Faster than a DC Bullet: All-New All-Different DC, Part XI: Blue Beetle: Reach for the Stars

Comic trade paperback, 166 pages
Published 2008 (contents: 2007)
Borrowed from the library
Read March 2017

Blue Beetle: Reach for the Stars

Writers: John Rogers, J. Torres, Keith Giffen

Pencillers: Rafael Albuquerque, David Baldeon, Freddie Williams II
Inkers: Rafael Albuquerque, Steve Bird, Dan Davis
Colorist: Guy Major 
Letterers: Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau

Yesssss. Blue Beetle is still the quintessential teen superhero book, as John Rogers shows all lesser writers how to balance character, humor, superheroics, and teen angst. Road Trip ended on a cliffhanger, with Blue Beetle making first contact with the alien Reach, responsible for the creation of his mysterious scarab; Reach for the Stars follows that up with a series of standalone one-issue stories, as Jaime tries to convince others that the Reach isn't what it seems. I wish more writers followed Rogers's approach: his done-in-ones are perfect at balancing individual story and character beats with the ongoing plots and narratives of the series, meaning that this slim volume feels like it does more than many fatter comic collections.

The book features a lot of tie-ins to the larger DC universe, with appearances by Guy Gardner and Ultra-Humanite, Superman and Livewire, Traci 13 (the Architects did keep their promise in Architecture & Mortality and fold her into the post-52 universe), Bruce Wayne/Batman, Lobo and the Teen Titans, and Giganta (not sure how her operating as a mercenary here fits with her being a professor at Ivy University in The All New Atom, but maybe I'll find out). These are well-done crowd-pleasers: who doesn't like Paco and Brenda quibbling over the belly shirts all the female members of the Titans wear?

Batman might knock Guy out in one punch, but Jaime's mother doesn't even need one.
from Blue Beetle vol. 8 #14 (script by John Rogers, art by Rafael Albuquerque)

But where John Rogers and his collaborators always excel are the moments of character. A real highlight is a story where Jaime must stop a storm-creating supervillain from devastating a coastal Mexican community. His suit lets him know how many life-signs are active in the community, leading to this devastating page:

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Gotham, Part V: Batman: The Man Who Laughs

Comic trade paperback, 141 pages
Published 2008 (contents: 2003-05)
Borrowed from the library
Read November 2014

Batman: The Man Who Laughs

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Pencillers: Doug Mahnke, Patrick Zircher
Inkers: Doug Mahnke, Aaron Sowd, Steve Bird

Colorists: David Baron, Jason Wright
Letterers: Rob Leigh, Todd Klein

Year One, November - Year Nineteen, May
Ed Brubaker collaborated with Greg Rucka on Gotham Central: Jokers and Madmen, which is the best Joker story in my opinion, so I was looking forward to seeing his take on the character's first meeting with Batman here. Unfortunately, the slim story told here doesn't really impress. It would be fine as one of any number of confrontations between Batman and the Joker, but I came away with no insight into their dynamic. What makes the Joker the greatest of the Batman's foes? From this story, I have no idea; it doesn't seem like he'd leave any more of a mark than Hugo Strange or the Scarecrow. It comes across as a fannish box-ticking exercise that was left better off unticked until someone had a better idea.

To fill out this volume, there's also "Made of Wood," a three-issue Detective Comics tale set almost two decades later, about Batman, Gordon, and Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern. Not amazing, but a competently-executed, thoroughly-enjoyable procedural. I don't know why it was collected with The Man Who Laughs, but I guess I'm glad it was.

Next Week: Three of Batman's greatest foes plus Man-Bat emerge on the Gotham scene in Four of a Kind!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part V: Green Arrow: City Walls

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2004)
Borrowed from the library
Read July 2009

Green Arrow: City Walls

Writer: Judd Winick
Pencillers: Phil Hester, Manuel Garcia
Inkers: Ande Parks, Steve Bird
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterers: Sean Konot, Clem Robins

Another decent installment in the ongoing saga of the Green Arrow. The real highlight of this volume is Oliver's relationship with Mia, who seems to be growing up despite his best efforts. They have to hack it out over both Oliver's infidelity and her desire to take a more active role in crimefighting; the latter of these reaches an excellent climax, and I look forward to seeing what is done with this in future volumes. The main plot of the book, a group of overly legalistic demons taking over and sealing off Star City, is a good one, though I think the pacing is off a bit; one less chapter of eventually-irrelevant buildup about the Joker, and one more chapter about the heroes trying to hold together their coalition army of cops and criminals would have been better. Oh, and the short story that opens the volume with Connor Hawke bonding with Roy Harper manages to be utterly cliche and unfunny. And it's contradicted by the main story, which states that Roy is still so injured as to be in hospital. Some good art could save it, but for the first time in these GA volumes, we get someone other than Phil Hester and Ande Parks on art duties (though they're back for the main story, and as good as ever, of course), and Manuel Garcia has no ability to draw attractive faces.