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From the Dark, Damp and Noisy World of Tony Caroselli:
BRIEF NOTE ON THE TITLE OF THE REVIEW:
I finally decided on one! The reason I call it 'The White Pages' is 'cause I intend, from time to time, to maybe review some older (at least 5 years, preferable 15+) comics, and THOSE reviews would be called 'The Yellow Pages.' Get it? Ah, never mind.
ACTION COMICS #754:
IN BRIEF: Stuck inside the Phantom Zone, Superman learns Dominus' origin and makes plans to defeat him. Meanwhile, Lois Lane fights Dominus, and Wonder Woman rescues Lex Luthor.
Rating: **1/2 (out of 4)
'The Aimless Blade of Science'
Writers: Stuart Immonen (plot) & Mark Millar (script) Pencils: Immonen Inks: Jose Marzan, Jr. Cover art: Immonen Cover inks: Marzan Editor: Joey Cavalieri
SPOILER SPACE:
GENERAL NOTES:
At least the 'Superman Rex' storyline is picking up its pace a little bit. It still could be moving a LOT faster, but this is better.
The cover was a little confusing, and nothing that really caught my eye. If it wasn't on my pull list, this cover would NOT entice me to pick up the issue and browse it. At least Patrick Martin's coloring helped some, especially in contrasting warm/cool colors.
SCENE 1 (pp. 1-4):
(While floating in the Phantom Zone, Superman flashes back to watching Martha Kent bake a pie when he was a child. He awakens to find three people who look like Dominus standing beside him.)
I was impressed by Millar's scripting here on pp. 1-2. What could have been an obnoxiously schmaltzy scene didn't turn out too badly. He manages to avoid hitting you over the head with flowery, Robert James Waller-esque narration, as well. I especially liked the touch of irony in the page 2 caption, 'Superman is dreaming of Mom and apple pie.' Not bad.
Immonen also makes good use of the montage sequence in his storytelling. Too often, the use of this type of panel layout can be EXTREMELY confusing, but Immonen pulled it off, especially given that he was 'cutting' back and forth between two different settings.
The collage on p. 3, panel 3 isn't quite as well done, however. For some reason, the layout just looks a little too confusing to me. Is Superman seeing these images all at once, separately, or what?
SCENE 2 (p. 5):
(Wonder Woman awakens to find the Martian Manhunter missing and the Fortress of Solitude destroyed.)
It looks like Marzan is experimenting with the inks a little bit on Immonen's pencils. I've said before that one of my problems with Immonen's style is that his art doesn't look very solid; it almost seems like you could stick your finger in them and they'd dissipate. Marzan seems to be compensating for that
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