Joe Casey's Adventures of Superman Supplement: The Big Noise

Our Worlds at War Aftermath!: Casualties of War!: The Big Noise: "Rumble Face" / "Benediction Redux" / "Righteous Destroyer" / "The Final Solution"

Superman/Batman #68-71 (Mar.-June 2010)

Writer: Joe Casey
Co-Writer: Joshua Williamson
Pencils: Ardian Syaf and Jay Fabok 
Inks: Vicente Cifuentes, David Enebral, Norm Rapmund, Marlo Alquiza, Prentis Rollins, Rebecca Buchman, Derek Fridolfs, and Walden Wong
Colors: Ulises Arreola and Pete Pantazis
Letters: Rob Leigh
Assistant Editor: Rex Ogle
Editor: Eddie Berganza 

Joe Casey's return to his run on Adventures of Superman slots in, as far as I can tell, between issues #596 and 597 of his original run. The details seem to line up fine: Earth in general and Metropolis in particular are rebuilding in the wake of the Imperiex War, Luthor is president, the JLA uses a Watchtower on the moon, and so on. The discontinuity that I noted is that Superman's chest logo uses a yellow backing, rather than the black one he adopted in mourning in #596. Maybe it was felt that would be confusing to casual readers. Though if they were worried about casual readers, maybe they shouldn't have marketed it as a tie-in to an eight-year-old event. (I did like the retro trade branding on the cover, admittedly.)

Anyway, this is kind of a bog-standard Superman story with a not very important role for Batman that ultimately becomes terrible. So far in reading Casey's Adventures of Superman, I'd say we've moved between Big Events like Return to Krypton and Our Worlds at War (where Casey can't really cut loose, though he did manage a really good installment of All-Out War!) and intriguing one-issue stories like "Don't Cry for Me, Bialya" (#590) and "Shipbuilding" (#596). So I was interested to see what he might do with a four-issue story of his own devising.

from Superman/Batman #71
(script by Joe Casey, art by Jason Fabok and Prentis Rollins,
Rebecca Buchman, Derek Fridolfs, & Walden Wong)

The answer turns out to be: not much. Superman discovers the hijacker of the ruined ancient Kryptonian star destroyer is on Earth, a shapeshifting Durlan (of Invasion!, Legion, and L.E.G.I.O.N. fame) disguised as a secretive financial backer of S.T.A.R. Labs. The Daxamite, Anderson Gaines, sends a bounty hunter after Clark Kent. Superman fights the bounty hunter, Batman goes to space, Superman and Batman win. Somehow this all takes four issues. The dialogue is often terrible; the bounty hunter tells the robots guarding the Fortress of Solitude, "If you two are searching your database for any info on me, let me make it easy for you-- I'm filed under NRG-X! Next time you'll know." Later when NRG-X tells Superman he doesn't know the meaning of "surrender," Superman even calls out they've descended into cliché... but I think calling your bad superhero dialogue "cliché" is as much a cliché as writing it at this point. There are lots of big fight scenes with no creativity or interest to them.

The story sets up interesting ideas that go nowhere. Batman insists that since Gaines is battling like a traditional insurgent, they should use usual counterinsurgency tactics instead of bringing in the JLA. This is an okay idea, of Superman having to be more Batman-like in fighting a Superman threat that uses Batman-like tactics... but not much of interest is actually done with it. Gaines's "insurgency" is to send a flaming fire man after Superman; Batman's "counterinsurgency" is to lure Gaines into space. Genuine character work is pretty minimal.

from Superman/Batman #68 (script by Joe Casey,
art by Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes & David Enebral)

Plus the story has some weird dead ends. There's this whole thing in the first issue about how Clark interviews Garrison Slate, a redheaded reclusive S.T.A.R. Labs backer with bad facial hair... who is different from Anderson Gaines, the redheaded reclusive S.T.A.R. Labs backer with bad facial hair that Superman is fighting. Why? The other guy doesn't even add anything to the story, and in a later issue, it's claimed Clark interviewed Gaines, so even the writer got them confused.

There were times it clearly aspired to saying something about something, but this was tedious by its end. Mediocre decompressed hollow action comics at their worst. I don't know why this was written or what its point was imagined to be, and I look forward to getting back to the real Adventures of Superman soon.

