DCU Comic Book Reviews

WEDNESDAY COMICS #6

August 12th, 2009

Written by Various

Pencils by Various

Inks by Various

Cover by Various

A Brief Introduction by Binkley (e-mail)

When this weekly series was first introduced, I immediately started to brainstorm how I would review these issues.  There were 15 stories per comic, so it seemed to make some sense to write reviews for each of the 15 stories.  I came up with a variety of different ways to present the text, but ultimately I decided to wait until I actually read the first issue before making a decision.  After reading it, what struck me the most is that a single page of a story is not enough to write a review.  There just isn’t enough to critique the plot, structure, or character.  And then it hit me.  I can provide my impression of the stories, my thoughts and ideas of what struck me as I was reading.  So, that is what you’ll get each week.  However, when the weekly series is done, I will go back and review the entire story, much as I do for a single issue of a comic.     

Impressions by Binkley (e-mail)

This week, Strange Adventures takes the big spot on the cover, while Wonder Woman (last week’s big circle) and Hawkman (the rotating circle) move around.   

I really, really liked the storytelling technique with the panel layouts for Risso in the Batman strip.  You can just visual the dude rolling over the table and falling to the ground.  Another great visual is Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern strip in the midst of the g-force.  You can just see the wind blowing the skin of his face backwards.  And, in Superman, I also liked the visual of Clark Kent climbing out of the rubble and his pajamas to emerge as Superman. 

But as much as I liked the art in Batman, the story and the pace take a dive this week as a lot of space is devoted to a lot of nothing.  The same is true for Superman, although the problem has plagued the strip for awhile now.  There have also been pacing problems with Sgt. Rock, but I think some of that has to do with the split plot lines.  I think if Kubert focused on one or the other, the story would be breezing along. 

Both Deadman and Kamandi are still wonderful drawn and written strips and the only thing I can say about both is the quality is there week in and week out.  These two are easily the best and consistent strips of the 15 in this series. 

One or two panels before it was mentioned in the narration, I noticed that Adam Strange looked a lot older than he had been when he was on Rann.  I am not sure if young/old man was part of the original comics or not, but I actually like the idea. 

I don’t know what to make of the Metamorpho strip.  On the one hand, the Snakes and Ladders board game is goofy, amusing fun, but on the other hand we really only got half of a story.  I like how Gaiman is taking the strip beyond just trying to tell a story, but to give us only half (less, really) of the story this week was annoying. 

The appearance and actions of Aquaman in Supergirl was just so wrong that I loved it.  And who else would you take your super pets for an examination?  Although I have to wonder if Aquaman can talk to non-water animals.  Still, I loved this strip this week and the use of the shellphone and the crabs attacking Krypto.

Hey, where did Iris go?  Still, a Gorilla Grodd portion in the Flash strip was a cool idea, even if I have no idea what the hell is going on.  There are so many Flashes and so much time travel shenanigans that I am completely lost. 

Where is Catwoman?  One would assume in a strip called The Demon and Catwoman that she’ll be back somehow, but right now it feels like a one demon show.  Is it just me or if you are going to have a co-lead strip it would be good to have, you know, both stars together?

In just one page of the Blue Beetle strip, I think Jaime has spoken more Spanish than it did in the entire 3-year run of Blue Beetle.  I realize that Jaime is supposed to be of Mexican descent, but I found the use of so much Spanish to be a little odd. 

I just knew the celebration in Metal Men was a little premature.  At the very least Chemo fits the goofy nature of the Metal Men a little more than the suicide bomber, so I think this is a good way to go.  I still think the threats of violence is a little too dark for a story about neurotic robots

Is it just me or is it just the glasses, but does the head on he little girl on the final panel of Hawkman look to be bigger than it should be?  For this strip, I also noticed the little recap at the very top.  Was that always there and I missed it before or is it new?  Regardless, this is another of the really great strips of this series.    

And, once again, I didn’t bother to read Wonder Woman.  Yeah, I know.  I stare at it for a few moments and think maybe I should give it a chance, but then my old-man eyes can’t quite make out the lettering and I give up.

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