SuperSearnold - Comic Book Reviews

Hey Everybody!

Here’s a very special edition of my blog - a review of the Dark Knight DVD from Robert.

Batman The Dark Night Returns

The Movie: Well if you haven’t seen this by now, let me fill you in on a few other things you may have missed. We discovered fire and we’ve been to space and back. On to the special feature review…

The DVD’s

Disc 1: If you got the single disc, well you get the movie and that’s it. Just a bare bone DVD, not even a commentary track.

Disc 2: The first thing on the list for the special features is Gotham Uncovered. The two featurettes here are one talking about the musical theme to The Joker. The other featurette is a look at how the evolution of the new Batman costume came about and a very cool , in-depth look at the Batpod from concept to testing. It also went on to talk about the trials and tribulations of shooting in IMAX.

There are also 6 IMAX scenes. I can’t seem to figure out why they put these in the DVD. You don’t really get anything extra ordinary other than the picture is taller, so you get the black letterboxing strips on the sides of the picture instead of the top and bottom.

Next there are 6 news clips of “Gotham Tonight” from the GCN (Gotham City Network). These are very well done news programs that follow the story of the movie and give you a good back story to the movie. Some bits and pieces of the shows can be seen throughout the movie. It seemed to be very Fox News ish and it really seemed like a filler for the DVD. Aside from that you get 3 movie trailers , and a poster book, production stills and trailers.

Digital transfer copy: Well Warner Brothers decided to save money and put the transfer copy on the 2nd disc. So they didn’t have to press another disc, but this took space from special features that we would’ve liked to have seen, other than how great IMAX looks and you should go spend $15 on a ticket to go see it again. The letterboxing on the Ipod is small once again, so you have to squint at times to see things. And it comes with a hefty space price tag of 1.67 gigs.

All said and done the two disc is NOT worth the money. Most retailers have it for $22.99. Costco has it for $19.99. That makes it a little better, but still this was a screw from Warner Brothers. We all expected some type of tribute for Heath Ledger and got nothing. The features we did get were weak and seemed like fillers. I feel that putting the transfer copy on the 2nd disc and not its own was a big mistake. Since it took up a third of the room on the DVD it left little room for what we really wanted and it seemed like an ongoing commercial to go see it in IMAX. But one thing to consider is you get nothing with the one disc, so it just ends up being do you have the extra cash?

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Tuesday, November 25th, 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!

Today’s Issue:
Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3. Published by Marvel in October, 2008. Written by Brian Michael Bendis (Powers, Secret Invasion) with art by David Lafuente (Patsy Walker: Hellcat, X-Men: Divided We Stand). Cover Price $3.99. This comic book is part of the “March On Ultimatum” crossover event.

Premise:
This is a pretty standard Spider-Man story. Peter and MJ are having relationship problems (this time revolving around sex). Meanwhile, Spidey’s got to deal with a new mysterious villain.

Awesome Parts:
This is a very well written Spider-Man story. Everything you could want from a Spider-Man story is here. And the Ultimization of this new villain (I’m not saying who - it’s a surprise) is handled incredibly well. He’s a villain that doesn’t always translate well - but he was downright menacing here. Well done Bendis.

Un-Awesome Parts:
It was awkward watching MJ and Peter consider having sex with each other. I mean - they’re 15 years old. Which I suppose means Bendis captured those characters perfectly! Bendis played with time, again. Normally he does it really well. And I do like the way the story was broken up, interweaving the two tales with each other. But I felt we lost a bit too much of the story in the temporal transitions. Finally, this story has less than nothing to do with Ultimatum. Apparently the “March On Ultimatum” “crossover” just means the issues taking place right before Ultimatum. That’s just false advertising. I would say I don’t like the idea of a Spidey tale that doesn’t fit easily into continuity - I mean, when in the regular series are we supposed to believe this is taking place? But there are 2 explanations for that: first, I just don’t like the concepts of Annuals in general, and that’s not Bendis’ fault; second, Bendis said he really wanted to find a way to work with David Lafuente, and this provided that opportunity without derailing regular Ultimate Spider-Man artist Stuart Immonen.

