But enough of my yakkin'. Let's boogie.
Batman & Robin by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason
The story starts with a bang as we meet the Batman of Moscow - briefly - and then moves on to re-introduce us to Bruce Wayne and his son, Damien, who are fighting together as the titular Batman and Robin. They argue a bit about the nature of their neverending battle and then go on to foil the heist of nuclear fuel rods from a research lab. Insofar as the action goes, it's not bad - a little splashy, and some good, solid B&R action scenes. But that's not really what this story is about, nor is it what the book will really be about, at least not for a while. It's more about the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Damien, both as father and son and as Batman and Robin.
It's time for closure: This raised my eyebrows right up into the fleeing front line of my hairline: Bruce looks like he wants to get over his parents' death. He brings Damien to Crime Alley for the last memorial of their passing, and says that he's done brooding over the miserable way they died, and would rather celebrate their lives. This is, of course, utterly earthshaking, since the whole reason Batman exists is because of the miserable way they died. Bruce Wayne deciding he's had enough brooding is like Aquaman deciding to retire in Phoenix - it just comes as something of a shock.
Someone's been reading Beckett: Batman and Robin's opening scene as they head off for a final rose-laying ceremony at Crime Alley. Here's a taste:
Batman: I can still see my mother's pearls rolling into the sewer.Honestly, I'm surprised no one hanged himself by the end.
Robin: Life's a battlefield, father. Good people meet horrible fates the same as bad ones.
Batman: The sound of her pearls hitting the water seemed as loud as the gunshots that night...
Robin: Grief and remorse are a disease of the weak. You wage war and destroy your enemies before they destroy you.
Batman: The future's always in the process of interpreting the meaning of the past, Robin.
Robin: What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Wait... what?: Is Alfred a hologram or not? He hands something to Batman in this issue, something most holograms have trouble with. So confused....
Batwoman by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman
This book is arguably one of the most beautifully-rendered books so far. Williams has an outstanding command of color, tone and - most importantly for this book - layout. There are these beautiful, complex double-page spreads all through the book that are a joy to just look at. You go from the muted blues of the background to the screaming red of Batwoman's hair; have an almost painterly flow of light and shadow on one page, and then turn the next and it's heavy, sharp-lined inks that define an entirely new place and situation. It's clear that Williams is an artist who knows how to let the art help the reader understand the world the story is in, and he makes use of it to the fullest. Bravo to you, sir.
All of this on top of a story of children being abducted by a mysterious crying ghost. Who may or may not be Batwoman's sister. I can appreciate a complex story, but a complex story should be presented to the reader like an intricate puzzle box, wherein one secret is revealed, then another, then another, all the while the connections between secrets are surprising and delighting. This was more like Williams and Blackman dumping a bag full of secrets in my lap and saying, "There you go. Have fun."
One thing I still don't understand (One thing?): Why is Batwoman so vampire-pale? I mean, really pale. And it doesn't seem to be a costume-specific thing, either. Even when she's just being Kate Kane, she's fresh-from-the-morgue pale. With all the information we get in this book, what we don't learn is why she looks like she's just been pulled out of Gotham Reservoir.
Deathstroke by Kyle Higgins and Joe Bennett
But from my reading, that's pretty much all Slade has ever been - a badass. The closest he came to depth of character was when he was originally introduced in the old Teen Titans run, where we learn about his history as a soldier and his involvement in a super-soldier program which basically made him Captain America if Cap had been made for the Vietnam War and turned into a hateful sonofabitch. In addition, his kids have all either been mutilated, killed, or turned against him. So that Slade Wilson was moderately interesting. This one has struck pretty much one note: I'm a badass.
Which - don't get me wrong - he is. Very much so. In this tale, he's been given a support team that he doesn't want, full of post-modern hipster Damn Young People who are supposed to back him up while he foils the evil plans of an arms dealer. The dealer's plans turn out to actually be much more evil than we thought - Clayface zombies, Max Schreck clones and Marcellus Wallace's briefcase are all involved somehow. It's all very violent and full of the kind of things only Deathstroke can pull off, which is good fun. But there's not a whole lot more than that.
