This Is Art, Kids!

Hey, I’m back! This second wave of books to be canceled was only four books deep. They are all 12 issue(plus an issue #0) runs, so maybe the extra issues helped this lot to develop into better books. Let’s get right to it!

Captain Atom

by

J.T Krul and Freddie E. Williams

Captain Nathaniel Adam is involved in an accident that changes his whole molecular structure. With this newfound power, and seemingly omniscience, can he manage to hold onto his humanity?

Story:

This books was pretty enjoyable. Captain Atom is the Charleston character that Dr. Manhattan is based off of and this is sort of an Elsewheres Dr. Manhattan story. It an homage to a character that is an homage to an earlier version of the same character. Homageception!

I like how Krul deals with the Atom’s struggle to keep his humanity and the glimpses of what could happen if he lets it slip away. There’s some really great introspective work here!

Art:

The art is pretty friggin rad here. The panel layouts are super inventive and the glow on Capatain Atom really pops! It’s been a real pleasure to look at this book. I will definitely look out for more by Freddie E Williams.

Did It Deserve Better?

Yeah, I think so. There was a clear path that the book was headed too and it seems like they wrapped it up way too quickly. A lot of potential here and I was kinda sad to see it end.

Ressurection Man

by

Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Fernando Dagnino and others

Mitch Shelley can’t stop coming back to life. Upon every death, he is revived with a new power. He is on a quest to figure out the source of his powers, but Heaven and Hell are both looking to have his soul!

Story:

The story has some interesting beats to it, but the dialogue is pretty bland and the characters are not very engaging. The heaven and hell stuff kinda just fades into the background way too quickly as well. I can’t say I enjoyed this very much.

Art:

Dagnino’s art is disgusting and that is saying a lot for a comic book. It has your prerequisite girls in skimpy clothing for no reason(How do these clothes even protect them in battle?) and it has a surprising amount of up skirt shots(More than zero is too many.). I’m not a fan of the way his art seems to objectify these characters that are supposed to be warriors.

Did It Deserve Better?

Nope. The plot could have gone in more interesting ways, but the character’s whole gimmick is kinda boring to begin with. I’ve never been a fan of near invincible characters, it takes a lot of stakes of the narrative. I was kinda shocked at how humorless this was, especially coming from Abnett and Lanning.

Voodoo

by

Ron Marz(1-4),Joshua Williamson(5-12,0), and Sam Basri

Is She a hero? Is She a monster? Priscilla Kitaen is on the run from shadowy agents. She must find out who she is and what she plans to do with that information

Story:

It’s a cross between a scifi and thriller here at least for the first half. There is a writer change and a slight tonal change after Ron Marz leaves the book at issue 4. The mystery is kinda engaging at first, but the stuff with the Daemonites turns the book into this Wildstorm style 90’s adventure. The integration of these Wildstorm characters seems kinda forced and it doesn’t really work with the DC Universe.

Art:

The art is fine. It very much looks like any competently drawn 90’s comic, that is to say unspectacular and perfunctory. The design of the Daemonite leader is particularly bad though.

Did It Deserve Better?

No. It kinda devolves into crossover city by then end and it seems like the book is co written by a bunch of editors to include more New 52 brand synergy stuff. Maybe the writer change so early meant that this book stood no chance?

Justice League International

by

Dan Jurgens, Aaron Loprestri, Various Artists.

Justice League International is a group of superheroes brought together by the UN to foster a better realtionship between the government and the superhero community. Can these heroes work together and save the day? Yeah, sometimes I think writing my own synopsis’ is a mistake.

Story:

The first six issues is tremendous fun and is very remminscent of Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis’ JLI run. The ensemble works well together and it’s just a lot of fun superhero stuff. The second arc gets darker though and isn’t really about much else besides how dark it is.

Art:

The art is just solid capes stuff overall. Loprestri handles the fight scenes very well. The characters all seem to have just about the right amount of weight to them. Nothing mind blowing, mind you, but solid.

Did It Deserve Better?

I feel like maybe it could have bounced back, but the tonal shift was so sudden and so poorly done that I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed another 6-12 issues like that. Maybe another pivot was planned, but it didn’t look that way. I’m going to go with a soft no on this one.

Another four down and damn that was harder. These series all got 12 issues and it becomes kind of a grind when you have to read a year’s worth of stores from a book you aren’t digging. I’m starting to think that maybe The New 52 was a mistake?