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Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part XXIII: Soul Crisis

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2015 (contents: 2013-14)
Borrowed from the library
Read July 2016

Birds of Prey, Volume 5: Soul Crisis

Writer: Christy Marx

Pencillers: Romano Molenaar, Daniel Sampere, Travis Moore, Robson Rocha
Inkers: Jonathan Glapion, Vicente Cifuentes, Jordi Tarragona, Oclair Albert, Marc Deering, Julio Ferreira
Breakdowns: Scott McDaniel

Colorist: Chris Sotomayor
Letterers: Dezi Sienty, Carlos M. Mangual, Taylor Esposito, Travis Lanham

Let's step back and talk about the Birds of Prey. The original incarnation of the Birds of Prey, in the post-Crisis/pre-Flashpoint continuity, was in a large part based on history. Barbara "Oracle" Gordon, Dinah "Black Canary" Laurel Lance, and (eventually) Helena "Huntress" Bertinelli were all characters with long histories in the DC Universe. Barbara had been Batgirl, was shot and paralyzed, resurfaced as Oracle, and had relationships with characters like Batman and Nightwing. Dinah was the daughter of a superhero from the 1940s, a former member of the Justice League, and had been involved in a long-term relationship with Oliver "Green Arrow" Queen that had recently ended. Helena was a more recent character, but had still built up a history as a character on the fringes of the Batman world, which included a brief sexual encounter with Nightwing. The team first came into existence in Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey #1, from 1996, but Black Canary first met Oracle and Huntress in Black Canary vol. 2 #10, from 1993. These characters had history with each other, which shaped their personalities, interactions, and stories.

The post-Flashpoint version of the team has none of this. Now, I don't deny that a reboot may have been necessary, but it definitely impacted the Birds of Prey negatively. Over thirty issues of their adventures later, and I don't have a feel for these characters beyond single lines: Dinah is mopey and lacks confidence, Batgirl is similarly always on the edge of a breakdown, Strix is silent, and Condor is just kind of there. Why do these characters hang out with each other? What's their purpose? I don't have a feeling for why Dinah and Barbara might be friends in this new universe, for example. The lack of history is part of the problem, but not all of it: thirty issues is plenty of time to have built up a new history, but this book hasn't done that. At least, not a compelling one. Birds of Prey is a book without a reason to exist, as far as I can tell, a grim, dull action comic book about dreary one-note characters that occasionally has to tie in with storylines going on in Batman or Detective Comics.

Fast friends, apparently.
from Birds of Prey vol. 3 #27 (art by Daniel Sampere & Robson Rocha, Jonathan Glapion, and Scott McDaniel)

New writer Christy Marx attempts to deal with some of the issues I've raised above in this, the book's final volume. The book opens with another flashback tale, this one to "Six Year Ago," laying out the backstory that Black Canary dearly lacks in the New 52 universe. I already talked about this in my review of Team 7: Fight Fire with Fire, but I don't really care for this version of Dinah. It's nice to have some of this stuff spelled out, but more because it ticks off continuity boxes than because it actually informs my understanding of the character of Dinah Lance nee Drake. Like, now we know how she got martial arts training and was recruited by Lynch as a government agent, which is good. It's still not, I maintain, as interesting or generative as her old backstory, but I guess that's water under the bridge at this point. (At least, until Rebirth comes along.)

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part XXII: The Cruelest Cut

Another pair of USF Torchwood reviews, featuring my two favorite recurring characters: PC Andy in Ghost Mission and Suzie Costello in Moving Target.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2014 (contents: 2013-14)
Borrowed from the library
Read July 2016

Birds of Prey, Volume 4: The Cruelest Cut

Writers: Christy Marx, James Tynion IV

Artists: Romano Molenaar, Jonathan Glapion, Vicente Cifuentes, Julio Ferreira, Scott McDaniel, Graham Nolan, Miguel Sepulveda, Robson Rocha, Sandu Florea, Oclair Albert

Colorists: Chris Sotomayor, Rain Beredo
Letterers: Taylor Esposito, Dave Sharpe, Travis Lanham

This volume of Birds of Prey sees a new writer and the beginnings of a new direction, opening with a story about yet another team member leaving. This is the third volume in a row to feature a departure of an original team member; the lack of a stable dynamic is getting annoying. What's even more annoying is that it's completely terrible: Ev Starling, who has been a mainstay of this version of the team since Day One (her and Dinah were the original members), turns out to be a criminal working for Mr. Freeze. Like, lol, what? The last volume had hinted at some kind of conflict between Starling and Dinah-- but based on Starling secretly working for the government, not a criminal! It comes out of nowhere, removes the most fun presence on the team (at this point, Batgirl is pretty dour, Dinah is way too much into self-doubt, and Strix is silent), and is completely out of character.

