Comic Review: Doomsday Clock

Published: November 22nd, 2017 – December 18th, 2019
Written by: Geoff Johns
Art by: Gary Frank, Brad Anderson
Based on: Watchmen by Alan Moore

DC Comics, 456 Pages

Review:

Well, Doomsday Clock has finally ended! This twelve issue series wasn’t supposed to stretch out for over two years but it did. I’m glad that I didn’t start reading it until it was over, as I would’ve forgotten all the details due to the delays and the dozens of other comics I would’ve read between each issue.

Now that it’s all out, I finally read it: binging through it in two days.

I guess my first thoughts on it are that it is underwhelming and that it doesn’t justify its need to exist.

I had always been against new Watchmen stories without the involvement of Alan Moore. My mind changed, however, when I read some of the Before Watchmen stories from a couple years ago.

They made me see Watchmen the same way I see other comic book properties and that’s as a sort of modern mythology that is told and retold by countless others, each bringing something new and unique to the table. Superman and Batman have had countless writers and many of them have evolved and grown the character in great ways beyond their original concept. Granted, some writers have gravely failed too.

Generally, I like Geoff Johns’ work, so I wan’t against the idea of him tackling the Watchmen property.

Ultimately, though, this took too long to come out, especially with how sloppily put together it feels.

This is one of those stories where it feels like a lot happened but also like nothing happened.

It tries to merge the Watchmen universe with the DC universe but it doesn’t work. But I’m also over the crossover trope of using inter-dimensional portals or a superbeing that basically acts as a super-dimensional portal. That being said, I don’t know how else to bring these universes together but that also makes me ask why they had to try it in the first place?

Watchmen is very much its own thing, as is DC. Hell, Marvel is also its own thing in that same regard and whenever they tried to crossover Marvel and DC, which happened multiple times, it always felt forced, clunky and weird.

The only real highlight of this was seeing how certain characters from different universes would interact with one another but honestly, none of it was as cool as I felt it should have been and it all felt pretty pointless and made me realize how bad the Rebirth era of DC Comics has been – well, for the most part, as I liked some titles in the last few years.

In the end, this doesn’t feel any different than one of any of the dozen indie publisher crossovers that pit Green Lanterns against Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Star Trek crews or the apes from Planet of the Apes. While those crazy crossovers are neat to a point, they’ve been done to death in recent years. And despite this being better written and having better art than the other franchise mashups, it feels like DC Comics were really late to the party and didn’t even realize that it was over.

Rating: 6/10
Pairs well with: Watchmen and the Before Watchmen stuff, as well as just about everything under the DC Rebirth banner.

Comic Review: Justice League Odyssey: Ghost Sector

Published: September 26th, 2018 – January 30th, 2019
Written by: Joshua Williamson
Art by: Stjepan Sejic, Phil Briones, Jeromy Cox, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Ivan Plascencia

DC Comics, 137 Pages

Review:

I was a bit saddened when Green Lanterns ended its run a few months back, as I was really digging Jessica Cruz’s story arc over the duration of 50-plus issues. But luckily for me, she joined this team, which is actually a really cool mash up of characters that currently don’t have much else going on.

This teams up Cruz with Cyborg, Starfire and Azrael. It also brings in Darkseid, who has a hand in the events that transpire. Is he a protagonist or an antagonist? You do find out by the end of this five issue story but it all plays out really well and this has been one of the more engaging comic books currently being published.

This story doesn’t have a definitive conclusion but it helps to build up this series and it looks to be promising something bigger on the horizon. It does have a nice cliffhanger reveal which opens the door for a more serious threat than what was first apparent.

I like this mix of characters, they have a good dynamic and I will continue to keep reading this, assuming it doesn’t go off the rails at some point.

The art is solid, even if it does have different people working on it issue to issue. It needs to find a consistent art team but at least the styles have meshed well thus far.

I love cosmic stories, which is why I have been a big Green Lantern fan since the beginning of the Geoff Johns era. This continues that tradition well, even if Cruz is the only Lantern here. But seeing her removed from the Corps and working with a new group of allies is also pretty intriguing and it is something that her character needed if she is going to evolve into something more than just another human Lantern.

