CATWOMAN: Selena reminisces about Lola, who is now a cold corpse at her feet. Bone and his boys have worked her over and killed her, but not before they weaseled her bookkeeping secrets from her. He leaves and leaves orders to kill Catwoman. Of course you know she breaks free and gets the information out of THEM. She heads to the Moffat Building with guns blazing while old Bones is getting a nice lap dance. She takes him to the roof and proceeds to enact her revenge when Batman arrives. He convinces her to end the beating, they get into a deep embrace and she kicks Bone off the building, ensuring her escape. Back at Lola’s, she suffers survivor’s remorse when the cops arrive. That can’t be good.
Another awesome issue from Judd Winick and Guillem March. The story really moves along and we have a virtually sex free issue this time. Not much that I can say that I haven’t already said: the book rocks. Selina Kyle is back to her roots as a crook you love to hate but more LOVE than hate. And, while I understand that Lola had to be offed to propel the story foreword, it would have been nice to have her around and make this more of a Thelma and Louise buddy book. But…you can’t have everything, I guess. Enough of my whine: go buy the book!
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E.: The team finds itself in a pretty bad situation. That’s when the “creepy mummy guy” instructs them to cover their eyes and obliterates the enemy throng. From there, it’s the eruption of what could be construed as a giant volcano but turns out to be a giant spider-like creature. Frankenstein leaps into the fray with sword in hand and eventually dispatches the creature. The team agrees to split up to try to stop the titans of the planet. But that may not be so easy as the monster planet is sending out a distress signal that is messing with S.H.A.D.E.’s psychics.
The worst thing, or more specifically the most disappointing thing about this book, is that J.G. Jones cover artwork sets up the book and then you get inside to Alberto Pontgicelli’s art and tend to be shocked and disappointed. This was a problem I discovered with the FIRST WAVE books like DOC SAVAGE: killer covers by Jones and then lackluster interior art. Not that Ponticellui’s art is bad…just really different. And that’s okay for this book. Jeff lemire’s story is quirky and three issues in and I still don’t know what to make of the book. It’s not my first read but also not my “bottom of the pile” book. Attractive in a quirky little way.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS: The Corps is in a bad way as they are being attacked by nearly insurmountable odds. Lantern Porter steps in to transport in the cavalry and then transports everyone back to Oa. But it all comes at a price as it costs Porter his life and leaves Vandoor, John Stewart and many of the Corps stuck in a fight back on the planet.
Get me out of this story arc, PLEASE!!! This book started out with such great potential and has just become another battle book. Peter J. Tomasi writes a good script but it is doing nothing for me. Geraldo Borges art is nice, but also does nothing for me. I see me getting to the end of this arc, hopefully in issue #4, and then calling it done. Seriously guys: I know it’s a team book but give me a good reason to read this.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: We finally get to meet Princess Diana and Steve Trevor. Wonder Woman is walking around Wahsington when she gets attacked by winged warriors who arrive via a Boom Tube(I guess…that seems to be where this is all heading). Meanwhile, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern are battling the same creatures and our Amazon princess shows up to lend a hand(good old Hal Jordan calls dibs…DUH!). Screaming “for Darkseid”, the beasts circle the water and Aquaman arrives. Oh yeah: Victor Stone makes one more step towards becoming Cyborg.
Another issue filled with more fun from Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. Not really! The dialogue is still aimed at a 13 year old, the plot still runs into the silly area and the whole idea that these young heroes still think that Batman might be a vampire just doesn’t play. Jim Lee’s art is typical Jim Lee and we all know that the payoff is going to be the actual introduction of Darkseid, which is truly what keeps me hanging on to this book. Not DC’s brightest hour.
