Category Archives: DC

Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/22/13

Age of Ultron is the worst Big Event Comic that Brian Michael Bendis has ever written. The man is a writing god when it comes to small comics – like Ultimate Spider-Man or his current X-Men series – but he just can’t handle Big Events. He can come up with some really neat ideas, but for some reason he just can’t execute them. I don’t know what it is. How did the man who created Miles Morales write Age of Ultron? Whatever. It’s over. Age of Ultron is done and it’s just as bad as the rest of the series. But now we all have Angela to look forward to…so…yay? I guess. Ugh.

Thankfully, the rest of the comics this week are all winners. From Avengers and New Avengers carrying through with some grand ideas to comics like Batwoman and Superior Spider-Man continuing their general greatness. Quality reads through and through. As for Comic Book of the Week, that distinction has to go to Wonder Woman #21, for Brian Azzarello for really amping up the action and excitement, and actually getting me to like a New God.

I never thought I’d live to see the day.

Comic Reviews: Age of Ultron #10, Avengers #14, Batman and Batgirl #21, Batwoman #21, Green Lantern: New Guardians #21, New Avengers #7, Superior Spider-Man #12, and Wonder Woman #21.

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Wonder Twins to Appear on Teen Titans Go! Because Somebody Up There Likes Me

I haven’t been watching the new Teen Titans Go! cartoon, but clearly I should, because two of my all-time favorite characters are going to make a guest appearance!

Squee!

The freakin’ Wonder Twins, baby! How cool is that? Somebody out there in TV Land understands the nostalgic fun of the Wonder Twins. If only they’d been allowed to show up on Young Justice while that show was still on the air. No doubt they were saving the Wonder Twins for Season 3.

At any rate, I’m definitely going to have to give this episode a try. It’s called “You’re Fired”, and it’s about the Titans firing Beast Boy and picking up the Wonder Twins to replace him. Sounds like fun to me. There’s also a funny audition sequence, of course.

The episode debuts at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday on Cartoon Network. Be there!

I can only assume some hilarious hijinx have occurred

First Trailer for That Batman Cartoon That Replaces Robin with Katana

Right off the bat, Beware the Batman has earned my ire. What sort of show replaces Robin with Katana? Honestly!

Beware the Batman premieres on July 13 on Cartoon Network. Apparently it’s going to be about Bruce and Alfred battling newer foes like Professor Pyg. Also, Katana is going to be Alfred’s god-daughter for some reason, and he hires her on as Bruce Wayne’s bodyguard, because he needs one of those. Or I guess that’s going to be the cover story so that Katana can really train as his sidekick (or Alfred’s replacement).

The animation looks fine. The action looks fine. Beware the Batman looks fine. But I cannot stand this gross violation of something that’s not really that important, now I think about it. It’s not like I’m the target audience for this cartoon. Still, a blogger must have principles, and around here we are pro-Robin.

Also, did you see what I did up top with ‘right off the bat’? Nailed it.

The 6 Most Evil Fathers in Comics

Father’s Day was this past weekend, and like all dutiful sons in the Internet Age, I marked this occasion by writing ‘Happy Father’s Day’ on Facebook and assumed my father would see it. He and my mom have progressed to the point of getting their own Facebook page, but only so they can read statuses, not so they can actually post anything or interact. Parents, amiright? But as I looked around Facebook, I saw people really going the extra mile and writing nicer, longer messages, buying their fathers gifts and actually spending time with their dads. But I’m no good at fishing, I have yet to give him a grandchild, and I’m not making millions of dollars in a high paying job. What kind of son am I?

So I decided to celebrate my father with the one skill I do possess: writing! I decided to dedicate this week’s List of Six to comic book fathers  – but in my research, I discovered something pretty horrible: most comic book fathers are totally evil!

Pa Kent was a drunk

This list was going to be titled ‘The 6 Coolest Fathers in Comics’, but once I actually started looking up comic book dads, I discovered that most of them are bad to the bone. For every Pa Kent, who raised his son to be the world’s greatest hero, there are half a dozen evil dads, who often force their children to become dark reflections of themselves. So I decided it might actually be a lot more fun to do a list of the 6 most truly evil fathers in comic books. Though it should be noted that this list is not a reflection of my own father, who clearly raised me into one of the coolest, most handsome bloggers on the Internet!

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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.

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