I’m trying something new. Rather
than post individual write-ups on comics, at most three or four in a
post, I’m going to wait until I’ve read all the titles for a
given month and do a megapost, at least for the bulk of my reading
which is all from DC Comics. Hopefully that will compel me to write
less per comic and take up less of my time overall. We’ll see. Or
at least, I can set aside an afternoon/evening to do it all at once,
which may be a more manageable way to handle it.
I am going to try to post to a good
online review that more or less reflects my view of the comic as
well. I have a few preferred blogs for this purpose – most if not
all appear in my blog-roll at right.
To clarify a couple of things, in the
form of a short Q & A:
Why are your “reviews” so much
later than everyone else's?
It's because I have no readily available local comics shop and depend
on a mail-order service, getting a full month's releases of comics
all at once early the next month. Then I don't blow through them
quickly. I read them at a rate of about one per evening.
Why do you read them in this
particular order? Generally, I
read them in release order, with each week's releases being read more
or less in the order they appeared in the original solicitations from
Diamond. Sometimes I pull stuff forward or push them back for some
other reason – if it was delayed from a previous month I'll pull it
forward; I often will push non-DC stuff back and read them last. But
reading DC comics in general release order most of the time gets any
cross-references that might appear in their proper sequence. And
there can be a good number of those.
So, here are the DC Comics cover dated January 2012 that I received at the end of November 2011 and read slowly through December.
*
* *
Justice League International
#3
“The
Signal Masters, part 3”
This issue is basically a series of
fights between pairs of the JLI and the robot rock giants that are
appearing all over the world. We get a bit more characterization on
the various individuals in one-on-one interaction. For example,
Rocket Red asks Ice if she thinks Fire might be open to his advances
- “Would light Rocket Red's rockets!”; August General in Iron,
working with Godiva, doesn't blame her for her shortcomings, because
he recognizes that some of his teammates are there not because
they're prepared but rather for political reasons. There is very
quickly being developed some character depth for him. Batman and
Booster Gold find a giant underground alien machine but then seem
overwhelmed by sheer numbers right after Batman discovers that Earth
is being watched from space. Meanwhile, Guy Gardner Green Lantern
has headed off into space alone, where he finds the giant spaceship
just in time to be struck down by Peraxxus – whom I still say looks
like Galactus-lite. But overall this continues to be a good, solid
story and art.
Action Comics
#3
“World
Against Superman”
Clark
wakes up from a dream/nightmare of the Collector of Worlds unleashing
his Terminauts on the Kryptonian city of Kandor and his mother
carrying his own infant self barely getting away – just in time for
the police to barge in to search his apartment because they are
convinced he has some connection to Superman. They find nothing, but
apparently his landlady has – she's holding his cape as she asks
him if he's really an alien. Because knowledge that Superman is not
of this world has gone public, with mixed reactions. Then the
Terminauts appear in Metropolis. Just as the military brings the new
Steel Soldier John Corben on-line, Corben is taken over by the
Collector. Luthor jumps in to welcome the Collector of Worlds to
Earth – but all it's interested in is Superman.
If
I'm correct, I think Brainiac is now a Kryptonian super-computer like
in Superman:
The Animated Series,
but this Collector of Worlds is basically the comics' Brainiac we've
known … I bet they were connected somehow in the “harvesting”
of Kryptonian knowledge/tech/culture through Kandor. This is another
good issue, although as much as I generally like Rags Morales' art,
sometimes his faces seem a bit off. For instance, when Clark and
Jimmy are having lunch together, Jimmy looks more like a red-headed
Howard Wolowitz. There are several pages of notes and sketches by
Grant Morrison and the artists to fill out this bigger and
higher-priced book.
Detective
Comics
#3
“Cold
Blood”
Batman
manages to get away from the Dollmaker with knowledge that it wasn't
a patchwork Gordon at the end of last issue but rather a
Frankensteinish composite. Wow, I'm surprised. Jim meanwhile awakes
a captive, and finds that he's been operated on, but he gets the
little girl Olivia from issue #1 to take out a message to Batman.
