Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Random DCnU Revue

Speaking of Batgirl, Cobie, what did you think of my review ? I know it wouldn't change your opinion, but I half-expected you to chime in with a counterpoint or something. (You've been fairly quiet over the last week, so maybe SD's kept ya occupied!)

Justice League International #1 was kind of a by-the-numbers affair. It didn't suck but also didn't really thrill a whole lot.

I think the strength of the issue resided in the concept if it's executed well. For example, I found myself interested in the new (?) character of Andre Briggs. He's kind of the replacement for Maxwell Lord as the founder and facilitator of this new version of the JLI. The really close tie to the U.N. makes this version feel somewhat different from the old one. Hopefully, the tension introduced in this isse will continue to play out in an interesting manner.

The other conflicts of the issue were less interesting. The militant protesters could have been a lot more refreshing, but at the moment their motives are kind of "huh?" I think we were given insufficient background as to why they would be so opposed to the JLI and their use of the Hall of Justice, especially to justify the action they end up taking.

The mission in South America didn't exactly ring my bell, either. For a minute there I was expecting Marvel's Mole Man to pop up! Instead we have a last page of a giant robot thingy reminiscent of a Sentinel or a Celestial from Marvel. Kind of underwhelming.

Oddly, enough, I kind of missed Judd Winick here. He did a good job on the Generation Lost series that featured many of these characters. I couldn't help but think that the character interaction would have been a little more entertaining. There was some potential here but nothing really "wowed" me that Jurgens wrote. I know it's been a while since Jurgens wrote a team book, however, so maybe he'll hit his stride soon. Can't help but think this would be an ideal book for another Giffen/Jurgens joint.

Aaron Lopresti was my favorite of the artists on Gen Lost, so I was pleased to see him on this book. I was a little underwhelmed by the interiors, though. I don't know if Matt Ryan was his inker on Gen Lost, but I would suspect not. The lines just didn't seem as crisp and memorable as they were before. There was nothing bad here, but I feel Lopresti's work has looked much better.

Anyhow, JLI was a lot more lukewarm a book for me than I suspected it would be. But I'm certainly willing to stick with it for a while to turn things upward. There's too much talent on this book for it not to!

Yeah, work has kept me busy so when I do get a chance to post it's only half-hearted. I'm in my car service back home as I'm posting this thankfully.

I was going to chime in but figured I'd wait and see if #2 changed my low opinion (not realizing it is shipping late).

So for the second month in a row, Week 2 carries the weakest titles for me. Am I just in a bad mood this time of month, or will I always feel a little let down after a great first week? Bullet reviews -

Legion Lost - just not feeling it, and I love Wildfire. More discussion in the Legion forum.

Suicide Squad - Against my better judgement I came back for more. There wasn't much to like here.

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. - It think the art is killing this one for me. It's just not as fun as I want it to be, nor is it as overtly melodramatic as Morrison's original. Frankenstein continues to be the straight man and not the star. I'm all for the new Creature Commandos, but this isn't supposed to be their book.

Demon Knights Once again the highlight of Week 2. It's great fun, but despite the wall-to-wall mayhem, the pacing still seems slow. Not much more is revealed that we didn't already know from last issue. I'm finding myself more attracted to the new characters than the established ones. I want to see more of the Amazon and Jabar.

Okay, just got back from Barnes and Nobles. Read a few of the number Ones.

Green Arrow - N0ot a bad book, but not that great either. For me, I think a lot of leeway went with the art. I liked the look of the book way more than the story.

Teen Titans - Actually not bad. Decent intro to the characters. Sad to see Kid Flash regressed back to being an apparent idiot though. Tim was pretty cool, and I liked the whole intro of "don't call her" Wonder Girl. I liked the originals, but these kids seemed alright. Not liking it enough to buy it, but not as terrible as I thought it was going to be.

Superman - To be honest, I only made it through the intro of Jimmy Olsen. There was too much there. I do not like the padding of books written for the trade, but this thing was bogged down in dialog. I lost interest really fast.

So with month #2, my reviews won’t be as in depth or wordy unless I really feel strongly about something or have a majorly different opinion. As of this evening, I’ve just about caught up on all the “Week 1” #2 issues and I once again feel that the “Week 1” line-up is by far the strongest. I was equally as impressed by just about every single series that has come out.

Several series continue to surprise me in that I’m enjoying them much more than I thought I would: Static Shock, Stormwatch, Detective Comics, Batwing, OMAC and especially Men of War. Even Hawk & Dove has been fun! Meanwhile, Action Comics, Swamp Thing and Animal Man continue to impress in a big way. Even Justice League International, which I thought was a little weaker than I liked in #1, had a stronger showing in #2 to clinch for me that I want to keep buying it.

