DC New 52 Review: Detective Comics #1-2

Detective Comics #1-2
Written & Drawn by Tony Daniels
Inks by Ryan Winn
Cover Price: $2.99 each

In a nutshell:
A new villain, a new love interest, and the Joker loses his face.

Synopsis:
Batman takes on the Joker and a new threat whom calls himself the Dollmaker, while as Bruce Wayne we get to see the more charming and witty side of the character that has been absent in the comics for quite a few years. Bruce is dating journalist Charlotte Rivers. The first issue has a cliffhanger where it appears that the Joker's face has been surgically removed by the Dollmaker who appears only in shadow. In the second issue we don't see the Joker again yet but Batman's ally commissioner Gordon is kidnapped by the Dollmaker and when it reappears at the end it appears that his face has been seamed together which leads you to believe that we might have a plot similar to the 1990s movie, "Face Off" and that this might be The Joker taking the Commisioner's place.

Why did I pick it up?
Batman is one of my favorite comic characters and an icon. I generally avoid the more cluttered stories where the iconic qualities take a back seat to dense continuity, which I feel dates the stories when you look back at them, but I'm always hopeful when there is a clear starting point that there might be a possibility for a starting point. The comic shop buzz I've heard is that Tony Daniels is a good artist for Batman, but a weak writer, so I wasn't intending to pick the book up but that last page cliffhanger where the Joker's face is removed gave the hope that we might get a fascinating story twist out of this, despite the grotesqueness of the image (I will give them credit for not actually showing the operation which made that last scene all the more powerful).

The Good:
I'm glad to see Bruce Wayne doing something else beside sulking around and my favorite part of these first two parts of the story seeing him playful in the workplace and flirting with his new love interest. I'd read a story just about Bruce Wayne when he's not in Batman mode, if this is the version of him that we'd get. The art is attractive and displays the story well.

The Bad:
Some of the dialog is cliched and over the top in the first issue, but I can usually dismiss such things and not get caught up on it. What bothers me the most is that Detective Comics, a series that has had an uninterrupted run since it started in 1937 (and which DC Comics gets its name from), is being relaunched with a new #1 issue just so it can fit into the formula of this DC marketing event. It seems like a really short sided way to muddy the legendary status of this book. The name Detective Comics only has meaning to established comic fans because it is the oldest running Batman book and you have to think that if the point is to bring in new readers it's not the best title for the book. While it's likely that DC will eventually return to the old numbering letting the new series fill in the gaps so that Detective Comics will reach it's 1000th issue for DC to market, there is something swarmy and illegitimate about this and it really muddies the indexing of the title. That's not a condemnation of the story itself but as a collector I'm really put off by shortsighted marketing scams that break down the traditions that have kept me collecting for the sake of the hype machine driving a few months of increased sales.

Is it worth it?
I'm undecided so far if this story will be fulfilling. The story that's coming could play out in a fresh way but it could also play out as a really bad cliche. The the writer-side storytelling isn't so bad that I'll ditch it before it plays out and it does feel like we might have the possibility of a modern classic Joker story here, but it isn't so good that it'll be worth the ride if the destination isn't a good one.

DC New 52 Review: Catwoman #1

Catwoman #1
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Guillem March
Cover Price: $2.99

In a nutshell:
Provocative sensationalism distracts from a decent story.

Synopsis:
This is one of the comics this month that has gotten a lot of internet coverage due to the provocative sexuality in the story and art. The story starts when Catwoman apartment is invaded and then blown up (it's unclear if the perpetrators are going to be important to the story or if they're just another random group of criminals that she ripped off doing their usual business). But Selena finds herself without a place to live and without cash so she connects with her friend Lola who sets her up with a place to squat as well as a thieving gig. While undercover as a waitress spying on the Russian mob, Selena spots a man named Renald who killed once shot and killed a woman important to Selena (it's not clear what the relation is at this point) in front of her when she was young. She starts to seduce Renald in the ladies room and then starts to beat and claw him in a very bloody and grotesque scene. She escapes the mob, returns to the penthouse she's squatting at, and gets it on with Batman, at which it's stated that they do this from time to time but they don't know who they are.

Why did I pick it up?
Catwoman is one of those characters that I really enjoy when she's done right. The cover design was seductive enough to get my attention. When paging through the interiors I was put off by some things but curious enough that I felt it was worth checking out the first issue.

The Good:
While there is a lot here that exploits the sexuality of the character (and by exploit, I mean uses it in a way that is only provocative and doesn't serve the story and/or characters), I did enjoy the story. It's not a totally new Catwoman story but it's a good template story that tells you what the character is all about. I spent a little bit of time trying to figure out if Guillem March was just another 90s/Image style clone or if I really liked his stuff and there is something stylistic about it that separates his art from most of the artists who draw in a similar style, and he looks to have the potential to become even better if he continues to evolve as both a designer and an illustrator.

