Bore Comics Thread: Crisis On Infinite Megathreads

[Tasty]

I need to get to reading that already!

You haven't yet?

So re: Death Of Wolverine.  Remember the mini series about the Weapon X program people?  One of them took off the gas mask he was wearing in an earlier issue and had Logan's face, plus old memories.  So was he a clone?  Did Wolverine's mind merge with him? 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The answer is none of that!  They were just fucking with us-- it's Wolverine's old master/foe Ogun, transferring his consciousness into the poor guy and taking over his mind. 

[close]

  Issue #4 got really, really fucked up in regards to the rest of the characters, too.  The last issue is next month and I don't think it's gonna end well for this crew.

Spider-Woman is getting a new costume.  It's being used in a cartoon (or game?) first, then will be introduced into the comics next year.

(Image removed from quote.)

I don't really like it.  It's not too terribly bad, but for recent awesome-looking female Spider character costumes, Silk and Spider-Gwen do it better.  This costume reminds too much of Wonder Woman's redesign from right before the old DC universe ended and just doesn't fit the character, IMO.  If anything, I'd just take the original costume and make it look like a Shield uniform with a mask or something.  This new costume also seems like a rejected female version of Hawkeye's current duds.

Spider-Gwen

Best new costume since Miles Spidey.

If you think the above image looks OK, fine.  Now let's see it when drawn by someone else.

....

Dem hips.

It's kind of a knockoff of hipster-Batgirl, right? "Functional realistic" costume with a girl-style.

[Tasty]

13-day digital sale for DC graphic novels starting on the 20th.

All-Star Superman
American Vampire Vol. 1
Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls
Batman: Earth One
Batman: Hush
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: Year One
Extremely Moronic MAD
Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile
Final Crisis
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Identity Crisis
JLA Vol. 1
Joker
Justice League Vol. 1: Origin
Kingdom Come
MAD About Superheroes
Saga of the Swamp Thing Book One
Spy vs. Spy – The Top Secret Files
Superman: Earth One Vol. 1
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes
V For Vendetta
Watchmen
Wonder Woman Vol. 1: BLood
Y: The Last Man Vol. 1: Unmanned

Some good stuff there, but I already have most of it lol. Will probably pick up Hush, Identity Crisis, and Joker.

[parallax]

my problem is that it looks like a fan creation by someone who tries to "modernize" comic characters, but doesnt get comic characters. she looks like she would be right at home in a 5 issue image special about quirky spies or some shit

[Supermanisdead]

This week in Jean Grey fantears: Teen Jean meets Ultimate Jean, they hug.

[Joe Molotov]

I liked pre-New52 Wonder Woman, when she had pants.

[Mr. Nobody]

I just bought all the issues in The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul today, got super nostalgic for pre-New 52 stuff all of a sudden. And man... I miss this Tim Drake.

they really built a head of steam with ras and red robin, and then just tossed it in the trash for nu52.

Pre-new 52 had Tim taking on the League of Assassins by himself

Now he's jobbing to z-list villains in nu-Teen Titans 

[Tasty]

Timmy :'(

[Tasty]

That one time Tim almost straight up murdered Damian

[Tasty]

DC holiday sale is live! https://www.comixology.com/DC-Essential-Graphic-Novels-Sale/page/4719/

Picked up Hush and Identity Crisis.

[Tasty]

Identity Crisis

I knew most of the plot points for this going in, and to be clear they're definitely icky. With that said, the book's writing by Brad Meltzer was actually surprisingly good and it did a great job of setting up the mystery. It's a shame then that the "reveal" was done in such a wet-noodle way, I was hoping for a more elaborate path to deduction based on the book up until that point. This book also has some moments of pure silliness - like Deathstroke beating eight members of the Justice League almost simultaneously (including the Flash and Green Lantern, come on.)

Regardless of your thoughts on "the big icky", I had far more of a problem with the villain and their motivations - it paints the wives of superheroes in a negative light, and just felt really patronizing to women in general I felt.

Something I completely forgot about going into this book is that it includes the death of Tim Drake's father, just when they were coming to more of an understanding. To this day I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Drawing another parallel to Bruce is all fine and good, but Tim was always the outlier. When he started he had both parents, he wanted to be Robin, and I felt like those things made him a breath of fresh air compared to Dick and Jason. I get that comics are forever locked into an entropic spiral of angst, but I think this might have been too much. Well, at least Tim got better.

2 / 5


Batman: Hush

This was amazing. Unfortunately, I knew Hush's identity going in, but it was still a great ride. I've been amazed by Capullo ever since his run started with the New 52, but reading Hush reminded me that Jim Lee's art pretty much is Batman. At least for me. The flashbacks had an amazing style too - they captured a certain forlorn innocence about Bruce's childhood before his parents died. Like, they're happy memories that Bruce should be able to look back on fondly, but they're overshadowed by the tragedy to come. Bringing that across in an art style totally surprised me. It's sheer mastery.