All in all, thus far I plan to keep buying all of the Week #1 issues! (Batgirl not included since its no longer a part of that week). I skipped Huntress because honestly, how many non-super-powered Gotham female vigilantes does DC expect me to buy? Time to make some of them stand out a bit more. (And I actually like the Huntress more than the rebooted Batgirl and probably even Batwoman).

Men of War is a personal favorite of mine, and I recommend it to anyone interested in war comics.

Static Shock has my vote for the very best of all the teenager-centric comics DC has relaunched. I know John Rozum is leaving but Scott McDaniel is not only the artist, but also the co-writer. I wonder how much of the magic is coming from Rozum. I’m willing to stick around since it’s been such a pleasant surprise.

I’m even enjoying Hawk & Dove to a degree. Despite my major art pet peeve of lack of backgrounds being a recurring problem with Liefield, the story & art had that 1990’s / 12 years old excitement feeling that is sometimes enjoyable after reading something very heavy like Swamp Thing or Fables. I know its not the most intellectually stimulating thing, but it is kind of fun.

(PS - realize I haven't read Green Arrow yet, but I think thats the only one).

I've let myself get totally bogged down... still haven't gotten past the horrid Blackhawks and wonderful Voodoo & New Guardians from WEEK 4.

That also means (after I pick up the last 2 weeks worth today) I will have THREE WEEKS of # 2s backed up.

Not to mention the few Marvel, Image and misc. comics on my pull.

Looks like I need to get my butt off the interwebz and have a mass comicbook blowout session tomorrow...

I should probably hit the grocery for snacks for that!

Tried to read ALL-STAR WESTERN last night in bed but the muted colors made it too difficult to follow (I need a better bedside lamp). I was enjoying it though, before I had to give up.

I'll finish it today hopefully. After I take care of some family business, I'd like to hunker down in my big reading chair (which has a BRIGHT-ASS light!), turn off the 'net and the TV and plow through some comics!!

Demon Knights #2 moves the characters into more of a team as the village is attacked by dinosaurs/dragons. The dragons lose, but other threats are dispatched by the Queen and Mordru.

One thing I like about the series is that contemporary language is used, not the sort of "wilt thou" stuff that can be clunky to read.

It's also fun to have an Arab character who is portrayed as the rational scientist.

ALL-STAR WESTERN # 1: Very well done. I am going to be collecting my first genre western title!! I enjoyed the mystery and Dr. Arkham's notes about Jonah throughout. Also, the setting of Gotham works here for me, since I shouldn't have to deal with Batman being around, hooray!!

SUPERMAN # 1: I've read some on the fence reviews of this so was unsure if I would like it. I did though, probably more than ACTION # 1. I enjoyed most the business politics of the Daily Planet and the action scenes were just kinda there for me. I'm onboard, especially with Giffen set to bow in # 7!

BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT: Skimmed it only. Yawn.

I VAMPIRE # 1

I really really WANT to like this book... yet I'm on the fence for # 2.

The muted colors of ALL-STAR WESTERN worked great for that title because the line-artwork was SO detailed. And while I like the art on I VAMPIRE, the muted coloring actually works AGAINST it for me because the line-art is NOT that detailed.

I'm leaning toward getting # 2 but if I still have problems figuring out what is going on because of the colors, I won't get # 3.

Glad you liked All-Star Western, Lash! Personally, I thought it was the TITS.

A thought on JLI -- I'm treating this as an "all ages" book. I gave it to my 9-year old and suggested he read it. It has characters he knows AND likes from JLU and B:BATB -- Batman, Booster Gold, Guy Gardner. The female characters are cool, too (although vastly underused so far). The geopolitics is a little confusing for the 9-year old, but I think he gets that the UN (whatever that is) wants a Justice League it can control. Best of all, there is no decapitation, evisceration, BD/SM sex, or other naked murder victims in the book after 2 issues, and you figure, if you WERE gonna do that $h!#, you would do it right away. So, a good all ages book with humorous characters and decent super-hero action. What's not to like?

I would totally say the same thing about Supergirl, BTW. This is a GREAT jumping on book for a younger boy or girl, so far, with a likeable girl discovering she's on an alien world and has super powers. Maybe issue 3 will have rape and sodomy. Who knows?

