Category Archives: Comics
Review: Phantom Lady and Doll Man #1
The best thing about this comic is the cover by artist Amanda Conner. It’s all downhill from there. I picked up Phantom Lady and Doll Man #1 on a whim, because none of my usual review titles came out this week, and I also bought and reviewed the first issue of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti’s The Ray comic back in the Winter. I thought The Ray was generic and simple, though not without some heart and warmth. So I thought I’d give Phantom Lady a shot to see what these two guys could do with a relatively blank slate character, reinventing her and her partner for the New 52. I especially liked her new costume.
PH & DM #1
Boy was this a mistake. Phantom Lady and Doll Man #1 is a dull comic featuring lazy storytelling, idiotic and uninteresting heroes and villains and a moment so sexist that I can’t quite be sure if I’m overreacting or underreacting to it.
Comic rating: 2/5: Bad!
With something as big and grand as DC’s New 52 reboot, why would anybody write something so mediocre? I know Gray and Palmiotti are capable of good comics, but this isn’t one of them. There is nothing remarkable or interesting about this comic, no hook to get us excited. It’s a by-the-numbers superhero story, but stars two bone-headed, paper thin lead characters and a villain who is so over-the-top evil as to be more ridiculous than menacing. Not to mention a poor use of superheroics, a few silly stretches of credibility and art that is serviceable at best. Amanda Conner was only tapped to draw the cover, the rest of the comic is left up to Cat Staggs. And while the art is OK, it doesn’t have nearly the character or charisma of Conner’s pencils. The greatness of that cover compared to what follows is like a cruel bait-and-switch.
Phantom Lady and Doll Man is a 4-part series designed to bring these two old-timey characters into the new, modern world of the New 52. If the rest of this series is anything like this first issue, DC has completely wasted any potential that could have been had. If you like your superheroes to be boring, lifeless and generic, then this is the book for you.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and a bit more explanation on why I thought this issue was so bad.
Hell Comes to All Batmen
By JC Richard
This rather awesome look at the loneliness and prestige of the Batcave is going to be a poster on sale for $50 on Aug. 30 from Mondo. I think it looks absolutely fantastic, and if I lived in more than just an empty bachelor pad that doesn’t get many visitors I would totally buy it. Love both the detail and the emptiness conveyed in this picture. You can follow MondoNews on Twitter to get up to the minute updates on the sale if you’re interested in buying a poster.
6 DC Characters I’d Like to See on ‘Arrow’
Even though they couldn’t make a Justice League movie to save their own asses, DC Comics has mastered bringing its superheroes to the small screen. They’ve got a robust and popular direct-to-DVD animated market, decades worth of quality cartoons and some of the best live action superhero television shows of all time. Smallville got 10 seasons out of the early years of Clark Kent. That’s very impressive.
Now they’re going to try again for another hit with Arrow on the CW.
Because apparently ‘Green’ is a 4-letter word
Ostensibly based on the character Green Arrow, somebody somewhere decided to drop the whole ‘Green’ part of his name. Not cool enough for modern audiences, I guess? Didn’t seem to hurt when Green Arrow was a major character on Smallville. Anyway, color coordination aside, Arrow is going to be a gritty, urban show about a street-level vigilante fighting crime. The previews have looked pretty awesome so far, and I’m excited. I’m even more excited about all of the superhero cameos the show is going to feature.
So being the comic book geek that I am, I started thinking about what characters I’d like to see appear on Arrow. There is one ground rule through, established by the producers themselves: no powers. With that ground rule in place, here are the 6 DC characters I’d like to see cameo in Arrow.
Dog Logan Set to Return…Again
Does anybody remember Dog Logan, Wolverine’s half-brother? He was in the comic Origin from 2001, when they revealed that Wolverine was really James Howlett, a sickly boy who was born in Canada in the late 19th century. James was the illegitimate son of Mrs. Howlett and the groundskeeper, Thomas Logan. Whereas Dog was Thomas Logan’s actual son. It was a cool twist, believe me. I liked Origin.
Wolverine isn’t the one you think
Well apparently sometime last year…or this year, who knows…Dog returned in the pages of Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine because the two heroes went on some jolly quest through time and managed to bring Dog to the present day. I didn’t read it. The comic was one of those random mini-series that Marvel puts out because having the names Wolverine and Spider-Man on a comic book cover is sure to sell. That Dog returned in that comic, let alone came to the present day, was a fact that seemed to avoid my notice. Apparently he’s since been living out in the wilds of Canada doing research on his half-brother the superhero and headmaster of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.
