Category Archives: DC
6 Comics DC Should Add to the New 52
DC Comics has a comic book problem. Anything that doesn’t have ‘Batman’ in the title isn’t selling, and DC has really been cracking down on comics that aren’t selling. Of the 52 comics that debuted at the start of the reboot in September 2011, more than 20 have since been cancelled in less than 2 years. DC immediately filled the gaps with new comics, but half a dozen of those have also been cancelled. DC’s pool of unique and different comics is dwindling rapidly. We no longer have series like The Savage Hawkman, Firestorm: The Nuclear Man, Blue Beetle, Static Shock, or comics for newer characters like Grifter and Voodoo. And while anyone can argue that Batman sells and Hawkman does not, I contend that there is no such thing as a bad character, only bad writers. And bad editors/publishers, as the case may be.
But for example, Hawkeye is probably the best comic book Marvel is publishing these days, and it stars Hawkeye! Are you telling me the same can’t be done for Hawkman?
How is this guy not more popular?
DC doesn’t seem willing to give their comics a chance to find their voice or improve, and so we’re losing some potentially interesting characters to the back issue bins. DC continue to try new ideas, like Sword of Sorcery or The Movement, but they’re not willing to give new comics more than a handful of issues to be successful. Nowadays, it’s like they’re just throwing ideas against a wall to see what sticks. They’ve also stopped announcing new comics in waves. Now we get random announcements for comics like Harley Quinn or Justice League of Canada. DC is in trouble…so here I come to save the day with six suggestions that I think might sell!
Or maybe they’re just comics I want to read…Join me after the jump!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/31/13
Such a good week! My pull list was absolutely overflowing this week, but I find I don’t mind at all when the comics are this good. This is the sort of week that reminds me why I love comics so much, when the stories are just so good, so entertaining and so fulfilling. Not to say there aren’t a few stinkers in the bunch, but even those stinkers had a few good bits – I even liked this week’s issue of Larfleeze, for once.
The real standouts this week are Aquaman, Thor: God of Thunder, FF and Uncanny X-Men, which are some of my usual favorites. Brian Michael Bendis has yet to let me down writing Cyclops, and Jason Aaron is a master of Asgard. The news that Matt Fraction is leaving FF makes this week’s issue bittersweet, but at least Geoff Johns is sticking with Aquaman for the foreseeable future. Winner of Comic Book of the Week is Thor: God of Thunder for an absolutely stunning Day in the LIfe type of story.
At the same time, this week’s Journey Into Mystery was almost as good, and it’s the final issue of the series. Sad thing there, because I could read Kathryn Immonen writing about Sif and Beta Ray Bill for the rest of my life. The Thor corner of the Marvel Universe was on fire this week.
Less impressive were the final issue of Trinity War and the New Avengers tie-in to Infinity. Both disappointing, but both mildly entertaining, with a few good scenes each. So at least there’s that.
Moment of the week, however, goes to Adolf the Impossible Boy in the pages of FF.
I love comic books.
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #23, FF #11, Journey Into Mystery #655, Justice League #23, Larfleeze #3, New Avengers #9, Thor: God of Thunder #12, Uncanny X-Men #11, Uncanny Avengers #10, and Wolverine and the X-Men #35.
Review: Teen Titans #23
Just when I think Teen Titans has done everything in its power to mess with my head, here comes Teen Titans #23. On the one hand, it’s everything I’ve ever wanted from the comic. Here is an issue dedicated to the various members sitting down and talking to one another about themselves and their lives. Some of them even sound kind of like teenagers; you know, when they’re not utterly the most base, awkward expositional dialogue ever written. Oh yes, oh yes. The one thing I’ve been complaining about most since the start of the DCnU Titans, and Teen Titans #23 delivers in spades.
Teen Titans #23
But holy crap is this a weird, stunted and disappointing comic!
Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.
I don’t even think I should rate these Teen Titans issues anymore. I’ve lost all ability to be objective, or even recognize what is or isn’t a good or bad issue. There’s just the same dull ache of concern over whether what I’m reading is fine, or if it’s just as inane and misguided as it’s been since the beginning. Teen Titans is a bad comic book. The characters are paper thin and have zero depth. They have no reason for being a team. It’s just a collection of familiar characters garbled together into a team book, with sales presumably strong enough to keep it going, based probably entirely on the brand recognition. Their dialogue is some of the most stilted, exposition-heavy in all of comics. And their costumes just look stupid. There, I said it.
Teen Titans #23 starts off with one of the silliest moments yet as the team deals with Kid Flash being pulled into that vortex, which you can see on the cover. It’s one of the most openly comedic moments I have seen in comics in a long time, but it’s so broadly comedic that I’m not sure it’s actually happening in 2013. It seems like something you’d see in a 90s sitcom, complete with laugh track.
On top of that, for reasons I can’t quite fathom, writer Scott Lobdell spends the issue reintroducing every single member of the team, in the most awkward and obvious ways possible. One would think this is a ‘jumping on’ type of play, for any new readers (as if!), but then the next issues of Teen Titans in September are part of that Villains Month play. They won’t have anything to do with the Teen Titans. So why would anybody jump on for this issue, then be forced to read comics about Trigon and Deathstroke?
And the ending. God damn the ending of this comic. If it means what I think it means…
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more head-against-wall examination of this out-of-control comic book.
Fans Make the Coolest Trailers
An enterprising geek named solyentbrak1 put together a trailer for the Batman/Superman moving starring Ben Affleck as the Dark Knight and Bryan Cranston as Lex Luthor. It’s quality stuff.
For the record, I’m still cool with Ben Affleck as Batman. I’m also cool with Bryan Cranston as Lex Luthor. I’m currently watching the entire Breaking Bad series, so I’m big into Cranston right now. Though I have to wonder…do people want Cranston as Luthor because he’s a good actor? Or because Walter White is badass and bald?
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/24/13
For the first time in a very long time, DC Comics owns the week! The New 52 comics have been in a downward spiral for me for a long time. But this week, they score a one-two punch of success. For awhile now, I’ve been worried that comics just don’t reach me anymore, that everything is just generic superhero filler, that nobody is trying anymore. But between Batman and Nightwing #23 and Wonder Woman #23, DC shows me twice in one week that somebody still cares. Characters still matter.
There are a lot of good comics this week. Superior Spider-Man puts Phil Urich front and center, so you know I’m happy about that. Avengers and Justice League Dark continue their respective crossovers, though neither one is particularly special. And by popular request, I decided to pick up the latest issue of Thunderbolts to give that another try. Not too shabby. But the week belongs to DC. Wonder Woman easily snatches up another Comic Book of the Week.
Did we know she could go Super Saiyan?
Though Batman and Nightwing (or as it should have been called, Batman and Alfred), isn’t far behind.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #18, Batman and Nightwing #23, Batwoman #23, Justice League Dark #23, Superior Spider-Man #16, Superman Unchained #3, Thunderbolts #14, and Wonder Woman #23.
Henchman-4-Hire 