![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccatoriaOKAY. As I posted before, me and K got a pull list of comics we'll be getting but on account of being slightly excited and curious, For September Only, I will be reading all the DC titles. Even ones I think look crappy. Just to see what's what, to get a better grounding in all of it, for the Event Fun of it, and also so that I can be better placed to know what I might wanna check out in trades when they're released and so I know what I might want to try out when I inevitably get annoyed with stuff on my existing pull list and/or it gets canceled. But I'm not changing my pull list for a few months unless something's truly dire, so if there's any comic I just Must Have, I'll be picking it up in one-off singles until a slot opens up. It's all about tricking the budget! :p
Anyway, since I'm reading them all, I'm going to review them too! I'm bolting Justice League onto this week's stuff. So. Fourteen comics, fourteen reviews, ALPHABETICAL. Spoilers follow!
Action Comics #1
I surprised myself by really liking this. The reason it surprised me was that the preview DC released made me really, really worried. Turns out, the preview was missing a page - the big splash page - with a single line from Superman that changed the whole tone of the encounter. There's an enormous difference between Superman announcing that he no longer believes the law is protecting rich and poor alike - making a statement about his intent to fight for the little guy by scaring the pants off a corporate villain - and the perception the preview gave that he was trying to coerce a confession with intimidation. Turns out I'm way more okay with intimidation as a method of standing up to bullies than I am with it being used to circumvent the law! Probably because I think Superman would see that same line as important.
Look, I'll be honest, of all the stuff lost in the reboot, the stuff that Superman has lost probably stings the most. I fear for his relationship with Lois Lane; that marriage meant something and said a lot about his character. And as much as I surprised myself by liking this, I don't think there was anything wrong with the allpowerful authority figure that Superman was before. He's not as popular as Batman because this is the wrong time for him, we're so hopped up on grimdark and angst, but the answer isn't to turn Superman into Batman.
My answer would have been to accept not all characters can be in vogue at once; Grant Morrison's answer is probably both more profitable and potentially more creatively rewarding. The economic and social landscape of the teens is shaping up to be a lot like the thirties, when Superman first emerged. He was a champion of the oppressed against The Man then, too.
And that's what this is. Ignore the reviews that tell you Superman is suddenly appealing because he's younger, because he's not "tied down", because he can have angst or be more violent or more flawed. Screw all of that, whether it's in the comic or not - that's not what's working here.
What works is his optimism. What works is his determination to do something to help. That's why Morrison can get away with making him less precise, less careful, less good at limiting collateral damage. Because of that naive optimism, that sneaky joy even when he's catching bullets and bounding from one set piece to another with no plan beyond helping and when his help freewheels into more trouble, fixing it. That's why it works. Because he's trying to help us and he seems so happy doing it. He's trying to make a difference because it's the right thing to do. And that's the core of Superman, not his perfection.
The comic certainly sets plots into motion for future issues, but a lot of it is grounded in establishing Clark Kent and Superman in this new continuity and so I don't have a lot to say about the rest. The story moves very quickly, like Superman himself, there's a really appropriate sense of momentum to the piece and Rags Morales' art has a sense of solidity that's appropriate to the Man of Steel while not making it seem too heavy to move, but I have to be honest, it's not my favourite style. At times Superman looks great, at times far too old considering this is six years ago and the character is supposed to be younger than he was anyway.
Ultimately, there's a lot I'm sad to see go, and a lot of what I like - because I do like Superman fighting for what's right rather than what's legal - I think could have been done without restarting the character and erasing his marriage.
But we're here, and it's been done, and I think we're gonna be okay.
Cus this is a really good Superman story.
4 out of 5 Speeding Trains.
Pull List Status: Not on the list, but based on this I'll keep an eye on it and may pick it up in trades or add it to the list if something else gets cut.
Animal Man #1
Honestly, objectively this might be the best comic book DC published this week. It's excellently paced - it manages to slowly introduce Buddy Baker (Animal Man), his powers, his attitudes, his family, his place in the world - as well as an action piece and a truly creepy nightmare before launching into a final page twist that (unlike a later comic I'll be reviewing) doesn't feel cheap at all, but rather like the real setup for the ongoing comic book.
The art isn't generally my style, but Travel Foreman's sketchy, loose style works very well for an aging countercultural beatnik caught in his own personal horror story.
I have mixed feelings about opening with the print interview but ultimately come down in favour. It doesn't matter if you skip it, it's short enough it's not overly intimidating to read, and it's actually a pretty good stylistic mockup of that kind of hipster article. Plus it firmly places the comic itself as a little stylistically stranger than your average superhero book - a slightly unconventional, more Vertigo approach.
All that said, this really isn't my sort of comic book. It's undeniably good, but I'm just not a horror fan. I find it stressful, especially on a month-to-month basis. For that sort of story I need to have it in completed arcs at least. Preferably in an entire run.
4.5 out of 5 Zombie Animals.
Pull List Status: Not on it, not going on it, but will keep an ear out for general buzz. It's the sort of thing I'd read if someone I knew were getting it but I just can't make the horror!leap. If I hear truly extraordinary things I might check out the trades, but probably from a library.
Batgirl #1
It's impossible, and perhaps irresponsible to review this without talking about the controversy surrounding the decision to put Barbara Gordon back in the cowl. Indeed, the comic itself treats this issue as integral to the plot.
I honestly believe this is an issue with no possible solution. Paralysing Barbara Gordon was sexist. Her paralysis' permanence is part of a sexist pattern of women who suffer death or other trauma being more permanently affected over longer periods of time than their male counterparts. Removing the most prominent (and practically only) disabled character in the DC universe is ableist. Showing Barbara Gordon struggle with this transition helps, but does not negate this fact.
Ask me, the real problem is the the entire burden of disability representation falling onto a single character, let alone one whose backstory is tied up with such violent sexism.
Either way, what's done is done. I imagine some of you will judge me for this (and that's okay), but my overall feelings about Barbara Gordon being Batgirl again were positive, especially given the writer, who is known to have great affection for the character and facility with writing her. I still feel okay about it, but I missed Oracle a hell of a lot more than I thought I would. Seeing Barbara as young and unsure is...strange. Not necessarily bad, but poignantly unsettling.
And perhaps unsettled - or better, uncertain - is a good way to describe the comic itself. To an extent this is deliberate and reflects Barbara herself. I feel the attitude Simone has taken - to approach the issue of her previous paralysis immediately and psychologically - is absolutely the best attitude to take in the circumstances. The cliffhanger is genuinely shocking and understandable, even if I wish that the Mirror had already left the scene as the cop, confusedly, turns her gun on Babs.
But I also feel a little uncertain as a reader. So far the villain is passable but hasn't grabbed me. My reaction to her new roommate fell a little flat (although possibly this was my judgementally amused response to the way she painted anarchist slogans on the wall of her otherwise perfectly conventional living room). The occasional line of dialogue felt clunky, and while I thought the nightmare/flashback to her shooting was pitched well, I think I would have preferred the references to her previous paralysis after that point to be...not less numerous but less heavy-handed on those occasions. I think understatement would have been more affecting and at times I felt there were some anvils being dropped. These are fairly minor quibbles when taken alone, but formed an underlying inability to quite immerse myself as thoroughly as I would have liked.
Ultimately I think this is the best possible direction to take this story, if this story was going to be told. I don't necessarily think it's the best possible execution, but I'm not sure if any two people would ever agree on what the best execution would be, given the charged nature of the subject.
I do find myself wondering if replacing Babs' physical disability with a mental one will be the plot of the first arc, or if we will now have a superheroine with PTSD on a more longterm basis. Given the nature of that disability it would be hard to write long-term for a superhero, but it could also be extremely interesting.
3.5 out of 5 Anarchist Roommates.
Pull List Status: On my list, and will stay there. I'm still expecting to really enjoy this series.
Batwing #1
This comic was a really pleasant surprise. I knew absolutely nothing about Batwing beyond the fact that he was trained by Bruce Wayne to be Batman in some city in Africa as part of his whole Batman Inc initiative, and since I'm not a huge Batman fan I really had no hopes beyond the main character not actively annoying me.
But this was a really solid comic. David Zavimbe is not an annoying brooder like Bruce Wayne, and while there was nothing extraordinary about the story, it was solidly written and it introduced a mystery I am genuinely intrigued by. I want to know why that superhero ended up dead in that massacre. I want to know more about The Kingdom and what happened to them. The villain, so far, is pretty two dimensional, but that's because, so far, like Batwing, he's a mystery, a boogie monster and I'm content to wait until we're deeper into the story to learn his secrets. Most of all, unlike Detective Comics, which is the next review, the final, brutal twist actually feels like it belongs in the story rather than being there to shock the reader.
