ZERO MONTH, WEEK ONE

ACTION COMICS #0:  Set five years ago, Clark Kent gets his first job at the Daily Star and promptly orders 200 T-shirts with the now classic 'S' symbol on the chest.  We also see he has been bunking with Jimmy Olsen for a while until he got a place of his own. Apparently Jimmy hasn’t had the easiest life. His mother had been a model, but lost all her money and ended up in the Bowery. Still, he lives fairly well, as his rich father dropped a fortune on him after feeling guilty. Later, Superman stops a crime involving Glen Glemorgan’s gang, but ends up being knocked unconscious by an RPG blast. In the process, a young boy finds him and takes his cape. The boy endures an abusive home life but now the cape protects him and his brother. The boys escape and end up in a rail yard where Superman saves the day and gets his cape back. Lois and Jimmy spy the incident and capture it on film, giving the world the first printed story about Superman. Also, Clark meets his landlady, Mrs. Nyxly and he sees pictures of her nephew Ferlin and her husband, Mystic Mr. Triple X. He was a magician who ended up in a coma thanks to a prank by a rival magician. In the backup, Erik Drekken travels to Smallville to continue the research of Professor Emery Zackro and to try and find the infamous Blake Farm Ghost.  John Blake throws him off the farm but, on his way out of town, Drekker encounters a UFO and is saved by Adam Blake, who was Zackro’s test subject. The Oort-Kind appears to take Adam away, who explains that he was leaving to save many worlds on a list of doomed worlds. And Earth was on that list. Drekker would then continue to do research into the radiation that had provided Adam his power. He also didn’t know what that would lead to eventually.
 
Grant Morrison turns in an interesting little tale here which, on the surface, looks to be all fluff and stuff. And actually has a lot of that. But it also gives us a nice look into the supporting cast, specifically Jimmy Olsen’s life and that of Clark’s landlady. It also features nicely painted art from Ben Oliver. As far as the back-up goes: I consider it fuller from Sholly Fisch, who is responsible for a number of the back-up tales throughout the NEW 52, and Cafu. We get some background on Adam Blake. But, quite frankly, he’s a character I really didn’t care that much about so, for now, I find it a waste of space.
 
ANIMAL MAN #0: We start five years ago, back at the first appearance of the heroes. The Animal Man of that time period lived in the Republic of Congo and is killed by Anton Arcane. The Parliament of Limbs attempt to figure out what to do now that their champion is dead. The decision is to create a new champion and use the next Avatar’s father. That man is Buddy Baker., who is working as a stunt man at the time. On his way home to his son’s birthday party, he sees what he thinks is a UFO crashing. When he investigates the fake ship (the Totems of The Parliament created the vision), he meets the fake aliens (the Tailors masquerading as yellow aliens). Buddy wakes up naked with a spandex suit near him. Once he figures out the mechanics of flying, he heads home and gives Cliff an aerial trip as a present. Over the next six months, Buddy does his fair share of superhero antics while Anton Arcane watches Buddy’s daughter be born; totally aware that she is the next Avatar.
 
Jeff Lemire and Steve Pugh add some cool color to the legend of Animal man. What most fans forget is that the “original” Animal Man is a far cry from the Grant Morrison days. He was created in 1965 and allegedly got his animal powers when an alien spaceship blew up and he became irradiated. That was Pre-Crisis and this is Post FLASHPOINT, so nods to the past are cool but all bets are off as far as his future goes. Animal Man in Grant Morrison’s days was a true Vertigo hero and it looks like he may be again. Only he is merely the protector of the Avatar now.
 
BATWING #0: David Zavimbe fights in the streets of Africa. At an early age, he and his brother Isaac were trained as child soldiers. Isaac was murdered by General Keita and David ended up being raised out of an orphanage by Matu and Rene. Several years later and David is on the Tinasha Police Department. The department is totally corrupt and he has issues with cops trying to give him their collected bribes. A Metahuman named Death Jack attacks Matu and Rene, resulting in her death. David vows to make the criminals and does so with serious and righteous vengeance: sometimes on his own and some times with a team. One night, Batman arrives and offers to assist David. The Dark Knight takes David and Matu back to Gotham City and asks him to join Batman Incorporated, eventually presenting him with the Batwing suit.
 
Judd Winick does a nice job of fleshing out the back story of the Batman of Africa. We now understand why he has anger issues. And I still don’t really care. Sorry, DC: if you’re going to create a character and incorporate them into the batman corner of the universe, you probably want to make them memorable. Let’s not make them lame like this one. Marcus To does a nice job of providing the art, but it still isn’t enough to sell me on the book. And, for what it’s worth, I wasn’t a big fan of the character when he was appearing in JUSTICE LEAGUE INCORPORATED..
 