The Bad:
There is nothing vague about the sexuality in this comic which is apparent from the cover which shows Catwoman lying on her back holding a little sack of jewels, which resembles a used condom, with white pearls pouring out of it and onto her cleavage, breasts, and body. I don't have the most conservative taste and I admit that there are "adult only" entertainments that I enjoy, but wouldn't let my daughters read this comic, which isn't a condemnation in itself because the 1980s Catwoman mini-series was a much darker comic that would probably be even less appropriate for children under ten, but I do ask the question (while not coming to an absolute conclusion myself), when a character or title has iconic status as something that is marketed towards kids, how far should we be willing to take a more adult orientated version of the character? I think it's a safe bet to assume that we won't see a DC comics character in licensed porn, at least for a few years yet. But there was a time in comics when DC had the label, "DC comics aren't just for kids anymore". Now it seems like the label might read, "DC comics aren't for kids at all", and I do wonder when the official continuity of characters we grew up reading is primarily for older teens and adults, did we perhaps take these characters with us to the point of leaving nothing left for the kids who once were the primary audience? Truthfully, as an adult I like more mature stories. The problem is that the kind of provocative sexuality and violence feels contrived and reads more like B-rated cheese than the HBO style shows I think it's trying to emulate and I think that works against the story instead of serving it. I do admit that despite being a bit overly exaggerated and beyond the usual "good girl" cheesecake that I usually find appealing in comic art, there is something about March's style in drawing hotties that makes it more seductive than most of the exaggerated artists in comics whose girls don't have a sense of reality or weight to their anatomy. What I had the biggest problem with in the comic is a very graphic and bloody scene. Nothing turns me off more than when you mix sex, which is something at the core of us, and graphic violence which turns it into something difficult to stomach. And I am a strong believer that when it comes to violent scenes what you imply in shadow or off panel can have a stronger emotional impact than graphic displays of celebratory blood and guts which just seem to enjoy itself more than I am comfortable with.

Is it worth it?
Despite my reservations I liked the comic enough that I will buy the next issue, however, we need to get a little more focus on the story in the second issue. I don't have a problem with Batman and Catwoman having a sexual relationship, but I think that being so graphic about it, as opposed to implying it, is a distraction that draws away from the story and makes it more difficult to escape into believing. If this comic forms the formula of the gratuitous T&A scene of the month, I'll get bored fast because lets face it, if I just want something tantalizing, there are a lot more material I can find that will be a lot more satisfying.

DC New 52 Review: I, Vampire #1

This is my third review on the New 52 titles.


I, Vampire #1
Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov
Art by Andrea Sorrentino
Cover Price: $2.99

In a nutshell:
Typical Modern Vampire Story set in the DC Universe

Synopsis:
In this story we meet what looks to be the two main players in this series, Andrew, who looks to be the main protagonist, is a vampire who wants to peacefully coexist with humans, and his lover Mary who has a blood lust and wants to lead a Vampire Army to take over the earth. The couple has been together for four hundred years, since Andrew turned Mary into a vampire, and we're lead to believe that they had some sort of relationship before she was turned and that she had a very different nature to her when she was human. Mary seems to fully love Andrew for what he is, even loving that he opposes her plans for conquest. Andrew on the other hand has a more puritanical view of Mary, still holding on to the human she used to me and denying the blood thirsty vampire that she has become. The story flips back and forth between their last night together and the war between them that follows.

Why did I pick it up?
I originally wasn't going to. The cover art is good but it's such a popular style these days that it really didn't give me an idea that this was any different than most other comics out there. But the timing just lined up right as I've been sucked into HBO's True Blood series which just ended their fourth season, and I was feeling some withdrawal. When I paged through the comic at the comic shop I was pleasantly surprised to find that the art had a more realistic and moodier style than what was represented on the cover, so I gave it a shot.

The Good:
What makes this comic interesting is that, so far at least, is the external conflict is just a reflection of the relationship issues between these two lovers. True Blood fans with notice the similarities between Andrew and Bill Compton in that they both are in denial of their more carnal vampire natures and they both wish to peacefully coexist with humans. Mary you can imagine might be what True Blood's Sookie might eventually become if she was changed into a vampire, letting go of the innocence and repression and fully realizing her hunger and passion. Andrew is haunted by the pureness in his love for the human that Mary was and his feeling that he has tainted her. And he is torn because he realizes that Mary is a serious threat to the world that he cares about. It's not a new story concept to have enemies who are connected this way, but it is one that draws you in.

