Justice League Elite vol 1, Joe Kelly

"They do the JLA's dirty work!

Conflicting goals causes a schism amognt the World's Greatest Super-Heroes. As a result several members of the JLA choose to do undercover work with Vera Black and her super-powered team, the Elite. Their first assignment: infiltrate a small brotherhood of assassins gathering to hit a major political target.

Heroes find themselves suddenly allied with deadly foes. Can this group function effectively enough to do their job? And if they can't, what will happen to the world?"







This one is a really weird book because it features a couple of really great comics (Action Comics 775, and JLA 100) and then a pretty boring main section of the book (the first four issues of the JL Elite run). Those first two comics are brilliant, and AC 775 is a modern classic, but JL Elite is a book that I own all of, and yet it's still a near total stinker, an attempt to create a more mature and realistic comic within the DC Universe that just falls apart due to the fact that none of the non-established characters are terribly interesting.

Taking it piecemeal, AC 775 is the excellent 'What's so funny about Truth, Justice and the American Way', the best set up of who Superman is and his ideals in modern comics. If you've just seen Man of Steel and want to know why it's problematic and doesn't hold true to the character of Superman, read this comic.

What's great about it is that it shows a Superman who is thoroughly interesting whilst still managing to be a paragon of virtue - for anyone who says that Superman is boring, this is a comic in which he collapses lungs by flying at five hundred miles a minute, and shuts down the bad guys psychic abilities by cauterizing the part of his brain that gives him superpowers using just his eyes. It's unexpectedly badass, and shows just how powerful a let loose Superman is, even in comparison to some of the most dangerous villians going.

It's also one of the most hopeful issues going, a theme which is carried over for JLA 100 which features every single nation on earth teaming up to fight a single super-team alongside the Justice League, all so that the personification of Earth won't destroy humanity.

But the actual JL Elite issues are so lacking in hope as to feel like a different writer altogether. Joe Kelly talks in the intro about wanting to create a team that straddled the line between being a force for good and doing bad. It's a big issue, but I'm not sure this is the format for doing it. Ironically it's the Dark Horse, Wildstorm, Image and Vertigo stables where these stories are being told better. It's books like The Authority and Planetary, the very books that Kelly was writing 'What's so funny ...' in response to that are telling these tales better and first.

It's hampered by a cast that's utterly, unrelentingly dull. The character who really stands out is Green Arrow, who spends most of his page time seducing the wife of Maintou Raven and quitting the team in disgust. So, not a huge win here.

Basically this all boils down to one thing; this isn't a good book, but it does feature two really great comics. You should definitely get those. Just ditch the rest of the book before you do.

Also Try:
Grant Morrison; JLA
Brian Michael Benis, Dark Avengers
Jeff Parker, Thunderbolts
Warren Ellis, The Authority

Superman The Black Ring vol 2, Paul Cornell

"When he briefly became an Orange Lantern in blackest night, Lex Luthor got a taste of true power. Now he'll do anything to get that power back. His quest for the Black Lantern energy takes him to Arkham Asylum for a close encounter with "The Joker", and then into direct conflict with Larfleeze, the ultra-greedy Orange Lantern."














This is a chunkier book than the first volume, featuring as it does the annual and secret six tie in that comeplete the story of Luthor and the black ring. By the time it's done it will get even more bonkers than it was before, with appearances from Ra's Al Ghul, Darkseid and the Joker, as well as Larfleeze and Superman himself, who finally puts in an appearance towards the end.

So the first volume had some strange ideas about what made an enjoyable read, and kind of lost me around the point where creating simulations of your enemies wife to sleep with became a thing. But in amongst that, was some good stuff, in particular a trot through some of the worst of the DC universe that wouldn't have been out of place in setting up a new Legion of Doom.

That continues here, as we get to see more of the most nefarious individuals in the DC universe, and as we venture out into space towards the end the villains become more and more outlandish, culminating in a fight with a Phantom Zone space God.

