DC Comics – December 2013, New 52 Month 26

A record of the DC Comics that I read that were released during October that I received near the beginning of November. Caution: Linked reviews may contain spoilers! [Link to previous month]

Well, as I hoped, I did enjoy this batch of comics better than previous months. Simply not feeling the constant pressure to read overly critically (in the technical sense of the word) and take notes geared toward having something “meaningful” to say about each and every issue was liberating. And it sure did speed me up! I can't tell you how relieving this is. Comics have been part of my life, to one degree or another, all my life, and while I couldn't imagine giving up on them entirely, working my way through that stack every month was really getting hard. Plus the prospect of six or eight hours, all told, composing that bloated monthly roundup post that I had been doing....Putting together the illustrated list with review links is, comparatively speaking, a piece of cake. Not that everything was bad, it just wasn't fun anymore. This month was different.

DC Comics – November 2013, New 52 Month 25

Well, my OCD is indeed getting the better of me, to a certain extent. No, I'm not going to restart blogging the New 52 with pages and pages of commentary [link]. But I have liked having a record of what I read each month ready at hand here on the blog, as well having a quick link to ComicBookRoundUp.com [link]'s compendium of reviews for each issue. So I will put in the work each month to compile and post that much – yes, starting with “Villains' Month” which I finally finished trudging through a couple of weeks ago.  As usual, my reading is delayed by roughly a month from the comics' official on-sale date since I receive my comics by once-a-month shipping from Discount Comic Book Service [link].

As to the news round-up I used to start with, it was never very thorough in the first place, and I don't like being constantly negative – which it's too easy to be when talking about DC these days. Any news items that do compel me to comment will get their own separate post in a more timely manner.

As to these particular issues, I just couldn't bring myself to take notes as I went along, and frankly most of the issues are pretty forgettable. As I figured I would, I consider this to be basically a wasted month – and the most wasted money I've ever spent on this hobby. But I do like having the quick links to various reviewers for myself to refer to if need be, so I am putting this little bit of work into it before going forward and hopefully wiping the bad taste of “Villains' Month” out of my mouth. Truthfully, without the pressure of reading toward writing something “meaningful” for each issue, I have already enjoyed the next month's issues (which I've mostly finished already) more than I can remember in many months. But I do not believe my growing distaste with the direction of DC Comics is totally due to my own issues (pardon the pun) – I just do not like some directions they have taken. More perhaps on those points later.

DC Comics – Announcing open-ended hiatus on blogging the New 52

If you've been reading my increasingly delayed blog posts regarding DC Comics, over the past few months you've doubtless perceived my discontent with the direction the company and its stories have taken. [Last month is here - link.] That discontent really goes back virtually to when I began this blog, which was almost coincident with the announcing of the New 52 at the end of May 2011 [link], only a few months before its actual advent in September of that year. Last year I posted a fairly substantial summation of how I saw the situation a year into what DC insisted was not a line-wide reboot, and yet clearly was – what I sometimes called the “Nottaboot” [link]. While I have changed my mind on certain points (most notably gaining a new respect for Azzarello's Wonder Woman through a complete rereading only a few weeks after posting that review [link]), in general I have come to like much of what I've been reading less and less. In fact, it staggers me to see how many of the points I actually did approve of a year ago that DC seems to have discarded! If they were actively trying to drive me away as a reader they could not do much better.

