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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 9/21/13
I wish I knew the rules for Villains Month when DC started handing out the assignments. There doesn’t seem to be any real point to all these issues, other than just existing to fulfill the marketing gimmick. Some of them have been origin stories. Some of them have been direct tie-ins to Forever Evil #1. And some of them have just be short and sweet villain showcases. Some have been really good, and some have been outright garbage. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason. And I would have really liked to have known that going in.
Fortunately, this week is mostly good issues – if we don’t count Deathstroke #1. Double fortunately, Marvel Comics is still going very strong. There’s another solid chapter of Battle of the Atom, though I found the issue a little…disconcerting. You’ll see why. I also liked Infinity a bit more than usual. So that’s a plus. But Comic of the Week has to go to Thor: God of Thunder #13, for being its usual awesome self! It even finds a fun way to incorporate an obvious movie-tie-in villain without seeming too gratuitous.
Though if I’m being fair, Moment of the Week has to go to Black Hand #1, when Black Hand’s zombie army faces off against a squadron of police officers.
Comic Reviews: Black Hand #1, Cheetah #1, New Avengers #10, Infinity #3, Penguin #1, The Rogues #1, Thor: God of Thunder #13, and Uncanny X-Men #12.
Review: Teen Titans #23.2
I have no idea why this issue exists. I especially don’t understand why it’s labeled under the ‘Teen Titans’ banner. And after reading Deathstroke #1, I’m quite convinced that DC really pulled this one out of their butts at the last minute. This is garbage on paper, and as such, I’m not going to give it a full review. It’s just not worth my time. At least Trigon #1 was a stark realization in how much Marv Wolfman likes Demon Rape. Deathstroke #1 is just pointless. If you’ll recall, there already was a Deathstroke #1 back at the start of the New 52. He had his own series! Slade Wilson was a badass mercenary anti-hero, but the book didn’t sell, so it was quickly cancelled. Then DC tried to make due with a Team 7 book starring Deathstroke, which was also cancelled.
Deathstroke #1
So why the hell they gave him a Villains Month issue is beyond me. The guy isn’t a villain. Nor does he have anything to do with the Teen Titans. And if this issue is indicative of what came before, I can see why both previous Deathstroke series were cancelled.
Comic Rating: 2/10 – Very Bad.
Like I said, I never read an issue of Deathstroke or Team 7. I don’t know anything about the New 52 version of Deathstroke – other than the fact that he has nothing to do with the Teen Titans. That part of his history has been completely wiped clean. So forget that he was the main villain for the Teen Titans cartoon show. New 52 Slade has nothing to do with the Teen Titans. And they don’t appear in this issue. Even though this is Teen Titans #23.2, it has nothing to do with the Teen Titans whatsoever. Frankly, this is the worst Villains Month issue I have read so far. I haven’t read all of them, but surely there isn’t anything worse than Deathstroke #1. It’s just not a good comic, let alone an origin story or a character profile. I hated Bizarro, I hated Trigon, and I thought most of the others were pretty pointless. But Deathstroke #1 is just abysmal.
Join me after the jump for a little bit of synopsis and further review. But I’m not giving this issue the full treatment. I have better things to do with my life.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 9/14/13
Villains Month continues this week at DC Comics, and I’m enjoying it well enough so far. It’s a marketing stunt, and I’m OK with DC going all out for their marketing stunts. It appears to me like they’re using a few up and coming writers to actually pen the dialogue, so that’s pretty cool. I’m disappointed that Geoff Johns didn’t write out Black Manta #1, but he plotted it, and writer Tony Bedard did well enough.
Speaking of Villains Month, this week was the debut of the new Lobo. Does he live up to the controversy? Read ahead and see.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Mighty Avengers #1. There were some good Villains Month issues, but Mighty Avengers exceeded expectations in ways I did not predict. It might actually turn out to be a pretty good comic. With some pretty fun characters, like this guy…
Comic Reviews: Avengers #19, Black Manta #1, Lobo #1, Mighty Avengers #1, Riddler #1, and X-Men #5.
Punishing Dick Grayson, and Why It Could Be a Good Thing
Dick Grayson can’t seem to catch a break. And I don’t just mean the murder of his parents when he was still a boy. I mean Dick Grayson as a comic book superhero can’t seem to catch a break in DC Comics’ New 52 universe. In less than two years, Dick found out that his childhood home, Haley’s Circus, was actually a front for the villainous Court of Owls secret society, and that Dick himself was in line to become one of their undead assassins (until the whole Batman and Robin thing happened instead). Then he found out his childhood sweetheart was a psychopath who betrayed him and tried to kill him, only for her to then be murdered by the Joker as a means of punishing Dick.
Then when he inherited Haley’s Circus and sunk all of his life savings into fixing it up, that too was destroyed by the Joker. Then Dick found out that Batman was keeping secrets from him, leading to an angry split between the two heroes. Then he found out the man who murdered his parents was still alive and hiding in Chicago!
And now Nightwing has been chosen as the sacrificial lamb for the new Forever Evil event.
So that’s why they put him in red
Don’t worry, he’s not dead…at least not yet.
But something almost as huge happened to Nightwing in this week’s Forever Evil #1. As a big Robin and Nightwing fan, I’m worried about any major change to one of my favorite characters. But I’m here to tell you that this change might not be all that bad. In fact, this could work out very well in Nightwing’s favor.
As long as DC manages to use it to tell some good stories. That part is questionable.
But this isn’t the end of the world. Join me after the jump for full SPOILERS and why I think this could be good for the character.
Villains Month Announced for DC Comics This September
DC Comics are continuing their annual September Sales Stunt thingy this year by bringing us Villains Month, where each of the 52 comics will be taken over by a major super-villain. Not only that, but there will be a new crossover mini-series called Forever Evil spinning out of September as well. So yeah, pretty big happenings at DC this fall.
One can only hope we get Sidekicks Month next year!
Anyway, this all sounds pretty cool to me. I’m all for DC trying something new every September to boost sales, and everybody loves a good villain story. Maybe it’ll even convince me to try out some new comics to see how it works, and that would be the whole point, right? That first link shows off a lot of the villains that will be taking over. We’ll see the Joker in the pages of Batman, Two-Face in Batman and Robin, Poison Ivy in Detective Comics, Cyborg Superman in Action Comics, Darkseid in Justice League, Gorilla Grodd in Flash, and many more.
Knowing my luck, Teen Titans will probably feature one of those lame new villains Scott Lobdell created for the series, like Diesel.
Check out more after the jump!
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