The problem isn't the side characters, it's the arc for Luthor. Having been set up as a resolutely awful person, there are two ways this could go. Either he fails, and we're pleased, and this is what will happen. Or he wins, and although he's the current protagonist everybody loses out. The questions isn't whether he will fail, but how.

Now usually here, in a book where Luthor is the bad guy you would expect Superman to appear and save the day, either through some feat of strength, or simply by virtue of a stronger moral compass. But this isn't a book where Superman wins, but one where Luthor loses, and that for me is a problem.

Cornell doesn't set up a more positive competing vision of who Superman is, or what he does and why that is better than Luthor's vision. Instead, Luthor loses control of his rage and pumps out all the power he had gained in a futile attempt to kill Superman, whilst acknowledging that in doing so he is passing over his chance to alter the world for the better.

That's very Lex Luthor, and this idea that it's his hubris, and more than just a lust for power but a lust for power over Superman in particular, that dooms him is neat. But it does somewhat ruin what can be an otherwise more nuanced character a little. Lex is the perfect foil for Superman in the same way as Magneto is for the X-Men; neither view themselves as the bad guy. Their cause is just, and is simply contrary to the wishes of the superhero team they compete against. Compared to the Joker (sample plan: poison the water supply) or Loki (evil is funny) Luthor is a picture of sanity. But the root of that has to be that he views Superman as an outsider who threatens humanity, not just his own place and position.

Lex Luthor, for me at least, only works as a true Xenophobe, who believes that Superman holds back human progress - essentially a DC Universe equivalent of the idea that charity to Africa stifles reform there. I love the idea that Luthor may be right; but he can't be that character if he actively throws away these motives on panel. Telling Superman he won't save Jonathan Kent from dying, or that he'd rather kill Superman than make Earth better now doesn't just undermine that part of his character, it destroys it entirely. That entire facet of Lex Luthor is now unworkable.

That's the problem with The Black Ring throughout - it attempts to be a picture of Lex Luthor, and show his side of the story, but it turns out he's just a one-dimensional dick.

Also Try:
Mark Millar; Superman: Red Son
Tom Taylor, Injustice: Gods Among Us
Scott Snyder, Superman Unchained

Superman The Black Ring vol 1, Paul Cornell

"When Lex Luthor finally regained control of LexCorp, he thought he had everything he wanted. But in BLACKEST NIGHT, he briefly became an Orange Lantern and got a taste of true power. Now he'll do anything - anything - to get that power back. Buckle in for a greatest hits tour of the DCU's most wanted as Lex Luthor begins an epic quest for power, all brought to you by new ongoing writer Paul Cornell (Dr. Who, Captain Britain and MI-13) and artist Pete Woods (WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON), with covers by David Finch (BRIGHTEST DAY, Ultimatum)!"










I am a big fan of Paul Cornell, and I had heard interesting things about The Black Ring, the ten issue Lex Luthor helming take over of Superman's 'Action Comics', and a Secret Six tie-in and annual. There's loads going on in here, and I am going to write it up as two volumes, because that's how I read it, although I got both at the same time and read them back to back.

First off, I'm sad to say that I didn't really enjoy the books at all. I found Lex hard to really enjoy. Maybe that's an issue with going in cold, and not knowing any of the current background, but this isn't a comic interested in setting up Lex Luthor as a concerned but misguided corporate titan who believes that Superman is all that stops the world being better.

This is just a straight up awful man. Within three pages he has someone killed, in front of their family, after Luthor has already had him fired for not agreeing to some evil science. This isn't subtle, and there's little done through the book to make you root for Luthor in any way. Every victory he achieves that would have you cheer on a 'hero' character, or even the hero of the tale, anti-hero or not, is actually just a kick in the teeth for the reader.