It occurs to me that the burden I took upon myself in attempting to blog about these comics month after month has perhaps contributed toward my decreasing enjoyment of them. I finished reading September's “Villains' Month” stunt a couple of weeks ago, but although there were individually good issues I disliked the concept so thoroughly that I have been unable to bring myself to the keyboard to compose a post about it. Its cornerstone, Forever Evil #1 kicking off the latest-in-a-series-of-events-collect-them-all, wasn't much better – an okay story but ultimately going forward will depend on a plot device so laughably stupid that I am aghast somebody didn't catch it. Or do they not care? If they do not, it's hard for me. And so I have decided it's time I gave up that blogging commitment. My hope is that by simply reading the comics I am getting – which do look to be fewer in number over the coming months than it has been, given some shifts in story-direction in some titles I've been reading that I really have no desire to continue with [e.g., link] – perhaps I can recover some of that enjoyment. I sincerely hope so. There are some titles I have continued to enjoy and intend to stick with, but I will henceforth only blog about any that strike me as truly worthy of my time and effort to write about. Even among those that I am enjoying, there are frankly not that many.  And given what I perceive, rightly or wrongly, as almost contempt on the part of DC for its readers, especially those like me who have been with the company for decades (45 years in my case), I don't see that situation changing very soon.

So for now, at least, I'm done with blogging the New 52.

DC Comics – October 2013, New 52 Month 24

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that were released during August that I received near the beginning of September. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [ Link to previous month ]

Here's the link to the October solicitations (for comics to be released mostly in December): (link).

I only made note of a couple of news items. One is that Smallville Season 11 is shifting to a “series of miniseries” format, dropping the “Season 11” branding and sequential numbering, supposedly to remove a perceived bar for new readers picking it up (link). This mainly irks me because it will make the weekly purchase from Comixology quite a bit more cumbersome, especially since they just a short while ago introduced an efficient “subscription” function which automatically purchases each week's installment for me and has it ready for me to download whenever I want, rather than having to manually go in and make the purchase each week. Being title-based, the subscription will no longer work. Also, it will be harder (impossible) to keep reading order straight if you're not purchasing them week-to-week. Yeah, that helps the new reader.

Secondly, and we're far enough along into October as I write this (the 12th) that sales data for September has been released, it seems that the September-released “Villains' Month” stunt paid off big time for DC. More next month, maybe – except that DC's immediate exultation really rubbed at least one retailer the wrong way (link). By all accounts, the retailers were the ones who really got screwed in the resulting debacle.

Whatever, before “Villains' Month,” there is this one more month of story-driven rather than stunt-driven comics to get through....

DC Comics – September 2013, New 52 Month 23

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that were released during July that I received near the beginning of August. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [ Link to previous month ]

I am 'way, 'way, 'way behind this month, so this write-up may not be much more than a fleshing out of my notes, without much expansion along the way....

In the news over the past month or so: 1) The September solicits went up mid-August per usual [link]. 2) The Justice League 3000 fiasco [link], wherein DC fired or drove off another high profile creator, Kevin Maguire, replacing him with Howard Porter, and lost this sale to me. 3) Batman was cast for Man of Steel 2 – Ben Affleck [link]. Outcry ensued [link]. I actually can live with this. He's a capable enough actor. My main problem with him would be The Voice. He really should study Kevin Conroy's portrayal (the voice of Batman in the animated series) – not Christian Bale's. 4) The Justice League of America is emigrating to Canada [link]. 5) Rumors flew but ultimately no real clarification on whether Bryan Cranston will play Lex Luthor in Man of Steel 2 [link]. I like Breaking Bad, but I'm not sure I see him as Lex Luthor. 6) DC drove off another set of Batwoman creators – J.H.Williams III and Haden Blackman – allegedly over whether to marry Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer [link]. It may or may not have been because of the homosexual nature of the relationship; they tapped Marc Andreyko, who is homosexual himself, as the new writer [link] (possibly keeping me on the title since I loved his Manhunter), and proclaimed their stance as that the Bat-family's personal lives have to be sucky, and heroes can't be married [link], both of which I think are stupid as mandates. They also announced their intent to pull Batwoman closer into the rest of the Bat'verse. 7) Finally, another blogger put the sad state of affairs regarding DC Editorials' bad relationship with creators and the general chaos that has plagued the company since even before the New 52 into a timeline that makes for terribly depressing reading [link]. Something is definitely rotten in Denmark.

