The New 52 Pick-Up: DC’s Universe Reboot Week 2!
Here we are at the beginning of the DCnU proper! You will believe a man can…jump really far or something! This week introduces us to the much anticipated, Grant Morrison Superman (with an emphasis on the man), a cocky radical combatting big business and shady practices. It also confirms that Batman’s gonna stay pretty much the same, with the exception of a magic vertebrae on one Barbra Gordon; after all, the elements of his backstory and rogue’s gallery are pretty widely recognized. We got some truly badass darker books from Jeff Lemire (Animal Man) and Scott Snyder (Swamp Thing) that incorporate a Vertigo sensibility into the DC proper. And for those of you like me who complained that Justice League #1 didn’t contain enough of a full team story, check out Justice League International, a team book that introduces the whole team, their dynamics, and pits them against a major force, all in one issue! Bwa-ha-ha indeed.
We’ve got reviews of every single DC #1 here this week and every week as we figure out what to keep, what to trash, and who actually gives a damn about Hawk and Dove anyway. Before we get into that, with everybody going into a tizzy about what crazy new changes DC is making, I thought it might be helpful/therapeutic to list the elements of the old DCU that are still in play.
What’s Old in the DCnU this Week:
– The Red (Animal Man) and The Green (Swamp Thing)
– The Hall of Justice (JLI)
– S.T.A.R. Labs (Static Shock) and Cadmus (OMAC)
– At least the very first part of “The Killing Joke” (Batgirl)
– World War II – look, I’m taking nothing for granted here- and Sgt. Rock (Men of War)
– Cliff Baker’s ridiculously anachronistic mullet (Animal Man)
– Pretty much everything Batman, except for Jim Gordon’s fiery red locks! (Detective Comics)
– Slashfiction (Stormwatch)
– Ridiculously pointless amputation (I won’t spoil that one here)
On an unrelated note, we here at Geekscape are working furiously to come up with an appropriate nickname for the purple hooded lady that has shown up in literally every new #1 so far (the same woman who showed up in Flashpoint #5 and is partially responsible for the status quo shakeups). Clearly this woman is pulling double duty as a failsafe in case this whole New 52 gambit fails and they need a way to return to the DCU of Old. My current favorite nicknames: “Lady Reset,” “Madame Waldo,” and “Superboy Punching a Hole in Reality.”
And now, without further ado, COMICS:
Action Comics
Eric Diaz
Try as they might, DC has not been able to really make a Superman book click for the past decade. The only real glimmer of greatness came when Geoff Johns did his all too brief run a few years back. They’ve tried bringing back Krypton, giving him an adopted son, and worst of all, have him “walk the Earth” for a whole year. Meanwhile, sales continued to be meh , while Batman, Green Lantern and even the Flash sold well. What would it take to make the world’s first super hero click for modern readers? Apparently, by taking him back to square one.
Action Comics #1 from 2011 bears a great deal in common with Action Comics #1 from 1938; both versions of Superman weren’t fighting giant robots or super villains, they’re taking on corrupt elected officials and throwing wife beaters out the window. In 1938 we were in the midst of the Great Depression, and today we have the “Great Recession.” Everyone is pissed off, the economy sucks, and just like then, the rich are getting richer while the poorer continue to get screwed. Having Superman use his immense powers against social injustices and “beating up the bullies” as it were might seem like killing a fly by using a jackhammer, but it is wish fulfillment at its finest. And just plain fun to read.
At his core, Superman represents the power fantasies of the disenfranchised, and writer Grant Morrison understands this better than anyone. Artist Rags Morales’ pencils have grown leaps and bounds since his Identity Crisis days-the book looks beautiful. They’ve given us all a Superman we can get behind, if only to see him do all the things we wish we could in real life. Action Comics #1 worked like gangbusters in 1938, and amazingly works just as well today.
Tim Powers
I love Golden Age Superman. There’s something that remains fresh, exciting, fun about those old Siegel & Shuster stories. They’re charming, simple, graceful.
Such was not always the case with the Man of Steel. In the 50’s, all the way through the modern era, there was story after story where Superman uses his great abilities simply to stop a snoopy dame from exposing his biggest secret… and those stories always made him look like a dick. Don’t believe me? Visit superdickery.com.