I also have to mention the art, which is just stunningly gorgeous. It's a cross between watercolour and photorealism and is pretty much the prettiest thing this side of Batwoman. I'm not enormously web savvy when it comes to the comics websphere, but I do check out a few major sites and was sad to see a bunch of places talking about how they felt there was a lack of background detail in the Batwing art which prevented a real establishment of a sense of place. It's true, it's stylistically minimalist, but I never found the sense of place lacking. Perhaps I was distracted by the beautifully rendered people, but I loved the way light was used - the glare outside in the daytime, the cool blue at night, the dusty shade of an office in shadow with sun pouring through the windows. I really cannot say enough good stuff about this art.
I should briefly touch on the "Batman of Africa" stuff. People have rightly pointed out that this isn't exactly useful in terms of the general inability of the West to view Africa as a continent rather than a country. I was pleased to see that Batwing is firmly based in a single city in a single country. Sure there was a tendency in the comic to also refer to "Africa" as a geographical setting and I'm not best-placed to know whether or not that's accurate or respectful, but within the context I have, I didn't take issue with it. Batman is the Batman of Gotham City, but he is also the Batman for the Justice League of America. He works out of one city, but he travels the continent (and indeed the world) when the story calls for it. The USA is a country whereas Africa is a continent, but at this point we start to butt up against real world political distinctions and lack of equivalency. The USA is not the same as, say, the European Union, and there is no equivalent to either in Africa, so I guess what I'm saying is that the character will always have the problem of potentially evoking skeezy colonialist imagery (with a rich white man swooping in to help fix all Africa's problems!), but I also think that was pretty minimal here, and whatever the best way to word it is, it's absolutely right for Batwing to be based primarily in one city but to consider a much, much larger and more global area to be his wider responsibility, as Batman does. Here's hoping that continues in the future because, as I said, I do see how it's a helluva difficult line to toe given the setup the comic has to work with.
Scoring this is difficult because I think the art is straight-up amazing, but I also don't think the art is as integral to the story so as to elevate the quality of the writing by its mere existence. Also as I said, I really liked this comic, but I think part of that was due to my own low expectations being exceeded and the way it had Detective Comics as a ready comparison against which to soar. So, forcing myself to be a little more objective this was very competent, interesting enough to make me want to know more, and amazingly illustrated, but there was nothing really groundbreakingly brilliant here, it was just good, solid stuff.
3.5 out of 5 Pairs of Robot Wings.
Pull List Status: This is on my pull list because K wanted to read it, and it's staying there, but I'm actually looking forward to it now, whereas before I figured I'd read it because it happened to be in my house.
Detective Comics #1
DEAR LORD. I really did not like this. I will admit a certain amount of my bitterness is down to a number of reviews praising this comic's final twist which I actually found to be utterly juvenile. So my final score reflects a slightly higher rating than my personal opinion in an attempt to be objective. Because nothing in this comic is actually offensively awful. I feel it's poorly written; the dialogue and narration just feel amateurish to me, and there was nothing interesting about the plot, it felt very by the numbers. The Joker is dark and violent (although his dialogue was probably the best-written), Batman is angry and angsty and disappears from building tops in the middle of conversations. Batman hunts down Joker, Joker's doing something twisted.
The reason I dislike the final page is less what happens - because it does effectively set up a story that could potentially have an interesting resolution (although the banality of this comic's plot does not leave me with a great deal of hope in that regard) - it's that it feels as though it's a trick - sleight of hand. It's using grim shock and violence in place of an actual detective story, while pretending to be a detective story. All fictional mysteries are artificially constructed and the reader must be told only part of the story to see the rest unfold. But I think it's lazy to introduce that mystery by showing us one half of a conversation between the perpetrators rather than, say, the end results of the locked-room mystery. Had that final image been the opening image, with Batman left to wonder what had happened to the Joker and why, left tracing his steps and trying to work out what was going on, that would have felt like a mystery. This feels like cliffhanger, and a pretty cheap one. Batman's not a detective in this, no matter how much the writer might throw in lines about him wondering what's going on. We never see him investigate anything; we never see him draw any conclusions from his mental musings.
So as I said, it's not a comic I find offensive or insulting, it's just not interesting to me in any way, and I do feel that the praise being heaped on the "shock" ending is undeserved. Anyone can end on a gory note; it doesn't make it a good story or a good mystery. Given that it hasn't actively screwed anything up yet, beyond being a bit shoddily constructed, I give it:
2 out of 5 Joker Faces.
Pull List Status: Not on my list, not going anywhere near my list based on this.
Green Arrow #1
This was the most uninspired comic I've read in a long time. It was an endless procession of cliches wrapped in terrible dialogue. He's Steve Jobs as a superhero and while the concept could be an interesting way to differentiate him from the other, more famous, multibillionaire corporate head vigilante who uses skill and tech not powers, but who dresses as a Bat instead of Robin Hood, it goes nowhere except as a chance to skirt copyright issues by mentioning Q-Phones and Q-Pads. Which, along with the weird youtube obsession of the cardboard-cutout villains, makes the whole thing feel almost desperately like it's trying to appear "modern" and "relevant". It's so very late 90s it's almost painful.
Naomi, his punkrocker chic snarky hacker offering tech support from a setup stolen from Oracle's Watchtower and Jax (yes, Jax) the preppy "it's because you hate weapons that you're the BEST guy to make them for me!" science backup dude form our hero's sidekick support team. There was a moment when I thought something interesting might happen, when Jax explains that he's uncomfortable with Ollie's superhero persona and questions his right to behave as a vigilante, but the answer is pat and frankly confusing and I think I might actually have misunderstood Jax's reluctance as concern for Ollie's safety rather than an ethical difference of opinion.
In terms of the actual action, there's also nothing very imaginative about the way Green Arrow fights crime. Now, I've never been a huge Green Arrow fan, so I'm not sure if this is par for the course, but nothing here convinced me that fighting crime by shooting trick arrows is a particularly cool or dynamic idea. I mean, it's fine I guess, but he mostly just seems to punch people and then shoot a trick arrow that has an effect that's science-based with the arrow as delivery system. Which would be fine if precision and skill in the shooting were presented as key, if it was shown as Green Arrow thinking around the situation to a way of solving the problem that unusually utilises shooting skills. And it wouldn't be a problem if the trick arrows were fairly generic in their tricks, the way Batarangs are presented as occasionally being electrical or magnetic. But the main instance I remember in this comic is an arrow that freezes a chunk of river water to stop an escaping villain and I'm just left thinking...does he carry that around with him all the time? It gets perilously close to the absurdly specific 1960s TV series Batman utility belt. On its own, that would be a nitpick of an issue but I did feel, in general, that the character's defining trait - his archery - was not used in a dynamic or interesting fashion in terms of the comic's action.
1 out of 5 Absurdly Specific Trick Arrows.
Pull List Status: Not on it and not going on it.
Hawk & Dove #1
I felt this comic failed in both writing and art. I probably enjoyed it more than Green Arrow, but tragically that may only have been because it was more ridiculous not because it was in any way better. To take the writing, the first half of the issue is given over to our heroes fighting a zombie attack on a plane which crashes into the Washington Monument. Shockingly, this manages to be nowhere near as awesome as it should be. It lasts too long, the fight is too full of melodramatic angst between Hawk and Dove, and bluntly too visually confusing (though I confess I'm not very good at following action - that could just be me), and the rest of the comic doesn't maintain a tone that allows it to be a fun, ridiculous, zombie-filled romp.
The second half of the comic is given over to soap opera histrionics. Now I'm perfectly happy to admit that comic books are soap operas with magic powers and more punching, but this is the bad kind of melodrama. However BIG and ANGRY and IMPULSIVE Hank is supposed to be, having him launch into a narration of his brother's death, to their father, in agonisingly emotional terms, three years after the event, is just odd. If his father knows, why is he conveniently narrating the entire event again - it's transparently for the benefit of the audience and a straight-up flashback would have been less distracting than this weird pretense that it's a conversation with his father. If his father doesn't know...why the hell not? And why is he telling him now, on an essentially random day, three years later?
I had trouble getting to grips with Dawn's character but apparently she's keeping soap operatic secrets too. Perhaps the strangest moment was after flying through the sky with Deadman, having a conversation and not appearing to be fighting any crime, she lands on a car roof, completely destroying it, and then flies off again... Now, having tried desperately to understand this, there's a police car drawn in the background a page before, so perhaps she was stopping a car chase? But then, did she just crush someone's head? Did landing on the car stop it from moving? There's no follow-up or explanation. We don't see the criminals being walked to the police car in the background of another shot, for instance. It's just another example of LOUD DRAMA without any context. The whole thing was very disjointed.