The Bad:
When characters like Superman and Wonder Woman are mentioned as potential enemies for Vampires to fight, it is distracting as this story doesn't really feel like it exists in the same world as superheroes. Early issues of horror/fantasy comics Swamp Thing and Sandman also acknowledged the existence of DC's superheroes and yet their Vertigo runs were totally self contained and it's not hard to get past in this story but it would not serve this comic well if eventually the stories crossed over with superhero characters.

Is it worth it?
If your a fan of modern vampire stories, this looks like it's going to be a good series to follow. The first issue has me committed to buying the next.

DC New 52 Review: Action Comics #1

This is my second review of the current DC Relaunch. I want to start by saying, I'm not against reboots. My feeling is that reboots allow you to move iconic characters forward without losing the ability to return them back to the qualities that make them icons without undoing the stories that evolved them. My only issue with this one is that DC got a partial reboot just a couple years ago with Infinite Crises and with the average story taking almost six months worth of issues, I don't really think that got as fleshed out as much as it could have. I'm also a huge fan of the Superman work but Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, especially Superman: Secret Origin which was just released collected form this year, and I think it's a shame to throw that out when it's still so fresh. But I'm going to judge each comic individually on their own merits.


Action Comics #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Pencils by Rags Morales
Inks by Rick Byrant
Cover Price: $3.99


In a nutshell:
Superman, hero for the little guy!

Synopsis:
Despite his icon status, perhaps because of it, Superman is one of the hardest characters to write and make captivating. Part of it is because Superman is up on a pedestal and I would argue that he belongs there and that it's very possible to tell good stories using the character by tapping into the readers core fears, hopes, and inspirations, especially in a cynical age where we could use it. Perhaps part of the struggle writers have in doing it is because Superman's become this household name and corporate representation to everything Americana, which makes it hard to distinguish him and to give him an opinion or have him take risks. Well, this Superman breaks the mold, or at least the mold that we've come to think of him as. In truth when Superman first started in 1938 he has a little more swagger. In fact in his very first story in the original Action Comics #1 he breaks into the Governor's mansion and breaks all kinds of laws to stop a wrongful execution and beats up a wife beater. He's going to make sure that right is done and he's not concerned about breaking some rules to do it (after all, he's Superman, who is going to stop him?). Grant Morrison's current take on Superman appears to go back to these roots and this story starts off with Superman taking on corrupt capitalists and not in the most delicate way. Grant Morrison is about as close to a rock star as there is in comics and even though you know he's a bit of a provocateur he's definitely an A List writer.


Why did I pick it up?
I love Superman but enjoy so few of his comics. Grant Morrison wrote All Star Superman which is one of my favorite comics of the last decade and even though everything I've heard about this series makes it sound completely different, this is the one book of the New 52 that appealed the most to me. Also, perhaps because I loathe Jim Lee's new costume design for Superman, the T-Shirt and jeans seems to work for me, which I wouldn't think it would.

The Good:
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this issue, definitely appreciating a Superman that has a progressive edge to him, especially as it seems there is more and more ingrained corruption in our society and the media and politicians have become so accepting of it. This Superman is a little radical in today's world and, from my perspective, that's not radical at all! This isn't my favorite take on Superman but this is a Superman I was to read and, so far at least, it's a Superman comic I want to follow. Art is important to me and Rags Morales has a style I can appreciate (lets put it this way, Superman's jeans actually look like jeans, not skin tight spandex with seams). This Superman is all new and yet looks classic. Superman isn't married to Lois Lane in this version which I know will upset some of the die hards the way it did with Spider-Man when his marriage was retconned, but it gives us a chance to get a little more romantic chemistry into the book and one of the good things about rebooting a series is that you can get to unload baggage without undoing it.

The Bad:
It's not Superman Secret Origin! No, seriously, for two decades John Byrne's Man of Steel set the ground work for Superman and when Geoff John's Secret Origin replaced it, it was such a good story, it's a damn shame that almost immediately it is undone, especially because I felt there was something magical about the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank Superman stories and I was hoping to see more added to them. That's less of a criticism of this story as it is praise for another story. The only concern I have about where this book is going is the glimpse we got of General Lane (Lois Lane's military father) and Lex Luthor who look like they're going to be the main antagonists of the book, and I'd really hate to see typical arch enemy/evil mastermind scheming pull away from the part of the story that I think is the more appealing. But we'll have to wait to see.

Is it worth it?
This and Justice League are the only books from the relaunch that I've noticed having a $4 cover price as opposed to the $3 price that most of the other books have (which in my opinion is already too much in the current economy especially because you can find most comics a year later on ebay for a fraction of the cost and with the collected editions becoming the more desired format). But, if $4 is something you're willing to spend on a comic book, this is the one to pick!