This story arc brings back memories of The Long Halloween, especially with how it weaves all of Batman's rogues into the tapestry (plus a well-written Supes, always a plus.) I rarely left the edge of my seat reading Hush, even if I think there were one or two too many swerves.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Jason Todd issue in particular felt a little ridiculous, since I'm not sure how Tommy knew that Todd was jacking the right-front tire, or other assorted tidbits. It also highlighted an overuse of Clayface as an actor-for-hire, which just isn't very interesting to me. He's a full fledged villain but was reduced to a plot device in service to an unnecessary twist. I will say, if I had not known who Hush was, and I knew that Jason Todd did indeed come back somewhere around this period in comics, I probably would have bought it. But I still feel it was unnecessary and introduced some plot holes.

[close]

The best thing about the book may be how it believably develops the romance with Catwoman. It may have been slightly too rushed in my opinion, but I didn't read the issues leading up to this story so I can't say for sure. Since this story predates me getting into comics by a few years, it was actually kind of neat seeing a Catwoman who didn't know Batman's identity. I think they're far more interesting after they crossed that point, but it was just neat for me personally seeing her before she knew (and seeing it get revealed to her.)

I really loved how the book spent equal time on summarizing the three Robins and how they were all different, and how Bruce tried to help each one in a different way. Those excerpts were absolutely fantastic, and I loved the writing when it focused on his guilt over certain things. It's weird to say these days, but I think Jeph Loeb knocked it out of the park.

4 / 5

[parallax]

you rated identity crisis too high drex.

[Tasty]

I enjoyed it while I was reading it.

It's insulting, but it's also a fun read lol, if that makes any sense.

[Tasty]

Prepping to go through a ton of legacy Bat story arcs during Christmas vacation: Contagion, Legacy, Cataclysm, No Man's Land, The Black Glove, The Black Mirror... maybe less, maybe more.

[Mr. Nobody]

 

[Joe Molotov]

Identity Crisis

It's even worse when you remember that they had just done Formerly Known as Justice League and that I Can't Believe It's Not Justice League was supposed to run at the same time (although they did delay until the next year). So on one hand, you got Ralph and Sue Digby getting up to hijinks with Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, and then on the other hand, you've got whatever the fuck was going on in Identity Crisis. Oh and then Blue Beetle gets killed too (by Maxwell Lord), and not even in the Infinite Crisis proper, but in the Prelude to Infinite Crisis. At least Booster Gold came out of it alive and got his own series.

[Tasty]

Identity Crisis

It's even worse when you remember that they had just done Formerly Known as Justice League and that I Can't Believe It's Not Justice League was supposed to run at the same time (although they did delay until the next year). So on one hand, you got Ralph and Sue Digby getting up to hijinks with Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, and then on the other hand, you've got whatever the fuck was going on in Identity Crisis. Oh and then Blue Beetle gets killed too (by Maxwell Lord), and not even in the Infinite Crisis proper, but in the Prelude to Infinite Crisis. At least Booster Gold came out of it alive and got his own series.

Yeah well Max bought it in the lead up to Infinite Crisis too, right? Think it was The OMAC Project.

SNAP!

I really loved that plot point and how it set IC up. Also I know everyone loves Ted Kord and his hijinks with Booster Gold, but I'm kind of a Jaime Reyes fan.

[Joe Molotov]

Yeah, he mind-controlled Superman into going on a rampage and Wonder Woman snapped his neck.

[Tasty]

LOL this conversation made me buy the OMAC Project (annoyingly, right after issue #3 there's four crucial tie-in issues across three Superman and one Wonder Woman comics, and they're the ones that actually SHOW Supes pounding Bats and WW killing Max. UGH.)

Aaaaaannnnnnddd... now I'm re-reading Infinite Crisis. I think this is the second time this year.

Best Crisis. <3

Edit-



Dis ether

[bork]

Started on New 52 Batman.  Well, that's not quite true since I read all of the Court Of Owls/Night Of Owls stuff when it was coming out.  Not going to be reading stuff in order and may not read everything.  I started with The Dark Knight, which I believe was canceled earlier this year (?).  Read the first arc with art from David Finch.  The storyline felt like it was trying hard to be like Hush, but failed miserably at it.  You even had Clayface pretending to be someone else again.     This storyline introduced new...uh...villain?  The White Rabbit, AKA David Finch wants to show you a girl in a playboy bunny costume's ass at every chance possible.  She literally just runs around and is just...there with the other bad guys actually doing stuff.  This character's "secret identity" could have made her interesting, but as far as I can tell, the character was pretty much forgotten about and just showed up in a panel or two in Forever Evil.  So, spoiler- The White Rabbit is actually rich socialite Jaina Hudson, who can split herself into two people.  Bruce Wayne is dating Jaina during this storyline, but as soon as its over, he's fucking some piano player in the next issue, with no explanation given.  LOLWUT  I don't know if I can stand the rest of this series.

Washed that bad taste out of my mouth by starting Zero Year.  ZERO.  FUCKING.  YEAR.    This is just too good.  Snyder and Capullo are amazing.  I don't want this storyline to end.

