New 52 Batch 2 - Comics Review

GREENLANTERN #1

Half of this book tells a story I like, the other is some outdated nonsense. Green Lantern opens with Sinestro accepting a green ring(!). I don’t know half of Sinestro’s full story but I know he used to be a badguy and disagreed with everything the Guardians did. Maybe I’m just a sucker for any “big changes”, Sinestro did very little this issue, but I’m digging the feel here. . A pissed-off, very powerful, calculating, mean s-o-b who is given power by a group he detests to protect a place he enslaved the last time around. The guy is going to do whatever he wants and I’m on board with that. There’s load of conflict here that I want to see play out. Sinestro is my ideal Lantern because he will actual change the universe to get what he wants. Not just run around putting out fires with a cute green hose. He’s serious. Though I guess he could play it straight, but with such a loaded conflict, why waste that? This is exciting.

Then Hal Jordan comes along. The way he’s written here, he belongs with Brenda Starr in the Sunday comics. . Every other word is bold and italics. Very irritating and dated. Some boring, dopey, soap opera horseshit going on. . He’s whining about the difficulty adjusting to life on Earth after having saved the whole universe and nobody understands him. … “Did you not just see Sinestro doing work a few pages ago?” I’d be fine with Jordan dying and the book being solely about Sinestro. Jordan is too boring for me to care about. What he does I’ve seen better and before. Teen Hal can’t get a car or pay his rent, and bounces around, hitting all the loser lowpoints. Why should I sympathize with such a dope? I thought he was supposed to be fearless? Only while flying a plane apparently.

 The art doesn’t do him any favors either, the panel where he’s lying on some charming smile is downright grotesque. It alternates from passable, generic comic book fair, to bad.

The strength of Sinestro as a character might have been enough to keep me going on this book, but with a focus on Jordan, and better books calling to me, I doubt I’ll check this out again.

REDHOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1

I went back and forth throughout this whole issue. The opening action scene isn’t thrilling conceptually (a prison break. Are there any mercenaries in DC that can stand up to a hero?), but there are some details, such as Red Hood’s disguise, that made me smile. And to be fully up front, I love the Jason Todd / Red Hood character. What he did in Under The Red Hood (both comic and movie) and Battle For The Cowl made me a very big fan. He takes a situation that’s going a bit stale and blasts life into it. The debates he had with Batman won me over completely. He’s hilarious in his taunts, clever in those and planning both, and caps it off with an overall aesthetic I love seeing in every panel. Red Hood isn’t good or bad, he’s coming at this playing field from a new angle altogether. That’s exciting. Though I’m sorry to see him leave Gotham. Especially for no discernible reason. Besides “get Arsenal”, this issue did very little.

Arsenal isn’t anything like Jason Todd. I don’t know anything about him except for what this issue set-up. He wasn’t anything special. A regular dude who used a bow. Jason Todd called him an idiot. I’ll believe Jason.

Starfire / Kori has gotten a lot of attention from seemingly everybody (comic readers and not). I wasn’t sure how to read her. She starts off really into Jason, almost like a school-girl, then switches to the cold “nobody controls me” by the next scene. I like that she’s an alien. Aliens trying to fit into Earth society usually raise interesting questions as what’s taken for granted isn’t by them. They can expose taboos or play with human society in fun or insightful ways. I’m not sure if that’s what she’s doing here. Comics haven’t historically been kind to women, at all, so I’m not sure if Starfire is exploring the concept of sex or just being a cheap fan service tool. She certainly has the backstory to become compelling. Princess betrayed by her sister, sold as slave to prevent war. But here she just throws her body around for a splash page or sex.

The set-up for next issue nailed cliché hard. A group of, thought to be, unbeatable monks who live in a hidden mountain monetary are mysteriously killed. Why does the Red Hood care at all about them? Why does he care about Arsenal or Starfire? Why are they together? How did Jason get over Gotham? These aren’t questions the book raises to make me interested in further reading to find out, these I see as fundamental problems of the narrative. If I do look into issue 2, it’ll be a statement to how much I love Jason Todd, not having much to do with the quality of this first issue.

LEGION LOST #1

Every single aspect of this was a gross travesty. Art - Terrible. Characters, none of whom I know anything about, told me nothing in the entire issue. Powers were barely shown and presented nothing of note. The dialogue was by far the worst part. It was the most laughable excuse of exposition. All of it was interchangeable between the characters. The same dated misuse of bold and italics prevalent here as well. The villain is a joke who rails against THE WORLD, and vows to make EVERYONE PAY. Mid-way through I wanted to close it.

