Colette Arrand

Tag: DC Comics

  • Graphic Novel Review: DC Universe by Alan Moore (2013)

    Graphic Novel Review: DC Universe by Alan Moore (2013)

    DCU by Alan Moore

    Simultaneously a celebration of a unique body of comics and a liberal application of salt to long-open wounds, DC Universe by Alan Moore is, as one would suspect, a collection of the odds-and-ends of Moore’s superhero work during his important, often tumultuous tenure with DC Comics. But for the exception of the author’s work on Swamp Thing and Batman: The Killing Joke, all of the work Moore did under the standard of DC Comics is here. Also included, presumably both as a lure for those who already owned the 2006 version of this collection and given the WildStorm Universe’s integration into the DCU under the banner of The New 52 (still called that, somehow, two years into the initiative), is a majority of the non-America’s Best Comics work Moore produced for Image Comics. The result is a volume that both unifies many of the comic books Moore did that are too short to justify individual collected editions while presenting the influential author’s superhero works in schizophrenic disharmony, the 1980s books of a hungry genius rubbing elbows uncomfortably with his more mercenary late-90s output, already largely an extreme response to his Watchmen and V for Vendetta.

    The highlights here, of course, are two of the seminal stories in the Superman cannon, “For the Man Who Has Everything” and “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” Along with Superman/Swamp Thing team-up “The Jungle Line,” Moore only wrote four Superman comics, but they’re enough that his legacy, among other things, will hold him up as one of the best writers to’ve ever worked on the character. Moore begins each with the conceit that Superman is either in mortal peril or already dead, and works quickly to establish that fact in ways that are asynchronous to the Superman mythos. When Superman “died” in 1992, it was at the hands of larger-than-life monstrosity Doomsday. While titanesque marauders threaten Superman here, as well, big bads like Mongul and the Kryptonite Man pale in comparison to biology and ingenuity. In “For the Man Who Has Everything,” Superman receives a strange plant for his birthday that latches on to him and grants him a hallucination of his heart’s desire. In “The Jungle Line,” it’s a miracle fungus spore that survived the trip from Krypton, as Kal-El himself did. “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” feints with the threat of a Lex Luthor/Brainiac team, but Luthor’s mental prowess and Brainiac’s galaxy-spanning A.I. pale in comparison to the machinations of fifth-dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk, to whom they are mere pawns. (more…)

  • First Issue Collectors Item: Batgirl #0 (2012)

    First Issue Collectors Item: Batgirl #0 (2012)

    First Issue Collector’s Item is a periodic, ongoing look at that most illusive (and, in many instances, ultimately valueless) pop-culture artifact: The first issue of a comic book series. This week, DC Comics continues to offer issue #0s looking at the origins of the heroes at the focus of the New 52, and Oni Press has something new from Greg Rucka. First, lets take a look at Gail Simone’s slightly tweaked Batgirl origin story in Batgirl #0.

    Though I fell somewhat short of my goal to write about all fifty-two new or relaunched series DC Comics trotted out sometime last year to the chagrin of folks who obsess over the way comic books are numbered (in my experience, a staggering amount of people) and the eventual glee of the DC bigwigs whose calculated gamble paid off better than anybody could have anticipated, allow me to float forth a theory on why this massive undertaking rocked the DC Universe to its core. Though several changes have come down the pike that haven’t been universally well-received—Wonder Woman’s Amazonian tribe as a group of maneating baby killers, Superman having never dated Lois Lane, Superman making out with Wonder Woman, Batgirl getting over the whole quadriplegia thing—The New 52 wasn’t ever an initiative to tear the multiverse asunder, assassinate your favorite characters, or front an unstated cultural agenda. The purpose of this whole thing was to make collecting individual issues into trade paperbacks an easier enterprise, one that wouldn’t scare casual readers off a page on Amazon as soon as they saw that a trade collected issues 634-645 of Detective Comics. (more…)

  • Paradise Island is Not a Cold, Dead Place

    Paradise Island is Not a Cold, Dead Place

    I may have fallen shy of my goal to read every new series DC Comics published as part of its New 52 initiative, but one of the books I did not miss, that I’m very glad to have not missed, was Wonder Woman. I’m a huge fan of the character, and I am always, always happy to see her done well. Unfortunately, with the exception of three recent bright spots, it seems like DC Comics are content to do things with the character that, in 2012 (or 11, or 10, or 09, and so on), seem less forward-thinking than they are head-scratching — making the call to change costumes to get the character on TV and then making a pilot so averse to networks that it’ll be years until anyone touches her, making her origins less Greek, handing her over to writers who, in turn, either didn’t do much with her or made her book unreadable, for any number of reasons — and this, in turn, has led to the current DC Comics landscape, where the DC Trinity consists of Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern, who is so whitebread that Hulk Hogan’s “Real American” may as well be blasting from the pages of the book whenever the guy does something remotely heroic.

    The best thing about the New 52 is that Wonder Woman hasn’t been this good since Greg Rucka’s run on the book. I didn’t expect this from a rebooted universe where a character popular with 20 million children was recast as an intergalactic hooker, but good things are happening with my favorite fictional character, so, for now, I am happy enough to give DC Comics my money.