[Tasty]

Started on New 52 Batman.  Well, that's not quite true since I read all of the Court Of Owls/Night Of Owls stuff when it was coming out.  Not going to be reading stuff in order and may not read everything.  I started with The Dark Knight, which I believe was canceled earlier this year (?).  Read the first arc with art from David Finch.  The storyline felt like it was trying hard to be like Hush, but failed miserably at it.  You even had Clayface pretending to be someone else again.     This storyline introduced new...uh...villain?  The White Rabbit, AKA David Finch wants to show you a girl in a playboy bunny costume's ass at every chance possible.  She literally just runs around and is just...there with the other bad guys actually doing stuff.  This character's "secret identity" could have made her interesting, but as far as I can tell, the character was pretty much forgotten about and just showed up in a panel or two in Forever Evil.  So, spoiler- The White Rabbit is actually rich socialite Jaina Hudson, who can split herself into two people.  Bruce Wayne is dating Jaina during this storyline, but as soon as its over, he's fucking some piano player in the next issue, with no explanation given.  LOLWUT  I don't know if I can stand the rest of this series.

Washed that bad taste out of my mouth by starting Zero Year.  ZERO.  FUCKING.  YEAR.    This is just too good.  Snyder and Capullo are amazing.  I don't want this storyline to end.

I realized Dark Knight was trash after about 10 issues. Wish it didn't take that long but I kept holding out hope. :-/

I don't want this storyline to end.

Yeah, about that... For me it kinda got to the point where I was wishing it'd end. It's basically three arcs in one, which of course is quite the feat, but I'm not sure I needed that much info on Batman's past (especially when some of it is a dumber version of Year One... hologram caves, really? That's what does it?)

[Tasty]

So uh, tell me someone here read Batman & Robin (Two-Face) #28.

[Tasty]

Spoilers for latest DCU stuff.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

So like everyone knows Batman is Bruce.

- Joker (confirmed Batman #37)
- Two-Face (confirmed Batman & Robin #28)
- Lex Luthor (confirmed Forever Evil #7)
- Lincoln March / The Court of Owls

Plus people who knew before like Hush, Ra's and Catwoman. This is getting to be... a bit much.

[close]

[bork]

Axis is over.  The big things coming out of this Marvel storyline:

-Everyone gets reverted back to their good/evil allegiances, except for three people.
-Sabertooth is now a good guy.  He will be the star of the Wolverines comic starting soon, presumably.
-Havok stays as a "bad guy", kidnaps Wasp, makes her shrink them down to microscopic levels, then reappears to join Cyclops' X-Men with no sign of Wasp.
-Iron Man is staying a bad guy/dickhead and is responsible for himself and the other two not reverting.
-The villains-turned-good guys made a video, before reverting back, making it look like everything that happened in Axis was their fault, because "the world needs Avengers and X-Men."
-This was a pretty dumb storyline.

[Tasty]

AXIS was getting TONS of  hype on GAF and I couldn't tell if it was earnest or ironic. I hoped it was ironic...

[Tasty]

The OMAC Project

Decent concept, execution, and art. I'd give it a 3 / 5 but there's not much here to go back to. I'd call it a nice, concise, self-contained story, but right in the middle there's four tie-in issues (Superman (1939) #219, Action Comics (1938) #829, Adventures of Superman (1986) #642, and Wonder Woman (1987) #219) that become required-reading, and those issues are where most of the catalysts come from - namely Superman getting mind-controlled and beating Bruce almost to death, and Wonder Woman infamously snapping Maxwell Lord's neck in order to free him.

Not a total waste of time and I was glad to have further context for Infinite Crisis, but probably not something I'll ever reread.

2 / 5


Infinite Crisis (re-review)

This is the best Crisis. The best DC crossover event. And possibly my favorite comic story of all-time.

Everything about this story is amazing. I love the theme of "happy" old clashing with the "corrupt" new. I loved that it started and ended definitively with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman - the DC holy trinity. In a way, it was all about their journey of reconciliation after Wonder Woman's action in The OMAC Project, and the Justice League's actions towards Batman in Identity Crisis. And it was about Superman coming to realize how much he was still needed and how much he was the one who had to act, instead of being clouded with indecision.

So many characters got a chance to shine in this story. And while I was a bit confused when I first picked it up eight years ago, I've realized how much I appreciate the denseness and depth. This is DC firing on all cylinders and making a comic only they could make.

This is the gold standard of events for me, and I look forward to rereading it every year. This year I did it twice, and have come to enjoy it even further. This is truly the best Crisis.

5 / 5


Batman (2011) Annual #3

Really loved this issue, but the art was a little off especially on the Joker. Still, this was a great little one-shot with excellent writing and pacing. Check it out if you want to see the Joker try to make a new BFF.

4 / 5


Grayson Annual #1

Maaaaaannn. I feel like a Grayson TV show would be right at home on HBO, and an episode made from this issue would be such a damn standout even amongst the rest of the excellence. This is a smart, sharp comic that demands some cognitive energy from its readers and doesn't make excuses. Some might find it pretentious or hard to get into, but if you roll with it you're going to have such a good time. Can't recommend this series, and especially this issue, higher.

5 / 5


Batman and Robin (2011) #24-28 "The Big Burn"

Wow.

Just wow.

I didn't really care for this book initially. It felt a little weird compared to the rest of the ongoing Bat-books. The art was (and still is) not to my liking, with squished boxy heads (though the colors could possibly be the best in any ongoing right now, seriously.) And the writing for Damian felt a little off at times.