Surely an incredibly implausible con, too, yeah? Starling had to help Black Canary fight crime for months or years so that some day she could be in position to help Mr. Freeze recover his freezing technology from the Court of Owls? Lucky for her that a Talon joined the team! Also does she really have to be such a jerk about it? Show some remorse!
from Birds of Prey vol. 3 #20 (script by Christy Marx, art by Romano Molenaar & Jonathan Glapion)

This is followed by a story where another ex-Talon (apparently the star of another DC book, one called Talon) shows up to fight Strix. I wish I had ever read Court of Owls or even gave a shit about Talons, because Birds of Prey is super-invested in them for some reason. This story isn't complete within Birds of Prey, but continues into an issue of Talon, which is included here. Kudos to DC for including that issue, but they really should have just included the first eight pages, because the rest of it is the most boring nonsense about our angsty hero going to Santa Prisca to fight Bane while his wife rots in a Court of Owls prison. Blah blah blah, who cares.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part XXI: A Clash of Daggers

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2013 (contents: 2012-13)
Borrowed from the library
Read June 2016

Birds of Prey, Volume 3: A Clash of Daggers

Writers: Duane Swierczynski, Gail Simone

Artists: Romano Molenaar, Vicente Cifuentes, Admira Wijaya, Daniel Sampere, Juan Jose Ryp

Letterers: Dezi Sienty, Dave Sharpe

Colorist: Chris Sotomayor

A Clash of Daggers opens with a standalone tale about Batgirl, Jim Gordon, Catwoman, and a leftover Talon from the Night of the Owls. It's a neat, character-driven story, where Batgirl, Catwoman, and the Talon, later given the name Strix, all have to learn to trust one another, making leaps of faith for their various own reasons: Catwoman allows herself to be arrested to delay the police so that Batgirl can take Strix in and help her reacclimate from being a tool of the Court of Owls.

But it's okay for Batgirl to be a roommate to a girl who's never known anything but killing?
from Batgirl Annual vol. 4 #1 (script by Gail Simone, art by Admira Wijaya & Daniel Sampere)

The next story must take place before that one, because the Birds, Batgirl included, are still recovering from Poison Ivy's toxin in Your Kiss Might Kill. Katana's sword is stolen by the Dagger clan, and the Birds accompany her to Japan to steal it back; they also bump into Condor, a sort of clumsy oaf of a superhero. Though the details of the Dagger plot kind of escaped me, this is one of Duane Swierczynski's better Birds of Prey tales: the girls work together as a team, Condor is fun, the banter is good, and Romano Molenaar and Vicentue Cifuentes turn in the best art the book has had in a long while.

No, it's okay, pick on Condor.
from Birds of Prey vol. 3 #14 (script by Duane Swierczynski, art by Romano Molenaar & Vicente Cifuentes)

The last story sees Strix joining the Birds as a replacement for the departed Katana as they track down a terrorist arms dealer. I don't really care for the subplot about Dinah's malfunctioning powers, but other than that this is a decent, solid tale-- not quite as good as the previous one, but still entertaining enough. It's amazing how much good a consistent art team goes, making the characters feel like real people. It's pretty action-heavy, though, so I hope what comes next can draw out the character dynamics of this constantly fluctuating team a little bit more clearly: I like Dinah, Batgirl, Ev Starling, and Condor, and am prepared to like Strix, but I don't think these birds have yet been allowed to soar.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to do the top half of the page (for some good Starling banter) or the bottom half of the page (for some good Black Canary/Condor banter), so I ended up not cropping it at all.
from Birds of Prey vol. 3 #16 (script by Duane Swierczynski, art by Romano Molenaar & Vicente Cifuentes)

Next Week: A new writer takes over when the Birds of Prey face The Cruelest Cut!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part XVI: The Death of Oracle

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2011)
Borrowed from the library
Read May 2013