There's an active sense of wanting Luthor not just to fail, because that's the story that's being told anyway, that less than sub-textual desire for power may make sense in the context of a Luthor who was recently a literal avatar of greed in Blackest Night, but it gets a little over the top by the time he's built a robotic replica of Lois Lane to tell him how great he is, and is touring the world to absorb the embodiment of universal death. This is the plot within the first ten pages.

It all adds up to make a charcter who is utterly repugnant; a man who creates a lobotomised love doll version of his nemeses wife, who shows no concern or hesitation at killing civilians, and who is almost unreadably, insufferably obnoxious. Now, obviosuly, that may pay off in the second volume, but, spoiler alert, it doesn't.

On the other hand, whilst Luthor is horrible to read, the cameo appearances are great. Anything that features Gorilla Grodd (mind controlling, human eating Gorilla ruler of remote African nation). Mister Mind (mind controlling alien slug) and the Sinister Six is alright by me, especially if it sets up a Bane versus Vandal Savage show-down.

The art is equally lovely, and Pete Woods does an excellent job at capturing a number of different locations and aesthetics well - his Grodd in particular is excellent, the expression on his face before he eats Luthor's head is excellent.

Also Try:
J.M. DeMatteis, Superman: President Lex
Grant Morrison, All Star Superman
Grant Morrison, JLA: Tower of Babel

Batman and Robin: Born to Kill, Peter J. Tomasi

"As a part of the acclaimed DC Comics—The New 52 event of September 2011, Batman begins battling evil with his son, Damian, at his side, Batman now realizes that the hardest part of the job may be trying to work together!

As Batman and Robin try to adjust to their new partnership, a figure emerges from Bruce Wayne's past: His name is NoBody, and he's not happy that Batman Incorporated is shining a light on his own shadowy war against evil..."

Reinventing Batman for the New 52 turned out to be really easy. Out of all the comics that were relaunched in the massive bonfire of continuity that was meant to be the start of a bright new era of audience interest and sales, Batman was left almost untouched, probably because it came off the back of it's almost total encapsulation in the year long Grant Morrison rewrite that had defined Batman for the last few years. Indeed, it was Morrison's Batman, Inc. alone that continued on after the relaunch unaffected.

So, coming off the back of this run it is Tomasi and Gleason as writer and artist of Batman and Robin that had the best opportunity to run with the continuity and plots of the pre-New 52, Grant Morrison led Batman stories. Whilst Scott Snyder was on the flagship book writing some of the best Batman books ever these two have been quietly putting out some non-flashy, character led comics that are just brilliant.

This is a book that is first and foremost about Damian Wayne, and what it means to be the child of Batman. It's an incredibly nuanced take on the idea of Robin, and has as many parallels to Batman Begins as it does to Batman Year One as an 'origin' story of the new dynamic duo.

By this point we know the outcome of the Batman and Robin story. Damian, fully reformed by Batman, will die fighting his mother, a sacrifice that is currently throwing the Batman dynamic in a whole new direction, but which is foreshadowed and heralded here by Batman's first issue reminiscence of the death of his own parents. This first book is about putting away the past in favour of the future, and trying to escape from those things that would drag us back. The overall message is that sometime the future can't be saved, which is a bit bleak, but I guess that's why you need Batman.

Is it good. Hell yes. If you like Batman it's near essential. For all the faults of the New 52 it's currently putting out three excellent Batman books, all of which are guaranteed to have something for everyone.

And even though Damian's story may have ended, it's good to go back and read through these issues. After all, Batman and Robin will never die.

