Wednesday, October 5, 2011

What You Should Have Read #44


Last Week’s Comic Book Awesomeness

Avengers Academy #19 – I really like well-written teen heroes. I liked the earlier issues of the most recent Teen Titans series, I liked the first 50 issues or so of the first New Warriors series, and the most recent Blue Beetle series was really good. I’ve really enjoyed Avengers Academy these last two years. I’ve enjoyed watching these kids learn why they were picked for this team and how they’ve gone about exceeding any expectation anyone might have about them. Their actions in this issue and Veil’s response really hit the reader. I’m looking forward to next issue’s Fear Itself fallout as well as the reaction to Veil’s final comment of this issue.

Journey into Mystery #628 – Loki’s got what would be an extremely scary crew under normal situations (normal for comics, anyways), but these are evil beings doing things for the greater good. Kieron Gillen does a wonderful job each month of chronicling Loki’s quest for respect. It’s just too bad they got Whilce Portacio for art duties. It’s just plain ugly. Also, the Disir are badass and awesomely terrifying. And one is insane.


DC’s New 52

Aquaman #1 – Well, I liked it. I liked that they brought up the jokes and had Aquaman address them. He’s super strong. He doesn’t talk to fish because “their brains are too primitive to carry on a conversation.” I like that he was eating in a seafood restaurant. Why would he balk at surface dwellers eating fish? What else would the Atlanteans eat? I like this strong and confident Aquaman, who before I could never get behind. Actually, I take that back. I really liked Mark Waid’s take on him in JLA: Year One. It was the little things, mainly the vocal volume thing, how Waid had him speaking softer on land because he’s used to “talking” underwater where sound carries differently. This felt similar to what Waid was trying to do there, humanizing Arthur instead of showing how different he is. I like what Johns did with The Flash, Hawkman and Green Lantern, and it right now I like the first issue of his Aquaman book.

Flash #1 – Wally will ALWAYS be my Flash. I was okay with the return of Barry, but Wally was Flash when I started reading comics, so he’ll always be MY Flash. I was assuming that not much about the Flash was changing in this new universe, but Barry and Iris are just acquaintances, so that’s a pretty big change. I guess we’ll see their courtship all over again. I was lukewarm to the previous series, and I’m less than enthused about this one. This one isn’t a keeper.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #1 – The beginning confused me a bit with the recap of Kyle’s origin. Basically, with this last Green Lantern first issue, they’ve made sure that we know that after the reboot, NOTHING has changed with the Green Lanterns. The story looks interesting enough, but I can’t get behind Kirkham’s art. I don’t think it’s good enough. I think it’s fine for Top Cow or Aspen (or wherever he came from before DC), but I don’t think it’s up-to-snuff for this book.

Justice League Dark #1 – This was just weird enough to hook me but not so weird that it turned me away. I really liked the way that the team is being set up and why these magic-based characters are going to form a team that begins with Justice League. These characters are going to face the world-ending threats that science-based heroes like Cyborg, fact-based heroes like Batman or heroes like Superman who are extremely vulnerable to magic just can’t handle. I’m not totally sold on the series, but I’ll be back for at least one more issue.




Final Thoughts on the New 52

Keepers
  • Action Comics
  • Aquaman
  • Batman
  • Green Lantern
  • Green Lantern Corps
  • Resurrection Man
  • Stormwatch
  • Wonder Woman

At Least One More Issue
  • Animal Man
  • Deathstroke
  • Green Lantern: New Guardians
  • Justice League
  • Justice League Dark
  • Justice League International
  • Red Lanterns
  • Suicide Squad
  • Superboy
  • Swamp Thing

Just Don’t Care
  • All-Star Western
  • Batman and Robin
  • Batman: The Dark Knight
  • Batwing
  • Batwoman
  • Birds of Prey
  • Blackhawks
  • Blue Beetle
  • Captain Atom
  • DC Universe Presents
  • Demon Knights
  • Detective Comics
  • Flash
  • Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
  • Grifter
  • I, Vampire
  • Legion Lost
  • Legion of Super Heroes
  • Men of War
  • Mister Terrific
  • Nightwing
  • O.M.A.C.
  • Supergirl
  • Superman
  • Static Shock

Disappointed That I Actually Took a Look At It
  • Batgirl
  • Catwoman
  • Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men
  • Green Arrow
  • Hawk and Dove
  • Red Hood and the Outlaws
  • Savage Hawkman
  • Teen Titans
  • Voodoo
Probably for the rest of the month I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit it out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But my experiment this weekend proved to me that I actually AM making a spot of cash whenever the ads are clicked. So I’m going to put this little disclaimer on the bottom of all my posts for the next month or so, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. Thanks so much!

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