My expectations were low for Action #1. Superman has been re-introduced three or four times in my lifetime (in the 70’s when he became immune to Kryptonite, in the 80’s with John Byrne, in the 90’s when he came back from the dead as Joe Staton’s E-Man, and when he stopped being the energy being that was split into red and blue). I think I had a reasonable expectation that THIS Superman would be just as shitty as the recent movie Superman.
God love ya, Grant Morrison. If I was going to pick up a comic book, hand it to a new, virgin comics reader and say, “This is a fine example of a superhero comic book,” Action #1 (2011) is a good book to start with. Don’t get me wrong– it’s not an exceptional comic book– but it IS everything a good comic book should be.
Rags Morales does a fine job on the artwork. It’s action-packed, it’s fluid, the story flows from panel-to-panel and page-to-page really well. And Morrison included everything a Superman story should have (including many Easter Egg homages to Superman history). I thought it was cool that in ONE STORY, Superman actually proves himself faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Familiar faces return: Lois, Jimmy, Luthor. Metropolis, however, is different than before. Traditionally, Metropolis has been the bright-and-shiny “City of Tomorrow” with monorails and art deco skyscrapers. Based on Morales’ illustration, Metropolis’s economy is as bad as the rest of ours’. Metropolis has litter, it’s dirty, there are slums and street crime. Hard to find that kind of stuff in a 50’s or 60’s Superman story.
I’m looking forward to seeing what DC does with this “Superman” guy. I hear once you get to know him and he gets comfortable, he starts wearing his underwear on the outside of his pants.
Detective Comics
Frank Angones
So here we have the Batman of the DCnU. Who seems exactly like the Batman of the DCU. Who is sadly nothing like the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. But I digress. In some ways this makes sense. The mass audience is most familiar with the key aspects of Batman than of any other DC hero: billionaire playboy, butler, cave, Joker, Bat-signal. Granted, it seems incredibly strange that in this DCU, Batman is constantly hunted by the police, yet they’re totally cool with the Commissioner having a giant, taxpayer-funded flashlight to summon said vigilante.
I tell you, of all the new 52s I read, I did not expect this to be the most old fashioned. Tony S. Daniel’s staid cat and mouse story of Batman tracking down the Joker, who killed nineteen people last year (that seems like kind of a step down, no?) Honestly, this book reads like a slightly grittier version of Batman ’66. For a book called “Detective Comics,” there’s surprisingly little detecting going on here. Not many twists and turns, and the “clues” that are discovered feel a tad lazy. Seriously? You know where Joker’s hideout is because a witness heard him talking about it? Come on. The whole issue culminates with Batman finding the Joker in a crowd because he’s the only bystander not watching a building burn. Also he’s the guy in the purple trenchcoat and clown make-up. One moment of the story did stand out: when a little girl spots Joker hiding on the subway, she’s tells her mother “That man looks like a monster.” Then she reveals she was actually talking about the giant bat that’s right behind him. It’s a nice reveal, a good twist on a familiar scene, and it says some interesting things about the dynamic between the Batman and his archenemesis.
Daniels’ art (with an assist from Ryan Winn) actually works well and is in keeping with the cleaner, blockbuster action style Batman that we saw in Justice League #1. It’s dynamic and keeps the action flowing. Unfortunately, in a relaunch where some creators are exploring new, fresh elements of their characters, it’s a bit of a bummer to see one of their flagship characters revert to a story we’ve all seen before. I will say, this refusal to change paired with the more cocky, jerky interpretations of several other characters actually makes Batman seem like the most decent guy in the DCnU. Getting the job done, letting the Joker get away in order to save a girl he almost missed, and considering it a “lucky day”. I like this slightly friendlier version of the character; I just wish the plot of the story around him wasn’t so damn milquetoast. If it weren’t for the crazy, apeshit, off-the-wall cliffhanger, I probably wouldn’t be coming back for a second issue of this book. I’ll hold out hope for Snyder’s Batman #1 instead.
Molly Mahan
As a Batman lover and DC fangirl, I must admit that I always wanted to read Detective Comics #1, but I never quite expected it’d be like this. With the DCU’s All New 52, Detective Comics was relaunched at number 1 for the first time in its history, ending an over 70 year run at issue 881. It was the longest continuously running comic book in American history (and it probably always will be given how often DC likes to pull the cancellation-relaunch switch every couple of years) and the title from which DC Comics gets its name. But enough about history, let’s get into this month’s issue.