Although I have to thank Higgins and Bennett for ending the story exactly the way I wanted it to end.
Time Marches On: There is one thin runner of a character theme in this story, one that I hope Higgins takes advantage of: Slade Wilson is getting old. His jobs-man tells him that there are those who think he can't handle the jobs he used to do, and that kind of implied impotence is one thing that hits any man very, very hard. I'd really like to see Slade deal with this head-on and actually wrestle with the problem of being one of the older active metahumans that DC Comics has on its roster. Done well, this could be a very nice exploration of his character, and I might enjoy reading that.
Demon Knights by Paul Cornell and Diogenes Neves
DC has always enjoyed telling stories in different eras, and over the decades they've racked up an impressive number of characters who either lived through or started in the Medieval era of Europe. For this book, it looks like they've decided to throw them all together for one great big party.
It's a fun read, actually. The language is fairly modernized, perhaps in the A Knight's Tale tradition of believing that while people may not have said "My arse" as an expression of doubt, they probably had something they did say, and so "My arse" will do as a substitute.
So what we have is - basically - The Magnificent Seven, if they were in medieval Europe and could use magic. That's a story I never really get tired of.
LEGIONSQUEE: I'm a lifelong fan of the Legion of Superheroes (more on them later), and so seeing their ancient enemy Mordru as a player in this story just made me very happy. He's an utter bastard, and fortunately not being drawn in his traditional evil clown costume.
Pretty pictures.... Neves' art is gorgeous, I must admit. There's a ton of detail, creative uses of panels, and some very good characterization in drawing our seven heroes. Added to wonderful coloring from Marcelo Maiolo, it's a beautiful book to look at. Definitely one I think I'll follow for a while.
Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. by Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli
There has always been a tradition of monsters in comic books - that's one of the reasons the Comics Code was established in the '50s. Monster comics were gruesome enough and scary enough that the more conservative community leaders thought they would do damage to the delicate minds of their innocent children. So rather than wait for Congress to come up with guidelines on the content of comics, the industry decided to police itself. Through the Comics Code, their stories became flat and wholesome, and their monsters were divested of their ability to truly terrify.
Bone Lake, Washington, has been overrun with horrifying creatures. A S.H.A.D.E. agent is missing in action, and it's up to Frankenstein and his Creature Commandos to retrieve her and save the town. But will their aid even be welcome, or are they just another kind of monster - ones which must be destroyed?
In a recent interview, Lemire has said that he really enjoyed writing this story because he's long had a love of monsters and science fiction. What he's made is a nice blend of the two, with these classic Universal monsters working for a mad scientist who is, in turn, working under the auspices of the U.S. government. It has a certain darkness to it, but it's also weirdly funny. Father Time, for example, is the head of this organization. He's an immortal who gets a new body every decade or so, and the current one looks to be a ten year-old schoolgirl. This kind of tongue-in-cheek humor is laced throughout the book, with promises of more to come.
A little more backstory... One thing I've been hunting for during this reboot is evidence of the greater DC Universe, and we get it in little bits here and there. For example, Ray Palmer - the Atom - is working with S.H.A.D.E. to help them maintain their shrunken secret headquarters. Also, the vampire character, Vincent Velcoro, gained his new abilities by using a variant of the "Langstrom Serum," so we know that Man-Bat is lurking around somewhere in the DCU.
Green Lantern by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke
There are a few titles that I have just been aching to see. Some of them because they're characters I really like, or because of the creative team working on the book, or even just a really cool cover. This book manages to hit all three points.
Let me repeat that, in case you didn't get it the first time. Sinestro. The guy who was the first to betray the Corps. The one who has been Hal Jordan's nemesis since time immemorial. The guy who had his own ring made so that he could build his own corps for the express purpose of killing each and every Green Lantern in existence.
Is a Green Lantern again. When this cover was released, the entire DC fan base turned into Sheila Broflovski: "whatwhatWHAAAAAT?"
