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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/23/13
It’s weeks like this that make me regret ever starting this Hench-Sized review column! Oy vey! Somehow, the Marvel and DC scheduling system is perfectly tailored to my reading habits so that the books I actually buy and read all come out on the same darn week! Last week I only had four comics in the Hench-Sized reviews. This week there’s more than a dozen! And it doesn’t help that I’m broke…
But enough whining, let’s get to some comics! This has proven to be an absolutely stellar week of books! I enjoyed all of the comics I bought this week, with more than a few of them rising to perfect scores. And you want to talk gender equality? How about the fact that the two best comics this week both star female leads. It’s an absolute shame that more people aren’t buying Captain Marvel. That book is absolutely amazing! But it’s surpassed just a little by Batwoman, which wins Comic Book of the Week for its fantastic climactic issue and surprise romantic ending!
Though Captain Marvel’s sheer adorableness was hard to beat.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #6, Batwoman #17, Captain Marvel #10, Green Lantern #17, Green Lantern: New Guardians #17, Indestructible Hulk #4, Justice League #17, Justice League of America #1, Nightwing #17, Nova #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws #17, Superior Spider-Man #4, Thor: God of Thunder #5, Vibe #1, Wonder Woman #17.
Vibe Gets a Comic! Katana Gets a Comic! You Get a Comic!
UPDATE: There’s more information out about the Vibe comic! You can find it lower after the jump!
Blowing the minds of comic book fans everywhere, DC Comics announced today that C-list nobodies Vibe and Katana will get their very own comic series next year, to highlight their membership in the new Justice League of America series!
Because already having the Justice League, Justice League Dark and Justice League Fruit Loops wasn’t enough
This is a brilliant move! I have zero interest in Vibe and Katana as characters, but I am a huge fan in giving new and minor characters a chance to shine. Not every comic can star Batman, Spider-Man or Wolverine. If you want to find some new breakout characters, you’ve got to give the little guys a chance! Just look at how well it worked out for Multiple Man. He was a C-list nobody back in the day, but one well-received Madrox mini-series later and now he’s been headlining X-Factor for nearly 100 issues! Iron Fist had absolutely nothing going for him until Marvel gave him a series written by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, and now he’s one of the leading Avengers and stars in that new Spider-Man cartoon.
It could happen for Vibe!
Agent of S.T.U.D.
Anything could happen for Vibe.
Vibe, of course, being the absolute worst member of the Justice League of all time. He was the bottom of the barrel back when they were known as Justice League Detroit, and worked out of a warehouse. He died an ignoble death. But since this is a reboot, he’s back to life and looking to actually make something of himself for once! He was also my pick for which DC character was going to be revealed as gay.
Katana is a sword-wielding badass warrior who…well, that’s basically it. She used to be with the Outsiders back in the day, and was a Bird of Prey in the new continuity. She’s also going to be Batman’s new sidekick in the upcoming Beware the Batman cartoon…for some reason. So I guess DC want to give her a push.
Before she cuts your freakin’ head off!
And who wouldn’t!? I fully support the existence of both these series…though I can’t guarantee I’ll buy either one.
The New Justice League of America
Even though Justice League: International crashed and burned, DC Comics is going to try again with a brand new Justice League of America team. Apparently it’s going to run concurrent with the Justice League series that already exists. Because as the Marvel marketing department will tell you, why bother coming up with an original superhero team name when you can just re-use a name that is already a proven seller?
Behold the new team lineup!
Additional member: Catwoman’s cleavage
At the very least, this new team is spinning out of the ongoing story in Justice League. When Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman and the rest banded together into a team in the New 52, they did so on their own, with no government oversight or control. And there has been an ongoing story about how the U.S. government is a little skittish about the fact that this supremely powerful team of superheroes isn’t beholden to anyone.
So it looks like the government is putting together their own version of the Justice League.
The new line-up: Martian Manhunter, Catwoman, Green Arrow, Katana, Hawkman, Vibe, Steve Trevor, Stargirl and Baz, the new Arab-American Green Lantern.
Here’s what writer Geoff Johns had to say about the team:
The idea of why the JLA forms, and what it is, and what it’s in reaction to… It kind of spins out of Justice League #12; what happens in that, and then subsequent issues, because JLA comes out next year some time. But the book itself is a group of heroes that aren’t necessarily coming together because they want to be together… They’ve been selected specifically. They all want, or need something that Steve Trevor, and the other person behind the scenes that’s in charge of this team can provide.
The first arc is going to deal with something they learn is called The Secret Society of Super-Villains. It’s specific because its run by A.R.G.U.S. They have a team they feel they can now control. Whether or not that ends up being the case is up for debate.
You can read the full interview at Mtv Geek. Because when I think of geek culture, I think Mtv.
As for my personal opinion…I dunno. I think it’s too soon to be doing something like this. We’re barely more than a year into the New 52 reboot, and the Justice League title has barely had any time to settle itself. It’s a good enough comic, but I don’t think it’s as strong as it could be. Adding something like this for it to contend with is too much too soon. It’s like DC doesn’t think they have any time to let anything grow. They did this big reboot of their universe, and now they still have the modern day mentality that they’ve got to just push and push and push more stuff out the door to keep fans happy. They won’t let anything settle or simmer.
So I dunno. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t. Justice League Dark is still selling. But Justice League International got cancelled. So we’ll see what happens when this new book comes out next year some time.
At the very least, the name is a little dumb. The names ‘Justice League’ and ‘Justice League of America’ are synonymous in the minds of the fans. Applying them to two different teams is going to get a little confusing.
Henchman-4-Hire 