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK: John Contantine arrives, snaps Zatanna out of her trance and performs a little Tantric magic with her. Shade tries to communicate with Deadman but with no luck and ends up back in Madame Xanadu’s presence. She reveals her next recruit, but Mind Warp is a loose cannon who could cause major problems for this burgeoning team. Of course, it’s hard to speak of loose cannons when Shade is being haunted by the imaginary girlfriend he devolved. Deadman and Junie Moon get close to each other and take a ride together. That’s when they run into The Enchantress.
Peter Milligan is one craqzy writer and this book continues to run along the edge of normalcy. To be called JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK is more of a joke than to be taken seriously. It REALLY needs another name, like Challengers of the Weird
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL: The team is having one heck of a time down in Peru where, if you recall, they were trying to find a missing U.N. team and came upon a series of giant robots. Vixen and Fire go underground with bad results, getting knocked out and taken captive by a bunch of scaly creatures. Same thing happens to August General and Godiva, but the General blasts them away. Batman and Booster get overcome while almost figuring out the mystery. So, since everything is falling apart, Guy Gardener gets involved and runs headlong into Peraxxus.
This title is not as overly dramatic as the regular JUSTICE LEAGUE and nowhere near as silly as the old JLI series. There is some great dialogue from Dan Jurgens and the art from Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan rocks. And the fact that the team is “led” by their own version of what the original Max Lord character was (in the form of Andre Biggs) just further adds to the fun as the government gets involved and screws it all up. Fun book!
NIGHTWING: We begin at the funeral of Mr. Haly, where Dick Grayson takes a ton of verbal abuse from the circus folk. As Nightwing, he pays a visit to his old friend Zane, who has become a rather well off contract killer with some technical upgrades, the most dangerpous of which appears to be some sort of mind altering power that makes Dick dream of his parents and his past. He battles through it and takes out Zane. Meanwhile, Dick gets busy with Raya and we learn that the guy from the first issue with the Wolverine style talons is still planning on taking Nightwing down.
Kyle Higgins’ story just keeps me coming back for more, simply because I really don’t know where this story is going to go. Is this a tale of Nightwing establishing himself again as a major player in the DC Universe or is it about Dick establishing a new life and a career and his crimefighting on the side? Not sure where it’s going and I like that mystery. And I love Eddie Barrows artwork. He’s a talent who hasn’t totaqllty exploded into the mainstream of comics’ consciousness yet, but soon will. I continue to love thnis book and hope the creative team will not disappointment in future issues.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS: The team meets S’aru the Proctor and proceed through the Chambers of All deep within the Himalayas. While they battle through the levels, The Proctor proceeds to pick through their back stories and provide the readers with the individual origins of the team members. Starfire endures the perils of being a slave on Tamaran. Red Hood has happy memories of being Batman’s partner. And Roy Harper? He has a death wish.
Scott Lobdell crafts another great team story, as he does in almost every book he writes. Kenneth Rocafort has a neat little art style that enhances the tale. All in all, this is not the team book one would expect. The one thing I am finding wrong with many of the NEW DC books is that much time is being spent setting up the back story and the histories. I understand this because, after all, this is the NEW 52 so much has changed. But I can’t wait for the back stories to end and the real action to begin. I’m hoping that the next issue will start a new arc with more action.
RED LANTERN: We get the rebirth of Bleez along with her origin story. And, with any traumatic origin, there is almost always rebenge. This is no exception as Bleez and Atrocitus take their revenge. Meanwhile, on Eareth, the start of what may be the next Red Lantern continues to go into motion.
Peter Milligan and Ed Benes craft the best of the Lantern books. We all know what it’s like to be angry. What if we could channel that into revenge. That’s the premise of this book and finally getting one of the back stories is great. There is a million ways this series can go and with the expected “dark side turn” of one or both of the Earth boys, the corps will be stronger by more. I can’t wait to see where this series goes.
RESURRECTION MAN: The Body Doubles are in the Residential care facility waiting for Mitch to resurrect. He does but not where they expect. Mitch is in Limbo and having a conversation with a demon from down below. Soon after, he is reborn as a guy with armored skin. The Doubles take him down again and he is reborn again and tranqed again. But before the girls can take him away, they get stopped by Darryl, who is ready for battle in his Transhuman costume. Well…he did say he was once a super villain.
