Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Final Crisis Rogues’ Revenge #2 of 3
DC Comics
Johns & Kolins
I am not reading the main Final Crisis series. I am reading this mini that may tie into the main one, but it simply makes no difference to me. I am finding this mini series to be among the best of the year. This second issue is outstanding on every single level. I can’t possible recommend this issue enough. In fact, you don’t even need to have read the first issue to like this story. That’s some high praise indeed.
The issue is mostly about Captain Cold and how he runs things in his crew. Cold, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, Heat Wave and to a lesser extent, The Trickster are wanted by the super villain Libra. Libra finds a new wave of Rogues and has them confront the old school Rogues along with the threat of death toward Captain Cold’s father.
Cold receives the message and gets nasty. Charles Bronson style nasty. The interesting part of the story is that for a while you begin to sympathize with the Rogues. They show compassion for their tailor, who was injured by the new Rogues and they show more remorse about how badly things have gone lately, what with killing Bart Allen and all.
Then, Cold and company break out the whip. I can’t begin to tell you how excellent it was to watch Cold and company work their magic on these bozos. It isn’t easy to root for the bad guys, but it was in this issue.
 Final Crisis Rogues Revenge #2 (of 3) |
Two side plots are unfolding as Zoom reveals his plans for Inertia to Inertia, which brings some interesting questions to the surface. Also, the Pied Piper makes a return, but whose side is he really on? These side plots take only a couple of pages but bring up some good mystery for the last issue. Also, there is a sequence involving a Flash or two….you figure it out.
Finally, Cold confronts his old man. The tension is awesome in this scene. Who can be colder than Cold? Well his old man finds a rung on that ladder. Cold’s dealing with his father is very interesting as is how he resolves the fake Rogues issue.
This issue is excellent and it is made excellent with the story as well as the art. Let me tell you that the highlight of this issue for me was the facial expression for Cold. His stare, his teeth, his scowl are all perfect storytelling techniques that make for memorable moments. The scene where the two sets of Rogues battle it out is among the best scenes I’ve seen all year in a comic. It’s fantastic.
There is a flaw in this issue. Well, actually two. They occur on consecutive pages. After the page with the flashback of Cold’s sister leaving home, Cold says how the sister would still be alive if “you” hadn’t chased her off to which Cold replies “I didn’t chase her off. She ran off.” So one of the bubbles obviously belongs to the old man, but which one? On the next page Cold goes from hood down and glasses off to hood up and glasses on panel to panel. Both minor, but annoying nonetheless.
That’s it. It’s a near flawless issue. I cant stress enough that this thing is so loosely tied to Final Crisis that it’s almost a joke that the cover has the title. By the way, the cover I got has Heat Wave profile shot and it’s an excellent cover. If you like the Rogues or even just a good villain story then this series shouldn’t be missed. It’s so good it makes me wonder why they didn’t kill Bart earlier to get this series started that much faster.
5 out of 5 geek goggles