According to Johns, this has been the plan all along, reboot or no. While we don't know exactly how this happened, what we do know is this: a Green Ring chose Sinestro, and the Guardians of the Universe are going to let it stand. What makes it interesting, of course, is that Sinestro doesn't want the damned ring. He was fine with his own ring and his own corps, and spending the rest of his life hating Hal Jordan and the Guardians. But it seems that was not meant to be, and now he has to figure out what he's going to do about it.
Now, while the GL Corps has gained its most improbable member, it has also lost its most famous. Hal Jordan has been stripped of his ring for being utterly reckless and insubordinate. I suppose he's had this coming, really. The Guardians have been complaining for years about Jordan and how he doesn't just do as he's damn well told. Whatever he did, I guess they've finally had enough of his shenanigans and kicked him out.
So we have two men who are in places that they absolutely don't want to be in, and if they want out, then they'll have to work together. It can only get better from here.
I'm a big Green Lantern fan, and I love what Johns has done with it. He has a particular talent for long-term planning and taking characters in new and interesting directions, so I'm really looking forward to seeing where we go from here.
Wait a minute.... How will Jordan's expulsion from the GLC affect his involvement in the Justice League? As it stands, that book is taking place about five years in the past, so I figure Hal Jordan should regain his ring before the current JL arc resolves itself and we snap forward to the present. Of course, Johns is writing that one too, so any assumptions I make could be entirely null.
Grifter by Nathan Edmondson and Cafu
Grifter is another import from DC's Wildstorm imprint, much like Stormwatch, which means I have little to no knowledge of who or what he is. So that pretty much puts me on par with most other people who are picking this up for the first time.
He has a brother in the military who's looking for him, and a girlfriend who's fed up with his general irresponsibility (never mind that he was kidnapped by Horrible Indescribable Creatures.)
So, there's still a lot I don't know about this guy. His Wikipedia page says that he had some interesting powers and adventures in his Wildstorm incarnation, but it's unclear if any of those have carried over into the DC Universe proper. We shall see.
What's he thinking? The mask. It's a neat mask and all that, but what's the point? If he's trying to hide, it's not going to help - it'll just attract more attention to himself. And the alien-things not only know what he looks like, they seem to be able to find him wherever he is anyway. *shrug*
Legion Lost by Fabian Nicieza and Pete Woods
Other than the Green Lantern books, this is one of the ones I've been waiting for like a schoolgirl at a Bieber concert. The Legion has always been my favorite supergroup - it has a vast and diverse cast, adventures that are truly cosmic in scale, and grand storylines that are unrivaled anywhere else in the DC Universe. Not to mention interesting characters, complex relationships, and a good helping of science fiction. It all adds up to a lifelong love, and I was thrilled to know that there would be more than one Legion title in the reboot.
Seven members of the Legion have come to the present to stop him - but they fail. Whatever this pathogen is, it's out now, and Earth is compromised. What's more, the attempt to take Alastor back to the 31st century fails, taking the lives of two Legionnaires in the process. Their friends are dead, their criminal is missing, and they are stuck in the 21st century with no way home. You'd think things couldn't get any worse, but I'm pretty sure they will.
I like the characters they've chosen, too. It's good to see Tyroc back in action, since he was a character that they seemed a little unsure what to do with back when he was first in the group. He's got a much better costume, and advances in art techniques seem to have allowed them to do away with the goofy sound effects they used to use in order to tell us that he was using his sonic powers. Having Dawnstar and Wildfire together is always good, if only for the romantic tension. There's also Timber Wolf and Tellus, complete opposites, as well as Chameleon Girl and Gates. Which brings us to....
Gates was a fascinating character when he was introduced in 1994. He was not humanoid (preceded by that point only by Quislet and Tellus) and he was the only LSH member who had to be forced to join. He never wanted to be in the Legion, and he never really got over being drafted. He once referred to the group as a "teenage death squad." Even though he came to appreciate his teammates and their mission, he's always been resentful of the system that took him from his people.