My Recommendation:
I recommend Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3 to any 15 year olds considering having sex so that they can see what an awkward topic of conversation it is. Seriously though, anyone who wants a good Spidey tale should pick this up. Nobody who is interested in Ultimatum should pick this up though - it has NOTHING to do with that crossover.

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

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Monday, November 24th, 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!

Today’s Issue:
Ultimatum #1 - a brand new comic from Marvel written by Jeph Loeb (Spider-Man, Batman) with art by David Finch (Moon Knight, Disturbed’s Indestructible album cover). It is the first in a 5 part mini series that takes place in Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. Cover price: $3.99.

Premise:
Let’s talk about the hype for this comic because I think that’s the best way for you to understand what it’s about. It was originally announced as the destruction of the ultimate universe. In Ultimates 3, we saw the death of Magneto’s children, Wanda and Pietro (check out my review on Sunday, October 19th to figure out why you really shouldn’t bother reading it for yourself). Now Magneto is claiming that, “For what they’ve done, they must pay the ultimate price.” Recently, every single Ultimate book has been part of the countdown to ultimatum - whether or not it actually had anything to do with this crossover. Even Ultimate Origins was released because “You need to know how it all began before you can understand how it ends.” (<— Jeph Loeb quote, Mighty Marvel Podcast.) Just to go a bit more in depth, Brian Michael Bendis (the architect of the Ultimate Universe) has been talking about how the ultimization of characters isn’t special anymore - they’ve been introducing new ultimate characters too often recently. He describes Ultimatum as an attempt to get the Ultimate Universe back to its core. I interpret that to mean that they plan on killing off a huge cast of characters during Ultimatum, so that the Ultimate Universe can go back to having a small managable cast. Especially because Bendis claims Peter Parker might not even be Spider-Man anymore after this event is over. So then… what exactly is the premise of this book? Magneto causes cataclysmic weather changes which kill off a whole bunch of people!

Awesome Parts:
Hey - they’re actually living up to their hype for once! In fact, most of this first issue was just all of the Ultimate characters getting caught up to where we are - they discover that Magneto is pissed and planning on destroying the universe, which we’ve known for many many months now. I thought the execution of the comic was great! This is by far the most enjoyable Jeph Loeb product I’ve read in quite some time. It seemlessly hopped back and forth between ALL of the major Ultimate characters so that we can see how they are reacting to the coming destruction. A few things even happened that I didn’t see coming - bravo. Jeph also did a great job of capturing all of these characters’ very human moments immediately before the impending doom. Even anyone who doesn’t know anything about these characters will care about them by the time they start dying off. In fact, this book did SUCH a good job of introducing all of the major players, that I don’t think you need to have read a single Marvel book ever to understand what’s going on.

Un-Awesome Parts:
Ultimate Power and Ultimates 3 led me to believe that Dr. Doom would be playing a crucial role in Ultimatum. But based upon his reaction in this first issue, it seems as though that won’t be the case. That disappoints me not just because I love the character but because they’ve been sewing seeds which it doesn’t look like they intend to harvest. I hate it when they drop the ball on an awesome opportunity like that (unless they’re pulling a Bendis and plan on coming back and explaining it in 5 years.) Also, a character appears whose very presence is a HUGE spoiler to the end of the current Ultimate Spider-Man arc. I don’t like that they got their release timing off on that. Finally, the last page of this book is total crap. It’s Professor Xavier expositising in a completely transparent, uncharacteristic way. I don’t mind the fact that he’s expositing, it’s just that the dialogue itself was written so badly that I literally cringed. Really Jeph - that’s the best you could come up with?