Bruce discovers some link to Gordon's past and a suspect as to who
the Dollmaker really is. He gets the message through Olivia, which
contains a code to watch his back, things aren't what they seem.
I'll say, because the little girl considers Dollmaker to be her
“father,” and he is waiting for Batman – who ends up thrown
into a battle with a half-dozen patchwork “Jokers.”
At
least the over-the-top grotesquerie was not as apparent in this
issue, although I'm still mystified as to where this fits into the
New 52 Batman
chronology. In Batman:
The Dark Knight
(below), which is definitely “current,” Batman taunts “Joker”
that he thought he was “retired.” I still get the sense
Detective
is set in the past. Unfortunately, this continues to be my least
favorite of the Batman
books.
Stormwatch
#3
“The
Dark Side, Part Three”
We
discover that where the first of a meteor swarm impacted Earth there
was once a mighty city, but Jack Hawksmoor the “city whisperer”
has trouble making contact with it. Has it gone over to the invader
who is here to ready Earth for attack by a worse enemy? By the end
of the issue, it seems that all Stormwatch on Earth have been
absorbed except Midnighter. Meanwhile, Apollo has been taking out
other meteors in space, but finally goes up against one that is too
big even for him.
You
know, if I didn't like Paul Cornell and have faith in him pulling it
off, I'm not so sure I'd be buying this comic. The basic premise of
an ancient society of superbeings before the current age of
superheroes is intriguing, but the idea of a bunch of JLA clones –
most apparently Midnighter and Apollo – with bad attitudes doesn't
really set this off enough. But it sure looks good even though I'm
confused as all heck.
Superboy
#3
“Free
at Last, Free at Last”
The
head of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (which Superboy apparently pronounces out as
“NOWHERE” and that's how I'm going to write it from now on
because I hate
those long acronyms with periods) reevaluates his assessment of how
ready Superboy is in light of the fact he seems lost. But he manages
to halt his descent into the Earth and burst back out to the surface,
learning a bit more about his powers along the way, that he has to
think about them to activate them. We also find out that Red has
some secret that she's keeping from NOWHERE, but Rose knows it.
Superboy ends up in a confrontation with some kind of lava woman in
small town USA before heading back to get “the truth” from Red –
who suddenly goes from petite little scientist to bulked up
bodybuilder. Superboy: “GAK!”
followed by the inner'logue, “That did not work out the way I had
rehearsed it in my head.”
“Red”
is, I gather, a character from Gen
13,
a Wildstorm book I never read. Again, an enjoyable issue as we learn
more about Superboy and his world even as he does. Nice, clean art,
very expressive. But it was only on my third scan through that I
realized that the young couple making out about mid-book was not the
same as the psychotic meta couple who opened the book. I expect the
latter will show up again, and thought that was where.
Batman
and Robin
#3
“Knightmoves”
Bruce
has basically grounded Damian because he considers Morgan too
dangerous. Damian goes out anyway, saves a couple from a mugging –
and gets a great line to one of the assailants, “I'm sure you
didn't leave your hole tonight thinking you'd get your ass kicked by
a ten-year-old!” – but is beaten down by Morgan. Batman shows
up, but they both end up captured to awaken in a car in a drive-in
outdoor theatre with some show about to begin, courtesy of Morgan.
Some
good Damian stuff here, especially with Alfred. I liked Tomasi and
Gleason a couple years ago on Green
Lantern Corps
and I like them here. But somebody remind Tomasi that Damian calls
Alfred “Pennyworth” even though he has developed a grudging
respect for him.
Batwoman
#3
“Hydrology
3: Gaining Stream”
Kate
manages to fight her way out of near-drowning at the hands of the
Weeping Water Woman, then escapes from Chase's DEO agents, but ends
up firing Bette, who doesn't take it very well. Obviously Batman's
words regarding sidekicks having a way of ending up dead cut deep.
Kate has meanwhile stood Maggie up for a date, who comes looking for
her and finds her an emotional wreck. Chase has tried getting to
Jacob Kane, but he stonewalls her successfully. Director Bones
directs her to go after the sidekick next. Uh-oh.
