"Flashdrive", parts 1, 2, and 3, by Derek Fridolfs (writer/inker), Jorge Corona (penciler), Nick Filardi (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) - Bruce has another cave under the reguler one, where he stores the corpses of super criminals, because Harvey Dent got a law passed that said he could, basically. This feels like it would run up against the same issues as Marvel's Super Hero Registration Act, namely, what constitutes a "super criminal". Also, the criminals may lose all rights, but what about any family or loved ones? Something to consider later.A fellow named Ronald Tagg has the ability to copy powers and memories of anyone or anything he touches, and he's been a busy boy down in the Vault. Hmm, if they're corpses, would their cells still have anything in them to download? Something else to consider later. Now he's on his way to the Flash Museum, and while he handles the Justice League pretty easily, he can't handle the new Flash, a young lady named Danica. Her connection to the Speed Force lets her communicate mentally with all the other Flashes, and she uses that to overwhelm Tagg's mind.
I'd like to see what Nguyen would have done with a speedster artistically, but oh well. Corona's OK, though there isn't any flow to the fights scenes. Most of it feels static. Also, he drew Mr. Miracle as being taller than Barda, which, no. Then again, Fridolfs wrote dialogue which suggests Barda likes for Scott to carry her (and that Barda didn't like Wally West), which again, NO. The story's a good intro to the new Flash, but other than that, it's pretty weak.
"10,000 Clowns: Conclusion", by Adam Beechen (writer), Norm breyfogle (artist), Andrew Elder (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) - Even working together, Grayson and Terry can't handle the Joker King. Because he's nuts, I guess. Dana rushes in and is taken hostage, Doug ranting about how he's won, he's gonna kill one more person, then Dana elbows him in the ribs and they both fall off the building. Terry catches her, Doug's foot gets tangled in a rope and his head hits a girder. Terry says they won, but Doug's corpse sure does look happy. Also, Undercloud's about to make their big play, which looks like it involves a robot I could swear I've seen in Metal Men.
The thing about villains like Doug, it's hard for me to care, because he's a petulant kid denying reality. If you stop him from killing his sister, or from killing you, well so what? He didn't need to do that anyway, man. If you keep any more of his followers from killing themselves, he doesn't care, because he'll claim it was a victory just getting them here. Even if you punched him out the second he left jail and threw him back in, he'd still claim he "won", because you had to waste time stopping him or something. He keeps moving the goalposts, and if he's going to keep doing that, eventually I'll stop caring. Punch him out and move on. If we accept everything is meaningless, then what he did is meaningless. People will eventually forget what he was after, if they even know. They'll rebuild, move on, and probably learn nothing from it. Ultimately he killed some people, but hell, everyone was gonna die someday, some way, so what did he accomplish?
"Legends of the Dark Knight: Dana", by Adam Beechen (writer), Peter Nguyen (penciler), Craig Yeung (inker), Andrew Elder (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) - Dana reflects on her childhood in the aftermath of her brother's death. There's a lot about Doug and her father fighting, her trying to ignore it all, and then she tells Terry and Bruce she knows their secret. Good luck with that one, Dana. Good news, they found a new liver for Mr. Wayne. Doug's. I suppose we should worry about what sort of Joker toxins might be in there, but Bruce had so many painkillers running through his system for so long, he probably wouldn't notice.The part I found most interesting was when Dana says that while Doug was in jail, she'd pretend she didn't have a brother. At the same time, she'd wonder whether she'd let him down somehow, like it was her fault. That seemed real, a kid simultaneously wanting to deny unpleasant truths, and to fix them. I'd prefer more of that, and less of Terry making up stories to protect the secret identity. Nguyen's artowrk looks stiff, people are kind of oddly shaped, faces lopsided at times. Maybe it's supposed to be more realistic, but there are only a few times Dana actually looks like she usually does. Elder also turned down the intensity of the colors for this part. Normally I'd be opposed to that, but it works pretty well for what's meant to be a period of decompression for the characters. The worst is over, now they have to regroup, reassess, so the adrenaline wears off and things get a bit duller.
"Judgment Day" and "A Gift From Above", by J.T. Krul (writer), Howard Porter (penciler), Livesay (inker), Carrie Strachan (colorist), Saida Temofonte (letterer) - Superman's been captured by the Trillians, and their leader promptly sets to torturing him for the masses. The lead scientist who captured Supes - really, it was Lobo - has doubts, especially when his kid asks if he can flip the switch next time. Tyro and Supes talk a bit, then the Mangals show up and rescue Superman, bringing him to their home in the forests. One is left behind, who Epoq starts torturing for the location of that home. Superman is busy learning that the reason the Mangals look so much bigger now is they were children when he last saw them. Because there were only children left. Because the Trillians killed all the adults.
I had thought this was going to be a story about the dangers of butting in without understanding the situation, as the U.S. frequently does, then leaving a big mess behind. It still might be, if Superman decides he really should have stuck around to help the Mangals and Trillians learn to work together without subjugation. That was going to be tricky, considering the Trillians had enslaved the Mangals, and outright denied they had the capacity to govern themselves, but I don't know, there might be a way to pull it off. Maybe a plague had struck the Mangals, the Trillians originally (generations ago) took them in to help, and that was lost over time? Maybe not.
However, once you introduce the idea that one group killed every single adult of the other group, that's out the window. At that point, I'm not wondering if Superman should have stuck around to help them work together, I'm wondering if he should have used his heat vision to burn every trace of the Trillians off that planet. Which is not a Superman thing to do, but that's where my mind went.
Best I can figure, Krul's trying to show us something about privilege. Tyro's not a bad guy, he doesn't approve of torture, worries that his son's excited by it. At the same time, he buys into the party line that the Mangals were basically meant to serve the Trillians, and that it was wrong of Superman to free them. Because it inconveniences Trillians (though their homes and cities look fine, people aren't afraid to gather in one place to watch a torturing. it's not '90s Kosovo or '80s Beirut). So Superman's going to have to convince the Trillians to change their perspective, I guess. Not sure how that'll work when they all hate his guts.
No comments:
Post a Comment