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Title: 22
Stories In A Single Bound
Writer: Mark Millar
Penciller: Ty Templeton, Rick Burchett, Min S. Ku, Aluir Almancio, &
various
Inker: Terry Beatty
Letterer: Phil Felix
Colorist: Marie Severin
Cover: Mike Manley & Terry Austin
Summary:
It's
pretty hard to do a synopsis (because there's 22 stories), so I'll just briefly
do a synopsis/review of my favorite 5 stories:
Description:
"A
WEEK IN THE LIFE OF LOIS LANE"
This title is pretty self-explanatory, but this short story is absolutely
hilarious. We see Lois getting rescued Monday up to Thursday by Superman. Then
on Friday, she's getting mugged without no one to help her out. She's mad that
Superman doesn't show up so she slugs her assailant in the face and walks off
upset. Hilarious!
"JIMMY OLSEN in MR. ACTION!"
Jimmy takes a short cut through a dangerous alley. He starts to get harassed by
thugs because he's SUPERMAN'S PAL. (Remember that awful episode?) He threatens
to crooks but it doesn't work the way he thought. He closes his eyes and takes a
swing at the leader and supposedly knocks them all down. We then realize that
Superman took them all out while Jimmy had his eyes closed.
"NINETY DAYS LATER..."
Batman and Superman are trying to find out where Livewire and Catwoman have fled
to. While interrogating a crook, Mr. Mxyzptlk pops up and starts to bug Batman
and Superman. Batman (in a priceless, show stealing scene), annoyed by Mxy,
gives him an icy stare and threatens to stop him. Mxy, scared out of his mind,
vanishes in fear.
"LIFE ACCORDING TO DARKSEID"
In a great story that is a great lead-in to LEGACY, as well as his obsessions,
we see the universe, and Earth, through Darkseid's eye. In this story, Darkseid
views all his accomplishments as nothing. The last panel provides the best
insight into Darkseid - obsessed with Earth and Superman.
"THE SCOOP OF THE CENTURY"
In this story, Jimmy is just day dreaming about being a star reporter and starts
doodling on a picture of Superman. He is too encased in his daydreaming to
realize that he has drawn a pair of glasses on Superman's face - making him look
exactly like Clark.
Pages (out of 32):
Review:
This
comic will be known for years to come as THE way to end one's run on a comic
book. Millar doesn't go out with a wimper, but with 22 stories. These stories
range from comedic to action packed, to serious, all the way back to comedic
again. While only a couple stories lack any substance (like the lackluster Lex
Luthor story), there are 20 great reads in this book. These stories provides
insights into characters in ways that would be impossible on the show.
All the stories have their moments. Batman
manages to steal the show in "NINETY DAYS LATER...", in which he
scares Mxy back to his own dimension. Millar made Batman downright scary,
something that Peterson is having a bit of trouble on in BATMAN: GOTHAM
ADVENTURES. It's hard to review this comic simply because of the 22 short
stories.
This book is completely enjoyable because you
need not know of any of the history of SUPERMAN for this to work. It enhances
the book if you do know, but you really don't need to. The various artists angle
on this books works great, and the various styles are controlled perfectly by
inker Terry Austin. When this book is funny, you laugh.
Simple as that. It's rare the comedy works in a
book, but this book pulls it off great. I can't see how anyone can go wrong with
this book. For $2 dollars ($3.25 Canadian) you can get 20 great stories, and 2
mediocre ones. Rating:  ˝
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