Blackest Night #1

Okay, so it's been a full week. Again, my computer is still broken, so my online time is limited, these days.

Anyhow. Blackest Night, in case you've been living under a rock, is DC's big crossover event for 2008. Over the last couple of years, we have been introduced to an entire spectrum of lanterns, including the Sinestro Corps (Yellow; representing Fear), the Red Lanterns (Red; Rage), the Blue Lanterns (Blue; Hope), Agent Orange (Orange; Avarice), and the Star Sapphires (Violet; Love). Of course, we all know the Green Lanterns (Green; Will), and, thus far undiscovered by the inhabitants of the DCU are the Indigo Tribe (Indigo; Compassion).

Well, Blackest Night adds to the tasty rainbow of Lantern-y goodness by introducing us to the Black Lanterns (Black; Death). One of the Guardians has found the Book of Oa relating to the Black Light of Death, and has resurrected the Black Hand to do his bidding; Create an army of Lanterns that are made of the fallen heroes and villains in the DC Comics Universe. And what an army the Black Hand has crafted: In his army are former Justice League members such as the Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, the Elongated Man and his late wife Sue Dinby, Firestorm, and a slew of others. The Black Hand, meanwhile, has taken Bruce Wayne's skull, and is carrying it around as a symbol.

The recently-returned Flash, Barry Allen, and Hal Jordan, Green Lantern Corps member 2814-1, investigate the grave of Bruce Wayne, where they are interrupted by the Black Lantern Martian Manhunter. Meanwhile, Hawkgirl and Hawkman are talking about their relationship with each other that involve events that I have no earthly idea about (insert argument for caption boxes with asterisks, here). Suddenly, they are attacked by the Elongated Man and Sue Dinby. Will the Hawkpeople fall, or will they... Rise?

While this is just the first issue of the eight-issue mini (plus the GL and GL Corps book tie-ins), and I had a pretty good idea of what it was we were going to see, I have to admit that I didn't see the attack on Hawkgirl and Hawkman coming at all, and the end result of that fight has me on the edge of my seat for the upcoming issues.

The pencil work by Ivan Reis is gorgeous, if possibly a bit over-rendered. Everybody is easily distinguishable from each other (and in a comic filled with armies of people wearing the same-colored outfits, that's a big concern), and I wasn't left wondering what was going on in any panels. Good times, right there.

If you have even a passing interest in the DC Universe, I would definitely recommend checking out Blackest Night #1; Everything you absolutely HAVE TO know is given in the issue, and it leaves some sweet setup for the next issue.

Quick Reviews

My apologies, dear readers, for the lack of updates. My computer has decided it no longer wishes to operate correctly, so my Internet access has been cut rather drastically over the last few weeks.

To make up for that, here are some quick reviews of some things I've been reading:

- Gotham City Sirens: In a word? INCREDIBLE. This is THE best thing to come from the Batman: Reborn stories, thus far. Of course, Paul Dini writing Harley, Ivy, and Catwoman is a recipe for awesome. And the art's gorgeous, too.

- Green Lantern 36, 38-41, Green Lantern Corps 32-38 (We're completely sold out of GL issue 37): Good times, right here. The Rage of the Red Lanterns, Hal Jordan becoming a Red Lantern, and then half a Blue Lantern, and then dealing with Agent Orange and becoming an Orange Lantern... and finally, the origin of the Black Hand leading into Blackest Night. If you've missed any of the issues, I'd definitely recommend picking them all up to get caught up before heading into Blackest Night #1, which came out today.

- Oh My Goddess! vol. 1-3: A sweet, adorable manga series about a college kid who wishes for help and gets his own personal Goddess. The girl in you will love it.

- X-Men: Forever 1-3: Still an interesting change on what happened to the X-Men comics in the early 90s, but I still question "why" this series exists, other than just for the sake of releasing Claremont's scripts. But, for now, it's fun, so I'm gonna keep reading.

- Detective Comics #854: Batwoman is pretty cool. I know nothing about her except what's in this issue, but I'm on board for the next few issues, for sure.

- Red Robin #2: Not really where I wanted to see the series go, but I'll stick with it for a couple more issues.

I'll be back later this week with a review of Blackest Night #1!

Gen 13 #30

Gen 13 #30

Written by Scott Beatty

Art by Mike Huddleston

$2.99

DC Comics/Wildstorm Entertainment

So, the new Gen 13 series is interesting.

I was a big fan of the original Gen 13. Five super-powered teenagers trying to escape the government and deal with all of the 90s angst that was going on. It was very much a product of its time, and the visionary minds of J. Scott Campbell, Brandon Choi, and Jim Lee really caught on with what was happening at the time.