    Pictured: Progress.

    But now DC is going through with a “second wave” of New 52 books, “introducing” Earth-2, a needlessly complicated system of parallel world-building that made sense 40 years ago when Superman was gaining new, ridiculous powers every week and Bruce Wayne needed to face the consequences for his playboy lifestyle, but now, in 2012, months removed from literally creating a whole new world that was meant to put to rest all of the nerdy problems that resulted from so many parallel planets, feels forced; a way for the company to try to keep up with Marvel despite having just one property (Batman) capable of competing with the heavy hitters of the other line.

    The accepted, science-fictional standard for parallel worlds is that, often, the timeline on the other planet diverged at some point, resulting in fundamental changes from the planet we’re familiar with. Say Joe Chill was suffering from the flu the night he murdered Batman’s parents. On Earth 1, he figures he could use the dough to buy flu medication, wanders off to the movie theatre in Crime Alley, murders him some millionaires, and we’ve got ourselves a Batman. On Earth 2, Chill decides to roll over and go back to sleep. Bruce Wayne is healthy and well-adjusted and never gets the idea to fight crime dressed up as a bat, instead having grown-up to be a prime piece of kidnap bait. That kind of fundamental change, however, rarely comes from Earth 2 situations in comic books for one, simple reason: You take away Batman or Superman, and you take away a fan’s reason to read. That’s fair, though, as only the most die-hard of die-hards can be expected to work themselves up over the alternate origins of Matter-Eater Lad.

    Well have I got a story for you!

    No, when it comes to modifying the origins of a superhero for the purposes of an alternate world, you need to do something radically different while keeping the character fundamentally unchanged. For Wonder Woman, this has meant any number of things: Making her less or more mythological, going back to her first encounter with “Man’s World,” taking away her powers and costume and making her a kung-fu fighter, giving the title of “Wonder Woman” to somebody completely different, and so on. This time out, however, Earth 2 writer James Robinson promises the following for the character:

    Due the events that open the saga of EARTH 2, Wonder Woman is already the last Amazon of this world and she is determined to avenge her sisters…at whatever cost.

    This is conjecture, but if my powers of intuition are correct, Earth 2 promises to slaughter all but one resident of Themyscira. It’s not uncommon for comic books to slaughter an entire race, minus one — this, after all, being the origin of Superman — but the fundamental difference between Earth 2 and “Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Kindly couple.” is that Krypton’s destruction, at least, was gender neutral.

    This is where things get contentious, see, because the conversation surrounding comics lately — a conversation made heated by AMC’s Comic Book Men (emphasis on “Men”), the aforementioned up-sexying of not only Starfire, but Suicide Squad‘s Amanda Waller and Catwoman‘s Selena Kyle, and DC Comics releasing a poll that, boiled down, claims that women don’t read comics — has shifted from the long-dated “Comics ain’t just for kids!” mode of thinking to the much more charged “Comic books are inherently, reprehensibly sexist.” Say what you will of this argument and its supposed extremism — Cracked.com readers, in response to a simple article about sexist superheroine costumes, already have — but Earth 2 promises two things: Gendercide, and a cold, mirthless Wonder Woman.

    This, I realize, might not appear to be a problem. They’re not grossly oversexualizing Wonder Woman, and they’re promising to do something major with a major character who is often left out of the loop when DC does major events. If you believe, as the company does, that women don’t read comic books, it may follow that the impending slaughter (or whatever) of the Amazons is, in fact, no big deal. It’s all part of a larger story, a mystery. It’s something we’re meant to unravel, something that’ll make Wonder Woman “interesting” and “relevant” and “marketable” and all those other things the character already is, but that DC has, almost comically, been unable to realize for decades. Here’s Earth 2 editor Pat McCallum to tell us how different this brave new world will be:

    While there will be recognizable faces and settings on EARTH 2, don’t for a moment think you’re on familiar ground. Do that, and you let your guard down…and then you’ll end up like the rest of the Amazons.

    This all sounds decidedly familiar. Granted I’m no comics historian, and I can’t claim to have read every Wonder Woman story to have ever seen print, but here’s what I’ve gleaned about the denizens of Paradise Island throughout the years:

    • When it comes to men, the Amazons are painfully naive, so much so that they need to send a representative to “man’s world” to report back on them.
    • With the exception of Wonder Woman herself, there isn’t a single Amazon capable of showing an emotion beyond anger.
    • The Amazons are a bloodthirsty race, capable of two things: Warring on “man’s world” and showing a deep distrust of it.
    • Inevitably, the Amazons will turn on Wonder Woman, presumably because she, in living among men, has come to accept and perhaps enjoy their company.
    Here, they’re not even afforded modern weaponry.

