DC Relaunch Week 1: Quick Reviews September 9, 2011

So I’m trying to figure out if I should do all of this  in one giant post or do multiple post. I think I’ll do quick hits all in this one post and do single reviews for books I feel are worth it. So leggoo.

Action Comics #1 – I like it. Clark Kent is cool. I like his land lady. It’s a bit heavy handed, but it’s cool. I like that Supes can get hurt. There stuff I don’t like. Or just don’t care about right now, like the military in the book.

Animal Man #1 – It’s alright. Not really my thing. The art just didn’t do it for me. I’m not passing judgement. Just saying it didn’t do anything for me. His eyes were bleeding and then his guts were bleeding in the past and I think other things were bleeding too.

Batgirl #1 – Felt like it was off to me. The story didn’t really work for me. I’m not huge into whatever was going on here. We’ll see. The thing where she was paralyzed with fear made me actually roll my eyes. The art is okay. More blood than I expected. We’ll see.

Batwing #1 – Batwing was cool. I’ll stick with it for a while. There was some stuff that surprised me. I have small nitpicks of course. It’s a bit paternalistic. Many mentions of Africa, not as many of DRC. I’m sticking with it. The ending did feel a bit  cheap, though.

Detective Comics #1 – There’s a lot of blood. Like, a lot. So there’s that. The joker was crazy and Batman fought him and there was blood raining from the ceiling.

Green Arrow #1 – I know I read this book. I don’t remember it at all.

Hawk and Dove #1 – The art. No.

JLI # 1 – I get it. You hate when people complain. Don’t waste time in my book for that shit. The whole team selection thing in the beginning was whatever. Mari is in it though, so I’m cool with what’s here. I hope something actually happens in issue 2.

Men of War #1 – Yeah. I can’t really even criticize this book properly because it is so not for me at all. The modern war comic thing is just clearly not for me.

O.M.A.C. #1 – The art. Yes. The Didio. No. Kieth Giffen is a boss. I don’t like everything going on in the book (that hair needs to stop), but it’s like 80% Kirby and so I can’t really even hate on it all together. I can hate on Didio. Dude doesn’t work for me.

Static Shock #1 – This is my book. Expect to hear more about this from me. Love the new trash can lid. Love the faces. Love the family in the book. Mad props to my boy Hardware. I like how it feels like even though they’re in New York they just brought Dakota with them. I’m in love with the art. Cheap ending, but whatevs. First issue grabber thing just like Batwing. The colors are awesome. Virgil is great. I can hang with this dude. Great. Great. Great.

Stormwatch #1 – I don’t even know. I like Paul Cornell. I’m going to read it again and see what I really think. I know that I absolutely can’t do this art. It just isn’t up to snuff for me. I’m interested, but ultimately, I’m not sure if I even like the story so far. The fist issue did not grab me.

Swamp Thing #1 – Hmmm. . .It’s swamp thing. I need someone to call me when this book is finished with the amnesia plot. So far the story just is falling flat. The art is decent.

So Yeah. That’s week 1. Static is freaking AWESOME. Action comics has potential and I have already fallen in love with this version of Clark Kent. Everything else I’m either giving more time to or I’m just out on. Some because I think they’re just not any good, and others just due to them not being for me.

I’ll come with deeper reviews on . . . I think Static and Action later.

BATMAN! Part Uno. June 16, 2011

I love Batman. If people asked me who my favorite comic book character was I’d probably say Static or Rocket, but after they say ‘who are they?’ and I explain for an hour or two and they asked for someone else I would probably say Batman. One of the sixteen hundred reasons I’m into super hero comics at all is because of Denny O’Neil’s novelization of Knightfall (if you are interested in a cool batman story but don’t want to buy the three trades and like your story more condensed give that book a try). Greg Rucka’s No Man’s Land novel was another big one for me. I’ve sense read both of those events in comic form and the novels are better. Anyway, Batman is super cool. Every TV show has been pretty dope in some form or another. The character has a life of his own in the fan fiction world where given three seconds of prep time he can beat Galactus with one hand tied behind his back in under a minute (including the prep time). It is pretty dope. Bladdy Bladdy Bla, Batman is cool. Even All-Star Batman is cool. My Favorite Batman story ever though is now Grant Morrison’s run from Batman to Final Crisis to Batman and Robin and finishing at Batman Inc. It’s one of the few things that makes me happy I bought floppy issues for so long. So for me, this reboot isn’t so bad. I feel like I have a complete Batman story that may be the best one ever all wrapped up nice and neat. I can come into this new thing completely fresh, and so I shall.

Detective Comics #1

Look at all that blood on those babies! I don’t hate Tony Daniel’s writing (battle for the cow not withstanding)[note: not a typo, it’s a funnier read that way] I just am not going to go out of my way to read it. The cover really doesn’t excite me at all. What would excite me is some Detective work on Batman’s part. Less blood and brains. We’ll see how this goes.

Batman

Scott Snyder has done some cool stuff, or at least that’s what I’ve been told. I’ve only read one issue of American Vampire and none of his other stuff. Here’s hoping it’s really good and he has a long time on the book and does good stuff.

I’ll wait and see on this one.

Batman The Dark Knight

David Finch writes and draws? Wait for the trade.

Batman and Robin

I’m very interested in the Bruce and Damien dynamic. I thought Damien worked so well with Dick Grayson as Batman and grew over time. I hope they don’t ignore all that happened in the past and stunt Damien’s Development.

I’m not going to be picking this one up either. I honestly think I am going to take a break on Batman until the first TPB of Batman Inc. comes out after it relaunches. I just think I’ve read as good a Bruce Wayne story as I’m going to read in a while so why spoil it?

Birds of Prey

I know everyone loved this book, I just rarely got into it. I read it for a while before it got cancelled once and enjoyed it a little. I have a trade or two from the series and it wasn’t bad. I liked the TV show. . . .

Yeah, I’ll see how this one fairs.

Catwoman

How do you sell a book with a female lead? Sex.

I’m not buying this one. Not on principle, I just don’t really care about Catwoman enough to read a solo book monthly anymore. I liked “When in Rome, but I read that ten years after it came out. I read her OYL title and liked it, too. I don’t have a great reason other than I don’t want to spend even $2 a month on it.

Apparently I am going to split this one into two posts as well. I have so much to say about Batgirl and Batwing that we’ll have to wait until the next post.