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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/11/17
Comics! Uhn! Whaa-aat are they good for? Absolutely everything! Say it again! Yep, still reading comics over here. And this week I kind of went overboard on the reviews, since a lot of my favorites came out, like Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Detective Comics and Power Man and Iron Fist!
Comic Book of the Week goes to Nova #4 for another delightful issue! I haven’t been a Nova fan since Annihilation, but oh boy, this new series has been a blast! I’m even enjoying Sam Alexander for the first time ever!
And his sister!
Meanwhile, I was really on a tear about the X-Men this week. I don’t know what came over me, other than a combination of nerd rage and disappointment. The X-Men franchise needs a proper reworking after years of wheel spinning, and I fear that ResurrXion is not the answer.
Comic Reviews: Detective Comics #952, Jessica Jones #6, Justice League of America #2, Mosaic #6, Nova #4, Power Man and Iron Fist #14, Silver Surfer #9 and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #18.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/25/17
Oh man, you guys, have I got some big news for you! This is news that has been building since I first started this blog a million years ago! I’m going to reveal this news tomorrow and it’s going to blow all your minds!
Until then, comics! Like Hulk and Prowler and Mosaic! And I’ve even decided to start reading Steve Orlando’s Justice League of America, replacing the Teen Titans as the DC team book I’m reading.
Comic Book of the Week was a tough one to decide. At first I was going to give it to the new issue of Detective Comics, for an exciting issue. But then I read Spider-Woman and my heart melted all over again. Dennis Hopeless has done an amazing job on this comic!
Bad guys beware!
Meanwhile, Inhumans vs. X-Men continues to plod along in its desperate attempt to make sure everybody comes out of it smelling like roses. Do not recommend.
Comic Reviews: Detective Comics #951, Hulk #3, Infamous Iron Man #5, Justice League of America #1, Mosaic #5, Prowler #5 and Spider-Woman #16.
Why Does Batman Name His New Team the ‘Justice League of America’?
DC has relaunched a new iteration of the Justice League of America this past week and I’m a little confused. According to Justice League of America Rebirth #1, Batman forms the team to be a grounded, more human-focused group of superheroes as opposed to the god-like regular Justice League.
Batman is a big fan of The Flash TV show
We all know the branding reason why the new comic is called ‘Justice League of America’, but after reading this prologue issue, I’m wondering what the in-story reason is for Batman being so patriotic in naming his new team. When has Batman ever been a flag-waving character?
The Rebirth issue is a prologue about Batman going out and recruiting Black Canary, Lobo, the Ray, the Atom, Vixen and Killer Frost to form his new team. This isn’t the first time Batman has formed his own, more grounded Justice League. Any comic book scholar worth her salt would see this as an obvious Batman and the Outsiders-style group.
JLA is definitely the name he picks
But no, it’s not called ‘Batman and the Outsiders’. For reasons that go unexplained, Batman just copies of the name of the regular Justice League and tags ‘of America’ at the end, as if his team is only going to fight bad guys in the continental United States. It makes zero sense.
Especially when you remember that there already was a ‘Justice League of America’ in the New 52 continuity, which I’m pretty sure still applies in the Rebirth era. That team had a reason for using ‘of America’ in their name. They were legitimately government-based.
Remember them?
Has Batman forgotten about them? Is her purposefully co-opting the name for his new squad? What reason could that possibly serve?
Batman is a superhero who knows how branding works. And he’s clearly put a lot of thought into this team — hence why he’s recruited complete newbies Ray and Atom, and why he recruited Lobo for a grounded, more human-focused group of superheroes. So it just doesn’t make any sense why Batman, of all superheroes, would call this team the ‘Justice League of America’ instead of literally anything else.
But I suppose even Batman recognizes that ‘The Outsiders’ just isn’t marketable.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/29/15
I don’t know why this happens, but it always seems like my favorite comics all come out in the same week. It’s a nightmare for the wallet but a celebration for reading! This week, we’ve got new issues of Ant-Man, Spider-Woman, Lumberjanes, Grayson, We Are Robin, Harley Quinn and more! It’s great!
Comic Book of the Week goes to Batgirl #43 for another nearly perfect issue. Batgirl is everything I could possibly want from a superhero comic these days, and the creative team pulls it off so effortlessly.
Batgirl vs. a tiger!!
I hope DC keeps this team and this direction around for a long time to come.
Comic Reviews: Last Days of Ant-Man #1, Batgirl #43, Cyborg #2, Grayson #11, Harley Quinn #19, Justice League of America #3, Lumberjanes #17, Ninjak #6, Spider-Woman #10 and We Are Robin #3.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/11/15
Someday I’ll go to San Diego for Comic-Con. I don’t necessarily want to go. I imagine the crowds are horrendous and unbearable. But I’d still like to go, in theory, and that’s important too. But at least I have some good comics to read while I’m stuck in New York.
It’s a Marvel-less week this week, with Secret Wars dominating too much of their time and energy. Fortunately, DC is more than happy to pick up the slack, with quality new issues of Gotham Academy, Starfire and Justice League of America.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Batman #42, the second consecutive issue of the new series to earn the award! Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are just killing it with their new Robo-Batman.
Commissioner Gordon may never be the same again
I’m chomping at the bit for the crossover with We Are Robin!
Over at Word of the Nerd, my latest dive into Secret Wars tie-ins left me rather disappointed. Civil War #1 is a waste of a comic, spinning its wheels with backstory and exposition as it tries to set up a ‘What If…’ scenario. Skip it.
Comic Reviews: Batman #42, Bloodshot Reborn #4, Gotham Academy #8, Justice League of America #2 and Starfire #2.
Henchman-4-Hire 