    The Wonder Woman of Earth 2 will probably be some combination of the above traits: Naive, angry, bloodthirsty and distrusting. This, at least in my opinion, is the worst permutation of Wonder Woman possible, an uninteresting, stock babe in a swimsuit, hacking and slashing her way through those she feels wronged her until somebody (likely a dude) stops her. She’ll end up fighting with the group of heroes who presumably let her whole society perish, this despite Themyscira having a surplus of women in refrigerators. Eventually, there’ll be a survivor, and her and Wonder Woman will be forced to fight. That’s because, no matter how cool or great or iconic Wonder Woman is, she’ll always end up in gender war stories, and sure as every other old-school Wonder Woman cover had Diana bound by her own weapon, you can bet on two things:

    1. Wonder Woman will side with the boys.
    2. The boys will always win.

    This goes back to the belief that only men read comic books, the feedback loop that says that, since that’s the case, it’s OK for comic books to maintain a somewhat (or, in some cases, a full-blown) sexist worldview, presenting, in 2012, a shockingly bankrupt take on a society free from the input of men, one wherein the gaggle of man-hating lesbians are invaded and conquered by their supposed betters. Earth 2 could have done something completely different, something completely un-comic book, but going against the grain, reaching across gender boundaries, and attempting to hook new readers are all goals less important than appeasing an ever-dwindling market and holding out for that rarest of rarities: A profitable film/TV show.

    This.

    Sadly, nobody involved seems to get Wonder Woman’s mythology, which is perhaps the most fascinating in comics. Nobody seems to care about the idea of an immortal race of women who, left alone for centuries, developed their own customs, technology, and skills. As long as we maintain our view of comic books as the stuff of testosterone-laden fantasy, the women appearing on those four-color pages will remain, by and large, either Cool Female Buddies or The Other, likely a combination of both, that intangible mix of fascination and fear. As long as we’re cool with the idea of female genocide for entertainment, not only will a vast, mostly-untapped demographic remain uninterested (or continue to be portrayed as uninterested), but the idea of comic book reader as basement dwelling, angry virgin will persist. We will remain hiding among our longboxes, afraid that Amazons may yet attack.

  • The New 52: Demon Knights #1, Frankenstein – Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1, Resurrection Man #1, Swamp Thing #1, Voodoo #1

    The New 52: Demon Knights #1, Frankenstein – Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1, Resurrection Man #1, Swamp Thing #1, Voodoo #1

    Demon Knights #1

    Writer: Paul Cornell / Artist: Diogenes Neves

    Yes, yes, yes, yes. When I heard that DC was relaunching their whole line, that they were going to be re-contextualizing much of their stilted universe, a comic book like Demon Knights #1 was exactly what I was hoping for, not the shoehorning-in of extra characters and teams whose revitalization wasn’t tantamount to artistic or commercial success. While I highly doubt Demon Knights is the sort of comic that’ll ever crack the top 20 monthly sales charts, it is a well-written, gorgeously drawn book that grounds some of the more magical elements of the DC universe in the Dark Ages, effortlessly blending in the story of Etrigan the Demon, Madame Xanadu, the Shining Knight, and King freakin’ Arthur and the fall of Camelot in one issue.

    Etrigan is somewhat liberated from his ridiculous gimmick of rhyme, which only the best comics scribes were able to do without coming off ridiculous, as it’s revealed that he’s a demon held captive by the wizard Merlin, who watches helplessly as Camelot is overrun by an attacking horde. In his last act before disappearing, Merlin joins Etrigan to the body of Jason of Norwich, a young knight now cursed to harbor a demon inside him. After the fall of Camelot, the world plunges into the dark ages. At a tavern, Jason and Madame Xanadu meet the berserker Vandal Savage, the Shining Knight, an Amazonian (I think), and a few others before the tavern is attacked by a horde claiming to be emissaries of the queen.

    If this sounds like the set-up to a role-playing game, well, it is. Obviously, your mileage will vary, but this set-up is one that I’d probably pay $60 to play, excitedly. As the first issue in a series, it’s got everything that I’m looking for. The plot interests me. The characters, known and unknown, are a good mix of personality and gimmick. The art, which usually doesn’t matter much to me, is perfectly evocative of this slightly twisted world. Demon Knights represents the first real slam dunk of the New 52, a book that starred into the abyss of a rebooted universe and decided to roll the dice. I’m in until low sales see it cancelled (this always happens), then I’m in on the petition to bring it back.

    Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1

    Writer: Jeff Lemire / Artist: Alberto Ponticelli

    Given that I was a big fan of Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers project, I’m genuinely happy to see some of its elements make themselves apparent in the new DC universe. S.H.A.D.E., his T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents tribute from the Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein miniseries gets its own ongoing, and, within a few pages, it looks like its borrowed more than a few things from Mark Millar’s The Ultimates, which envisioned the Avengers as a government led and funded super-organization dedicated to stopping world-level threats. What Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. has on The Ultimates is characters that are genuinely interesting beyond being Captain America…but different, and the characters are so C and D list that literally anything is possible.