I'm not even sure what I can say about the art. It's drawn by Rob Liefeld, who I've heard of as a legendarily divisive artist known for impossible muscles, anatomically ridiculous poses and a hatred of feet, but I'd never really read much of his work that I was aware of. And honestly, while I'll laugh at ridiculous musculature, I really am not particularly adept at recognising impossible perspective or crazy poses unless they're really whacked out.
So trust me, when I say that on the first page I noticed that neither of the two close-ups have level eyes, it's a problem. It's scratchy, ugly artwork, and while I feel very awkward criticising it because it's a hell of a lot better than the stick people I can draw, I'm not sure why this person was hired to illustrated a comic published by one of the two biggest comics companies in the industry.
1 out of 5 Lopsided Eyes.
Pull List Status: OH HELLS NO.
Justice League #1
This is a solid comic but it's not mindblowing. Batman feels like Batman. Green Lantern feels more or less like Green Lantern and the ending is a nice payoff to his overconfidence. Superman's entrance is kind of fun and it does a good job of establishing the tone of the setting and the confusion over the emergence of superheros.
But equally, the only thing in the story that really left me wondering what was going to happen was the stuff with Vic in high school, the rest felt like a competent and enjoyable but basically very safe introduction to the world.
I personally enjoyed Lee's art a lot and I can see both sides of the argument about the slow introduction to the characters. Introducing all seven might have been a bit overwhelming for a comic designed to introduce comics to people who have never read a comic before and this story definitely makes it clear that new characters will be joining. But equally would those new readers warm to a story that gives you only a few scenes per issue, when single issues do not always move that slowly? And equal to that, is it fair to current and lapsed comic fans who don't need such a slow introduction?
Personally I enjoyed it well enough and wasn't too annoyed by how slowly it came together (though yes, I was disappointed at the lack of Wonder Woman!) although I also have no expectations of it delivering a truly amazing storyline. I think that relaxed attitude to the title helped me have a more positive attitude to it, though, because had I been hanging a lot of hopes on it I'd have been more disappointed. As it stands, though, it's a solid, if unadventurous introduction.
3 out of 5 Suspicious Cops.
Pull List Status: On the list because it's the flagship title and I'm curious. It'll stay there for the first arc, at least.
Justice League International #1
Another solid if unremarkable comic book, but in this case one I really enjoyed for the sheer lighthearted fun of it, which is a little unusual in the current crop of titles. Unlike the Justice League title, everyone is introduced in the first issue, and honestly that did leave me a little at sea, not being sure who everyone was, but it was better than trying to exposit everyone's powers in awkward dialogue. Almost everyone is some degree of national stereotype, including the brand-happy attention-seeking American and the slightly snooty Brit who says stuff like, "Sod off, Bats," to Batman. Which would be more annoying if not for the cracky sitcom comedy feel of the whole thing and I'm a sucker for mismatched teams of clashing personalities. It's the kind of book where I don't mind the slightly pedestrian overarching plot because the highlight is the interpersonal interaction, which, as I said, isn't so much original as it's cracky and funny enough in execution I don't mind and genuinely enjoyed the ride.
Plus you have to respect any book where Batman decides to join the team, even though the UN specifically didn't invite him, without telling anyone. Including the team.
3 out of 5 Stealthy Batmen.
Pull List Status: It's on the list and it's staying there for now. At the moment the lighthearted fun is enough to keep it there, though in the future if it turns out that there are some really amazing books I don't have space for on my list, I guess this might be a casualty.
Men of War #1
I'm not a fan of soldier stories but I do applaud the new line of comics for at least making token efforts to include war comics and horror comics and crime comics and western comics that used to be such a large part of the comics industry before shared universe superhero comics ate everything. I also like that they're using the old style format of a main feature and a backup story, which I think only All-Star Western is also using. However, the rise of the angsty brother soldiers faux-realistic war narrative in modern media, particularly visible in computer games and Hollywood movies, is a narrative I could not be more tired of.
That said, the main feature here was far better than I expected. The idea of superheroes' impact on the average soldier is not unexpected for a comic like this. Still, seeing in execution the effect of a superhero appearing from nowhere, causing absolute havoc, with the men on the ground not even knowing whose side the hero was on, was actually more startling and oddly beautiful than I was anticipating. A lot is down to the art, I think. The burning streak of the passing demigod through a dark sky; the way it's always at such a distance all you can see is an incandescent figure - almost inhuman. It's to the comic's credit that it allows the visuals to speak and doesn't oversell Rock's reaction in overblown prose. What's there is well-written and just this side of sparse. It leaves you with a real feeling of being a speck on a rock hurtling through space.
That said, while I'd probably read the next comic if someone handed it to me which I didn't imagine would be the case, it's still a war comic, and I'm still me.
The backup feature, I'll be honest, bored me stupid, though that was more down to personal preference and dislike of the genre than anything. But I do think it was objectively much more pedestrian and boring than the main feature.
4 out of 5 Distant Demigods for the main feature.
2 out of 5 Grim Realities of War for the backup.
Pull List Status: Not on it, and not likely to go on it, but that's down far more to personal preference than objective quality.
OMAC #1
This is a rip-roaring ridiculous romp, and I mean that in the best possible way. It's just a crazy trip through a mad science lab with some mad blue bloke in a mohawk ripping things - including gobble-gobble demons and build-a-friend lady robots with guns in their mouths - to pieces on the order of some nice computer lady in his head. Which turns out to be a space satellite and the blue mohawk dude turns out to be an amnesiac office worker and mostly it's just nuts. It's the kind of comic that can sustain the manic pace and slew of images and the angular, crazily coloured artwork normally wouldn't really be my thing really works with the madcap silver age nostalgia that's going on here.
The main criticism I have is that while I enjoyed it while I was reading it - an achievement considering I really wasn't at all interested in it before I picked it up - now that I'm not reading it, it sticks in my mind as a good experience but nothing particularly makes me feel the need to come back next month. The comic leaves us with questions, but while I wouldn't mind having them answered I don't feel emotionally invested to need them answered. That said, if someone handed me issue two, I'd go, cool, I wonder what crazy stuff OMAC will rip to pieces this week! But I probably wouldn't go out and buy it on my own.
3 out of 5 Sentient Satellites.
Pull List Status: Not on it and not likely to go on it. It's not so much a knock on the quality as personal taste there. It's probably not the sort of thing I'd be willing to spend money on in trades because that's a bigger financial investment each time, but if I had a spare slot on my pull list and really didn't know what the hell to put on it, based on this I might throw this in there as a "what the hell, it's only £2 a month" kind of choice. I don't think I'd be as interested in seeing the story so much as spending fifteen minutes in its surreal world every now and again.
Static Shock #1
Before reading this comic I didn't know anything about Static Shock. As far as I can tell he is a bit like Spider-man, except with electromagnetic instead of spider powers. They're both teenagers in New York trying to get by with high school, part-time jobs, family life and general bad luck, while saving the city and not really getting a lot of props for it. One thing which I really appreciated, and which I wasn't expecting, is that instead of using generic magnetic and electrical powers for Static - like giving him magnoblasts and electrorepulsion or something - we actually see him thinking through how to use his ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields to solve problems inventively. It's also a great chance to introduce the character's voice and show, rather than tell us, that one of his most important traits is his intelligence. It's another way I feel I can compare him to Peter Parker who is also supposed to be fiercely smart and supposed to use that skill to invent gadgets to help him, but in my (likewise) limited experience with that character, that part of him is less often showcased when he's out and about in action.
The rest of the comic ranges from strong, intriguing and entertaining (like the hints about his sisters, the introduction of Hardware and how he got him a job at STAR labs, his family interactions), to slightly underwhelming (the villains), but not to a degree that really means it detracts from the stuff I enjoyed.
There's also a real feel of momentum throughout the comic which I think also helps carry it past the elements that weren't quite as inventive as they could have been (as I said, the villains are passable but also feel slightly 90s punk rock). Static moves constantly and the art does too. It's blocky and colourful and bold and I think in another comic I might not enjoy it so much but it's a very good fit for this character and this setting. Also I think his costume is awesome. It has what looks like a giant plastic trenchcoat!
4 out of 5 Cyber Skateboards.
Pull List Status: Not on the list but based on this I'd consider it as a substitution if I drop something and might pick up another issue next month if it happens to be on the shelf. I might pick it up in trades if I hear really great stuff about it, but it feels like the sort of thing that would be more fun to read month-to-month in small, exciting chunks.