The
colorless pallor of Kate Kane has assumed a ridiculous degree. She
now doesn't appear just pale, but grey or even light blue. Nobody in
story seems to notice she looks like a ghost. It's quite distracting
in an otherwise beautiful – if hard to follow because the art is
just a bit too
fancy – book.
Batgirl
#3
“A Breath of Broken Glass”
Babs
fails to save another of Mirror's victims, further eroding her
confidence in her return to vigilantism. Officer McKenna is using
her time off to conduct her own little investigation into what
happened to Batgirl, whom she perceives the Commissioner to have
blinders on about. Babs breaks into the police impound lot to
retrieve her bike, and finds that Nightwing has been following her.
They spar – interspersed with memories of the first Robin and
herself doing the same years ago – but it escalates until he stops
it: “Batgirl. Babs.
Stop.
Batman and I were worried, yes, not because we doubt
you. … It's because we love
you.” Holding her own has renewed her confidence, but at a cost:
“Nightwing, I need you to understand. I need to do this alone.
Alone.”
– “... Fine. You're alone,
Batgirl. … You're all alone.”
And that's what this issue is really about – reestablishing the
turbulent relationship between Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson. I'm
glad they're back together in some sense, although he's getting some
from another redhead in his own book. At one point in the intensity
of their battle, I almost expected the typical shift from fighting to
love-making, but Gail Simone's too good a writer for that. And it
would have contributed to my unease at the amount of gratuitous sex
that's appeared in the New 52 Bat-books, at least in the first couple
of months.
Huntress
#3
“Crossbow
at the Crossroads, Part Two”
This
comic continues the story about her fighting a sex trafficking ring
in Italy. It's smart, topical, good-looking, all without getting
into the New 52's more typical excessive sex and violence … no less
than what I expect from Paul Levitz, Legion
scribe extraordinaire and
creator of the original Huntress way back when.
Demon
Knights
#3
“First
Sacrifices”
This
is a bit of a lull issue as the group prepares to defend the village
from the Horde. We find some more hints about the backgrounds of the
various characters. For instance, Etrigan and Jason Blood are
separate beings who exchange places between this world and Hell –
and Madame Xanadu is professing love for each over the other! Vandal
Savage contines to have the best lines – “So all in all, I
suspect the plan
is to leave an exquisite corpse.” But it all ends a bit tragically
when a young girl who had said she could sneak past the attackers and
get word to Alba Sarum for reinforcements turns out to have been
caught. Her head is catapulted back into the village as an example
of what happens to “spies.”
More complex story by Cornell
that I'm trusting will come together and make sense, but which has
plenty (far too many for me to list here) of brilliant nuggets that
keep me interested. In that it's much like Stormwatch, although here
the novelty of the characters themselves within the DC universe works
to the book's advantage.
Legion
Lost
#3
“Red
Rage”
This
issue seems to focus most on Timber Wolf. He's frustrated with the
lack of action by his teammates and strikes out on his own against an
Okaaran Rrdrayjj (sp?) that has appeared as another victim of the
hypertaxis virus. He gets to be pretty gross a couple of times.
First he confirms one theory that he has by licking
the autopsied remains of a cannibalized victim. Then he finds that
he too has been affected by the virus when claws shoot bloodily out
of his fingertips toward the monster – like bullets – and new
claws start generating immediately. It hurts, but he recognizes that
this might be useful. Finally, he finds that the key to the
monster's patterns of movement are its search for Durlan DNA –
Chameleon Girl, thought dead since the first issue, is trying to
reassemble herself.
I'm
still not really getting into this title and wish that it would turn
out to be a miniseries and the Legionnaires can get back home to
their proper time. Of course, if that happens because of low sales,
that's not good for the Legion
franchise as a whole....
