WEEK THREE

 

BATMAN AND ROBIN #1

One of the most intriguing parts of this whole reboot is what events and actions DC decided to keep, and what they’ve discarded. There’s not a map of the new DC Universe out there, so we have to figure out on our own from the little bread crumbs that’ve been given us. Supposedly, Justice League is only five years before the other comics, but Batman is already on his fourth Robin- his son Damien. Just as before the reboot, Damien is callous and ruthless in fighting crime, and he and Batman are constantly butting heads, both as partners and as father and son. From the first panel, where we see a giant Russian Bat-hero, Batman Inc. has been established across the globe. The issue is book ended by a masked figure taking out and torturing the Russian Bat, declaring war on Batman Inc. It was pretty much a straight forward issue like before the reboot, plot wise. The creative team handled the pacing well, some action, some character moments, Damien murdering three thugs, either accidentally or lying to Batman about it. It was good, not great, but definitely in the stronger half of what’s come out. I’m most interested to see how everything is connected, which will be the main reason I keep up with this book.-MG

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

BATWOMAN #1

If there was a reason why Batwoman was such a hit before the DCnU, and a reason why it was a lock to get its own book, it’s J.H. Williams III. Greg Rucka and Williams took over Detective Comics last year for a critically acclaimed run that moved Batwoman to the lead role of the book, giving Batman a break from one of his 7,000 starring roles. Rucka killed it, but it was Williams who boosted it to must-read, with his insane layouts and style of drawing, a style that I’ve been sitting here and trying to describe, but can come up with nothing other than Williams-esque. In Batwoman #1, Williams takes on even more responsibility as co-writer, which is really only scary because it’s not like his Detective Comics was always on time. In the first issue, he is tasked with kick starting a story, while organically summing up everything that happened in the Detective Comics run. The story isn’t strong, but definitely has potential, and should smooth out as soon as next issue. But the art. You gotta see this art. – RH

 

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

 

One of the stranger (or less-deserving) characters to get a solo title in the DCnU is Deathstroke the Terminator, a character who was not invented in the nineties, but screams nineties more than the 4 Non Blondes performing on the Arsenio Hall Show. He’s a little bit Wolverine and a little bit Punisher, and the truly scary thing about murdering badasses like these is how quickly their stories can get boring, without any personality traits besides quick grunts and a desire to raise the body count in the room. Deathstroke #1 begins by explaining everything I just did about the character, putting Deathstroke on a job, and then giving him a team of kids to work with. This is a good idea, because now we can focus on these kids instead of boring old Deathstroke. The bad news is the kids are lame. The good news is Deathstroke handles their lameness in the only way he knows how. Nice ending. Just enough to get me to maybe give it one more issue.

 

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

DEMON KNIGHTS #1

Oh DC, you wacky bastards. As a nation bands together and struggles with whatever the hell is going on in your universe (“Wait – these all take place at the same time, but the Justice League came before all of this? And Superman is before all that? And Barbara Gordon…miracle…what?), you give us this gem of a comic. Demon Knights, written by Paul Cornell and drawn by Diogenes Neves, shoots us back to the dark ages, where we get to see the origin of Etrigan the Demon, that handsome little fellow you see on the cover above, and other characters that will inevitably turn into some sort of Medieval super team.  Meanwhile, a king and queen are trying to save this Godforsaken world in this Godforsaken time by whatever means necessary. In what will surely be the scene of the week, these two knuckleheads ask for a newborn baby from a village they just conquered so they can get some information. I know that doesn’t make sense, but trust me, it’s tits. After it was over, I realized that it was my mistake opening each book JUST looking for information on how the DCnU works. This is still the DCnU, it just happens to be a couple hundred years ago.

 

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

FRANKENSTEIN: AGENT OF SHADE #1

It might just be that I had to recently re-watch, for the first time in a decade, and review, for the first time ever, The Monster Squad for the Pop Filter Podcast, but this got me right away. Let me see if this sounds familiar: Frankenstein’s Monster is awoken after 70 years by S.H.A.D.E. (Super Hero Something Defense Something) to head up a team called the Creature Commandos, featuring a vampire, a werewolf, a mummy, and a Creature from the Black Lagoon looking thing. See? Awesome, right? They are sent in to a battlefield full of worst looking monsters than they are (monster-on-monster crimes are what’s tearing these neighborhoods apart) to save Frankenstein’s bride, who has six arms, each one of them firing a pistol. This is written by Jeff Lumiere, who is the winner of the DCnU so far, and drawn by Alberto Ponticelli, who is a perfect counterpart to Lumiere’s writing, if for no other reason than his drawing style is reminiscent of Lumiere’s. This book, like most of the DCnU’s number one issues, is a little exposition heavy, especially in the first couple of pages, but hot damn. This has the potential to kick some ass. – RH

