Quick Reviews

The Guild #2

Some time ago a prominent comics blogger proposed the question about what non-scifi/fantasy television shows should be made into comic books. While it's still only a web series, Felicia Day demonstrates that her show is a natural for adaptation. The series continues to explore how the Knights of Good came together with the a focus on Codex's neurosis and her interactions on the MMORPG. The only drawback is that the book can't include the wonderful performances of Day and the rest of The Guild regulars.

The Spirit #1

Danny Colt gets a new series as part of the launch of DC's new First Wave group of books. Mark Schultz and Moritat create a much grittier Central City and have already introduced a new femme fatale to the Spirit's rogues gallery. It doesn't hurt that there's a black and white backup feature by legendary Denny O'Neil and Bill Sienkiewicz.

The series is much more promising than the new Doc Savage title, but it still remains to be seen if this is a series that will be worth keeping up with.

Justice League of America #44

One of the appeals for the old Teen Titans series was that they represented the next generation of the JLA. Wally West was the first of these ex-sidekicks to graduate to full League membership followed by Roy Harper several years later. James Robinson's writing stint has accelerated this trend with the inclusion of Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, and Vic Stone to the current lineup. In addition he's also explored adding characters with no previous association with the League such as the 70's Starman and Congorilla.

One consequence is that the new membership has created a more family-like team that resembles Marvel's X-Men.

This issue picks up as a Brightest Day tie-in and features many guest appearances that make this old fanboy smile.

Green Lantern #53

Another Brightest Day tie-in that sets up a new direction for the Green Lantern books that continues to incorporate the multi-colored corps into the new status quo. No complaints from me.

The Guild: Year One

Felicia Day's web series The Guild is a very funny satire of gaming culture. The various members of the "Knights of Good" guild present a broad selection of dysfunctional personalities as they feed their shared online addictions. Even a non-gamer like myself was able to be amused by it and find much more enjoyable than many current television comedies.

With the new comic book series from Dark Horse, Day teams up with talented artist Jim Rugg to present a look at the early days of how the "Knights" first connected and the context of their lives. So far Day's talent for writing webisodes adapts well to writing for comics and the overall concept works very well with the new medium.