Stormwatch #1
I feel this comic suffers from a disconnect between concept and execution. The world that's being created here is fascinating. I've read the first maybe...dozen Stormwatch comics from the early nineties, but nothing after that and given the huge sweep of Stormwatch/The Authority, I really don't know any of these characters. The Stormwatch I've read is much more soldiers-with-superpowers rather than this secret history almost urban fantasy world with creatures animating the moon and the God of Cities and the Spirit of the 21st Century. And frankly, I prefer the world that Paul Cornell is building here. It's the kind of comic that if someone had summarised for me, I would be enormously excited about.
But the execution is a bit off. The art is functional but a bit ugly for my tastes in terms of the people, though I liked the photoshopped space backgrounds and landscapes. But basically the art neither damns nor saves the comic. The problem is that it seems to be heavily exposition-based. There are too many moments to explain to me who everyone is and what they do in slightly inelegant dialogue and prose. The three conflicting plotlines - the Moon, the strange worm and the recruitment of Apollo - feel a little too disjointed right now. Further, there seems to be some tension between the fantastical scifantasy setting and what seems to be attempts to hark back to the original series' gritty soldier-based realism, with the Martian Manhunter talking about how he works with Stormwatch when he needs to be a WARRIOR not a HERO and Apollo and the Midnighter also having a very gritty style that makes me feel they should be swearing a lot. But jumping back to Adam and Jenny Quantum and the crazy horned worm in the ice, or Harry Tanner, the Eminence of Blades talking to the Moon, and I don't get that feeling at all.
Which makes it very difficult to score this. It's got a fantastic concept, I love the world and am intrigued by both the plots and many of the characters. But I don't feel it was particularly well executed. I suppose I give the concept a 4/5 and the execution a 2/5 which I guess I'll average. I think it's potential to be extraordinary is as clear as its current inability to realise it. Fortunately I do think that Paul Cornell has a solid track record so I'm hopeful that it will even out when the issue isn't expected to do so much heavy lifting in terms of setup.
3 out of 5 Century Babies.
Pull List Status: On my list and staying there. I still have high hopes!
Swamp Thing #1
Written by acclaimed writer Scott Snyder and based in DC's reclamation of the darker Vertigo properties, expectation for this comic was high, and generally I think it was met. I enjoyed the writing; it was slow and thoughtful and let me get into the protagonist's head. I enjoyed the detail with which Snyder drew out the violence of nature - the way it's hidden by time but no less gruesome for that. The art is superb - clean, clear, thoughtful, expressive. It makes flowers creepy in that final sequence; the way they envelope the panels, like stained glass. The one exception, oddly, is Superman's jaw. Everything in this comics is beautiful except for the way it looks like Superman has mumps. Ah well.
The one thing I will say is that although this issue tells a well-paced story I found easy enough to follow, with genuinely chilling moments and a good cliffhanger, unlike Animal Man, I didn't feel like this was a particularly good introduction to Swamp Thing or to Alec Holland. I just about gathered what I needed to know, but I very much felt like I was joining a story in progress where they'd tried to drop a seamless "previously on!" into the dialogue and plot. And to be fair, it was pretty seamlessly executed. But it still felt less welcoming than Animal Man, and I'm still not totally sure of the relationship between Swamp Thing and Alec Holland.
4 out of 5 Violent Plants.
Pull List Status: Not on it, but I feel slightly less alienated by the horror aspects of this title for some reason and I'd consider it as a backup. I don't think I'd buy it off and on if it happened to be on the shelves because it feels like it's going to be a longer, arc-based series. But if I continue to hear good things I might well pick it up in trades, or add it to my list if a space opens up.
END WEEK ONE.
Anyway, since I'm reading them all, I'm going to review them too! I'm bolting Justice League onto this week's stuff. So. Fourteen comics, fourteen reviews, ALPHABETICAL. Spoilers follow!
Action Comics #1
I surprised myself by really liking this. The reason it surprised me was that the preview DC released made me really, really worried. Turns out, the preview was missing a page - the big splash page - with a single line from Superman that changed the whole tone of the encounter. There's an enormous difference between Superman announcing that he no longer believes the law is protecting rich and poor alike - making a statement about his intent to fight for the little guy by scaring the pants off a corporate villain - and the perception the preview gave that he was trying to coerce a confession with intimidation. Turns out I'm way more okay with intimidation as a method of standing up to bullies than I am with it being used to circumvent the law! Probably because I think Superman would see that same line as important.
Look, I'll be honest, of all the stuff lost in the reboot, the stuff that Superman has lost probably stings the most. I fear for his relationship with Lois Lane; that marriage meant something and said a lot about his character. And as much as I surprised myself by liking this, I don't think there was anything wrong with the allpowerful authority figure that Superman was before. He's not as popular as Batman because this is the wrong time for him, we're so hopped up on grimdark and angst, but the answer isn't to turn Superman into Batman.
My answer would have been to accept not all characters can be in vogue at once; Grant Morrison's answer is probably both more profitable and potentially more creatively rewarding. The economic and social landscape of the teens is shaping up to be a lot like the thirties, when Superman first emerged. He was a champion of the oppressed against The Man then, too.
And that's what this is. Ignore the reviews that tell you Superman is suddenly appealing because he's younger, because he's not "tied down", because he can have angst or be more violent or more flawed. Screw all of that, whether it's in the comic or not - that's not what's working here.
What works is his optimism. What works is his determination to do something to help. That's why Morrison can get away with making him less precise, less careful, less good at limiting collateral damage. Because of that naive optimism, that sneaky joy even when he's catching bullets and bounding from one set piece to another with no plan beyond helping and when his help freewheels into more trouble, fixing it. That's why it works. Because he's trying to help us and he seems so happy doing it. He's trying to make a difference because it's the right thing to do. And that's the core of Superman, not his perfection.
The comic certainly sets plots into motion for future issues, but a lot of it is grounded in establishing Clark Kent and Superman in this new continuity and so I don't have a lot to say about the rest. The story moves very quickly, like Superman himself, there's a really appropriate sense of momentum to the piece and Rags Morales' art has a sense of solidity that's appropriate to the Man of Steel while not making it seem too heavy to move, but I have to be honest, it's not my favourite style. At times Superman looks great, at times far too old considering this is six years ago and the character is supposed to be younger than he was anyway.
Ultimately, there's a lot I'm sad to see go, and a lot of what I like - because I do like Superman fighting for what's right rather than what's legal - I think could have been done without restarting the character and erasing his marriage.
But we're here, and it's been done, and I think we're gonna be okay.
Cus this is a really good Superman story.
4 out of 5 Speeding Trains.
Pull List Status: Not on the list, but based on this I'll keep an eye on it and may pick it up in trades or add it to the list if something else gets cut.
Animal Man #1
Honestly, objectively this might be the best comic book DC published this week. It's excellently paced - it manages to slowly introduce Buddy Baker (Animal Man), his powers, his attitudes, his family, his place in the world - as well as an action piece and a truly creepy nightmare before launching into a final page twist that (unlike a later comic I'll be reviewing) doesn't feel cheap at all, but rather like the real setup for the ongoing comic book.
The art isn't generally my style, but Travel Foreman's sketchy, loose style works very well for an aging countercultural beatnik caught in his own personal horror story.
I have mixed feelings about opening with the print interview but ultimately come down in favour. It doesn't matter if you skip it, it's short enough it's not overly intimidating to read, and it's actually a pretty good stylistic mockup of that kind of hipster article. Plus it firmly places the comic itself as a little stylistically stranger than your average superhero book - a slightly unconventional, more Vertigo approach.
All that said, this really isn't my sort of comic book. It's undeniably good, but I'm just not a horror fan. I find it stressful, especially on a month-to-month basis. For that sort of story I need to have it in completed arcs at least. Preferably in an entire run.
4.5 out of 5 Zombie Animals.
Pull List Status: Not on it, not going on it, but will keep an ear out for general buzz. It's the sort of thing I'd read if someone I knew were getting it but I just can't make the horror!leap. If I hear truly extraordinary things I might check out the trades, but probably from a library.
Batgirl #1
It's impossible, and perhaps irresponsible to review this without talking about the controversy surrounding the decision to put Barbara Gordon back in the cowl. Indeed, the comic itself treats this issue as integral to the plot.
I honestly believe this is an issue with no possible solution. Paralysing Barbara Gordon was sexist. Her paralysis' permanence is part of a sexist pattern of women who suffer death or other trauma being more permanently affected over longer periods of time than their male counterparts. Removing the most prominent (and practically only) disabled character in the DC universe is ableist. Showing Barbara Gordon struggle with this transition helps, but does not negate this fact.
Ask me, the real problem is the the entire burden of disability representation falling onto a single character, let alone one whose backstory is tied up with such violent sexism.
