Ye Olde Iowa
12-29-2006, 10:59 AM
52 Week # 34
Written by Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and Grant Morrison
Art by Joe Bennett and Ruy Jose
Breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Origin by Mark Waid with Brian Bolland
It’s the final 52 of the year and, oh boy, is it an intense one. The issue opens with the new Suicide Squad (Plastique, Electrocutioner, Persuader, Captain Boomerang Jr., Count Vertigo, and Atom Smasher) attacking the Black Marvel at the behest of Amanda Waller. Some sinister happenings happen, leading to Osiris freaking out and tackling Persuader, quite literally, in half. Elsewhere, Infinity Inc. is duped by the Birds of Prey into allowing Steel a moment with Natasha, who informs her of the finitude of the Everyman Powers. Even further elsewhere, Clark Kent is interrogated by Luthor goons about the identity of Supernova, Renee spends some final moments with the Question, and Luthor prepares to leave 2006 with a bang as the issue comes to a close.
As per usual with 52, there is a lot going on here and this week, it’s almost all good. The writing team did an especially good job with Osiris, juxtaposing his innocence (when he speaks about the Teen Titans) against his destructive power (which mirrors Black Adam’s attack on Terra Man early in the series). At some point, I’d love to see more of Osiris’s time with the Titans, as I think it would be an interesting story to tell. The scene with Clark Kent was also well done, even though it was short; although it offers few clues to the identity of Supernova, it does show a more playful side of Clark while continuing to show Luthor as the evil one-track genius we know and love. The end of the issue is intriguing, with the Question’s death impending and Luthor’s finger on a trigger…needless to say, it looks like 2007 will be another exciting year.
Bennett does a great job on the art this issue. He has been one of the stronger artists in the rotation, but I think that this is his best issue. He does a great job building off of Giffen’s breakdowns during the countdown sequence and his work on the early parts of the issue featuring the Black Marvel family were superb. While it certainly wasn’t the best art I saw this week, its hard to find any faults in the strong pencils by Bennett this week.
The backup this week, featuring the origin of Zatanna with pencils by Brian Bolland was yet another strong point for the issue. Waid does a good job of recapping Zatanna’s career from her apprenticeship to Identity Crisis and beyond. A greater nod to Seven Soldiers would have been nice, but considering I’m only ¼ of the way through that storyline, I’m not really arguing. Bolland’s art is a strong as ever here, which makes me wish we could see him doing interiors on a regular DC book.
Story: A- One of the stronger issues story-wise for 52 in quite some time. The Black Marvel family continues to be the highlight of the book for me, but there is still a good balance amongst most of the storylines and this issue exemplifies that well while balancing four of them (Black Marvels, Renee/Question, Supernova, and the Everyman/Steel storylines).
Art: B+ Solid effort by Bennett that neither astonishes nor offends. Definitely one of the better penciled issues of the series.
Cover: B Simple and powerful, though a bit misleading considering the fact that we haven’t seen the Question die yet. Regardless, this is a good looking cover, though the subdued colors could have it being easily overlooked on the racks.
Origin: B+ A good recap by a strong artist, could we really ask for more? I think Zatanna has the possibility of being a breakout character for DC, so I’m glad to see her get some face time here since we’ve only seen her in a few random cameos (Detective Comics, Trials of Shazam, and Catwoman) since the OYL jump.
Written by Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, and Grant Morrison
Art by Joe Bennett and Ruy Jose
Breakdowns by Keith Giffen
Origin by Mark Waid with Brian Bolland
It’s the final 52 of the year and, oh boy, is it an intense one. The issue opens with the new Suicide Squad (Plastique, Electrocutioner, Persuader, Captain Boomerang Jr., Count Vertigo, and Atom Smasher) attacking the Black Marvel at the behest of Amanda Waller. Some sinister happenings happen, leading to Osiris freaking out and tackling Persuader, quite literally, in half. Elsewhere, Infinity Inc. is duped by the Birds of Prey into allowing Steel a moment with Natasha, who informs her of the finitude of the Everyman Powers. Even further elsewhere, Clark Kent is interrogated by Luthor goons about the identity of Supernova, Renee spends some final moments with the Question, and Luthor prepares to leave 2006 with a bang as the issue comes to a close.
As per usual with 52, there is a lot going on here and this week, it’s almost all good. The writing team did an especially good job with Osiris, juxtaposing his innocence (when he speaks about the Teen Titans) against his destructive power (which mirrors Black Adam’s attack on Terra Man early in the series). At some point, I’d love to see more of Osiris’s time with the Titans, as I think it would be an interesting story to tell. The scene with Clark Kent was also well done, even though it was short; although it offers few clues to the identity of Supernova, it does show a more playful side of Clark while continuing to show Luthor as the evil one-track genius we know and love. The end of the issue is intriguing, with the Question’s death impending and Luthor’s finger on a trigger…needless to say, it looks like 2007 will be another exciting year.
Bennett does a great job on the art this issue. He has been one of the stronger artists in the rotation, but I think that this is his best issue. He does a great job building off of Giffen’s breakdowns during the countdown sequence and his work on the early parts of the issue featuring the Black Marvel family were superb. While it certainly wasn’t the best art I saw this week, its hard to find any faults in the strong pencils by Bennett this week.
The backup this week, featuring the origin of Zatanna with pencils by Brian Bolland was yet another strong point for the issue. Waid does a good job of recapping Zatanna’s career from her apprenticeship to Identity Crisis and beyond. A greater nod to Seven Soldiers would have been nice, but considering I’m only ¼ of the way through that storyline, I’m not really arguing. Bolland’s art is a strong as ever here, which makes me wish we could see him doing interiors on a regular DC book.
Story: A- One of the stronger issues story-wise for 52 in quite some time. The Black Marvel family continues to be the highlight of the book for me, but there is still a good balance amongst most of the storylines and this issue exemplifies that well while balancing four of them (Black Marvels, Renee/Question, Supernova, and the Everyman/Steel storylines).
Art: B+ Solid effort by Bennett that neither astonishes nor offends. Definitely one of the better penciled issues of the series.
Cover: B Simple and powerful, though a bit misleading considering the fact that we haven’t seen the Question die yet. Regardless, this is a good looking cover, though the subdued colors could have it being easily overlooked on the racks.
Origin: B+ A good recap by a strong artist, could we really ask for more? I think Zatanna has the possibility of being a breakout character for DC, so I’m glad to see her get some face time here since we’ve only seen her in a few random cameos (Detective Comics, Trials of Shazam, and Catwoman) since the OYL jump.