Wednesday Roundup: Week of Mar. 10/10

Single Issues

Criminal: Sinners #5 of 5 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (A) (Marvel)

Plenty of twists mark the end of another great Criminal story. Brubaker uses everything he set up in prior issues perfectly, creating a conclusion with both expected and unexpected outcomes. This story seems somehow less emotional than previous Criminal books, but perhaps it’s just the nature of Tracy Lawless as a protagonist. Sean Phillips’s art combined with Brubaker’s noir sensibilities has always been the best part of Criminal, and it’s all on display here. The Criminal world is one where people are put in positions where there are no good choices, and the choices that are made reveal more about a character than anything else. The consequences of Tracy’s actions are slightly less severe than other Criminal stories, but it’s the illumination of his complicated character and perceptions that is the most enjoyable part of Criminal: Sinners.

Grade: A

Quick Thoughts

Daytripper #4 of 12 by Fabio Moon (W/A) and Gabriel Ba (W/A) (Vertigo) is beginning to make a little more sense. I finally realized that person who is dying at the end of each issue is the same person. I feel a little stupid now, but that’s probably a good thing. I still have no idea where the story – if there is one – is going, but the creators are smarter than me, and I’ll trust them because of that.

Grade: B-

Unwritten #11 by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (A) (Vertigo) sets us up for a big reveal, one that might see Tommy actually meeting his “father”. There’s a lot going on in this book and while I feel like by now I understand most of it, there are still lots of unanswered questions. And I’m sure there’ll be some twists and turns I never saw coming.

Grade: A-

Batman: The Widening Gyre #4 of 5 by Kevin Smith and Walter Flannigan (A) (DC) doesn’t deal with any of the important questions raised in the first three issues. Everything is fine, except it isn’t, and this issue does a great job of increasing the tension between all the characters.

Grade: B

Powers #3 by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming (A) (Marvel) awards our patience with a 40 page issue, detailing a car chase and an important discovery by Christian’s partner. This issue is mostly exposition, setting up for future events, but it still manages to be exciting and throw in a couple twists as well.

Grade: B+

Human Target #2 by Len Wein and Bruno Redondo (A) Backup by Peter Johnson (W), Simon Coleby (A) and Cliff Rathburn (A) (DC) has risen a little in my estimation, and is a solid but mostly unremarkable action book. It’s not subtle, but it’s a fun read that’s easy to enjoy.

Grade: C+

Collections

Greek Street TP 1 by Peter Milligan and Davide Gianfelice (A) (Vertigo)

Greek Street attempts to port Greek myths into a modern setting, complete with gangs and cityscapes. Unfortunately, much of it is nonsense in a modern context. The storytelling itself is flat, predictable and repetitive, and there are many parts that feel gratuitous for the sake of gratuitousness. Davide Gianfelice’s art is great, but there’s nothing holding it up. People’s names are derived from Greek stories, but their characters aren’t. Their stories are familiar, but boring when you take them out of context and try to mix them with every other story you’re trying to tell. It’s a confusing mess, one that isn’t worth the time to try to untangle.

Grade: D

Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape TP by Ivan Brandon (W), Cliff Richards (A), Neil Edwards (A), and Marco Rudy(A) (DC)

Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape is a book filled with unfulfilled potential. There’s time travel, extended sequences that take place inside character’s heads, and a concept – breaking out a of a prison both physical and mental – that seems perfectly suited to the approach the writing team takes. Unfortunately, there’s a lack of focus on the parts that could be very, very good with the correct treatment, and too much superhero/DC Universe nods. Perhaps this book would make sense if I knew all the characters involved, and their histories. But this book could have been written without all that. The art is passable, and the differing styles and panel layouts work well with the material. It was so close to being wonderful, but the difference between wonderful and unreadable is a fine line here. In the end, I felt like I didn’t know any of the characters or why they were acting the way they were, and I certainly didn’t walk away thinking what I had read was comprehensible. If you have an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure DC character, perhaps you will get more out of this. But avoid Escape unless you want to deal with a difficult to read book with little payoff.

Grade: D