DC's New 52: Reviews and Discussion (Spoilers welcolme and likely)

[Agent Richard07]

I didn't expect to be following Supergirl either and I gave up on Teen Titans. My favorites right now though are Batgirl and Aquaman.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Green Lantern is starting to pick up a bit, but it's still my least favorite of the ones I'm buying monthly. It used to be my favorite, period.

[davejames]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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The Wonder Woman hardcover is coming out in May.

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com...medium=twitter

Funny, all that hype about her getting a new costume and wearing pants... and it lasted all of, what, three months?

[sojourner]

I think they mixed a little of Rampage into Fairchild.

[Captain Craig]

davejames wrote:

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Funny, all that hype about her getting a new costume and wearing pants... and it lasted all of, what, three months?

About 6-8, 8 months max. Six months minimum because that would be the first arc of the "new change/direction".

[Nerys Myk]

She was back in shorts before the first issue hit the stands.

[Trekker4747]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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Caitlin does look different but I just chalked that up as this is an older version and slightly drawn differently.

Let's see what I've got this week: (In order of personal rating.)

Batman #3: Again, this is the lone Batman title I'm really enjoying. The other books have delved either too much into the darkness and grim or seemed to be pulling a bit much from the old continuity. The continuity stuff I can deal with, for the most part, but this book seems a lot more "fun" and paints Bruce Wayne as a more human character with Batman much more of a facade. The story line with this "Owl" group certainly seems intriguing as well. When push comes to shove and it's time to trim the fat from the comics I follow this book will probably be the one Batman title I'll continue with. The art is good, the dialogue is good, all in all it's been a good series of books.

Supergirl #3: Still fairly interesting, the more I read it the more ridiculous Kara's costume looks to me, but it's not been bad. It seems like it's finally getting into some-sort-of story and revealing some thing about the state of the world -at least in this book's version of DC Earth. The least of which being that, apparently, US's manned space program is completely defunct on the federal level and is now a private industry seemingly controlled by a trillionaire business mogul who has taken a keen interest in Kara. The art in this book has been mostly okay.

Catwoman #3: Still a pretty interesting book for my money. Doesn't yet seem to be a real story-line in it but Selena Kyle is still a fairly interesting character to follow. The art in this issue seemed to be a bit rougher than it was in the others but still decent and a lot less fan-service.

Wonder Woman #3: This book has yet to completely capture me. The story for the last three issues has been mostly fair but nothing really stellar. It does seem, finally, that WW is taking on whatever mantle she needs to in order to take us to a status quo and, hopefully, in the next issues we'll see her back in America kicking ass and taking names. The art for the most part in this book just wasn't very good. It looked less like art for a comic book and more like art done for story-boarding a movie scene or something. There were hints of great art but mostly in the panels showing off WW herself. The art and coloring overall in it wasn't great, mostly with the villains.

In Non-DC I also got "Ghostbusters #3" which I'm still pretty much enjoying and some developments in this issue show more of where the story is heading. The art is mediocre and there tends to be a lot of obscure "meta" stuff in it that doesn't fit with the "reality" of the book. This week it was the A-Team van passing the Ghostbusters on a bridge that also had a ghost sitting on one of the towers of the bridge that I suspect was a call-back/reference to the cartoon or toy-line though I didn't recognize it. But it didn't seem to be "really there." Stuff like this has happened in the previous issues too. Not a huge deal considering the nature of the book, just an oddity.

Something I noticed this week was that many of titles lacked a title splash page. Int he other books the last couple of months usually the third or fourth page was a beautifully drawn splash page showcasing the title of the story and the credits. This week it seemed like the title and credits were mixed among a more benign page, or in one case not until the end of the book along with the teaser for next month's issue. No big deal, really, just an oddity I noticed.

But, again, I cannot say enough how much I like "Batman" and think it's the best of the Bat's books that are available right now.

[Hound of UIster]

The Court of Owls in Batman reminds me too much of the Black Glove in Morrison's Batman due to the secret society angle and their past history with the Wayne family. I think I'm more interested in the Talon than the Court actually since he is very much like Batman shrouded in superstition and legend and poses a real physical challenge to Bruce.

[Hound of UIster]

davejames wrote:

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Funny, all that hype about her getting a new costume and wearing pants... and it lasted all of, what, three months?

They scrapped the pants because of a letter writing campaign from Wonder Woman fans and also because the pilot got scrapped.

[Snaploud]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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Okay, All-Star Batman is pretty terrible. Oy!