Also Try:
Grant Morrison, Batman and Son/ Batman and Robin/ Batman, Inc.
Paul Cornell, Batman and Robin
Scott Snyder, Batman

The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier

"In this elegant and impassioned synthesis from one of the world's leading experts on Africa and poverty, economist Paul Collier writes persuasively that although nearly five billion of the world's people are beginning to climb from desperate poverty and to benefit from globalization's reach to developing countries, there is a "bottom billion" of the world's poor whose countries, largely immune to the forces of global economy, are falling farther behind and are in danger of falling apart, separating permanently and tragically from the rest of the world. Collier identifies and explains the four traps that prevent the homelands of the world's billion poorest people from growing and receiving the benefits of globalization - civil war, the discovery and export of natural resources in otherwise unstable economies, being landlocked and therefore unable to participate in the global economy without great cost, and finally, ineffective governance. As he demonstrates that these billion people are quite likely in danger of being irretrievably left behind, Collier argues that we cannot take a "headless heart" approach to these seemingly intractable problems; rather, that we must harness our despair and our moral outrage at these inequities to a reasoned and thorough understanding of the complex and interconnected problems that the world's poorest people face."

The Bottom Billion is an attempt to explain why we haven't yet made poverty history, and just what the limits on aid, intervention and Western attempts to bring the poorest nations up to their level aren't working. Within that it chooses to differentiate between those developing countries that are growing, and those that contain a billion people which show no signs of development at all.

The heart of this book is that it's based on matchless research, exhaustively detailed to show that far from being a war on global poverty we have mainly been bringing up the majority of the world blessed with positive positions and able to respond to reform.

Collier's thesis, that a shift to raising the standards in the bottom nations, is well set out and argued, and is sure to be uncomfortable reading for anyone interested in international development. It is especially scathing of the more aid only approach that is so often pushed, and his work on defining how aid can damage non-developing nations is excellent.

It's a common argument now to rail against the usefulness of charity but Collier also goes out of his way to demonstrate the positives of aid - that without it countries would be relatively worse off, and that simply by tweaking the grounds and remit of aid-led intervention the consequences can be more positive.

Over the course of the book Collier goes on to talk about not just what we can do, but what we should be encouraging these nations to do themselves, and it's worth reading just to get a picture of the complex and often contrary ways in which we'll meaning Western campaigns can actually damage policy and initiatives that encourage growth and alleviate poverty.

It's this last part that may be the hardest for many to swallow, as Collier is absolutely wedded to the idea that only through capitalist expansion can these nations grow. It's something that I personally find hard to accept until I really think it through, but his research and examples do an excellent job of setting out his case, especially in the way he shows that without their own foundations our aid will simply crumble.

It's interesting that he rarely resorts to anything beyond his facts and figures, only talking about the moral or social implications and demands in passing, and then infrequently. I think that's an issue that needed to be addressed more, not out of the liberal guilt that the West have caused or prolonged many of the damaging situations that the poorest find themselves in, but simply because there should be an international duty to people that isn't routed in economic reasoning and selfish realpolitik of benefits versus costs.

Maybe this is the first step though. At the very least its a good way to convince those who would argue against engagement and intervention in these situations using a range of methods.

Also Try:
http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_collier_shares_4_ways_to_help_the_bottom_billion.html Paul Collier at TED

Eat the Rich, Seamus O'Heaney
African Diary, Bill Bryson
Belching out the Devil, Mark Thomas

Transmetropolitan: Lust for Life, Warren Ellis

"Outlaw journalist Spider Jerusalem attacks the injustices of his surreal 21st Century through black humor as an investigative reporter for the newspaper The Word in this critically-acclaimed graphic novel series written by comics' superstar Warren Ellis, the co-creator of PLANETARY and THE AUTHORITY.

In this volume, Jerusalem targets three of society's most worshipped and warped pillars: politics, religion, and television. When Spider tries to shed light on the atrocities of these institutions, he finds himself fleeing a group of hitmen/kidnappers in possession of his ex-wife's frozen head, a distorted creature alleging to be his son, and a vicious talking police dog."







I love Transmetropolitan with all my heart, because it's an incredible example of how far you can push mainstream comics. Much like Preacher, which shows how adult a comic for mature readers can be, without ever feeling too grown-up, Transmetropolitan is an absolutely wonderful idea taking storytelling and the medium to it's extremes.