Strap in for the wild ride with this title! Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning were at work on RESURRECTION MAN back before they made names for themselves writing some great Science Fiction work for Marvel. And here they are back on the character they co-created and haven’t lost a step. And Fernando Dagnino artwork flows beautifully on it. This book is solid writing and solid art and a fun trip. You MUST read this book!!!
STORMWATCH: While part of the team tries to formulate a plan of attack, Apollo decides to take matters into his own hands an attack the planet killing asteroid. On the moon, things go from bad to worse and it only goes down from there. Apparently the creature absorbs everyone’s powers and now it’s up to The Midnighter to stop the creature.
Man, this book is still so weird and trying so hard to be what it once was. It’s not there yet, but it sure as hell keeps trying. Paul Cornell is no Warren Ellis, but he is throwing out some curious storylines. Miguel Sepulveda draws a clean bit of work and it DOES bring me back to the classic STORMWATCH series. But let’s get the whole team together and give EVERYONE some back story. You know my complaint about back story? Well, unless you were a die hard fan like me, you have no idea what’s going on here. If you do that, you might gain more readers. Well done, gentleman: now push this to the next level.
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E.: The team finds itself in a pretty bad situation. That’s when the “creepy mummy guy” instructs them to cover their eyes and obliterates the enemy throng. From there, it’s the eruption of what could be construed as a giant volcano but turns out to be a giant spider-like creature. Frankenstein leaps into the fray with sword in hand and eventually dispatches the creature. The team agrees to split up to try to stop the titans of the planet. But that may not be so easy as the monster planet is sending out a distress signal that is messing with S.H.A.D.E.’s psychics.
The worst thing, or more specifically the most disappointing thing about this book, is that J.G. Jones cover artwork sets up the book and then you get inside to Alberto Pontgicelli’s art and tend to be shocked and disappointed. This was a problem I discovered with the FIRST WAVE books like DOC SAVAGE: killer covers by Jones and then lackluster interior art. Not that Ponticellui’s art is bad…just really different. And that’s okay for this book. Jeff lemire’s story is quirky and three issues in and I still don’t know what to make of the book. It’s not my first read but also not my “bottom of the pile” book. Attractive in a quirky little way.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS: The Corps is in a bad way as they are being attacked by nearly insurmountable odds. Lantern Porter steps in to transport in the cavalry and then transports everyone back to Oa. But it all comes at a price as it costs Porter his life and leaves Vandoor, John Stewart and many of the Corps stuck in a fight back on the planet.
Get me out of this story arc, PLEASE!!! This book started out with such great potential and has just become another battle book. Peter J. Tomasi writes a good script but it is doing nothing for me. Geraldo Borges art is nice, but also does nothing for me. I see me getting to the end of this arc, hopefully in issue #4, and then calling it done. Seriously guys: I know it’s a team book but give me a good reason to read this.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: We finally get to meet Princess Diana and Steve Trevor. Wonder Woman is walking around Wahsington when she gets attacked by winged warriors who arrive via a Boom Tube(I guess…that seems to be where this is all heading). Meanwhile, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern are battling the same creatures and our Amazon princess shows up to lend a hand(good old Hal Jordan calls dibs…DUH!). Screaming “for Darkseid”, the beasts circle the water and Aquaman arrives. Oh yeah: Victor Stone makes one more step towards becoming Cyborg.
Another issue filled with more fun from Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. Not really! The dialogue is still aimed at a 13 year old, the plot still runs into the silly area and the whole idea that these young heroes still think that Batman might be a vampire just doesn’t play. Jim Lee’s art is typical Jim Lee and we all know that the payoff is going to be the actual introduction of Darkseid, which is truly what keeps me hanging on to this book. Not DC’s brightest hour.