I'm fine with All-Star Batman. After all, it gave us this review:

http://www.i-mockery.com/comics/longbox7/

[OdoWanKenobi]

Green Lantern Corps: I can't remember what happened last issue, and this one isn't all that memorable either. The "cavalry" doesn't include a single recognizable Lantern, and the new characters on the main team haven't had anywhere near close to the amount of character development that supporting characters in this book usually get. Tomasi's previous run on Green Lantern Corps was great, but I really just don't feel the magic in this one.

Nightwing: I'm enjoying this book quite a bit. It's not the best in the new 52, but Dick is an immensely likable guy, and it makes me care about anything he does.

Batman: This is still the best Batman book of the bunch. Batman investigating an Illuminati conspiracy? Hell yeah, sign me up.

Justice League: So, Johns characterization of Wonder Woman is extremely bloodthirsty. He also continues to write Hal Jordan as a total dipshit. "Dibs," seriously? Aquaman comes in too, acting like an arrogant jerkass. That's really a far cry from how Johns is writing him in his solo title. Granted, this is all years earlier, but the characterization seems to inconsistent. Is Johns pulling an elaborate troll on all of us?

[Trekker4747]

Snaploud wrote:

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I'm fine with All-Star Batman. After all, it gave us this review:

http://www.i-mockery.com/comics/longbox7/

Well, not to mention Linkara's video reviews of the first four issues, wish he'd do video reviews of the other issues.

Batman: This is still the best Batman book of the bunch. Batman investigating an Illuminati conspiracy? Hell yeah, sign me up.

So, if I understood things correctly the Wayne family has a tradition of a Trumpian superstition of not having a thirteenth floor in their buildings. But so that there is a "thirteenth floor", so that there'd be logic in there being a fourteenth floor, there's a "dead space" between the 12th and 14th to serve as the numerical floor. In this "dead space" operates the Parliament of Owls using the dead space as somewhere to spy on the business dealings of the occupants of the building.

[Allyn Gibson]

Red Hood and the Outlaws #3.

Scott Lobdell takes us inside the psyches of the three leads by showing us their most cherished memories. Kori, the former princess who lost everything except her dignity and her self-worth. Roy, the former sidekick with a death wish. And Jason...

Well, I'm not going to give away what Jason's most cherished memory is. But it's quite possibly the most insightful piece of characterization ever done with the character.

I'm not sure where Lobdell is going, but I'm along for the ride. Though I don't like Rocafort's artwork a whole lot, I am enjoying the book. It's deeper than its first issue made it out to be.

[OdoWanKenobi]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

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Red Hood and the Outlaws #3.

Kori, the former princess who lost everything except her dignity and her self-worth.

Now granted, I didn't read past the first issue of this book, but um.....that runs completely contrary to Starfire in the first issue where her dignity and self-worth were completely non-existent.

As for Jason, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's

his death? Just kinda seems like the obvious choice.

[Allyn Gibson]

OdoWanKenobi wrote:

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Now granted, I didn't read past the first issue of this book, but um.....that runs completely contrary to Starfire in the first issue where her dignity and self-worth were completely non-existent.

I don't think the portrayal of Kori in the first issue is inconsistent with the flashback here. For plot reasons, the Outlaws have to give up their most cherished memories for safekeeping, and a 4,000 year-old monk reviews them. Kori's cherished memory is of the gladiatorial combat she was forced to endure as a child. Battered, beaten, and forced to beg, she kills a gladiator who is much taller than her, who outweighs her significantly, and then threatens to kill three more just like him. It was a moment when she got to announce to a hostile universe that this is the person that she is, and no amount of degrading and depraved combat is going to take that away from her, a Princess of Tamaran. Lobdell's Kori knows who she is, she knows what she wants, and she's going to take it, and it's pretty clear by this point that she's playing a long game for her own reasons.

OdoWanKenobi wrote:

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As for Jason, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's

his death? Just kinda seems like the obvious choice.

Not even close.

A bonding moment between him and Bruce, when he was Robin. He had a cold, he insisted on going on patrol, but Bruce made him stay in while he went out because patrolling would do nothing for his health. He sits on the couch, Alfred suggests that he watch some television, and he sulks. Then Bruce walks in, still in his Batman costume; he too gave up a night of patrolling Gotham's streets because Jason needed him. And the last panel, which really encapsulates the father/son relationship Bruce has with his Robins, is really touching. Jason's most cherished memory, then, was that of an orphan being loved.