<Disclaimer: I have absolutely NO objection to mainstream comics with any/all of the following: decapitation, evisceration, BD/SM sex, naked murder victims, rape or sodomy. I just question a business model that makes a big splash for new readers and then puts out a BUNCH of books that parents of kids younger than 17 would not want those kids to read.>

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK # 1


Magic teeth, huh? BWAhaha! Tres amusing. I wasn't enthralled but I'll give it a few issues... I just hate to see Enchantress thrown out again, if that happens. I liked her in Suicide Squad and LOVED her in SHADOWPACT.

DC, you make a really excellent point about Justice League International. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Jurgens run on JLI the first time around, which was occurring just as I was getting into comics full time, around age 12 or so. It had the same sort of accessible for younger readers my age as did MOST comics of that era. I enjoyed #2 a good deal (more than #1) and I can see how any reader age 7 or up might enjoy it.

So I didn't get this week's comics (Week 9, or the final week of Month 2 if you're keeping count), but I'm making my way through the others. What I'm finding so far is that all the comics I really enjoyed, which are the ones I read first, are maintaining that level of enjoyment in a big way for me in month #2. Some are even improving. I had hoped to eliminate a few stragglers this month but thus far haven't found one I'm willing to drop; Catwoman was a contender but #2 was actually strong enough to convince me to keep buying it. Look out Batgirl & Mr. Terrific, when I get to you.

Grifter was again a solid outing with #2 and I'm curious where this is going. I do hope we'll get *somewhere* by #3 though or I might start to lose my patience.

The Deadman story in DC Comics Presents continues to be excellent. It's less metaphysical and more 'versus magical bad guys' but it works as a nice change of pace from the opener. I'm really enjoying it still.

I finally picked up Ressurection Man #1 since I felt bad that it and Deathstroke were the only ones I didn't buy in month #1. Why in the world did I feel bad? Who knows, I'm weird like that. Anyway, it was really just "okay" and I'm collecting like 45 DCnU comics in month #2, so it wasn't enough to add it to my pull. Sorry DnA, just not my bag.

That also makes Deathstroke #1 the only series I did not sample.

I also grabbed the Shade #1 and totally loved it. Best James Robinson story since the last issue of Starman to be precise. I can easily forget about all the badly written comics in between and Robinson gives us the story he was meant to do when he came back to DC. Killer ending too.

THE HUNTRESS # 1

A perfectly serviceable story full of action and nice artwork, but I am just not in a place where I enjoy reading about bad men shooting their failing henchmen in the head all willy-nilly and selling girls into prostitution by the boatfulls. I seriously doubt I've ever been in that place come to think of it. I will pass on the remainder of this miniseries.

ACTION # 2

**FINALLY** I have broken into the # 2s from the relaunch... gads, I'm behind.

I have a major crush on jeans and t-shirt "take no bullcrap" Superman... I wish I could watch him kick ass in this style for many many months to come.

MONTH 2

Here is the status quo of where I stand regarding the DCnU after the second month. There have been some dramatic shifts...

1. Never tried and never will:
Batwing, Hawk and Dove, Men of War, Omac, Static Shock, Batman and Robin, Deathstroke, Grifter, Mister Terrific, Captain Atom, Dark Knight, Blackhawks

2. Dropped after one issue
-I Vampire: Did not understand it, and was not inclined to re-read it to find out what I missed.
-Resurrection Man: Nah. Just not interested.
-Suicide Squad: I just hated the whole thing.

3. Dropped after two issues
-Stormwatch: Only decided to try it out in the second month, thus the two issues. I wish I hadn't bothered.
-JLI: I bought a second issue, but never again. I hate this team.

4. Will buy the third issue, but I'm very likely to drop the title afterwards
-Supergirl: Two issues and hardly any story. If nothing happens in the next issue, again, the title is gone.
-Green Arrow: Not very impressed with the whole thing, will probably forget that the comic exists the minute I drop it, which will be soon. Mildly intrigued with Black Canary next issue, that is the reason I haven't dropped it yet.
-Red Lanterns: Boring. Will get #3 to check out Bleez's spotlight, but then I'm gone