Let me go right off the bat and say I wasn’t impressed. Although the art is an improvement on anything I have seen Tony S. Daniel do in a long time (he actually manages to draw feet!), the story was weak and the characters uninteresting. If this is supposed to get me in as a reader of Detective, after years of saying, “No, I haven’t read the previous 800 issues, why start now?” it doesn’t do the trick.
The title of the book is “Detective”, however Batman does very little, if any, detecting. We open the book in medias res, with Batman already knowing and having proof that the Joker has killed over 100 Gothamites in the course of the past six years. Despite this atrocity, people still live in Gotham City and Commissioner Gordon still wants his boys to bring the Joker in alive. The problem I have with this, is the problem I have always had with the people of Gotham and their treatment of the Joker. I don’t care how sick you are mentally, nor if you believe in the ideas of good versus evil, to allow someone who consistently kills civilians and cops to remain alive and get off at a mental institution blows my mind. How can no lawyer argue for that? The fact that they openly fire on Batman, who has never killed anyone, just drives me bonkers.
As far as the characters go, we are only introduced to Batman, the Joker and Commissioner Gordon. Assumedly, this is to set the Joker up as his arch-nemesis (as if you didn’t already know) and to show the friendship between Gordon. However, Daniel doesn’t do anything interesting or new with any of the characters in this issue. It’s the same old song and dance, which is fine, doesn’t do much in terms of a reboot, no matter how soft it may be.
The trend continues when we briefly see Alfred, who informs us that Bruce has (once again) stood up some woman that he is interested in. Bruce asks Alfred for advice on how to handle the situation, but ignores it and gives Alfred a few directions as to what he believes will fix things. Typical Modern Age Batman.
I understand that it’s a first issue, and therefore requires a lot of set up, but it doesn’t exactly get me—a reader of over a decade—to excitedly want to pick up the next issue. Considering this is DC’s flagship title, this is exceedingly disappointing. This is the title I should want to pick up regularly, is it not? Apparently not.
The art, like I said before, is more visually appealing than anything I have seen Tony S. Daniel do in a long time, but the story it tells from panel-to-panel is choppy and confusing. In the opening scene, we have the Joker fighting an unnamed masked man. His hands are around the Joker’s neck and then the next panel, the guy’s throat is ripped out and there’s a sound effect “SHHUCK”. Based on the blood spray, I assume the Joker bit him, but I have no idea how he managed to pull that off based on the angle in the previous panel. The book is riddled with these kind of jumps, which made the visual aspect of the comic hard to read at points.
The one good thing I thought I was going to be able to say was that this was a one-shot issue (something I really miss in comics), but it looks like I was being too hopeful as the last two pages revealed where the next part of the arc was going.
I’ll admit it: I am not a Tony S. Daniel fan at all. I haven’t been since before Battle for the Cowl (which certainly didn’t earn him any points), and his work on this month’s Detective isn’t do the trick to sway me, either. It’s possible I’m biased, but to stop 70 years of publishing for this? I really want to know what it was DC was thinking. Since I bought the hardcopy, rather than the digital, the only thing I can really hope for with this thing is that it might go up in value someday. Let me know if you disagree.
Batgirl
Eric Diaz
The most controversial title of the New 52 has got to be Batgirl by Gail Simone. After twenty years as disabled hero Oracle, news of the return of Barbara Gordon to cape, cowl, and full mobility was not met with a lot of love from fans, myself included. But despite my reservations, I really enjoyed issue #1 of Batgirl.
Seeing Barbara Gordon in the costume again, and on her bat-cycle to boot, just felt right. Gail Simone defined the modern Barbara Gordon in the pages of Birds of Prey, and she knows her “voice” better than anyone. And instead of just giving her another Batman villain to fight, she created a creepy new villain named The Mirror, one whose mask in a literal mirror, so the last thing you see is your terrified face before he kills you. It is a simple, creepy hook that makes for a good Bat villain, and in only his first appearance, Simone has maybe created Batgirl’s best bad guy ever. (sorry, Killer Moth) I had never heard of artist Ardian Syaf before this, but he does a more than adequate job here, and his big splash page of Batgirl happily swinging along the Gotham skyline put a big smile on my face.
