Category Archives: Robin
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/1/14
Happy Groundhog’s Day Eve, everybody! Are you all ready for the groundhog to pop his head out of the hole to look for his shadow? Do you international readers celebrate Groundhog’s Day? It sounds terribly American. Nonetheless, it’s happening, and I’m excited. I might even break out my Groundhog’s Day pennant that I don’t actually own.
It also feels like there’s something else important going down this weekend, but I can’t put my finger on it…
At any rate, let’s talk comics! This week, I picked up new issues of Aquaman, Spider-Man and Thor, and decided to take another peek at Red Lanterns. Feels like I haven’t checked in with them in awhile. But all of those titles were blown away by the latest Annual issue of Batman and Robin. Peep your eyes on this one, Robin fans, it might be the greatest Robin love letter we’re ever going to get from DC Comics. It easily wins Comic Book of the Week.
Especially if they kill off Dick Grayson, those meanies!
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #27, Batman and Robin Annual #2, Red Lanterns #27, Superior Spider-Man #26, and Thor: God of Thunder #18.
Review: Teen Titans #27
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. Whatever vestiges of quality that Teen Titans still possessed have been culled from the comic. Reading Teen Titans #27, it’s easy to see why DC Comics is canceling the series straight out instead of giving it a new creative team. The only chance these characters or this team have in the New 52 going forward is to slash and burn everything Scott Lobdell cast his gaze upon. DC must rip the black, shriveled heart from this beast and burn it in the fires of effigy.
Teen Titans #27
Teen Titans is an embarrassment. It’s a comic book for idiots. Teen Titans is for readers who don’t care about characters, consistency or common sense, and love it when writers poke fun at their audience.
Comic Rating: 2/10 – Very Bad.
I am not a comic book purist by any means. I am a curmudgeon in many ways, but I am very open to change, and embraced the possibilities when the New 52 launched. I may not be happy with the disastrous alterations s to Tim Drake’s origin, but I’m open to the idea of altering it. And I was never a diehard Teen Titans fan, unwilling to accept any changes to a favorite comic. By all means, DC, try something new. But every change Lobdell has brought upon this team and these characters seems personally designed to ruin everything anybody ever loved about them.
If you had any love for Bart Allen or Kid Flash in any of their forms, then your only hope is to look to the past. The New 52 does not care about your love for the character.
But that’s not the worst thing about Teen Titans #27. The problem with this issue is the same problem that has plagues this series from the beginning: bad writing. I don’t have enough experience with comic history to know if the tropes and styles Lobdell has applied to Teen Titans were more prominent in the 90s, when he was a bigger deal. All I know is that they don’t work in the 21st century comic book industry. These characters do not have heart. These characters do not have consistency from one issue to the next. These are colorful, vaguely familiar blobs who float along in an ether of bad storytelling.
What should have been a series about real teenagers coming together to care about one another and fight side-by-side is instead a series about a bunch of meaningless, interchangeable action figures dancing to a plot that seems to be made up as it goes along.
Join me after the jump to revel in this abomination.
Everything Wrong With the Worst Movie of All Time
Is Batman and Robin the worst movie of all time? I think that’s arguable. Certainly it’s in consideration. The fine folks at Cinema Sins have decided to tackle their biggest project to date. That video is nearly 20 minutes long! I watched it all, and it was damn good. Those folks are kind of my Internet heroes.
Why I Don’t Think Nightwing is Going to Die
Things aren’t looking good these days for Dick Grayson, the original Robin. Some fans are even worried that he’s going to be killed off soon. But not me. Despite all of the ominous clues that DC Comics has been dropping, I don’t think they’re going to kill off Nightwing because of one very important detail.
They haven’t announced it in the news media.
That’s just ketchup
In the current Forever Evil storyline, the Crime Syndicate of America has defeated the Justice League and kidnapped Nightwing, exposing his secret identity to the world to show they mean business. They’re keeping him alive for their own twisted reasons, and Batman is already mounting a rescue, but DC has been dropping a few hints lately that the Dark Knight might not succeed, and the original Dynamic Duo will be no more.
The biggest hint came on Tuesday with the release of DC’s solicitations for April. That image I posted above is the cover to Nightwing #30, billed as the “final issue” of the series, because DC is apparently canceling the book. The text for the issue #30 preview reads:
The Bat Family is forced to face the brutal aftermath of FOREVER EVIL, but after everything they’ve been through, can they stand together?
So a cover stained with blood and a broken mask, and a solicitation that mentions “brutal aftermath”. Do you see what I mean? DC is practically screaming at us that Nightwing is toast! That preview couldn’t be more clear!
Except that’s not how DC announces big changes these days.
The big trend for DC and Marvel recently has been to announce all big storylines in the news media before the comics see print. Sometimes this occurs only a day or so before the comic comes out, but recently, they’d been making media announcements ahead of the solicitations. For example, just last week, DC announced via the Associated Press that Lex Luthor was joining the Justice League rather than wait for it to be revealed in the April solicitations. Likewise, Marvel revealed Peter Parker’s return to Amazing Spider-Man before they put out their own previews for April.
And the death of a character with the rich history and public appeal of Dick Grayson is going to make the news. There’s no doubt about it.
The deaths of Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Human Torch and Catwoman all made the news, even though Catwoman was actually revealed in the very next issue to be Martian Manhunter, and he wasn’t dead at all.
If DC Comics was really going to kill Dick Grayson at the end of Forever Evil, they would probably have announced it in the media already. They wouldn’t put out a solicitation like the one they did on Tuesday, practically promising a death, without first milking it for national news coverage. That’s just how the comic book industry works these days.
Am I wrong for liking the red more than the blue?
I could be wrong. DC might be waiting until the day or week of the actual death to make headlines. But too many people are talking about Nightwing dying. It’s all over the comic news sites; heck, it’s clearly on my blog, you’re reading my article right now. But knowing what I’ve seen about comic stories announced in the media, I just don’t think DC would leave a story this huge to the minnows in the media pond. Why let minor web sites like mine nibble at the bait when DC could make headlines and get TV time by announcing the death of the original Robin?
Not to mention the fact that Dick Grayson is rumored to appear in the Man of Steel sequel. The character is perched on the edge of a major comeback in mainstream popularity. Killing him now would be silly, but killing him and resurrecting him in less than a year to make it in time for the movie is even sillier.
I don’t know what’s going to happen to Dick Grayson in the next few months. But I’m pretty sure he’s not going to die.
Batman and Son is the Next DC Animated Movie
They found the absolute worst voice actor for Damian. Jeez. But I will admit that Damian grew on me in the comics after awhile, mostly because of his time serving as Dick Grayson’s sidekick. They made an amazing team. And considering this movie is marginally about Robin, I’ll definitely pick it up to watch. Though I’m rather lukewarm on DC’s animated movies these days. I wonder if they really do make a lot of money. What else would justify their existence?
What do you henchmen and henchwomen think? Are you still digging these movies?
Henchman-4-Hire 