Panels Without Borders: Five

I feel that the current version of the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES is an odd book. I have trouble putting my finger on to it as exactly why that is the case and even though I have recently finished issue number five I am still debating with myself as to whether I enjoyed it or not.

I don’t think that it is because the direction the new artistic team are going in is totally different than from the previous one. Legion fans have been subjected to compete revisions before and the title has survived to fight another day, albeit a future day.

I know that it is not the quality of the aforementioned artistic team. Waid, Kitson and Thibert have all shown themselves more than capable of turning in great work in the past and the standard here is better than some other books that I have bought recently.

Perhaps it’s this whole superpower cult following thing that’s bothering me because in my mind it just doesn’t seem like the Legion. I have no trouble with the youth rebelling against authority bit and this group have always been mavericks but this direction just feels wrong.

The previous run of this book had the group beating Darksied to save the Universe. I don’t think this incarnation of the team, even though it is supposed to be the same characters, would be up to the same challenge.

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SUPREME POWER number 16 is an average comic. I feel that Straczynski is a writer whose quality fluctuates. Sometimes you get wonderful and sometimes you get competent and the latter work showed up in the comic this time.

This was not through any lack of text however because J.Michael typed a lot of it and in one particular page I thought I was reading a novel or perhaps it was an homage to that famous all words issue of Howard the Duck.

To be fair, the overall plot did advance a bit and we learned a lot more about the Generals motivation but I still felt a bit bored when I finished the story.

Gary Frank’s art has been a favourite of mine since I first saw it years ago and I have no complaints with it this time either.

There have been much better issues of this title and I am sure here will be in the future.

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The NEW AVENGERS are continuing to improve and issue five had some very good parts in it. I personally don’t think that Wolverine and Spider-Man are suited to this team but I don’t expect Bendis to have the two of them still there after the books first anniversary.

The story is set in the Savage Land and Marvel internal writing rules means it is obligatory that you must have either Ka-Zar or Sauron make an appearance. This time it was Sauron and he was suitably bad but came to a quick sticky end, dispatched by the true surprise villains of the piece.
Iron Man really kicked ass this time even though he was naked for several pages. In fact all of the Avengers were in their birthday suits but they still managed to save the day. This just shows why they are the major superhero team of the Marvel universe.

Bendis still has a way with words and a team book particularly suits his style. Finch turns in his usual tight job and the Danny Miki inking is fine. The only thing that jars in this book for me is the colour palette. I had no problem with it being dark in the opening issues of this book set in the prison but I wish things were a bit brighter now. Still it’s a minor flaw in a great comic.

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The countdown to the Infinite Crisis continues in the first issue of a new limited series: DAY OF VENGEANCE. Its always good to see Ragman, who is our guide in this tale, and I have always liked this Joe Kubert creation although some of the other writers who handled his subsequent tales did not do him any great service.

Ragman discovers that the Spectre is destroying all magic because he believes that it will finally rid mankind of all evil. This is a problem because the Spectre is the most powerful character in the D.C universe and it’s extremely hard to stop him. You would need an exceptional hero to do the job. So of course the first one you would turn to in this situation would be Detective Chimp. No really, this character from the Golden age of comics makes an appearance and is hilarious.

This comic is a treat. Well written and illustrated with an interesting story plus we get to meet the new version of Eclipso. It’s well worth picking up and I really look forward to read what happens next.

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The best comic of the week for me was the first issue of JON SABLE FREELANCE. It’s been along time since Grell’s work was as good as this. If I tell you that the standard here is as good or even better that the first ten issues of the original run then you will know that you are in for a treat. Buy this comic. You will not be disappointed.

Panelologist