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

GREEN LANTERN #1

The big deal about this title is that now Sinestro is the Green Lantern of the particular sector you are sitting in now. The story begins with him being forgiven – maybe – by the Guardians, the group of blue Oompa Loompas that control the universe, and given a green ring. We cut to Hal Jordan, who is trying to make ends meet as an unemployed ex-Green Lantern. By the end, we have already found out roughly how long this whole Sinestro-as-Green-Lantern thing is going to go on, and it doesn’t seem very long. This book is fine, although doesn’t really read like it should, which is a pillar of the DC line-up. But my biggest problem isn’t with the story itself, but with the execution. This issue isn’t confusing at all, if you know a little bit about the Green Lantern mythos. Without that knowledge, however, you’re probably lost immediately. Carol Ferris, Hal Jordan’s pseudo-girlfriend, comforts the newly ringless Hal by telling him how much she misses her Star Sapphire ring. What? What new reader is going to know what that means? Either I’m misunderstanding the point of this relaunch, or writer/DC muckety muck Geoff Johns is sorely misunderstanding what is common knowledge and what isn’t. Star Saphhire rings ain’t exactly Kryptonite or the Batmobile. – RH

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

GRIFTER #1

One of the few actual origin stories of the reboot. At least it reads like an origin story. I’m pretty unfamiliar with the character, so maybe it’s not. Grifter #1 opens on a very out of it, Sawyer-from-Lost looking guy on an airplane telling the voices in his head to shut up. One of the other passengers pulls a needle out out of her skin and attacks him, and he stabs her straight through the eye – freaking out the rest of the plane, of course. He attempts to get the emergency door open, and one of the flight attendants suddenly seems to be possessed by one of the voices only our guy can hear. Are the voices jumping bodies? Were these people planted there all along? Is he just shit crazy? WHO KNOWS!?! We get the obligatory flashback showing us that Cole Argent (our crazy hero) was a con man and a grifter before he started to lose his shit. Then he got kidnapped, and lost 17 minutes of his life, and that’s when demons and voices, and possibly a cult, started to bust in on his sweet crimin’ lifestyle. But through a phone call we discover it’s really 17 days! And now he’s a wanted terrorist for the whole airplane thing, and his brother is a high muckity-muck for the government, who is being sent to get him. The pacing of this issue was refreshing, well balanced with action and characterization, and the mysteries dropped left me wanting more. I bet he winds up on an island battling a pretty boy doctor for the affections of a hot Canadian.-MG

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

LEGIONS LOST #1

First off, this group is connected to the Legion of Super-Heroes, so it’s already getting filed under “who gives a shit?” L.O.S.H. is a team who has a guy name Matter-Eating Lad on the roster. Guess what his power is? That being said, I tried to be open-minded. I tried so hard. But all Legions Lost had to offer was whiney heroes who are far too reliant on future technology, so they all lose their shit when EVERY piece of equipment they have fails. Their ongoing story of fail is juxtaposed with a dude waking into a hospital, freaking out, and turing into a giant human hating monster – who for some reason doesn’t kill little girls even though he slaughtered a bunch of other people. The dialogue is too throw-back for me, and the art is weirdly not detailed on some panels- like they just stopped drawing 60% way through. Killing two members and hinting that they’ve brought an infection that could wipe out history are the only interesting things this book did, and it just isn’t enough.-MG

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

MR. TERRIFIC #1

Mister Terrific #1, by Eric Wallace and Gianluca Gugliotta, follows the exploits of Michael Holt, the self-professed third smartest man in the world. He’s a superhero and a scientist and he combines his two “powers” by blah blah blah I’m even boring my self. It’s become apparent at this point that there are clearly two camps that all of these DCnU books belong in: the new and inventive camp, that makes this whole reboot pretty exciting, and the stale camp, which makes this reboot not feel like a lateral move, but a step backwards. DC has always felt like its held on to the Golden Age of comics a little more than it needed to, and this reboot was the perfect way to accomplish that. But books like Mister Terrific make the whole thing seem completely unnecessary. Not to mention the fact that a Mister Terrific book is exactly the kind of book you should take chances on. He doesn’t have the clout of Superman or Batman, so you don’t have to worry there, and if you don’t try something, no one’s gonna buy this book, because no one gives a shit about Mister Terrific. He’s Mister Terrific, for fuck’s sake! It’s how he refers to himself. He literally walks up to people and tells them that his name is Mister Terrific. Anyway, it’s no Hawk and Dove, but avoid at all costs. – RH

