Comic Mini-Reviews Week of May 16th, 2012

This week: The Owls attack the Birds of Prey, Batwoman avoids the Owls, and Conan is a multidimensional character?!

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of April 18th, 2012

This week: Owl poop hits the fan, Green Arrow becomes a stalker, and there's gonna be a wedding!

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of March 21st, 2012

This week: Wonder Woman wows, Batman ka-pows, and Justice League grows.

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of February 15th, 2012

This week Uncanny X-men is boring, Batman fights back, and Daredevil descends into the underground.

More Change is afoot at DC!

     All morning, Josh Kushins over at the DC Source Blog has been posting announcements about DC's plans to move some of their artists around beginning in May.  So far, the books involved in the Musical Chairs are Birds of Prey, Resurrection Man, Animal Man, and Suicide Squad.
Steve Pugh will take over as the ongoing Animal Man artist freeing up Travel Foreman to move to Birds of Prey. Meanwhile, current BoP artist Jesus Saiz will move to Resurrection Man, where current penciler Francis Dagnino will take over Suicide Squad.
     I'm not really sure what would have caused such a restructuring.  My guess is that the departure or reassignment of an artist caused the dominoes to start falling.  One thing I will point out is that the artists who worked on Suicide Squad 1-7 haven’t been mentioned so far.  Federico Dalloccio did the art for the first five issues, but the last two have been fill-in artists.  Based on the pattern of changes, it seems that this all began with Dallccio and Suicide Squad. Perhaps, DC is moving things around in an effort to bring stability to the book?  Then again, that may be an unfair assumption.
Regardless, I will be sad to see Foreman and Saiz leaving their current books. Foreman on Birds Of Prey should be very interesting, I like him quite a bit but I am not sure he would have been my first choice for a book like BoP.

Update:  Travel Foreman weighed in on the changes over at the comicbookresources forums:

"I just want to chime in briefly, because everyone here has been so supportive of the book and because there's so much behind the scenes stuff that goes on with these books... I read a lot of comics and I too get confused about whats going on in some books and ultimately feel like we're getting a raw deal sometimes.

The change on Animal Man boils down to the reason I was on the book to begin with, which was that I needed to take on a job after my mother died (to deal with the financial end of someone being sick for a while and then passing) and Animal Man was the only thing DC was going to let me do. Which in any other time frame would have been perfect.
But really the context of me dealing with the death of my mom and drawing the kind of content in Animal Man just burned me out sooner than I thought.
I had hoped to stay on the book until at least the spring so that the artist I wanted to replace me was free from his commitments, but I would have ultimately just dragged the book down if I did, because it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate on the work.

Steve was bending over backwards on his fill-ins to keep the book on schedule so you have to keep that in consideration. Really, he won't skip a beat once he's doing the book full time.

Thanks, everyone."

[Image courtesy of DC's Source Blog]

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of January 18th, 2012

This week: we finally get the Batman issue we've been craving, Wonder Woman and Daredevil continue to be solid, and Grant Morrison's Steed and Mrs. Peel debuts.

Read about it after the break!

Year-End Comics: 5 Surprises of 2011 and 7 Things to Watch for in 2012

5 Big Surprises of 2011

Batman and Robin
Yes, Tomasi and Gleason's Batman and Robin was one of my "15 Books to Watch" pre-DC Relaunch, but I never could have guessed just how good it would be. In fact, my exact words were: "Don't get me wrong, I have no doubt it will be solid. Spectacular? ...eh, maybe." Yet, Batman and Robin has been stellar in its pitch perfect portrayal of Bruce Wayne, Damien Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth.  Add to that amazing art from Gleason and you have a book that is actually a bit better than Scott Snyder's flagship book Batman.

Birds of Prey
I did not plan on buying Birds of Prey.  Even though she did not create the Birds, the series always seemed like it was Gail Simone's property to me. With a new writer in Duane Swierczynski, I was prepared to stay clear of the DCnU's iteration of the female superteam.  But, standing in front of the racks at my local comic shop, I was enticed by Jesus Saiz' crisp art.  It has been a good purchase.  I wont say that BoP is stellar or even in the top five of the DCnU, rather that it is just shockingly solid.  Birds of Prey is the kind of book DC needs more of if the New 52 is to be successful--strong, middle of the road books to form the foundation of the new universe on.


Wolverine and the X-men
Look, hardcore X-men and Jason Aaron fans may have had Wolverine and the X-men's release date circled on their calendar, but I certainly did not. Despite being bought on a whim, it turned out to be one of my favorite new series to debut in the second half of 2011.  Different in tone from other relaunches, W&X-men walks the fine line between being saddled with the weight of continuity and striking a fresh tone. Plus, it is fun (which is a tone that more comic books should adopt, in my opinion.)

