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greenygalRe: ROGUES' REVENGE #1:
It's ridiculous how relieving I find this--that even if I have problems with the Rogues' treatment, it's at least coming from someone who knows who the hell they are and isn't working off a sheet saying "random supervillains, mostly incompetent." Johns loves the Rogues with a passion and respects them as characters, and man, it shows.
Of course, as always, he tends to err in the other direction; his Rogues are violent, unstable, and issue-laden, and let's be clear, I'm never actually going to get over his turning Heat Wave into a crazed killer. That said, he sells it surprisingly well; the characterization's a bit strident, but they've all just gone through various shades of hell, and if they're running kind of close to the psychological edge, well...is it really that unexpected? This was clearly not the day to mess with them, and I'll admit to being darkly amused to see them annihilate Axel's punks (not to mention mouthing off to Libra). Yeah, the Rogues are relative small-timers in the supervillain world, but they've been at this game a long time, and you can see both halves of that in their portrayal here. (And Scott Kolins does a lot for them, too; pleasure to be seeing him again.)
And hey, the entire rest of the issue could have been garbage and I would have forgiven it for Piper. He's smart, he's making good use of his abilities, he's not evil (in fairness, no one has actually written him as evil so far, but I worry), and we get a nice clear canonical confirmation that yes, he and James were undercover when they hooked up with the Rogues. Also? He's heartbreaking. He started this whole thing up because he was trying to look after Bart (biggest ouch of the issue), he can't talk to Wally (whose friendship with him is clearly acknowledged, also a plus) because he quite reasonably thinks Wally won't listen to him, his partner's dead, he's back to the rats being his only friends--and he's still apparently working the side of the angels. I love Piper so much, seriously I do. (And hey, nobody makes a gay joke throughout the entire issue. Small pleasures.)
Other comments:
--"We started enough fires the last time we were home, Mick. Keep that libido in check." I. Uh. I don't actually want to know what Cold's implying here. Especially since it comes in response to a line about seeing the Flash again.
--"Man made your ammunition. God made mine." When the weather-manipulators get all glowy-eyed and biblical? It's really a good time to get the hell out.
--I had to laugh at Axel's reaction to his gang being mirror-ized; beautifully in character for him. He's such a shamelessly psychotic little brat, I can't help loving him. And he's a nice counterpoint to the Rogues' weary grimness. (Also, it was about time a villain had that reaction to Bart's death.)
--I confess: every time I hear someone say that the Rogues have a rule about never killing speedsters, I burst out laughing. Yeah, I know, most of the evidence against is pre-Crisis, and it isn't really fair to bring it into the debate, but I can't help it. Then again, maybe I shouldn't bitch about Geoff Johns trying to establish that characters aren't murderers. (And I don't have a problem with the basic concept, honestly, it's just...never?)
--Speaking of which, the story is now that Bart's death was an accident; hey, I'm sold. Mainly because I'd like the Rogues not to get permanently stamped as EVIL EVIL EVIL in the way that Doctor Light has; they do better with some room for ambiguity. Likewise I'm kind of intrigued by the interpretation that they were just going to take advantage of Inertia's offer to make one last haul; I am fairly sure this is not what they told him, but seeing as he was trying to double-cross them he probably doesn't have a lot of room to complain. (Ah, super-villain teams! No wonder they never get anywhere.)
--Aw, Chyre and Morillo are back doing their thing! Which is to say bickering shamelessly. I'm all nostalgic. Morillo's even colored properly. (And I'm curious, who called Piper by name? I don't think any of them have ever met him to speak to...)
--Okay, I gotta ask: Trickster hid all his secret data in his will? Extreme morbidity, shameless plot contrivance, or the unfathomable workings of the Tricksterish mind?
--I...actually find the Iris scene a little creepy. Especially since I'm not entirely sure who's talking to her. I think the art's trying a little too hard.
--Well, will you look at that, it's Warden Wolfe. Isn't he supposed to be dead? Do I care? Hmm. As far as the continuity violation is concerned, no, actually, I don't (I don't even remember if he definitely died in that story); on the other hand, it's very, very hard to believe he survived this scene, and bringing him back just to kill him again seems a touch pointless. Then again, if there's a character I'm happy to be killing over and over again, Wolfe is totally it. And Johns uses him to finally resolve the awful thing Wally did to Inertia (story cleanup going on all over, here), so really I'm pretty happy.
--"I was frozen. But I could think. I could think fast. And do you know what I thought about?" Turning the page was totally unnecessary; everyone knew the answer to that question. Hell, we knew it back at ALL-FLASH. This is why fates worse than death are a bad idea, okay, Wally?!?
--Man, Piper must have put me in a good mood; Zoom II barges into a Rogue story again, and I'm actually kind of pleased to see him. If he takes over issue #2 I'm going to sulk lots and lots--we've only got three issues to work with, here!--but I confess, that's a killer of a last page, and by Zoom's standards it makes sense.
So overall, both a good issue and a blessed relief. Now, if Johns can keep it up for another two issues (ideally without getting sucked into unrelated crossover junk), we'll have an excellent mini on our hands. Not holding my breath, frankly, but it's still a promising start.
