January 10, 2011 January 1, 2013 Eric P. I.
I’m really late with this, I know. Darned holidays interfered, and some family stuff came up. But that’s all over with, so on with the reviews!
Batman, Inc. #2: I feel like I’m a broken record because I keep saying how much I love Grant Morrison writing Batman. He just seems to get the character and his world so much. And from a storytelling standpoint, I love how he throws out a bit of dialog at the beginning and it pays off at the end. In this case, I’m referring to Batman telling Catwoman he knows why she came to Japan, and then at the end we find out why she was there, the little thief. :) Interesting that Batman is nonchalant about her thievery. Does he no longer care about her breaking the law, or are certain crimes beneath his notice now (which I find a nice change)? I know we’re only two issues in, but I wonder how long Morrison will be doing the recruitment phase of this series before we get a story out of these new Batmen of the world?
The Yanick Paquette art seems a little better to me than the first issue, though I can’t pinpoint why (maybe because I’m getting used to it after two issues?). I do find the inking to be a little too dark, but it seems to work for the look of this comic.
Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special: I wonder if the colorist hated the color orange after this issue was done. :) This was cute. Larfleeze’s childlike ignorance about our holiday customs was amusing, as was the children’s activity type pages, like the maze page and the tree ornament. Plus, I’ll have to try the recipe for Orange Lantern Cookies that was printed. As far as the dramatic bent of the story, I thought it was a little weak, but it still serves to give Larfleeze some depth (all he really wants is his family back).
JLA #52: Wow, this is bad. Stinky bad. The little hoorah speech from Superman made me laugh at how absurd it sounded–that’s not good. I’m hating how Donna Troy is being portrayed, and what is up with the Dark Supergirl thing? No, seriously, where did this dark side of Kara’s personality come from, and why is it back now? I dimly recall that a dark looking Supergirl appeared in the Superman/Batman storyline just after Kara arrived on Earth and that happened because of Darkseid’s influence supposedly. I guess I just don’t care for these changed personalities for no good reason. At one point in the story, Batman is thinking, “Have to think of … something.” This is what I am thinking James Robinson is saying to himself every time he sits down to write this comic.
Although, I did enjoy the last page where Batman, ever the tactician, surrenders to the bad guy (though it reminded me of Kirk surrendering to Khan in ST II). Also, there’s the bit where Ultraman is shown to not be the dumb, strong guy he’s been portrayed as recently. But these little enjoyable moments are too few and too far in between.
Legion of Super-Heroes (hereafter will be referred to as LSH) #8: Apparently I’m going to be negative for the most part this pull list review, because as much as I loved Paul Levitz’s 80s run on LSH, I am not liking his current run so much and am thinking I’ll be dropping this at issue 12. Why? It’s boring! Nothing is going on here. The characters seem like shades of themselves. Anyway, the new Legion leader is revealed in this issue, and I have to admit it was fun to be able to vote again, and it was really easy this time. I’m dating myself, but I used to have to write in to DC Comics to vote for a leader. This time, DC gave us a website. Of course, much like how my state goes in presidential elections, my candidate did not win, but Mon-El winning could be very interesting, especially since he’s barely been in the series so far.
Wonder Woman #605: I liked how we get a bit of “history” of Diana’s, and that same history ties into why she’s doing something for some people she knows later in the issue. And while she’s visiting these people she’s helping, the little boy gives her a crayon drawing of her, but in her traditional costume and it affects her physically. I cannot wait to see how this alternate reality version of Wonder Woman gets reconciled with the “normal” version we all know.
Zatanna #8: God, I want to love this title, but I just can’t (why, WHY?). The whole puppet inhabited by a soul shtick is so old, and there’s nothing new about it here. In fact, this reminded me a whole lot of that Buffy episode. Ho hum. Oh, and guess who makes an appearance in this issue (again): Zee’s father, Zatarra. Please Paul Dini, enough with the dead Dad. I do like the cover though.
I also read DC Universe: Legacies #8, Detective Comics #871, and Nemesis #4. I originally wanted to get Legacies to see how this newest incarnation of the DCU was being put together from a historical perspective, and it’s pretty much as I remember, i.e., nothing much has changed since before the events of Final Crisis, and that’s a shame. I was hoping for a little universe tweaking and some reveals. Oh, well. I bought Detective Comics #871 because my buddy Oddfellow was raving about this latest story arc. I liked it well enough, but I don’t think I’ll be sticking around after this three-parter is over. Finally, Nemesis is done. Yay! My pal Matt at the Comic Book Shop has suggested some great books in the past (The Walking Dead, Transmetropolitan, Ex Machina), but this time was a dud. I really wanted to read Millar’s Superior based on the description of it, but after Nemesis, I don’t think I’ll be reading any of Millar’s creator-owned work again (once bitten and all that).