Justice
League
#3
“Part
Three”
Wonder
Woman, only recently brought to “Man's World” (at least that's
what it was once called – still?) by Col. Steve Trevor, is in US
military “custody” at the Pentagon when she hears of the winged
creatures that are appearing all over the world. She thinks they're
harpies and heads off to take one on, in short order joining forces
with the other heroes who are already fighting the parademons at STAR
Labs in Metropolis. Meanwhile, suddenly loving father Dr. Stone is
working desperately at STAR Labs to save his son Victor's life by
rebuilding his body from robotic parts – that seem to have some
connection with Darkseid. There is more bickering and bantering
between the heroes, then some kind of construct bursts from the bay.
Aquaman appears, wondering what the hell's going on – because the
same thing's happening under his sea.
I
may not like a lot of aspects of Jim Lee's design sense, but wow he
can draw! Wonder Woman's three-page (two-page spread plus another
page) leap into the fray is great – as is the heroes' reactions:
Flash, “Uh … Wow”;
Green Lantern, “Dibs”; Superman, to Wonder Woman, “You're
strong”;
Wonder Woman's response (as she KRAKKs
one of the parademons while giving Superman a demure smile over her
shoulder), “I know.”
I
wonder how Aquaman's “offer” to be the heroes' leader is going to
go over? “So who's in charge here? I vote me.”
This
is a slow-moving story in that I'd guess a couple hours at most have
passed since the beginning of issue #1. That means that at this pace
whatever crisis (oops) forged the DCnU Justice League into a team
occurred during a single part of a day. Put in those terms it
doesn't seem weighty enough for such a momentous event. But that's
just an opinion, an impression, born of modern decompressed
storytelling.
The
extra stuff at the end to “justify” the expanded issue and
consequent steeper price? A
Secret History of Atlantis
that basically says nothing whatsoever and a sketchbook (er, two
pages) of Green Lantern. Not impressed by either, frankly,
especially the first – a cover, inside front cover with library
stamps, “About the Author,” dedication page, and a one-page
forward that says basically “I believe Atlantis exists.”
Wonder
Woman
#3
“Clay”
As the Amazons deal with the results of
Strife’s … strife, Diana deals with the emotional fallout of
discovering that she was not fashioned from clay (the traditional
origin) but is rather the product of a tryst between Hyppolyta and
Zeus. In the end, she turns her back on Paradise Island … forever?
She rejects both the derisive nickname “Clay” that she’d been
subjected to as a child, and the name Diana, declaring that she is
simply “Wonder Woman.”
Although the “revised” origin has
been rather divisive among fandom, but I have no problem with it.
See my comments last month. And the art continues to be Cliff Chiang
at his best – clean and sharp. This was a book I almost didn't
jump on board with, but I'm glad I did.
Supergirl #3
“Memento”
Refusing to believe
Superman that Krypton is gone, Kara races off to find her pod and
meets Simon Tycho, some kind of Luthor-lite that seems to have the
corner on retrieving alien tech – conveyed with some telling
commentary on America's turning it's back on the final frontier (my
own thoughts on this are here). She ends up his captive on his space
station. She also suffers her first exposure to Kryptonite.
What's this
interior heating power that seems to be coming up repeatedly? They
refer to the language as “Kryptonian”; I seem to remember it
being “Kryptonese,” but a short Internet search reveals that the
predominant usage seems to be “Kryptonian.” Unfortunate. I like
the other form better. “Kryptonian” strikes me as a term better
suited to the natives.
Batman
#3
“The
Thirteenth Hour”
Bruce's
great-grandfather Alan Wayne (one of the builders of Gotham in Gates
of Gotham,
also by Snyder) believed there were hostile owls in his home. Batman
discovers the truth, that there is an unnumbered space for a
thirteenth floor in most of Gotham's buildings built under the Alan
Wayne Trust. These are serving as the Court of Owl's lairs. Batman
invades one … just in time for it to explode around him as the
Talon looks on.
I
like the sense of looming history that Snyder has brought to Gotham
City, going further than just about anyone toward making he city
itself a major character in the Batman
mythos.
