Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials
Majestic #3
Scheduled to arrive in stores: October 6, 2004Cover date: December 2004
Writer: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Artist: Karl Kerschl
"Power Trip"
Reviewed by: Neal Bailey
"Mr. McArest" arrives home to find young Elijah hanging off the roof, dangling his costume, telling him that he knows he's a superhero.
Elijah's mom gets home, and McArest tells her to distract him while he heads upstairs. He does, and begs Elijah to come back in, but Elijah slips. McArest swoops out and catches him, revealing his powers.
At an abandoned warehouse, police find a break-in. They soon find themselves ambushed as the waitress did last issue by the unknown evil entity.
On Khera, at the time of the Daemonite War, Majestros meets with Elan and continues his affair.
McArest, present day, tries to explain why he hid to Elijah's mother Ellen, explaining that his memory has been patchy for a while, and he wanted to figure out what's going on.
Ellen explains that she knows who he is.
Eradicator descends back to Earth, following the thermal trail of Majestic.
In the garage, Ellen shows McArest who he is (Majestic), using a newspaper with a strikingly familiar design heading. It's the Daily Planet.
(Reviewer's note: If you read the small print (and I did), you see advertisement for Grant Morrison's DC One Million, among other interesting things...)
She shows him a picture of Majestic carrying Lois, and Majestic recalls taking Elan to a swamp of sand that never stays in the same place, and doing battle with a large sand-drake.
Majestic stays in the garage, and Ellen goes back in to tend to Elijah.
Daemonites arrive, thrashing a wall of the house. Majestic slams into them, sending Ellen and Elijah to the door. There they find the Eradicator, ready and waiting to destroy Mr. Majestic.
Story - 5: It HAD to end here! Dang! Great story, great continuation, but the best is yet to come, I can tell. This story, there isn't much PLOT going forward, but as with the previous two issues, there's a heck of a lot of character, and that's fine by me. Having read about Majestic a while back in the trade, I am now realizing just how well Ellen and Elan fit together, and how Elijah is a way for Majestic to replace his lost son, even subconsciously.
The scene with the kid on the roof was well played, and I'm liking EVERYTHING they do with the Eradicator. Following thermal trails, heck, that's the first time we've seen a Superman related character follow thermal trails since the early 90s. Why did Superman "forget" such a cool power? I'd be using it to find people all the time! But at least it's being used.
The scenes of Majestros' youth are also well done, as is the revelation that brings back the memories. All around, this is a series I don't want to end, and I'm sad that it will next issue.
Art - 5: Get this man on Superman for more than a few issues at a time!
The scene with Eradicator and the thermal trails are particularly well done, especially the subtlety of Eradicator in the foreground with the moon. The boy slipping, it's totally real, as is Ellen.
Looking at Kerschl's work online, he has a penchant for drawing women who are real, you know, not with artificial gravity breasts and a constantly arched back? Sometimes this can be uninteresting, but you can tell from Ellen, when a woman has her inner beauty as he draws it, it shows on the page, it's hard to describe. When I was 14 I always wanted to see the former, now I want the latter, so long as it's done well and not arty for art's sake. Kerschl is very good at imbuing character.
More!
Cover Art - 3: I can't believe I'm giving old McG, the favorite of favorites, a three, but I must. This image is just about average. I mean, it's not horrible, but it's also not what happened in the issue really, it's also a bit brighter than the story at hand. Symbolically, you can argue that he's carrying Ellen because he's considering taking her on as he has Elan and Lois (per the Strange Visitor story), but really, the colors are kind of off, the girl we see is the "gravity defying" woman I poked at above, and her shoes look like slippers. I mean, usually I love big mac, but you win some, you lose some. This one's just a bit odd.
Why burnt offerings?
Why black spots at the bottom of the page?
Perhaps I miss some essential context, but likely that means the average reader does as well.
Still, it's good to see McG on Majestic again. I'd like to see McG work AND Kerschl work on the man. I'm really getting into this character.
Mild Mannered Reviews
2004
Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.January 2004
- Action Comics #809
- Adventures of Superman #622
- Superman #199
- Superman/Batman #4
- Superman: Birthright #5
- Superman: Metropolis #10
- Superman: The Kansas Sighting #1
- JLA #90
- Justice League Adventures #25
- Superman/Batman: Generations III #11
- Superman/Thundercats #1
- Smallville #5
- Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity #3
- JLA/Avengers #3
- JLA-Z #3
- Action Comics #810
- Adventures of Superman #623
- Superman #200
- Superman/Batman #5
- Superman: Metropolis #11
- Superman: The Kansas Sighting #2
- JLA #91
- Justice League Adventures #26
- Superman/Batman: Generations III #12
- Action Comics #811
- Adventures of Superman #624
- Superman #201
- Superman/Batman #6
- Superman: Birthright #6
- Superman: Metropolis #12
- JLA #92
- Justice League Adventures #27
- Smallville #6
- Superman: Secret Identity #1
- Action Comics #812
- Adventures of Superman #625
- Superman #202
- Superman/Batman #7
- Superman: Birthright #7
- JLA #93
- Justice League Adventures #28
- Superman: Secret Identity #2
- Action Comics #813
- Adventures of Superman #626
- Superman #203
- Superman/Batman #8
- Superman: Birthright #8
- JLA #94
- JLA #95
- Justice League Adventures #29
- Smallville #7
- Superman: Secret Identity #3
- JLA/Avengers #4
- Action Comics #814
- Adventures of Superman #627
- Superman #204
- Superman/Batman #9
- Superman: Birthright #9
- JLA #96
- JLA #97
- Justice League Adventures #30
- Superman: Secret Identity #4
- It’s a Bird [Vertigo] (Hardcover)
- Action Comics #815
- Adventures of Superman #628
- Superman #205
- Superman/Batman #10
- Superman: Birthright #10
- JLA #98
- JLA #99
- Justice League Adventures #31
- Smallville #8
- Justice League of America: Another Nail #1
- Action Comics #816
- Adventures of Superman #629
- Superman #206
- Superman: Secret Files and Origins 2004
- Superman: Birthright #11
- JLA #100
- Identity Crisis #1
- Justice League Adventures #32
- Justice League of America: Another Nail #2
- Action Comics #817
- Adventures of Superman #630
- Superman #207
- Superman/Batman #11
- Superman: Birthright #12
- JLA #101
- JLA #102
- Justice League Elite #1
- Identity Crisis #2
- Justice League Adventures #33
- Smallville #9
- Justice League of America: Another Nail #3
- Action Comics #818
- Adventures of Superman #631
- Superman #208
- DC Comics Presents: Superman #1
- Majestic #1
- JLA #103
- JLA #104
- DC Comics Presents: Justice League of America #1
- Justice League Elite #2
- Identity Crisis #3
- Justice League Adventures #34
- Action Comics #819
- Adventures of Superman #632
- Superman #209
- Superman/Batman #12
- Majestic #2
- JLA #105
- JLA #106
- Justice League Elite #3
- JLA: Secret Files and Origins 2004
- Identity Crisis #4
- Justice League Unlimited #1
- Smallville #10
- Action Comics #820
- Adventures of Superman #633
- Superman #210
- Superman/Batman #13
- Majestic #3
- JLA #107
- Justice League Elite #4
- Identity Crisis #5
- Justice League Unlimited #2
- Superman: True Brit
Back to the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.
Check out the Comic Index Lists for the complete list of Superman-related comics published in 2004.