boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (06/18/85)
Special CRISIS Cross-over Reviews: WONDER WOMAN #327 THE LOSERS SPECIAL #1 INFINITY, INC. #18 DC COMICS PRESENTS #86 Ratings for the comics reviewed are as according to the Mad Armenian Scale, a shameless rip-off of the Moriarty Scale, stolen out from under the very nose of the Napoleon of Crime. Nyah-ah-ah!! "For a critic, having wrong standards is better than having none at all." -- Elmer Allyn Craft ******************************************************************************** |=>A+< A veritable Classic. One of the best of All Time. Example: THE SPIRIT | |==>A< One of the best of the year. Ex: TEEN TITANS #38: "Who Is Donna Troy?" | |==>B< A very good issue, one of the best of the month. Example: CEREBUS | |==>C< A well done, entertaining issue. Satisfying. Example: JON SABLE | |==>D< Rather boring, or a few good spots mixed with more bad ones. Ex: ROM | |==>F< Boring AND stupid or childish. Example: MARVEL SUPERHEROES SECRET WARS | |==>Z< Actually offensive. Example: DAZZLER --- THE MOVIE GRAPHIC NOVEL #12 | ******************************************************************************** This is going to be more of an essay with the reviews imbedded within. I've already read CRISIS #7, but plan to post a separate review of it, since it will include a rather long essay. First a few words of introduction... With the summer season now upon us, we are starting to be hit with the various promised crossovers to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. As a marketing gimmick which unfortunately smacks of Marvel-style commercialism, these crossovers are being flagged with a fancy logo, much like the SECRET WARS II tie-ins over at Marvel. So far there have been four CRISIS crossovers, with more on the way, and they seem to fall into three distinct categories. When CRISIS #1 appeared, the story was mentioned as starting in July 1985. Now that that month is coming upon us, comics across the whole line will be showing the effects of the CRISIS events. Which brings us to category #1: not true crossovers as such, but merely issues which refer to CRISIS events, such as the freaky weather, etc. The first of these is: WONDER WOMAN #327 [D+] As a Wonder Woman story, it has its moments. The goings-on on Paradise Island seem much more interesting than what's happening with WW herself, but give time for new writer Mindy Newell to find her niche here. As for the art, I never really understood why everyone is so down on Don Heck. I'll be the first to admit that he isn't a superstar like Rogers, Adams, Starlin, etc., but I've always thought that he delivered good, solid artwork. BUT, as a CRISIS "crossover", we have what is a gross display of false advertising. The sky turns red, and Wonder Woman utters a few cryptic, ominous words at the end, and that's the extent of it. Unless you're of a mind to get *everything* that touches on the Crisis, give this a pass (unless, of course, you want it for Wonder Woman). The second category is that of a lead-in to CRISIS #1. If you remember, in CRISIS #1, the Monitor had Harbinger go out to gather a set of assorted super-heroes from various Earths and times to help guard his giant tuning forks from the Anti-Monitor's forces. In these second-category comics appear scenes in which Harbinger appears in the middle of the action to gather the various heroes. A good analogy might be the various Marvel comics issues in which the Avengers, X-Men, etc. went to investigate the Beyonder's construct in Central Park and got zapped away for the first Secret Wars. The first example of a Category #2 comic is: INFINITY, INC. #18 [C-] As an issue of II, this is fairly good. Some of the Helix members are a bit hard to take, but Thomas' writing is cut above the norm, and I really like Todd McFarlane's art. As a CRISIS crossover, well, it's hard to judge. Harbinger's recruit- ment of Obsidian only covers less then two pages, but unlike the WONDER WOMAN issue, this is undeniably a crossover. What really got to me, though, was the blurb for next issue: "The Justice League--and the start of the final JLA/JSA team-up". For an old [:-)] fan like me, this is a stab in the heart, but more on this in the essay/review of CRISIS #7. Category #3 is a full-fledged tie-in. So far, we've had two examples: THE LOSERS SPECIAL and DC COMICS PRESENTS #86 (guest-starring Supergirl). In books of this category, events just touched upon in CRISIS are expanded. THE LOSERS SPECIAL #1 [D] I really have nothing against war comics, but I've just never been interested in them as a genre. From my little experience with them, this comic strikes me as being a typical war comic --- rather bland and uninteresting. This comic is supposed to tell the tale of the last adventure of the Losers, a team of American soldiers who never quite made it on their own, from what I gather. In it, the Losers take it upon themselves to finish a mission started by a wiped-out company --- knocking out a Nazi rocket emplacement that's Sgt. Rock and Easy Company from completing *their* mission. Along the way to the rocket emplacement, there is a series of flashbacks detailing the origins of the members of the Losers, and how they ended up together. Presumably, this is for the edification of guys like me who aren't familiar with the characters and only bought the issue because of the CRISIS tie-in. Anyways, while completing the mission, the Losers bite the big one. Scratcharoonie. Fini. Gone to that great Boot Camp in the Sky. Which brings us to the major problem this has as a CRISIS crossover. Here, they die in a struggle with a Nazi company. In CRISIS #3 (which I just checked again), they are disintegrated fighting the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons at the sight of the Monitor's giant tuning fork in WWII Markovia. Which one are we supposed to believe? I haven't seen an inconsistency like this since the AVENGERS #95/AMAZING ADVENTURES (Inhumans) #10 snafu of about 13 years ago. At least it reminded me of why I don't buy war comics. DC COMICS PRESENTS #86 [C-] Now this is more like it. As a story, it's somewhat average, but it's the best CRISIS crossover to come along so far. After a few pages of setting up the basic situation, there's a replay of the scene between Supergirl and Batgirl (word for word) from CRISIS #4, which leads into the adventure at hand --- Supergirl's last adventure prior to her death in CRISIS #7 [I refuse to apologize if this is a spoiler. If you haven't heard this by now, you must have been hiding in a cave.] If there's a flaw anywhere, it's the rather trite "ominous feeling of impending doom" that Supergirl has throughout the story. It's nice to know that her last adventure is shared with her cousin Superman. In conclusion, my recommendations: DC COMICS PRESENTS #86 is worth picking up as a CRISIS crossover; INFINITY, INC. #18 is OK, if you want to collect the closer tie-ins. THE LOSERS SPECIAL and WONDER WOMAN #327 are only worth getting if you *have* to have *all* the tie-ins. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA soon to be: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.COM