Post-Damian's death (issue #18), the book really started to shine, pairing Batman with allies and foes each new issue. The Two-Face story arc was the first non-one-shot since then, and man, I have to say Tomasi really did a fantastic job here. Going in, it's hard not to take the new characters very seriously, but they quickly take on added dimension in further issues. Infrequent flashbacks reveal a new twist on something previously established each time they pop up, until by the end all parties involved demand both revulsion and sympathy.

The end is a true shocker, and something that I hope isn't retconned for at least a little while. It's true to the character as established (oh yeah, this also does a fantastic job rewriting Two-Face's origin), and it feels so logical and conclusive.

5 / 5

[Joe Molotov]

The OMAC Project

Decent concept, execution, and art. I'd give it a 3 / 5 but there's not much here to go back to. I'd call it a nice, concise, self-contained story, but right in the middle there's four tie-in issues (Superman (1939) #219, Action Comics (1938) #829, Adventures of Superman (1986) #642, and Wonder Woman (1987) #219) that become required-reading, and those issues are where most of the catalysts come from - namely Superman getting mind-controlled and beating Bruce almost to death, and Wonder Woman infamously snapping Maxwell Lord's neck in order to free him.

Not a total waste of time and I was glad to have further context for Infinite Crisis, but probably not something I'll ever reread.

2 / 5

They released a trade of those four issues, Superman: Sacrifice. Villains United was really the only good Infinite Crisis tie-in though. Secret Six

[Supermanisdead]

AXIS was ass. Rick Remender is the biggest hack in comics right now.

[Tasty]

The OMAC Project

Decent concept, execution, and art. I'd give it a 3 / 5 but there's not much here to go back to. I'd call it a nice, concise, self-contained story, but right in the middle there's four tie-in issues (Superman (1939) #219, Action Comics (1938) #829, Adventures of Superman (1986) #642, and Wonder Woman (1987) #219) that become required-reading, and those issues are where most of the catalysts come from - namely Superman getting mind-controlled and beating Bruce almost to death, and Wonder Woman infamously snapping Maxwell Lord's neck in order to free him.

Not a total waste of time and I was glad to have further context for Infinite Crisis, but probably not something I'll ever reread.

2 / 5

They released a trade of those four issues, Superman: Sacrifice. Villains United was really the only good Infinite Crisis tie-in though. Secret Six

I loved the idea of OMAC, that Batman gets so paranoid from being mindwiped he makes this all-seeing satellite that promptly turns Skynet. The nanobot sleeper soldiers is where it kinda lost me though.

I need to read 52 soon, it's been gnawing at me for years and I keep hearing praise for it. Coming off of Infinite Crisis it'll be a tall order to live up to, but I'm down for some goofy one-shots.

AXIS was ass. Rick Remender is the biggest hack in comics right now.

That's a pretty big statement considering Scott Lobdell, Mark Millar, and Jeph Loeb.

[parallax]

AXIS was ass. Rick Remender is the biggest hack in comics right now.

we might get a good sabretooth out of it, so it isnt all bad.

That's a pretty big statement considering Scott Lobdell, Mark Millar, and Jeph Loeb.

truer words.

[Supermanisdead]

If Sabertooth is really repentant, he'll do us all a favour and finally end his worthless life.

[Bebpo]

I read the X-Men Schism event.  Umm, did I miss something or is there the world's biggest plothole ever in this event?

Prelude to Schism -> Takes place right before the final battle, Cyclops is staring at a window getting everyone's opinion on whether to stay or fight this OFF-SCREEN MENACE THAT IS DESCRIBED AS THE MOST WORLD ENDING OPPONENT EVER SEEN IN X-MEN HISTORY.  Wolverine and Cyclops are buds and Wolverine wants to FIGHT.  Magneto and everyone weigh in.

Schism takes place and basically a big sentinel is sent to destroy Utopia and Cyclops and Wolverine fight over what to do with Cyclops saying stay and fight with the students and Wolverine saying to bail out to the point where he's lined the place with nukes and will blow it if everyone doesn't evacuate.  Magneto and Namor and many others are incapacitated by mind slug things and so only the students can fight.  They fight the sentinel and win pretty easily.

Ok, there seems to be some major contradictions between those two!  Which is weird because it's a short event and those were written back to back so W.T.F.

Problem 1 - Prelude makes it out to be some massive threat on a scale never seen before that all the big shots are debating whether to stay or fight and no one is sure if they'll survive the night.  Actual Schism reveals it's just a big sentinel and the students take it down easily.

Problem 2 - Prelude has Magneto and Namor and all the mutants in good health and ready to fight if staying.  Schism has all these guys out of action at this point and that's why the students have to fight.

Problem 3 - Prelude has Wolverine ON THE SIDE OF FIGHTING and buddies with Cyclops right before the Sentinel hits.  Schism has Cyclops and Wolverine at each other's throats when the Sentinel shows up with Wolverine completely against staying and fighting.