5. Will probably finish the first storyline, but will drop afterwards
-Hawkman: I'm very disappointed with this title, this was one of the ones I thought I might end up buying regularly. The art is good, but I hate the whole concept of fighting the alien of the month. I also find Carter really boring as a character.
-Frankenstein: The first major shift in my new list. This comic was much further up in my first review, but I have decided that I don't like the art and don't care for the characters. I will finish this story, I guess, but then it's gone.
-Detective Comics: I am just not that much into Batman. I will probably finish this storyline, though.
-Swamp Thing: Not that it is a bad comic, but I am not into horror and this is definitely that. Will finish the first storyline, though.
-Animal Man: See above. Nevertheless the storyline here is very innovative, and I do want to see where all of this goes.
-Red Hood and the Outlaws: Major drop this month, not because of Starfire but because of where the storyline is going. I have decided that I hate Jason and don't care at all about Ducra or his life in the Tibetan monastery. Maybe the interactions between the three main characters will save this title for me, but at the moment it really doesn't look like that.
-Superboy: Another major drop this month. Superboy-agent-of-the government? Don't think so.
-Green Lantern Corps: I have collected this title for a while now and I guess I am just bored. I don't really care about any of the characters, and that makes the comic easy to drop. Good art, though
-Superman: Meh. I guess I am just not a fan. Superman stories bore me.
-Batwoman: I'm having conflicting feelings about this one. The art is exceptionally good, but unfortunately I don't seem to be able to connect with the main character. This one is teetering on the edge of a major drop...
-Batman: Not really a big Batman fan. But this one is the best of the Batman titles that I've sampled, and I'm willing to give it a little more time.

6. Intrigued. Let's see how things develop.
-Catwoman: Never been a fan, but I'm finding that I want to know where all this goes. Could easily fall into the first-arc-only category, though. We'll see.
-Huntress: Lovely art. Will probably get the whole miniseries.
-Blue Beetle: Got this one on a whim, and I think I quite like it. Detest the use of pseudoSpanglish in the comic, though. That isn't Spanglish, that is English sprinkled with Spanish words. If the comic was written in real Spanglish, English-speaking readers would have trouble understanding it.
-Teen Titans: Another big drop this month. They better make me care about all these new characters, and soon.
-Nightwing: Big surprise: I like this. The mystery of the circus has me hooked. Never been a fan of the character, though.
-Wonder Woman: Oh, so that's where we are going... I like the concept of having the gods involved in human affairs, and of Diana being Zeus' daughter. OK, I'll bite. But am not into the art, at all.
-New Guardians: Now, this is interesting. Much more interested in these characters than in the Green Lantern Corps.
-Flash: This may be the first time I buy a Flash comic, but I am intrigued enough to stay on board for the foreseeable future.
-Deadman: Less interested after the second month than I was after the first one. Still am willing to stick with it.
-Justice League Dark: Major jump up this month, probably because I am starting to find out more about the different characters. Not really a fan of magic comic books, but we'll see where this one goes.
-Firestorm: I'm quite intrigued by the two forms of Firestorm and by the mystery of Prof Stein. I'll keep at it for now.
-All Star Western: Like the main story a lot. Don't like the fact that we are apparently going to be getting short second stories a lot of the time. Still, this is much better placed than I would have predicted.

7. On board for the foreseeable future

-Voodoo: Oh, I'm liking this. Everything is so mysterious... And now we find out that Voodoo is firmly entrenched in the DCU...
-Demon Knights: Well, this was surprising. I'm liking this!
-Green Lantern: Very interested in where this business with Siniestro is going to lead.
-Birds of Prey: The largest jump up ever! Love BC and Katana, and am very intrigued with the possibility of having Poison Ivy in the team. If they want to be really groundbreaking, they should add one token male to the team :-)
-Batgirl: I've been a fan of Barbara since I was a child, and am finding that this story, for better or for worse, reminds me of that time. Mirror is an incredibly interesting villain, and the roommate is also intriguing.
-Aquaman: This is the Aquaman comic that I've always wanted to read. Loving Mera.
-Justice League: I am just loving this comic, especially the interactions between the characters. Looking forward to WW.
-Action: Number one spot this month. Love reading about Superman's early stories.

I'm not really going to include the Legion titles in this because, well, it would take a catastrophe of Legion on the Run proportions to make me stop buying the titles. I'll just say that I loved the Origins book, am still waiting for Paul to hit his stride in the main title but have hope (denser writing might help, I feel that the comic is a bit light), and am worried about Legion Lost. Are we getting a villain-of-the-month kind of comic? That wouldn't be good.

These are a lot more comics than I have bought for many years. At least with respect to me, their gamble worked big time.

Justice League Dark #2 left me, well, kind of in the dark... I really wanted to like this book, if only because it's my only dose of Zatanna, but the interplay (and how long it went on) between Dove and Deadman was kinda bizarre (if not totally realistic from a guy's point of view) and I didn't really care about any one else... I'll give it one more issue than I'll probably jump ship...

1 1/2 fins up

So I picked up My Greatest Adventure, which is kind of a continuation of the last anthology series DC did but with a slight twist. I’ve always loved the old series titles DC used in the 1950’s, and so seeing “My Greatest Adventure” as a title is a nice little treat. I also really would love it for DC could have a successful anthology title with ongoing success for more than one year.