    That all sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it isn’t supposed to be. Father Time, the leader of S.H.A.D.E., is one of those ruthless, insane leader-types, willing to underwrite projects where scientists turn themselves into gillwomen and whole cities are shrunken to fit inside a steel sphere three inches in diameter. Frankenstein, whose origins are what you’d think, is a late-period John Wayne, regarding all this technological muck knowingly, trudging through it because he must. He’s got a lot to deal with, too. The gillwoman is the leader of a team comprised of many human/Universal monster hybrids–a werewolf, a vampire (sadly not a Dracula), and an honest-to-God mummy. They’re put together because Frankenstein’s wife (yup!) was sent to stop an invasion of Lovecraftian monsters from wrecking a small town, only to disappear.

    I really dug this issue, but it’s pretty much a mash-up of everything I love, with a brief discussion on Milton and Keats thrown in to make sure I’d sing its praises. Jeff Lemire, whose DC Comic’s work has skewed towards science fiction, riffs on its inspirations that feels more inspired than insulting, and Alberto Ponticelli’s rough-hewn pencils lend the proceedings the grit and character necessary for a comic book about the end of the world. Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. promises to explore some of the weirder corners of the DC Universe, but it is a weird universe, and it’s good that the big, green, undead guy exploring it is cut from the same cloth.

     

    Resurrection Man #1

    Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning / Artist: Fernando Dagnino

    When I worked at the Pack Shack, I was always under the impression that Abnett and Lanning were the Lennon/McCartney of mundane DC Comics books that I’d never in a million years crack the spines of, mostly because the Legion of Superheroes is, literally, the most confusing idea in the history of comic books, and that’s what they wrote. Unfortunately, Resurrection Man #1 does little to dispel my ill-informed beliefs, even though Abnett and Lanning are working with their own character, on a completely blank slate.

    It’s not that the idea itself is bland. In a world where the only dead walking the earth are doing so to hunt human flesh, it’s nice if there’s a guy or two who dies, comes back, and is relatively normal. Resurrection Man, being a disposable, reusable superhero, isn’t exactly normal, but coming back to life with the power of magnetism makes for more interesting dinner conversation than “BRAAAAAAAAINS!” It seems that each time Resurrection Man resurrects, he comes back with a power suitable for the task he finds himself against, making him stunningly useful for a guy who dies a lot. That being said, Resurrection Man’s been overdue for a stay in heaven/hell, so the forces of some shady gray area are after him, trying to stop him from coming back.

    This kind of cat-and-mouse can be pretty compelling, but Resurrection Man #1 just isn’t, failing in the worst way high concept ideas can fail: by being satisfied with the concept. If things were happening, if Resurrection Man was trying to stop the world from ending/his girlfriend from getting killed, his car from getting repoed, but he couldn’t because he kept dying and coming back, losing valuable time/money/sanity, then something would be happening. As it stands, he dies and comes back, ready to continue the chase. He’s the ghosts from Pac Man, if they had their own ongoing series. Even though that sounds awesome, if the result of failure is a do-over, what’s the point?

     

    Swamp Thing #1

    Writer: Scott Snyder / Artist: Yanick Paquette

    On the subject of integrating Vertigo characters back into the DC Universe, I’m for it as long as it’s done well. A character like Swamp Thing, after all, has a long history apart from your Supermen, your Batmen, and your Aquamen, so just hurtling the character from one continuity to the other all haphazardly would be a disservice both to what came before and potential new readers. Luckily, Swamp Thing #1 is gradually reintroducing its titular monster to the DC Comics fold, explaining who Swamp Thing was for the benefit of those who thought buying 52 new comics sounded like a grand idea while realizing that there’s room for Swamp Thing’s utter weirdness among DC’s heavy hitters.

    The long and short of Swamp Thing #1 is this: The world is dying, and in ways the Justice League can’t help or figure out. Dr. Alec Holland, the former Swamp Thing, knows this, but is seemingly uninterested in solving the problem. He’s down and out after his stint as the monster, convinced that plants are more violent than we give them credit for, that, for all his brilliance as a scientist, he simply doesn’t have what it takes to solve the world’s problems anymore. Meanwhile, a group of shady looking customers look for something out in the wastelands and, in the most grisly scene I’ve seen in any of the new #1s, are compelled to snap their necks and walk around with their heads on backwards.

    It’s a little gross and a little weird, and the proceedings are certainly meditative, but that’s what I expect from Swamp Thing. It’ll be interesting to see how much room DC Comics gives this title. Yanick Paquette, for instance, is a superstar artist on a book that isn’t going to sell enough copies to justify a superstar artist. How short is his leash? Who replaces him? How long does Snyder have to make his vision stick? Swamp Thing #1 gives me a lot of hope, but when the hype dies down and we’re reading issues 10, 11, and 12 of the New 52, I wonder at his ability to survive in the marketplace. I’m willing to put aside any Alan Moore comparisons until that point, so here’s hoping Swamp Thing has a long, prosperous shelf-life.

