This week: In Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League #1, a pair of fan-favorite (for this reviewer, anyway), conceive an ambitious heist. Plus, Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #5 gets deeper into its bag, Poison Ivy #35 keeps building a great long-form story, and a pair of Absolute Universe comics move the plot along.
Note: the review below may contain spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdict.
Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League #1
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Nicola Scott
Colorist: Annette Kwok
Letterer: Troy Peteri
This book had me from the moment I read its title, which is essentially a super effective elevator pitch. There’s more to it, but the central conceit here is plainly laid out in those seven words, and it’s a good one. This is a heist comic in which the titular villains — Cheetah and Cheshire — are going to rob the Justice League. Or, at least, they’re going to try their darndest. The actual results of their work are yet to be known.
And delivering this story is a pair of somewhat regular collaborators in writer Greg Rucka and artist Nicola Scott, who in addition to their indie work on the excellent detective witch comic, Black Magick, have worked in the DC Universe too, collaborating on the much-loved DC Rebirth run of Wonder Woman. That Rebirth run, as it would have it, also somewhat prominently featured Cheetah.
But Rebirth was a very different time than the current All In era, and this new series reflects that. I mean, just the fact that a pair of characters like Cheetah and Cheshire are getting to headline a book really speaks to one of All In’s strengths, which is a sort of fearlessness to center more than just DC’s most obvious characters. But beyond that, this is also a book that makes great use of current continuity. As anyone reading this column surely knows, the current Justice League status quo is, essentially, defined by two creative choices. The team is bigger than it’s ever been before, at least in the comics, and it’s also headquartered on the familiar, orbiting Justice League Watchtower satellite base.
Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League #1 makes great use of both these things. A heist story is, to my mind, one that requires a nearly-impossible set of challenges to pull off. And what can be more difficult than robbing a space base, guarded by an unlimited number of superheroes? So yeah, our lead characters are really up against it in this one, and it’s great.
And that to me I think is this book’s biggest strength. This is a story that feels like it is best set in this current moment of DC Comics. A heist can work a lot of ways and a lot of different times, but this story deploys some challenges that are specific to this moment in continuity, which is a nice thing for folks like me (and I presume you) who read most of DC’s weekly offerings. Past that, it’s also just a well-done book by an experienced creative team who work really well together. Cheshire is sultry and fun. Cheetah is a bit of a loose cannon. Together they hope to steal some of the most powerful things in the Justice League’s possession, and to do so — that’s right — they’re putting together a team.
Does that sound fun to you? It should, because it very much is.
Verdict: BUY
The Round-Up
- I almost hate to admit this, but Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma is a very good comic…that has totally lost me. I think it’s so complex and deep in what it’s tackling, that following it month-to-month has escaped me. Now, this could be a me issue, given how many comics I read each week between this column and the Top Comics to Buy feature I write. And I can tell that the story and the art are excellent, but without the time to go back and read the last couple issues, I’m struggling to get the most out of it. In this issue, for example, it’s either established or re-iterated that the villain in this book is a time-travelling alternate version of our hero. If I knew that at some point, I’d entirely lost it. All of this is to say that I think Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma might be a book best read all at once. It’s ambitious and complex, but tough to read in single issues if, like me, you don’t have time to revisit the past chapters every month. The creative team here is writer Ram V, artist Anand RK, colorist Mike Spicer, and letterer Aditya Bidikar.
- Absolute Green Lantern #5 is another great issue. I’ve written this before, but it was on my mind while reading this one, so I’ll write it again — one of the main strengths to me of these Absolute comics are that they lead with non-typical superhero art. And that’s certainly what we’re getting in this book. Absolute Green Lantern is also one of the more intriguing comics, a borderline mystery box that keeps readers guessing at where its status quo will land for each of its characters as this first arc gets ready to wrap up. The creative team for this one is writer Al Ewing, artist Jahnoy Lindsay, and letterer Lucas Gattoni.
- Finally, I also really enjoyed Poison Ivy #35. Just the fact that there even is a Poison Ivy #35 speaks to how great this comic is. We’re living in a day and age where far more obvious lead characters struggle to sustain runs that deep, but this one has been so good, that it’s managed to live on through a deep run. And it’s doing a lot of long-form comics storytelling things well, bringing back characters from earlier arcs, raising the stakes for everyone in ways that make sense, and continuing to test its lead characters as it builds toward more events to come. Not only that, but the creative team has remained largely consistent, pulling in some guest artists but always returning us to the team that launched this great book. And that team is made up of writer G. Willow Wilson, artist Mario Takara, colorist Arif Prianto, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. I really hope at some point I’m able to type Poison Ivy #50 in this space — this book deserves it.
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