And when Adam Warren took over for the last couple years of the series' run, I'm not sure if I've ever had so much FUN reading comics. Ed Benes was just getting his start, and was putting out some incredible artwork, the likes of which hadn't been seen since the Image Comics "X-odus." The stories were fun and light-hearted, but still had that sense of angst that the 90s were so filled with.

And then the book got cancelled and everybody died.

About a year later, Chris Claremont and Alé Garza resurrected the title, but with an entirely different cast, and it bore very little resemblance to what had come before.

So, the new series is born out of Wildstorm's "Worldstorm" event from 2006, where everything got reset. So, while they've gone back to the original team (Fairchild, Freefall, Rainmaker, Burnout, and Grunge), it's not a continuation. It's a complete reboot.

And, y'know, it was going pretty well for a while. And then Wildstorm: Armageddon happened.

Now, these lighthearted, spunky teenagers aren't living in 2009 with the rest of us. They're living in an alternate, post-apocalyptic world where society has been reduced into mini-societies. It's almost tribal. And the kids are just out for survival.

Which, I suppose would be all well and good, if there was ever a chance that they'd be able to come back to the regular 2009. But since the entire Wildstorm universe is in this post-apocalyptic land, I don't see that happening any time soon. At least, not unless the Gen 13 kids are shoehorned out of the Wildstorm universe and brought into the DC Universe proper. But I don't see that happening...

The book itself is okay. Mike Huddleston's art is always interesting (though also a great departure from the hyperrealism and gratuitous T&A of the original series - which may be a plus to a lot of readers, actually). It's very stylized, and he doesn't really draw like anybody else. And Scott Beatty's writing is about as interesting as it can be, given the setup he was left with. Although, it's possible that he just doesn't "get" what made Gen 13 so popular to begin with, and he's doing his best to keep it going.

Or, maybe because the kids have been updated into '00s teens, from '90s teens, my inner teenager just can't connect with these kids. Whoever would've thought I'd be "too old" at 26, huh?

At this point, I'm still collecting Gen 13 out of a sense of duty, really. I've got every issue of Gen 13 published, so far (and most of the variant covers, to boot!), and it would be a shame to break up the collection, especially after 11 years of reading the series. But if it doesn't get better, I might need to consider dropping this one...

Red Robin #1

Red Robin #1
Written by Christopher Yost
Pencils by Ramon Bachs
Cover by Francis Manapul
$3.99
DC Comics

It's a regular Bat-o-Rama around here, lately.

So when your mentor dies, the closest thing you have to a brother gives your identity to your mentor's estranged son, and you've got nowhere left to turn, what do you do?

Apparently, you go to Madrid and take over the mantle of the guy who tried to kill you...?

Tim Drake-- excuse me, Tim WAYNE is the new Red Robin. And he's in Spain, trying to find Bruce Wayne, the Batman. And Tim is 100% sure that Bruce is still alive. He just has to be. Because... Tim wouldn't know what to do, otherwise. Tips lead him to Prague, and while Tim is hanging out in his hotel room, somebody has him in their sights. And it's somebody BIG.

This was a pretty solid first issue. One of the nice things about never having been a huge Batman fan in the past is that I have very little knowledge of who many of these characters actually are. I don't know their personalities, or very much of their history... I just know their names, and how they're all related to Batm--Bruce Wayne.

So, for me, it's fun jumping into this world that has semi-familiar faces. DC is making it pretty easy to keep track of everything. I understand that Tim's upset about Damian becoming the new Robin, and I even get an idea as to why.

For the first time in the last several years, I know what the hell is happening in a DC book, when I pick it up! There's no need to go back and read stories from when I was in diapers, or to understand the entire history of a character. I just have to know who Batman is, understand that there have been three Robins, pick up that Bruce had an illegitimate child, and be aware that Bruce Wayne is dead. From there, I can just jump right in. And, so far, all three titles in the new Bat-family have been quite enjoyable.

If you're going to pick up one Batman book this week, make it Batman #687. But if your budget allows for it, grab Red Robin #1, too.

Batman 687

Batman #687
Written by Judd Winick
Pencils by Ed Benes
Cover by TS Daniel
$3.99
DC Comics

(image ganked from IGN.com, because nobody else had the final version)

"A Battle Within - An epilogue to Battle for the Cowl"

Last week's Batman and Robin #1 was the launchpad for the new status quo in the Batman family of titles. But it left me feeling like there was something... missing.