Birds of Prey
#3
“You
Might Think”
Poison
Ivy joins the team, and although Starling is initially hostile, Ivy's
particular skill set helps them along in their search for the
villains – as well as saving their lives from another exploding
head. Unfortunately, by the end of the issue, it looks like the next
exploding head is going to be Canary's!
How
come Poison Ivy's garb is suddenly back to her normal green? Was it
a coloring error last issue? If so, I liked the effect, although I
guess having her in “fall colors” doesn't make a whole lot of
sense. She's fundamentally connected into the DC Universe mystical
concept of “The Green,” right? Even so, this comic continues to
be good in the areas of both writing and art. There is something
just so hot
about Starling. And I generally don't care for tattoos on
good-looking women.
Catwoman
#3
“No
One Can Find Any Piece of Me Here”
Bone
is pissed that Selina's been “steal[ing]
all of [his] nice crap!”
– so he leaves some henchmen to beat her to death. She turns the
tables on them and beats – or rather shoots – his lair's location
out of them. Finding Bone, she proceeds to “get medieval” on him
(complete with baseball bat), and is about to push him off the roof
of a building when Batman shows up and stops her. It seems she's
stopping because of his appeal to her better nature, or at least to
her regard for his opinion of her – because he'd never forgive
her if she becomes an outright murderer – moreso than because he'd
then have to hunt her
down. Except all Batman really did was delay her pushing Bone off
long enough that he'd be able to save him. Or is it that Selina went
ahead and pushed because she knew Batman would save him? Either way,
it gives her
time to get away, back to her dead friend Lola's flat, where she is
destroying all Lola's records tying them together (remember, Lola was
her fence as well as friend) when some of Gotham's finest burst in,
catching her in the act. “Yeah. This can't look good,” is
Selina's very accurate assessment.
After
such a salacious start in the first and second issues, this comic is
turning out to be pretty good storywise. I will say there are times
when I like Guillem March's art – and no question he draws good
cheesecake – but there are times when I don't like it for it's
overly manga
style, particularly in faces.
Nightwing
#3
“Past
and Present”
More
mysteries and revelations about Dick's past and Haly's Circus …
none of which made much of an impression on me because I basically
vapor-locked when it was revealed, right there on page one, that Dick
Grayson was still with
Haly's Circus just five
YEARS AGO!!!!!
Huh–
Wha– ?
That's absurd! It means he was Robin, became Nightwing, and was
Batman for a time in just five years, all apparently as a teenager!
And there's been Jason Todd as Robin and Tim Drake as Robin as well,
with Damian Wayne as Robin now, and that's accepting that Stephanie
Brown (who sadly does not
appear to exist at all in the New 52) doesn't have to be accounted
for, as short as her tenure was.
No.
Way.
Honestly,
I can't tell you anything else about what happened in this issue,
because it didn't stick with me. See the review below … although
frankly he doesn't give much detail either and comments on how
forgettable the issue is. What he doesn't even comment on, however,
is what just about gave me a mental hard drive crash. I guess others
don't have as much problem with the chronology issues of the New 52
as I do.
Legion
of Super-Heroes
#3
“Shadow
War”
As
the Legionnaires fight the Daxamite Renegade on Panoptes, along with
his apparent allies the Dominators, Brainiac 5 continues his testing
of Glorith's powers back on Earth. He also remotely gives some
attention to guiding Element Lad in containing Renegade once Shadow
Lass's power which has kept him blinded while Mon-El and Ultra Boy
beat on him gives out … only to find when Shady's shadow does fade
that Mon and Jo has succeeded in beating him into unconsciousness.
“Excellent …,” Brainy grants, “But how....” – “Let's
just say I'm a little more used to action in shadow...,” Mon quips –
as his ex Shadow Lass grimaces. As Brainy says, “A wise man knows
when not to comment, my friend.”
It's
little character bits such as this that make Levitz's Legion
as much as the sprawling stories and plots and subplots juggling a
“cast of thousands.” I am reminded so much of the Legion's
heyday under Levitz back in the 1980s.