If I have one major gripe with this issue, it is how they dealt with the end of Barbara’s paralysis; in flashbacks we see her getting shot in The Killing Joke, then it is mentioned she was in a wheelchair for three years. And then, “a miracle happened.” Umm…what? That’s our explanation? I would much rather they retconned the whole paralysis rather than just gloss over it this way, as if Babs just got over a bad cold. I have a feeling there is more to this recovery than just that, so I’m giving Gail Simone the benefit of the doubt…for now. That aside, I really enjoyed this issue and look forward to more. Issue #2 can’t get here fast enough for me.
Green Arrow
Stephen Prescott
Green Arrow is by far my favorite book of the New 52 so far. This is what I expected these books to me. Meet the new Queen, same as the old Queen, but re-imagined and modernized. The book clearly establishes the character and his world, but there is enough here that is recognizable that I don’t feel alienated. I can’t say that about Action Comics or Justice League.
Oddly enough this is a Green Arrow clearly influenced by “Smallville.” And personally I don’t think that needs to be apologized for in any way. Most of the high points of the last few seasons of the show completely had to do with Justin Hartley and his version of Oliver Queen. So I say, bring it.
Essentially J.T. Krul has given us a what if Steve Jobs where a costumed adventurer and crack archer. No longer the CEO of Queen Industries, Oliver heads up his own division Q-Core that is creating things like Q-Pads and Q-Phones all to funnel money to his other pursuit, taking down bad guys around the globe. And I do mean globe, as this first adventure takes place somewhere in France.
The action is great, well drawn, well done and the bad guys are brought down using all of the skills one expects the emerald archer to have. And after we get a little more backstory on the Q-Core team, including a Chloe Sullivan/Watchtower carbon copy, we’re left with a pretty good segue into the next issue via the introduction of what look like some brand new villains to face off against.
Really, I can’t say enough good things about this book. It’s fresh and entertaining. If anyone needed a reboot and to be de-aged after all of the events of the last year, it was definitely Green Arrow and I’m glad to see that, so far, it’s being done right.
Justice League International
Heidi Hilliker
Justice League International #1 has way surpassed Justice League #1 in my opinion. Let me just start by saying that I’ve never read a JLI book before. That being said I am familiar with the majority of the characters that are involved. I’m a huge Booster Gold and Dan Jurgens fan and have read these stories for a while. I love Dan’s style of writing. He is a master of wit and awkward interactions and that definitely translates well to this motley crew. Aaron Lopresti’s easygoing pencils and Hi-Fi’s lighthearted coloring only enhance his storytelling style.
The story starts somewhat predictably by setting up the group’s origins and introducing the zany but loveable cast of characters. I really appreciate the fact that although they may be light, all the characters seem to have their own voice and point of view. Really digging on Rocket Red, Godiva and, of course, Booster right from the start. Already looking forward to seeing some of the briefly mentioned characters, such as Plastic Man, get some play.
The whole issue read like the pilot episode of a TV series, and I believe it would be really easy for a first time DC reader to pick it up and get into the story. Guess that’s the whole point and so far I have to say this book accomplished not only that goal but entertaining long time fans as well.
Off subject but still on subject…. I need to give a shout out to the digital releases. I’ve read both JL and JLI on my iPad and have, surprisingly enough, really enjoyed the whole experience. I never would have thought that I could in any way move away from paper. Don’t worry…. I’m not completely converted. I still have hard copies of both. The ease of carrying around all of your entertainment on one device will never replace the joy of opening a page, looking at the whole spread at once, feeling the texture of the paper or smelling the scent of printed ink.
Stormwatch
Eugene Ramos
When I read that “Stormwatch” was going to be one of the relaunched titles in DC’s new 52 initiative, I was intrigued. How would series writer Paul Cornell transplant members of The Authority – known for their by-any-means-necessary approach to super-heroics – into the new DC universe without having the team lose any of its energy and vitality? How would Apollo and Midnighter, WildStorm’s analogues for Superman and Batman, fit into a world where Superman and Batman actually exist? And what role would Martian Manhunter play on the team?
The series seems more inspired by Jonathan Hickman’s “SHIELD” than Warren Ellis’ “The Authority,” recasting Stormwatch as a group of soldiers who have worked in secret to keep the Earth safe from global threats throughout the centuries. It circumvents the idea that superheroes are a recent development in the new DC universe.