     

    Voodoo #1

    Writer: Ron Marz / Artist: Sam Basri

    I’d love to give Voodoo #1 the benefit of a doubt. After all, it’s one of a few female solo books DC has decided to launch in an effort to reach out to new readers, and, more, it’s an effort to integrate an interesting (if ripped from They Live) idea from the clutches of the 90s comics that birthed it. But Voodoo, whose solicits ask the reader if she’s hero/villain/both, is a stripper whose tattoos murder people, and that appears to be it. Taken on it’s own, it’d be a disappointing, lifelessly drawn comic with potential but for the poor execution (DC’s own Witchblade, which, surprise, Ron Marz spent time writing), but Voodoo spends so much time stripping, changing clothes, and stripping that the comic quickly devolves into self-parody, which, to be honest, was evident from the issue’s come-hither cover. Voodoo #1 isn’t a good comic book by any stretch of the imagination. Even if you’re looking for a decent cheesecake comic, there are better ones available. I’ve seen Zack Snyder movies more capable of recognizing women as something greater than a fetish object, and he’s the guy who thought Watchmen needed more rape.

  • The New 52: Batwing #1, Birds of Prey #1, Catwoman #1, Nightwing #1, and Red Hood and the Outsiders #1

    The New 52: Batwing #1, Birds of Prey #1, Catwoman #1, Nightwing #1, and Red Hood and the Outsiders #1

    Batwing #1

    Writer: Judd Winick / Artist: Ben Oliver

    There are room for superheroes in Africa, I know there has to be. While the concerns dealt with by American comic book characters–drug abuse, alcoholism, crime, choosing between Betty or Veronica–are pedestrian in comparison to those that would likely be faced by a hero operating in the Congo, there must–must–be a way of portraying that hero in a way that intelligently confronts those issues, and you’d have to imagine that a comic book capable of doing that would be a home run, finally and fairly representing a sorely underrepresented group of people. Unfortunately Batwing #1 isn’t that book. It isn’t offensive, but it has the feel of a comic conceived after skimming through a fairly long essay on the famine and war plaguing the continent. Its heart is in the right place, but, more often than not, its head is up its ass.

    Batwing, as you might’ve guessed, is the Batman of Africa, given a suit and a cave by Bruce Wayne in an effort to spread the message and ideal of Batman throughout the world. This is an interesting idea (one of many interesting ideas cooked up by Grant Morrison), but, in execution, I can’t help but cringe watching Batman show up to lecture Batwing on the finer points of crime fighting. In this issue, he admits that Batman was right when he said a bat would scare African criminals, thanks Bruce for the suit, and unnecessarily reminds him that he’s responsible for the bank of computers he works from. He then waltzes into work the next morning and finds the entire police precinct massacred by a warlord/supervillain. Of course, he blames himself. Too bad Batman wasn’t there to lend a hand.

    I’ve never been much for Judd Winick’s writing, which is too bad since he is one of the DC roster’s most prodigious writers. I guess I’ve always found that, while dealing with big issues like sexuality, identity, and race, his scripts never reach far beyond the basics, often feeling sloppy, rushed, and half baked. Batwing #1 is much the same way. Great idea, yes, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired, and the end result is a less earnest Blood Diamond clone with capes. The issue is not helped by the artwork of Ben Oliver, who I’m sure has his fans, but I’m not much for comic art that tries to be photorealistic. There’s a kind of uncanny valley effect to artwork like Oliver’s–by trying hard to emulate the looks, emotions, and real life responses of actual people, Batwing #1 is a cold, emotionless shell of a book. I don’t feel anything for the character, and, in a weird way, I almost find the photorealistic dismembered limbs and severed heads a bit disrespectful. These things have really happened in Africa, and Batwing’s set-up doesn’t seem strong enough to resolve those issues with the respect and consideration they deserve. I feel my time would have been better spent looking through a photo essay on the continent. I feel like Batman should have known better.

     

    Birds of Prey #1

    Writer: Duane Swierczynski / Artist: Jesus Saiz

    I was irked by Birds of Prey #1 immediately upon looking at the cover. I’m usually loathe to gripe about comic book fashion, having long since tired of bat-nipples and endless pouches, but the long sleeves and 90s shoulderpads with hot pants and fishnets ensemble they gave to Black Canary is the second ugliest re-envisioning of a character’s costume since the ill-fated relaunch of Wonder Woman saw Diana Prince dressed up for a night at the club. The worst, if your wondering, also goes to Birds of Prey #1, whose Poison Ivy wears a puke green body suit and limp red hair so horrible I had to check Wikipedia just to be absolutely sure it was her and not some limp-wristed imitation. Poison Ivy, for the record, is my favorite Batman villain. She’s also quite the fashion plate, so what the hell guys?

    *ahem*

    Even if I were able to look past the seemingly arbitrary and wholly unnecessary costume changes (I can’t! I won’t!), Birds of Prey #1 would only irk me again upon the realization that, in this brave new world, absolutely nothing that was great about Gail Simone’s long, incredible run on the book survived Flashpoint to make it into the new DC Universe. I’m biased, as Birds of Prey was the first book that got me into DC Comics as a young reader and comic shop employee, but it was nice that a book existed that wasn’t just about super heroics, but personal relationships and subtle nuance. The characters in Birds of Prey were smart and well-rounded, and I can’t help but be a little sad that that’s been tossed out the window in an effort to return to the tone established by Chuck Dixon’s run on the title, with the difference being that Black Canary and OracleBatgirl are not only no longer teammates, but that Barbara Gordon isn’t even on the team.