Batgirl
Way back in August, I was certain that Batgirl would be one of the big books of the New 52.  I was not exactly wrong--it certainly garnered a good bit of press (not all of it good). Plauged by inconsitency over it's first four issues, the series was never able to overcome the controversy that it spawned. Things are still early and the series could level out, but, so far, Gail Simone's run has been surprisingly unsatisfying. I'm still holding out hope!

Stormwatch
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the DCnU has been the disappointment of Paul Cornell and Miguel Sepulveda's Stormwatch.  I was certain that it would be one of the best of the New 52, but things have not panned out.  After a frantic (and, frankly, confusing) first couple of issues, the series never seemed to settle down. Sepulveda's art looks muddled and Cornell's character work does not seem to be taking hold.  On top of that, it has already been announced that Paul Jenkins will be taking over the writing duties with issue seven.  An inauspicious start for a series that I had high hopes for in September.

Things to Watch For in 2012

Wonder Woman: Litmus test for DC's New 52
Let's be honest. The DC Relaunch has only been a partial success from an artistic standpoint. Sure, the increased sales and market-share are nice, but two of the promises of the New 52 were higher profile creative teams and a willingness to reexamine characters that needed a face-lift.  So far, these are covenants only slightly fulfilled. Books like Justice League have been underwhelming despite their A-list talent, while Animal Man and Swamp Thing have been stellar but based mostly in pre-New 52 continuity.  The only series to take complete advantage of the 52, so far, is Wonder Woman. The groundwork put in place by Azzarello and Chaing has been mighty good. (I even named the series my second favorite new series of 2011.) Sadly, there is no telling how long the team will stick around, positioning Wonder Woman as the book that will let us know just how committed DC is to the new and their promises of A-list talent.  When Azzarello and Chaing leave the book, will DC replace them with old or unknown creators? Or will they bring in the biggest available names?  Now is not the time to bring George Perez back, DC!

The Defenders
Thanks to Casanova, we know that Matt Fraction is willing to push the limits of comic book sanity and with The Defenders' he has the perfect team to challenge the unknown of the MARVEL Universe. Issue one was a traditional team building issue, but issue two opened the floodgates of crazy concepts and intelligent ideas. There is no doubt that The Defenders will be one of the most mind-bending books of 2012, and it certainly seems like it will be one of the best.

Saga
After nearly a decade as one of the biggest names in comic books, Brian K. Vaughn, writer of Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina and Pride of Baghdad, all but disappeared from the industry. This March he returns with an ongoing scifi epic titled Saga. Published by Image Comics, Vaughn has stated that the series will combine "elements of science fictionand fantasy" but "will also appeal to people whoaren't necessarily fans of those genres."  Sounds good to me!

Batman: Earth One
After the commercial success of J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis' Superman: Earth One original graphic novel, it is hard to believe that Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Batman: Earth One has been so long delayed. Yet, just days ago DC's Source Blog announced that the Superman: Earth One sequel and Batman:  Earth One will finally be released in 2012.  I could care less about JMS' Superman, but Johns and Frank on Batman? Sign me up!

"Night of the Owls"
Speaking of recent announcements, on January 9th, DC's Source Blog detailed the first significant crossover of the New 52, "The Night of the Owls." Reader's introduction to the upcoming conflict will unite Scott Snyder with with his American Vampire collaborator, Raphael Albuquerque in the form of a series of backup stories in Batman.  Spanning across the Batbooks this is easily going to be the biggest event so far in the DCnU.

What are the "Next 52"?
Next month's number 6 issues mark the midway point of the New 52. From the beginning the powers-that-be-at-DC have promised that each of the relaunch comics will be allowed to run a full 12 issues. Even if this proves to be the case, I am certain we will see cancellations next September. What will replace the canceled books?  Will we be treated to a second wave of titles?  Will there still be ambitious series like Animal Man, Wonder Woman, and Action Comics? Or, will DC execs attempt to play it safe? What characters will be spotlighted? How many more Bat-related books can we handle? (That last one was a joke...kind of.)

Marvel: Season One

Last summer, MARVEL announced its own series of original graphic novels under the umbrella of "Season One." Created to detail canonical early adventures of their most iconic characters while appealing to the bookstore crowd, Marvel: Season One books will begin appearing on book shelves in February with the release of Fantastic Four: Season One.  Along with digital distribution, original graphic novels like this are the brightest potential future I foresee for comic books.  Season One and DC's Earth One books will be an important experiment.