Oh,
speaking of the large scope of the stories, there's also a delegation
of Legionnaires landing on Daxam to investigate find out about
Renegade's background, but finding more questions than answers. It
seems he was participating in an off-world studies program via
“distance-learning” when he came up missing.
Aquaman
#3
“The
Trench, Part 3”
Well,
Aquaman gets to be dissed again – basically the police thank him
for his help but tell him to go away and let them handle it from here
since he seems as mystified as to the origin of these creatures as
they are. They have no conception of the vastness of the deep. But
they'll make sure he gets credit for helping them out, “Okay? …
We'll put you in a good
light
for once.” Ouch. “Come on, Mera,” Aquaman grinds out, taking
a creature's corpse and bounding away. (Not sure I'll ever get used
to Aquaman – and Mera – leaping such distances on land – or his
being bulletproof.) Aquaman and Mera take the body to a mysterious
(and sinister) figure from his own past for evaluation. It's that
scientist who deduces that the creatures came out of the Mid Atlantic
Trench, whence head Aquaman and Mera.
Interestingly,
as it develops that the creatures may just be trying to survive,
Aquaman begins seeing them in something of a sympathetic light. I am
liking the character
of Geoff Johns' Aquaman
despite my hesitation over his amped up power set. The art, as
usual, fantastic. Mera. Wow. And she kicks ass too! About the
cover blurb: “Cannibals of the Deep” – I was about to comment
that eating humans would not make the creatures cannibals, then I
remembered that the comment was made in-story that they ate their own
fellows' bodies. So yeah, cannibals.
One
word about The Ray
excerpt/promo at the end of at least this week's DC Comics. I
generally like Palmieri and Grey's work. But … You do know that
the Earth is round,
right? Geometrically, the light beam trajectories that they portray
necessitate a flat Earth!
Superman
#3
“A
Cold Day in Hell”
There's
a nice recap of the early history of this Superman from the
perspective of the world, in the form of a not necessarily laudatory
news story being presented to Lois Lane for approval. … It's
becoming clear that something is wrong with Clark. He's having
mental lapses, and his friends are getting more and more concerned
for him. Of course, the core of this issue is a third creature
attacking Metropolis to get at Superman. We find that they are
humans “projecting” the creatures in some manner – putting
Superman in the position of possibly having to injure or kill the
source human to save the city... “I'm sorry,” he says as he does
what needs to be done. Now, are these people connected to Superman
or to Clark? – this one seems to be connected to Clark.
I
wondered how much of an Easter Egg we had in the reference to
Professor Fleischer and his gigantic robot monsters – there
definitely is
to some degree a reference to the 1941 Max Fleischer Superman
short, The
Mechanical Monsters.
(In the review below, Anj erroneously cites the homage as to the
first short, The
Mad Scientist.)
Specifically, though, with the close-up of the professor I wondered
if his image
was based on the animator. It's not.
The
color of Lois' eyes: brown? – or purple? Either way, weren't they
blue before? I like the idea of cutting back on the number of blue
eyes, given they are really only about 10% or so of the population.
To see TV and comics, you'd think 90%.
Batman: The Dark Knight
#3
“Catch
Me If You Can”
Well,
the 'roided-up Joker at the end of last issue is not the Joker. It's
Clayface on toxin. In the course of the battle, the White Rabbit
says something, a turn of phrase, that seems to implicate Bruce's new
love interest Jai, but Alfred seemingly clears her. Oh yeah, Flash
shows up as a guest star – until he's infected with the toxin and
has to run – hopefully running up his metabolism will burn off the
toxin before it affects him and he starts to bleed out his eyes.
There's
a neat cross-reference to Poison Ivy supposedly going good and
working with the Birds of Prey, but given her past she can't be ruled
out as being involved in this. But really, this is not turning out
to be a good series. Sure it's pretty – man!
– the White Rabbit – Jai – wow!
– but storywise it's kind of bleh. And the reviewer below has some
funny bits on lapses of logic and discontinuities
in the New 52. Frankly, the only reason I'm getting this book is
it's Batman.
Justice League: Dark
#3
“Shibboleths
and Alcohol”
Zatanna
and Constantine engage in some Tantric … magic.
