Category Archives: DC
Review: Teen Titans #24
I never thought I’d be happy to see the regular Teen Titans again. But after the horrors of the Teen Titans Villain Month comics, I say bring on the regularly scheduled programming, as awful as it may be! And Teen Titans #24 is pretty awful. Not terribly awful, I suppose, but pretty darn awful, nonetheless. This week, Teen Titans focuses on its horrible, stilted expositional dialogue, with an overabundance of thought balloons, because writer Scott Lobdell isn’t aware that those went out of style with fanny packs and the word ‘radical’.
Teen Titans #24
Teen Titans #24 kicks off a time travel adventure for our teen heroes, because why not? It is decidedly not radical.
Comic Rating: 4/10 – Pretty Bad.
For those of you who aren’t reading Forever Evil, the Teen Titans almost had a moment of awesomeness. Almost. Written by Geoff Johns, arguably DC’s best writer, the Teen Titans were some of the few heroes who hadn’t been killed or de-masked by the Crime Syndicate. So Red Robin told his team to gear up! They were going to have to save the world and take on the Crime Syndicate themselves! It was legitimately awesome. But when the Titans actually attacked the Crime Syndicate, they came up against Johnny Quick (Evil Flash) and lasted all of three minutes. The Teen Titans, everybody. Rather than some glorious fight, Quick simply unraveled Kid Flash from time and sent the whole team hurtling into the time stream.
Because that’s how things work, obviously.
So that’s where we are: the Teen Titans are lost in the time stream, bouncing wildly through different points in time. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it, Lobdell freely makes up a bunch of jibber jabber to explain it and then promptly has all of his characters spout his explanations, as well as every important facet of their personalities and back story. Lobdell gets everyone up to speed on Teen Titans in the most hamfisted, achingly dull way possible. But such is the modern Teen Titans. Despite all of the creative shakeups and changes the New 52 has seen in the past two years, Scott Lobdell on Teen Titans remains steadfast. J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman walked off Batwoman, but Lobdell still holds Teen Titans in his icy death grip. Sometimes the universe just isn’t fair.
Also, if you haven’t heard, DC is going to randomly kill of Superboy in a few months. So sorry if you were in any way invested in the New 52 Superboy.
Batman: Arkham Origins is Only Days Away
In preparation for the Friday release of Batman: Arkham Origins, here is the official launch trailer! Sure does look neat!
I’ve got my copy pre-ordered at Gamestop, and I’m on vacation all next week, so I’ll have plenty of time to play! Here’s hoping Arkham Origins lives up to the previous games. And here’s hoping we actually get the origin of Arkham Asylum, otherwise the name makes no sense! Amiright, folks?
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 10/19/13
It is with great disappointment that we read comics this week, because the final issue of J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman’s Batwoman has come out. These geniuses were building up a battle between Batwoman and Batman himself, and we get one single issue to tease their story before their famous walk out goes into effect. And the issue is damn good. In fact, Batwoman #24 wins Comic Book of the Week for me because of the skill and fun with which they set up this fight. This is going to rank up with J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Thor in terms of comic book runs that ended too soon. Same with Straczynski’s Supreme Power…man, that guy really can’t seem to finish a comic.
Batwoman sadness aside, we’ve got some good issues of Infinity, Lights Out and Battle of the Atom, since Big Event crossovers are all the rage these days. We’ve also got the return of Hawkeye after a long hiatus, so that’s a plus. But for my money, nothing beats Batwoman this week.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #21, New Avengers #11, Batwoman #24, Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion #1, Green Lantern: New Guardians #24, Hawkeye #13, Uncanny X-Men #13 and Wonder Woman #24.
Badman and Pete Holmes Are the Same Guy!
So you know that sketch about Wolverine from The Pete Holmes Show I posted earlier this week? Well apparently that Pete Holmes guy was the one behind all those brilliant Badman/Batman sketches for College Humor! Amazing! Now I really, really want to watch this guy’s show.
Here’s the latest Badman short, featuring a meeting between Badman and Superman!
This Pete Holmes guy is clearly the guy! If he keeps up the superhero humor, hopefully his show might have some legs!
Awesome Shot of Robin Costume Just Because I Love Robin
DC Comics’ January solicitations came out on Monday, and the best thing in the bunch was this cover to Batman and Robin Annual #2. Drawn by Doug Mahnke, it’s a brilliant shot of the New 52 version of Dick Grayson’s original Robin costume. I really like the design. It is, of course, much better than the original original Robin costume, with the short shots and pixie boots. And I just wanted to share this picture because this is a Robin-friendly blog.
Though if I may be allowed two minor nitpicks…I don’t like that the arms aren’t bare. He’s got black sleeves between his green shoulders and gloves, and I just think bare arms would look so much better. I also don’t like that this costume no longer has the classic yellow clasps on the chest. I always thought that was kind of iconic. They’re obviously still incorporated into the design, but I think the whole costume is just missing a little something without them.
But those are silly, worthless nitpicks. I love the costume, simple as that.
Henchman-4-Hire 