Comic Book Review Round-Up—June Week 2, 2019

Week two of June, and my round-up includes 'Star Trek: The Q Conflict #5,' 'The Flash #72,' 'Detective Comics #1005' and 'Event Leviathan #1.' From Image Comics, I look at 'Ride: Burning Desire,' and 'Sonata #1.'

Star Trek: The Q Conflict #5

Things are getting complicated as more Q show up to discipline Q. Meanwhile, the Starfleet captains are intent on sabotaging Q’s contest, but they have to be clever about it. Captain Picard is on red alert, because he knows how petulant Q can be. He turns to his greatest ally, Guinan, for help. She seems to be on top of things. Once that is sorted, the crews are dispatched to nab a Borg Queen. Like that’s a piece of cake.

This issue felt rushed—the character art looked nothing like the actors, except for a handful of panels. So far, the artists have tried to be faithful in their renditions, but deadlines must have got ahead of them. The story itself has become a bit convoluted, and the crews have become tetchy. The only one keeping it together seems to be Captain Janeway, but then again, she’s got a powerful device at play, and knows how to wield it. Q doesn’t seem to want this competition to end, so now that new helping hands have arrived, can the Starfleet crews finally put a stop to this madness?

The Flash #72

It’s chapter three of The Flash: Year One, and we start off with Barry Allen facing off against Turtle. Except, Turtle is quickly dispatched, and the story moves to Barry finding his feet as a hero, and using his superspeed to impress at work and in his love life. Well, not exactly, but Barry’s new-found speedy efficiency definitely curries favours for him.

You just know that any story where the hero is having too much fun is going to go downhill right? That’s what happens to Barry in this issue, and honestly, I’m pumped to see how he gets out of this pickle in the next issue. I really enjoyed this book; it’s not too taxing to read, and Barry is likeable, if too quintessentially an All-American hero. Not a fan of the art—it’s too cartoon-ish for my liking, but it does suit the lighter tone of the stories, and the youthfulness of the characters.

Detective Comics #1005

The Arkham Knight has set her plan in motion—but what is it? With her army of superbeings to back her up, it’s up to Batman and Robin to save the day. But is it possible that the Caped Crusader could have underestimated Arkham Knight’s need for vengeance?

The big question coming out of this issue is, are we finally rid of the Arkham Knight? This character had promise, and was hyped to be the next big nemesis for Batman, but she never even came close. This arc has been such a disappointment, and Astrid is the number one reason for it. Her motivation, and her characterisation leave much to be desired, and her final plan is even dumber than expected. It simply makes no sense, and is little more than a plot device. We need to swiftly move on from this character, and create some really fascinating stories for the world’s greatest detective.

Event Leviathan #1

So… Leviathan is a big bad organisation. Talia Al Ghul is involved; but maybe she isn’t. All the big agencies like the DEO, ARGUS, etc, are down, Superman is off-planet, and people around Lois Lane are in danger. The world’s greatest detectives randomly find each other in the same place though I’m pretty sure none of them were looking for the same thing. Steve Trevor gets tasered, Rorschach hides in the shadows.

I honestly have no idea what’s going on with this series, and we’re only in the first issue. The book is full of expositional dialogue, but has no substance regarding the actual plot. Everyone speaks in riddles and half-sentences—this is supposed to add to the mystique of the series, but it just confuses me. The art is great, the colours are mind-blowing, but some of the characterisations are so painful, it irritates me. Who is Doctor Strand, and why is she written as being a blinkered fool who can’t assess the danger in front of her? How is Green Arrow a great detective, when exactly was that established? This series is not an inviting read at all.

The Ride: Burning Desire

This was a bad idea, and I knew it would be a bad idea to read it just by looking at the cover. But I browsed the first couple of pages of the ARC I received, and saw that it had body-diverse exotic male dancers. That’s different, so I thought to give it a shot. Well, I got my hopes up that this book would transcend comic book misogyny for nothing. Three pages in, and there’s a conventionally-shaped dancer in her miniscule smalls who gets more panel-space than all the other male dancers combined. Also, the main character in the first story has an arc so cliché it made me want to gouge my eyes out. They didn’t even bother to draw her as the hardened, older woman she was.

The second story is worse—so much worse, and so ickily sensational. Any hope for body diversity for the women characters is completely dashed. And this is why comics and pop culture annoy me so much. Men can be of every shape and size, but women must always be one-size-fits-all, and that size is impractical.

The only reason I’m bothering to review this title is to warn comic readers to stay far away from this. In the name of ‘pulp-noir’, this title is little more than titillating nonsense pretending to be smart. Sometimes you really do need to judge a book by its cover!

Sonata #1

In this steampunk story, Sonata is a young female Ran from a society of humans that lives in harmony with nature, and the Lumani species on the planet Perdita. Their tranquil existence is interrupted by the Tayans who have secretly built a dam that has stopped the flow of water to the Ran and Lumani. When negotiations fail, the Ran take matters into their own hands, and somehow make things worse.

The art is the star of this issue—it's spectacularly detailed, and embodies that noir-steampunk feel of the story. The character designs are also stunning, though I am unsure why all the characters seem to be drawn as white and dark-haired. Sonata as a character is too young, and given far too much responsibility. Who sends a kid into this mess? Why aren’t the adults handling this situation? It also amazes me that the entire story has only two human females—Sonata and the Matriarch, neither of whom seem to be people of action. Why, just why? How can it be this hard to add the people who make up 50 percent of the population into a book? It’s so exasperating that I could barely enjoy the book in the end.

Lots of new stuff to read this month. Keep checking back for more reviews.