SuperSearnold - Comic Book Reviews

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Sunday, November 9th, 2008. Welcome to my daily comic book review blog – thanks for tuning in! Are you interested in a comic book but not sure you want to shell out the cash? Let me know and I’ll review it for you – letting you know if it’s worth your hard earned money!

Warning:
This is a new disclaimer I’m going to be including for the next two weeks during my Final Crisis reviews. Everything I know about the DC Universe I learned from watching Justice League Unlimited. Thusly, I am most definitely a DC neophyte, and I’m sure that has tainted my perspective of this enormous DC crossover event. Namely, I found that I did not understand a lot of what was going on. I sort of have a feel for things now that I’ve read EVERY Final Crisis book. But in order to save you from having to do the same, I’m going to be including a bit more summary than usual - which some might claim teeters on the edge of spoilers. So if you already plan on reading EVERY Final Crisis title, I recommend you skip this blog for now. Otherwise, enjoy the next two weeks of CRISIS!

Today’s Issue:
Final Crisis - Revelations #1. This is the first of a 5 part mini-series that ties in to Final Crisis. This mini focuses on The Spectre and The Question. This first issue was published by DC in August, 2008. It was written by Greg Rucka (Wolverine, Detective Comics) with pencils by Philip Tan (Spawn, Uncanny X-Men).

Premise:
The Spectre is getting some righteous vengeance! I’ve never encountered this guy before (save in DCU #0 - see my review on Sunday, November 2nd.) Anyways, God sends him to serve some righteous vengeance to Libra - the big bad disciple of Darkseid - and Libra kicks his ass. This is incredible considering The Spectre is powered by God himself. We also see The Question doing all sorts of stuff with some sort of society that didn’t really make sense to me but probably would if I knew anything about her character. The end of this issue was pretty cool - our two protagonists are pitted against each other when God sends The Spectre after The Question!

Awesome Parts:
Before I started reading Final Crisis, I had really started taking having a basic level of understanding for granted. But I actually understood and enjoyed this issue! Well… okay… I understood and enjoyed the parts of this issue that focused on The Spectre. I didn’t understand or enjoy the parts involving The Question. But I liked the Spectre stuff enough to overlook that minor detail. I even recognized that there was some stuff going on with the Titans which probably crosses over with something going on in those books. But I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I mean - obviously I didn’t know the whole story - you’ve pretty much got to expect that when going into a new comic book universe. But this particular story was presented in such a way that I didn’t feel like I neede to know something I didn’t in order to follow the plot. Also, there is some pretty cool character development when The Spectre decides he no longer wants to do God’s work - but is forced to do it anyway.

Un-Awesome Parts:
Well… there was that whole part involving The Question. I guess I just don’t know enough about the character to have any idea what she’s trying to accomplish - what her motivations are - etc. I also didn’t see how this tied in to her appearance in Final Crisis #3. Finally, Libra kicks The Spectre’s ass and seems to depower him right before The Spectre goes after The Question. I suppose I just don’t have a good grasp on how The Spectre’s powers work - but that really felt oddly timed to me.

My Recommendation:
Do you find it interesting that I’m giving this book the benefit of the doubt about my lack of experience with the DCU? I think that’s because despite my ignorance, I was able to follow and enjoy the plot of this book. So yes - I do recommend it. Anyone who likes The Punisher or that sort of thing - villains getting killed with righteous fury by a mysterious bad-ass - should totally dig this issue. But bear in mind that Final Crisis - Revelations #1 is NOT for youngsters due to a rape scene and some serious Wrath-of-God-type murders.

That’s it for today. As always - thanks for reading - see you tomorrow. And don’t forget to let me know if there are any comic books you’d like me to review for you – I take requests!
-Searnold, SuperSearnold@yahoo.com www.myspace.com/SuperSearnold

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