Shazam! #19 – Josie Campbell, Writer; Dan McDaid, Artist; Roberto Poggi, Inker; Trish Mulvihill, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: A lot goes on in this chaotic issue as Mr. Mind makes his move, with Billy temporarily without his powers as The Captain recovers and pouring his heart out to Beau, while Mary finds herself trapped at the mercies of her arch-enemies and Freddy has been completely subsumed by the corrupted Amber Lightning. The best scene of the issue is probably Freddy coming to terms with his own issues and proving himself worthy of what the lightning was supposed to be, with the mythology of the lightning continuing to expand like it did for Mary. The reveals about Beau’s past are interesting, but are very quickly undermined by what comes next – I’m really not sure where they’re going with this character, but I definitely didn’t see this coming. The creative team is also definitely having fun with their main villain, because I haven’t seen a take on Mr. Mind this horror inspired in a long time.
Batman: Full Moon #3 – Rodney Barnes, Writer; Stevan Subic, Artist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: What’s worse than a werewolf loose in Gotham City? How about two? Fully corrupted and turned into a beast, Batman is rampaging through the city in search of Christian Talbot, and the entire city is in their wake. Alfred and Commissioner Gordon are on their trails, and naturally what Kirk Langstrom decides is that the city needs three rampaging monsters, not two. Man-Bat doesn’t have much of a chance against the two larger mystical beasts, but he holds them off enough for Batman to be captured and Talbot to escape into the morning sun, no longer a threat. With no natural cure for Batman’s curse, Zatanna points him in the direction of some hope – hidden in the forests of Europe where the curse comes from. This issue did feel like it was spinning its wheels a bit in places, but it hints at a great old-school horror story coming next issue.
DC Horror Presents Creature Commandos #4 – David Dastmalchian, Writer; Jesus Hervas, Artist; Alex Guimaraes, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: After three issues of buildup and origins, it’s time for the new Creature Commandos to be deployed – but the evil Colonel Shrieve has a surprise up his sleeve. Despite objections from Lucky’s doctor, he’s taking control of the “berserk button” that controls them and plans to unleash Lucky on his first mission – potentially undoing all the work she’s done with him. The mission itself drops them into a jungle and proceeds to unleash an army of robot monster animals on them, which certainly provides some cool visuals but not much tension – and it also doesn’t give the characters much of a chance to shine outside the chaos. There are a few funny bits including one of the characters not having a great time jumping out of a plane, but unlike the series this is likely to be a tie-in to, it doesn’t have nearly the bizarre vibe that this concept does when it’s at its best.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