I bought this without checking into it at all because I thought Fabien Nicieza was King Shit. The work he did on Cable& Deadpool was profound. I’m not just talking an issue or two. The whole run was brilliant. I’d hold it up as beautiful story-telling comparable to any in any other form. I thought to run a series as well as that means the guy knows his business and can be counted on. Won’t make that mistake again.

SUICIDE SQUAD #1

I come from reading and liking Warren Ellis’s work on Thunderbolts, so I’ll call this the standard set-up for a villain-pressed-into-squad type of book. Tiny, unremovable bombs, placed on the team to ensure cooperation. Given the sure-to-be-persuasive-choice of rot for all time in jail or work for people you hate doing what you’re good at. I’m not sure there aren’t a few holes there that couldn’t be patched with some more thought dedicated to inventing a better situation. Workable though.

The book opens to all the members being tortured, with the presumption that they slipped up on their first assignment. Pretty inventive opening, and it turns into a solid creative choice to showcase the characters. At first I was a bit worried for the team as Deadshot (my boy) didn’t seem to be handling things so well. As we take a turn around the circle though, we see that torturing psychotics plays to their strength. These people get the shit kicked out of them regularly. So it’s a lot of fun seeing them take control of the situation. It’s showing me the writer isn’t going to treat this like a hero team-up book. The characters involved are fundamentally different here. That’s going to allow for what makes a book of this type to truly capitalize on the concept; the possibility for anything to happen.

I don’t understand the set-up for next issue. It struck me as over-the-top for the sake of being over-the-top. I’m not anxious to see where this goes but this issue was good, so if I can get more of that, have something develop, I’ll be happy with that.

THE DARK KNIGHT #1

Tough break for this book to feature yet another break-out from Arkham along with another issue-long speech from Bruce Wayne. At this point I just wanted to know how this book was different from the others. It’s better than Detective Comics and worse than Batman is really the only answer I got. The dialogue is instantly forgettable with the exception of the rallying speech Batman delivers to some cops who are about to storm Arkham, but were told not to (for some reason… There’s a lot of cops there though...), but decided to do it anyway… Yeah, it’s trying to nail “tough guys who make the tough calls” without paying attention to reason. Anyway, Batman doesn’t rally anybody. This was wildly out of character. He doesn’t stand on top of a cop car, remind them all about families then charge in.  Plus, like I said, all these guys were about to kick down the front door anyway. It was all needless posturing.

Action didn’t do a single thing unique with Batman. He kicked a guy and head-butted another.  The End.

The ending left me exasperated. This route again? Also, villains calling out their name as some 

introduction doesn’t belong in a modern comic. Good news is there is only one good Batman comic to keep up with, and, how easy, it’s called Batman. 

DECTECTIVE COMICS #1

This issue was offensively bad. We’re given some really shitty old-school dialogue (“And Gotham is a hell hole, always has been, always will be” “Like hell it will”). Coupled with action that doesn’t need to occur and is just going through the motions for all involved. Nothing new and not done well. I’ll give credit to the team for an inviting ending hook but I don’t trust them to do anything with it.

All images Copyright DC Comics

New 52 - Comic Review

DC's relaunch of all their comics. The New 52

JUSTICLE LEAGUE #1

Nothing is more instantly conducive to enjoying a book than seeing Jim Lee’s art. The man always picks a great angle, fills in with gorgeous detail, and tells the visual story elements so well. I don’t know if there’s anyone better. He’s prerogative on how characters should look, obviously done with a respect for them, even imbuing minor ones with slick esthetics, really creates a cohesive universe where I like every part of it.

Starring my two favorite members of the Justice League? Thank you. I’ve never really liked the Justice League because they were all too chummy, too obsessed with “what’s right”, and to be fair in the fight scenes, all anybody ever did was punch. All fixed. The dialogue is pretty exposition heavy, but it’s all done in character (I don’t think Batman would ever give free Intell to a non-trusted source, but that’s minor and I got over it fast) and, more importantly, is done while these guys are actually doing something. The whole story flies along like one would figure a story with superpowered (Metahuman in the DC Universe) people would vault from one great action moment to another. There are single sentences hinting at how the new DC Universe is going to play, and I love picking up the clues bit by bit. Metahumans aren’t trusted, Superman is on top of everyone’s list of suspicious people, and it feels very much like the League won’t be warmly accepted by humanity nor be the lovey family they were.

