Following last week's column in which I mentioned I'd got issue #1 of Starstruck, but didn't review it due to finding it a bit incomprehensible (I may not have been getting enough sleep, mind you), I got an email from Zorikh Lequidre of Captain Marvel Culture, who offered some insight: "It was based on a sci-fi stage play and takes place in a fantastically conceived future universe with much satire on the world of today. As such it can be read by just following the panel continuity, but if you take the time to read the appendices and the little side notes and look at all the little details in the pictures you get so much more out of it. In that respect, it was doing a lot of what Watchmen did, before Alan Moore was even given the Charlton characters to play with.
"For a fan of female heroes, there is much to love. The main character is Galatia, a child abandoned among and then raised by amazons who accidentally gets blasted into space and meets up with Drucilla, a mighty female space pilot. They get drunk, have adventures, and are quite intriguing characters. There are plenty of sub-plots and back stories and when they all come crashing through each other, the payoff is truly worth it."
Also, besides the reviews you'll read below, this week I got the trade paperbacks of Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising (which I reviewed in its individual issues: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5) and Ubu Bubu (issue #4 reviewed here), and the glow-in-the-dark cover edition of Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #54 (reviewed here) - rather than just sticking some suckly green glow-stuff on the cover, it's the complete original Raven cover (gorgeous), and when you switch off the lights, it reveals a glowing black rose symbol. So yeah, it's a gimmick, but it's a really cool gimmick.
Atomic Robo: Shadow from Beyond Time #4 ~ Robo's time-spanning run-ins with the exoversal Lovecraftian critter continue, this time in 1971, and Robo's got backup in the form of Carl Sagan. I'm no Sagan expert, but the way he's written seems to ring true to what I know (of Sagan, and the scientific perspective in general), and so far as guest spots go, this one is right up there with the first miniseries's Hawking cameo - in fact, Sagan gets what must rank as one of the most magnificently badass (and scientifically well-phrased) lines in the history of action science, while firing a weapon he just cobbled together at the exoversal whatsit: "When you return to your unobservable but empirically determined dimension of origin - tell them Carl Sagan sent you." That's the kind of style you just don't get from any but the best writers. This issue also features a four-page backup story (for a total of 26 story pages; Robo continues to be among the best value-for-money comics, on top of everything else), a cameo by Ro-Man (if you don't know, don't ask), and a beautifully mess-with-your-head final page.
We Kill Monsters #2 ~ Another PDF preview from Red 5 (which was actually just in time for last week's column, or rather would have been if I hadn't been throwing it together at the last minute and neglecting to keep up to date with my email; they also sent a PDF of Atomic Robo, but I buy that anyway). This issue continues the flavour of the first one, with small-town folks having to deal with a sudden spate of attacks by monsters - our heroes Jake and Andrew, having overcome their immediate threat, are a bit more together by now, give or take a giant mutant monster arm, which it turns out is a bit unstable unless it's kept going by top-ups of monster juice (ick). That gives the boys their mission of the moment - find more juice - but this issue also further develops Vanessa, the unappreciated girlfriend, who gets her own monster-related run-in and winds up coming along to solve the monster mystery, preferably by shooting it. As always it's smash-and-bash monster-fighting action, but serving as a frame for very real, very understandable dramas - the fantastical combat doesn't put everyone's regular emotions on hold, it instead catalyses them to come out into the open, and the writing is strong and well grounded.
Batman: Streets of Gotham #3 ~ Still just reading the backup story here, and I'm starting to wonder whether that's going to prove worth it in the long term - I mean, I know it's not really a cost-effective decision to buy a US$4 comic for the 9-page Manhunter story in the back, but what's bugging me is that the Manhunter story isn't really going in the direction I'd hoped, and this issue doesn't help allay my concerns much. It's good for what it is, basically a cat-and-mouse between Kate and Jane Doe, but that's not what I wanted to see - it was 'Manhunter, Gotham's new DA' that got my attention, because it suggested a return to the court-based storytelling that originally made Manhunter stand out from the crowd (and the loss of which was one reason why the title declined). This ain't that - and if that is what this story intends to be, the fact that it's spinning its wheels on the way to getting there when it's only got a handful of pages every month to play with is a bad sign.
Power Girl #4 ~ I have mixed feelings about this issue - there's a lot to like about it, but for all that, I can't bring myself to really like it as a whole. It's certainly entertaining, with Gray & Palmiotti on top form with their dialogue banter, mostly between Power Girl and Terra, and Amanda Conner backing that up with humorous, characterful art. The girls go see a movie (which takes an unsubtle but cute poke at Secret Invasion, among other things; there's a little dig at DC's equilavents too, so it doesn't feel mean-spirited from a company standpoint), tackle a minor wannabe villain with a horde of fantasy monsters on the rampage, and Kara checks out a new house. It's fun, but... is this really what Power Girl deserves? The shrewd, capable leader of Justice Society of America gets her own book, and it's about her joking around with Terra and fighting a one-dimensional teen villain who'd be more at home in Captain Planet? It's okay for heroes to have their lighter moments, but that's all this is - the first three issues really didn't do much, so following them up with this is just making this whole book seem like it's going to treat the character - who other writers have shown could be up there with Wonder Woman - as just a superficial comedy hero.
Farscape: Gone & Back #2 ~ The plot thickens with John's visit to an alternate universe (or 'unrealised reality' in Scaper parlance) - with this issue, it transpires that this 'episode' may well be a lot more connected to the ongoing events of the 'series' than it seemed at first, transforming it from an isolated adventure to a novel twist on revealing the next part of the puzzle. At the same time, the nature of the reality presents an interesting puzzle of its own - there are common elements that make this seem like it's one of those 'events played out differently' parallel universes, yet the situation we're in now (particularly with some of the characters) calls into question just how differently they played out - since he's on the cover it's no spoiler that Scorpy shows up, and since he's always been one of those there-but-for-the-grace-of-god villains, a villain with twisted heroic motives inside of him, it's interesting to see how strange it is when, by the looks of it, he did get the grace of god in this universe; the way the scenes are written, it's easy to understand Crichton's unease. The art is a bit off at times, but only insofar as copying actor likenesses is an order of magnitude more difficult than 'regular' comic art - where the art strays, it's in the direction of conveying emotion at the expense of likeness, which is probably the best way to go.
Batgirl #1 ~ I confess, I was ready not to like this - I hadn't put it on my standing order, instead just picking it up off the shelf. Part of it was not liking the last Batgirl miniseries, part of it was the way the solicitations seemed to be mainly playing up the 'mystery' of Batgirl's identity, rather than just laying the cards on the table and promising a good story. Well, the secret's out now - it's Stephanie Brown, and although I don't know more of her background than the common knowledge of her past (I've never actually read anything with her in it until now), the way she's presented here is engaging, so I think I could get to like her (more than I did Cassandra Cain, anyway). What makes this extra promising is that Barbara Gordon features as well - this issue doesn't look too far ahead, but it seems to suggest that perhaps she'll be a permanent addition to the cast, which has a nice symmetry to it: the original Batgirl acting as mentor (fittingly, given her Oracle persona) to the new one. The art is a positive too - conventional comic-book style, but with a strong capacity to convey emotion, which helps the character-based scenes a lot. I think I'll definitely be reading the next issue, and hopefully more.
