I dropped Mr. Terrific. It was really starting to come off as cliched writing and villainy 101, and it take a lot, a LOT to get me to read that. The villain even did the cheesy "Call me Brainstorm, prepare to die!" riff that I remember not liking even when I first read comics. I'll be honest, I just didn't want to read it, but forced myself to, and decided it was out. Sorry guys.
Batgirl #2 – Another swimmingly good
second issue. I gotta say, I was never huge on Batgirl in the past, but I did
dig Batgirl: Year One. So it’s quite
interesting to me to see her remembering how to be a hero. I also dig “start of
darkness” stories and where villains and antagonists come from, and Mirror, the
villain here, has a suitably tragic backstory. The motivation is an interesting
one, in all honesty, and only serves to beg a question: Namely, how did he get
his list of survivors? I hope it’s got a good answer. One of the nice bits that
I liked was with Bab’s new roommate, who thinks that Barbara is being beaten by
a guy. The vehemence behind her scene is…interesting and somewhat jarring. I
look forward to finding out more about her. All told a pretty good issue. The
artwork is pretty decent, and the story advanced nicely.
Recommendation:
Trade, because while everything’s good, there’s something here which, for me,
stops me from putting it in my pull box.
Batman & Robin #2 – My first
thought about the cover? Na na na na na na BATPIG! Apparently the new Batmobile
has a very porcine design. Once we get into the issue, though, we have a pretty
good story that furthers last month’s plot nicely. My favorite bit, though, was the way Damian’s
origin was told…in a nicely laid out 2-page spread. The other thing I liked was
seeing Bruce trying to be a father, and getting lessons from his surrogate
father, Alfred. This book is actually shaping up exactly like I wanted to see.
It’s quite gratifying to see the interplay of Bruce and his son, and how he’s a
somewhat less than ideal father, but still trying. It’s better than nothing.
The main plot of the arc, who and why someone is killing Batman franchisees,
deservedly takes a back seat to the emotional interplay between the two leads.
This may be my favorite of the Bat-titles. Um…that is, the Bat-titles featuring
Batman.
Recommendation:
Pull box. Like I said, it’s the strongest of the Bat-books, with a decent
mystery, and wonderful relations between the titular characters.
Batwoman #2 – The story isn’t furthered
too much in this issue, but it did let you know more about Kathy Kane and all
of her close associates. I also dug how the art shifts between the various
parts of the story. It’s subtle, but I like it. I do keep finding myself thrown
off by the palate used for Ms. Kane herself. The chalk white skin works for
Batwoman, but when she’s chatting up the only other lesbian in Gotham, it’s
just…weird. Speaking of…I can ALMOST get why Kathy is trying to hook up with
Maggie Sawyer, she needs info, and Sawyer’s GCPD. But, seriously, are there no
other lesbians in Gotham? C’mon, DC, I know you’ve created a gay Mexican for Teen Titans, so why not open the doors
for more, newer gay characters. Moving on to other parts, I’m also a fan of governmental
agencies completely missing the identity of heroes, but getting really damn
close. Oh, and once again, it’s two-page-o-rama in this book, making it pass by
very, VERY quickly. Not that I minded, it works really well here. I can’t wait
to see how the stories end up intersecting.
Recommendation:
I go back and forth on this one. The artwork and story-telling are mostly strong
enough to get monthly, but there’s something the makes me want to, well…not.
Ah, just pull box it.
Deathstroke #2 – This issue read like a
cheesy 80s action movie, and DAMN did I love every second of it! Going off of
last month’s “Is Deathstroke getting too old for this $#!%?” plot, this is,
essentially, Mr. Slade Wilson proving that, no…no he isn’t. Plotwise, there isn’t
much arc advancing here, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I will say,
though, I would like to know what, exactly, is in the briefcase Slade got last
issue. The artwork which this issue relies on has lots of nice, subtle violence
in it. Slade, early on, is a crouching tiger, evident in every line of his body
language. Once he starts taking out the mercs hired to watch his contact, he
explodes into frenetic action. There’s a lot of “Whoa, is that his head?” shots
in the book, and it ends with a nice, satisfying battle royale avec fromage. Turns
out, all of the fighting had actual plot significance, too! Nice when that
happens.
Recommendation:
Trade, because as much as I like this issue, the overall story is just kinda
weak for me, and I think it might work better in trade format.
Demon Knights #2 – After the strength
of its first issue, this one left me a little empty, honestly. There were some
magnificent moments, mainly involving Vandal Savage, who delightfully lives up
to his name, and is rather nicely eccentric, but the arc advancement was…I dunno. That part feels weak to me. Overall,
though, what plot it does have is advanced nicely, and, hey, fire-breathing
velociraptors are cool! What I realized reading this is just how many team
books are part of New 52. Team books are usually hit or miss for me. But, on
the whole, the team books DC’s been putting out have been remarkably strong. Go
figure.
Recommendation:
Pull box. It’s got an almost Whedonesque vibe to it, when all of the elements
pull together.
Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #2 – And here’s
one that just didn’t work for me. I don’t know what it is about it, but there
next to nothing that worked for me. I don’t care about any of the characters,
which kind of angers me, since Jeff Lemire’s Animal Man is one of my favorite books! The artwork is disjointed,
at best. Maybe it’s just the style I don’t like. The plot did get advanced, but
I couldn’t be concerned about it too much, since I got dragged out of the story
by the artwork.