DETECTIVE COMICS #0: The story begins 10 years in the past as Bruce Wayne is in the Himalayas training with a Zen-Buddhist monk named Shihan Matsuda. Over time, Bruce learns the various disciplines and becomes smitten by Mio, the daughter of the sword sharpener in the village. Shihan continues to warn Bruce that affection and grief will be his downfall. Shihan’s wife advises him otherwise, saying that Shihan had become a recluse because of his lack of emotion. Bruce sneaks out to follow his heart and meet Mio, but she sends him away and wants to meet him at the monastery. bruce agrees and tells her he will leave a window unlocked for her. Later, a hooded swordsman sneaks into the monastery and stabs Shihan through the chest. Bruce fights the attacker and sends the swordsman through a window. When he rips off the mask, he sees that it is Mio, who is dying of her wounds. He discovers it was all a ruse to distract him and that she was paid by Shihan's own wife, who is preparing to finish off her husband when he manages to stab her himself. All three people Bruce had come to love were now dead, bringing Shaihan’s lesson to fruition. In the backup story, it’s seven years ago and Bruce Wayne has been gone for many years. Alfred is dealing a Mr. Shaw who represents the relatives of Martha Wayne. he claims with Bruce out of the picture, the Kane family had a legal right to the Wayne fortune. Shaw tries to bribe Alfred with an actor’s role with the Gotham Shakespeare Company. Alfred gets violent and throws Shaw out. Shortly thereafter, Bruce returns to tell the butler his story and prepare for the future.
 
So now we get a little more of Bruce’s training in the Himalayas, complete with the whole idea of not falling in love complex. Gregg Hurwitz writes a nice story but Tony S. Daniel’s art falls flat. I don’t know if it’s because it has been rushed or because of the inking job that Richard Friend has put on top. It could even be that Pere Perez has added “additional art” to the tale and we’re seeing more of that than Daniels’ own work. As for the back-up, Bruce comes home to start his career and we fully understand the connection between Kate Kane and the Wayne family.
 
DIAL H #0:  Back in the days of ancient Babylon, a sun dial must be correctly positioned at noon for four consecutive days to spell out H-E-R-O in the native language. Mushusso, the great Beast of Babylon,  is poised to attacked Laodice and her people. She uses the sundial to transform herself into Bumper Carla and defeat the beast. Laodice is worshipped by her people and becomes a queen. Many years later, Bumper Carla returns to Babylon to and exacts revenge on Laodice. It seems that Bumper Carla is actually a super hero from a parallel world who was hijacked to this world to fight the Beast of Babylon. While she was gone from hr world, tragedy struck and, with no protector, dire consequences occurred and many died. Carla’s fellow superhero, Slim, sends the now guilty hero off to prison as Babylon mourns its’ queen.
 
I had to read this issue five times to finally get it! Either I’m getting slower and dimwitted as I grow old or this was one doozy of a tale from China Mieville and Ricardo Burchielli. The dial doesn’t’ create heroes? The dial takes them from other planes of existence? That’s absolutely brilliant! The person trades places with no memory when they return. And it’s a theory that you can trace all the way back to Robby Reed in the classic DIAL H FOR H-E-R-O series. This one issue just turned to heat way up on a title that has had people scratching their heads since issue #1. The whole book just got that much more intriguing!
 

EARTH 2 #0: We start six years in the past and three years after the armies of Apokolips invaded Earth. Terry Sloan has joined with the Ternion: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to attack the invaders. At one time there were eight heroes, known as the Eight Wonders of the World but these four are all that is left. Battling Steppenwolf and his minions, Terry exposes Superman to Opal Kryptonite, which drives him insane. Superman attacks his team mates. Terry claims he his doing this because of  a future he saw in an alternate dimension. Batman tries to stop him, but Terry detonates a series of bombs, destroying most of Europe and South America. Terry escapes into the Ninth Dimension while his former partners escape their fates. The tale ends with Terry Sloan mulling the future, which he claims he has already seen.
 
I have to give a great big yawn to James Robinson for this issue. With the exception of introducing Terry Sloan, not the Mister Terrific we all knew and loved (with a different spelling and the NEW 52 Mister Terrific was Michael Holt), and giving us some Fourth World tidbits like Steppenwolf and the minions of Apokolips, there is nothing great about this book. The writing is standard fare, Tomas Giorello does a competent job of mirroring  George Perez and we get some nice looking action sequences. This has been, by far, the weakest issue of the series.
 
G.I. COMBAT #0: The Unknown Soldier learns that there has always been an Unknown Soldier and he experiences their history vividly. And, in the middle of all that, terrorism strikes again, blowing up a plane on takeoff. In thr War that Time Forgot back-up story, a soldier in North Korea ends up battling for survival in a Prehistoric place and time.
 