Either way, what's done is done. I imagine some of you will judge me for this (and that's okay), but my overall feelings about Barbara Gordon being Batgirl again were positive, especially given the writer, who is known to have great affection for the character and facility with writing her. I still feel okay about it, but I missed Oracle a hell of a lot more than I thought I would. Seeing Barbara as young and unsure is...strange. Not necessarily bad, but poignantly unsettling.
And perhaps unsettled - or better, uncertain - is a good way to describe the comic itself. To an extent this is deliberate and reflects Barbara herself. I feel the attitude Simone has taken - to approach the issue of her previous paralysis immediately and psychologically - is absolutely the best attitude to take in the circumstances. The cliffhanger is genuinely shocking and understandable, even if I wish that the Mirror had already left the scene as the cop, confusedly, turns her gun on Babs.
But I also feel a little uncertain as a reader. So far the villain is passable but hasn't grabbed me. My reaction to her new roommate fell a little flat (although possibly this was my judgementally amused response to the way she painted anarchist slogans on the wall of her otherwise perfectly conventional living room). The occasional line of dialogue felt clunky, and while I thought the nightmare/flashback to her shooting was pitched well, I think I would have preferred the references to her previous paralysis after that point to be...not less numerous but less heavy-handed on those occasions. I think understatement would have been more affecting and at times I felt there were some anvils being dropped. These are fairly minor quibbles when taken alone, but formed an underlying inability to quite immerse myself as thoroughly as I would have liked.
Ultimately I think this is the best possible direction to take this story, if this story was going to be told. I don't necessarily think it's the best possible execution, but I'm not sure if any two people would ever agree on what the best execution would be, given the charged nature of the subject.
I do find myself wondering if replacing Babs' physical disability with a mental one will be the plot of the first arc, or if we will now have a superheroine with PTSD on a more longterm basis. Given the nature of that disability it would be hard to write long-term for a superhero, but it could also be extremely interesting.
3.5 out of 5 Anarchist Roommates.
Pull List Status: On my list, and will stay there. I'm still expecting to really enjoy this series.
Batwing #1
This comic was a really pleasant surprise. I knew absolutely nothing about Batwing beyond the fact that he was trained by Bruce Wayne to be Batman in some city in Africa as part of his whole Batman Inc initiative, and since I'm not a huge Batman fan I really had no hopes beyond the main character not actively annoying me.
But this was a really solid comic. David Zavimbe is not an annoying brooder like Bruce Wayne, and while there was nothing extraordinary about the story, it was solidly written and it introduced a mystery I am genuinely intrigued by. I want to know why that superhero ended up dead in that massacre. I want to know more about The Kingdom and what happened to them. The villain, so far, is pretty two dimensional, but that's because, so far, like Batwing, he's a mystery, a boogie monster and I'm content to wait until we're deeper into the story to learn his secrets. Most of all, unlike Detective Comics, which is the next review, the final, brutal twist actually feels like it belongs in the story rather than being there to shock the reader.
I also have to mention the art, which is just stunningly gorgeous. It's a cross between watercolour and photorealism and is pretty much the prettiest thing this side of Batwoman. I'm not enormously web savvy when it comes to the comics websphere, but I do check out a few major sites and was sad to see a bunch of places talking about how they felt there was a lack of background detail in the Batwing art which prevented a real establishment of a sense of place. It's true, it's stylistically minimalist, but I never found the sense of place lacking. Perhaps I was distracted by the beautifully rendered people, but I loved the way light was used - the glare outside in the daytime, the cool blue at night, the dusty shade of an office in shadow with sun pouring through the windows. I really cannot say enough good stuff about this art.
I should briefly touch on the "Batman of Africa" stuff. People have rightly pointed out that this isn't exactly useful in terms of the general inability of the West to view Africa as a continent rather than a country. I was pleased to see that Batwing is firmly based in a single city in a single country. Sure there was a tendency in the comic to also refer to "Africa" as a geographical setting and I'm not best-placed to know whether or not that's accurate or respectful, but within the context I have, I didn't take issue with it. Batman is the Batman of Gotham City, but he is also the Batman for the Justice League of America. He works out of one city, but he travels the continent (and indeed the world) when the story calls for it. The USA is a country whereas Africa is a continent, but at this point we start to butt up against real world political distinctions and lack of equivalency. The USA is not the same as, say, the European Union, and there is no equivalent to either in Africa, so I guess what I'm saying is that the character will always have the problem of potentially evoking skeezy colonialist imagery (with a rich white man swooping in to help fix all Africa's problems!), but I also think that was pretty minimal here, and whatever the best way to word it is, it's absolutely right for Batwing to be based primarily in one city but to consider a much, much larger and more global area to be his wider responsibility, as Batman does. Here's hoping that continues in the future because, as I said, I do see how it's a helluva difficult line to toe given the setup the comic has to work with.
Scoring this is difficult because I think the art is straight-up amazing, but I also don't think the art is as integral to the story so as to elevate the quality of the writing by its mere existence. Also as I said, I really liked this comic, but I think part of that was due to my own low expectations being exceeded and the way it had Detective Comics as a ready comparison against which to soar. So, forcing myself to be a little more objective this was very competent, interesting enough to make me want to know more, and amazingly illustrated, but there was nothing really groundbreakingly brilliant here, it was just good, solid stuff.
3.5 out of 5 Pairs of Robot Wings.
Pull List Status: This is on my pull list because K wanted to read it, and it's staying there, but I'm actually looking forward to it now, whereas before I figured I'd read it because it happened to be in my house.
Detective Comics #1
DEAR LORD. I really did not like this. I will admit a certain amount of my bitterness is down to a number of reviews praising this comic's final twist which I actually found to be utterly juvenile. So my final score reflects a slightly higher rating than my personal opinion in an attempt to be objective. Because nothing in this comic is actually offensively awful. I feel it's poorly written; the dialogue and narration just feel amateurish to me, and there was nothing interesting about the plot, it felt very by the numbers. The Joker is dark and violent (although his dialogue was probably the best-written), Batman is angry and angsty and disappears from building tops in the middle of conversations. Batman hunts down Joker, Joker's doing something twisted.
The reason I dislike the final page is less what happens - because it does effectively set up a story that could potentially have an interesting resolution (although the banality of this comic's plot does not leave me with a great deal of hope in that regard) - it's that it feels as though it's a trick - sleight of hand. It's using grim shock and violence in place of an actual detective story, while pretending to be a detective story. All fictional mysteries are artificially constructed and the reader must be told only part of the story to see the rest unfold. But I think it's lazy to introduce that mystery by showing us one half of a conversation between the perpetrators rather than, say, the end results of the locked-room mystery. Had that final image been the opening image, with Batman left to wonder what had happened to the Joker and why, left tracing his steps and trying to work out what was going on, that would have felt like a mystery. This feels like cliffhanger, and a pretty cheap one. Batman's not a detective in this, no matter how much the writer might throw in lines about him wondering what's going on. We never see him investigate anything; we never see him draw any conclusions from his mental musings.
So as I said, it's not a comic I find offensive or insulting, it's just not interesting to me in any way, and I do feel that the praise being heaped on the "shock" ending is undeserved. Anyone can end on a gory note; it doesn't make it a good story or a good mystery. Given that it hasn't actively screwed anything up yet, beyond being a bit shoddily constructed, I give it:
2 out of 5 Joker Faces.
Pull List Status: Not on my list, not going anywhere near my list based on this.
Green Arrow #1
This was the most uninspired comic I've read in a long time. It was an endless procession of cliches wrapped in terrible dialogue. He's Steve Jobs as a superhero and while the concept could be an interesting way to differentiate him from the other, more famous, multibillionaire corporate head vigilante who uses skill and tech not powers, but who dresses as a Bat instead of Robin Hood, it goes nowhere except as a chance to skirt copyright issues by mentioning Q-Phones and Q-Pads. Which, along with the weird youtube obsession of the cardboard-cutout villains, makes the whole thing feel almost desperately like it's trying to appear "modern" and "relevant". It's so very late 90s it's almost painful.
Naomi, his punkrocker chic snarky hacker offering tech support from a setup stolen from Oracle's Watchtower and Jax (yes, Jax) the preppy "it's because you hate weapons that you're the BEST guy to make them for me!" science backup dude form our hero's sidekick support team. There was a moment when I thought something interesting might happen, when Jax explains that he's uncomfortable with Ollie's superhero persona and questions his right to behave as a vigilante, but the answer is pat and frankly confusing and I think I might actually have misunderstood Jax's reluctance as concern for Ollie's safety rather than an ethical difference of opinion.