Let's discuss some comics:

Comics Other Than DC – September 2013

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on comics by publishers other than DC that were released during July (mostly) that I received near the beginning of August. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [Link to previous month] [Link to this month's DC Comics]

Buck Rogers #1 of 4 (Hermes Press)

They say that a functional definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. I may fit the bill. I have never cared for the writing of Howard Chaykin – and yet I have tried various of his comics over the years thinking that if he's as great as everyone thinks he is maybe I'll like this one. His art I actually kind of like, and in fact think it fits very well for something like we have here, the retro-flavored attempted revival of a beloved quasi-pulp character who deserves much more modern exposure. But I find myself invariably put off by the generally politically-charged revisionism that he usually imposes on such projects as he undertakes, which is invariably pretty much diametrically opposite to my own values. Add to that my belief, based on various things I've read and heard about him (seemingly confirmed in an about-the-author blurb appended to a two-page interview here, that “[h]e has a terrible reputation among fans for profanity, limited patience with nonsense, and spite”) as well as from him (see below), that I would not like him very much as a person, and I can't give you a good reason that I keep giving him repeated chances. But I do. Almost invariably with the same result as here – visceral revulsion.

DC Comics – August 2013, New 52 Month 22

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that were released during June that I received near the beginning of July. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [ Link to previous month ]

The online previews of the DC solicitations which will appear in the August issue of Diamond's Previews catalog (and therefore solicit items mostly on-sale during the month of October) appeared while the days of July were still in single digits, earlier than I ever remember. Not sure why so early, but you may see them here (link).

News that dropped during the period I was reading this batch of comics included George Perez's announcement of what he had cryptically referred to when I was talking with him in Houston (link). It turns out he is going to Boom! Comics (link). He's the second creator in as many months that has left DC for Boom! – Paul Jenkins (last month) also was headed that direction, and although Perez's announcement is not filled with the vitriol some others' departures from DC have been, he has clearly been dissatisfied with the corporate culture that increasingly prevails at DC. That was clear both of the times I've had the pleasure of meeting him, and comes through clearly albeit graciously in the linked interview. It's DC's loss, is all I can say.

Comics Other Than DC – August 2013

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on comics by publishers other than DC that were released during June (mostly) that I received near the beginning of July. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [Link to previous month] [Link to this month's DC Comics]

It seems that my monthly purchases from Dynamite Comics are dwindling away, but I'm branching out slightly with some upcoming purchases from other publishers besides the 95%-plus that are always DC Comics. So I've decided to rename this monthly round-up post to include all of them rather than potentially have two (as this month) or even three single-comic posts.

For a post logo I've “repurposed” a slightly edited logo from a venerable Silver Age Marvel title, Not Brand Echh!, whose tag line used to say, “Who says a comic book has to be good??”  (Any implication regarding the current state of affairs with DC Comics is intentionally subtextual....)

DC Comics – July 2013 New 52 Month 21

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that were released during May that I received near the beginning of June. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [ Link to previous month ]

Here I am, back again, a little late because we had our family vacation at the beginning of June which put me behind getting and starting to read my May-released comics. Then, by the time I finished the Man of Steel post (link) I was a bit blogged out.

And, not really meaning to start out on a downer (again), because there are a lot of things I liked in the comics I read, the various news items that hit in the past month or so make me less and less able to get excited about DC Comics as a brand. Particularly damning was yet another disheartening creator rant, another creator basically walking out and telling DC (and Marvel) “A pox on all your houses!” (link) This time it's Paul Jenkins, who wrote Batman: The Dark Knight for a while after David Finch figured out writing is a lot harder than it looks as well as Stormwatch after Paul Cornell left that title. Whether or not I really cared that much for what he wrote, in either case, is immaterial – something is dreadfully wrong there. A company can't piss off that many creators otherwise. Where there's smoke....

