If you’re reading this you’ve probably read my recent Issue about DCs new 52, after reading Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1 back to back. If you didn’t you can read it here. I’ve managed to get my hands on and read several of the new titles since then. We’re half way through the run of first issues and there’s some good and some bad. I’m going to try to focus mainly on the good, though. I’m not reading everything, just what grabs my particular interest initially or what I’ve heard is good.
Week 1
I loved this, plain and simple. I’d mostly been of the opinion that Superman is too much of a boy scout and entirely too powerful. In Action Comics #1 that is completely out the window from the start. He’s pure intimidation when facing down his enemies. Eyes glowing red, barking demands, dangling his suspect off of multi-story balconies. This Superman is a bad @#!*% . And not only that, but they’ve made him far less invulnerable. He feels pain and they let you know that when they show him stopping a speeding train. What incarnation of Superman would be complete without Lex Luthor? We come to see that everything that happens in this book is by the will of Lex himself, working with the government to capture Superman. Though, only half of the experience in reading comics is story and character. The other half is the art and it shines here. Definitely looking forward to more from Action Comics!
The god @#!*% Batman, everybody. With 13 titles it’d almost be hard to decide which ones to pick up and follow. Detective Comics should not even hold a doubt in your mind. It’s dark, it’s action packed, it’s Batman vs The Joker right out of the gate. And this Joker is like a breath of fresh air…crazy, knife-wielding, fresh air. Once more the art in this is awesome and this book is everything a Batman book should be. And the end, oh the end is so delightfully effed up, I can’t wait to see where it goes.
I have little to no real personal investment into Batgirl. I can say that when we found out Barbara Gordon would be out of the wheel chair and returning to the cowl, I was slightly put off. But DC didn’t retcon the events of The Killing Joke and actually just shortened the amount of time she was in the chair. That said, I enjoyed this book, quite a lot. The villain is cool and works off of a pretty interesting gimmick. I actually like that Batgirl is portrayed as vulnerable. She had a traumatizing event in her life and when she’s face to face with it possibly happening again, she freezes in her tracks. That’s unbelievably human and not something you come across too often. Not only will I be picking this up again, I’ll be recommending it heavily.
I have mixed feelings about Justice League International. It was an engaging book. The issues within were definitely worth picking it up. Power struggles, human drama, politics, it’s a good book, truly. My issue is the same here as in the other Justice League book. The Green Lantern has been written poorly. Guy Gardener is a hot head and he’s prone to tantrums. But I don’t think he’s going to be a baby about not being picked to lead a team of international heroes. Also, who decided that Green Lanterns are so renowned now? Oh well, new world, new rules I suppose. Check it out, be ready to detest Guy Gardener.
To be quite honest, Green Arrow took me a couple of tries to get through. When I did, I really liked what I was reading. Oliver is this rich guy stricken with guilt over the fact that he didn’t help when he could have. So now he helps wherever he can with his band of techies back home. And it is wherever as this first issue introduces us to a rouge’s gallery based out of Paris. I’ll give DC this, it’s international good and bad guys are quite entertaining. Check out Knight and Squire for more of that (It’s a six issue series from the preboot.)
sidenote: “preboot” possible new term for pre-reboot DC.
Again, in all honesty, I wasn’t going to get this. I wasn’t going to even look into considering it. I just had no interest whatsoever. I was absent from the comic world for about 12 years, and I didn’t really look into much of anything before that. I had no idea Animal Man was really a hero. But at the recommendation of Comic Book Alex from Just a Couple of Gs I picked it up and gave it a read, and I gotta say I’m in. It’s not just about zipping around in tights fighting monsters and aliens. It’s about a man who’s put aside the costume, for the most part. He’s got a wife and kids and an acting gig, and he can combine or isolate individual physical characteristics of animals to super-up. The first issue deals with a hostage situation at a hospital which leads into a nightmare and some odd behavior from Animal Man’s little girl. Another one I won’t only be picking up but also recommending highly.
That sums it up for what I read during the first week of DCs new 52 reboot. I’ll have another reviews issue up for week 2 shortly. And keep an eye out for these to pop up once every two weeks. It won’t always be comics, especially since the new TV season is starting tonight.
My Life as a Geek 