June
27 Super Review Catchup Omnibus, Part 2

Running DC’s weekly comicbook series Countdown is apparently not enough to keep Paul Dini busy, and he brings us Madame Mirage #1 drawn by Kenneth Rocafort (Top Cow, 32 pages, color, $2.99). Madame Mirage is a kind of throwback to some of the female crime-fighters of the 1940s and 1950s and noirish heroes like The Shadow. Madame Mirage is apparently a master of disguise, creating an elaborate and effectve plan to expose a crooked executive. She also has a tremendous sense of style, doing all of this in a posh evening gown, stockings and a wide-brim hat with just enough black veil for her to peer out from with a seductive smile. Dini makes this work very well (though he surely will have to explain in future issues more about who she is and how she does it – possibly undermining the effective mystery of this debut) and is beautifully drawn by Rocafort. Grade: B+

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13 (DC Comics, 32 pages, color, $2.99) is the sudden end to this series for the Scarlett Speedster. Writer Marc Guggenheim (currently a writer on ABC’s "Brothers and Sisters") is serving a lot of different masters here, as DC makes some significant changes in the character and sets the stage for the return of the previous Flash series. It’s hard to say if this change will please the Flash’s die-hard fans, but it surely will cause some debate, especially considering the Flash-related goings on in last week’s issue of Countdown. Grade: C+

Now that Civil War is done, Marvel’s gearing up for its next big event with a one-shot special called X-Men: Endangered Species (Marvel, 48 pages, color, $3.99). Written by Mike Carey and drawn by Scot Eaton, this begins by picking up the threads of the “no more mutants” plot from House of M. Not much happens in this issue, as the X-Men attend the funeral of a mutant boy who died in an accident and consider that with fewer than 200 mutants left on the planet that mutants are destined to die out. (I’m not following the logic on this one as mutants have almost always been shown to be born of normal parents instead of mutants breeding with mutants. Plus, it was only a few years ago when Grant Morrison’s run began with talk of regular humans going the way of the dodo bird within five years.) Beast begins to think about ways to prevent this, leading into a series of backup stories that will run though the X-books for the next three or four months, apparently leading up to something big. While it’s nice to see Carey able to give the X-Man characters the oft-missing sense that they are real people, this issue and the line as a whole needs to find a balance between character and action that has been out of whack in one direction or the other for a long time. Also, anything that would make the X-Men universe comprehensible and somewhat linear would be a great help. Grade: C+

Next, let’s take a look at DC’s new Minx line, which seems to be aimed at tween and teen girls. “The Plain Janes” was an auspicious debut, and the subsequent releases are at the very least interesting, if nothing to get too excited about yet. “Re-Gifters” (Mike Carey, writer; Sony Liew and Marc Hempel, artists; 176 pages; $9.99; out now) is the best of the lot, telling the story of a young Korean girl named Dixie who practices hapkido and finds a boyfriend in a roundabout way. Dixie is an appealing character, and the story manages a believability that sells the whole thing. The art works well too, being thankfully very unlike manga or manwha. Grade: B+

“Clubbing” (Andi Watson, writer; Josh Howard, artist; 176 pages; $9.99, on sale July 11) is about sophisticated London teen Lottie, who is sent to live with relatives in the country after she’s busted by the cops for using a fake I.D. to get into a club. Lottie learns the locals aren’t yokels and manages to solve a close-to-home crime. I know I’m not the target aud for this, but already I’m feeling like the shop-a-holic teen who’s into texting and shopping for shoes is becoming a terrible cliché. Howard’s art is slick, though his lead women all tent to look alike. I find it hard to imagine many high-school age girls finding much of interest in this one. Grade: C

“Good as Lily” (Derek Kirk Kim, writer; Jesse Hamm, artist; 176 pages; $9.99; out Aug. 15) is surprisingly the weakest Minx release to date despite the most interesting premise. Korean teen Grace meets on her 18th birthday versions of herself from ages 6, 29 and 70. With their help, she resolves various issues that have been plaguing her, including the death from illness of her older sister, Lily. This gets bogged down in soap opera, with the resolution of Grace’s often vague problems somewhat pat and overall kind of unsympathetic. But again, take my word with a grain of salt as 37-year-old men are not the target audience for these books. Still, the Minx books overall so far seem a tad tame compared to some of the manga aimed at the same audience. Minx books may go younger, appealing to tweens, but I think teens will prefer the faster pace and edgier art (and more sexual nature) of manga. Grade: C.