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

RED LANTERNS #1

Well, it opens up with a space cat ripping apart a bunch of giant sadistic aliens. So if you think that sounds cool this book might be for you. It instantly took me from open-minded to crossed arms. Switching back and forth from the Red Lanterns, with their leader giving one of those exposition heavy inner monologues about their formation, and the kids dealing with their grandfather’s death, was a good choice. The origin got tiring; there’s no reason it couldn’t have been sprinkled through a couple of issues in natural dialogue. Also, is it just me or does it seem like every planet has been completely wiped out? The DCnU is a rough place to live for alien races… the only Red Lantern that we even got a glimpse of character from was the leader. His search for rage is definitely a different take than a normal heroes journey, and it’ll be interesting to see whether they’re heroes or not. The rest of the Lanterns are just growling, fighting beasts that apparently can barely speak which is really not all that entertaining. I could have used more of the kids, and I’m assuming they end up connected to the Red Lanterns in the future, but for now it just seems like a random B-plot line. There’s something wrong when the B-plot line is more entertaining than the main story, but maybe it’s to make us want the next issue all the more.-MG

 

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

RESURRECTION MAN #1

Resurrection Man tells the time-honored tale of a dude who has two powers: he is resurrected each time he dies, and when he comes back he has a different super power than whatever he had before. As a premise, I think this is awesome, although it seems like it’s high concept enough to run out of steam quickly. That’s when you call in Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, of Marvel Cosmic fame, to come in an work this shit out. DnA, as they’re called in the biz, have never met a craptacular or underused character they didn’t like , and are the perfect choices for this book. This book is done right, where we get the exposition/origin story that all of these books will, and should, contain. We get a couple of badguys to get us through this arc, in this case two young, hot chicks who seem to be looking for RM, and will do anything it takes to find him. And on top of all of that, seeds for huge, overarching stories are already being planted. This guy wasn’t invented for this new universe, but he might as well have been. It’s not like there are a ton of RM fans clamoring for more stories, or a deep continuity that you have to keep in mind, reboot or not. That makes this comic one of the most perfect candidates to pull some crazy shit, and soon be very, very impressive. – RH

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

SUICIDE SQUAD #1

(Spoilers!)

My hopes were high for Suicide Squad, even though I’m unfamiliar with its previous incarnations. It has the ingredients to become something I love – black-ops team, (forcefully) reformed villains, the promise of characters dying, and Harley Quinn. Full disclosure – I have the pre-reboot version of Harley tattooed on my leg. I’m fucking in love with that character. It’s as unhealthy as it seems. The book opens with the members of the Suicide Squad being tortured. Each is being tortured in different ways by different men, hiding behind Scarecrow-reject masks – a comparison that’s made by the tortured themselves. The roster of the Suicide Squad is as follows- Deadshot, a mercenary and hitman; El Diablo, a warrior monk and street thug; Harley Quinn, Joker’s insane femme fatale sidekick; King Shark, a well…giant man shark; Black Spider, who no information is given about, and Savant, the only member to puss out and reveal all the details about the Suicide Squad. Most of the members get a couple of pages showing how they were caught and put on death row, and then Savant’s confession shows their first mission, which turned into their current capture. At the end of the book it’s revealed that all of the torture was a test. The remaining members are the only people of 37 candidates to pass all of the tests. They’re told they have to take out a stadium of 60,000 people for their first real mission. Cliffhanger. All in all it was a pretty mediocre issue, with the flashbacks of original capturees the most interesting part of the book, giving insight into the characters’ minds. If the following issues continue to look into the psyches of the the crazed criminals, they’ll be going in the right direction.-MG

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

SUPERBOY #1

Another origin story! Superboy is still a test tube baby when we meet him, and his brain works on a level so different that the scientists who made him don’t think they succeeded. We learn about Superboy as he learns about himself, at times it seems too much like an information dump – explaining to himself that his consciousness is spread throughout his body, and he’s been studying the humans just as long as they’ve been studying him, which gets annoying. But his slaughter of the guards around him, and the tests showing his lack of empathy, hooked me in. As did the implication that he’s going to be implanted into the Teen Titans to betray them all. The art is inconsistent, with some panels drawn cartoony, while others are drawn more realistic – hopefully they iron that out as the book goes along. I’m excited to see the growth of the character. I’m guessing they’ll milk his lack of humanity, and ignorance to his human DNA source, for as long as possible. Maybe they’ll even surprise us and it won’t be Luthor this time around. This is the most middle of the road book of the new reboot thus far, with far more potential to improve than fail in the coming issues.-MG

 

RATING:

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ISSUE

I’LL READ IT IF I CAN FIND THE TIME

FUCK IT. COULDN’T CARE LESS

 

 

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