Infinite Frontier #0 Discussion/Spoilers

[Rakzo]

This is what I like to call "Rebirth 2.0"... except that half of the creative team is way less competent this time.

I'm sorry if I'm being overly-negative here but I can't help but feeling a sense of dread with the abundance of James Tynion IV, Brian Bendis and the latest disappointment, Tim Sheridan. Is just something that doesn't give me a lot of confidence considering that I've seen way too much of these authors' work and they follow the same terrible pattern in their own way every single time.

That being said, there are positives to appreciate here like the long-awaited rise of Joshua Williamson, not to mention that Geoff Johns' returns as well and Joelle Jones has shown a lot of talent over the years. These are the creators that you should watch in the future.

But enough about that, let's start digging into the issue.

The Diana segments are written by Williamson, Tynion and Scott Snyder (who thankfully doesn't have as much control this time) and they're handled fairly well despite of mostly being exposition for what's about to come. They deliver insteresting bits about the higher powers in the DCU and this is a build-up for what's about to come in the epilogue. John Timms' art is pretty flexible and detailed.

Then we proceed with Justice League by Bendis and credit where credit is due, I think Bendis does a solid set-up for his upcoming run concerning Black Adam and Superman, if there's something that I always appreciated about Bendis is that at the very least he got Clark's voice and that continues here. The problem with the writer comes in the long run and that's why I don't expect much from what's coming next. David Marquez' pencils are extremely polished and pleasent to look at.

Tynion on Batman might be the opposite of Bendis since his premises are as creatively bankrupt as you can get except with better execution I guess? At least more marketable execution. Although I like that Barbara Gordon is mostly back as Oracle but I feel like Tynion might have something against Tom King's Batman run because of his treatment of Bane (I also have a lot of things against King's run but Tynion has no right to criticize others). Grifter also seems to continue as in Future State. Jorge Jimenez' artwork is vibrant as always.

Wasn't impressed by Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad's Wonder Woman work on Future State but the Nubia segments here are decent enough and I always liked the idea of the character as I always said. Alitha Martinez and Rags Morales' artstyle is safe, not too impressive.

Joelle Jones returns to write about Yara Flor and of course she makes Yara as likable and fun as possible. Thank God Dan Watters was not the one handling her. Jones' artwork is beautiful of course. This is probably what makes me excited the most about what's about to come.

Tynion returns to write about Alan Scott and yeah, this is all about Alan finally coming out of the closet like his New 52 Earth 2 counterpart and you know what? I'm okay with this. My biggest fear was the possible absense of Obsidian and Jade because of it but they're present here in fact and Alan's sexuality doesn't change who he is at his core, not to mention that Alan hiding it makes sense considering the time he was born. Tynion depicts the story in a rather sappy way and I don't trust him to write the character but eh, the story here is not bad. Stephen Byrne's expressive style is fitting for the segment.

Tim Sheridan shares a little prelude for his Teen Titans Academy work and be afraid for the future people because if his Future State work taught me anything, is that the man doesn't know how to handle conclusions. Rafa Sandoval's flexible art is solid at least.

There's a Jon Kent segment written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and is fine I suppose. I wish they dropped the grown Jon angle and made him return as a kid but let's see what the writer does with it. Jamal Igle's artwork is pretty detailed.

Hey, Green Arrow and Black Canary do get a story written by no one else but Joshua Williamson. Not so excited about the heavy emphasis on the relationship that is present here but he gets the voices right most of the time and hey, Roy Harper is back too. Always trust Williamson on fixing mistakes. Alex Maleev's semi-realistic pencils are really appropriate for the Arrow universe.

Geoff Johns actually writes about Stargirl once again and is appropriate considering she's his creation and means a lot to him. He also brings back a lot of old ideas like Stripesy and the Seven Soldiers of Victory and is all in good fun. Todd Nauck's 90s cartoony style is fitting for the character.

Geoffrey Thorne returns to the Green Lanterns universe with a set-up about John Stewart, Simon Baz and Teen Lantern which is cool since I like all of these characters (Well, Teen Lantern not so much) and his Future State work was good (although I wish people who don't know Spanish stopped trying to write it). Dexter Soy's artwork is always vibrant.

Williamson writes about The Flash once again but this is all about Barry passing the mantle to Wally West. Is a shame that Williamson won't write Wally in the main Flash book since I always thought he did the character right but is a solid set-up nonetheless. Howard Porter's kinetic style is just right as well.

And Williamson closes the story by pretty much destroying the initial set-up and bringing back a character that at first I feared it was that over-played mistake known as The Batman who Laughs but thankfully Williamson surprised me here. I guess he wanted to continue his frustrated work on Justice League Odyssey. John Romita Jr.'s art is decent enough.

Overall, a lot of things that I like, some things that I fear but overall, a promising new beginning.