So the Unknown Soldier is eternal in his own way. Well, that explains a lot and explains absolutely nothing. Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti need to stick to Wild West Comics and not war comics because this one is awful. And Staz Johnson’s artwork is uninspired. As far as the back-up, it’s a beautiful Ariel Olivetti painted job with a boring J. T. Krul story…if you can even call it that. It’s 10 pages about a G. I. surviving in the prehistoric environment. Well, in case you haven’t heard, DC Comics has cancelled this title with issue #7. This is the first of their Second Wave titles to bite the dust although it basically got cancelled months ago when MEN OF WAR went down. What’s next, guys? STAR SPANGLED WAR?
 
GREEN ARROW #0: Our tale begins several years ago when playboy Oliver Queen is partying with his friends on an oil rig where his father has him working. He shows off his archery skills to his girlfriend of seven years, Leena,  and his friend Tommy Merlyn. Then the helicopter that is bringing a rock star to the party has been taken over by terrorists. The terrorists wire the platform with explosives, along with several of those on the rig, including Leena. Ollie uses his longbow, shooting through the terrorist leader's wrist and he drops the detonator into the ocean. On the way down, the detonator becomes activated. Everyone is killed in the explosion except for Ollie and Tommy, who is badly burned. Ollie ends up on the shore of an island where he has to forage for food and use his archery skills. A year goes by and Roy Harper finds himself bailed out of jail by Ollie, who is running Queen Industries. Harper had been caught hacking into the company’s main R&D hub. Ollie offers Harper a job and they become partners while Ollie becomes the Green Arrow. Flashing forward to today, a burn patient awakes at the monastery he has been at since he was found. The burn victim is Tommy Merlyn.
 
I’m not a regular reader of this title, as I was totally put off by the dialogue and plot in the first issue. This issue, written by new regular scribe Ann Nocenti, reads much better than the horrendous issue #1, but still isn’t enough to make me want to read this regularly. Freddie Williams II does a good job illustrating the tale; possibly because everyone looks like they stepped out of an Image comic circa 1988. And with this becoming the newest origin of Green Arrow, I find this one exciting but totally miles away from the classic origin with Ollie’s parents killed by lions and raised by his uncle, before becoming lost at seas and training on Starfish Island. The idea of a fallen playboy becoming a hero is Iron Man old and much more believable than this. So…bad news DC: I STILL won’t be reading this title.
 
GREEN LANTERN #0: It’s September 11, 2001 and young Simon Baz and his family watch the attacks on TV. Over the years, the Baz family has endured abuse from people. It’s 2012 and Simon drives a stolen van with a bomb inside. He calls his sister and tells her that there is a safety deposit box and the contents belong to her and her son. He gets caught and is taken to a government prison where he is interrogated.  He explains that he doesn’t know where the bomb came from as he stole the van from someone else. Believing him to be a terrorist, the government agents prepare to torture him. That’s when a malfunctioning Green Lantern ring breaks into the prison and helps Simon escape. Soon Amanda Waller, Batman and Cyborg all know of the new Green Lantern. And what of Hal Jordan and Sinestro? They have survived the Black Hand’s attack and find themselves in a realm of darkness.
 
Geoff Johns hits a home run with this tale of the New Green Lantern who, by the look of the cover, is going to carrying a gun. Interesting! As always, great art from Doug Mahnke with an army of inkers. This title has been one of Geoff Johns’ best works since issue #1. Now we prepare for the RISE OF THE THIRD ARMY running throughout all four Lantern titles.
 
PHANTOM STRANGER #0: Taking the story from the NEW 52 FCBD one shot and adding more details, he (until we can officially call him the Phantom Stranger) tells us how he betrayed his best friend and then tried to commit suicide. He ended up being transported to the Council of Wizards to be dealt his fate. There are two others there with him (read my review of the NEW 52 FCBD one shot) and they make up the Trinity of Sin. He is found guilty and branded with the thirty pieces of silver that he had earned. He woke in a field and a voice told him to put on the robe of the friend he betrayed. From then on he became the Phantom Stranger. Eventually he ends up being directed to former police detective Jim Corrigan who is looking for his fiancee Gwen Sterling who had been taken by a mob boss. He tries to intervene and Corrigan gets shot dead. Corrigan’s “vengeful spirit” comes out of his body to do other things. One of the 30 silver pieces fell from his neck and he realized that every time he served the voice he would be closer to redemption.
 
