Quick Hits - Comics for the week of 5/7

Quick and to the point reviews of your (my) weekly comics:

Detective Comics #844: This issue is definitely a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the art is well done, especially the fantastic cover, and the story is a good wrap up of a two parter featuring the new Ventriloquist and Zatanna. On the other hand, we are seemingly forever stuck with a "personal demons haunted" Batman who refuses to start a relationship with Zatanna. Batman's personality has not always been this way, but DC definitely seems to want to push the grim, haunted, dark, and moody Batman to a degree which often leaves me cold. See last week's Action Comics #864 for a good mocking of this Batman. All this isn't to say I want him to be with Zatanna for years worth of comics, but there would be interesting stories available and a new facet of his character revealed if they were allowed to have a relationship for a few months worth of comics. Verdict: 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Action Comics Annual #11: The long (by which I mean extremely long) awaited wrap up to the "Last Son" arc that began over a year ago finally hits store shelves. Geoff Johns and Richard Donner had a great arc on their hands if it weren't for the horrible tardiness of Andy Kubert's artwork. This final issue is well written and would have been a very memorable finish to this arc had it come months ago, but as it stands now it is hard to emotionally reconnect with the story. Kubert does give some good work and several panels are spectacular, but this is definitely the type of case in which a fill-in artist would have been acceptable. The story does reestablish General Zod, Ursa, and Non as great adversaries for Superman, and Zod warns of something far more frigtening and powerful still to come from the Phantom Zone, so there should be lasting impacts from this storyline. The way in which the storyline climaxes though seems discordant and strange in light of the the last eight or ten months of Superman books, and one wishes they would have added the obligatory editors note from days long past telling when the events of this book took place. Verdict: 3 stars out of 5.

The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #3 of 5: Another superbly written and drawn issue of Dark Tower hit stores this week. While I think Peter David has the tone of the Dark Tower books down and the art is almost uniformly stunning, I do wish there'd be a bit more straightforward gunslinging going on. The stories in the end of the book by Robin Firth continue to be strong tales that help elaborate the world of the Dark Tower. I did love the teasing of the adult Roland pre-The Gunslinger that we are shown in this issue. The time period of Roland's adulthood but before the books is a fertile one that could be a great foundation for more and more tales. Verdict: 4 stars out of 5.