An epic sci-fi tale, told through the eyes of Gonzo journalist Spider Jerusalem (basically future Hunter S. Thompson) as he navigates The City after five years absence. An excuse to explore future-tech, concepts as varied as pornography, advertising and religion, and whatever else seemed good that week, it eventually morphs into a scathing indictment of politics, politicians and the media in the form of the election and presidency of a man known only as the smiler.

It's hard to quantify quite why it's so good. In a lot of ways I think it simply keys into a few things I love; politics, journalism, sci-fi and comics. But beyond that it's got a rich sense of imagination - the varying issues of this collection look at people self-evolving into gaseous bodies, the psychological impact of a radically different future on those coming out of cryogenic freezing, public preserves of ancient culture which include all the accurate diseases and war of the historical context. It's stuff that's remarkably prescient - not to say that vaporous upgrades or cultural reserves are imminent, but they feed off contemporary questions and concerns in an exciting and interesting way.

Whilst this isn't anything like as good as it gets, and it's certainly worth starting at volume 1 to get the fuller picture of The City and Spider's life there, this is an excellent book and one that anyone interested in comics should make time to read.

Also Try:
Warren Ellis, The Authority
Warren Ellis, Global Frequency
Warren Ellis, Thunderbolts

Preacher: Gone to Texas, Garth Ennis

"Merging with a bizarre spiritual force called Genesis, Texan Preacher Jesse Custer becomes completely disillusioned with the beliefs that he had dedicated his entire life to. Now possessing the power of "the word," an ability to make people do whatever he utters, Custer begins a violent and riotous journey across the country. Joined by his gun-toting girlfriend Tulip and the hard drinking Irish vampire Cassidy, the Preacher loses faith in both man and God as he witnesses dark atrocities and improbable calamities during his exploration of America."










First of all, this isn't a book for kids. If there were one comic that defines the idea that comics can be both adult and good, then this is it. There's enough sex, violence, big ideas, booze, blood, cursing and brilliance to fill a hundred lesser books that think that sticking some nudity in will cover the bill.

If you can find your way past that, and most of the time I can, you'll find that Preacher is one of the wittiest, most challenging books around. There are very few graphic novels that will still be talked about in 30 years time but I don't mind thinking that Preacher is one of them - it's nearly 15 years since it was first published, so it hardly seems unlikely.

Ennis sets up a situation that is brilliantly simple in its economic storytellin (what do you do with the power of God) and yet somehow manages to bring in vampires, the hosts of heaven, a serial killer, the Saint of Killers, John Wayne, the World's Unluckiest Cop (and his bondage hiding partner), and hints at much more to come. Much of this will pay off over the next eight volumes, but the wonder of it is that left on its own this is a fully contained first collection. It may leave you wanting more but it has a somewhat fulfilled ending.

The art work requires mention, because whilst Steve Dillon has been great elsewhere, it's here that he really shines. I've said before that nobody draws violence like Dillon, and it's on show here. His sequences with the Saint of Killers taking down a dozen policemen and their helicopter support is wonderful, not just for the illustrated carnage, but for the facial expressions of both Saint and cops. Sure,. sometimes it's hard to distinguish between different people, but he does a better job here than usual at creating characters who look different enough to be recognisable, and it's an otherwise peerless job.

For many the plot and content will be off putting, and it certainly isn't for the faint hearted. I remember loving it as a teenage boy (which is hardly surprising) but I also found a lot to love coming back to it as an adult. The fact that in the intervening years I became a Christian, and thus can critically respond to a story about God abandoning his creation in fear of new ideas is slightly irrelevant in this review. The point is that this is a book that works, on every level, and one that sums up an age and aesthetic in comics that can't really be found anywhere else anymore.

If you ever see this first volume cheap. Buy it. You may just have a new favourite on your hands.

Also Try:
Garth Ennis, Punisher MAX
Garth Ennis, The Punisher kills the Marvel Universe
Garth Ennis, Thor: Vikings