    Now were I able to set both of my issues with Birds of Prey #1 aside before I’d read the book, Duane Swierczynski’s take on the team would still be pedestrian stuff–a light, sexless take on Sucker Punch (which wasn’t exactly heavy. Or sexy.) with little ambition beyond showing hot chicks do the cool things people in action movies often do–drive cars, fight thugs, be party to explosions. Everything that happens here feels so unnecessary, so lifeless and stilted and just plain off. A lot of that probably has to do with my strong attachment to Simone’s run. A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that I find dialog like “God, it’s you…the Black Canary. Wanted for murdering a man with a punch” laughable in the way B movies are. Most of it, however, has to do with Birds of Prey #1 having the vitality of a book that’ll be cancelled within a year. It lacks a certain…vitality. I might read a few more issues to see how Poison Ivy is handled (I do bad things for the sake of keeping up on favorite characters), but, one issue in, it’ll be more out of morbid curiosity than anything else.

     

    Catwoman #1

    Writer: Judd Winick / Artist: Guillem March

    Catwoman, too, was a title instrumental in getting me into DC Comics, as the Ed Brubaker/Darwin Cooke/Cameron Stewart series did more with the noirish elements of the Batman mythos I’d grown up with in Batman: The Animated Series than any other Batman title, both in terms of Brubaker’s strong sense of Selena Kyle as a character, and Cooke and Stewart’s incredible sense of Gotham City as a place. It’s been a long time since the character or a book featuring her has been relevant to my interest, which is too bad because, in the right hands, she’s quite capable of presenting a different side of Gotham, one that Batman, Batgirl, and the Birds of Prey are incapable of exploring. I’m not sure if the Selina Kyle of Catwoman #1 is a woman capable of carrying her own book, of if my displeasure in the road Judd Winick takes is due to my biases, both for the character and against the writer.

    Selina Kyle, as written by Winick, is much the same as she was in the 90s; a woman with an ambiguous moral code and expensive taste. The things that defined her as a person when Brubaker was writing her are gone, replaced with the cat-ridden apartment and a sloppy-but-sexy demeanor that fails to do much in defining her. On the first page, when she’s cramming eight cats into a cat carrier and jumping out the window half dressed, I had to stop myself from closing the book. Sure, my Catwoman would have been prepared, in costume. Yes, my Catwoman probably would have had two cat carriers. But this is Judd Winick’s East End, and I’m just nervously shuffling down the sidewalk, eyes to the pavement.

    It’s clear from the narration that Winick’s Catwoman will be couched in Frank Millerisms. Like one of his tough talking prostitutes, Selina Kyle isn’t afraid to be groped by a dirtbag if it means that she gets what she wants, and she’s certainly not above using her body to lure her marks in. It’s lazy and unconvincing, but is a masterstroke compared to the relationship between Catwoman and Batman, which reads like some nerd’s Batman Returns fanfic, if that fanfic somehow won a contest to be drawn by a real comic book artist. I’m cool with Batman and Catwoman having sex, but, here, it seems like it’s defining Winick’s take on the character, that Batman needs to be there, not just for all the kissing and straddling DC will allow, but so that she’ll have something hanging over her head when she goes off to do something that might be morally iffy–a relationship with a man.

    All of this is annoying before the issue’s last words invite comparison between Batman/Catwoman and Watchmen‘s Nite Owl II/Silk Spectre II, who, being characters in an Alan Moore comic book about identity (and 900 other things), are much better equipped to deal with the issue. It’s not a fair comparison, but few things are. A more fair comparison: like Birds of Prey, I’m in for a few more issues, if only because I’m curious to see where, exactly, Winick is going. It helps that Guillem March draws an awesome Catwoman. It’s only right, considering that it’s her book, but she stands apart from everything surrounding her–even when the writing tries to tie her down.

     

    Nightwing #1

    Writer: Kyle Higgins / Artist: Eddy Barrows

    I guess I’ve never really understood the need for Nightwing. Yes, there’s a need for character evolution, and Dick Grayson wasn’t always going to be Robin, but it feels like Nightwing never quite stepped out of Batman’s shadow. He moved to a new town, got himself some villains, saw the town crumble and went back to Gotham, where he took up the Bat-mantle when Bruce died (funny how “evolution” means taking on someone else’s identity) and handed it back when he returned. Now back as Nightwing and back in Gotham, Nightwing #1 breaks no new ground for Dick Greyson. He’s still in Batman’s shadow, still fighting his scraps, still struggling to find his identity without Bruce.

