Yeah, Aquaman. Go figure. The laughingstock of the sea has this week's strongest, in my opinion, book.
So, on to the reviews, and then I'll let you know which titles I'm keeping, which are in danger of being dropped, and which I'm definitely dropping. This is a feature I plan on keeping, and doing once all of the month's titles are out. That is, between the #1's and #2's, I'll do this, between the 2's and 3's, etc.
So, without any further ado, the reviews:
All-Star Western #1 – Well…it’s hard to
really call this a western, honestly. The only western thing it has, really, is
Jonah Hex. Everything else about it, from the location in Gotham to Dr. Arkham
helping Jonah Hex, is distinctly…well, not western. All told, though, that is
about the only real issue I have with this one. A nice mystery being set up, a
serial killer targeting prostitutes, a mysterious society which may, or may
not, be involved at some level, even Jonah Hex’s characterization all work
together to create quite a nice little book. Something that took me a minute
was the florid, purple prose at the beginning, with no accreditation. It’s not
until you realize that it’s from Dr. Arkham’s journals that it all kind of
clicks together and meshes. Of course Arkham would speak like that. It was nice, for me, to see some of the names
mentioned, from Cobblepot to Cyrus Pinckney (Solomon Grundy.)…all of which gave
me a little thrill each time I saw them. Jimmy Palmiotti’s art fits perfectly
here, with a nicely limited color palette, which really evokes the 1880s when
the story takes place. I look forward to the next issue immensely.
Aquaman #1 – I did not realize before
going in that Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis were working this book. It feels,
structurally, a lot like Green Lantern:
Rebirth, in that Johns seems to be going for a revamping of the character.
They’re aware going in, and highlight a lot of the jokes that have been made in
the past about Aquaman, which was nice for me, honestly. I’ve never really
gotten the hate. One of the things that worked for me here is how nobody, cops,
criminals, citizens, take Aquaman seriously. And Ivan Reis’ artwork really
captures his resentment at being treated like a lesser hero amidst Superman,
Batman, Wonder Woman, etc, when it’s freaking obvious how strong he is. I mean,
upending a secured van is no mean feat. The nicest thing about this issue? We
finally find out how Aquaman manages to get by on land. All in all, a good
issue, and I look forward to many more.
Batman: The Dark Knight #1 – Something I realized reading this issue was
that DC has apparently decided to turn Batman into a kind of internal Chatty
Cathy. I mean, he’s terse and laconic as Batman, but the narration boxes,
usually from his point of view, go on forever! Anyway…here, as opposed to the
other Batman titles, Batman is taking on evil, both as Batman and as Bruce
Wayne. Look, I’m not even going to try to summarize or review this one. There
are simply too many Batman titles where he is the star. I understand, Batman’s
cool. He’s one of my favorite characters, and, more often than not, one I
gravitate towards. But with ten of the New 52 titles focusing on or featuring
him, I’m more than a little sick of it. I don’t even like the story set up in
B:TDK, at least not the supervillain part. The GCPD part is intriguing, though,
with Internal Affairs trying to figure out how Bruce Wayne is funding Batman
and who in GCPD is giving him information. It’s a good mystery set-up. But,
honestly, there’s no reason this story needs its own title. For me, calling the
book The Dark Knight should imply more of a horror slant, or at least a
thriller/noir-ish set up. I guess my biggest problem is that all of the main
Batman titles feel absolutely the same. How would I do it, you ask? I’m glad
you did. What I would do is this: Batman
would be about the more fantastical, superhero-supervillain stories. Detective Comics would be about the
mystery-solving detective Batman who, in all honesty, is rarely seen anymore. Batman and Robin I would use to explore
the dynamic of how he interacts with all of his Robins, past and present. This
one I discussed above. The other ones, where he’s just featured? I’d probably
pull him from all but Justice League and JLI, honestly.