Comic Mini-Reviews Week of November 16th, 2011

Batman #3 – Scott Snyder's Batman is a book without obvious flaws. Within the pages of the first three issues, he has presented the reader with a Batman story that is inlaid with his continued expansion of Gotham city's history. Greg Capullo's art is a fine, stylized companion. Yet, since issue one, the series has yet to really wow me. Issues two and three were perfectly solid issues that were well executed, but there is something about the evolving story that seems to be missing. Perhaps I am hindered by the fact that I have yet to read Snyder and Kyle Higgin's The Gates of Gotham mini-series, and am, therefore, left out in the cold story wise. While that might be the case, I tend to doubt it. Rarely has my enjoyment of a comic been hindered by missing knowledge of continuity. Having read Snyder's Detective Comics run starring Dick Grayson as Batman, I am sure I will be shown the error of my ways and regret ever considering that Batman is lacking. For now, I am left with the feeling that there is a hole in Snyder's Batman but I cannot seem to put my finger on it.

Birds of Prey #3 – I would argue that BoP is one of the surprises of the New 52. It is no where near the level of Wonder Woman, Animal Man or Swamp Thing nor is it even as solid as Batman and Robin, but Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz' book so far has been the kind of well-written, sharply-drawn B-level book that is necessary for survival of the DCnU. In fact, with the announcement that Batgirl will be joining the ranks of the Birds of Prey, I am forced to concede that it is tempting to drop the somewhat underwhelming Batgirl and just get my fill of Babs Gordon in BoP. I would be lying if I said that Saiz' art was not a huge influence on my opinion of the book's overall quality. I am a big fan of his clean lines and expressive character faces. Birds of Prey's story is nothing spectacular—just solid superheroics. Side-note: I actually really like Poison Ivy as a good guy so far. She was underutilized as a Bat-villian anyways. Plus, I bet she will return to that role so fast we'll all forget her heroic turn before you can say Batmite.

DCU Presents #3 – If I was trying to explain the Deadman storyline currently being featured in DCU Presents to a non-comic reader, I am sure that the word boring would feature prominently. It is hard to believe that a story about a ghostly acrobat that can inhabit other people's bodies could possible be boring. Yet, here we are. So far, DCU Presents has been overwritten and uninteresting. There is supposed to be some sort of mystery going on with Boston Brand's godly benefactor, but three issues in I am hardly compelled to turn the next page, much less buy the next issue. It is not as if there is a lack of interesting ideas, in issue two Deadman breaks into Wolfram and Hart...I mean, uhm...some sort of magical nightclub. In issue three he threatens an old lady with angel wings and meets Lucifer's younger brother, and it takes 20 or so pages to get there. At least the cover is pretty.

Green Lantern Corp #3 – After two solid opening issues, Green Lantern Corp takes a turn of the worse. Confronted with a seemingly endless enemy that is somehow immune to their power rings, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and their cohorts seem done for. Except that Peter Tomasi introduces a brand new, never before seen Green Lantern with the convenient power of teleportation. With the somewhat on-the-nose name Porter, (What, were the names PlotDevice and Plothole already taken?) the cavalry is able to save most of their comrades. Anyways, to add insult to injury, Porter somehow overextends his power's reach on the return trip and dies tragically in Gardner's arms. Green Lantern Corp number three was a disappointingly, bland mess of nothingness that asked the reader to have an emotional reaction to its own tepid attempt to write itself out of a corner.

Justice League #3 – Despite the increasing number of characters and slightly more intricate plot pieces, Justice League continues to feel, at best, like a free comic that came with a Happy Meal or box of cereal. I realize that this is a carefully planned move on DC's part, but it is still hard to shake feelings of disappointment. Geoff Johns has, by no means, been a perfect comic writer, but the lens with which he sees the DC characters tends to clarify and strengthen their core attributes. That is why his work on Justice League was so highly anticipated. Over the last few years, the League had languished in a quagmire of uninteresting characters and substandard quality. The promise of a Johns Justice League was one of revitalization. Instead, after three issues, Justice League feels like the Mirror-Mirror version of the potential of the New 52. Instead of interesting new takes on the core characters of the League, we are treated to an achingly simple story filled with transparent characters. Like I said, I realize this is a carefully cultivated experiment on DC's part. Yet, since the New 52 endeavor is so keenly tied to retaining old readers and gaining new readers, it is unfortunate that the flagship book so utterly fails at the first objective.

My Greatest Adventure #2 – I'm still not even sure why I picked up issue 2 of this mess. I said on the podcast a while back that the only reason I bought the first issue was historical nostalgia for the original My Greatest Adventure—in which Doom Patrol first appeared—and My Greenest Adventure—the fictional book that Grant Morrison's Wally Sage dreamed up Flex Mentallo. This mini-series features a trio of baffling stories that seem both out of place and time. None of them are completely horrible, rather their mere existence is confusing. With the New 52 initiative attempting to present a new-reader-friendly-universe, why is DC muddying the waters with characters like Robotman, Garbage Man, and Tanga? To the average non-comic reader, Garbage Man might as well be Swamp Thing. Meanwhile, to the long time comic reader, a re-imagined Doom Patrol-less Robotman is just unfortunate. The thing My Greatest Adventure does have going for it is its art. Scott Kolins and Kevin Macquire are two of my favorites, and Aaron Lopresti is turning in some of his most polished work. But the caliber of artists on this book just leads to more questions. While I am not sure if Macguire would be willing to have drawn one of the DCnU, I am positive Kolins and Lopresti could be better utilized on one of the 52 ongoing books being published by DC. In the end, I am not sure pretty pages of panels are not enough for me to stick around for issue three.