“Stormwatch” #1 starts off a bit awkwardly with events taking place after “Superman” #1 – as noted by an asterisk – which doesn’t even hit the shelves for another three weeks. We soon learn that half the team – Hawksmoor, Martian Manhunter, and Projectionist (in her first appearance) – is trying to recruit Apollo for Stormwatch. As dictated by comic-book tradition, it proves more difficult than anticipated. Meanwhile, in a plot that feels more like a parody than an homage to Ellis and Mark Millar’s run on “The Authority,” the other half of the team discovers that the Moon – which appears to be a powerful, ancient alien intelligence – is threatening to devastate the Earth. Sounds like a job for Superman! Or maybe Apollo, if Stormwatch can somehow manage to convince him to join.
After DC tried to be bury “The Authority” in the wake of 9/11 for the title’s depiction of violence, every attempt to relaunch the series has proven unsuccessful. It seems that without the big ideas from the brains of Ellis or Millar and the widescreen visuals of Bryan Hitch or Frank Quitely, “The Authority” just doesn’t work. It’s like trying to squeeze a big summer, R-rated action movie into an 8-inch CRT television tuned to the Disney Channel. The new “Stormwatch” just feels like another tired attempt to repurpose “The Authority” and recapture its old magic. I honestly can’t see “Stormwatch” surviving past the first wave of DC 52 cancellations.
Despite my reservations, I will stick around for the first arc to see if Cornell and artist Miguel Sepulveda can pull off the seemingly impossible task of integrating these former WildStorm characters into a universe in which they don’t belong.
Swamp Thing
Scott Alminiana
I picked up Swamp Thing to see what Scott Snyder (the brain behind American Vampire) could do with a character that I generally associate with a cheesy 80’s movie starring Adrienne Barbeau’s breasts and a dude in a rubber suit. I’ve just finished reading issue #1, and I’ve sort of got mixed feelings about it.
Let me just say that I am interested to see how this new series plays out but this debut issue isn’t without its flaws. First off, Yanick Paquette’s art is awesome on this book. From the cover to the last panel I truly dug his style throughout. I’m not familiar with his stuff but I like what I’m seeing so far. Scott Snyder, who was the main draw to this title, does a fine job with the script but I do have a few complaints. For starters, the story just seems a tad too slow paced and that could certainly be an issue for keeping the attention of today’s new ADD riddled readers. The story breaks downs pretty simply: something strange and startling happens across the globe and when strange and startling happens who do you turn to? That’s right, Alec Holland! Wait, who? Isn’t he Swamp Thing? I wasn’t exactly sure of that before and after issue #1 I’m still not sure. Hopefully this will be cleared up in the next few issues.
The whole point of “The New 52” initiative is to get new readers and keep the current ones. Getting new readers is something that Swamp Thing may have a tough time doing. Will I pick up issue #2? Absolutely! But will new readers A) pick this book up and B) stick around for more? I can only hope.
Mark Bovenzi
I never much cared for the character of Swamp Thing, so when i heard DC was relaunching this book as apart of their new DC initiative it didn’t pop out at me saying “BUY ME!” That all changed once i heard the creative team attached to this book. I’ve been a huge Scott Snyder fan since his Marvel work with Iron Man Noir, and his run on Detective Comics is up there with legendary arcs like Year One, and The Dark Knight Returns. So i figured, why not give Swamp Thing another shot, and i was not disappointed. What a strong first issue out the gate from Snyder and Paquette. What turned me off originally from the character was the association with botany, to be honest. It bored me. But the way Snyder took it to the level he did in this book when he had Alec Holland (Swamp Thing) explain his work actually intrigued me. For those not in the know, the book so far is revolving around a botanist named Alec Holland who does not remember becoming Swamp Thing and has run away from his job not wanting to be found by anyone or anything. Until all the birds start falling from the sky in Metropolis. Ditto bats in Gotham and Fish are floating belly-up in Atlantis. Superman seeks out Alec for an explanation. Yanick completely knocks it out of the park with these absolutely gorgeous splash pages full of plant life lining the borders of his interior work depicting the rise of the villain of the book (once again, not in the know on the continuity of the book). And how horrifying was the scene with the scientists towards the end? Gave me chills. That is Scott Snyder working his horror magic once again on us. They sold me on this book, they sold me on this character, an absolute buy for me every month.
Animal Man
Steve Robles
My biggest gripe right off the bat: The art by Travel Foreman and Dan Green simply looks unfinished. It reminds me of the worst fill-in art on the early runs of Hellblazer with their limited palettes and almost impressionist artwork. My second gripe is the opening wall of text that greets the reader on the first page. I have never liked this technique in comics. It’s like peeling a strawberry.
