The Art of the Panel

Geoff Johns wanted to make an epic beat-em-up and did so, juicing the core members of the Justice League with god-like powers and pitting them against the likes of Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor. It was a fun premise that led to a lot of action, and closed out the Crime Syndicate arc, and finished up the New 52 run. There were a lot of positives. The problem is everyone on the panel gets a power boost, which nullifies anything special that would come from them. This only leads to one or two interesting explorations of character (Batman and Green Lantern) but otherwise just put the usual members on steroids. Others get no power boost, like Cyborg, and become effectively useless for the rest of the story. On top of that, there is too much narration from Wonder Woman. Narration is a hit-or-miss feature in comics, but it needs to have a purpose in the actual story and not feel like the author is putting their kids to bed after the fact. This lands in the latter area. It's a fun read, ...

The sequel to the surprise hit, Injustice: Gods Among Us and the respective tie-in to its video game counterpart, Injustice 2 is a smash ensemble series that picks up the story about a year after the conclusion of the first video game. Superman, one of the main characters of the first arc, is in prison, and no, there are no breakouts or incidents involving him that would lessen the impact of Batman eventually letting him free in the game to help fight Brainiac. Here, he is relegated largely to a guest character. The main villain is, instead, Ras Al Ghul. Unlike the first series, Injustice 2 is written with a physical publication in mind, and the artwork is far more consistent. Artists would get select mini-arcs within the story rather than one issue at a time, which allowed them to put the spins they needed on characters and better understand the plots of what they were drawing and coloring. Tom Taylor is back as writer and brings his usual selection of talents (see older posts for r...

Marvels was a novel perception of the idea of the superhero by Kurt Busiek and illustrated by the legendary Alex Ross. Following the eagle-eyed camera of Phil Sheldon, the events of the Marvel universe are recreated in chronological order, stemming the gold and silver-age of comics. The focus of the miniseries is not about the heroes themselves, but how the public feels about them. It's a theme that isn't usually given a lot of attention. How does the everyday citizen respond to the appearance of superpowered beings? The fear and adoration that would bring, along with the constant danger to one's life if they live in New York City, is immeasurable. In Sheldon's case, it brings obsession, but others yield frustration and anger. Each individual has an instinctive reaction to an impending threat, a fight or flight response, but what if the world is about to end and everything is literally out of your hands? Then you sit and you watch someone else and you pray. That's...

The setup to Siege was an outlandish affair, where Norman Osborn recruited a team of super-villains to take the place of the most notorious team of masked heroes in the Marvel universe. Brian Michael Bendis expertly crafted the kind of interactions that would occur were eight mentally unstable people thrown into a room and told to save the world. At the head of it all is Osborn, who is trying to hold it together inside as he vies for total control over the American populace and simultaneous public adoration. Not the easiest thing to achieve for the former Green Goblin. Osborn preaches patriotism, something he literally slaps onto his discount-Iron Man armor. Such are the running gags of the series. Osborn wants to succeed Tony Stark and show everyone he is the better protector and leader, but he keeps coming up short when held into comparison to Stark's previous achievements. His hair is ridiculed (and Bendis never does reveal how he makes his iconic 'sideways dreadlocks'...

The role of the everyday-man superhero in Marvel had always been Spider-Man's, but in 2012 Matt Fraction and David Aja teamed up to write a tale about one of Marvel's more subtle heroes that gave the webslinger a run for his money. The fourth attempt at a running Hawkeye series turned the purple archer into a frustrated man trying to pay his rent, which wound up getting him involved with a spunky teenager who might be a better archer than him, a Russian mafia known for their iconic red Adidas tracksuits, a dog known for its love for pizza, and a battle against every criminal underboss in New York. Fraction hilariously writes a story of what it's like to try and have a stable home life while working a 9-5 in New York City and does so from the perspective of an Avenger, which is an impressive feat. The most remarkable thing about Hawkeye as a character is how utterly unremarkable he is. He doesn't have superpowers, heck he doesn't even know how to set up a DVR. He b...

It will be interesting to see how much longer Tom Taylor can maintain his status as underrated amongst the comic readership community if it is even still there. He certainly has the industry's respect, garnering prominent attention from his work with Injustice and Injustice 2 , and some of the better War of the Realms spinoffs. DC finally gave him an opportunity to head his own major story with DCeased, and he delivered a gem. It is challenging to make zombie material in any kind of medium due to how well-treaded of a grounds the genre truly is.  Countless movies, video games, and novels release every year, which causes fan fatigue. What other angles are there really to explore? Taylor heeds the call, takes the DC universe, and adds an emotional gravitas not really seen with a zombie-related comic since Robert Kirkman's infamous  The Walking Dead. He makes the reader care about the characters appearing on-panel, which can be hard to do in a story that blends sci-fi and horro...

The Infinity Gauntlet represented a different time for comic books. Though the shift towards modern comics had begun, harkened onwards by titles like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns , the writing in the 1990s still remained largely outlandish with campy interior monologuing and over-the-top setpieces that pushed the realms of imagination and power scope into that of an anime. Jim Starlin's 1991 hit proved to be no exception, the infamous storyline where the mad titan Thanos uses six infinity gems (later renamed stones due to the mythos of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) to eliminate half of all life in the universe. Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past three years should find this premise immediately recognizable, as it was used as the punchline for the insanely popular movies  Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame . Thanos does acquire all six gems/stones and does eradicate half of all life, but the similarities between comic and movie end there. The pow...

One of the most marketed runs of all time, The Death of Superman was a response to fan reception, a statement by DC comics that nobody in life is invincible and people shouldn't be taken for granted. The series, broken into three (then, retrospectively, five) parts, indicates the importance Superman has not just within the DC universe but as a cultural icon as well. Reign of the Supermen brought in four imposters of Clark Kent, each one meant to represent a part of the whole. Steel was a visualization of the "Man of Steel" moniker, and also represented Superman's humanity. In contrast, Eradicator was supposed to portray his Kryptonian part, particularly his status as the "last son of Krypton". Cyborg Superman, the antagonist of the series, was the "man of tomorrow" and also the power portion. Superboy represented Metropolis and the people. Each of the Supermen was powerful in their own right, but none of them could properly replace the characte...