simon Furman

ARTISTS: Nick Roche & James Raiz

COLORIST: Joana Lafuente

LETTERER: Chris Mowry

EDITORS: Denton J. Tipton & Andy Schmidt

Ravage and Laserbeak take back Soundwave from the kid that found him, and the three are met by Shockwave, offering to help fix them up. Meanwhile, Sunstreaker and Hunter arrive at the Machination base, as does everyone else thanks to Hot Rod’s signal. Scorponok takes out Sunstreaker, but Hunter is able to unhook his head from the control system and the other Headmasters are out of action. Just then, Shockwave arrives and Ultra Magnus finally finds Scorponok’s location. The finale’s going to be a blast.

What they got right: I don’t know. As I look back at it, not a lot happened, but it wasn’t horribly bad as some of the previous issues. We get a good battle, and it looks like the wrapping up of the loose threads in the IDW G1verse begins here. Grimlock wants to payback Scorponok and find out just what Shockwave was doing on Earth. The Dynobots aren’t sure if they should follow Grimlock or not. I guess the only thing they really got right here was continuity, and the fact that I can’t rally against Furman much, because nothing really happened.

What they got wrong: Nothing really happened, outside of a good battle. But my real complain is the art, and for once I’m not just doing a strike on Roche here. James Riaz does some scenes as well, and you can easily tell the difference, just like All Hail Megatron last week. Riaz’s art seems to be overdetailed, especially the scenes on the Monsterbots’ ship with the Dynobots. Grimlock looks a lot more damaged in the faceplate than he does in Roche’s art. If your going to play musical artists, IDW, at least pick two artists whose style match up with each other. It’s really throwing me out of the story.

Recommendation: Definitely not the comic to re-familiarize yourself with the Transformers, IDW’s or otherwise. Some good battle scenes, but that’s pretty much it outside of the finale set-ups.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #3

PUBLISHER: DC Comics [May 2009]

WRITER: Matt Wayne

PENCILLER: Andy Suriano

INKER: Dan Davis

COLORIST: Heroic Age

LETTERER: Swands

EDITOR: Rachel Gluckstein

After a quick team-up with Wonder Woman, Batman summons Green Arrow to help him in Washington. A ransom demand has been sent for the safe return of the President of the United State. One problem: he hasn’t been kidnapped…yet. Batman uses a holographic projector to disguise himself as the President, with Green Arrow disguised as his security guard. (No holograms for Oliver.) After some wacky hijinks, Bat-Pres is finally kidnapped by the Ultra Humanite (a human at this point), who plans to transfer his brain into the President’s. Batman and Green Arrow defeat him and his white gorilla sidekick. Guess where he decides to hide. If it wasn’t for the Secret File at the end of the comic, you’d have to.

What they got right: Sadly, not much this round. The art style is still consistent with the cartoon, and do like the concept, and the scene where Bat-Pres takes down Okaaran Premier (so apparently we have alien leaders coming to threaten our President without much defense) is fun.

What they got wrong: As much as I love the wacky (just look back at some of my other reviews), Matt dials it up a little too high when Bat-Pres and Arrow have to beat the snot out of Congress because they’re fighting like they’re some other country’s governmental body. The artist couldn’t decide if Batman’s holographed outline should have the batsymbol or not (I choose not–the outline’s a good idea to show us it’s Batman, but the symbol isn’t needed), and we need the Secret File page to confirm Ultra-Humanite literally went ape (unless you already know the character, and until Justice League, I didn’t). Finally, Matt again skirts the show edict (no pun intended) of not using the big names by using Wonder Woman. If she, Superman, and Luthor ever show up in the cartoon in ways that contradicts these stories, it won’t be the first time. The DCAU-based “Adventures” titles did the same thing.

Recommendation: Watch the series, it’s better than this month’s comic.

Transformers Spotlight: Jazz

PUBLISHER: IDW [March 2009, again, a week late]

WRITERS: Josh Van Reyk & Shaun Knowler

ARTIST: E.J. Su

COLORIST: Priscilla Tramontano (try to say that three times fast)

LETTERER: Chris Mowry

EDITORS: Denton J. Tipton & Andy Schmidt

Tracks tells the Autobots a story from the old days about an Autobot who saved his life from the Predacons. (With his optics damaged, Tracks couldn’t see him, but it happens to be Jazz. Although Tracks’s spirits are down (his comrades are dead, and he’s heavily damaged), Jazz reminds him what it really means to bear the Autobot symbol. The story helps the spirits of the other Autobots, if only for a moment.

NOTE: I need to go through and check my collection for the exact issue, but the comic takes place during or just before All Hail Megatron, while Track’s tale takes place during the early days of the war, before Thunderwing wrecked the place. That’s for those of you who, like me, prefer their comics in chronological order rather than release dates.

What they got right: Understandably, the current G1 storyline, the aforementioned All Hail Megatron is understandably dark. However, this story has a lot of what I find missing in many comics these days–a few CCs (medical term) of hope. Jazz is an interesting choice, as one would think Optimus Prime would be this inspirational. However, it is a good story, and a breath of fresh air that the Autobots needed at this point in the IDW G1verse. The art is good, and I like the Cybertronian form designs. E.J. Su bucked tradition and went with an original design for Jazz, rather than his The War Within design from Dreamwave, which Don Figueroa based off of the cartoon vehicle mode from the original pilot miniseries. It’s a good design.

What they got wrong: Not much. Unless Tracks hasn’t adopted an Earth form in the current timeline, his robot mode in the flashback looks too close to his modern day one. Jazz is also real close to his Earth robot form, even though the Predacons are completely original, except for what little we see of their head modules. It’s really a slight complaint.

Recommendation: A definite must for fans of IDW’s Transformers, and Jazz specifically.

Best Scene of the Week

Transformers: Maximum Dinobots #4

Watch out for falling dinosaurs

Yes, the fact that my least favorite current Transformers title hosted my favorite scene of the week, and my favorite cover, and both were probably done by my…actually, Nick Roche isn’t my least favorite TF artist–that goes to the artists of Transformers: Generation 2…well, it’s still not lost on me.

Hopefully I can clean out more of my folder at the comic store next week. But I still need those backing boards, so we’ll have to see what happens.