When that version of the Legion was replaced by the "Threeboot" Legion, Gates was presumed lost, along with all the other original characters that were created or revamped during his run (including the revised Ferro, which is something I may never truly forgive them for). But Gates - and his Legion - came back during the Legion of 3 Worlds storyline, and he was allowed to stay with the original post-CoIE Legion, while the other two Legions faded away into that place where canceled characters go.
So, he was a reminder of one of my favorite incarnations of the Legion, probably the first one I was able to follow regularly, and he's an original and unique character.
And now he's dead.
Not happy, Mr. Nicieza. Just so you know....
Mister Terrific by Eric Wallace and Gianluca Gugliotta
Michael Holt - Mister Terrific - is the third smartest man in the world. He's behind Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor, I believe, and he's definitely made the most of his intellect. Not only does he head up a multibillion-dollar technology company, but he saves the best of what he has in order to be - of course - a superhero. Of course, part of what spurred him on was the death of his beloved wife in what appeared to be a random car accident, followed by meeting his unborn son through the use of a quantum-dimensional-time-space doohicky. Spurred on by both of them, Michael puts on a mask, get a "FAIR PLAY" tattoo, and decides to fight evil. Good on him.
Not something most super-heroes are up to doing.
It looks like an interesting book, though it hasn't really caught me yet. We'll see how it turns out.
Cameos! Again, we get to see a little more of the greater DCU with a one of Mister Terrific's old Justice Society friends! The JSA has not been included in the New 52 Reboot, which raised a few eyebrows, but one of them shows up here. Karen Starr - A.K.A. Power Girl. Power Girl has had a severe backstory problem as long as she's been around. She's been Superman's cousin, an Atlantean princess, a supergirl from another universe... No one's been really sure what to do with her, so they just put her in a revealing costume and have her beat people up. We don't see her do any heroics here, so we don't know if Karen Starr is/will be Power Girl again. Although, the evening dress she wears was clearly designed as an homage to her old "Cleavage Window" costume, so that may be a clue.
Not a believer: One of the really interesting things about Mister Terrific is that he is an atheist. That's a pretty big deal, seeing as how atheists have been polled as America's most hated group (PDF link), beating out pretty much every ethnic minority and sexual orientation. Michael Holt is an unapologetic atheist, however, turning to science to answer the questions he needs answered. And not just science - super-science.
What makes this most interesting is that he is an atheist in a universe where the existence of not just God but many gods is a provable fact. There was an angel in the Justice League. Characters die and come back constantly. Ghosts and demons are very real. Hell, The Spectre is one of the most powerful beings in Creation, and he says he is the Vengeance of God. Against all that, Mister Terrific is an unbeliever. It makes for an interesting choice.
Red Lanterns by Peter Milligan and Ed Benes
KITTY!!
Sorry, wait, back up. A little backstory first.
The Red Lanterns were created by Geoff Johns during his epic revamping of the Green Lantern Corps and all they entailed. He created an "emotional spectrum" of light, each with its own particular qualities and powers. Green was the color of willpower, and was at the center of everything, thus its popularity over the years. But he went through the other six colors, giving them each a unique and compelling view of the universe and their place in it.
That's what we English teachers call a "metaphor," kids.
As our story begins, Atrocitus is having an existential crisis, which doesn't really go well with boundless anger. The man who orchestrated the death of his people - the renegade Guardian, Krona - is dead. But Atrocitus was not the one to defeat him. For millennia, his hate for Krona is what kept him strong, but now... Now he's asking questions like, "What's it all about, really?" while his Corps is slipping through his fingers. The rage of the universe calls to him, but it may be too late....
I said, "KITTY!!" Dex-Starr was originally created as a joke. He's an adorable blue cat in a Red Lantern uniform who turns into a flame/blood-spitting ball of fur and death. Other than Ch'p in the Green Lanterns, there's really no one else quite like him. When Geoff Johns saw what artist Shane Davis had designed, however, he just fell in love with the adorable, hateful kitty, and insisted he be given a part in the Rage of the Red Lanterns mini-series. From there, be became a fan favorite.
