Another Countdown to a Different Doomsday

The Batman/Flash crossover is a tease and, like most teases, the end result could have been presented in half of the time, and honestly, with more of a kicker to the ending that, anyone familiar with the origins of Comedian’s button, would have surmised from the beginning.

Looking at that beginning, Batman/Flash: The Button collection excludes the issue/s where the blood-splattered button from the Watchmen series first arrives in the DCU proper. Having the button residing in the Batcave is gospel and has as much needed backstory as that huge T-Rex statue Alfred is constantly dusting. Instead, this crossover provides a fun fight between the Batman and the Reverse Flash that any fan of the Flash’s CW TV show will enjoy, includes an unnecessary visit to the Flashpoint universe that no one really asked for, and is packed with tons of foreshadowing and set up for DC’s upcoming Geoff Johns’ project that is supposed to unite the Watchmen characters with the mainstays from the DCU. Most assuredly, Alan Moore is already spinning in his self-dug grave.

This edition collects two issues apiece from the current runs of both Batman and The Flash. Tom King writes Batman and is paired with artist Jason Fabok, whose art is really what elevates the book. Like the DCEU movie Batman, Fabok’s character is all scruffy and gray, silent and righteous. Fabok  borrows the nine-grid panel layout that the Watchmen made famous, and does justice to the homage. The Flash issues are written by Joshua Williamson, who is both contemporary and safe. Veteran artist Howard Porter provides visuals that are punchy at times, sketchy most others. The work of John Dell, his finisher from their long-time-ago JLA series, is sorely missed.

Throughout the issues, Batman and Flash fight Reverse Flash, run through time, and question the existence of the button without coming to a meaningful conclusion. A Watchmen character makes a kinda-sorta cameo. A tease of the incorporation of a long-standing DC icon fills the epilogue, concluding a tale that is over almost as fast as, well, you-know-who.

This collection is successful from the standpoint that the creators brought forth a product they were commissioned to make: an interesting lead-up for November’s Doomsday Clock. Another Countdown in the DCU, albeit tighter and contained. Another Doomsday, albeit less Kryptonian in origin. Consider me teased.

At least Blue Beetle didn’t die in this one.

A big Bat-thank you to my Flash-friends at NetGalley and DC Comics for the preview ARC.


As Always,
theJOE

The Weight of the Deal

Adapting a 19th Century Russian fable into a contemporary setting, albeit one 30 some years back in the hey-days of the early eighties, and from a first-time author no less, can be considered a gamble. With Queen Of Spades, Michael Shou-Yung Shum doubles down and beats the house. And as much as I would like for that to be the last gambling metaphor of the review, the speed and tone of the book simply will not allow me to throw down markers on Odd when the roulette wheel will definitely come up Even. Shum, you see, has a way of stacking the deck in his favor.

Set in a unique casino in the Pacific Northwest, Queen Of Spades focuses on a new dealer and his quest to understand the system of Countess, a legend in those parts who only plays the high-stake tables. Shum deals in other players, a dying pit boss, a sad-sack gambler, the ex-wife attending 12-step recovery meetings, a palm-reading teen among others, whose tales are just as unique to that of the dealt hand. More Robert Altman than Woody Allen, although Shum plays tight with themes of both humor and friendship, Shum focuses on his cast of characters, ensuring the prime players are available for the climatic big deal. By the end of that hand, and the read, when all players have called, a few of those folded tales become lost amongst the victory of others, and is a slight problem that is easily forgotten and forgiven.

Shum has a light, easy tone making Queen Of Spades a fun read not only through his narrative, but also as he picks and tempts with the theory of the gamble, the strategy behind the play, and how luck envelops it all.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Forest Avenue Press for dealing me into this well-played round. I feel like a winner.


As Always,
theJOE

What this Ranger needs is the A-Team

The Ranger is over 300 pages of shady politicians, a suspicious land deal, Neo-Nazi meth dealers, and a gutsy pregnant girl. Ennui settles in around page 40. In fact, it is only the location – rural Mississippi during the cold winter months – that provides any sense of difference as even the title character, Ranger Quinn Colson, doesn’t do much other than brood silently, brag soundly, and eat a fair share of eggs and ham. And if anything, that is exactly what The Ranger needed more of: ham with a healthy side of cheese. Instead, all we get is dry toast.  

Ace Atkins provides his natural take on the surroundings, the environment, the establishment of characters,  yet he doesn’t get any deeper than that. Colson is the typical silent type who is wound so tightly he is incapable of any action that doesn’t come by way of orders from some CO while out on patrol in Nowheresistan. His lone friend is a Stand By Me good ole boy who doesn’t get any characterization outside of his initial introduction. The villains are predictable. The backstabbing inevitable. Even the high noon showdown is wrapped up in a scant two or three pages with the cavalry’s arrival feeling more Appaloosa-slow than some needed over-the-top-ness ala The A-Team.

The hillbilly/redneck justice genre can be a real hootnanny. Shoot, even good old-fashioned western-style revenge tales get the blood a’flowin’ and the pages a’turnin’. The Ranger is a series of stop-and-starts, of teases and foundation laying. The good boy grimaces and bad guy postulating within has all the uniformity of Barry Manilow when what you really want is the spontaneity of James Brown. Or the A-Team. 


As Always,
theJOE