Rating: 7.75/10
Pairs well with: other recent DC Comics cosmic stuff like the recently ended Green Lanterns series.

Comic Review: Aquaman, Vol. 2: Black Manta Rising

Published: April 18th, 2017
Written by: Dan Abnett
Art by: Phil Briones

DC Comics, 207 Pages

Review:

Since I enjoyed the first collected volume of Dan Abnett’s run on Aquaman, I had to pick up and read the second one almost immediately.

This picks up right where the previous one ended and it actually feels like it’s just the second half of the same story, which sees Aquaman have to deal with a conspiracy that is instigating war between Atlantis and the United States. Black Manta is the main force behind this plot and his appearances, thus far in Abnett’s run, shows just how great of a villain Black Manta is.

Overall, this is a really good collection of issues. It even features the old school villain the Shaggy Man.

It is a pretty long collection, though. At least when compared to more recent DC Comics trade paperback releases. So I guess you get your money’s worth. But this did feel a bit too drawn out in the middle. Then again, every comic book series need some filler issues to add context and develop characters.

A lot of that context had to deal with Mera trying to find out who was behind the conspiracy. The thing is, the audience already knows so the big reveal to the heroes doesn’t mean much for the reader. My only real complaint is that there was too much time devoted to this part of the story, which lacked tension and suspense, as we were already aware of the secret plot and the conspirators.

Regardless of that, this is still pretty action packed and it upped the ante from where this series started, which was with a big bang.

I’m loving Abnett’s work on Aquaman and Phil Briones’ art is top notch.

This is a damn good read. We even get to see the Justice League show up to assist in the Atlantean drama.

Rating: 8.75/10
Pairs well with: anything from Dan Abnett’s glorious run on Aquaman, as well as the Drowned Earth crossover event.

Comic Review: Green Lanterns: Evil’s Might

Published: July 4th, 2018 – October 17th, 2018
Written by: Dan Jurgens, Tim Seeley
Art by: Mike Perkins, Andy Troy, various

DC Comics, 206 Pages

Review:

This eight-part arc came out pretty quickly, as it was released bi-weekly after the recent Green Lanterns annual. While I prefer Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps a bit more, I do like the characters in this title as well. But really, both the current Green Lantern titles share a lot of the same core characters anyway. This one just has a lot of focus on Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz, who, until recently, weren’t major characters in the same vein as Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner. But with the Corps being so massive, it’s always welcome to see the focus switch to other characters.

This story arc is found in Green Lanterns issues 50 through 57.

I’m not sure if there has been a Green Lantern story like this before but the big thing here is that the Lanterns’ rings become unreliable. They are given bad advice and played against one another. This is an easy weakness to exploit given the means to do it and the villain here does just that. The reveal of who the villain is in this story was a big surprise and it doesn’t even come until the end of the fourth issue. If you don’t want that part of the story spoiled, stop reading here.

Anyway, the big bad in this is the Cyborg Superman a.k.a. Hank Henshaw. He has acquired the Phantom Ring, which is something we’ve never seen before. But he uses it to take control of the Green Lantern power battery, even though he is locked away in the Fortress of Solitude on Earth. Henshaw infects the power battery like a virus, infecting any ring that has since charged with it. Luckily, Hal Jordan hasn’t charged his ring in awhile and therefore wasn’t corrupted.

This story shows how reliant the Lanterns are on their rings and why that’s a bad thing. The Lanterns have to turn towards themselves to figure this out, as their weapon and trusted ally is no longer working on their side.

The big battles in this are great and it has a very similar vibe to the massive events the Green Lanterns fought in during the Geoff Johns run a decade ago. This really felt like a throwback to those stories, which is where I really fell in love with the Green Lantern mythos.

This was a solid finale to this ongoing series and closes things out with a big bang, as some of the key characters move on to different things.

Rating: 7.75/10
Pairs well with: All the current Green Lantern series, as well as the Geoff Johns era.