Dynamite Comics – July 2013

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the Dynamite Entertainment comics that were released during May (mostly) that I received near the beginning of June. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [Link to previous month.]

Cover D (25%) by Francisco Francavilla

Masks #7 of 8

I'm not sure what was different this time, but I found this penultimate issue a bit chaotic and hard to follow. The art seemed rushed – sometimes facial expressions seemed downright goofy (see in particular the last page) – and the action sequences degenerated into almost random images with no narrative value. For instance, how did Britt get loose? – and What's with Kato rubbing his nose in the midst of the action? Surely that latter had significance as a signal of some sort, but what exactly it was I couldn't tell. The story logic breaks down as well: Could the Spider possibly have liberated a prison camp upstate and crossed the countryside toward New York City, gathering more and more followers along the way, without the Master somehow getting word?

These are criticisms from someone who knows and loves the source material and hitherto has been willing to “fill in the blanks” from what I know of the original Spider “Black Police” trilogy, but most readers of this series do not have that advantage. And it's a dubious advantage in the end, because for me there comes to mind the biggest deviation from the original, implemented certainly in an effort to bring some kind of modern sensibility and “rationality” to what motivates the Master – who is now finally discovered in-story to be indeed the former crime-fighter known as the Clock – who ends up being another “noble” but insane villain, considering his ends to justify his means. In the original, part of a series which drew things in terms of stark black and white, good vs. evil, the whole Black Police movement was purely a criminal enterprise. Admittedly, when I assessed that original pulp trilogy a couple of years ago (link), I argued that a fascistic state such as that could not be set up without positing some higher value than pure avarice, no matter how warped in our minds that “higher value” might be, but I can't say I buy the simple imposition of order on disorder as proposed by the Clock as any more convincing.

DC Comics – June 2013 – New 52 Month 20

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that were released during April that I received near the beginning of May. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [ Link to previous month ]

Well, here it is … “WTF”-month. Thankfully, no “WTF”-branding, however, at least on the comics. Continued little bits of news regarding what seems to be total editorial and creative chaos at DC does, on the other hand, make me wonder if they ought to just change the overall comics brand from “DC” to “WTF”....

Actually, no. Just in case some numbskull there thinks that's a good idea.

Again, I really don't want to go into details, except to note the two just-announced changes that most directly affect my reading:

Dynamite Comics – June 2013

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the Dynamite Entertainment comics that were released during April (mostly) that I received near the beginning of May. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [Link to previous month.]

Cover D by Sean Chen

Masks #6 of 8

Frankly, not a whole lot happens here except that the Master gloats over his plan. I still think he's the former District Attorney who was once the masked crime fighter known as the Clock, and that ultimately there will be a confrontation between him and the more recent D.A. Tony Quinn, the Black Bat.

I have two friends also buying this series. Unfortunately, I'm pretty much the only one enjoying it, I think. And the truth is that there's not much here. Were I not such a fan of the original source material and characters – even some that this series pretty much introduced me to, such as Miss Fury and the Black Bat, I can easily see myself agreeing with them.

Reviews

DC Comics – May 2013 – New 52 Month 19

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that were released during March that I received near the beginning of April. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [ Link to previous month ]

I think the biggest news to come out in recent weeks has been with the on-line previews of the new solicitations that will be published in the next issue of Diamond's Previews. What was assumed to be DC's first “mega” event of the New 52, probably drawing in everything like Blackest Night or Flashpoint did, seems not to be all that. In fact, instead of being presented as an independent miniseries with tie-in issues within various regular series, plus maybe some specials and ancillary miniseries, it is simply rotating through the three Justice League titles – JL itself, Justice League of America, and Justice League Dark. Which is not a good thing. I know for a fact that it is driving at least one new reader away, who had recently came on board Justice League as the putative flagship book of the DCnU starring the big names (well, and Cyborg...) but finds the book steadily departing from that ideal and attempting to compel him to buy two other series that he has no interest in! 'Way to go, DC!

