The last round of Dollartree comics were mostly misses, but at $1.25 each, I wasn’t too upset about it. (Now, all those $4 and $5 new comics I buy at Zia Comics that usually disappoint me, I’m a bit more steamed about.)
Superman: Up in the Sky #1
Last time, I’d made the mistake of not picking up any of the Superman comics. I saw “Kubert” on the cover (Andy Kubert) as the artist and immediately picked this one. It wasn’t until I got it home that I noticed “King” as the writer. Tom King is positively notorious for his inability to write strong male characters. A story about a weak Superman is the last thing I wanted to read.
The artwork is really good. The story wasn’t as bad as I was afraid it would be, though I question how it was presented. A little girl was abducted by aliens and Superman goes off to find her. That’s the whole plot.
On the way to this point, Superman teams up with various Justice Leaguers to combat large random threats, while Superman has to decide to search for her. The only lead he’s got requires him taking a long trip to planet Rann. To track the aliens down, Superman has to get strapped into a mental device that might break him. Maybe it comes close, since this is written by Tom King, but since it’s a Superman comic, he succeeds and now knows where to look for the little girl.
The comic took the long way to go and maybe mostly unnecessary, but it was pretty good in spite of itself.
Young Justice #1
I really hesitated picking up this one, because this clearly wasn’t the cool Young Justice based on the cartoon, which was really good. Just from the cover, it looked like a joke with Impulse stuffing his face and absurd 90’s Superboy. (Thank goodness, he later got a makeover.)
It was a joke and it was a very funny one. I loved this! Its three dumb bros with superpowers hanging out and getting in trouble. They’re in the JLA’s old headquarters in a cave and, through their sheer obnoxiousness, activate Red Tornado, who becomes something of a mentor, very reluctantly.
For their first case, they investigate a disturbance at an archeological dig. Obviously, it’s a huge, high-stakes fight with the super-powered woman they find there. After she defeats herself, the boys uncover a large motorcycle that flies and they get dragged off into space. It isn’t identified by the end of the story, but it’s the Super-Cycle that belonged to the Forever People by Jack Kirby from his Fourth World titles.
This one was very fun and well worth the $1.25.
Justice League Infinity #1
Oddly, though this comic was based on a kids cartoon and looks fairly cartoony, it’s mostly serious and even philosophical. It starts off with the villain Amazo off in space trying to find himself. On earth, Martian Manhunter tries to find out who he is by trying out different human personas.
Okay, then the main story, which is totally unconnected to those other storylines, has the Justice League throwing a surprise birthday party for the Flash. There’s a bit of personal drama between Hawkgirl and John Stewart. Suddenly, Granny Goodness shows up and starts a fight.
Then Kalibak shows up. It’s a three-way throw-down. The two evil beings want to destroy the Justice League to show that they’re worthy to rule Apokolips with Darkseid gone. (Whew, I slept on that development!) Mr. Miracle manages to get rid of the party crashers.
It was a great party. However, Amazo’s search for identity has somehow unleashed some strange energy that alters Superman. This was all over the place. Perhaps Part Two pulls this all together, but I’m not going to search it out.
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