Reviews #2: DC’s New 52 Week 2

For the week 2 books, I set aside some of my early aversions and checked out eight of the new books.  Batman and Robin, Green Lantern, Suicide Squad, Red Lanterns, Superboy, Grifter, and Mister Terrific.  I gotta say, I’m impressed all around.  I really like how this reboot is shaping up, and I like that some of these stories carried over from the preboot world.  And I especially like what it’s doing for lesser known and newer characters like Mister Terrific and Atroticus.  Let’s get to it.

Just like Green Arrow, this one took me a couple tries to get into it.  At first it felt like it was going to be a gag title like Deadpool Corps was last year.  But when I picked it up and started reading again I can see how this could play out in the long run.  If the Green Lanterns are cops of the galaxy then the Red Lanterns are the vigilantes.  In the preboot Atroticus only wanted to exact vengeance on Krona for destroying his home planet and entire sector.  That carries over to here as Hal Jordan took the opportunity for Atroticus to kill Krona away by doing it himself so now he doesn’t know what to do with himself and his Red Lanterns.  By the end of the book he’s rallied his Red Lanterns to a new cause, seeking out to punish those who deserve retribution.  Basically, it’s an army of blood vomiting Ghost Riders.  Minus the motorcycle and flaming skulls, of course.  Check it out, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Okay, readers, I like you.  I do.  And I’m going to level with you.  Up until Flashpoint, I had no idea who Grifter was or anything about him.  I can tell you this now though.  I could kick myself for being so blind.  Part voodoo magic, part gun-toting hillbilly bad @#!*% .  Grifter, as far as I can tell, is about a man on the run from the law who’s hearing the voices of tentacle faced plasma monsters in his head.  The first issue wasn’t as action heavy as some of the other books, but when you’re introducing a Wildstorm character that the casual fan may not know, story over action is going to be the best bet.  Cool cover art, though.

This.  This right here earns my “Best of…” for the titles this week.  It was funny, action packed, gory, exciting, and it left me craving the next book like nothing else has recently, save for Kevin Smith’s Bionic Man.  I’m a big fan of Harley Quinn, I like the new costume, it suits her, makes her come across a little more realistic.  Now, I’m a fan of the original costume, too, but I associate it directly with Batman The Animated Series.  People are into Harley, they fantasize about her, and DC knows this.  Why would they continue to cover up 90% of her when the best Batman game of all time depicted her as a naughty nurse?  It’s going to be thigh highs and corsets and pockets full of knives from here on out.  Suicide Squad is a really cool title based on a really cool idea.  This is up there with Batgirl and Animal Man.

For the most part, I liked everything the new 52 has offered me thus far.  And if I wasn’t interested in it before and for one reason or another picked it up anyway, I wound up liking it, probably more than the stuff I wanted to read going into this.  This included.  Welcome to the origin of Superboy.  Grown in a lab as a cloning experiment using alien and human DNA.  Superboy doesn’t explore too far outside of the laboratory setting.  Another Wildstorm character makes appearances as the post-disaster leader of the Superboy project at N.O.W.H.E.R.E.   As for picking up issue 2…I’m more excited for Teen Titans #1 now.  And I wasn’t interested in that….at all.  At least not until the end of Superboy #1.

I’ve never waited longer to read a #1 than I have for this.  At the end of the War of the Green Lanterns, it’s no secret (at least on this blog), that Hal is stripped of his Green Lantern ring and status and his ring goes to Thaal Sinestro.  What follows is one issue telling two stories.  Two stories about two men who are exactly where they don’t want to be and don’t feel they belong.  If the end of this book is gearing us up for what’s to come from the ongoing Green Lantern series I have two things to say.  I knew he wouldn’t be without his ring for long and second, this is going to be the BEST buddy cop movie EVER.  I can’t say much else about it.  The art is great, the writing’s great, everything about this is just right.  It’s a perfect way to start things off, everything status quo as it was once, long ago.

I read a story involving Mr. Terrific once.  I was more interested in the ongoing story regarding Power Girl’s origins though.  I’m happy to say that Mr. Terrific is a really well rounded book.  Great humor, good story, plenty of action, and the confirmed return of Karen Starr AKA Power Girl to the DC Universe reboot.  So far she hasn’t shown up AS Power Girl, but she’s accounted for.  But, this isn’t her book.  It’s Mr. Terrific’s!  The book was great, and Mr. Terrific easily reminds me, very much, of Will Smith in some of his dialogue.  If you had doubts about this and whether it’d last past three issues, give it a chance.  It’ll surprise you.

Batman and Robin has been my favorite book since I started reading it regularly around issue #13.  This new start with Bruce taking over again as Batman is reintroducing us to Damian being a brat.  Bruce is commemorating the death of his parents once last time.  He’s decided that it’s time for a change and will proceed to remember them as they lived, on their wedding anniversary, instead of the day they died.  The call comes in, action ensues and Damian takes off after the perps, seemingly killing them in the process.  This can’t sit well with Bruce, not when he finds out anyway.  Can not WAIT for issue 2.