What cemented Dex-Starr's underground popularity, though, was his very brief origin story in Green Lantern #55. He was a cute blue kitten named Dexter, adopted by a lonely young woman who took good care of him and built that weird, codependent relationship so many cat owners (guilty!) have. One night her apartment is broken into and she's brutally murdered. Dexter is kicked out onto the streets and then picked up by a bunch of punk teenagers who throw him off the Brooklyn Bridge in a sack. Dexter's boundless feline rage attracts a Red Ring and he is reborn as Dex-Starr, the angriest kitty. Here is the last part of the story, panels which will undoubtedly go down in comics history as one of the saddest scenes in the medium. Lois Lane holding on to a dead Superman in the rubble of Metropolis. Aunt May raging at Captain America during Peter Parker's funeral. Dex-Starr:
Maybe it helps to be a cat owner. Okay. Keep it together, Gladis. Only a few more to go.
Resurrection Man by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
The Resurrection Man is a man who cannot die.
And that's pretty much all we know about him. He's got this little problem, he's not very happy about it, but it seems like he's got a handle on how it works. He dies, he comes back, he can do something new. The problem is that while he's not entirely concerned about how or why he should be able to do this, there are... entities that have a very definite interest in making sure that the next time he dies, he stays dead. Both humans and mysterious Otherworldly Beings are after him, and he has no idea what they want. Always exciting.
There's not a whole lot more to say about it, because that's all I know. Wikipedia tells me that he's been around since the current team created him back in '97, but by that time I had no money to read new and interesting comics, so I never picked this one up. His original origin seemed to be rather confusing, his powers coming either from technological nanobots or a curse that spanned the entire history of the DC Universe. How his powers work in this version, we have no idea. I'll be interested to see what comes of him, though.
Suicide Squad by Adam Glass, Federico Dalloccio, Ransom Getty, and Scott Hanna
That's always been one of the great weaknesses of Villainy, really - it doesn't play well with others. There have been evil teams before, yes, but they invariably lose to the good guys, who are much better at it.
This issue starts us off with torture. Nasty, salt-in-the-wound, rats on your chest, fingernail-pulling torture. Fun for the whole family. The Squad has been captured, and their torturers want information on who runs the team and how. As we go from member to member, we learn a little bit about who they are and how they got into the Squad. As far as exposition goes, it's actually not bad. It sets up the tone of the book very well, drops a few secrets in our hands, and gives us just enough information so that we can get right into the action in the next issue. Which promises to be a doozy.
The head of Task Force X, which runs the Suicide Squad, is Amanda Waller. She is a tough, no-nonsense woman who is devoted to her country and utterly ruthless. Just the kind of person you need to run a team of supervillains against their will. She bridges that grey zone between hero and villain, and I'm not sure even she knows where she falls.
She's also built like a tank. Or at least she used to be.
Now it looks like she's de-aged about twenty years and shed a good deal of weight.
The reasons for this are unclear as yet, of course. Hell, for all we know that's not the real Amanda Waller. The woman is a master of intrigue and deception, and she probably has many layers of security set up between her and the rest of the world. Whatever the reasoning was, it'll be interesting to see where it goes.
Superboy by Scott Lobdell and R.B. Silva
Again. Metaphor. If you've ever been a teenager, you should be able to spot it.
It's a good introduction to the character, with some moments of levity mixed in. This incarnation reminds me a lot of the one from the Young Justice cartoon - serious, focused, and not entirely sure what it means to be a human being. We know he'll end up with the Teen Titans eventually, but how he gets there should be a rocky and difficult path.
The one thing I'd really like to know is when this is occurring, in-universe. Given conditions at the end of Action #1, it's entirely possible that the DNA sample needed to create Superboy was created about six years prior to "now," so keep your eyes on that. And there's a Teen Titans book on the way, the cover of which implies that Superboy has shed his lab suit and has gone over to the side of the angels. So we shall see...
FINALLY, the Mystery Lady of the 52 Reboot is still hanging around. Here's where I found her this time:
And that's it for this week! See you next time....
