One-paragraph reviews: Action, Detective and Teen Titans

Wow. Good books from DC this week.

Action Comics #899
"The Black Ring, Part Ten"
Written by Paul Cornell; art by Jesus Merino; DC.

Oh, man. I don't even want to say anything about this book, because it's just full of surprises and crazy twists. If you've been reading Paul Cornell's Lex Luthor story in the pages of Action Comics for the past ten months, then you kind of know what to expect - and yet, there are still some shockingly awesome reveals in this issue, as even seemingly random details from previous chapters click into place. And there are bits of dialogue like this: Brainiac: "Engage micro armor burrowers!" Luthor: "Engage micro armor burrower defenses!" This is why I love super-hero comics. It's a shame that Pete Woods is not the artist here, despite what it says in the solicitations and on DC's website. But as far as fill-in artists go, you could do a lot worse than Jesus Merino. And Woods is back next issue for the epic conclusion of "The Black Ring" and the return of Superman! This is...

AWESOME.

Detective Comics #875
"Lost Boys"
Written by Scott Snyder; art by Francesco Fancavilla; DC.

Holy shit! This book is so good! When this story about Jim Gordon's son started a while ago as a back-up feature, I wasn't that thrilled by it. I kind of dislike back-up stories and I tend to dismiss them and pay more attention to the main feature. I know that's unfair, but it happens almost subconsciously. I can't help it. So it's a good thing that the back-ups were cancelled and that this ended up as the main story of the second arc instead, where it gets the attention and focus that it deserves. James Jr. is a much more fascinating character that I initially gave him credit for. What's amazing is that at this point I have absolutely no idea whether he's going to turn out to be a psychopath or not! It could go either way, and I trust that no matter what happens, Snyder is going to handle it well and make it interesting. Last issue was great, but Francavilla just knocks this one right out of the park. And trust me, I don't normally use baseball metaphors, so that means it's really something.

AWESOME.

Teen Titans #93
"Step into the Light"
Written by J.T. Krul; art by Nicola Scott and Doug Hazlewood; DC.

It's amazing how much damage Fabian Nicieza has done to the character of Tim Drake during his short run on Red Robin. About a year ago, I was kind of obsessed with Tim Drake. He was my favourite character. And I loved what Chris Yost was doing with him in his last arc on Red Robin. Then came FabNic and less than a year later, I've now dropped the title and I can't stand the character anymore. So much so that when he unexpectedly shows up in this book (he's not on the cover), I can't help but groan a little. "What's he doing here?" Especially after the awful way that Damian was more-or-less booed off the team last issue. And now he's not just in the team but actually leading it also!? Ugh. I can only hope it's temporary. Aside from that, though, I thought this was a pretty good issue. I'm excited about this new character, Solstice. Krul seems to be getting better at finding the right voice for each character. And Nicola Scott's art remains gorgeous.

GOOD