Category Archives: Batman
DC to Rely on Sameness to Sell Comics
Because unique characters and comics didn’t work, DC has decided to put all of their eggs in the Justice League basket. I can’t blame them. If your Hawkman, Static Shock and Legion of Superheroes comics aren’t selling, why keep putting them out? Comic books are a fickle market. We fans say we love certain characters, but we don’t say it with our wallets.
DC announced two new comics yesterday, both of which fall back to tried and true money earners:
Superman/Wonder Woman and Justice League 3000.
Her lasso is out of control!
DC already announced months ago that they’ll be making a Superman/Batman comic, reviving a title from before the reboot. So I guess it just makes sense to add Superman/Wonder Woman, especially considering their new romantic relationship. Not much is known about Superman/Wonder Woman so far (other than it focusing on their relationship), but it will be written by Charles Soule and drawn by Tony Daniel, and it will debut in October.
All they need now is Batman/Wonder Woman to make the trinity complete. Expect that announcement any month now.
Justice League 3000 is replacing the soon-to-be cancelled Legion of Superheroes comic. DC started the New 52 with two Legion comics, both of which have now been given the heave ho. I’ve never been a Legion fan myself, so I never bought the comics, but I always figured the Legion was important enough to always be around. But nope! DC has decided to simply create a Justice League in the future. Click the jump to see all the future versions of the characters. This idea is…interesting, to say the last. I don’t know what to think of the idea. It’s too bad Legion had to go, and it’s too bad DC is just falling back to the safety of the ‘Justice League’ brand name. But maybe Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire can work their magic. They’re the brilliant creative team behind those hilarious Justice League comics of the 80s and 90s.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing that DC is relying on the Superman and Justice League brand names more than they should. Both DC and Marvel are doing it. I just find it…generally disappointing. Not that I was buying Hawkman or Legion of Superheroes, but I liked to believe some people were.
Anyway, click the jump to see the new futuristic JL members and let me know what you think about these two new comics in the comments.
Batman’s Reply to Aquaman’s Lament
The song Aquaman’s Lament by artist Mark Aaron James is one of the coolest things I have ever posted on my blog. I still go back and listen to it now and again because it’s just a fun, catchy, geeky song. Well it turns out that James is a friend of the site, and he let me know that he made a sequel song called Batman’s Reply!
I couldn’t find a music video of it yet, but you can give the song a listen by CLICKING HERE. I think it’s pretty great. It’s good to know there are people this creative and this geeky out there in the world.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/15/13
This is a big week for Superman. Not only did his super big, important movie come out, but it’s also the launch of the heavily hyped and potentially good Superman Unchained. As you may have seen already, I didn’t care for Man of Steel, but I’m a little warmer towards Superman Unchained, even though it didn’t contain any chains whatsoever. I also enjoyed the first issue of the new Batman: Zero Year storyline. If only DC had put out a new issue of Wonder Woman this week, they would have had strong comics for all three of their major characters.
Though when it comes down to brass tacks, only one of them can come away with the coveted Comic Book of the Week. And even though Superman Unchained had some pretty fancy art, only one comic book this week provided the origin story for Batman’s giant penny. Batman #21 wins!
I apologize for the low number of reviews this week. Between Man of Steel and just a hectic work week at my day job (a double homicide, a single homicide and a missing baby) I ran out of time. Still, all good comics all around.
Comic Reviews: Batman #21, Nightwing #21, Superman Unchained #1 and Wolverine and the X-Men #31.
Even Newer Batman: Arkham Origins Trailer!
The video game conference E3 is in full swing, and the first bit of news I’ve snagged is a new trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins. It purports to show a little gameplay, but it’s so stylized there’s not much to see. Mostly it’s just cool new footage and story beats.
Plus the Joker. Joker is definitely in the game.
I like the trailer, but it just feels like there’s something off about the whole thing. I don’t know what, though. Possibly the fact that Rocksteady isn’t the one making the game. That leaves a sour taste in my mouth. But perhaps I’m just being pessimistic. All indications are that this will be another awesome chapter in this franchise…only without Robin.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/8/13
It’s a week of fresh starts in comic book land, some good, and some bad. First up is a new #1 issue for Astro City, the brilliant and hugely creative superhero series from writer Kurt Busiek. If you’re not familiar with Astro City, I’ll explain more about it in the actual review, and I consider it one of the crowning achievements of superhero storytelling in the past decade. Astro City isn’t based on any of the well-known heroes like Superman or Spider-Man, instead creating a superhero world all its own, but then taking it to the next level. I’m very excited to see what Busiek does with this new volume, and I might just have to go back and reread the original series.
The other fresh start is the first issue of Green Lantern in the post-Geoff Johns world. The entire Green Lantern franchise has been given new creative teams, and I do not envy these guys. Geoff Johns’ run was legendary, and now they’ve got to somehow keep everyone’s interest in Green Lantern and come up with new and exciting stories. Unfortunately, they’re not off to a great start so far. Astro City easily beats Green Lantern for Comic Book of the Week.
And American Chibi might be the new character find of 2013!
Comic Reviews: Age of Ultron #9, All-New X-Men #12, Astro City #1, Detective Comics #21, Green Lantern #21, Superior Spider-Man #11.
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