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK: John Contantine arrives, snaps Zatanna out of her trance and performs a little Tantric magic with her. Shade tries to communicate with Deadman but with no luck and ends up back in Madame Xanadu’s presence. She reveals her next recruit, but Mind Warp is a loose cannon who could cause major problems for this burgeoning team. Of course, it’s hard to speak of loose cannons when Shade is being haunted by the imaginary girlfriend he devolved. Deadman and Junie Moon get close to each other and take a ride together. That’s when they run into The Enchantress.
Peter Milligan is one craqzy writer and this book continues to run along the edge of normalcy. To be called JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK is more of a joke than to be taken seriously. It REALLY needs another name, like Challengers of the Weird
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL: The team is having one heck of a time down in Peru where, if you recall, they were trying to find a missing U.N. team and came upon a series of giant robots. Vixen and Fire go underground with bad results, getting knocked out and taken captive by a bunch of scaly creatures. Same thing happens to August General and Godiva, but the General blasts them away. Batman and Booster get overcome while almost figuring out the mystery. So, since everything is falling apart, Guy Gardener gets involved and runs headlong into Peraxxus.
This title is not as overly dramatic as the regular JUSTICE LEAGUE and nowhere near as silly as the old JLI series. There is some great dialogue from Dan Jurgens and the art from Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan rocks. And the fact that the team is “led” by their own version of what the original Max Lord character was (in the form of Andre Biggs) just further adds to the fun as the government gets involved and screws it all up. Fun book!
NIGHTWING: We begin at the funeral of Mr. Haly, where Dick Grayson takes a ton of verbal abuse from the circus folk. As Nightwing, he pays a visit to his old friend Zane, who has become a rather well off contract killer with some technical upgrades, the most dangerpous of which appears to be some sort of mind altering power that makes Dick dream of his parents and his past. He battles through it and takes out Zane. Meanwhile, Dick gets busy with Raya and we learn that the guy from the first issue with the Wolverine style talons is still planning on taking Nightwing down.
Kyle Higgins’ story just keeps me coming back for more, simply because I really don’t know where this story is going to go. Is this a tale of Nightwing establishing himself again as a major player in the DC Universe or is it about Dick establishing a new life and a career and his crimefighting on the side? Not sure where it’s going and I like that mystery. And I love Eddie Barrows artwork. He’s a talent who hasn’t totaqllty exploded into the mainstream of comics’ consciousness yet, but soon will. I continue to love thnis book and hope the creative team will not disappointment in future issues.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS: The team meets S’aru the Proctor and proceed through the Chambers of All deep within the Himalayas. While they battle through the levels, The Proctor proceeds to pick through their back stories and provide the readers with the individual origins of the team members. Starfire endures the perils of being a slave on Tamaran. Red Hood has happy memories of being Batman’s partner. And Roy Harper? He has a death wish.
Scott Lobdell crafts another great team story, as he does in almost every book he writes. Kenneth Rocafort has a neat little art style that enhances the tale. All in all, this is not the team book one would expect. The one thing I am finding wrong with many of the NEW DC books is that much time is being spent setting up the back story and the histories. I understand this because, after all, this is the NEW 52 so much has changed. But I can’t wait for the back stories to end and the real action to begin. I’m hoping that the next issue will start a new arc with more action.
RED LANTERN: We get the rebirth of Bleez along with her origin story. And, with any traumatic origin, there is almost always rebenge. This is no exception as Bleez and Atrocitus take their revenge. Meanwhile, on Eareth, the start of what may be the next Red Lantern continues to go into motion.
Peter Milligan and Ed Benes craft the best of the Lantern books. We all know what it’s like to be angry. What if we could channel that into revenge. That’s the premise of this book and finally getting one of the back stories is great. There is a million ways this series can go and with the expected “dark side turn” of one or both of the Earth boys, the corps will be stronger by more. I can’t wait to see where this series goes.