Also notable, although there was little fanfare, was the addition of new verbiage to the “created by” credits for the Superman books. I first noticed it on Smallville Season 11 – “SUPERMAN created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster / By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family.” It seems to be a result of recent developments in the ongoing legal case.

DC keeps creating public relations faux pas for itself and giving the real impression that the lunatics are running the asylum. The specific examples are quite frankly too irritating to detail, so I won't.

I'd rather write about the comics....

Dynamite Comics – May 2013

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the Dynamite Entertainment comics that were released during March (mostly) that I received near the beginning of April. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [Link to previous month.]

Cover A (25%) by Alex Ross

Masks #5 of 8

This issue seems to be an even more radical departure from the original pulp trilogy, but I guess that's only to be expected given the different dynamic resulting from the protagonists being a “league” of heroes rather than a single central figure. In fact the Spider himself does not appear – he's missing in Albany, and by issue's end the Green Hornet, Green Lama, and Miss Fury have all been captured in their civilian identities, while the Shadow, Black Terror, and Kato are in an intense battle with the Black Police in the same very significant building, whose most notable resident is lamentably absent.  Separately, this issue marks our first time seeing the Black Bat and Zorro in action.

I take the very last page, showing Britt Reid, Jethro Dumont and Marla Drake before what I take to be the mastermind of the Empire State, to also drop a huge hint as to his identity – the Clock, a former hero himself (see issue #3): “In a better world, we would have been allies, you and I. / But it's clear that I'm the only one willing to do what is necessary.”  And he holds a pocket watch.

This issue also seemed to go even more quickly. That's my main complaint with this series – each chapter is too sketchy a read. Would it strike me so had I not read the original? How will it read as a collection?

Reviews

DC Comics – April 2013 – New 52 Month 18

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that were released during February that I received near the beginning of March. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [ Link to previous month ]

The news coming out of DC – or rather about DC, 'cause DC themselves are being rather mum except with excited “great news” type damage-control announcements that invariably turn out to be premature or not the whole story at all – seems dominated these days by continuing word of chaos among DC editorial. The most disconcerting came within a handful of days just this past week (I'm starting this on 25 March) was that Andy Diggle is leaving Action Comics after only one issue as Grant Morrison's successor. Since Diggle's announced plans and vision for the greatest super-hero of them all seemed a step in the right direction, this is bad enough. Worse was the corollary news that Tony Daniel was to take over writing the title as well as art. The anguished “NOOOOOOO” you may have heard mid-week was me. Daniel is a decent artist. His writing in the New 52 has invariably sucked, and frankly before that was seldom more than adequate. Yeah, I couldn't wait to see Action Comics end up looking like the first year or so of Detective Comics. A couple of days to contemplate that bleakness was followed by the announcement that, no, Daniel won't be lasting but a three-issue arc then moving on to a preplanned, “major” project. No word that I've seen so far as to what Action Comics might look like four months hence ....

During roughly the same period came word that Joshua Hale Fialkov, whose writing I've really liked on the just-ending I, Vampire would not be taking over Green Lantern Corps – because editorial sucker-punched him with the mandate that John Stewart die. Fialkov walked and made no secret why. Whereupon DC crawfished and announced that there are currently “no plans” to kill off John Stewart.

See? Chaos. Do those people have a clue? It's ultimately quite disturbing, especially with rumors coming out of Bleeding Cool of other lame stunts under consideration – “Villains Month” in which, e.g., Batman #24 would be renamed “Joker #24” for that month only; mass cancellation of sixteen titles to be replaced by four weekly titles. And how is that last supposed to help?

Morons.

The only thing to do is sit back, not think about that kind of stuff, just read and enjoy what we're getting … where it's enjoyable. Some's getting a little marginal on that score, though.

On to the comics....

Dynamite Comics – April 2013

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the Dynamite Entertainment comics that were released during February (mostly) that I received near the beginning of March. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [Link to previous month.]