In terms of the actual action, there's also nothing very imaginative about the way Green Arrow fights crime. Now, I've never been a huge Green Arrow fan, so I'm not sure if this is par for the course, but nothing here convinced me that fighting crime by shooting trick arrows is a particularly cool or dynamic idea. I mean, it's fine I guess, but he mostly just seems to punch people and then shoot a trick arrow that has an effect that's science-based with the arrow as delivery system. Which would be fine if precision and skill in the shooting were presented as key, if it was shown as Green Arrow thinking around the situation to a way of solving the problem that unusually utilises shooting skills. And it wouldn't be a problem if the trick arrows were fairly generic in their tricks, the way Batarangs are presented as occasionally being electrical or magnetic. But the main instance I remember in this comic is an arrow that freezes a chunk of river water to stop an escaping villain and I'm just left thinking...does he carry that around with him all the time? It gets perilously close to the absurdly specific 1960s TV series Batman utility belt. On its own, that would be a nitpick of an issue but I did feel, in general, that the character's defining trait - his archery - was not used in a dynamic or interesting fashion in terms of the comic's action.
1 out of 5 Absurdly Specific Trick Arrows.
Pull List Status: Not on it and not going on it.
Hawk & Dove #1
I felt this comic failed in both writing and art. I probably enjoyed it more than Green Arrow, but tragically that may only have been because it was more ridiculous not because it was in any way better. To take the writing, the first half of the issue is given over to our heroes fighting a zombie attack on a plane which crashes into the Washington Monument. Shockingly, this manages to be nowhere near as awesome as it should be. It lasts too long, the fight is too full of melodramatic angst between Hawk and Dove, and bluntly too visually confusing (though I confess I'm not very good at following action - that could just be me), and the rest of the comic doesn't maintain a tone that allows it to be a fun, ridiculous, zombie-filled romp.
The second half of the comic is given over to soap opera histrionics. Now I'm perfectly happy to admit that comic books are soap operas with magic powers and more punching, but this is the bad kind of melodrama. However BIG and ANGRY and IMPULSIVE Hank is supposed to be, having him launch into a narration of his brother's death, to their father, in agonisingly emotional terms, three years after the event, is just odd. If his father knows, why is he conveniently narrating the entire event again - it's transparently for the benefit of the audience and a straight-up flashback would have been less distracting than this weird pretense that it's a conversation with his father. If his father doesn't know...why the hell not? And why is he telling him now, on an essentially random day, three years later?
I had trouble getting to grips with Dawn's character but apparently she's keeping soap operatic secrets too. Perhaps the strangest moment was after flying through the sky with Deadman, having a conversation and not appearing to be fighting any crime, she lands on a car roof, completely destroying it, and then flies off again... Now, having tried desperately to understand this, there's a police car drawn in the background a page before, so perhaps she was stopping a car chase? But then, did she just crush someone's head? Did landing on the car stop it from moving? There's no follow-up or explanation. We don't see the criminals being walked to the police car in the background of another shot, for instance. It's just another example of LOUD DRAMA without any context. The whole thing was very disjointed.
I'm not even sure what I can say about the art. It's drawn by Rob Liefeld, who I've heard of as a legendarily divisive artist known for impossible muscles, anatomically ridiculous poses and a hatred of feet, but I'd never really read much of his work that I was aware of. And honestly, while I'll laugh at ridiculous musculature, I really am not particularly adept at recognising impossible perspective or crazy poses unless they're really whacked out.
So trust me, when I say that on the first page I noticed that neither of the two close-ups have level eyes, it's a problem. It's scratchy, ugly artwork, and while I feel very awkward criticising it because it's a hell of a lot better than the stick people I can draw, I'm not sure why this person was hired to illustrated a comic published by one of the two biggest comics companies in the industry.
1 out of 5 Lopsided Eyes.
Pull List Status: OH HELLS NO.
Justice League #1
This is a solid comic but it's not mindblowing. Batman feels like Batman. Green Lantern feels more or less like Green Lantern and the ending is a nice payoff to his overconfidence. Superman's entrance is kind of fun and it does a good job of establishing the tone of the setting and the confusion over the emergence of superheros.
But equally, the only thing in the story that really left me wondering what was going to happen was the stuff with Vic in high school, the rest felt like a competent and enjoyable but basically very safe introduction to the world.
I personally enjoyed Lee's art a lot and I can see both sides of the argument about the slow introduction to the characters. Introducing all seven might have been a bit overwhelming for a comic designed to introduce comics to people who have never read a comic before and this story definitely makes it clear that new characters will be joining. But equally would those new readers warm to a story that gives you only a few scenes per issue, when single issues do not always move that slowly? And equal to that, is it fair to current and lapsed comic fans who don't need such a slow introduction?
Personally I enjoyed it well enough and wasn't too annoyed by how slowly it came together (though yes, I was disappointed at the lack of Wonder Woman!) although I also have no expectations of it delivering a truly amazing storyline. I think that relaxed attitude to the title helped me have a more positive attitude to it, though, because had I been hanging a lot of hopes on it I'd have been more disappointed. As it stands, though, it's a solid, if unadventurous introduction.
3 out of 5 Suspicious Cops.
Pull List Status: On the list because it's the flagship title and I'm curious. It'll stay there for the first arc, at least.
Justice League International #1
Another solid if unremarkable comic book, but in this case one I really enjoyed for the sheer lighthearted fun of it, which is a little unusual in the current crop of titles. Unlike the Justice League title, everyone is introduced in the first issue, and honestly that did leave me a little at sea, not being sure who everyone was, but it was better than trying to exposit everyone's powers in awkward dialogue. Almost everyone is some degree of national stereotype, including the brand-happy attention-seeking American and the slightly snooty Brit who says stuff like, "Sod off, Bats," to Batman. Which would be more annoying if not for the cracky sitcom comedy feel of the whole thing and I'm a sucker for mismatched teams of clashing personalities. It's the kind of book where I don't mind the slightly pedestrian overarching plot because the highlight is the interpersonal interaction, which, as I said, isn't so much original as it's cracky and funny enough in execution I don't mind and genuinely enjoyed the ride.
Plus you have to respect any book where Batman decides to join the team, even though the UN specifically didn't invite him, without telling anyone. Including the team.
3 out of 5 Stealthy Batmen.
Pull List Status: It's on the list and it's staying there for now. At the moment the lighthearted fun is enough to keep it there, though in the future if it turns out that there are some really amazing books I don't have space for on my list, I guess this might be a casualty.
Men of War #1
I'm not a fan of soldier stories but I do applaud the new line of comics for at least making token efforts to include war comics and horror comics and crime comics and western comics that used to be such a large part of the comics industry before shared universe superhero comics ate everything. I also like that they're using the old style format of a main feature and a backup story, which I think only All-Star Western is also using. However, the rise of the angsty brother soldiers faux-realistic war narrative in modern media, particularly visible in computer games and Hollywood movies, is a narrative I could not be more tired of.
That said, the main feature here was far better than I expected. The idea of superheroes' impact on the average soldier is not unexpected for a comic like this. Still, seeing in execution the effect of a superhero appearing from nowhere, causing absolute havoc, with the men on the ground not even knowing whose side the hero was on, was actually more startling and oddly beautiful than I was anticipating. A lot is down to the art, I think. The burning streak of the passing demigod through a dark sky; the way it's always at such a distance all you can see is an incandescent figure - almost inhuman. It's to the comic's credit that it allows the visuals to speak and doesn't oversell Rock's reaction in overblown prose. What's there is well-written and just this side of sparse. It leaves you with a real feeling of being a speck on a rock hurtling through space.
That said, while I'd probably read the next comic if someone handed it to me which I didn't imagine would be the case, it's still a war comic, and I'm still me.
The backup feature, I'll be honest, bored me stupid, though that was more down to personal preference and dislike of the genre than anything. But I do think it was objectively much more pedestrian and boring than the main feature.
4 out of 5 Distant Demigods for the main feature.
2 out of 5 Grim Realities of War for the backup.
Pull List Status: Not on it, and not likely to go on it, but that's down far more to personal preference than objective quality.
OMAC #1
This is a rip-roaring ridiculous romp, and I mean that in the best possible way. It's just a crazy trip through a mad science lab with some mad blue bloke in a mohawk ripping things - including gobble-gobble demons and build-a-friend lady robots with guns in their mouths - to pieces on the order of some nice computer lady in his head. Which turns out to be a space satellite and the blue mohawk dude turns out to be an amnesiac office worker and mostly it's just nuts. It's the kind of comic that can sustain the manic pace and slew of images and the angular, crazily coloured artwork normally wouldn't really be my thing really works with the madcap silver age nostalgia that's going on here.