Green Lantern is cocky and poorly informed. It’s forgiven since he’s fun, both as a foil to Batman and in general just a decent guy enjoying his power. “You can do anything? Shit yeah man, just walk in there and go for it then”. Batman, my absolute favorite character. I think he’s always had hints of it, but it was infrequent that Batman was sarcastic. It’s needed here else Batman because everyone’s punching bag for lame jokes about how he never speaks. I love him. I can easily see him being the center of the League. He’s lively here, not the stoic Knight of the past.

The costumes weren’t a major departure. Now they seem to be actual armor, which helps me take the characters a bit more seriously. For liking comics as much as I do, I’ve always hated spandex costumes. The costume should reflect the personality of the wearer and some gaudy colors was a shallow way to do that. The ever stupid outside underwear has thankfully been removed. Overall style and distinction between the heroes is still there. Superman’s, in particular, impressed me. Significant change for him. It just looks good. Jim Lee is the man. And Superman came out strong. With Batman’s warning and his overwhelming entrance, I actually liked him. He felt a bit scary. As he should. The setup for next issue hooked me. I can’t wait for it.

BATMAN #1

Batman didn’t grab me like Justice League did. Up until the mid-point it was same as usual. The Batcave had all the same silly treasures, meaning Batman has the same silly past. The Villain team-up, even given the content that they were all breaking out of Arkham, just felt stale. Nothing in any of their personalities would ever allow them to form a team. And they’re already set in their ways and caught?  Aw… I’ll admit that Clayface’s “Professor Pig” costume got me. I came into this book expecting anything so points to Snyder and Capullo for having fun with it. I was dreading hearing anything about that new villain. Biggest trick by far was Dick Grayson’s. The thrill of coming up with a reason for that to be true made that gag work twice over. Worth buying the book for alone.

Bruce Wayne picks up more from how the “old” DC ended. Using Bruce’s persona to attack problems in Gotham on two fronts in place of the playboy pretending not be anything special. I loved the use of a portable Batcave (will it be called “Oracle”?). One, another joke. Yeah it’s old but when formally uptight Bruce Wayne does it, it’s funny all over again. Before Batman was interesting to read for the mystery, and I loved the dark theme, but now he’s enjoyable too. Like Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, it’s a great just to spend time with Bruce, whatever he’s doing.

All big changes saved the end. I’m not taking what’s suggested at face value, but that’s enough of a twist to get me for issue 2.

Sidenote: it finally struck me as odd for Batman to be dragging a cape through a crime scene. Maybe that thing should retract? But at the cost of his evocative silhouette? I don’t know.

DEATHSTROKE #1

Ugh, terrible from the first text box. Piss-poor writing throughout. None of it made sense. It opens with Mr. Slade Wilson Deathstroke The Terminator standing a good few dozen feet from a group of badguys. Badguy Leader is using taunts ripped out of bad 90s movies. Deathstroke says “nut-uh” with a close-up of his glowing eye. SPLASH PAGE! He’s somehow in the middle of the group, from one jump, and they’re all dead… All of the splash pages either are a huge disconnect from what just happened or highlight how little physics has to do with Slade’s universe, such as when he ziplines with a zipline that isn’t connect to a point. Maybe his doohickey was motorized? The rational seems to be “he’s a badass”.

An incredible stupid team of killer teens was introduced to illustrate how the “anything goes environment” of DC can yield terrible jokes. Deathstroke has a man set-up jobs for him who is the complete opposite of Slade’s personality. He acts like a hype man but annoying. Offers Slade a job with no details, Slade says no, then cuts a fly in half with a paper-clip, then says yes. Splash Page!

Then it all ends. I reflect back that nothing really happened. Justice League fit so many different set pieces and story elements in. Deathstroke’s updated costume is, again armored, and looks good. I had trouble taking him seriously with his old boots and clown like ghillie suit, much as I liked the character. The ending promised Deathstroke doing nothing important for the foreseeable future. Perhaps this series is for the old DC fan who didn’t see anything wrong with the way things were. I’ll mourn for poor Slade Wilson.


Images Copyright DC Comics

Ultimate Doomsday - Book Discusion

This being a discussion of Ultimate Doomsday written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Rafa Sandoval, I will SPOIL with the assumption one has read the book. Though I provide barebones details for any to tag along.

