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Wayne Markley
by Wayne Markley
Welcome back. this time I am going to look at a brand new graphic novel from Archaia called The Black Dahlia, which is a true crime story, a novel by James Elroy and a movie. then I am going to look at volume two of Geoff Johns’ complete Flash and I am going to wrap up this week by examining the start of DCs new regeneration launch, with a book curiously enough called Rebirth, written by the aforementioned Geoff Johns.
The Black Dahlia
Black Dahlia is an adaptation of James Elroy’s novel about the popular murder in Hollywood in the 1940s. This was the story of the century when it came out filled with all sorts of debauchery, including the murder of a young girl, carved up body parts; life styles of the rich and popular and much more. This was long before there was cord news or shows like 48 hours or the Forensic Files. but the crime had all of the press and aspects that these type of shows love to cover. This graphic novel is an adaptation of James Elroy’s novel by writer Matz (who did The killer which I thought was great) and film director David Fincher, who directed Seven, social network and others and has art by Miles Hyman. While in the real world this crime is still unsolved in this graphic novel there is a conclusion as to who the killer was and why.
First off, the story is great. It is a complex tale of murder, intrigue and love gone wrong. There are points where I found it to be a little confusing as the story jumps from past to present and the art is not strong enough to make this clear. The art is sort of a painted wash in the vein of Peter Kruger but nowhere near as good. It gets confusing at times as I could not tell some characters apart. There are two beautiful women that are crucial to the story but they are drawn so much alike I had a hard time figuring out which one was which at times. Thankfully the dialogue was able to make it clear as I read on. The characters were well spelled out, were very interesting and the story motion pictures along at a quick pace. The story is broken up into six chapters and runs nearly 200 pages. Really, aside from the art at times being a distraction, this was a great read. I must note that this reads like a motion picture the way the story is told, which really is no surprise given the creators. A good book but not the best crime comic I have read. For mature readers due to violence and nudity.
The Flash by Geoff Johns book 2
DC just released The Flash by Geoff Johns book 2 a few weeks ago. like the first volume this one has art nearly exclusively by Scott Kolins. This volume reprints Flash issues 177-188 as well as DC Firsts Flash/Superman, and Flash secret Origins. ideal off the bat my major problem is there is not an index page and on the cover reproductions, which for reasons I do understand, they reprint just the art, minus the logo, credits, or the issue number, so it is very tough to figure out which issue you are reading without going back and counting the stories. Not a huge issue, but it did make it a bit discouraging when I was making notes for this blog.
The basic stories are fairly normal and they tend to run in five parts and feature larger than life events. The first arc is all about the new Gods complete with para-demons and the Black Racer, but not the big five of the new Gods (Orion, Lightray, Mister Miracle, forever people or Darkseid), lots of of whom would later show up in Johns’ Justice League. Johns also spends a lot of time describing the Rogues past and origins, and continues the dark path he started in the first volume. Johns continues to play with the rogues gallery made popular in the earlier incarnation of the Flash but making them a lot more evil and indicate spirited and less like the light hearted and captivating crooks they were under John Broome and Carmine Infantino. There is an ongoing subplot with Jay Garrick and his wife facing cancer which carries into the next collection. With all of these stories Max Mercury, Johnny Quick, and Impulse are still missing, and this is alluded to a time or two but not really explained, but again I suspect this will be attended to in a future collection.
A lot of what goes on in these stories is setting the stage for his later Justice league stories which he just wrapped up. He also brings Cyborg into the Flash cast and he plays a major role, nearly co-starring with the Flash. Also, in classic Flash tradition, (which Johns undoubtedly has a great passion for) there is a Flash/Superman race. this one I found hokier than the ones in the past, and there were some clunkers in the earlier races. Also, let’s not forget he also brings back Abra Cadabra, but once again as a far a lot more powerful and darker version than he was before.
Overall this is a solid collection of stories bysomeone who undoubtedly loves the history of the character. Johns tends to take things too far to the extreme, but I think that reflects his desire to reach the level of stories that were set by Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Millar’s Dark Knight. I do not take pleasure in these as much as the Silver Age material, but they are well done and a fine read. The art is very much in the vein of 1990s comics, very “flashy”, not my favorite style, but unlike the Black Dahlia is does not intrude on the stories.
DC universe regeneration #1
Speaking of Geoff Johns, he wrote DC’s newest relaunch of their universe called DC universe Rebirth. This newest attempt to jump start their sales is an 80 page gigantic for a very cheap $2.99 and it mixes a little of the old DC Universe, the new 52 universe and Flashpoint as well as other stuff thrown in. I need to say this was a great read. The story is told by Wally West but covers a lot of ground and sets the stage of a new rebranding of all of their books, with new number ones, except for action Comics and Detective Comics which are going back to their original numbering in the 900s. The story is broken up into four chapters drawn by Gary Frank, Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis and Phil Jimenez. overall I thought this was a great book until I got to the last two pages. The basic premise is some great being has been messing with the DC universe and has taken the DCU characters and events to a dark and gloomy place and an older and a brighter world needed to be restored. A great idea I would say. but without saying outright who was behind this turn of events, (SPOILER: skip TO THE next PARAGRAPH IF YOU have NOT read DC REBIRTH) it is strongly suggested, if not outright shown, it was Dr. Manhattan of Watchmen. now I would argue this is Johns paying homage to Moore’s creation, and from a service point of view it makes sure that the rights of Watchmen will never revert to Alan Moore with the Watchmen now being part of the DC universe (not that they ever would have), but up to those two last pages I loved this book.
The story is also a poke at the new 52 and what was wrong with it. It also shows signs of things to come such as the return of the legion of Super-Heroes, and much more. overall I thought this was a great book. I did not like that DC did a second printing of the book because it sold out ideal away, (good for them) but then DC doubled the price to $5.99. DC did alert merchants the price would go up on future printings, but still. In the coming weeks I will review all of the regeneration titles, which I will lead with a tease – I have took pleasure in them a lot a lot more than I did DC’s new 52.
That is all for this time. I hope you try one of a lot more of these books. If you already have I would love to hear what you thought. I can be reached at MFBWAY@AOL.COM or on Facebook at Wayne Markley. everything I have written here is my opinion and does not reflect the thoughts or opinions of Westfield Comics or their employees. I welcome comments, both good and bad as I really take pleasure in the discussions we often land up having about this blog, either on Facebook or through email. As always…
Thank you.