My initial impressions are that it’s a mixed bag, and that’s always the downfall of anthologies. But more than even that is that while none of the stories are that bad, none of them are “must read” / “edge of my seat” stories that have me demanding to see more. All in all, two of the three are slightly above average and the third is just mediocre.

Robotman, the character I have the most attachment to, had a good intro by Matt Kindt, who if you don’t know, is a true comic book genius. His Vertigo graphic novel Revolver is one of the best things I’ve ever read in any medium. He’s a fantastic story teller, both writer and artist, and I’m thrilled he’s taken the reigns of a fantastic character like Cliff. Plus, I love the idea of Robotman having his own ongoing feature again (as in the Golden Age and early 50’s) but even more, I love that its Cliff-Robotman having the lead feature, instead of the Golden Age Robotman. The setting outside Las Vegas is rife with plot potential and I’m surprised there aren’t more Vegas-centered comic book series. I’d love it if Super-Hip showed up as he did in Giff’s Doom Patrol series. This was my favorite of the three, as it was quirky and fun with a nice introduction that didn’t drag out at all.

Up next was Ariel Olivetti’s Garbageman, which started in Weird Worlds last year. Clearly, the best part of this feature is the incredible artwork by Olivetti—he’s putting everything he’s got into this story and it shows. The story is something that hasn’t quite interested me totally yet and if this were a solo series, I would not be returning. The Swamp Thing similarity is too noticeable not to mention and while you can kind of see Olivetti trying to clearly demonstrate this is something different, I’m just not believing it yet.

The last feature was Kevin McGuire’s Tanga, which was also begun last year in Weird Worlds. Of the three, this was the weakest of the features. While McGuire’s artwork is simply stunning—and I’ve been a huge fan throughout his career from his Justice League stuff to Captain America mini to other things—the basic storyline isn’t really grabbing me. There’s a lot of talking heads and while the dialogue is somewhat amusing its just not laugh-out-loud funny. I was losing interest midway through and its only an 8 page story.

The real issue here is this series is $3.99; American comic books seem unwilling to squeeze their margins in any shape or form and that’s a shame. If it was $2.99 I might give it more of a go, but at that price and the level of enjoyment I have, I probably won’t continue. Plus, I’m simply buying too many DC’s already with real trouble figuring out if any are going to be cut at all. This isn’t quite on the level of the massive list of DC comics that I’ve kept.

As I've said a few times, month #2 had me trying to see which of the DCnU I could cut from a far too large pull list. Some, like Catwoman, secured a place on my while others, like Batgirl, are dropped. The other one I fully expected to drop was Mr. Terrific. And after #2, I'm pulling the trigger on the cut.

As I've said before, Mr. Terrific is a big favorite among the new JSA characters introduced in the last 15 years. So this was a tough call. It was made easier though by a slight change in how Michael is written: namely he's coming off way too arrogant and uber-cocksure. That's not the Michael I know from JSA and rather much more like Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark.

But honestly that's not too big a deal. Nor is the usage of Karen Starr which is more distracting and annoying than anything else. Simply put, there's simply too many better comic books out there by DC, Marvel and independents. This isn't a bad book by any means; it's actually not bad. But it isn't *great* and too many others are.

Cobie, like you I was hoping for better from MR. TERRIFIC. In addition to the things you mentioned, I also think the art was particularly weak in some places. That said, I liked #2 better than #1, but still not enough to keep buying the book.

I put thoughts on Animal Man, Action, Swamp Thing and Red Lanterns in their respective threads. Overall still a strong week, though some titles are faltering a little.

GREEN ARROW # 2

I kinda liked all the digital/internet stuff going on... made it more interesting to me. Art continues to be very good. With Giffen coming, I ain't leaving.

HAWK & DOVE # 2

Could not read completely... skimmed stuff in the middle... I have bought my final issue of this lukewarm mess.

Totes plowing through some # 2s now! Some on the bubble titles have made the cut, some have not.

WONDER WOMAN... # 2 has made me a fan of this odd incarnation. I'm onboard.

CATWOMAN # 2 was really really good...

I'm still on the fence with BATGIRL. It has 1 more month to convince me I want to keep it, or it gets dropped. Not Gail's strongest work, for certain. In the boat with Babs is SUICIDE SQUAD... 1 more issue will tell the tale.

I'm pretty sure I'm onboard BIRDS OF PREY and RESURRECTION MAN after the # 2 issues.

However, joining HAWK & DOVE on the AXED list following the # 2 issue is DEMON KNIGHTS. It just isn't grabbing me, not even semi-grabbing like BATGIRL or SUICIDE SQUAD. It's gone.