Masks #4 of 8

Cover B (25%) by Jae Lee

Well, this marks the halfway point, and the story skips right along. There are no new heroes introduced, but Rafael Vega ducks into a costume and prop shop to evade the Black Police, then kills his pursuers with a sword and seems to be outfitting himself as Zorro. Also, the Spider in Albany discovers that the governor is the lackey of a Man in the Mirror called the Master. Green Hornet, Kato, and the Black Terror terrorize the mayor of New York into revealing the existence of the Master as well, for which the Master remotely kills him. Green Lama and Miss Fury fight the Black Police, then are picked up by the Shadow and Margo Lane. And D.A. Quinn discovers that he can see in the dark when he's attacked by the Black Police, giving him the advantage.

My wording above was deliberate, “the story skips … along.” Again, there's considerable sketchiness to the narrative. Not the art, which is just fine. Perhaps only because I have the “proper” mindset and background for this, I'm loving it. I wondered what those without the background would make of it, and my fears were more or less confirmed by talking with a colleague who is also getting it. He's kind of regretting picking it up. He's largely not familiar with the characters (except the obvious ones), and he hasn't read The Spider versus the Empire State.

Reviews

DC Comics – March 2013 – New 52 Month 17

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that were released during January that I received near the beginning of February. Caution: Spoilers ahead!  [ Link to previous month ]

The first of my “leaner, meaner” monthly round-ups of DC Comics. One change I'm also making is that now my linked reviews just go to the wonderful Comic Book RoundUp website that pulls together and links to multiple reviews and gives an average overall rating based on them. They usually include the individual reviewers that I generally go to for each “family” of books, plus a lot more. If an issue I'm including has a page there, that's what I'm linking to.

Do we really need another month's worth of the stupid Arrow banner across the top of the covers?

In other “news” ...

Saner heads ultimately prevailed at DC as it was recently announced that the “WTF” “event” will not be so billed. If I may editorialise, whoever thought that would be a good idea in the first place should be fired. I don't often say that so bluntly, but come on!

And now to the comics....

Earth 2 #8

“Lazy Sunday”

What's Steppenwolf been up to these five years? Well, raising (and corrupting) his foster daughter, Wonder Woman's daughter, Fury, who comes off as a fusion of Big Barda and Lashina.

Reviews

Worlds' Finest #8

“Hunt and Be Hunted”

Still loving this series, and now Batman knows Damian's been up to something on the sly....

Reviews

DC Comics – Feb 2013

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC Comics that were released during December that I received near the beginning of January. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [Link to previous month.]

Possibly the biggest DC Comics-related news from the past month is that Warner Brothers appears to have pretty much won the court case that began long ago when the Siegel and Shuster heirs tried to recapture the rights to Superman that the creators signed away to National Comics 'way back at the dawn of modern comics history, attempting to nullify a deal the heirs themselves had subsequently concluded with Warner Brothers, who now owns DC: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324442304578233962555228832.html. I'm no lawyer, and I have no idea if this means this long-enduring mess is now over for good – my bet would be not given the nature of litigation and the astronomical worth of the property, but maybe I'm wrong. Regardless of the tough issues surrounding creators' rights – and there are deeply-held convictions both ways – that in itself would be best, in my opinion.

Beside that, there was also news that Keith Giffen's tenure on Legion of Super-Heroes will last only two issues, which seems quite a sudden and unexpected change of course.  So much so that it's a bit worrisome.  Paul Levitz seemed to delight in the prospect of working with his old cohort again, and I thought he had more clout than that.  There's plenty of other indication that editorial at DC is in shambles ...

... None more so than the supreme bad judgment and worse taste that was just announced a few days ago that the comics coming out in April will be branded "WTF Certified":  http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=43478.  It does not stand for "World Trade Federation," either.  That is juvenile and offensive.  I can hardly wait to explain it to my wife when she sees my comics are all "WTF Certified."