Yeah, that's what it is. Per Wikipedia:
“Maithuna
… is a Sanskrit term used in Tantra most often translated as sexual
union in a ritual context.” … Well … Shade also makes contact
with Mindwarp, a character introduced in Flashpoint:
Secret Seven
last summer – which comic is laying on his bed. I know nothing of
him. Deadman and June Moon come face-to-face with the Enchantress.
This is a confusing story. What's going on? This series is much
like Cornell's Stormwatch
and Demon Knights
with an advantage shared by the latter – it's a cool set of
characters that I'm willing to give a chance to. I think there's
going to be … er … magic in this book. And I must say I think I
like Mikel Janin's art here better maybe than any other art in any
New 52 book. It is fantastic.
Actually,
in one short “Previously” paragraph in the following review,
what's going on becomes much clearer.
Teen Titans
#3
“Better
to Burn Out … Than to Fade Away”
Kid
Flash escapes NOWHERE with Solstice. There's a great two-page spread
of his speed and distractions – including a pit stop – that is
more than anything reminiscent of Billy's periodic wanderings in the
Sunday strip Family
Circus.
But he slips up escaping the base which is in Antarctica.
Meanwhile, Wonder Girl plays nurse with one of the villains from last
issue. We are introduced to Blockade, who in short order meets Red
Robin and Skitter. Then Blockade and RR encounter a seeminly
unrelated threat called Detritus, a spontaneously generated machine
intelligence that will doubtless be back. Finally, Skitter emerges
from her cocoon looking quite a bit better.
You
know, I'm liking this comic okay. I just wish it weren't called
“Teen Titans.”
To me, this is not Teen
Titans,
which should be about the sidekicks, largely counterparts and
connected to
the main heroes. As far as I can tell, the only one of the “group”
so far connected to a hero is Red Robin. At least I get the feeling
Barry Allen knows nothing of Bart Allen or Kid Flash – but I'm not
reading Flash
so I could be wrong. Ditto Wonder Girl, except I am
reading Wonder
Woman
and know so far there's no connection. And then there's these others.
* * *
In
addition to my box of hardcopy DC Comics received at the end of
November, there are a couple of titles I'm reading digitally:
Batwing
#3
continues to build a compelling mystery in an exotic locale. What
did Africa's own superhero team, the Kingdom, do such that one of its
members now tells David that they deserve death? This title has
earned the jump to hardcopy status with my December order – comics
to be released in February.
I, Vampire
#3
also continues a compelling story, seemingly building up to a
Vampire Apocalypse
– with the promise of superheroes. But this issue introduces a human "sidekick" for
Andrew Bennett … who has knowledge of a way to end the threat right
now. Of course, it depends on the death of Andrew. I don't see that
happening.
* * *
A
couple more comments overall.
- Any hope that the New DC would be more reader friendly in the sense that a casual reader could just pick up an individual issue and find a satisfying read, a single-issue story with a beginning, middle, and end, has by now been shown to be in vain. The vast majority are just incidents, short chapters in longer story arcs. The main exception that I can readily think of is Perez's Superman, where each chapter is itself pretty meaty. It was my understanding that they were going to address that criticism in the relaunch. In a sense, maybe they did, and they can't really be accused of violating the letter of what they said. IIRC it was something like they would no longer compel a writing for the trade style. But apparently that's just the way all the writers write now, and DC sure isn't discouraging that. Again, Perez is very old school and the main exception … which just raises him in my estimation. Hopefully I'll get to tell him that at New Orleans Comic Con later this month.
- Well, lookee how well this experiment worked out! Hmpf. I think this new way of doing the monthly comics resulted in probably pretty just as much on each comic as ever. Just all in one post. And it has taken quite a bit of time to put together. Oh well, maybe the practice of taking short notes along the way then writing them all up at one time once I've finished will be a more manageable thing overall than trying to find a couple hours every couple days to write up a couple of comic books. I'll just try to set aside a Saturday or weekend or something once a month.
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment