Sunday Reading 6-20-12

This week Sunday Reading get a re-boot and we take a look at: Avengers Vs X-men #5 (of 12), Dial H #2 and Earth 2 #2

Welcome back one and all to Sunday Reading.  Actually it might be more accurate if we call this the All New All Different Sunday Reading!  For those of you that have been following the Bloc for some time you know that I originally started writing for the Bloc with something called Ranking the Week, then as the Bloc got rebooted we moved on to Sunday Reading.  RtW was a little more raw with its comments and take on the comic book world and with Sunday Reading we went in to a different direction focusing more on the positive parts of the comic world.  As of now we’re going to take a cue from DC and do a soft reboot combining the best of both worlds.  Sunday Reading will continue but when it is warranted we will not shy away from pointing out when the comic world has gotten it wrong, in the hopes of bring a more balanced review into your Sunday Reading.

On with the show…

Earth 2 #2

It’s not perfect but it is a dang good read. I think this kind of book is where James Robinson really shines, a place where there will be limited editorial influence and he can play with the world anyway he sees fit. A purist fan of the old JSA will probably have a problem with this book because while these characters do have the same names as some classic DC characters, it is probably better to just accept that they are actually new characters all together. Once you have done that we have nice world building happening as characters are introduced, origins are established and the story moves on.

The main things that bothered me about this issue was the origin of the Flash. Not that it didn’t work, or that it is a pretty drastic change for the character, but rather that it drug on and on.  Even I wanted to tell Jay to just shut up, and tell Mercury to just die already… geeez guys get on with it.  Also since I never followed the Mr. Terrific comic a little more explanation on how he ended up on Earth 2 would have been much more welcome. Other than that I thought Alan and Sam’s relationship was well handled, Terry Sloan gets a menacing introduction that I am excited to follow, Flash’s first forray into using his powers was fun and the quick peek at the new Hawkgirl was well-timed.

The artwork is beautiful and has all the energy and characters moments you would expect from Nicola Scott. I think the new Flash costume has got to be one of the ugliest things I have ever seen a Flash wear, but even that horrible look still comes across well under Nicola’s pencils. The only other costume we see this issue is a quick peak at Hawkgirl and so far I like what I see. The normal character moments are also handled well through out the book and I look forward to the rest of the “capes” showing up soon.

Next issue should give us Green Lantern and more Hawkgirl, but I really can’t wait to see what other heroes begin to make their presences known.

Avengers Vs X-men #5 (of 12)

The Avengers versus the X-Men, at least in my mind, seems like a natural thing. There are enough differences in the way they operate and their over all mission goals that you would think a conflict could easily become apparent and lead to an interesting, possibly truly epic, tale. Unfortunately Marvel has gone the route of manufacturing a conflict between the two, using the Phoenix in such as way that is almost completely different from what they have ever shown before. Adding to that is the forced out of character actions by many of the key players and this book is just spiraling downward to event failier.

This issue we get more pointless “we must fight” moments as the Avengers and X-Men square off on the moon. Hope finds the power / conflict a little much and begs Wolverine to kill her (for those of you who just read Wolverine and the X-Men #11 will find this even more confusing). More fights and cool posing later we see Iron pull a Transformer out of his hat and fight the Phoenix which leads to the worst case of fan fiction writing I have seen (though if you have read Uncanny X-Men #13 they actually make a good go of making sense of this whole never before aspect of the Phoenix). It’s all a little too much no matter what, the Phoenix is and can be on its own a powerful “villain” without adding a bunch of unnecessary baggage.

The artwork is one saving grace for me simply because I like John Romita Jr.’s line work, especially when combined with Scott Hanna’s inks. It’s not his best work however but he handles the large cast well and he does well in giving everything a little larger than life feel.

The sad part of this whole series is that I’m still hoping they can turn a corner and still make something worth following. There is just so much potential in the characters and the situation they are involved in that I can’t bring myself to give up on it. Hopefully I’m not jsut riding along waiting for the wreck to end and rather I will be saved into a great and EPIC ending.

Top Recommendation: Dial H #2

It’s nice when a creative team takes a concept and instead of trying to reboot it or completely change or try to make it hip and cool they instead embrace the concept and make it work. It’s hard to tell just where this version of the H Dial really fits in, whether it is a complete re-boot, soft reboot or what, but that’s a good thing. The H dial as always been a quirky little thing in the DCU and it’s nice to see that continue.

By making the first user of the H Dial a character who is over weight, a smoker, jobless bum kind of character we actually get a good backdrop for which to compare all the craziness of the H Dial itself. The situations presented are actually pretty classic comic book material with villain goons and super powered criminals, but when you see this normal guy calling upon some of the most entertaining H Dial heroes ever created it elevates the entire story. The fun of Ctrl-Atl-Delete and the Iron Snail! is worth the price of admission in and of themselves. Hell I could go for an Iron Snail mini right now – lol.  All of this plus the fact that there is a larger storyline building really makes this an awesome read.

The artwork is solid and it gives the feeling of being somewhere between a classic comic book super heroes book and a horror comic which strangely enough fits. The attention given to H Dial heroes, even if they only show up for a panel, is very much appreciated. Also having to do so much design work each and every issue is going to be truly impressive is they continue the pace of story telling.  And I see no reason they won’t. Give it a try you’ll be glad you did!

Well that’s it from me this week. I hope you have enjoyed this soft boot to your Sunday. If you’re not stuck in some intergalactic mess, battling home invasion, hunting zombies or some other such endeavour; I hope you can take a moment and stop in to the Bloc and share with everyone what you find worth reading (and maybe worth avoiding) on this fine Sunday. Or really any day for that matter.

I’ll see you on the Bloc.