RESURRECTION MAN: The Body Doubles are in the Residential care facility waiting for Mitch to resurrect. He does but not where they expect. Mitch is in Limbo and having a conversation with a demon from down below. Soon after, he is reborn as a guy with armored skin. The Doubles take him down again and he is reborn again and tranqed again. But before the girls can take him away, they get stopped by Darryl, who is ready for battle in his Transhuman costume. Well…he did say he was once a super villain.
Strap in for the wild ride with this title! Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning were at work on RESURRECTION MAN back before they made names for themselves writing some great Science Fiction work for Marvel. And here they are back on the character they co-created and haven’t lost a step. And Fernando Dagnino artwork flows beautifully on it. This book is solid writing and solid art and a fun trip. You MUST read this book!!!
STORMWATCH: While part of the team tries to formulate a plan of attack, Apollo decides to take matters into his own hands an attack the planet killing asteroid. On the moon, things go from bad to worse and it only goes down from there. Apparently the creature absorbs everyone’s powers and now it’s up to The Midnighter to stop the creature.
Man, this book is still so weird and trying so hard to be what it once was. It’s not there yet, but it sure as hell keeps trying. Paul Cornell is no Warren Ellis, but he is throwing out some curious storylines. Miguel Sepulveda draws a clean bit of work and it DOES bring me back to the classic STORMWATCH series. But let’s get the whole team together and give EVERYONE some back story. You know my complaint about back story? Well, unless you were a die hard fan like me, you have no idea what’s going on here. If you do that, you might gain more readers. Well done, gentleman: now push this to the next level.
SUPERGIRL: Superman tells his cousin the story of what happened to krypton but she doesn’t believe him and runs away. She runs into Simon Tychos who reveals that he has the pod she came to earth in. This leads to her heading into space and battling a creature called “the brain”. Following the battle, Tychos promises her that he will help and onoly bhas her best interests at heart.
Michael Green and Mike Johnson are trying their best to create some mythos for the Maid of Steel. I’m just not certain it’s working. I liked the first few issues where we have a strange vistoir from another planet and she is trying to make her way through a strange land. But this issue, with her having the pod carrot dangled in front of her, left me cold and bored. Hopefully the next issue will work more with developing her as a character and less of this “let’s try and make her a villain by bending her to my will.” We already have the story playing in SUPERBOY.
SUPERMAN: While Bill McCoy is hard at work on a documentary about Superman, which features some clips from some adventures we haven’t seen yet, another strange alien attack is launched on Superman and Metropolis. Superman eventually saves the day, but it looks like we now have a third Kryptonian in our midst. Is this the appearance of the trio from the Phantom Zone or is it too soon in his mythos for this?
C’mon guys: speed this up! What makes this tough is that ACTION is set in Superman’s early days and this is set in the present, so it makes it a bit confusing. But this is such a slow moving tale. In three issues, we have had three alien attacks, Lois in the sack with some guy and a whole bunch of action. But not a lot of important plot, at least not in my opinion. Introduce the villain and let’s go from there. George Perez continues to write and provides breakdowns, leaving Nicola Scott to handle the pencils, which he does in a very Perez style. AQnd I have no complaints about any of that. But please…SPEED UP THE STORY!!!
TEEN TITANS: Kid Flash busts Solstice out of prison and ends up at the Pendact Circle. Bunker hops a train, sees a big cocoon and ends up with a long conversation with a hobo, who is actually Red Robin in disguise. They end up in a town where mind control is in effect. Celline bursts out of her cocoon and Wonder Girl poses as a nurse to interrogate Thrice. How long before the Boy of Steel comes a calling?
Welcome to another fun ride from Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth. The groundwork for what will become the Teen Titans continues to be dropped into place. And among it all, where does N.O.W.H.E.R.E. fit in all of this and the entire new DC Uinverse too. Keep me guessing, guys: this is one cool trip!
Next time-some Marvel titles. Honest. It'll be a NEW 52 free post!
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