Just a tad bit annoyed this week to start out. Special sarcastic thanks to the good folks who ruined my fun with the New History of the DC Universe #1 cover. I only had about 40 more characters to go and you all had to go and ruin it by using some sort of computer break down to seperate sections of the art and label them. Sigh. But enough of my old man whining. Onto some reviews.
Recently, I was asked about how I go about reviewing a comic. What criteria I use to determine a 5 Grahams from a 10 Grahams. So this week, we are going to break with our usual review style and give you 5 examples as to why a certain book got a certain graham count …
GODZILLA VS THOR #1 MARVEL COMICS
#5 – Villianous cult group of the story are complete rubbish. I don’t care if they appeared in Punisher TPB back in the day.
#4 – The idea that this disjointed semi-ninja group got their hands on Godzilla’s heart and regrown him by pouring human blood over it makes no sense what-so-ever. The closest concept, I could think of was from the Shin Godzilla movie where like DC Comics’ Doomsday, everytime you attack Godzilla he evolves from it. Not that he’s part vampire lore.
#3 – Just before Thor gets a face full of atomic breath, he claims that Mjolnir has ‘… riddled this creature with more holes …’ In standard Godzilla lore, those holes should be leaking radiation causing bigger problems. Plus, the last super person to take a face full of attomic breath was Superman over in the 1st series of Justice League vs Godzilla vs Kong and it darn near killed him. This act sets a dangerous precident for future arguements of who is stronger Thor or Superman?
#2 – The Ninja cult just happens to have a sliver of the Necrosword and we suddenly end up in a Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover? No way, I’m immediately calling BS on that!
#1 – While I liked the bit where Thor freezes Godzilla using a storm from the Land of the Frost Giants, the ending where Godzilla is the reason for Ragnarok? I wonder what Surtur would have to say. The ending turns into some sort of epic Norse poem that has no real place in a Godzilla story. Definitely one of the lower end crossovers so far. 4 out of 10 Grahams.
JSA #9 DC COMICS
#5 – Highly disappointed that we had two previous issues back to back that really had promise. Now we return to the retread story of members seperated into different dimensions. Obsidian apparently betraying the group again. Etc. Been there, done that.
#4 – Guest appearances by the original Johnny Thunder, Thunderbolt, and Qwsp (or Qwisp as he was called in his first appearance in Aquaman #1 1962) keeps the barest of holds on the classic series. As does the mention of Blackhawk Island. But it is a weak hold at best.
#3 – It was Johnny Sorrow disguised at Obsidian? I would have thought that the Shade or the Wizard. Sorrow’s abilities have nothing in common with Obsidian’s.
#4 – The whining of the new legacy heroes is truly annoying. The Yolanda I remember had some doubts in following in Ted Grant’s footsteps. And Khalid’s “I finally decided to put on a pair of big boy pants and get back to the fight” ate up too many pages of this issue.
#5 – Potential! The JSA has a vast roster of characters to choose from. Between the JSA, the All-Star Squadron, Law’s Legionarres, Freedom Fighters, Shazam’s Squadron of Justice, etc. we have hundreds of characters, back stories, and legacies to work with. What about all those Lost Children sidekicks? This seems like we are missing a whole lot of entertaining stories.
PS SPOILER ALERT – I’m going to throw out my own little theory here. The new Kid Eternity that seems to have faded into the deep dark backround of this story is going to bring Wildcat back to identify the demons and give the JSA the knowledge to defeat them. There … I said it. Now, DC prove me wrong but entertain me while you’re doing it. 5 out of 10 Grahams.
COMICS OF THE MOVEMENT #1 GOOD TROUBLE COMICS
A wonderful look back at comics that in their day, were amazing that they were printed at all. But I think comics is the wrong word for these. Even now, they are more educational pamphlets told in comic form. And as the books introduction states, while The Montgomery Story is an interesting take on the Civil Rights Movement, it is the Lowndes County Freedom Organization Comics series. It is always a joy to get to see a comic that has never been reprinted before. The folks at Good Trouble Comics have taken on a difficult task of searching out and reprinting these little bit of history. I hope to see issue two. 8 out of 10 Grahams.
