Our first Comic Book Club meeting...

Yesterday (Sunday) was our first meeting. We discussed Day of Vengeance, the Infinite Crisis crossover/prelude.
Shabazz was the only one that showed up, because Joseph's Civil War comics were stolen (he also didn't get the comic) and Chris just sucks. Anyway, we pretty much agreed on everything. Overall it was an OK storyline. I had the trade paperback so I had to inform Shabazz of some stuff. The Nature of Magic prologue was kind of lame but Lightening Strikes Twice was great. I liked the art in it much better that Day of Vengeance. Occasionally in Day of Vengeance it seemed the art was too compacted or "actiony"; I can't think of the right word. In some panels it was hard to tell what was happening. Such as when Ragman is absorbing someone, or the Spectre is taking a soul. Some of the dialog was out of place, especially during the battles. It was funny, just out of place. The overall story was OK. Neither of us were thrilled about it, mainly because we hadn't heard of the Shadowpact and we're not too big on magic. Although I mainly picked it up because I'm getting more into Captain Marvel and wanted to read more of him. I did like the way they left many loose ends to branch out other stories. Such as what happened to Dr. Fate and Madame Xanadu, what will happen to the Shazam magic, what will happen will all the "ancient evils" and seven deadly sins, did any other magic artifacts land, what was up with that girl getting owned by debris, will that old guy destory a city, what will Black Alice do now, and what happens to the Spectre (I guess I could read the new Spectre); Shabazz also mentioned the Atom's (ex)wife obiting the sun. Also we loved the token black bicycler in the third issue when Nightshade and Bobo were in suburbia; he was just funny.

In conclusion, the story wasn't too bad, but could have been better. Willingham (writer) could have introduced some magical heroes early on and have the Spectre kill them, so we would have been attached to them when he killed them, and cared for them. Instead the Spectre mass murdered them in the forest and we didn't see who they were or cared they died. I would probably only recommend this book to someone who was interest in the Shadowpact, Eclipso and the Spectre, the magics. Although it did explain some little things from the later comics. Such as the Shadowpact, The Trials of Shazam, and maybe the Spectre and Blue Beetle. So if you don't plan of reading Day of Vengeance, all you really need to know is: Eclipso came back, seduced the Spectre into destorying all magic, Captain Marvel and the Shadowpact held them off, and Shazam sacrificed himself to "stop" the Spectre.

Next week we're (hopefully Joseph and Chris too) reading Identity Crisis (Brad Meltzer!) and The Amazing Screw-On Head (Mike Mignola!). I've already read Identity Crisis so I know of its awesomeness and I've seen the Screw-On Head pilot and I can't wait to read the original. (I can't wait for Brad Meltzer's JLA).