The main criticism I have is that while I enjoyed it while I was reading it - an achievement considering I really wasn't at all interested in it before I picked it up - now that I'm not reading it, it sticks in my mind as a good experience but nothing particularly makes me feel the need to come back next month. The comic leaves us with questions, but while I wouldn't mind having them answered I don't feel emotionally invested to need them answered. That said, if someone handed me issue two, I'd go, cool, I wonder what crazy stuff OMAC will rip to pieces this week! But I probably wouldn't go out and buy it on my own.
3 out of 5 Sentient Satellites.
Pull List Status: Not on it and not likely to go on it. It's not so much a knock on the quality as personal taste there. It's probably not the sort of thing I'd be willing to spend money on in trades because that's a bigger financial investment each time, but if I had a spare slot on my pull list and really didn't know what the hell to put on it, based on this I might throw this in there as a "what the hell, it's only £2 a month" kind of choice. I don't think I'd be as interested in seeing the story so much as spending fifteen minutes in its surreal world every now and again.
Static Shock #1
Before reading this comic I didn't know anything about Static Shock. As far as I can tell he is a bit like Spider-man, except with electromagnetic instead of spider powers. They're both teenagers in New York trying to get by with high school, part-time jobs, family life and general bad luck, while saving the city and not really getting a lot of props for it. One thing which I really appreciated, and which I wasn't expecting, is that instead of using generic magnetic and electrical powers for Static - like giving him magnoblasts and electrorepulsion or something - we actually see him thinking through how to use his ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields to solve problems inventively. It's also a great chance to introduce the character's voice and show, rather than tell us, that one of his most important traits is his intelligence. It's another way I feel I can compare him to Peter Parker who is also supposed to be fiercely smart and supposed to use that skill to invent gadgets to help him, but in my (likewise) limited experience with that character, that part of him is less often showcased when he's out and about in action.
The rest of the comic ranges from strong, intriguing and entertaining (like the hints about his sisters, the introduction of Hardware and how he got him a job at STAR labs, his family interactions), to slightly underwhelming (the villains), but not to a degree that really means it detracts from the stuff I enjoyed.
There's also a real feel of momentum throughout the comic which I think also helps carry it past the elements that weren't quite as inventive as they could have been (as I said, the villains are passable but also feel slightly 90s punk rock). Static moves constantly and the art does too. It's blocky and colourful and bold and I think in another comic I might not enjoy it so much but it's a very good fit for this character and this setting. Also I think his costume is awesome. It has what looks like a giant plastic trenchcoat!
4 out of 5 Cyber Skateboards.
Pull List Status: Not on the list but based on this I'd consider it as a substitution if I drop something and might pick up another issue next month if it happens to be on the shelf. I might pick it up in trades if I hear really great stuff about it, but it feels like the sort of thing that would be more fun to read month-to-month in small, exciting chunks.
Stormwatch #1
I feel this comic suffers from a disconnect between concept and execution. The world that's being created here is fascinating. I've read the first maybe...dozen Stormwatch comics from the early nineties, but nothing after that and given the huge sweep of Stormwatch/The Authority, I really don't know any of these characters. The Stormwatch I've read is much more soldiers-with-superpowers rather than this secret history almost urban fantasy world with creatures animating the moon and the God of Cities and the Spirit of the 21st Century. And frankly, I prefer the world that Paul Cornell is building here. It's the kind of comic that if someone had summarised for me, I would be enormously excited about.
But the execution is a bit off. The art is functional but a bit ugly for my tastes in terms of the people, though I liked the photoshopped space backgrounds and landscapes. But basically the art neither damns nor saves the comic. The problem is that it seems to be heavily exposition-based. There are too many moments to explain to me who everyone is and what they do in slightly inelegant dialogue and prose. The three conflicting plotlines - the Moon, the strange worm and the recruitment of Apollo - feel a little too disjointed right now. Further, there seems to be some tension between the fantastical scifantasy setting and what seems to be attempts to hark back to the original series' gritty soldier-based realism, with the Martian Manhunter talking about how he works with Stormwatch when he needs to be a WARRIOR not a HERO and Apollo and the Midnighter also having a very gritty style that makes me feel they should be swearing a lot. But jumping back to Adam and Jenny Quantum and the crazy horned worm in the ice, or Harry Tanner, the Eminence of Blades talking to the Moon, and I don't get that feeling at all.
Which makes it very difficult to score this. It's got a fantastic concept, I love the world and am intrigued by both the plots and many of the characters. But I don't feel it was particularly well executed. I suppose I give the concept a 4/5 and the execution a 2/5 which I guess I'll average. I think it's potential to be extraordinary is as clear as its current inability to realise it. Fortunately I do think that Paul Cornell has a solid track record so I'm hopeful that it will even out when the issue isn't expected to do so much heavy lifting in terms of setup.
3 out of 5 Century Babies.
Pull List Status: On my list and staying there. I still have high hopes!
Swamp Thing #1
Written by acclaimed writer Scott Snyder and based in DC's reclamation of the darker Vertigo properties, expectation for this comic was high, and generally I think it was met. I enjoyed the writing; it was slow and thoughtful and let me get into the protagonist's head. I enjoyed the detail with which Snyder drew out the violence of nature - the way it's hidden by time but no less gruesome for that. The art is superb - clean, clear, thoughtful, expressive. It makes flowers creepy in that final sequence; the way they envelope the panels, like stained glass. The one exception, oddly, is Superman's jaw. Everything in this comics is beautiful except for the way it looks like Superman has mumps. Ah well.
The one thing I will say is that although this issue tells a well-paced story I found easy enough to follow, with genuinely chilling moments and a good cliffhanger, unlike Animal Man, I didn't feel like this was a particularly good introduction to Swamp Thing or to Alec Holland. I just about gathered what I needed to know, but I very much felt like I was joining a story in progress where they'd tried to drop a seamless "previously on!" into the dialogue and plot. And to be fair, it was pretty seamlessly executed. But it still felt less welcoming than Animal Man, and I'm still not totally sure of the relationship between Swamp Thing and Alec Holland.
4 out of 5 Violent Plants.
Pull List Status: Not on it, but I feel slightly less alienated by the horror aspects of this title for some reason and I'd consider it as a backup. I don't think I'd buy it off and on if it happened to be on the shelves because it feels like it's going to be a longer, arc-based series. But if I continue to hear good things I might well pick it up in trades, or add it to my list if a space opens up.
END WEEK ONE.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 12:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 11:01 am (UTC)Basically this summer the big "event" was something called Flashpoint, which is basically when The Flash wakes up one day and the whole world is different but only he realises that something's gone wrong. So like, most of the DC comics just carried on ignoring this event - it was confined to the five issues of the Flashpoint Mini Series and a slew of three-issue mini series focusing on the alternate versions of the main heroes. It was...like a giant Alternate Universe really. Just saying, "Hey, what if Bruce Wayne died instead of his parents and his dad became Batman," or "What if Superman was found by the military instead of Farmers" and that kind of thing. But like I said, it was all confined to the Flashpoint event stuff, it wasn't something that invaded or crossed over with the regular titles.
Anyway, at the end of Flashpoint, The Flash fixes time back to how it was, except it's not quite how it was, it's this new universe which is set about six years after the first appearance of Superman as the world's first public superhero (Batman's been around longer as an urban legend) and five years after the formation of the Justice League. (Though Action Comics' first arc and Justice League's first arc are set in the "past" to show the emergence of Superman and the formation of the League, most comics are the "present").
It's not clear what events, exactly, are still in continuity during those five years, and obviously they must have happened slightly differently in some cases given characters who aren't around anymore might have played parts, but they mostly seem to be using it as an excuse to say, "Look guys, we're not rebooting all the characters, you don't have to rewatch their origin stories and stuff, but they're about five years into their careers, and versions of most of the Big Name, Popular Story Arcs they got will have happened in those five years." So for example, Superman still gets killed by Doomsday (and obliquely references it in Swamp Thing #1 actually). Although obviously some of the details must have changed since he wouldn't have been dating Lois at the time.
I'm inclined to just roll with it because it's not the weirdest thing comics has ever done with continuity, but I think it's driving some people nuts... ;)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 01:51 am (UTC)I follow DC fandom selectively, as really I only have time to read a few titles in the Gotham universe (the latest Birds of Prey run, Batwoman, catching up on Gotham Central/The Question as Renee). My understanding is that I need to continue to read Batwoman, Huntress' limited run, and possibly Batgirl, but - have they gone back in time? Is this like a Fringe thing, where one thing happens differently and this leads to a universe-wide chain reaction?
no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 11:43 am (UTC)But basically one day The Flash wakes up in a WORLD GONE WRONG. Stuff is CRAZY! He suspects Reverse Flash of Shenanigans! But in the end it turns out that what happened was Reverse Flash killed The Flash's mum, and in a glorious example of the Way of Manpain, Flash travels back in time on his Cosmic Treadmill (no really, he has one of those), to save his mum. But doing this butterfly effects the entire universe into GOING WRONG. And um...he traumatically forgets that it was all his fault and blames Reverse Flash. Or something. Except then he remembers and feels bad about having RUINED THE WORLD, and goes back in time again and doesn't save his mum, thus fixing the timeline.
