Review: BARB WIRE Volume 2 #1

BARB WIRE, VOL. 2 #1
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

[Originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Chris Warner
PENCILS:  Patrick Olliffe
INKS: Tom Nguyen
COLORS: Gabe Eltaeb
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Adam Hughes
VARIANT COVER: Adam Hughes
EDITOR: Scott Allie
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2015)

Steel Harbor Blues Part 1

Barbara Kopetski a.k.a “Barb Wire,” is a Dark Horse Comics character.  She made her first appearance two decades ago in Comics Greatest World: Steel Harbor Week 1 and was created by Chris Warner, apparently with the assistance of something called “Team CGW” (Mike Richardson, Randy Stradley, Barbara Kesel, Jerry Prosser, Chris Warner).

Barb is a bar owner and works as a part-time bounty hunter in order to pay the bills for her bar (“The Hammerhead”).  She lives in Steel Harbor, which is the kind of crime-ridden, gang-infested, bombed-out, wreck of a town that is a good setting for storytelling.

Dark Horse is bring Barb Wire back to comic books in Barb Wire Volume 2.  The new series is written by creator Chris Warner, penciled by Patrick Olliffe, inked by Tom Nguyen, colored by Gabe Eltaeb, and lettered by Michael Heisler, with covers by Adam Hughes.

Barb Wire Volume 2 #1 (“Steel Harbor Blues Part 1”) opens with Barb playing bail enforcement agent to bring in a character named Amos Lomas.  Back at The Hammerhead, there is the kind of trouble that leads to difficulties and destruction and the need for more money for bar repairs.  However, Barb's troubles are moving past rowdy patrons and gang disputes.  Steel Harbor's new mayor, Victoria Castle, wants to clean up the city, and Barb's treasures may face a bulldozer.

Barb Wire Volume 2 #1 is one of the most low-key first issues that I have ever read.  It is not at all a poorly produced comic book.  The art team of Patrick Olliffe and Tom Nguyen deliver some impressive compositions with pleasing page designs.  The storytelling, however, lacks spark because the script from which the artists work is competent, but would never be mistakenly described as “explosive.”  Still, I must admit to being impressed that Chris Warner is making gentrification and class the impetus for conflict in this story.

I can't see anyone beside fans of Barb Wire and people who look to try first issues buying Barb Wire Volume 2 #1.  The first trade paperback will probably be a good read, but, as first issues go, this first issue is just too much set-up and is also too damn nonchalant.

B

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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Albert Avilla Reviews: Green Lantern #14

Green Lantern #14
DC Comics

Reviewed by Albert Avilla

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Doug Mahnke
Inks: Christian Alamy, Mark Irwin, Keith Champagne and Tom Nguyen

“Courage” (Spoilers!)

The Guardians are planning to destroy the Green Lantern Corps. Okay, we covered this before. Now, it’s time for the new Lantern to get into some action. The Justice League is on the scene; there is going to be some major throwing-down going on in this piece, yeah, buddy!

Nope! We get some jibber-jabber about helping Simon Baz get his ring off and finding out what happened to Hal Jordan . Once Batman puts his hands on the ring, Sinestro uses the ring’s energy to slap the Justice League off. Baz decides to run; he makes a car and fast and furiously gets his ass out of that situation. Don’t let the cover fool you; not a punch, a lasso, batarang, or trident was used in the making of this comic. How does Baz make his getaway? He confuses the League by making hundreds of cars and driving away.

Simon gets a lead on the van that blew up in the car factory. The Guardians who were guarding the vault are locked in the vault and the First Lantern is on the loose. Now, the Black Lantern shows up trying to find out where he is. Not finished yet; hold on. Some ominous figure shows up in the place where Hal and Sinestro are, and he’s ready to make Sinestro pay for his crimes. There are a lot of things happening in this story. The background has been set for this story. Now, let’s tie up the loose ends; it’s time to rumble. All this crossing-over and the only place that I can find some action is in the Red Lanterns.

The art is good. It is the strength of the book. The Justice League looks good. The artists are carrying their share of the load.