Once the labor is done, we are finally re-introduced to Buddy Baker/Animal Man as a sort of celebrity superhero who is having a hard time separating family from his dwindling role as a hero. We get an exciting sequence that cleanly explains Buddy’s abilities and the story ends with a disturbance in “The Red”. Since Swamp Thing is playing a big role post-“Brightest Day”, it seems natural that one of the new 52 should have a nature ability. I invoked Hellblazer before and this really feels like a Vertigo book. By the end, that feeling is solidified by a rather horrific image.
Definitely want to continue reading this one, at least through these initial chapters of the story. I’m not sure where Animal Man will fit in with the dynamic and exciting Action Comics or the Dark Knight Returns-esque Detective Comics style of re-booted books, but let’s see what DC has in store.
Mark Bovenzi
Let me start off by saying that i have never read an Animal Man book in my life. I have been told on multiple occasions that I need to check out Grant Morrison’s run on the Vertigo incarnation of the book. I brushed it off thinking, “Eh, just probably one of Morrison’s weird anti-climactic runs on C level DC Characters.” And here comes Animal Man #1 during DC’s New 52. All i can say to you readers is WOW. This absolutely blew me away as hands down one of the best first issues of a comic book that I have read in years. Now Jeff Lemire, known for his Essex County indie work and Sweet Tooth for Vertigo, has established himself quite a name at DC. You can tell that he absolutely loves the character of Buddy Baker and wants to explore him to greatest heights. Without giving too much away of the book, Buddy Baker aka Animal Man has the ability to “borrow” characteristics from any animal on the planet. The book starts off with centering around Buddy as he has hung up his tights temporarily to become an indie actor with Oscar Buzz (ed. note: in the world’s most thinly veiled reference to The Wrestler. “Ryan Darnovsky,” indeed!) Buddy then receives a heads up from his son about a hostage situation at a local hospital and Buddy decides to put the tights back on to help resolve the issue at the hospital. From there the book took its turn into what the arc will be about and it is nothing short of gripping in my mind. Now, lets not discredit the phenomenal art by Travel Foreman- if you haven’t checked out his work on Cla$$war, I’d highly recommend that as well. Absolutely stunning storytelling with his out of the box use of panel grids and clean line work with still a dirty cross-stitch to them. This does not look like your normal DC superhero book, that’s for sure. And the use of black and white with the blood red color during the dream sequence really fit the mood. Overall? This is a book i plan on sticking with and will be at the top of my stack for months to come. Now who is going to make these EVOLVE OR DIE t-shirts and where do i buy one?
Men of War
Martin Scherer
DC has a strong history with war books. Starting in the late 1950s through to the end of the 1980s, DC always had at least one book based on WWII on the stands. These books focused on characters such like the Haunted Tank, the Unknown Soldier, and Enemy Ace, and most importantly perhaps the one character who become synonymous with the WWII genre, Sgt. Rock. Until I saw Band of Brothers, I thought Easy Company was a purely fictional band of soldiers. That fact alone should tell you how often I seek out war stories.Since the last days of Sgt. Rock, war comics have become a specialty book. Only a few creators at the big two are committed to keeping the genre alive. Garth Ennis, Joe Kubert and a few others have spearheaded the most notable war books in the past twenty years. The majority of these books used WWII as their main focus; a few stories have been set in Vietnam.
Sure, there has been plenty of wars since, but writers focus on these eras due to how we have romanticized these battles, and that they offer a clear right (the Allies) and wrong (the Nazis). I’ve taken the long way to make this point, but with the changing face of war, there just hasn’t been a place for ‘current’ war comics. The new Men of War comic by DC tries to give us a contemporary war comic, and also pay homage to its past. To do this, they tie the main character directly to the famous Sgt. Rock.
The new Rock isn’t a sergeant… yet. It is explained clearly at that start that Joseph Rock doesn’t want to have the role. He wants to be like his Nazi-busting grandpa—on the front line with his men, protecting each other’s back and making a real difference, not pushing papers. This whole scene was probably my least favorite as it felt like something that would have been in Top Gun, or some television cop show. Joseph is Maverick, living in the shadow of a military family.
