CR Review: 3 Superhero Comics

Dynamo 5 #2
Creators: Jay Faerber, Mahmud A Asrar, Ron Riley, Charles Pritchett
Publishing Information: Image, comic book, 28 pages, April 2007, $3.50
Ordering Numbers: FEB071905 (Diamond)

What little I've seen discussed about the superhero comic book Dynamo 5 indicates a two-pronged sales appeal: its high concept of illegitimate children of a superhero inheriting one power each and taking his place, and its employment of a simpler, old-school type of superhero storytelling. It's the latter aspect that dominates upon a first reading, and not in a good way. Issue #2 reads like every nondescript superhero comic book that came out in 1996. From its declarative, overwrought dialog that would seem out of place on the most broadly-played television show to its generic scene and background work that provide nothing in the way of a distinct sense of place to its saucy exchanges between its blandly good-looking leads, Dynamo 5 should be familiar to every reader of a comic book since the middle 1970s. Unlike Robert Kirkman's Invincible, where the central plot twist was buried in an affectionate take on solid storytelling values only to be revealed a year or so in, Dynamo 5's conceit is right up front, a talking point that is re-emphasized in the book in frequently unnatural ways. One character even tells another that she's the kind of attractive lady with whom he spends social time except for the fact she's his sister, which hits the required story point in workmanlike fashion and brings with it the additional oomph of being gross.

In issue #2 we meet a couple of supporting characters and follow the leads as they complain about their situation, go on patrol, say mostly innocuous but lusty things (think David Leisure or Richard Kline) and fight a generic monster-creature guy. Honestly, I could barely tell the characters apart. I remember there's one that sports a ludicrous amount of muscles but the psychic powers, in what I'm sure some folks will think is a terrific twist on comic book stereotypes. That kind of thing just bores me, much like the rest of the book does. I'm past soap opera and the application of powers and smarmy lines and tight costumes and fight scenes and characters that talk alike and rooms that look much the same. I'm certain as funky and morose and complicated as many superhero books are these days that Dynamo 5 might appeal to a certain fan base, one for whom these ideas work or at least provide comfort and entertainment on a level they've come to appreciate. It may find an audience among those experiencing this kind of comic book for the first time. But it's not executed with enough skill to keep my interest. Any random issue of X-Force or Teen Titans or Gen 13 you can find in a discount box for less than this issue's $3.50 would bring with it the same entertainment value.

*****

Amazons Attack! #1
Creators: Will Pfeifer, Pete Woods
Publishing Information: DC Comics, comic book, 32 pages, April 2007, $2.99

Reading the first issue of the latest DC mini-series Amazons Attack! hit me in two different ways. The first was that I felt like I was trying to catch up to the rest of a story that either took place in another comic or was simply being ignored due to some whim of modern comic storytelling. Wonder Woman's people, the Amazons of Paradise Island (well, traditionally that's where they're from; I'm not 100 percent certain what the current plotlines say) attack the city of Washington D.C. This visually promising larger than life incident as depicted looks more like they've attacked a stage set of Washington, D.C. where a couple of hundred people live. This includes the President, who makes his home in a White House of super-spacious hallways where apparently no one else works or lives. There's a lot of patented new-style superhero plot chat and general talking (the book is handsome and well-scripted) shoehorned in between the intermittent and extremely orderly violence outside. These transitions prove more and more disorienting as they accumulate; they lend an air of cheap, artificial play-acting to the whole affair.

The second thing that struck me here was how horrifically awful and historically serious the actions shown would be if you step even just a couple of inches away from comic book reality. An invading force gutting tourists on the National Mall, beheading the statue of Abraham Lincoln and blowing up a few key seat-of-power buildings would seriously traumatize everyone in the country for the next dozen years, and reset reality as we know it. Despite what I'm guessing is the usual round of promises from the good folks involved, I don't see anyone remembering these things in significant fashion six months from now. Maybe a re-set button will be involved, or maybe it will just fade when a bigger event comes along, but there's something cynical and kind of fundamentally unpleasant about balancing the usual superhero comic plot-driven backstage drama with a casual and brutal body count.

*****

Justice Society of America #5
Creators: Geoff Johns, Fernando Pasarin
Publishing Information: DC Comics, comic book, 32 pages, April 2007, $2.99
Ordering Numbers:

The oddest thing about Justice Society of America #5 is that artist Fernando Pasarin draws nearly every male with broad shoulders, a wide torso and an impressively bulging... six-pack of abs. I'm not kidding. Once it gets into your head, the muscle definition on the characters is such you spend more time worrying about the impending failure of our heroes' kidneys than you do whatever bad guy they happen to be facing at the moment. It might not have been noticeable except that there's a two-page spread of life-sized Legion of Super-Heroes statues, where everyone but the extreme body types (Blok, Bouncing Boy) is sporting slight variations on that same, odd design. That moment, and the occasional quirk like a depiction of Arkham Asylum as both a high-tech hospital and an old-fashioned European dungeon, threw me right out of the book. I mean, I wasn't in too deep to begin with, but I had to blink and shake my head before diving back in, which can't be the effect they're looking for.

Justice Society of America #5 is two team-up installments featuring JSA team members grouped with big icons from the Justice League of America as they split up and perform individual missions -- the kind of thing Mike Sekowsky and Gardner Fox would do in four pages. The mystery being investigated revolves around the Legion of Super-Heroes, the future teen superheroes that have since the 1980s struggled through multiple reboots and ongoing tension between serving old and finding new fans. It feels like nothing happens, and in the Superman half of the comic book, nothing does. That half belongs to some nostalgic talk that seems generally designed to show how neat a guy Superman is in that even teen girls love him. If he were an actor, you'd suspect Superman of having written this scene himself.

I guess Justice Society of America #5 is what passes for a perfectly serviceable comic book now: it has some action, it has a lot of talk, it has a few character moments, it spends a significant amount of time convincing you of the awesomeness of its characters, it rewards the longtime reader. It's only when you look at it a bit more closely that you begin to wonder how much is work from the gut that makes a seamless whole, and how much is held together with strings, duct tape and someone's deep affection for the cartoon icons of their youth.

*****

As superhero comic books from two giant publishers, all three books should be widely available in the Direct Market of comic book shops and hobby stores.
 
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