Recommendation:
Drop, unless you’re REALLY into supernatural secret agents.
Green Lantern #2 – I’d always heard
Sinestro was the greatest of the Lanterns, but finally seeing WHY that is was…wow.
There are several, building moments where I went from thinking, “Okay, neat
trick,” to “Sweet merciful monkey meat, that was awesome!” The interactions between
Sinestro and Hal are all amusing and serve the story nicely. There’s a kind of
economy of exposition, which is something I appreciate. Johns give you just
enough info to suit his purposes and then shows, not tell you, why something
is. I can’t recall ever seeing a story where Sinestro was treated like such a
threat, no matter the color of his ring. (I admit, though, I haven’t read the
Sinestro War or Blackest Night stories yet, but they are on the list.) Once we
get to the reason Sinestro made his offer to supply a ring to Jordan, things
kind of snap into place…too bad it’s in the final two panels! I can’t wait till
next month!
Recommendation:
Pull box, but would I really say anything else?
Grifter #2 – Remember how I said
Deathstroke was a cheesy 80s action movie this month? Well…this month, Grifter
feels like that classic of cinema, They
Live. Or is it? The actual plot, Cole Cash (Finally learned his name, yay
me!) is on the run, seeing aliens everywhere. Nobody believes him, and even he
starts to question his sanity. It’s nicely played for maximum drama, and
heightens the feel of disorientation in the book. Of course, he might not be
imagining things at all…cue X-Files music. The artwork, I have to say, is
fantastic. Clean, crisp…I just like it! Cafu is quickly joining my list of
favorite artists. I’m a little leary of the twist at the end of the issue, it
just smacks of cliché, but in a book I’m enjoying this much, I’ll give it a
chance. It’s funny, isn’t it, how we’ll allow clichés and formulaicness in
something we enjoy, but if we’re indifferent to or don’t like something, we’re
less forgiving?
Recommendation:
Pull box. Strong story, strong artwork…just a strong book in general.
Resurrection Man #2 – Ah, the hero with
amnesia. Struggling to remember why he does what he does. Sometimes it comes
off as hackneyed and unoriginal, other times, a writer is worth the paper he
prints on and pulls it around pretty well. He’s starting to put things back
together, and we get some tantalizing clues as to how he probably got his
resurrection powers. A nice action sequence breaks up the exposition, and we
end with him resurrecting once again, but, uh…not in a happy place. I think I
know who’s been hiring people to try to capture him, but I’m looking forward to
knowing for certain soon. One thing, though, is that DC’s not helping ease the
controversy stirred up by Starfire, Catwoman and Voodoo with the assassins in
this issue. But, at least it’s handled a little better than the others, for me,
anyway.
Recommendation:
Pull box. It’s going along at a nice, steady pace, and well worth the time.
Suicide Squad #2 – I have to admit, I
wasn’t expecting too much from this book after last month’s mediocre premier,
but this actually came off really well, mainly due to Harley Quinn treating
their mission like a big live action zombie game. It seems like they’re trying
to make her goofy, but there’s something false seeming about her eclectic
nature, like it’s a wall put up to prevent her from TRULY going crazy. Maybe it
is, maybe I’m reading too far into it, but I liked it. A solid issue, if not a
stand out one, I did like the twist at the end of the mission, which, in
hindsight, I should have seen coming, but still…that they made me not think
about it speaks a lot about the writer’s ability. Like I said, a solid book.
Recommendation:
Trade. Solid, but not enough there to convince me to buy it every month.
Superboy #2 – This issue made me giggle
a bit. When the clone Superboy was first introduced and given his own book, one
of the first villains I remember him fighting was a gigantic shark dude. Here,
the first villains he fights closely resemble that guy on first glance. Just
made me giggle, I love things like that. Good thing, too, because otherwise
this was a forgettable issue for me. True, it did give us more insight into
Superboy’s thoughts, as well as the scientists and NOWHERE’s motivations, but overall,
this was a Chinese food comic. Not too bad while you’re eating it, but you don’t
feel like you got anything out of it an hour later.
Recommendation:
Trade. Hopefully it’ll pick up, since I love the human/alien hybrid creature
angle, but I’m not holding much hope.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 9 #2 –
Whew, that was a lot to type! Continuing the fallout from last issue, Buffy’s
life keeps spiraling out of control. She’s got creditors sending demons after
her, it’s looking like her friendship with Willow is almost at its end, and now
she’s wanted for slayings she didn’t commit. And to top it off, she can’t even
crash with her sister! I wish I could go into more detail about this comic, I
really do, because there’s a lot going on that I like, but some of the ideas
are so closely tied to the end of the Season 8 comics, that to talk about them
would be to spoil that one! I’m going to give it another issue or two, until
the end of this first episode (Which is what I think I’m going to call arcs
here.) before talking about it. Good god, is thi an excellent read, though!
Recommendation:
Go on…guess.
So there you go! More good than bad this week, with some definite contenders for adding to one's reading list. I think, personally, Green Lantern was my favorite book this week, and not just because I'm a huge fan. It was a solid, enjoyable book that added to a villain...well, antagonist's origins and backstory well. Keep reading and see you next time!
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