Next to this introduction scene, the writing of the book is smooth—it flows quickly and this not a bad thing. You feel like you are in the room, on the plane, or on the front with the soldiers. This book is very much like the a Modern Warfare video game come to life, and that is exactly how a modern war comic should be written; not necessarily set in a real war, but referencing real world gear, weapons and technology. The stakes are real, people die, and it’s clear not everyone will come home at the end of every mission. This is, in a word, intense. The art by Tom Derenick reminded me a lot of Neal Adams in terms of layout. Angled panels to create a sense of movement, and a lot of wide panels to make you feel the wide screen action that is being portrayed. I really can’t say enough about how much I liked the lay out of this book. It’s smartly done and perfectly helps create the emotion that the writer Ivan Brandon is trying to invoke.
The one element of this world that didn’t sit well with me was that the story is clearly taking place in a situation where men can fly. The main threat of this book is not an opposing army of bad asses, but instead a superhuman causing massive destruction. I was really hoping for this book to be more closely aligned with the ‘real world’ and focus on a man versus man conflict. Have a book called Men of War give us some old-school-super-action-Commando-like-thriller material. But instead it looks like we will ultimately be seeing a series more about man versus superman. It does make sense to see super powered threats in this book—it would be impossible to imagine some war on a world where men can leap tall buildings in a single bound to be devoid of any metahuman involvement. The fact that this book will not be pure war may turn of a lot of the people expecting a more traditionally minded war book.
Men of War also featured the first part of a three part backup feature, focusing on a group of Navy SEALs. It’s not clear if this story will be set in the DCU proper, or instead just be a good war comic. The story by Jonathan Vankin is in a modern setting, focusing on more current US military zones (Middle East, or Afghanistan). The dialogue, like the main story, uses plenty of exposition and military terminology to help compliment the realism that the artist Phil Windslade beautifully details. This story is what I was expecting from the main feature, a war comic set in the year 2011. If the book continues to have back ups of this quality, than at DC will be successfully creating a book for both the video game war buffs, and the real world war buffs.
So who should pick this up? If you like the current crop of war video games, this is worth a read. If you like traditional war comics, at least you’ll get something out of the back up. I do think the book is worth a look, but I’d place it firmly in the middle of the pack of the New 52. I am glad DC tried to do something different here, and I going to read the next two issues because I want to get a better idea of what this comic will be and see if it lives up to the potential that this issue showed.
Static Shock
Stephen Prescott
Static is back! It would appear that either Cadmus or Flashpoint have restored Virgil’s powers. He’s in a new city and has a new lair and costume provided to him by a new sort-of mentor, Hardware.
The book is pretty great. The action kicks right off on page one with Static on a rescue/takedown mission. Someone he is calling Sunspot, not the New Mutant, has stolen a plasma protection suit from S.T.A.R. Labs and is joyriding around the city. Through his internal dialogue, we learn a fairly good amount about Static’s power and how he uses them. It’s pretty well thought out and comes to a great conclusion on a bridge where static shorts out all the cars and electronics that happen to be crossing it. The angry innocent bystanders seems to be a running theme in the New 52 and I’m definitely going to be keeping an eye on how that progresses.
The issue sets everything up, from what Virgil’s home life is like now, to what his relationship with Hardware is going to be like. We are also introduced to some kind of super powered crime syndicate who were behind the S.T.A.R. Labs theft. We don’t learn much about them, but one panel has a Joker-like character standing amongst them. No idea what that is about. The group of course goes right after Static since he already foiled one of their plans and the culmination of the efforts results in a pretty badass cliffhanger.
All in all I enjoyed the book and I’ll be sticking with it for a while. Static’s teenage dialogue may get on my nerves after a while as it already started to, but I think that this young hero deserves a bigger place in this new DC Universe and I’d like to see if and how that’s going to happen.
Batwing
Frank Angones
Huh. What to say about Judd Winick and Ben Oliver’s “Batwing,” the so-called Batman of Africa? It’s a decently written book; I actually generally like Winick’s writing, and “Justice League: Generation Lost” was one of my favorite books last year until the messy ending, which I chalk up more to JMS’s crazy Wonder Woman minireboot and OMAC fatigue than anything else. And Oliver’s art is certainly a stand-out: dynamic, jarring in the best possible way, and beautifully colored. But, and I don’t want to get off on a rant here, but what’s the point? Sure, this is a curious story of an African cop dealing with grizzly murders and the disappearance and subsequent murder of Africa’s first superhero team, but nothing really leaped off the page and grabbed me as shockingly unique here. Sure, there’s some nice elements here regarding the importance of myth and story in African culture. But the whole thing feels kind of slight (it definitely felt like the shortest book I read this week), and without knowing what the hook of the premise is- other than the obvious- I’m not sure how this can end up as an ongoing. It feels more like it’s setting up a just okay miniseries.