Problem 4 - At one point in prelude when referring to the off-screen humongous threat, someone remarks that "it doesn't even notice us, we're so small it doesn't even care about us" (making it seem like it's some enormous threat), in schism the sentinel is just a sentinel and picks up and starts attacking the mutants once it gets to them.


So ummm, how can this exist?  How can prelude totally contradict the actual event it's the prelude for?  It makes no fucking sense and I've never seen anything like it so I'm just pretty confused.

AXIS was ass. Rick Remender is the biggest hack in comics right now.

But...but...he wrote Uncanny X-Force which was some of the best character writing in Marvel comics in the last decade.  How did he go from writing something great like that to screwing this up?

[bork]

Forgot to mention that Uncanny Avengers is also restarting as a result of Axis.  New team members.

AXIS was ass. Rick Remender is the biggest hack in comics right now.

I think the biggest problem with this event is that it was rushed.  A storyline with heroes and villains allegiances being reversed should have been a huge, long event.  This should have been six months to a year long, to better flesh out the changed up characters.

AXIS was ass. Rick Remender is the biggest hack in comics right now.

we might get a good sabretooth out of it, so it isnt all bad.

We've already had good Sabertooth-- The AoA/Exiles version.  And we already have a good Wolverine in X-23.  Not to mention a bad Wolverine in Daken.

[parallax]

Forgot to mention that Uncanny Avengers is also restarting as a result of Axis.  New team members.

AXIS was ass. Rick Remender is the biggest hack in comics right now.

I think the biggest problem with this event is that it was rushed.  A storyline with heroes and villains allegiances being reversed should have been a huge, long event.  This should have been six months to a year long, to better flesh out the changed up characters.

AXIS was ass. Rick Remender is the biggest hack in comics right now.

we might get a good sabretooth out of it, so it isnt all bad.

We've already had good Sabertooth-- The AoA/Exiles version.  And we already have a good Wolverine in X-23.  Not to mention a bad Wolverine in Daken.

and aoa sabretooth is who knows where with all the other exiles characters that i want back in the 616. i dont give 2 shits about x-23. daken is cool if hes back to his usual trolling ways, and not this "remorse for a man you wanted dead" shit

[Tasty]

Btw here's a blog that's been a guilty pleasure for me, with insane reviews for various DC series: http://tessatechaitea.tumblr.com

[Tasty]

Also a reminder that Scott Lobdell is a massive piece of shit and I don't know why he still has a job at DC: http://www.themarysue.com/scot-lobdell-sexual-harassment/

[Supermanisdead]

Is he fired off Teen Titans yet? 

[Tasty]

Is he fired off Teen Titans yet? 

Fired months ago and the series was cancelled. It was then rebooted again in July at #1 and it's been decent stuff so far (which makes it 100000% better than when Lobdell was on it.) He was also tossed off Superman too, so now the only book he's infecting has been contained to Red Hood and the Outlaws.

He's also the story planner behind Convergence (upcoming March event) but he doesn't seem to be writing any of it so there might be hope for that to not blow chode.

[Supermanisdead]

Oh lol. For some reason I thought he just rebooted it. I might catch up. TT has always been one of the few DC comics I was interested in.

[Tasty]

It was cancelled and rebooted cause Lobdell did a hell of a job driving literally every character into the garbage bin full fucking force.

I'm sad he still gets to ruin Jason Todd, but I was so fucking happy to hear he was kicked off TT and won't get to ruin Timmy any longer.

[bork]

and aoa sabretooth is who knows where with all the other exiles characters that i want back in the 616.

There was an AoA series a few years back that dealt with Wolverine becoming the new Apocalypse and the human resistance that opposed him.  Jean Grey and Sabertooth joined them, but were depowered by the humans (because they're idiots) and then Sabertooth died at the end, IIRC.

 

i dont give 2 shits about x-23. daken is cool if hes back to his usual trolling ways, and not this "remorse for a man you wanted dead" shit

X-23 is fine.  They're doing a good job with the character in All-New X-Men.  Daken was resurrected as a bad guy in Uncanny Avengers...seems to be back to being evil smug asshole Daken again now.

[Tasty]

Batman and Robin (2011) #29-32 "The Hunt for Robin"

And so after the fantastic Two-Face arc showing Tomasi shines best when Robin's out of the picture, comes the arc that kicks off his return. Sigh. With that said, this arc was still great partly because Robin's not actually in it, and it still features Batman teaming up with some great partners like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and even Frankenstein. I liked the Wonder Woman issue a lot, and Frankenstein's was great because we see the fallout from Batman and Robin #19 where Batman dissected a live Frankenstein (who reveals it took Tim over 27 hours straight to put him back together again.) Thankfully, Frank doesn't hold a grudge long and teams up with Bats to face down Ra's al Ghul for Damian and Talia's bodies. It's a great story that takes Batman (and Titus) all around the world. I'm just sad that after this, the one-issue team-ups are pretty much over.

4 / 5


Batman and Robin (2011) #33-37 "Robin Rises"

(I'm also including Robin Rises: Omega and Robin Rises: Alpha in this.)