As my son would say, "SMH."  Let's look at some comics....

Dynamite Comics – Feb 2013

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the Dynamite Entertainment comics that were released during December that I received near the beginning of January. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [Linkto previous month.]

Right into the comics....

Left to right, the Green Hornet,
the Black Bat, Kato, the Shadow,
the Green Lama, Miss Fury, Zorro,
and the Spider.

Masks #2 of 8

Well, I was worried that the change away from Alex Ross' painted art to Dennis Calero's more traditional art in this second, and I presume subsequent issues, would be quite jarring, but it's a decent transition, for the most part. I imagine it will be a bit more noticeable in the inevitable collected format. I'm not familiar enough with Calero to know if inking and coloring was adjusted here somewhat to make that transition smoother, but it works.

The story seemed a bit lighter this go'round. We have the introduction of male and female vigilantes MissFury and the Green Lama in the first couple of pages, then switch back to the main characters introduced last issue – the Shadow, the Green Hornet and Kato, and the Spider – retreating from an ineffective battle against the armored Black Police to Wentworth mansion. There they reveal their civilian identities to one another – all but the Shadow, who reveals only that, “I am the Shadow.” Heh. Meanwhile, Vega, the artist introduced last issue, ends up sent to the gallows – along with others – but escapes with the help of the District Attorney himself, Tony Quinn, who “didn't devote [his] life to the service of the law to see it perverted by thugs” but who ends up blinded in the process (the first step along the road toward his taking up the mantle of the Black Bat.) The main characters listen to the heavily propaganda-laden newscast and pontificate on the inevitable rise of new heroes to fight the ascent of evil. On the last page: Over a shot of Miss Fury and Green Lama – “We already have allies we don't even know, no doubt. Others who are fighting for what's right.” A glimpse of the Black Terror – “And there must be others in the shadows, waiting for their moment to strike a blow against injustice.” Vega and Quinn, the latter's eyes heavily bandaged: “And still others who will find a strength within them that they didn't even realize they possessed, and the courage to stand up. // I tell you, we might be the first, but we won't be the last.”

...Yeah. Not a whole lot really happened in this second issue of eight. We're a quarter of the way through the whole story and it's barely set up. It didn't even feel like a full twenty pages – it is, I counted, but it seemed really decompressed. Things are going to have to pick up.

I've really been looking forward to this series. Please don't disappoint!

We do get some nice rapport developing between the Shadow and Kato – but Kato's master the Green Hornet ends up coming off as a bit of a wimp here.

Reviews: http://www.comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/dynamite-entertainment/masks/2

DC Comics – Jan 2013

Reviews, commentary, general reactions, and random notes on the DC comics that were released during November that I received near the beginning of December. Caution: Spoilers ahead! [Link to previous month.]

Just a couple of news items this month:

Here's some more information on the impending return of Keith Giffen to Legion of Super-Heroes: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/keith-giffen-legion-of-superheroes-revamp.html. A “revamp on the run”? “No one is safe.” This could be good. This could be bad. I have a definite sense of unease.... (Nothing like rabid fans of Karate Kid have, I'm sure!)

“Holy Boomerang, Batman!” – Well, it seems that Gail Simone's banishment from Batgirl was short-lived – pretty much just long enough for me to take notice of it and stick it in my previous “monthly round-up” post, then it was undone – http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/21/dc-comics-put-gail-simone-back-on-batgirl/ . I would love to know the behind-the-scenes here. Was there really such a hue and cry that DC backpedaled? Or was there more at work here than we'll ever know? I suspect the latter. But, as I commented to a colleague, it probably stood Simone in good stead that she did not take the opportunity to start airing DC's dirty laundry in the midst of the fanboy virtual uprising that followed her first announcements. To my knowledge, her own statement in that first announcement that she herself would have more to say on the subject was never followed through on, for whatever reason. In any case, I'm pleased with the outcome.