Retroactive: Batman - 1970s, S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, Nonplayer #1

Retroactive: Batman - 1970s

Len Wein

Tom Mandrake

Wes Hartman

Dezi Sienty

Chynna Clugston Flores

Jim Chadwick

A small disclaimer: DC Comics has decided to create one shot issues of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and the JLA from the 1970s-90s. Each issue features a twenty six page new story, aesthetically tailored for the particular era, as well as a twenty page story from the period. This week The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Batman issues focusing on the 1970s were released, but for this review the focus will be on the new content (as one could or has presumably read the old story) of the Batman issue.

The art is really where this comic shines. Mandrake & Hartman both did a fantastic job understanding and replicating the 1970s aesthetic well. The character design and color palette are particularly well handled. Even so, the new story presented in Retroactive: Batman - 1970s is really nothing to write home about. It is poorly written, cliché, and overall boring, to put it bluntly. However I believe the point of these one shots is aesthetics, instead of the quality of the new or old stories. The new story works well because the writing itself is stilted and relies on tropes to progress the narrative, thus making the story seem as though it could be from the 1970s. Unfortunately, such a banal plot could hardly hold anyone's attention in 2011 and it is therefore the biggest failure of this comic (and, I'm assuming, the rest of the Retroactive series). The whole Retroactive project seems to be of novelty value only, which has its charms, but ultimately is a not too clever ploy by DC to get die hard fans to shell out cash for inferior products.

S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 The Beginning of the End

Jonathan Hickman

Dustin Weaver

Sonia Oback

Todd Klein

Geral Parel

Christina Strain

Irene Y. Lee

Daniel Ketchum

Nick Lowe

Axel Alonso

Joe Quesada

Dan Buckley

Alan Fine

Marvel's new S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 The Begging of the End is truly deceptive. Although I have not read the other S.H.I.E.L.D. (2010) comics that lead up to this issue, I know they have taken the concept in a direction completely oblivious to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nearly fifty year history. Needless to say, this comic is not about espionage, covert military actions, or anything of the sort. Instead, it focuses on the apparent occult origins of S.H.I.E.L.D. that includes but is not necessarily limited to: magic, technology, time/space/dimensional travel, and famous historical figures. Because of this (and the somewhat lackluster writing), the entire comic is very confusing and coupled with art that is less than inspiring, I can only say that this comic may be worth it to those who have been following the new S.H.I.E.L.D. series. For everyone else, either go back to the very beginning or don't bother at all.

Nonplayer #1

Nate Simpson

Brandon Graham

Ben Templesmith

Justin Norman

Eagle Gosselin

Another small disclaimer: Although Image Comics' Nonplayer originally came out in May of this year, they recently did a second printing and thus this review is not for a comic that was actually released this week, but should still be available at your local comic book store.

Nonplayer is the brainchild of Nate Simpson who allegedly spent a year making this first issue (of a planned six). I must say, it was a year well spent. The narrative is in a similar vein to the .hack series, in which the protagonist, Dana, has both a real life and a life inside a virtual reality game. The writing is quite nice and captures the spirit of both MMORPG chat and everyday conversation. Furthermore the art is gorgeous, seamlessly weaving the fantasy aesthetic of Dana's online life with her futuristic reality. The first issue's plot sets up a lot of potential for interesting drama in the future issues, so there is a lot to look forward to. Overall, Nonplayer is extremely engaging and thought provoking and its certainly nice to see a comic book that evades the tired clichés and tropes of the comic book medium. I don't wish to spoil anymore of the story because, if you have the chance, you should pick this comic up as soon as possible.

Birds of Prey 11, Justice Society of America 52

Birds of Prey #11


Gail Simone, Pere Perez,
Nei Rufino, Carlos M. Mangual
Stanley Lau, Katie Kubert,
Janelle Asselin

        As promised, Gail Simone gives us the  Catman and Huntress date issue that we've allegedly all been waiting for. These are two "edgy" characters that Simone has championed over the years, so the pairing makes sense right? Not really, when you take into account that Huntress is supposed to be the DCU's  female version of the Punisher and Catman  is  somewhat unreformed.
        Things start out fairly routine, as Huntress searches for a  jewel heist hostage with Catman helping out because he has a big crush on her. But things get annoying when Catman delivers the jerky line
"She's (Huntress) a lady. Watch your damn mouth" and then punches a pregnant woman a few pages later. These things didn't sound like Catman's usual reparte, his soul baring confession felt bland and the surprise twist towards the end wasn't particularly satisfying.

        What WAS surprising was Catman's reasoning for his bad behavior explained in that very last page ; all of the off putting  illegal stuff and even the bad soul baring was an elaborate farce Catman designed to push Huntress away from him. Simone had played with my expectations and it lead to a potent payoff. Catman is a character who sees himself as more "evil" then he actually is, but he'll still do evil things to keep himself from hurting a person who he actually cares about.  Let's just hope this closes the book on the Huntress/Catman romance because frankly there are way cooler girls out there for Catman to date.
        As for the art, it's total  garbage that somebody peed on. The colors are garrish with too much photoshop sheen, the perspectives and proportions on Perez's pencils are sloppy and several moments feel like a pale play on Batman and Catwoman's romance in Jim Lee's Hush (which I'm not a huge fan of anyway.) The only slightly redeeming thing is Catman's  awkward duck face on the cover sort of brings out his inner Z-list fat-assness. Simone is a talented writer but she often works with some of the
worst artists.

5.8 

Justice Society of America #52
 

Marc Guggenheim,Tom Derenick, 

Rob Leigh, Mike Atiyeh,
Mario Alberti, Chris Conroy, 

Joey Cavalieri


         This book wasn't particularly incredible but it certainly wasn't
trying to be and there was a juicy moment or two in there. I kind of
liked the build up towards  all of the secret doorway stuff  but it
quickly became a total snoozer, with each new reveal probably being in the top three of what I guessed it would be- Oh it's the Challengers of the Unknown! Oh there's some technological shit in there! Oh there's some booby traps! The last reveal is probably the most standard of all of them.

        Where this comic kind of does well is during what pretty much amounts to a Mr. Terrific solo story that's peppered throughout. I don't know much about Mr. Terrific but I always liked him since he felt like Batman but less crazy. The sad premise here is that through the machinations of an  enemy Mr. Terrific has  lost his genius intellect.

        The villain had a discomforting sort of smallness which I liked and there was a  memorable moment  where a now stupified Mr. Terrific tries to learn to read by watching a children's edutainment tape. While initially funny, a few second's pause made me realize the greeks couldn't have written a moment so tragic- and if Grant Morrison had written it he might've  made it feel grander then necessary.
         At first glance I thought the interior art looked like crap from a kids' adventures comic but on a second look I realized that it was just a little less than so-so. There were some good close-ups on faces
and I like the charcoal type shading. But whenever Tom Derenick draws figures viewed from high angle POVs they start looking like compressed little dwarfs.  I gotta say though, that  cover is subtly incredible. The usually mediocre Mario Alberti comes off  as a more polished Paul Pope (not that that's a good thing.) It's  hard to keep the JSA from being goofy but they look pretty timeless on the front of this book.

6.3

-Johnnie Jungleguts