DCU Comic Book Reviews

SALVATION RUN #5

Through A Glass Darkly

May 2008

Written by Matthew Sturges

Pencils by Joe Bennett

Inks by Belardino Barbo

Cover by Sean Chen and Walden Wong

Synopsis

On the place they call “Hell Planet,” the Joker leads his forces to Lex Luthor’s camp to raid their food supply.  However, Lex is waiting for them.  Elsewhere, Vandal Savage has found a spot of paradise on the planet and plans to create a new society, with him as the father of the next generation. Meanwhile, Catwoman comes across the showdown between Lex and Joker, but is caught.  When Lex accuses her of being a spy, Catwoman saves herself by revealing the true identity of the Martian Manhunter.  She then tells the villains that he has a communicator.  The villains attack Martian Manhunter, despite the fact that he tells them he is there to help him.  Martian Manhunter is able to fight his way through until the villains band together and bring him down.  Watching all of this is Desaad, who decides it is time to send the parademons to the planet for combat training.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Do you hear that screeching?  That’s the sound of the plot making a sudden right turn into a totally different neighborhood.  The sad part is that I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  On the one hand, I am annoyed that with only two issues to go, we finally learn the nefarious plot behind the planet.  It invalidates the previous issues, making everything up til now pointless.  Think about it.  The mini-series to this point was a Lord Of The Flies examination featuring bad people; now it’s just a big battle between two sets of villains.  Yet, on the other hand, at least now the story has some direction and we are getting somewhere rather than spinning around on its wheels trying to fit so many characters into the book.  I suppose I am being harsh; this issue and the mini-series are not terrible.  It just lacks a strong story dependent on the characters.  This is basically a bunch of loose narrative moments hinged on a marketing ploy.

Where is the Vandal Savage sub-plot going?  There are only two issues to go and it seems to be floating out there, not doing much, and accomplishing very little.  About the only thing that I think might happen is that Christina, in an effort to get away from Vandal, might inadvertently find the means to go home.  Otherwise, the entire subplot borders on the useless.  Frankly, this part of the story would work well as a mini-series on its own. 

 

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