Regardless of my feelings on Robin's return, I just felt this was a weaker arc in general. It was fun to watch play out, but I'm not a fan of Batman curbstomping Darkseid (even in some super-amazing super suit built by the rest of the Justice League.) After Final Crisis I hoped DC would have realized that Villain Decay was something to be avoided. Robin getting superpowers is an interesting twist I'm looking forward to seeing play out, but my hope is that they're ultimately temporary.

3 / 5


Batman: Batman and Son

(I'm reviewing the Deluxe Edition, which includes Batman: The Black Glove and caps things off with the third fake-Batman.)

Here we see the start of Grant Morrison's Batman run, and it's surprisingly easy to follow and a nice read... until the end, when things go nutso-crazy in typical Morrison fashion with Bat-Mite showing up, "Zurr En Arr" getting flashed in a panel, and the introduction of Doctor Hurt. I've read most of the rest of Morrison's Batman work, including R.I.P., Batman and Robin (2009), and Batman Incorporated, and it was interesting to see him sew the seeds for the rest of his run this early.

That said, it also reminded me that I pretty much hated most of those elements outside of Doctor Hurt. It's a shame because the first 75% of this story is great, and even though the main plot with Damian and Talia don't get resolved here I appreciated the wrapping up of the "three fake-Batmen" storyline since that's how the first couple pages start (with the first fake-Batman shooting the Joker in the face.)

When I first started getting into Batman comics, I appreciated a lot of what Morrison was trying to do (from an outside-looking-in viewpoint and not actually reading his stuff.) I thought it was commendable how he was actually trying to bring back Silver Age elements and updating them for modern times, when in my view every other writer was trying to forget that stuff ever existed. But now that I've read almost all of Morrison's Bat-bibliography and compared it to other writers, I'm not sure I have that same respect. He certainly tried his damndest, but I think there's a lot more misses than hits with his approach.

Like I said, right at the end things go off the rails, and it's not just the elements introduced. The way the panels flow and are laid out make things into a huge clusterfuck. I know that was the idea since Bruce is out of it, but it goes a little too far. I get what's happening. I just want to understand what's happening better.

3 / 5


Batman: The Black Glove

Here we see another curiously Morrison thing: the revival of the "Batmen of All Nations / Club of Heroes" idea and integration into the main DC continuity. And I have to say, Grant buddy... no one gives a damn about these losers! I get you like them for some reason, so much so they formed the basis of Batman Incorporated, but I just. Don't. Care.

I've heard some good praise for this story over the years, and it's a nice murder-mystery, however it felt like half of it was spent on these idiots standing around and the actual mystery/deduction felt rushed as hell. In the final few panels, it's hard to tell what's happening and the comic cuts abruptly from scene to scene back to scene. It's unnecessarily confusing considering the actual resolution is otherwise straight-forward.

The art is really nice, though.

2 / 5

[Tasty]

Oh shit, LOBDELL KICKED OFF OF CONVERGENCE

What a great day!

[parallax]

and aoa sabretooth is who knows where with all the other exiles characters that i want back in the 616.

There was an AoA series a few years back that dealt with Wolverine becoming the new Apocalypse and the human resistance that opposed him.  Jean Grey and Sabertooth joined them, but were depowered by the humans (because they're idiots) and then Sabertooth died at the end, IIRC.

 

i dont give 2 shits about x-23. daken is cool if hes back to his usual trolling ways, and not this "remorse for a man you wanted dead" shit

X-23 is fine.  They're doing a good job with the character in All-New X-Men.  Daken was resurrected as a bad guy in Uncanny Avengers...seems to be back to being evil smug asshole Daken again now.

have they shown daken again after that logan auction?

Oh shit, LOBDELL KICKED OFF OF CONVERGENCE

What a great day!

i wonder what they plan on doing with earth prime in convergence

[Supermanisdead]

I'm all caught up with New Avengers and all I can say is... lol, poor baby Black Panther.

[Tasty]

i wonder what they plan on doing with earth prime in convergence

Hopefully more Superboy-Prime fuckery.

[Tasty]

I didn't realize Teen Titans: Earth One was released last month, and that DC had planned on continuing the Earth One line.

For those who don't know, Superman: Earth One (Volume 1) was released in 2010 to mixed reviews. Volume 2 and Batman: Earth One followed in 2012 and seemed to have gotten a better reception. Teen Titans: Earth One was released last month and it seems a lot of people love it. Grant Morrison's Wonder Woman: Earth One, Volume 3 of Superman, and Volume 2 of Batman are planned for 2015. (Earth One is a graphic novel series, hence the elongated release schedule.)

It seems like Earth One will be DC's take on Marvel's Ultimate line (a self-contained reboot updating old characters in a modern continuity), after the All-Star imprint went down in flames (for a variety of reasons, half of it being Frank Miller's insanity and the other half being the first two titles -Superman and Batman- didn't even exist in the same universe.) There's been some confusion that the Earth One titles don't exist in the same universe either (Teen Titans sets it up that they're not sidekicks and seem to be the only superpowered beings around, hence no Robin or Superboy), but I've heard Multiversity confirms they do.

In any case, there's hope that Earth One will turn out better than Ultimate if only because DC seems to be taking their time with it (they have to because of the graphic novel format.) Without the constant pressure to get issues out every single month, the universe will likely end up being smaller but more thoughtfully developed. That's my hope, anyways.