I rate Green Lantern 14 Read a Friend’s Copy. #3 (of 5) on the Al-O-Meter Ranking

Albert Avilla Reviews: Green Lantern #13

Green Lantern #13
DC Comics

Reviewed by Albert Avilla

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Doug Mahnke
Inks: Christian Alamy, Mark Irwin, Tom Nguyen, Keith Champagne & Marc Deering
Colors: Alex Sinclair with Tony Avina
Cover: Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert, and Rod Reis

“Actions and Reactions” (Spoilers)
This is a “Rise of the Third Army” tie-in and the beginning of the Simon Baz Green Lantern era.

The president and Amanda Waller are discussing their concerns about Simon becoming a Green Lantern. Simon is out in the Florida Keys while the ring is mapping his neural pathways. Simon gets a conflicting message from Hal and Sinestro, but they do agree that the Guardians need to be stopped. The tattoo on Simon’s arm is glowing green and causing him pain.

Simon returns to Dearborn where his sister is being ostracized, because he is a suspected terrorist. Simon meets with his sister to enlist her help in his attempt to clear his name. Then, we get minions of the Guardians assimilating two truck drivers. Okay, they are not very discriminating. Simon is trying to avoid the cameras on a building when he gets sneaked. It’s the Justice League that sneaks him. What ever happened to honor? What about innocent before proven guilty?

We’ve been through the set-up process for two issues now. Now, it’s time for some fighting. I want to see what Mr. Baz brings to the table. Once the League is involved things should jump off nicely. I don’t want Simon talking his way out of this predicament. Drama has its place, but superhero fantasies are about earth shattering action. This is an emotional story, thus far; Johns has done a good job of making us sympathetic to Simon’s plight.

Good art, but it is not the kind of art that will bring that sense of awe. It doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Mahnke does a good job with the characters’ faces; that seems to be his strength.

I rate Green Lantern 13 Read a Friend’s Copy. #3 (of 5) on Al-O-Meter Ranking

The New 52 Review: GREEN LANTERN #1

GREEN LANTERN #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Geoff Johns
PENCILS: Doug Mahnke
INKS: Christian Alamy with Tom Nguyen
COLORS: David Baron
LETTERS: Sal Cipriano
COVER: Ivan Reis and Joe Prado with Rod Reis (Variant cover by Greg Capullo)
32pp, Color, $2.99

The best known Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, first appeared in Showcase #22 (September-October 1959). Like other Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 (which includes Earth), wields a power ring, one of the most powerful weapons in universe. But times have changed.

There have been other Green Lanterns of 2814, and with the re-launch of DC Comics’ superhero line, “The New 52,” there is a new Green Lantern. Now, Hal Jordan’s nemesis, Thaal Sinestro, who first appeared in Green Lantern #7 (July-August 1961), replaces Jordan. Sinestro shares the spotlight with Jordan and apparently takes the lead in the new version of the flagship Green Lantern title.

As Green Lantern #1 opens, Thaal Sinestro faces the Guardians of the Universe on his way to being the new Green Lantern (of Sector 2814). Sinestro’s first stop is his home world, Korugar, which is besieged by Sinestro’s own Yellow Lanterns. Meanwhile, Hal Jordan seems to be having every kind of life crisis he can have but then, help is offered…

Once upon a time, in a rural home far, far away, I was a Green Lantern fan, but the character mostly bores me now. I didn’t read anything in this new Green Lantern to make me become a big fan again, but this is a good comic book, for the most part. The juxtaposition of Sinestro’s ascendance and Hal Jordan’s collapse gives the book some dramatic tension. The Yellow Lanterns and Guardians sequences did not appeal to me, so I see them as problems in an otherwise good comic book.

I must also commend penciller Doug Mahnke and inker Christian Alamy for creating some of the best Brian Bolland-clone art I’ve seen in a long time. I might come back for more that.

B

September 14th

BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/batman-and-robin-1.html
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/frankenstein-agent-of-shade-1.html
SUPERBOY #1
http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/2011/09/superboy-1.html