Birds of Prey: The Death of Oracle

Writers: Gail Simone, Marc Andreyko
Artists: Ardian Syaf, Vicente Cifuentes, Guillem March, Inaki Miranda, Pere Pérez, Jesus Saiz, Diego Olmos, Billy Tucci, Adriana Melo, JP Mayer, Eber Ferreira
Colorists: Nei Ruffino, Bob Schwager  
Letterers: Travis Lanham, Dave Sharpe, Swands, Carlos M. Mangual

Like some of the previous Birds of Prey volumes, this is a loose collection of individual stories, so I'll handle them one by one. The first of these is the titular one, "The Death of Oracle," where Barbara decides that these days too many people know there is an Oracle, and that just that bare fact opens her up to too much, and so she executes a masterplan that will allow the world to think that Oracle is dead. Of course, this masterplan goes awry, as the Calculator pulls some unexpected allies in, but not too awry. It's an okay story, with a couple good moments (I love the roles of Savant and Creote in the reconstituted Birds of Prey, and Dove getting drunk for the first time is enjoyable), but mostly it feels like one long fight scene stretched out over four issues. The way the Calculator's henchmen turn on him in the last part comes out of nowhere, too.

It's let down by some inconsistent and often-terrible art. Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes do a good job on the first chapter, and Guillem March isn't bad on the second, but I find Inake Miranda's work to be plastic and artificial, especially his faces, which seems incapable of conveying real emotion, and his linework is all the same thickness. Especially bad is the scene where Oracle reveals the full extent of her plan to Batman, Batman, Batgirl, Red Robin, and Misfit,* and all the characters stand in a succession of poses.

It's also let down by the fact that it doesn't really matter. The Birds don't seem to operate any differently with a "dead" Oracle, and indeed, they're pretty sloppy about keeping her up the necessary appearances, talking about Oracle right in front of villains they're fighting. What's more, at first Manhunter is specifically shown as one of the characters they're deceiving, but by the end of the book, she's not only in on the deception, she knows that Barbara Gordon is Oracle-- something she didn't know before Oracle was "killed." Some heightening of security.

"Which Reason Knows Not Of" continues the development of the flirtation between the Huntress and Catman begun in Dead of Winter. Their interplay is good, though Catman's triple-bluff plan here is a little too complicated to be believable, and I'm not sure why he even wants the result that he gets, which seems unnecessary given how superficial his relationship with the Huntress is.

"Hostile Takeover" is probably the best story in the book, a simple two-issue caper featuring the Birds teaming up with the Question. Fun and not too complicated, just like I prefer my stories, though there are too many characters. (On the other hand, this is the only time Hawk ever feels interesting.) Jesus Saiz does good art on the first issue, though Diego Olmos's backgroundless panels feel phoned-in. I don't get why the Huntress replaces the Black Canary as field leader, though.

The book (and this incarnation of Birds of Prey) wraps up with "War and Remembrance," a two-part callback to the Golden Age. A post-WWII mission of the original Black Canary, the Phantom Lady, and Lady Blackhawk turns out to have modern-day repercussions. A good idea, but ultimately the story's kind of a muddle, and it ends on a lame "joke" where all the characters laugh. Also, since when was the original Black Canary active during World War II? The art is done by like five different people, and I liked some of it.

Ultimately, I don't know how necessary this revival of Birds of Prey was. Though I didn't like the way that the original series wrapped up, this reincarnation seemed to stagger around without clear direction or purpose. And why go to the bother of getting Gail Simone back if you're just going to pair her with an ever-changing cadre of subpar artists?

* Speaking of Misfit, why is this her only appearance in this whole book? She supposedly moved in with Helena during Oracle: The Cure, but we haven't actually seen her since then, and End Run mentioned she was with foster parents. I miss her!

Faster than a DC Bullet: The End of Green Arrow, Part V: Green Arrow: Salvation

Comic hardcover, n.pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2011)
Borrowed from the library
Read June 2012

Green Arrow: Salvation

Writers: J. T. Krul, James Patrick

Artists: Diogenes Neves, Vicente Cifuentes, Oclair Albert, Agustin Padilla

Colorists: Ulises Arreola, Michael Atiyeh
Letterer: Rob Leigh

Well, this is it. The final adventure of Green Arrow. After this story, the DC Universe was rewritten, and the new Green Arrow is by no means the same as the old Green Arrow. Having read this book, I can once again truthfully claim to have read every Green Arrow collection there is. (And Green Arrow, in a roundabout way, is the character responsible for getting me into comics.)