After reading Ultimate Doomsday, I found that I deeply related and was sympathetic to young Reed Richards. “Found myself” is accurate because it was surprising. Richards, as anyone familiar or not with comics can vouch, is an unlikeable dork. He’s there to be whiny most of them time, until the writer has him solve all problems with either 1) few key strokes, or 2) stupid looking machine. Apparently, all the character of Richards needs to be of any worth is the addition of motivation to accomplish a goal (he just invents in a wandering sort of way normally) and removal of his childish sense of morality. He’s a villain now. The new Doctor Doom.

Both Richards and I have a problem with the expectations and goal imposed-upon us by society. Worth or value of anything is directly related to monetary value. It’s so ingrained that that last sentence was borderline stupid. Anything and everything a person does must make money. Money is needed to breath. It seems to me that I must look at all my hobbies or interest for some angle, some way to transform them, into a potential career or additional source of revenue. That’s hyperbole for the average day-to-day life but if I were to be of immense success, a personal fully engaged with this world, I’d be making money all day. But I can’t go full into an argument about the role of money else I will be unable to discuss a thing else. The important bit is for the recognition that money is important, perhaps central, to life in this country in this year. Should that premise bother you (you) then what follows will be silly at best. But it’s where I come from when reading Doomsday.

The scene that resonated the most with me had Sue Storm (Richard’s ever love interest) and Richards talking over a picnic. Sue asks where Reed’s head is it as he’s doing his typical “staring off into space, inventing things” pose. Reed bluntly states that he doesn’t much like the present world he lives in. He puts to Sue that they both could leave at any point they wanted to. Full stop there. How indescribably wonderful is it that Reed can act on any and all of his desires? To say, yes all humankind possess freewill, but for all their thoughts and dreams, how many are able (physically) to accomplish them? Who else may make a pleasing thought into reality? (That’s a very interesting superpower: freewill and the ability to use it). Sue brushes Reed off, wondering or not if he is serious outwardly, but Sue’s smart and knows Reed doesn’t (ever) joke, so she’s really stalling as the answer upsets her or she doesn’t have one.

Right there is a beautiful moment. As the perpetually bullied (one could argue even the super villain’s continue the trend) dork announces he has had enough of this entire planet - everyone in it too. To be ready to throw the whole of the Earth, and everything it possess, away? The fundamental makeup of the character has changed. Importantly though, it isn’t a shift toward selfishness. Later one, Reed rails against the “rape” of science. Which is actually true in the Ultimate Universe. Every organization, from the corporation Roxxon to the world police S.H.I.E.L.D. has recklessly pursued scientific advancements purely for money, power, or both. Many of the villains are the botched (or illegal) experiments of one group or other. Reed’s grief is that the entire world is relentlessly trying to degrade itself for petty reasons. And he, as a genius scientist, has only wanted to work quietly on making it better, but is roped into covering up the screw-ups or inventing the extra-dimensional gun. Intentions don’t get more noble than Reed Richards’s. It makes sense (and I’m so happy) that he finally gets angry enough to really alter course. Coming from Reed, this is a condemnation that the Earth can’t be and isn’t worth saving. Reed’s emotions have always been tied into his sense of morality, and coupled with his persona being (essentially) a force of discovery (as opposed to a person who also is a scientist, like Sue Storm) is what makes his anger at everything so powerful. He’s not a pissed off young kid stomping his feet at the existence of injustice. He’s an elemental judge who wanted and expected better from people and has been monumentally let down.

The very best stories are not ones with incredible technical merit but ones that catch the reader at a particular emotional moment in time (not saying vulnerable, saying story matches mood); supplying a full-on discourse of the critical issue. I apologize Greater Society, I don’t wish to contribute economically (it’s the reason you made me after all). I want to write my stories, study where my curiosity is, and not worry about shit else. I think Reed and I are both upset at being thrown into a game we don’t like nor have any ambition to play. I wish his genius characteristic didn’t come and go, so that he would have realized stealing all of science from the world of superheroes with a constructed fodder race was a poor way to kick-off his new life. Then my man, Brian Michael Bendis, wants to hit the reset on profound change with a character who doesn’t even know how his powers work or why (Nova)? That’s insulting. Maybe a cosmic joke but still galling.

Regardless, I’m rooting for Reed Richards. I hope he reengineers physics for the Ultimate Universe so that certain levels of technology become impossible. Just rip the rug out from underneath ‘em all.




All images Copyright Marvel