[Tasty]

Oh shit, Secret Six is back?

So Joe, should I pick up the 2006 series or the 2008 series? Both? They're all by Gail Simone.

[Eric P]

Start with the 6 issue Villains United limited series which is the kick off for Secret Six

[Joe Molotov]

Yeah, read Villains United and then both of the other ones. They all follow the same core group of characters and plot lines.

[Tasty]

OK, will do when I get paid tomorrow.

[Bebpo]

Read the Fear Itself: Uncanny X-men arc about Serpent Hammer Juggernaut -> Colossus.  Was dumb fun seeing all the combinations of attacks trying to stop him lol.  Mainly read it because after Schism I'm now reading Cyclop's side of the post Schism story in Uncanny 2011-2012 since I read Wolverine's side and I'm like why is Colossus wearing a helmet? 

I just can't get enough mutants these days.  It's bringing back my love of 90s X-men as a teen.  No matter the writing quality I find myself really engrossed in X-men lore right now so eventually I'll probably read every X-men series between Morrison's pretty much "reboot" in 2004 to present.  So far have Morrison's New X-men, Whedon's Astonishing, Schism, Remender's X-Force, Aaron's Wolverine & The X-men down along with the alternate universe's Age of X and Age of Apocalypse.    Uncanny 2011 is pretty silly with Sinister so far, but the part where

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The team faces off with a team of Celestials

[close]

is all kinds of badass.

In addition, I think I'm finally gonna sit down since I'm burnt out on gaming and marathon through this for something different over the holiday:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Tasty]

CONVERGENCE BOOKS AND CREATIVE TEAMS ANNOUNCED

Nightwing/Oracle
Writer: Gail Simone; Artist: Jan Duursema and Dan Parsons

Shazam
Writer: Jeff Parker; Artist: Evan "Doc" Shaner; Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Swamp Thing
Writer: Len Wein; Artist: Kelley Jones; Colorist: Michelle Madsen

      

Batgirl
Writer: Alisa Kwitney; Artist: Rick Leonardi and Mark Pennington

When the New 52 hit, Stephanie Brown's fans immediately wondered when and where their hero would appear in the now-canon DCU. Brown recently returned as The Spoiler in the pages of "The New 52: Futures End," but there remains a strong and vocal fanbase of the pre-"Flashpoint" Batgirl version. Well, this "Convergence" tie-in marks the return of Bat-Stephanie along with another Batgirl fans haven't seen in awhile, Cassandra Cain. Cain will be in her guise as the Black Bat, but it will be very cool to see these cult favorite Batgirls return to action. Add in the return of the pre-New 52 Tim Drake, and it all adds up to a book that should have Bat fans very excited.

[Tasty]

Batman Eternal #39

Batman finds an unlikely ally in the Riddler... but does he really mean to help? I really enjoyed this issue even though it's really only setting up the next one. They pack quite a bit of setup into these pages and it ends on a somewhat-satisfying cliffhanger.

Unfortunately, the art is really, really rough and I absolutely hate the Spawn-like "cape tendrils" on Batman. What is this, the 90's? It's also very sketchy and subdued overall.

I really like where the story's going though, and absolutely can't wait for next Wednesday's issue. They actually somehow managed to up the stakes even higher than before, which I thought impossible after the hell Gotham's been through so far in this series. I believe I know who's really "behind" everything and that's spoiling some of my fun, but I'm very much looking forward to the full reveal all the same.

3 / 5


I'm cross-posting my reviews and posting other DC comics nerdness at http://tastydrabbles.tumblr.com if anybody here cares. I'll probably cut back on constantly blathering about DC comics in this thread since it seems nobody cares, lol.

[Tasty]

Nope. Gotta buy trades or single issues.

I made a reading order for the entire New 52 Batman stuff a few days ago if you care about that kind of thing.

[parallax]

CONVERGENCE BOOKS AND CREATIVE TEAMS ANNOUNCED

When the New 52 hit, Stephanie Brown's fans immediately wondered when and where their hero would appear in the now-canon DCU. Brown recently returned as The Spoiler in the pages of "The New 52: Futures End," but there remains a strong and vocal fanbase of the pre-"Flashpoint" Batgirl version. Well, this "Convergence" tie-in marks the return of Bat-Stephanie along with another Batgirl fans haven't seen in awhile, Cassandra Cain. Cain will be in her guise as the Black Bat, but it will be very cool to see these cult favorite Batgirls return to action. Add in the return of the pre-New 52 Tim Drake, and it all adds up to a book that should have Bat fans very excited.

[/quote]

now watch as they completely shit on tim and cassie. good lord i hope they dont

[Mr. Nobody]

Shazam
Writer: Jeff Parker

not Geoff Johns

yeah great job DC

[Mr. Nobody]

AXIS was ass. Rick Remender is the biggest hack in comics right now.

the same Remender writing Deadly Class? who wrote Uncanny X-Force and Venom?

Nah

[Tasty]

now watch as they completely shit on tim and cassie. good lord i hope they dont

Nah, there's no way. I'm not expecting anything amazing but at the very least I don't expect them to mess them up.