He also likes to cook and eat actual wolverines, because Dog is nothing if not a believer in poetic justice.
His beard appreciates his wit
Well writer Jason Aaron – friend of the site – is going to use Dog in upcoming issues of Wolverine & The X-Men. He said as much in a recent interview with CBR.
On the story side of the coin, Dog Logan should shake up the series in a major way in the wake of its “Avengers Vs. X-Men” crossover tales. The villain was a major player – and major mystery – in Marvel’s successful “Origin” series where it was revealed that Wolverine had a half-brother, but since then the character’s appearances have been few and shrouded in secrecy. Most of that was by Aaron’s design. “I’ve always had plans for Dog, ever since having him pop up in ‘Astonishing Spider-Man And Wolverine,” the writer said. “And I’m really excited about the chance to dig into his character and really figure out what makes this guy tick. He’s one of those deeply-flawed sorts of characters that I love to write. And while he will be coming back into Logan’s life to raise some hell, I want him to seem like much more than just some mustache-twirling bad guy with a grudge against his brother. I think Dog is a pretty tragic figure, so I want him to be a much more complicated villain. But he’s also still a Logan. And Wolverine’s big brother. So I would expect there to be plenty of asskicking going on.”
That should be pretty cool. I always thought Dog had a lot of potential, especially since he wasn’t overused. He hasn’t had any major appearances since Origin, after all – though someone decided that Dog would grow up to be Sabretooth when they made the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That was suspected in Origin, but thankfully Marvel never went that route.
Though how Aaron is going to establish Dog as his own character instead of just another version of Sabretooth/Romulus/Daken/any evil Wolverine ever is anybody’s guess…
The New Justice League of America
Even though Justice League: International crashed and burned, DC Comics is going to try again with a brand new Justice League of America team. Apparently it’s going to run concurrent with the Justice League series that already exists. Because as the Marvel marketing department will tell you, why bother coming up with an original superhero team name when you can just re-use a name that is already a proven seller?
Behold the new team lineup!
Additional member: Catwoman’s cleavage
At the very least, this new team is spinning out of the ongoing story in Justice League. When Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman and the rest banded together into a team in the New 52, they did so on their own, with no government oversight or control. And there has been an ongoing story about how the U.S. government is a little skittish about the fact that this supremely powerful team of superheroes isn’t beholden to anyone.
So it looks like the government is putting together their own version of the Justice League.
The new line-up: Martian Manhunter, Catwoman, Green Arrow, Katana, Hawkman, Vibe, Steve Trevor, Stargirl and Baz, the new Arab-American Green Lantern.
Here’s what writer Geoff Johns had to say about the team:
The idea of why the JLA forms, and what it is, and what it’s in reaction to… It kind of spins out of Justice League #12; what happens in that, and then subsequent issues, because JLA comes out next year some time. But the book itself is a group of heroes that aren’t necessarily coming together because they want to be together… They’ve been selected specifically. They all want, or need something that Steve Trevor, and the other person behind the scenes that’s in charge of this team can provide.
The first arc is going to deal with something they learn is called The Secret Society of Super-Villains. It’s specific because its run by A.R.G.U.S. They have a team they feel they can now control. Whether or not that ends up being the case is up for debate.
You can read the full interview at Mtv Geek. Because when I think of geek culture, I think Mtv.
As for my personal opinion…I dunno. I think it’s too soon to be doing something like this. We’re barely more than a year into the New 52 reboot, and the Justice League title has barely had any time to settle itself. It’s a good enough comic, but I don’t think it’s as strong as it could be. Adding something like this for it to contend with is too much too soon. It’s like DC doesn’t think they have any time to let anything grow. They did this big reboot of their universe, and now they still have the modern day mentality that they’ve got to just push and push and push more stuff out the door to keep fans happy. They won’t let anything settle or simmer.
So I dunno. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t. Justice League Dark is still selling. But Justice League International got cancelled. So we’ll see what happens when this new book comes out next year some time.
At the very least, the name is a little dumb. The names ‘Justice League’ and ‘Justice League of America’ are synonymous in the minds of the fans. Applying them to two different teams is going to get a little confusing.
Henchman-4-Hire 