Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.
These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.
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Danger Street #1 (DC/Black Label) – Tom King and Jorge Fornes‘ latest, Danger Street #1, is Stand by Me meets Network meets Seven Soldiers focusing on seemingly unconnected DC B and Z-listers like the Danger Street Dingbats, Starman (Not Jack Knight), Metamorpho, Warlord, Creeper/Jack Ryder and more. Fornes’ art and Dave Stewart‘s colors give the book a kind of late Bronze Age/early 1980s vibe to go with King’s multi-layered script that combines satire with superhero shenanigans all held together by omniscient, fantasy style narration. Even though the players in Danger Street have vastly different personalities and moral codes, Tom King and Jorge Fornes thread them together by having them aspire to something more than their current lives whether that’s Jack Ryder having his own TV show, or Starman, Warlord, and Metamoropho wanting to join the Justice League in a very roundabout way. The extended length of book is enough time to give you a feel for the large cast of characters before the status quo is upset, and the goofy, zany superheroes have actual responsibilities and mistakes to own up to. Overall: 8.5 Verdict: Buy
Batman/Spawn #1 (DC/Image) – Batman/Spawn has smooth visuals and poster-worthy poses and spreads from artists Greg Capullo, Todd McFarlane, and Dave McCaig. But McFarlane’s plot is weak, the captions overwritten, and by the end, this is only a setup for a sequel featuring one of the two antihero’s clown villains. Batman/Spawn tries to find a parallel between both Bruce Wayne and Al Simmons’ loss, but there’s no emotional resonance: just an excuse for fisticuffs. (And speaking of fisticuffs, nothing tops the first fight between Batman and Spawn where the Hellspawn shreds the mere mortal.) In a nod to Capullo’s run on Batman, the main antagonist is the Court of Owls who also exist in Spawn’s dimension and want to use one of Martha Wayne’s pearls to travel between mentions. It’s Turtles in Time shit, but played absolutely seriously. Capullo is one hell of an artist, and it’s cool to see him on Spawn again, but this project needed a script worthier of his talents instead of yet another origin story retread with a crossover twist. The intentional (or unintentional) parody of that one scene from Batman v Superman did make crack a smile though. Overall: 5.9 Verdict: Pass
WildC.A.T.s #2 (DC) – Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia balance the corporate boardroom maneuvering and metahuman battles nicely in WildC.A.T.s #2. Grifter continues to be the ultimate wild card continuing to go off leash and investigating the Court of Owls while the rest of his team try to tow the corporate line. The fight scenes featuring him, (especially) Zealot, and the rest of the team are thrilling and also show that the Halo Corporation maybe needs a more public superhero team in this time and place. Along with the shootouts and board meetings, Rosenberg finds some time for a little levity in his script like when Maxine visits Grifter in the hospital to see if he got his dick shot off. Scenes like this make the cast of the book more endearing and down to Earth and keeps things fun as WildC.A.T.s continues to introduce loads of more characters and concepts. But, as I said in my review of the first issue, Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia do an excellent job of showing why you should actually care about some of the more obscure Wildstorm characters and don’t require a knowledge of old continuity even roasting it at times. Overall: 8.1 Verdict: Buy
Well, there you have it, folks. The reviews we didn’t quite get a chance to write. See you next week!
Please note that with some of the above comics, Graphic Policy was provided FREE copies for review. Where we purchased the comics, you’ll see an asterisk (*). If you don’t see that, you can infer the comic was a review copy. In cases where we were provided a review copy and we also purchased the comic you’ll see two asterisks (**).