Except a gigantic splash page implies that he didn't quite fix it the way it used to be, because now the Vertigo and Wildstorm universes are joining in and it's only five years into everyone's superhero careers and only (versions of, given stuff has changed) the Biggest, Most Recognisable, Sometimes Yet To Be Determined Fan Favourite Storylines have survived.
I'm kind of annoyed at some of the specific stuff that's being left out but I really don't care about the lackadaisical "ultimate" approach to revising history into a more streamlined version because I think if I cared that much about comics continuity making sense I would go totally mad.
I...hope that answers your question? It's basically an externally motivated reboot (with a very loose in-universe explanation) but starting 5 years into the story instead of at the beginning. And how much characters' current status has changed varies depending on the character (I think DC just asked people to pitch and said they'd entertain ANYTHING), and probably depending on how well they were selling before. So like, Batman, which was selling well, is almost totally unchanged, but Superman, who wasn't selling so great, has quite a lot of changes.
As to the stuff you mention, yeah, Batwoman's backstory is totally unchanged. Like she was going to get an ongoing comic anyway which they delayed to fall in with the relaunch and I think they have literally just changed the odd costume design or line of dialogue that no longer makes sense and gone from there. Like it's a straight-up continuation of her run on Detective.
Batgirl, as you know, is a BIG change, cus it's Barbara Gordon again. And I'm not sure what Huntress' status will be given that she's no longer in the Birds of Prey, but I guess that's what the mini series will establish?
Birds of Prey also looks like it's being massively shaken up. It's now Black Canary, some new character no one's heard of called Starling, Katana who is apparently some kind of samurai character who is in the DCU prior to this but I know nothing about, and, of all people, Poison Ivy. Which is like, kind of interesting I guess? But definitely a massive, massive change-up since for the first time it's not going to have Oracle and Huntress has also been in that series as a regular for a really long time and isn't on it anymore either.
There's no news on Renee except that she'll at least be showing up at some point as a cop. But who The Question is or whether The Question is around anymore is unclear. I'm hoping she'll show up in Batwoman, but who knows.
Uh...is that good info? If you have anything more specific to ask, please go ahead, I'll answer if I can but I'm really not all that hugely into DC fandom either and am pretty selective in my reading too, under normal circumstances!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 12:18 pm (UTC)I knew sort of the general "we are rebooting all of DC because we feel like it/want to sell more comics" gist, but. . .I figured at least there was a vortex or a civil war or Lex Luthor used some kind of ray, so that the changes were related. If they're just rebooting stuff at random, I - guess they're doing that, lol.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 03:10 am (UTC)*deep breaths*
On the other hand, I really enjoyed Action Comics! Which was nice because I've never actually read Superman before. Static Shock was fun, and I've got to read Batwing and JLI tonight - I've been avoiding JLI because I'm really sad about Ted Kord's nonexistence and the team not having met before. I did read Batgirl and I'm just not going to talk about it.
I feel weird being a bitter fan. It's not normal for me at all.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 11:56 am (UTC)I've been the Bitter Fan when it's not my general characteristic and it's not fun. I'm sorry you're in that place right now, but thanks for coming to talk to me about comics anyway.
I haven't read the Authority (though I'm interested to do so - but it'll probably be a while before I do since I'm working my way through the original Stormwatch stuff first, which is...honestly not that brilliant - I haven't reached Warren Ellis' run yet - but is sort of interesting in a very certain early-to-mid-90s way) and I'm sure that changes my feelings about what's going on. It's very definitely a total reboot rather than any kind of continuation.
But I do have a slightly different opinion with regards to Apollo and the Midnighter, based solely off of a perspective that includes not having read their story.
I feel differently about breaking them and their marriage apart than I do, say, Superman's, because I read in an interview with Paul Cornell that his intention is to tell a big, epic, slow-burn romance between them. DC is much worse when it comes to representing gay guys than girls, and I think it's great that they're going to have a visible gay couple in any context, but I do think, purely from a visibility perspective, it would be kind of brilliant if the chief Epic Romance we're supposed to buy into in this comic is between Apollo and the Midnighter, rather than having them as an established couple and then telling a romance between different characters. It makes it more of a big deal in some ways, I think. It's a statement that this romance is worth that much attention and investment as a major storyline.
Now, given that I had some issues with the execution of the issue, it remains to be seen whether or not it will be done well. And if it isn't, then that's a massive blow and a real waste. But I'm at least, sort of, on board with it in principle because I think it has the potential to tell a story in mainstream comics that is sorely needing to be told.
That said, you do describe a really interesting dynamic between them and yes, one that it is a shame to be losing if they're now meeting for the first time.
I am really glad you enjoyed Action though! :D I love Superman, but he's very hard to write well. And yeah, Static was very fun!
Let me know what you think of Batwing and JLI!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-13 12:10 am (UTC)Authority is... different. I honestly don't know what to say about it. I loved the characters, I think they were great (ANG, LIGHT OF MY LIFE), and I'm hoping we'll get back to seeing them all be fantastic soon. It'll be kind of bittersweet though. I love built families SO MUCH, and Authority was such a good one. :(
I liked JLI! It seems to have mostly kept what I liked about it. Totally crossing my fingers for Jaime to hang out with them at some point. :D It's still got all the fun and the character fun I love. I'm kind of concerned about whether Ice and Fire still know each other, but I guess I'll just cross my fingers for them still being BFF's.
Batwing I think I'm going to keep reading. It was quite good but ack kind of scary. I like Batwing, I like how he's working. Putting on a show indeed! I think the plot's going to be interesting! and I'm really sad that that cool lady cop is probably dead now. She seemed like she could have been a really fascinating character. Trying to do the right thing but it's REALLY HARD okay. :D
no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 09:46 am (UTC)I'm glad you're reading them all so I don't have to... for this month, I'm reading all the issue 1's I think I might enjoy, but certainly not all of them by any means.
The weirdest thing so far is how they're juggling continuity to fit... what they're keeping in, and what they're discarding. Trying to crowbar in the Wildstorm Universe, for example. And that strange thing they've done in Action Comics and Justice League, where they're trying to emphasize the heroes are younger, and meeting for the first time, and such.
I quite liked Justice League, but I thought Jim Lee's art was a bit rusty - he can do better. Batgirl was pretty good. Animal Man and Swamp Thing were ok, but might take a while to hit their stride.. and I quite liked Detective Comics 1, sorry! Apart from the last couple of pages, which were a bit WTF.
Oh, and I liked Justice League International too, but it's a shame to see them abandon the nice team dynamic they had established over the last year with the Brightest Day JLI spin off, which I thought was much better... what, no Max Lord?!
Like you, I will be watching with interest to see what works.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-12 12:03 pm (UTC)With regards to the continuity, yeah, it's totally whacked though honestly? I'm just rolling with it. I've never thought comics continuity made a lick of sense and I tend to just try and treat them like myths/legends/fairytales on that level. I still want psychological realism and consequences, but if I can accept that they've been the same age for 70 years, I can accept a reality altering event has streamlined their pasts into similar, but slightly different versions of themselves, where Key Events still occurred, but possibly slightly differently given marriages, friendships and whole characters are now different. It's more important to me that the characters feel like themselves than that they have histories that make total sense - which is probably why I tend to think of the characters in terms of specific runs of comics or eras I liked, each of which forms, "a cool story about character X".
But I do get I'm probably a bit weird in that and it's definitely seemed a LOT more confusing to almost everyone except me that I've talked to about it, which I think is down to...poor messaging in places on DC's part.
I'm not all that familiar with Lee's art, but I liked it, so if you say he can do better, that's exciting to hear. I am APPALLED, you hear me, APPALLED that you liked Detective! But I guess we can still be friends. :p And yeah, a lot of my dislike of it (or rather, active dislike rather than vague boredom) was based on those last pages which just seemed cheap and weird.
I didn't read JLI before this so I think that helps - but given the team dynamic will be the core of the comic, I can see that it'd be a bit tragic for readers who liked the old one.
Here's hoping there's more good than bad?
no subject
Date: 2011-09-14 01:58 pm (UTC)Details: http://uk.comics.ign.com/articles/119/1193898p1.html