August 22, 2007 - Comic books are expensive. It's becoming more and more difficult to just grab anything shiny off of store shelves. That's why we try to review as many books as possible each week. We typically publish our initial batch Wednesday night, and add more throughout Thursday when we're able.
Our rating system is a little different than most. Rather than giving stars or grades, we're providing two-word descriptions that give a sense of a book's overall merit.
Ratings Scale
- Must Have - An incredible story that can't be missed.
- Must Read - A great tale that most will enjoy.
- Check It - Good to average, but not a necessity.
- Pass It - Significant problems; Save your cash for better books.
- Burn It - A dubious honor, reserved for the very worst books.
The Review Crew: While it's important to understand a rating system, it's equally critical to know who's reviewing a title. To help our readers, we've created biographies for our weekly review staff. We'll return to update these from time to time and add new members as they join our ranks. To check out the crew, click here. Now you understand the insanity.
Written by Grant Morrison Art by JH Williams III | |
 What really elevates this story above mediocrity is J.H. Williams' fantastic artwork, which is particularly awesome when the artist strays from a rigid six-panel page layout and gives us panels shaped like bat wings and clenched fists. Williams is one of the biggest risk-takers in comics today, and he takes some seriously wild chances in this issue - all of which pay off nicely. It's just a shame that Morrison, the other famous risk-taker involved in this issue, doesn't follow suit, and instead stays within the constraints of the whodunit formula. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if, when all is said and done and the murderer is revealed, it turns out that the Butler did it. There hasn't been a butler introduced thus far in the story, but you get the point - this is such a straightforward take on the Christie formula that such a clich�d resolution/reveal would be appropriate. At least Morrison has a lot of fun fleshing out each of these Batmen rip-offs, which is quite funny at times. Let's just hope the resolution doesn't involve "Alfred in the billiard room with a candlestick." |
Written by Tony Bedard Art by Nicola Scott | |
 The issue is drawn by regular Birds of Prey artist Nicola Scott, and her sleek pencils and solid line work give make the transition away from Gail Simone's run on this title a hell of a lot smoother. Bedard also manages to channel Simone's trademark brand of humor and wit, and there are some genuinely funny moments between Knockout and Scandal and Big Barda and Scott Free. Bedard's flashback to Green Arrow and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl's first encounter is particularly hilarious, with the always-flirtatious Ollie discovering Batgirl's young age after he's already hit on her. If there's one aspect of this issue that really falls flat, it's the whole conversation between Black Canary and Babs over whether or not Dinah should accept Ollie's marriage proposal. After reading all four issues of Bedard's Black Canary miniseries, which centered on that very question, I've had just about enough of watching Dinah contemplate her decision. |
Written by Paul Dini w/ Tony Bedard Art by Jim Calafiore | |
 Last week contained a fairly major revelation concerning Jimmy Olsen and his pal Superman. That revelation is more or less ignored this week, despite the fact that both characters appear in the same room together. Does this mean I was supposed to read Superman or Action Comics to get the full story? Probably, but I guess I'm screwed, because I'm not going to. The one good thing to be said about this week's Countdown is that not every plot thread is touched upon, giving the crew a smidgen of room with which to actually advance the plot. Don't expect much in the way of advancement, however. Essentially, Mary Marvel throws a very childish temper tantrum, Jason Todd, Donna Troy, and friends deal with the latest denizens of the nanoverse that want to kill them, and Piper and Trickster manage to not be killed for another week. And before you think I've run out of things to complain about, I'd like to say that artist Jim Calafiore draws some rather weird, nearly orgasmic facial expressions on some of his characters. At least the characters in this book seem to be having fun, because I'm sure not. | |
| Rich's Take: Okay, I think something has to be made clear here. Fans like weekly comics. There's absolutely no way I'll deny that; weekly books can be a lot of fun. What will kill interest in weekly books is something like Countdown. This series is still over-promising and under-delivering. We're getting some slightly higher profile guests, but they're still not amounting to much. The biggest problem with the overall picture here is that we're not even getting a glimpse at it. Even Lost on its worst day still held that carrot out for viewers. Countdown is far more frustrating without any promise on the horizon.
Jesse touched on this in his review, but what is going on with the art here? Again, there are only so many excuses we can make for the art. What's in this issue is pretty damn bad. It looks cheap, rushed and sloppy and detracts terribly from the already-uninteresting plot. Let's go people…
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Written by Sam Kieth Art by Sam Kieth | |
 What cripples this book is its stunning lack of compelling characterization, humor or anything resembling a capable plot. Some sort of alien entity is jumping from woman to woman, causing them to flip out, grab guns and shoot up a space station. I suppose I could see the appeal of this if the artist was Frank Cho, but instead we have Sam Kieth. Kieth's art is actually quite good, but it doesn't lend itself to the type of scandalous or enticing content that might make this appeal to teenage boys. Beyond that Batman and Lobo are essentially cardboard cut outs, one insisting that no one is killed while the other doesn't care. There's little in the way of humor and the so-called mystery is hardly compelling. Art aside, this is rubbish. |
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