My Recommendation:
Ultimatum #1 was a great read. I absolutely recommend it. Anyone who likes a disaster movie will probably love this comic. Anyone who likes big events with real consequences will like this comic. Anyone who likes to see characters they care about thrown for a loop will like this comic. Anyone who likes to see something unexpected will like this comic. Anyone who likes a large cast of superheroes will like this comic. Anyone who likes it when comic book heroes die will like this comic. Anyone else, well, probably doesn’t like superhero comics very much.

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

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Sunday, November 23rd, 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!

Today’s Issue:
Secret Invasion #7 is the second to last issue in the mini-series which makes up the core of Marvel’s latest super gigantic crossover event, Secret Invasion. It was published back in October, 2008, written by Brian Michael Bendis (Powers, New Avengers) with pencils by Leinil Francis Yu (New Avengers, Ultimate Wolverine vs. The Hulk).

Premise:
It’s a super duper no holds barred brawl between the denizens of Earth and the invading Skrull army. There aren’t any secrets anymore - this is just an invasion.

Awesome Parts:
The concept of this battle is incredible. The triumphant return of Nick Fury, Captain America, and Thor to the core Marvel Universe. The uniting of heroes and villains against a common enemy. And a fight to the death with an army of Skrulls who have all the same powers our heroes do - and more!

Un-Awesome Parts:
Unfortunatley, that great concept is about all this issue had going for it. The execution was not nearly as awesome as one would have hoped. The brawl was mostly just confusing, as it was SOO big that we didn’t really get to see anyone being awesome (except Hawkeye). I also had a hard time buying that characters like Bullseye, Spider-Man, and Iron First were standing up to Skrulls who have the powers of Thor, Professor Xavier, and Black Bolt. The introduction of The Watcher felt forced to me - to make this event matter they had the Watcher show up. The reason we know the battle matters is because The Watcher showed up. We don’t actually know WHY this battle matters (on a cosmic sort of scale - obviously we understand that if the Skrulls win our heroes die, but that’s no different from any other battle). I felt there was a missed opportunity for the heroes and villains to have a difficult time getting along with each other during this battle. And now that we’ve seen the fallout, I feel completely justified in saying that last issue’s reveal that the Skrull catch phrase “He loves you” refers to God was a totally lame reveal. God was the obvious, easy, and lame excuse that makes this entire thing an even more blatant parallel to what’s happening over in the middle east. Couldn’t Bendis have come up with a better, more unexpected, far more bad-ass explanation for the Skrulls’ mysterious motivations? I also don’t like the fact that a huge event that occured over in the tie-in title Deadpool (see my review on Friday, October 31st, 2008) had absolutey zero effect on what happened in this issue. Finally, I felt that Bendis spent way too much time following Luke Cage’s baby daughter. It felt like we were supposed to believe what was happening with her was more important than the actual fight with the Skrulls. If that’s the case, that’ll be a sweet twist, but there’s gonna have to be one Hell of an explanation for me to buy that. Overall, this issue was just filled with disappointment after disappointment.

My Recommendation:
Here’s the kicker: if you’re reading Secret Invasion, you HAVE to read this issue. I mean, it’s part of the core mini-series. And I still recommend Secret Invasion - I’ve been having a lot of fun following this story. Just, don’t expect too much from this particular issue. It was a let down.

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

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Friday, November 21st, 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!

Today’s Issue:
Final Crisis #4, published by DC in September 2008, written by Grant Morrison (X-Men, Batman) with art by JG Jones (Wanted, all 52 covers of 52). It is the 4th of 7 issues in a mini-series that makes up the core storyline for DC’s super duper uber major crossover event, Final Crisis.

Premise:
Evil has won. Darkseid released the anti-life equation on Earth. Now everything is going to Hell.

Awesome Parts:
Some parts of this story actually did make sense. There was some great post-apocalyptic anti-zombie type fighting going on. There were a few very powerful moments based around the human spirit trying to fight against the anti-life equation. And we got to see how a huge cast of characters are dealing with the fallout.