    I suppose it’s fitting that the circus Dick once worked for is back in town, as it allows him to visit his old demons and reflect on his history, for those who are new to the character. It’s a big deal, I suppose, that he’s back in hero-choked Gotham, living in a loft in one of the city’s rough (but maybe gentrifying) sections, living in the place he’s trying to improve. There’s also a big carrot dangled at the end of the issue that there might be more to Dick than even he knows, but in this, the first issue of his own book in a new continuity, he’s taking on a nameless, faceless killer. I know that not all of these new books can be barnburners and that a book like Nightwing #1 has an established audience, but it’d be nice to see writer Kyle Higgins going beyond the character’s firmly entrenched comfort zone. Fans of Dick Greyson will probably be mollified, as this is the first time he’s had a solo book since 2009, but beyond those fans, nothing here is going to convince the masses that the character, or the book he’s in, is worth the money.

     

    Red Hood and the Outsiders #1

    Writer: Scott Lobdell / Artist: Kenneth Rocafort

    Enough bloggers have commented on the economic stupidity of taking Starfire–a character three million children, a number much larger than the thirty thousand your typical comic book would be lucky to get–from her cutsey Teen Titans leanings and hurling her headlong into the COOL and RAD world of Red Hood and the Outsiders #1, where she is not only the most powerful member of the team, not just the one with the biggest breasts, longest hair, and skimpiest costume, but also the biggest slut, so I probably don’t need to add my voice. It is a stupid decision, but then again, it was pretty stupid to publish this comic book in the first place.

  • The New 52: Green Lantern: New Guardians #1, Green Lantern #1, Green Lantern Corps #1, Red Lanterns #1

    The New 52: Green Lantern: New Guardians #1, Green Lantern #1, Green Lantern Corps #1, Red Lanterns #1

    Green Lanterns: New Guardians #1

    Writer: Tony Bedard / Artist: Tyler Kirkham

    I’ve never been much for any Green Lantern not named Guy Gardner (best jacket in comics, best hair in comics), but start me off with a gaggle of dead ones, victims all of a seemingly apocalyptic intergalactic battle, and I’m going to take notice. The new Lantern in question here is Kyle Rayner, and, if this is what the characters always been like, I don’t see what people have been complaining about since his 1994 debut. He’s a nice enough guy, and, as a comic book artist, he’s able to bend the Green Lantern power ring to more creative uses than giant boxing gloves or the current popular manifestation of supreme cosmic willpower–the giant machine gun. He saves a crane operator from certain doom by willing to life three giant, Depression-era construction workers…and is promptly criticized by some random kid for designing his own costume.

    Thankfully, Green Lanterns: New Guardians #1 isn’t as preoccupied with defending the legacy of its main character as Aquaman was, and the result is a 22 page comic that both effectively introduces its hero and hurls him into an incredibly dangerous predicament. Out in space, the power rings belonging to other cosmically-powered spacemen are disappearing, which is understandably upsetting to the factions missing their rings. They all converge on Kyle and, wouldn’t you know it, a Lantern from each corps is hot on its tail, ready to tear apart the poor bastard unlucky enough to draw their attention.

    Tony Bedard, whose Route 666 remains a favorite–if unheralded–comic of mine, is effective in cramming everything into one issue. Not only does Rayner get the ring, the other Lanterns lose theirs, the crane falls, there’s a whole lot of dead dudes on Oa, and the ring hunters drop in on Rayner at the end. That’s big stuff for a first issue, particularly considering that many of the New 52 first issues have been content to tease at a threat, meander with a character, then jump to the cliffhanger; but Green Lanterns: New Guardians #1 is as tight and controlled as a comic mid-way through its run. Tyler Kirkham’s visuals–particularly his handling of alien species and Rayner’s saving the crane–are stunning and clean, cosmic but still human. I can see a situation where I’d quickly tire of Kyle (he’s a bit sassy, and that can go overboard quickly), but I’m hooked for a couple of issues at least, if not more.

     

    Green Lantern #1

    Writer: Geoff Johns / Artist: Doug Mahnke

    In Green Lantern #1, Hal Jordan becomes the sad, divorced dad of comics, out of touch with the world around him because he’s spent so much time among the stars. His power ring abandons him and chooses Sinestro, he’s jobless, can’t make rent, is dead to a world that doesn’t realize he protected them, and is hapless when it comes to speaking to Carol Ferris, maybe the only person on Earth who understands him and what he’s been through. Of course, that doesn’t make it any better when Carol takes Hal out to a fancy restaurant, where he charmingly asks her to co-sign the lease on his car where another, better man may have asked her to marry him, but it’s kind of fun watching Jordan and Ferris get their hopes up about two things that couldn’t be more different, only to see both dreams smashed.

    This seems to be Geoff Johns’ specialty, to bring superheroes low and raise them back up. Hal Jordan, having shrugged off prior events where he killed billions of people, is an odd reclamation project, but Johns brought Jordan back into this world, and it seems he’s going to be the one to shepard him as the DC Universe moves forward. Having been around the block with a few titles written by Johns, I feel my interest in the adventures of Hal Jordan; Civilian waning even before Green Lantern #1‘s cliffhanger, which looks like the set-up for the world’s dullest, lecture-filled buddy cop movie. While giving Sinestro a place in the Green Lantern Corps is an interesting thought, Johns simply doesn’t write with the short of urgency or poise that I’m looking for. His heroes are ponderous and lost beings, looking for redemption and trying to reclaim their old glory. They’re also too well-aware that they’re better than the people around them. His villains are like that, too, but that I can shrug off. You give a guy phenomenal cosmic powers, and the best he can do is conjure a giant pair of binoculars? If I were the jobber Sinestro easily kills in this issue, I would have tried to attack him from behind, too.