Wonder Woman #3 – There is no doubt in my mind that, three issues in, Wonder Woman is one of the best books to come out of the New 52. This is neither unwelcome, nor is it a surprise. Wonder Woman, more than any other book, exemplifies the goals of the DCnU Initiative. The creative team is entirely A-list and the character was ripe for a certain measure of re-examination. In issue three, this comes to a head as Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang challenge long-held understandings of Diana Prince while still honoring the stories and mythos that came before. For years now, Wonder Woman's origins have revolved around her creation—a mother who longed for a child, made one out of clay. Issue three reveals that this story is just as fictional for Diana as it is for the readers. She has lived a lie, and is now faced with an entirely new reality. It is a change that may leave some long-time readers unhappy, but I am of the opinion that Wonder Woman is the most ripe of the Big Seven for change. Anything that clarifies or builds Diana up to a stronger hero and character is absolutely fine in my opinion. Perhaps one of the most appealing changes aspects of Wonder Woman is the way that the mythical gods behave. I love how the goddess Strife remains present on Themyscira as if she is savoring the unrest and unhappiness her presence has caused. After three months, Wonder Woman falls easily amongst projects like Swamp Thing, Animal Man, and Batwoman as one of my most recommended books of the New 52.

DCnU Week 4 Mini-reviews:

Batman #1 – Easily one of the best issues of the DCnU so far. Snyder has a knack for writing Batman and created the absolutely most elegant method for introducing the Bat-family possible. Capullo's art is perfect for Batman—except that character's faces are a bit cartoony and Dick Grayson seems a bit young to have passed as the Dark Knight over the last year. Simultaneously gives new readers a starting point and sets up a mystery that will intrigue established readers.

Birds of Prey #1 – A bit of a mess, but saved by Jesus Saiz' art. Like Justice League, this is a team book that features only two members of the final roster. There's a couple of things going on that feel like they should be connected but never really add up. Black Canary is wanted for murder, and the new Birds of Prey are a covert ops-style superhero squad. Yet, those seem to mutually exclusive. They keep getting tossed around by characters, but no one ever really connects the two threads. They are not covert because Dinah needs to hide underground, but rather because that is what the Birds of Prey team are apparently supposed to be. Regardless, a fun first issue—Canary kicking ninja butt, Starling being a fictional-hottie, and Saiz's cleanly drawn lines really helped.

DCU Presents #1 – An anthology series, this time starring DC's favorite ghost—Deadman. A little wordy, but a pretty interesting issue. Takes time to establish Boston Brand's origin story and set up a greater mystery. I'm kind of on the fence about this one. I like Deadman as a character and the art is fine, but the issue was kind of uninteresting. Also, I'm not saying superheroes cannot change their moods, but I prefer the joking, gruff Brand to the kind of mopey version of DCU Presents #1.

Green Lantern Corp #1 – A solid first issue that establishes John Stewart and Guy Gardener for new readers while setting the stage for a confrontation with an interesting mystery villain. I get the feeling that since John is one of the DCU's most high profile African-American heroes, the company feels that he needs to be at the forefront of the book. That's fine with me. Honestly, when I read John Stewart I hear the great Phil Lamarr's version of the character in my head. One of the things I loved about the pre-relaunch Green Lantern Corp series was that it was filled with awesome extraterrestrial Corpsmen. Thankfully, it looks like while Guy and John will carry the book, there will be appearances made by fan-favorites like Kilowog and Isamot. I miss Gleason's art on the series, but Fernando Pasarin does a solid job and fluctuates from solid to awesome.

Supergirl #1 – This was perhaps the biggest surprise of all the books I have read. There are plenty of books that are better, but I expected them to be good. I had low expectations for Supergirl and I was completely surprised. It was a fun issue with good art and a character reboot that distinguishes her from the rest of the Super Family. It unfolds that the story a bit slowly, but its obvious that Green and Johnson had a specific place they wanted to end the first issue. Supergirl #1 is just a solid superhero-centric book.

Wonder Woman #1 – Between Chaing's art and Azzarello's script, Wonder Woman is easily one of the best books, if not the top book, of the New 52. Diana, a character that writers seem to struggle to get a handle on, is portrayed as a strong but feminine character. Azzarello takes advantage of the character's mythological origins to inform her world. A violent book that never verges on gratuitous, Wonder Woman repackages Diana in a way that is true to her origins as a compassionate ambassador of peace and a fearless warrior.