Un-Awesome Parts:
First off, I really wish they had stayed with the resistence fighters longer. We never got any SCENES of their battles - just clips of “this person is fighting here” cut to “this person is fighting here.” It was more like a montage than actually getting to see those stories unfolding. Second, and most importantly, so much of Final Crisis is still so confusing. Some things simply don’t make any sense, bordering on direct contradiction. Grant implies that anti-life spreads through the internet and TV, that just by seeing it you get turned. But he also clearly and repeatedly demonstrates that the way you become a minion of Darkseid is by having a mind-control helmet forcibly placed on your head. So - you know - that doesn’t make sense. And what’s up with the New Gods choosing human vessels? Is that something that’s been established that I don’t understand the context for or just something else that isn’t explained and doesn’t make any sense? I think maybe the problem when I first read Final Crisis is that I spent so much time trying to play catch up and understand characters that I wasn’t familiar with that I was unable to pick up on some of the more subtle touches Grant Morrison included. When I went back and read it a second time, I caught a few details that I think were supposed to be important. The things is, if these details were so important, they shouldn’t have been so subtle. And I shouldn’t have had to have read ALL of the Final Crisis tie-ins (such as Submit or Rogues’ Revenge) in order to understand them. I’m just having a really hard time getting into this story.

My Recommendation:
I simply can’t justify recommending Final Crisis #4. My only hope is that once the entire series is finished, things will make more sense. But I’m not going to hold my breath.

That’s it for today. As always - thanks for reading - and see you tomorrow for another special guest DVD review from my friend Robert: Hellboy II. Plus, 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

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Thursday, November 20th, 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!

Today’s Issue:
Final Crisis #1 Director’s Cut, published by DC in August 2008 - cover price $4.99 - written by Grant Morrison (X-Men, Batman) with art by JG Jones (Wanted, all 52 covers of 52). It’s an oversized 54 page comic book.

Premise:
This director’s cut includes Grant Morrison’s script, JG Jones’ un-colored artwork, and some creator commentary for Final Crisis #1. It does NOT include the finished pages of Final Crisis #1.

Awesome Parts:
Anyone who’s been reading my nonsense here for awhile will understand how much I adore insider stories about the comic book industry. I love seeing everything that goes into creating a comic book. And this director’s cut is all about that. JG Jones’ artwork is spectacular. I loved comparing it to the finished pages and thinking about when the colors helped and where they were unnecessary. Getting to read Grant’s actual script and see how those words translated into JG Jones’ pictures was a true thrill for me. And their commentaries helped me understand a few plot points that I was still shaky on.

Un-Awesome Parts:
I don’t like that the book didn’t also include the finished pages. Though I do understand that at that point the book would have been way too thick - so I’ll forgive them. But there shall be no forgiveness for the commentary, which (for $4.99) should have been much better - and a lot longer. In this 54 page book, the commentary only took up half of 8 pages. Don’t get me wrong - I enjoyed what I got - but it was pretty skimpy.

My Recommendation:
I think that you should be able to tell whether or not this is the sort of thing you’d enjoy. It’s great if you want to get your hands on Grant Morrison’s original script or JG Jones’ uncolored artwork. It’s not so great if you’re looking for the commentary - certainly not worth $4.99 just for the commentary. But if you REALLY like commentary you might consider picking it up anyways.

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

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Wednesday, November 19th, 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!

Today’s Issue:
Final Crisis Sketchbook, published by DC waaay back in May, 2008 with art by JG Jones (Wanted, all 52 covers of 52) and blurbs by Grant Morrison (X-Men, Batman).

Premise:
This sketchbook is a collection of JG Jones’ concept art for Final Crisis. It has short blurbs about the creative process that went into designing each of these characters and character bios that explain how they tie-in to Final Crisis.