     

    Green Lantern Corps #1

    Writer: Peter J. Tomasi / Artist: Fernando Pasarin

    Because it’s not enough to have both Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan down on their luck, Green Lantern Corps #1 sees Guy Gardner apply for a job as a high school football coach and get rejected, as his being on the sideline could make the team vulnerable to extraterrestrial attack. If Hal Jordan is the divorced dad of comics, Guy Gardner is now the sad uncle–he’s wistful for normalcy, has his own goofy nickname for the men and women of the Green Lantern Corps, and still wears the (awesome) jacket that got him laid in high school. John Stewart–actually referred to as the black Green Lantern in another book, in another bit of weird meta-awareness these books probably don’t need–is similarly listless. He’s hired to design a building specifically because he’s a Green Lantern, then he finds out that the building firm wants to cut a few corners, and Stewart quits. Meanwhile, in space, several Lanterns are being hacked to death by a mysterious entity. The moral to Green Lantern Corps #1? It ain’t easy being green.

    There’s really not much more to say beyond that. Either Gardner is getting lectured to, or Stewart is doing some lecturing, and neither path is of particular interest to me. The larger, cosmic implications of Green Lantern Corps #1 will take center stage, I imagine, but of all the New 52 books I’ve read, this comics Threat/Hero Building/Threat set-up is the least compelling one yet. There are some nice touches, like when Gardner is being interrogated by the other men applying for the high school coaching job, but, maybe because I read Star Wars novels as a kid that did the same thing, the prospect of an entire planet being drained of its water–especially a planet that isn’t Earth–just doesn’t excite me, and Stewart, by using his ring to send his potential employers hurtling Earthward in a lantern-powered elevator because his standard of excellence is nothing short of impractical, strikes me as somewhat petulant. Like many of the books DC has recently launched, Green Lantern Corps #1 features some very strong art, here by Fernando Pasarin. But, like with many other books in the line-up, strong art isn’t enough to get me to plunk down $2.99, and Peter J. Tomasi’s script, like the one he did for Batman and Robin #1, does more to turn me away from a good concept than interest me in seeing what happens next. He’s reaching for quiet, character defining stuff in both comics, but both are let-downs.

     

    Red Lanterns #1

    Writer: Peter Milligan / Artist: Ed Benes

    Red Lanterns #1 is a curiosity to me, as I missed out on the crazy widening of the Green Lantern mythos’ color spectrum, and I knew who exactly zero of the characters in this book were going in. I assumed that it was going to be a villain book, since the dudes and dudettes on the cover looked pretty feral and of the teeth-gnashing variety, but the Red Lanterns are given their power and motivation by a desire for revenge. They are, in fact, so powered by vengeance that they’re mentally crippled by rage, unable to do much more than rip people apart and fight each other. But, two pages in, there’s a cute housecat who rips apart some S&M-themed aliens, so I was immediately attached to the concept, which I’d otherwise be tetherless to.

    The leader of the Red Lanterns, Atrocitus, is a kind of cosmic Conan the Barbarian. Like Conan, he’s motivated by the death of his family, is a man of phenomenal strength and rage in a universe that doesn’t understand him, a tool by which a reader is allowed to mull over the value of violence and rage in society. Atrocitus saw his whole planet wiped out by the machinations of an insane Guardian of the Universe, so there’s plenty of fuel in the tank. But, just the same, that Guardian is dead now–can one still feel rage once vengeance is claimed? Atrcitus looks into the future, sees much suffering, and determines that yes, such things are possible.

    As much as I like Atrocitus (I dig Conan and Red Sonja and other barbarians, so I suppose that makes sense), Red Lanterns has some ground to cover before it becomes something I’d gladly spend my money on. Apparently, the rage-infected humans of 28 Days Later are what inspired Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Scriver when they created the Red Lantern Corps, and that influence is certainly evident in the way the Lanterns who aren’t Atrocitus behave–they’re barely capable of speech. Not that Red Lanterns is a zombie book, but my interest in the other Red Lanterns right now is like the interest that I have in a zombie that isn’t threatening a potential meal–nil. I see that there are a few possible recruits to the Core, and perhaps the potential to increase the awareness of the other members. That would be splendid.

    I trust Peter Milligan, whose run on X-Force and the resulting X-Statix are perhaps the best commentary on the absurdity of superheroism, superhero teams, and fame I’ve read in mainstream comic books. I also like Ed Benes, whose art has matured considerably since I last saw it in Birds of Prey. I previously had him figured as a cheesecake artist, adept at drawing the ridiculously implausible curves of DC’s superheroines and little more, but beyond Bleez, Atrocitus’ second in command, there is little room for T&A. His Red Lanterns look properly demonic, ready for war.