Don't get me wrong. It set out to do a straight Batman story with Dick and Damian in the roles of Batman and Robin, and it pulled that off quite well. But there was something strange about it. It didn't feel like there was an answer to "Battle for the Cowl." Who will be the new Batman? Well, Dick Grayson was just thrown into the role, without any exposition.

But this issue of Batman serves to answer all of the questions I would've had. It opens with a flashback to a the first time Dick Grayson (as Robin) was able to get the jump on Bruce (as Batman), and then transitions to Alfred and Dick trying to figure out what to do.

Superman and Wonder Woman make appearances in a flashback scene to show when they returned The Cowl, and asked what Bruce's contingency plan was for when he died. It seems as though he didn't really leave one...but Alfred and Dick decide that Batman cannot die, and as the Justice League (Clark, Diana, Ollie, and Dinah) are gathered around Bruce's grave, he informs them that the world can't know Batman is dead.

The Phosphorus Man attacks a subsidiary of Cadmus, and is met by the new Robin, who quickly begins getting punked out, 'cause he's ten, and wasn't prepared for this. Nightwing shows up to save the day, and considers the future of the mantle of the Bat.

In the final scene, the Scarecrow (who is rendered beautifully, by Ed Benes) is attacking the Gotham Bay Bridge, and is too much for the police to handle. Suddenly, he's stopped...By Batman.

And that's Just the Beginning!

I've been a fan of Ed Benes' work for nearly 10 years (since his run on Gen13), and it's good to see him doing a solo title, again. I haven't read too much from Judd Winick, but this is exactly the story that I was looking for, to fill in the gap between Battle for the Cowl #3 and last week's Batman & Robin #1.

If you've never followed Batman before (I haven't), there's no better jumping on point than right here. This is going to be the solo Batman book, where Dick Grayson grows into the role of playing-- no, BEING-- Batman. I'm pretty excited to read the next issue.

Don't miss this one.

Batman and Robin #1

Batman and Robin #1

Written by Grant Morrison

Pencils & Inks by Frank Quitely

DC Comics

$2.99

So, after just a few months, Grant Morrison is back at the helm of writing Batman. After the debacle of last year's "Batman: RIP" storyline and its less-than-stellar reviews, how's he doing this time around?

Well, it's definitely just the start. This is Part One of "Batman: Reborn," but we're not told how long this particular arc will last. But, for a first issue, we've got all the essential elements for a good Batman story: A new Robin, a new Batman, new villains who are working for somebody Batman's never heard of and must use his detective skills to find, and the new villainous boss is somebody sadistic and twisted.

Frank Quitely's art is as visually stunning as ever. The storytelling is clear, the details are prevalent, and everything looks like it should. While I haven't gone through all of Quitely's back catalog, this may be the best work I've seen from him, yet.

But as far as the story goes? It doesn't really grab me. As somebody who doesn't read Batman very frequently, I feel like the new Batman is the most obvious choice, the new Robin feels sort of shoehorned in (I've known about this character's existence, but am not familiar enough with him to really care), and there's a lot of "Well, now that Bruce is gone we can do THIS!" sort of stuff.

Don't get me wrong, a flying Batmobile is cool, and it's certainly a vehicle that's reminiscent of Terry McGinnis's Batmobile in the Batman: Beyond animated series. But nothing about this new Batman really grips me as being A Very Big Deal.

But, I'll give Morrison the benefit of the doubt. His run on New X-Men was spectacular and really shook up the status quo of Marvel's Mutants (which was, unfortunately, then promptly shut down by the events of House of M), and I'm interested to see what he can do with the Dark Knight Detective.

And, hey. At least everything in this comic made sense! That's got to count for something, right?

Wednesday Comics Preview

DC sent out previews of Wednesday Comics, their 12-issue attempt at revitalizing the Newspaper comic format.

 

Wednesday Comics is newspaper-sized at 14" x 20", but it folds down to the 6" x 9" size of modern comic books, so you can keep it bagged and boarded. And to keep the authenticity as realistic as possible, it's printed on newsprint paper. So you may want to wash your hands before handling it, to avoid oiling up the pages. And you may want to wash your hands, afterwards, due to ink smearing.  

The preview is the setup for Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's Batman story, where Commissioner Gordon calls Batman to save Franklin Glass, an investment banker who has been kidnapped, and will be killed at midnight. But the Dark Knight Detective only has a minute to find Mr. Glass, and the entire police force couldn't do it. 

The art is nice, the storytelling is solid, and reading a Batman story in the one-page format is sort of like reading the first page of a webcomic. 

It's more fun than I thought it would be, but I'm glad that Wednesday Comics is only going to be 12 issues, to start. Committing to any more than that, I'd begin to wonder about DC's sanity.