Awesome Parts:
This is exactly the type of book I was looking for! I really really wish that I had known this existed BEFORE I read Final Crisis. It explains many of the characters that I didn’t even realize were important characters. Don’t get me wrong - I still think I shouldn’t have NEEDED to read this in order to follow Final Crisis - but it sure did help A LOT! All that and we get some great behind-the-scenes concept drawings from JG Jones.

Un-Awesome Parts:
They focused A LOT on these Japanese superheroes which I am now convinced were created for this series - which explains why they were introduced so much better than any of the other characters in the actual pages of Final Crisis. But I wish the sketchbook had included JG Jones’ concept designs for some of the classic DC characters, too. I also wish there had been a bit more talking about the creative process (maybe let JG give us a little insight himself?) as opposed to focusing almost entirely on Morrison’s explanations of these characters.

My Recommendation:
2 people absolutely need to find a way to get their hands on this book - any DC neophytes interested in picking up Final Crisis and anyone who enjoys looking at concept art. If you’re anxious to see designs for a few characters that haven’t appeared in Final Crisis yet, this has those, too. If you want behind-the-scenes stories, though, this isn’t the place to get them.

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

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Tuesday, November 18th, 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!

Today’s Issue:
Final Crisis – Rage of the Red Lanterns #1, published by DC in October, 2008. It was written by Geoff Johns (The Flash, Infinite Crisis) with pencils by Shane Davis (JLA, Superman/ Batman).

Premise:
Sinestro is being executed for his crimes, but his Yellow Lanterns have different ideas. Meanwhile, Atrocitus - the Red Lantern - gathers an army of Red Lanterns. They are the antithesis of everything good about the Green Lanterns and intend to throw some major hitches in the giddy-up of the Guardians. All this and the introduction of the BLUE Lantern.

Awesome Parts:
The Red Lanterns are awesomely evil. And I’m excited to find out more about this Blue Lantern. I definitely enjoyed this comic. Also, thank God for editor’s notes. “These events take place between Final Crisis #1 and #2.” Because without that, I would have ABSOLUTELY no idea how this was happening when Hal Jordan had just been arrested.

Un-Awesome Parts:
I felt that the dialogue was a bit drab and forced at times. Sinestro and Jordan were having a conversation that just feels poorly written. They were expositing. I also don’t like that this is clearly a one-shot that is essential in order to understand the events happening in Green Lantern #36. With that being the case, why bother making a one-shot? And how exactly does this tie in with Final Crisis? I guarantee that everything that happens here will wrap up before Final Crisis #2 – they already told me that at the beginning of the issue. Maybe there were scheduling problems and this was supposed to get released long ago, before Final Crisis was in mid-swing.

My Recommendation:
I’m teetering. Not having a lot of experience with the Lantern characters, it’s tough for me to tell whether or not this was something special. There was definitely a lot going on, and it appears to be a significant tale for Green Lantern, if not for Final Crisis. I did like the character of Atrocitus. I wish I understood the different Lanterns better. See how I keep going back and forth? The thing is, if you’re a GL fan, don’t miss this one-shot. But if you’re a GL fan, you probably already read it. If not, you might enjoy this issue just for its epic space battles, but it’ll be hard to get into the characters, as there are A LOT of them in this issue. So again, I’m teetering. I think I’m going to do something completely unprecedented and not go either way on this one. I’m not going to specifically recommend it, but I don’t think it would be a waste of your money, either.

Alright - that’s all my rambling 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

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Monday, November 17th, 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!

Today’s Issue:
Final Crisis – Resist, published by DC in October, 2008 – written by Greg Rucka (Final Crisis: Revelations, Detective Comics) with pencils by Eric Trautman (Checkmate). This is another one-shot that has a direct tie-in to Final Crisis.

Premise:
Anti-Life has spread everywhere. But the members of Checkmate are trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, and maybe even fight back.