Given the character's long and interesting history, this is a disappointing way to go out. Salvation says little about Green Arrow himself, getting more and more sucked into (what I assume are, anyway) elements of Brightest Day. There's a lot of fighting in the forest, the Demon Etrigan shows up, as does the Phantom Stranger, but who knows why. Then the forest comes to life, then Swamp Thing's there(???), and then it's all over for some reason. I've no idea what happened or why, and I think it actually ends twice. Then Galahad leaves (boo), and it's all over. Ta-da! The characters and mysteries that Krul set up in Into the Woods are all but gone: no crusader lady, no reporter guy, and the plot about the Queen taking over Queen Industries is not even touched upon.

There's three issues after that, but they're a fill in by James Patrick where Green Arrow helps a U.S. Marshal bring in a crazy Protestant minister. The minister himself is a dull, ranting villain with an unbelievable plot, and the story is made worse by a completely random Batman cameo-- who drops in to give Green Arrow some trick arrows. If we're so far from the trick arrows these days that Green Arrows can't make his own anymore, then this isn't a Green Arrow I want to read about. How can Green Arrow not make his own arrows!?

The U.S. Marshal lady is set up as a recurring character too, but of course she won't be back either. Green Arrow walks away and that's the last anyone will ever see of him again...

Faster than a DC Bullet: The End of Green Arrow, Part IV: Green Arrow: Into the Woods

Comic hardcover, n.pag.
Published 2011 (contents: 2010-11)
Borrowed from the library
Read June 2012

Green Arrow: Into the Woods

Writer: J. T. Krul

Pencillers: Diogenes Neves, Mike Mayhew

Inkers: Vicente Cifuentes, Guillermo Ortego, Mike Mayhew
Colorists: Ulises Arreola, Andy Troy
Letterer: Rob Leigh

Since we last saw Green Arrow standing in the middle of the devastated Star City in Justice League: Rise and Fall, a forest has magically appeared. I guess I'd know something about it if I'd read Brightest Day, but it works without that-- it's a mysterious occurrence anyway, so seeing it happen isn't particularly useful. Officially exiled from Star City, Green Arrow is hiding out in the forest, using it as a base of operations to fight the good fight. It's a good idea, making Green Arrow into a Robin Hood figure; it feels like it merges the patrolling hunter aspects of the character emphasized by Mike Grell (in The Longbow Hunters) with the mystical ones brought to the forefront by Kevin Smith (Quiver) and Brad Metzler (The Archer's Quest).

But J. T. Krul doesn't really capitalize on this setup. Oliver is given a new supporting cast-- a plucky charity worker, a crusading journalist, a man who thinks he's Galahad of the Round Table-- and a new set of villains-- the mysterious "Queen" who takes over his old company, the police commissioner who put him on trial-- but the book doesn't focus on this new setup enough. Green Lantern shows up, and there's some guff about a magic tree, the Martian Manhunter shows up for no readily apparent reason, there's more stuff about the tree, and he leaves too. To someone who hasn't read/isn't reading Brightest Day, it doesn't seem to have much of a point or hook. (Incidentally, there's a discontinuity with Krul's own Rise and Fall in that Hal and, implicitly, the rest of the League seem okay with Ollie whereas they were butts to him in that book, but it's a discontinuity I'm happy to have.)

When the story does focus on the new setup, it's not very interesting; the villains are kinda dull. The Queen has a connection to Oliver's past, and the book does a little with it (there's a beautiful flashback issue drawn by Mike Mayhew), but not enough. Her faceless goons are boring, and haven't we seen more than enough sexy female assassins in Green Arrow stories? I'd like to see a set of stories about raging liberal / ferocious hunter using his forest base to retake Star City for the forces of good with his band of heroes (how awesome does that sound?), but the book dances around that idea.

All that said, Diogenes Neves is the best artist to draw Ollie since Cliff Chiang sadly left, and it's least stupid take on the character since Tony Bedard's Road to the Altar and (the beginning of) Judd Winick's The Wedding Album. Not great stuff, but there's some real potential once Brightest Day is over and the title can go its own way.