DC New 52 Review: Justice League #1

Since DC has relaunched their line this month with new #1 issues of their mainline titles as well as a (partial) restart to the history of their characters, I've been searching for reviews that could give me the scoop on the books I haven't been checking out. In doing so I found very few reviews of the ones that I have been checking out that have matched my own feelings on those books or the feedback from other fans at the comic shop I do work for. So I've decided to review the books that I had enough initial interest to pick up. This is the first of those reviews.


Justice League #1
Written by Geoff Johns
Pencils by Jim Lee
Inks by Scott Williams
Cover Price: $3.99


In a nutshell:
Where's the beef?

Synopsis:
My main problem with this comic is that I feel like I've read it already. I get that this book is supposed to appeal to new readers, but that doesn't mean there aren't new ways to introduce characters in comics and team them up so that the story will be fresh. The story structure is very similar to the first issue of All Star Batman and Robin and the changes seem to be for the sake of being more provocative but really, these ones are kind of tired cliches at this point, not just in comics but other popular media as well. The majority of the story is about Green Lantern meeting Batman, we get a glimpse of pre-origin Cyborg, and most of the characters in the comic aren't in it. We see that Batman is an outlaw, but we've seen that before so it's not really a shocking start and the dialog feels contrived. Besides the dialog, it's not that the story is bad, it's that it feels like half an episode and doesn't really give us an idea of what the Justice League is about and why we should care. Since the story starts with the captions explaining that it is five years in the past, perhaps what it could have used is a scene preceding what is now the opening scene that shows the entire team in an actions sequence in the present time so we get to see the characters on the cover that haven't made an appearance yet (which is almost all of them) and we get a sense that something actually happened in the comic.


Why did I pick it up?
Curiosity, primarily. The advance images with the costumes really put me off but Jim Lee and Geoff Johns are top talent. While I'm not a hard core DC fan, I do feel a connection with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman and the other "Super Friends" that I grew up with. So having really mixed expectations, I decided to take a risk on the chance that it might end up being an iconic story after all.

The Good:
This isn't Jim Lee's best art, but it's still Jim Lee with Scott WIlliams on inks (the under-appreciated member of that art team).

The Bad:
The costumes look dated, they seem to follow the trends of the 1990s with the only addition from the current trends in comics being a ridiculous amount of seams in patterns that don't make much sense. Superman has armor now for a costume and a ridiculous looking collar that reminds me of alternative versions of him we saw in 90s stories like Armageddon 2001 and the DC Year 1,000,000 Annuals. Of the DC trinity, only Batman has any story time, Superman doesn't show up until the last panel, and Wonder Woman isn't even in it which really doesn't give anything for the female reader who might be checking out the comic. The characters just seem in general to be snarky, confrontational, and pissy (kind of like fanboy posturing on internet message boards) which I don't find offensive but isn't interesting and has sort of become a cliche in modern comics. The cover is a week design, the character renderings on it and strange poses and angles are not examples of Lee's talent and the orange background cover and weak logo don't help. The characters that are supposed to be in a normal non-superhero setting looks like they're posed like superheroes and they are tensed up for battle, which might mean those kind of scenes are Lee's "Achilles Heal" as an artist (and perhaps one of the reasons Hush looked so awesome is because no other writer focuses on tailoring their stories to their artist like Jeff Loeb does). Geoff Johns has done so many amazing stories that were just home runs for me. Both him and Lee are A caliber talent. But they didn't bring their A game to this issue!


Is it worth it?
For $4 in today's economy, when most of the other books are selling at $3 with a story that feels incomplete, not at all! Which doesn't mean the complete story won't be good, but for a first chapter this really doesn't hook you. If the rest of the story arc delivers perhaps the trade would be worth it. But this single issue is not!

My Favorite Posters: Phoenix Classic - 1986

DARK PHOENIX
By Rick Leonardi & Terry Austen

I had this vintage poster on my wall for many years as a kid but when I got out of highschool it was so beat up that I just threw it away. A few years back I went on an ebay spree of coveting old posters that I loved as a kid and just today I found I owned the poster, rolled in brand new condition, not even realizing that I had it after spending a couple of days searching the web for any image I could find of this (the only ones I have been able to find were either very small or in black and white). Since it bugged me so much that I couldn't find this, I'm putting it up here so anyone else who wants to find this has a source to draw from... truly one of the coolest X-Men images ever from the era that X-Men was actually cool (as opposed to overexposed and impossible to follow).

What this thing in Wisconsin is really all about... Elections Campaigns!

Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin: What a hypocrite! The guy is union busting by limiting the freedoms of unions that support state workers, but offers the ones who give him and other Republicans money, an out! This is soooo dirty and so telling This was never about the budget, it was all about hurting people who give money and support to the Dems! It's all about money and politics!