It's ridiculous how relieving I find this--that even if I have problems with the Rogues' treatment, it's at least coming from someone who knows who the hell they are and isn't working off a sheet saying "random supervillains, mostly incompetent." Johns loves the Rogues with a passion and respects them as characters, and man, it shows.
Of course, as always, he tends to err in the other direction; his Rogues are violent, unstable, and issue-laden, and let's be clear, I'm never actually going to get over his turning Heat Wave into a crazed killer. That said, he sells it surprisingly well; the characterization's a bit strident, but they've all just gone through various shades of hell, and if they're running kind of close to the psychological edge, well...is it really that unexpected? This was clearly not the day to mess with them, and I'll admit to being darkly amused to see them annihilate Axel's punks (not to mention mouthing off to Libra). Yeah, the Rogues are relative small-timers in the supervillain world, but they've been at this game a long time, and you can see both halves of that in their portrayal here. (And Scott Kolins does a lot for them, too; pleasure to be seeing him again.)
And hey, the entire rest of the issue could have been garbage and I would have forgiven it for Piper. He's smart, he's making good use of his abilities, he's not evil (in fairness, no one has actually written him as evil so far, but I worry), and we get a nice clear canonical confirmation that yes, he and James were undercover when they hooked up with the Rogues. Also? He's heartbreaking. He started this whole thing up because he was trying to look after Bart (biggest ouch of the issue), he can't talk to Wally (whose friendship with him is clearly acknowledged, also a plus) because he quite reasonably thinks Wally won't listen to him, his partner's dead, he's back to the rats being his only friends--and he's still apparently working the side of the angels. I love Piper so much, seriously I do. (And hey, nobody makes a gay joke throughout the entire issue. Small pleasures.)
Other comments:
--"We started enough fires the last time we were home, Mick. Keep that libido in check." I. Uh. I don't actually want to know what Cold's implying here. Especially since it comes in response to a line about seeing the Flash again.
--"Man made your ammunition. God made mine." When the weather-manipulators get all glowy-eyed and biblical? It's really a good time to get the hell out.
--I had to laugh at Axel's reaction to his gang being mirror-ized; beautifully in character for him. He's such a shamelessly psychotic little brat, I can't help loving him. And he's a nice counterpoint to the Rogues' weary grimness. (Also, it was about time a villain had that reaction to Bart's death.)
--I confess: every time I hear someone say that the Rogues have a rule about never killing speedsters, I burst out laughing. Yeah, I know, most of the evidence against is pre-Crisis, and it isn't really fair to bring it into the debate, but I can't help it. Then again, maybe I shouldn't bitch about Geoff Johns trying to establish that characters aren't murderers. (And I don't have a problem with the basic concept, honestly, it's just...never?)
--Speaking of which, the story is now that Bart's death was an accident; hey, I'm sold. Mainly because I'd like the Rogues not to get permanently stamped as EVIL EVIL EVIL in the way that Doctor Light has; they do better with some room for ambiguity. Likewise I'm kind of intrigued by the interpretation that they were just going to take advantage of Inertia's offer to make one last haul; I am fairly sure this is not what they told him, but seeing as he was trying to double-cross them he probably doesn't have a lot of room to complain. (Ah, super-villain teams! No wonder they never get anywhere.)
--Aw, Chyre and Morillo are back doing their thing! Which is to say bickering shamelessly. I'm all nostalgic. Morillo's even colored properly. (And I'm curious, who called Piper by name? I don't think any of them have ever met him to speak to...)
--Okay, I gotta ask: Trickster hid all his secret data in his will? Extreme morbidity, shameless plot contrivance, or the unfathomable workings of the Tricksterish mind?
--I...actually find the Iris scene a little creepy. Especially since I'm not entirely sure who's talking to her. I think the art's trying a little too hard.
--Well, will you look at that, it's Warden Wolfe. Isn't he supposed to be dead? Do I care? Hmm. As far as the continuity violation is concerned, no, actually, I don't (I don't even remember if he definitely died in that story); on the other hand, it's very, very hard to believe he survived this scene, and bringing him back just to kill him again seems a touch pointless. Then again, if there's a character I'm happy to be killing over and over again, Wolfe is totally it. And Johns uses him to finally resolve the awful thing Wally did to Inertia (story cleanup going on all over, here), so really I'm pretty happy.
--"I was frozen. But I could think. I could think fast. And do you know what I thought about?" Turning the page was totally unnecessary; everyone knew the answer to that question. Hell, we knew it back at ALL-FLASH. This is why fates worse than death are a bad idea, okay, Wally?!?
--Man, Piper must have put me in a good mood; Zoom II barges into a Rogue story again, and I'm actually kind of pleased to see him. If he takes over issue #2 I'm going to sulk lots and lots--we've only got three issues to work with, here!--but I confess, that's a killer of a last page, and by Zoom's standards it makes sense.
So overall, both a good issue and a blessed relief. Now, if Johns can keep it up for another two issues (ideally without getting sucked into unrelated crossover junk), we'll have an excellent mini on our hands. Not holding my breath, frankly, but it's still a promising start.
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Date: 2008-07-20 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 02:44 am (UTC)