Shazam
Writer: Jeff Parker

not Geoff Johns

yeah great job DC

Johns is probably super busy. And according to CBR:

First, the book's entire creative team has just been killing it on Dynamite Comics' "Flash Gordon."

So it should be good at least.

[Tasty]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 #10

A nice, fun issue that uses Harmony in a smart way (which I would have thought impossible, but then I remembered the fifth season of Angel.) The way she's used isn't just a plot convenience either, with her interactions coming off fairly natural and progressing the story of the issue in a logical way. It was great, if a little weird, to seem Clem back and fawning for Harmony, but it doesn't take up a lot of space and lets the issue have a nice moment at the end.

Above all, this issue reminds me how much fun Season 10 has been. Season 8 felt dark and suffocating, and Season 9 felt both insane and meanderingly realistic. Season 10 is the first time the comics really feel like the TV shows, I think... kinda. It's still a little off, but the characters have been nailed and the situations are a great blend of realistic and mystic. It was a great idea putting the first-run Angel & Faith writers here, as they really shine with the scoobies.

4 / 5


The Multiversity: Thunderworld Adventures #1

I'm not a huge fan of Grant Morrison's Batman run, but there's no denying his ability to spin a tale. However I think I made a mistake in jumping into this series with the fifth installment, cause the framing is clearly set up in prior issues and while it's made somewhat clear in the book (various universes of the multiverse are collaborating using comic books, meaning people in this issue were reading the previous issue of The Multiversity) it's still kind of confusing especially when it comes to the bad guy. Is he just the bad guy of this issue? Is he working with the bad guys of the other issues? No clue!

I picked up this book specifically instead of starting with the first issue because I'm becoming more and more of a Shazam / Captain Marvel fan and there's a dearth of content for him in The New 52. This issue is $4.99 because it's 40 pages and I'm not sure if my Shazam fixation was satisfied. This book is... OK. That's it, really. What I will give it props for is the lighthearted tone that coaxed a couple chuckles from me, and the deliberately bizarre and over-the-top plot (something Morrison excels at.)

But yeah, this was just OK.

2 / 5


Teen Titans: Earth One Vol. 1

This was my first Earth One graphic novel, and it got me wondering if Batman and Superman got such drastic reinterpretations of their origins in their Earth One books. To put it lightly, everything is reimagined here, and for the most part it works pretty well. I don't have an issue with the origin being such a departure, far from it. It feels fresh. But it also backs the book into a couple corners that were obviously hard to write out of.

Basically, the "teen titans" (never called such in-universe, and only alluded to by being apart of the "Titans Program") are a deliberately diverse set of youngsters who don't even know each other (other than Cyborg and Terra, who are dating) when the book starts. When they do get to know each other, they chafe and argue as is the cliche for teens. To be honest, I'm not sure if it was lazy writing to have them fighting amongst themselves so much, or an accurate reflection of normal teenagehood. Reflecting on my own teen years, I can't remember being so brazen, but I also didn't have to deal with superpowers popping up out of nowhere.

Yeah, this book takes more than a few cues from the X-Men. Which is probably just as well, since DC repurposed the Teen Titans to rip them off with New Teen Titans in the 80's.

The teens are essentially all set up to have the same, connected origin story, which reminds me of the way Hollywood usually goes about its adaptations of these things. It works but oftentimes feels like a shortcut, a way of introducing all of them, showing how unique each character is, and bringing them all together in the same book. I can't blame them for that. However, I will blame the writers for some eyeroll-worthy plot contrivances (the main one being Starfire not only causing all their powers to activate at the same time, but directing them all to her telepathically since she's imprisoned Superman-during-Flashpoint-style.)

I was reading the IGN review for this and they seemed to say the only negative was how Deathstroke is portrayed, but I disagree. Like the rest of the book, I think it's a fresh and interesting take on the character. All these characters are. They come off a little like a grab-bag of politically-correct new-age character templates (this one's the one with the drunk parent, this one's the one with the gay dads, etc.) but I won't fault it for that since this book is aimed at kids/teens and I know how happy it is to see someone you feel represents you in a major book like this.

The book sets up quite a bit of dangling threads, like the "Blackfire initiative," Raven joining up with the main team, Starfire's entire character, and a vision-wall of potential future team mates (including, curiously, a bat symbol.) But mostly I want to see the team become a team. The characters here don't actually ever end up becoming a "team" or doing anything heroic. They haven't earned the book's namesake yet. If Volume 2 accomplished anything, that's the bare minimum.

3 / 5

[Bebpo]

Decided instead of jumping into Cosmic Marvel, that I'd follow the Marvel Events Reading guide and start from Avengers' Disassembled (because don't have time to read 500 different series beforehand to get up to speed; will read the individual good arcs from pre-2004 at some point down the road).  The Thor Ragnorak story that starts it was alright.  I'm guessing this is the story the 3rd Thor movie is going to do?  Makes sense since it flows from where Thor 2 left off, has lots of Loki and has big stakes.  Can see it being a good summer flick.  Will be the first Marvel movie I actually know the comic material going into! 

Reading the Spectacular Spiderman issues now, is' alright.