Take everything that Dan Didio has ever written and put it on top of a very high pedestal because this is the WORST thing I have ever endured from him. I have been a constant defender of his work on titles like O.M.A.C. and CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN because he revered the characters. This isn’t reverence this is out and out RAPE!  For those unaware, there are four different speculations on the identity of the Phantom Stranger ranging from Wandering Jew to fallen angel. But Didio makes no bones about who he thinks THIS Stranger is. Six pages into the book and he has tried to hang himself for killing his best friend, begs to be forgiven as “HE would” and has the coins that were a reminder of his greed thrown at him. One page after, and he’s on the “field of blood” and forced to wear “his robe” and carry the necklace of the thirty piece of silver. Okay…even dumbed down, we GET IT. This is Judas Iscariot and he betrayed Jesus Christ, his best friend, for 30 pieces of silver. Now he wanders the earth, wearing the robe and the necklace made from those coins. And then, if that wasn’t enough, he ends up being responsible for Jim Corrigan’s death, creating The Spectre, who promptly tries to wreak vengeance on the Stranger but is called away by the Voice of God(speculating here). But his creation brings the Phantom Stranger one step closer to redemption. Wow! What a tremendous piece of crap! Next issue is Trigon. So…that is going to work out how??? The only high spot in this title is Brent Anderson’s always awesome art. Other than that, this is a steaming pile of poop and a disgraced to a storied character who deserves a better fate than this!

STORMWATCH #0: Adam-One, thought dead since STORMWATCH #5, reveals himself to jenny Quantum and explains the secret history of Stormwatch. We find ourselves in Araby in 1013 where Jenny is Princess Janeen and Merlin himself invites her to join the Demon Knights. Using the power of mathematics, she later battles robot dolphins alongside the Demon Knights.  She is also Countess Jeannie, a crusader who is done in by the Shadow Lords. She is Sister J. during the 14th Century and she uses the power of religion to battle the enemy. And she and Merlin also share some intimate moments. It seems that Merlin ages backwards. It is during this period that the Red Storm appears (didn’t this happen in CRISIS) that the Demon Knights rename themselves Stormwatch. We see her as Jenny Freedom: an African American slave during the 19th Century who had control over Steam and Light. Lastly, we have Jenny Sparks. When all is said and done, she is appointed the savior of Stormwatch as Adam-One tells her that everyone dies someday soon.
 
THANK YOU PETER MILLIGAN for finally giving me a story with some meat to it. While I am not totally happy that Adam-One is Merlin, although we sort of suspected that all along, I do like the way that the team’s history ties into the DCnU. Will Conrad’s art is first rate and tells a good story. And I know, having already heard from fans, that this is not sitting well. How dare Jim Lee tie Wildstorm into DC. Yeah-I’m not totally happy about it either. But here’s my advice: suck it up and deal with it or get out of the books. They are one company and this is how the people running/ruining the ship want it.
 
SWAMP THING #0: It’s 1897 and the current Avatar of The Green, Jack Crow, rescues a young girl from the bitter cold. The girl is actually Anton Arcane-Avatar of the Rot, who proceeds to kill Crow. Over 100 years later, Arcane disguises himself as a scientist named Ross who is working alongside Alec Holland on a Bio-Restorative Formula. Arcane has learned that Holland is due to be the next and most powerful Avatar. Ross finds his way into Alec and Linda Holland’s house and he takes control of Linda’s body.  She opens the vat of Bio-Restorative Formula and sets the houses on fire, causing the flaming Alec Holland to rushed out and end up into the swamp. With Holland dead, the Parliament of Trees is forced to create a replacement. Five years later, Alec Holland returns.
 
What a great issue, rewriting some of Swamp Thing’s history while tying together part’s of his legendary past. But Scott Snyder, with art by Kano, raises as many questions as he answers. Who was the replacement Avatar? Is five years now and, if so, how do we explain Swamp Thing’s past adventures, which he and Abby recall?  Was he the Avatar and this is all just a dream? I cannot wait to see where Snyder runs this. And, despite all the naysayers, I believe he has enough respect for the character not to totally mess it up.
 

WORLDS’ FINEST #0: The tale begins several years ago with Helena Wayne, in her guise as Robin, fighting crime in her own way under the supervision of her mother Catwoman. When Batman finds out, he is less than pleased, even as Catwoman and he share a kiss. Meanwhile Superman trains his cousin Kara in Micronesia, convinced that she will be able to survive the threat of Darkseid, where his wife Lois did not.  back in Gotham, Helena hears a sudden alarm from the Batcave. She suits up and arrives at the scene finding her father kneeling over her dead mother's body. Helena races into a burning building in search of her mother’s killers only to find men with alien weapons. Suddenly, Supergirl bursts through the wall of the building after hearing Batman’s signal which he sent to Superman. The gunmen disappear through a boom tube and the two teens agree to become friends.
 
Just like the monthly book, I get more thrills and enjoyment from reading stories set in the past. This is a cool origin, especially in regards to Helena’s story as Robin and the death of Selena. Kevin Maguire’s art is spectacular as always. I do figure to give issue #5 a shot and see if it improves from the first four. If so, you’ll continue to read my reviews or it. If not, it ends with #5.