World Comic Book Review

19th March 2024

The Flash #1 (review)

The Flash #1 (review)
(DC Comics, September 2016)
Writer: Joshua Williamson

This title is one of the host of new releases from DC Comics as part of the “Rebirth” event by which the publisher engages in one of its periodic continuity replenishments, the first of which occurred in 1959. The Flash, as the name suggests, is an unimaginably fast superhero. On the front cover of this first issue, the masked face of the Flash is caught mid-stride, the edge of his hand at the zenith of its swing, a jaunty wave to the reader. The mouth is not set with the stereotypical gritted teeth of a crime fighter: instead, the Flash has a slight smile. It is the return of an old friend.

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Green Lanterns #1 and #2 (review)

Green Lanterns #1 and #2 (review)
(DC Comics, June 2016)
Writers: #1 =Geoff Johns and Sam Humphries
#2 – Sam Humphries

The comic book characters known as and featuring in the new title “Green Lanterns” are, in American comic book publisher DC Comics’ mythology, a corps of interstellar peacekeepers, their numbers derived from various alien species. Each Green Lantern is armed with a ring capable of translating thought into plasma constructions. The concept remains fresh even though it was (re-)formulated in 1959 (there was another, non-science fiction version dating back to 1940).

We have written about two “Green Lantern” comics before (Parallax Error and Edge of Oblivion) with disparaging conclusions. This review is no different in tone, although on this occasion we concentrate upon the broader, systemic flaws of one of the writers, Geoff Johns, rather than the editorial failure in conceptual delivery we described previously.

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Justice League #50: The Broken Springboard

Justice League #50 (review)
(DC Comics, May 2016)
Writer: Geoff Johns

As the fiftieth issue of this title, American publisher DC Comics have published an extra long issue, concluding an ongoing story line entitled “The Darkseid War”.

The Justice League are a collection of DC Comics’ principal character assets, teamed-up and pitted against various threats in what is now many decades of stories. For reasons not explained in the issue but which have apparently unfolded in earlier issues of Justice League, some of the Justice League’s members are imbued with the powers of the New Gods. The New Gods were a concept created for DC Comics by legendary American comics writer Jack Kirby in 1971. The characters comprising the New Gods each have a separate and distinctive set of superpowers.

In this single issue, the superheroes face a panoply of threats:

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The Autumnlands Volume 1: Tooth and Claw (review)

The Autumnlands Volume 1: Tooth and Claw (review)
Writer: Kurt Busiek
(Image Comics, July 2015)

Talking animals as the protagonists for adventures for children have a long tradition. In the twentieth century, this manifested sometimes as the printed extension of cartoons (Disney’s Mickey Mouse, and the Looney Tunes characters of Warner Bros), or as serialized comic strips (Snoopy, Calvin and Hobbes) which have usually been read as collected works. Talking animals are an absurdity and accordingly the adventures of such characters tend to be comedic (thus, “comic” books).

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