MISC. COMICS REVIEWS

These were a few DC/Marvel reviews that I wrote rather quickly, without even writing synopses.

Black Lightning #2:  2 chees.   The Good:  What other reviewers have said about this series.  The fact that BL lost the afro.  The Bad:  Although the gritty art style works for this book, I have not been a big fan of it.  Painkiller's powers seem as silly as his name.  The Bottom Line:  Sometimes reviews can lead you astray.  One important rule is that if you are not interested in the subject, even a quarter can be too much.

All-Star Squadron 18:  3 chees.   The Good: the origin of the Tarantula, and why his costume's the same as the Sandman's (virtually).  The death scene and afterwards are particularly touching.   The Bad: The blatant rip-off of two Marvel characters in the same book.  The bottom line: Gives a pretty good reason why ANYONE would wear a bright yellow-and-purple costume.

All-Star Squadron 19-20:  3 chees.  The Good: The end of issue 20, when Green Lantern realizes the horror of war. Seemed like the writer wanted to convey the same feeling FDR may have felt after Hiroshima.  The Bad: Seemed TOO much like the writer was drawing from real life - Hiroshima. Also, Brainwave's plot was a little weak... if all he had to do was kill one of the JSAers, he had ample opportunity to do so.  The bottom line: The story looked good on the covers but fell a little short on delivery. Good art by Ordway, though.

Transformers (1st series) #40:  3 1/2 chees.  The Good: The surprising good use of Optimus Prime as a character when it was apparent that he WASN'T coming back to life.  I really felt like his character finally had some strength to it, beyond culping with the morality of minor issues.  The Bad: The ending seemed forced, like the writer was trying to finish the story with an Autobot victory but ran out of pages to tell it.  I don't buy the turnaround as it was depicted.  The Bottom Line: Get issues 24, 41,42 for the complete look at Op's death and resurrection. Settle for 40 (better still, 42) if you are short on time.