Awesome Parts:
I was far more okay with Resists’ tie-in than with Submit’s. Resist shows a few characters and how they are reacting to the spreading of Anti-Life. If you want to see how Checkmate is handling the Crisis, you read this issue. If you don’t care, you can skip it. That’s what tie-ins are supposed to be. But you know what… now that I think about the ending, and the fact that it went so far as to specifically say “To be Continued in Final Crisis,” I have to imagine that issue 5 or 6 of Final Crisis will require you to have read this book. So we’ll see. Overall though I enjoyed seeing this collection of characters’ resistance more than I enjoyed watching Black Lightning and The Tattooed Man argue at each other. The greatest part about this issue is that despite not knowing who a single one of these characters are, I had no difficulty understanding what was going on.

Un-Awesome Parts:
I’m still having trouble understanding what the Hell happened when Darkseid released Anti-Life. From what I can tell, it just makes everyone wear a mind control helmet. And it also appears that the helmet has to be put on you - as we have directly seen this happen to many people. So how did it spread so fast? And why were there some nurses in this issue who had the mind control helmets on but were taking care of babies? Darkseid doesn’t seem to want normal life to continue. And how did those without the helmets defend themselves from it? That’s that whole giant part of this story that they just decided for some unknown reason not to show us. Also, this story doesn’t REALLY have an ending. That’s the part that I’m worried is going to happen in Final Crisis, and you’ll HAVE to have read Resist for it to make sense.

My Recommendation:
I would actually recommend picking this up. It’s kind of like a zombie story - but with super powers. This group of people are trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where they can’t get caught being alive because the “zombies” will get them. And the Checkmate organization looks pretty bad-ass. You don’t even need to understand the larger context of Final Crisis for this to be a cool post-apocalyptic story.

Alright - that’s all my rambling for today. As always - thanks for reading - see you tomorrow for Final Crisis - Rage of the Red Lanterns. 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

Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Sunday, November 16th, 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!

Today’s Issue:
Final Crisis – Submit, published by DC in October, 2008. It was written by good ol’ Final Crisis scribe Grant Morrison (X-Men, Batman) with pencils by Matthew Clark (whom neither the internet nor I have ever heard of - but his art is QUITE fantastic). This is a one-shot that has DIRECT tie-ins to Final Crisis.

Premise:
Black Lightning and The Tattooed Man team up to escape from Anti-Life. But The Tattooed Man doesn’t like superheroes, and thus has quite a time getting along with Black Lightning. Plus Anti-Life has spread everywhere – so escape is impossible.

Awesome Parts:
The last image in this comic is incredibly bad-ass. It was just awesome. Obviously I can’t tell you what it is (as that would be major spoilers) – but it’s great. And it has a lot more power if you’ve read the issue. Also, Grant actually told us Black Lightning’s name! That’s a vast improvement over his other scripts.

Un-Awesome Parts:
The emotional ending had no power for me. None. Not only was it ambiguous what exactly had happened, but I never cared about either of these characters enough for the big climactic moment to affect me. The beginning made absolutely zero since, until it was explained much later. And it wasn’t because it was supposed to be a mystery. It was because the dialogue was written poorly so interpreting what had actually happened was nearly impossible. Now is also when we get into some serious problems with reading order. Near as I can tell, this was the first Final Crisis book published after Final Crisis 3. So we go from the release of Anti-Life INSTANTLY to the ENTIRE world has been consumed and there is no hope left. What happened to the battle to prevent the spread? I would have liked to see that. In fact, I felt like I had missed a HUGE part of the story. Also, now having read Final Crisis 4, I know that there is ESSENTIAL information in this issue. And the conclusion of this issue isn’t explained unless you read Final Crisis 4. So if it’s going to have THAT direct of a tie-in, shouldn’t it be part of the actual series?

My Recommendation:
Well, if you’re going to read Final Crisis, then you HAVE to read Submit. But that final bad-ass image simply is not enough to justify buying this book.

Alright - that’s all my rambling for today. As always - thanks for reading - see you tomorrow for Final Crisis - Resist. 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