I guess my problem with this book is that it does little to justify its own existence. Of all the new members of Batman, Inc., why does Batwing get his own series? Why not Knight and Squire, or Man of Bats, or Nightrunner? Okay, I know why they’re not giving Nightrunner his own series, sad as that is. My problem with Batwing so far is that he’s a prime example of diversity for diversity’s sake. Like DC patting itself on the back and saying, “Hey, everybody! One of our Batmen is black!” Problem is, there’s nothing really engaging about the character beyond that in this #1. He seems like a decent guy, but not a fully realized three dimensional character, which is a real shame. It reads like a phony kind of pandering to get credit for being “progressive” without actually writing the character a story worth having. This is particularly noticeable in a week that also premiered an excellent new #1 for Static Shock, which introduced a well-realized, engaging, and wholly unique black character to the DCU without having him be a blank avatar for social relevance. I know this may sound harsh, and there’s nothing really wrong with the Batwing story so far, but there’s nothing particularly right with it either. It just reads like an exercise in wasted potential.
Hawk and Dove
Stephen Prescott
To be honest, Hawk and Dove are a team I never really understood. Add to that the fact that Leifeld is my least favorite artist, we’re not starting out on good ground here. Still, being an old school Titans fan, I thought I would give this book a shot.
As I expected, Liefeld, who actually was the artist on the first series that brought Dawn Granger and Hank Hall together, does not impress with his art. To me his style looks as though it was drawn in pen on the back of a high school notebook. It’s all extraneous lines. It lacks any sort of subtlety in my eyes.
As for the story, the book seems to pick up right where Brightest Day left off. I’m assuming that Hawk and Dove are one of the teams not yet (or at all) affected by the events of “Flashpoint”. We start out with the duo on a plane that is carrying some sort of zombie/bio weapon. Hawk is beating up some para-military type guys while yelling at Dove that “she’s doing it wrong” or at least “not doing it as well as Don would have” as she tries to land the plane and not destroy the Washington Monument. They get the plane safely on the ground, beating down the zombies who of course rose up to fight and only take a little knick out of the monument. That’s where we meet Agent Exposition who asks them to come work for the government and try and take down Alexander Quirk (I feel like I had my own character named that in 8th grade), the man responsible for the bio weapon. The heroes decline and they’re off.
There’s a scene with Hank and his father where Hank gets angry. There’s a scene with Dove and Deadman where they discuss Don. And then there’s a final scene with a new character dressed in a brown version of Hawk’s costume calling out the two avatars of the gods for some fightin’.
Overall, the book wasn’t horrible. It held my attention and I’m all for the introduction of a baddie who is a mirror opposite of one of the main characters. I’m not sure though that I can deal with Hank Hall on a monthly basis. Hank has been crying over his dead brother for over 20 years now and I know his character is supposed to be hot tempered and the avatar of war, but give it a rest. Of course Dove is still holding on to the secret of how she got her powers from Don and that certainly isn’t going to help improve their relationship, but I’m just bored by the angry hank angle. It’s like reading Jonah Hill’s character from “Superbad” and it makes me kind of agro.
I’ll give it two more issues to suck me in.
OMAC
Steve Robles
What the what? This book is quite baffling to me. It has the fun, kinetic feel of a Golden-Age book with it’s bold colors, over-the-top action and dialogue and weird third-person narration. There is no shortage of action in this book and fights o’plenty to engage fans of panelized pugilism. The punny title sort of turned me off ( I HAD just read Detective Comics #1, so my mind was in a darker mood), but I was sort of charmed by the old-schooliness of the action that took place.
On the plus side, the art by “Crackling” Keith Giffen harkens back to the early Image days with its shiny metallic armors and big faces. I do have to give credit to the story for going all the way into weird without compromise (gobble?). Even the end tag promises that things will “get really weird” in the next issue.
I don’t think, however, that I am going to continue with OMAC, even though the end promises weird, it’s just too silly for me. I also suspect that the retro feel of the series will make it one of the least likely to make it through first attrition, unless it develops
some sort of cult following or pairs up quickly with Frankenstein (which I also suspect it will).