I’ll be back with more DC New 52 reviews in two weeks!  TV reviews before then, and another Issue soon!

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Reviews #1: DC’s New 52 Week 1

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.

Issue #6: The New 52!

Flash #1 cover art.

Since the Flashpoint event started at DC we’ve been hearing about The New 52.  Comic Con was completely buzzing with news and information revealing tidbits here and there of art and story in regards to the new books.  I’ve been hesitant when it came to these new books.  I will admit I wasn’t and am still not 100% on board.  I just read Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1 back to back and the transition was smooth.  I’ll give them credit for that.  It didn’t feel like a cop out, it didn’t feel forced.  It was a well planned progression into a new era for the same heroes and it was executed well enough.  What I don’t like is that we’ve lost Power Girl, among other heroes, in lieu of titles that hold no narrative for the heroes that belong to DC but instead tell stories of war and the old west.  Which is just fine, I like a good war story, and I love a western good or bad.

I like that we were lead into the new DCU in some areas by ongoing stories, like in the case of the Green Lantern.  We were taken down this road through the three ongoing Green Lantern titles (Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Emerald Warriors) and when the War of the Green Lanterns ended the status was no longer quo.  If you don’t know what’s going on, the short version is that Hal Jordan killed Krona.  The guardians revoked his status as a lantern and sent him hurtling back to earth.  Stripped of his yellow ring, as it found a new more worthy host, Sinestro was standing by to receive Hal’s ring and become the new Green Lantern of Sector 2814.  The last thing we see is Hal standing on the side of the road in the desert and the words Green Lantern Returns in GREEN LANTERN #1!

Action Comics

For me it solidified a reason to have a new #1, a reason to start fresh.  It didn’t make it feel arbitrary at all, like I felt it was when I first heard the announcement.

When it all first started pouring out, I admit I met it with a slack jaw and keystrokes so swift they could melt plastic.  My nerd rage fuse was primed, lit, and ready to blow.  I mean, 14 Batman books, 6 Green Lantern books, Static Shock, wars and westerns, and not one single sign of Power Girl.  I’m a little sore about not having her around, I honestly did love her ongoing story, it wasn’t ever heavy handed and was rather light-hearted and genuinely fun to read.  There were a lot of things to be met with anger at first, the Teen Titans look ridiculous to begin with.  Every iteration of Robin has wings, Superboy looks like a frat boy, I don’t even know what the thing on all 4s is, this is hard to accept.  DC has a lot that’s hard to swallow across the board, Deadman looks like he borrowed and modified Nightwing’s disco suit.  Barbara Gordon is Batgirl again, even though she’s been in a wheelchair since The Killing Joke.  All in two weeks we had a LOT of stuff thrown at us that didn’t quite sit right.

Still, I’m not signed up for anything except Green Lantern and Batman & Robin.  As I stated earlier, I read Justice League #1 and the first time through I finished it confused about who it was written for.  It felt like the first episode of yet another Justice League animated series, and at the same time it felt like the transcribed playtime of a bunch of kids playing super heroes.  Batman was pitch perfect.  Green Lantern, who, despite the Green Lantern story line, is Hal Jordan, is grating.  Like they re-wrote the character to better match Ryan Reynolds.  There was even a little dispute, started by Batman about what city belongs to who, and it seemed…I don’t know…out of place.  I couldn’t tell if this book was for long time fans, kids, adults, new readers, or what.

Batman & Robin #1

Don’t get me wrong, it was action-packed and fast paced, I do wish it had been a bit longer and showcased the other heroes more than just Green Lantern and Batman.  There was a bit featuring Cyborg, but he wasn’t Cyborg yet.  Just Vic.  Superman makes an appearance in the last 2 pages and then we’re left with a cliffhanger.

But, let me pose this, if you read or have read Flashpoint #5 pay attention towards the end, there’s a visage of a hooded woman with markings all over and glowing eyes.  She speaks of there being three time streams, obviously these are the DC of old, Flashpoint, and DCnU.  Clever as it is to include this, it offers an obvious opportunity to revert back to the old DCU.  Anyway, I mention this glow-eyed woman for a reason, in the crowd at Vic’s football game in Justice League #1 it was pointed out to me, and his Twitter followers, by Jon Kovalic (Dork Tower) that the very same woman is sitting in the stands watching.  I suppose over the next few months (or years) this will be revealed to us.

But I’m not going to nay-say the new universe, I’m willing to give it a shot and let it fan out before I pass my judgement on the whole thing.  I’m going to read Justice League, Batman, Batman & Robin, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman up through January of 2012 and give my words on the DCnU then.  We’ve been given a Batgirl preview and we learned that The Killing Joke happened and she was crippled, but we still don’t know how she’s up and moving around, did she recover? Anyway, right now, I’m hopeful.  I don’t fear what’s to come, I’m not mad about it anymore, I don’t feel it’s arbitrary.  I get it now, and I welcome the change.

Bring it on DC.  Just, don’t turn everything around for a milestone issue that would’ve been. *coughfantasticfourcough*.  Oh yeah, and don’t forget to spread the nerd.