Review: Blue Beetle #1 (2011)

Blue Beetle #1 is one of those titles that certain diehard fans have been demanding for the last few years which implies that in theory this should be one of the bright spots of the DCnU. Sure a lot of back-story and character development has been lost.  Sure Starfire has basically become little more than fan service.  Sure there are tons of characters, a lot of them women, who are mysteriously absent from the comics.   At least we DC answered our request for   to get his ongoing title back, right?   Right?

Jamie’s last book was somewhat sabotaged by the fact that DC had a few months prior published Countdown to Infinite Crisis wherein the former Blue Beetle Ted Kord, a character often thought of as a joke, was written as an inanely badass hero that made many fans who didn’t care about him at all beforehand suddenly declare him to be one of their favorite characters (It was that well written)…only for him to be murdered in that same issue and replaced by Reyes not long after.  Understandably pissed off at DC for playing with their emotions a lot of fans (Myself included) refused to embrace the new Blue Beetle which undoubtedly hurt sales.  The problem?  The new Blue Beetle was actually a really awesome comic.  D’oh!  Jamie was a likable, responsible, and realistic character who ended up being a very unique type of comic hero with a very strong supporting cast and the book ultimately downright fun superhero action.  His relationship with his family and friends was different from every other teenage superhero history because very soon after he acquired his super powers he was instantly teleported away for a whole year causing his loved ones to think he had died or possibly even simply abandoned them.  The struggled of regaining their trust and, in some ways their love, played a huge role in th e expertly written drama of the book.  To be frank Blue Beetle was one of the best books of the 2000s, probably THE best book you never bothered reading, and if people like me and probably you as well had just picked it up when it was still around life in general would have been better for us all.

But hey, on paper we have a second chance to make it right. This was my main motivation to pick this book up because I didn’t want to live with the shame I’ve been holding these past few years of not supporting one of the best superhero creations in history.  Anyway this book is titled “Metamorphosis Part One” and is written by Tony Bedard with artwork by IG Guara (Pencils) and Ruy José (Ink).If you couldn’t tell by now this has been one of my most anticipated books of the reboot.

Full review after the jump.

Review: Red Hood and the Outlaws #1

Before we review this thing let’s briefly talk about Jason Todd.

Jason was the second person wear the identity of Robin, after Dick Grayson.  Initially a carbon copy of his predecessor Todd’s background and personality was altered following the companywide reboot (Sound familiar) Crisis on Infinite Earths.  The new version of the character was disliked by fans so greatly that DC held a phone poll to let fans decide if Jason would survive the events in the classic story A Death in the Family; they voted to kill him (Although years later the validity of the vote is in question as apparently some asshole in California called hundreds of times with the vote of “Kill Him”).  Batman would consider Jason’s death his greatest failure and use it as a reminder when dealing with new sidekicks and partners (This is partly why he treated the Spoiler so bad, presumably).

However Jason was brought back to life seventeen years after that phone poll (In real time) but now he was an antagonist to Batman rather than ally.  Todd, calling himself the Red Hood, initially became a brutal vigilante who took things 100 times farther than Batman usually would.  Over the years Jason suffered from inconsistent writing as DC couldn’t agree whether he should be a straight up villain or an antihero.  During the events of Battle for the Cowl Jason finally become an irredeemable, and crazed, villain and that was pushed to even further depths in Grant Morison’s very good Batman and Robin where he basically became Dick Grayson’s (As the New “Batman”) archenemy.  The point is that the way his character development has ultimately worked the last few years the Red Hood has become a psychotic super villain who is obsessed with destroying everything Batman stands for an replacing him as the new, monstrous protector of Gotham.  A role, I must add, that he was excellent in.

So let’s give this guy a solo title, shall we?  Because...why the hell not!

Jason Todd in his natural state

I’m not the biggest fan of villains getting their own superhero books, though it’s certainly not something that should never tried once and a while.  Secret Six is the best example.  But under normal circumstances I wouldn’t touch Red Hood and the Outlaws with a ten foot pole.  However it also stars Arsenal who’s been one of my favorite characters since 2003 during Judd Winick’s run on The Outsiders and I was hopeful that the horrifying changes to his character over the last few years would be undone in this reboot.   Anyway this comic was written by Scott Lobdell and drawn by Kenneth Rocafort and his title “I Fought the Law and Kicked It’s Butt”.  And no, after reading the story I don’t think that title makes a whole lot of sense.

Full review after the jump.

Anime Review: Baccano!

Today we’re looking at an anime that was suggested by a reader I know only as “Naturealmondco”; they listed it as one of their favorites and I certainly had heard of it as its pretty dang popular.

Baccano! was originally a Light Novel series written by Ryohgo Narita and drawn by Katsumi Enami that began in 2003 and is still ongoing (Uh oh…).  An anime adaptation was produced by Brain’s Base in 2007 and FUNimation Entertainment released it in North America in 2009.    It’s a shorter series; originally thirteen episodes with a three episode OVA released later (In the American release they were all packaged together).  It’s no secret that this is an acclaimed anime series, one of the best rated ones of the last decade, but I hadn’t seen it yet at all and everything I heard about it I’d pretty much forgotten about.   So the question is did I agree with everyone else or was it an overrated, overhyped mess.

Full review after the jump.

Review: Batwoman #1

F***k yeah, Batwoman!  It’s about goddamn time!  For background on Batwoman check out my review of Batwoman #0 from last year.  Now if you haven’t noticed by now I’m a huge Kate Kane fan and have been eagerly anticipating this new series for damn near a year now.  Now considering that Batwoman #0 came out last fall I’m sure you’re wondering what the hell took so long for her to get to Batwoman #1. 

When Batwoman debuted in 52 back in 2006 it was to a large amount of fanfare about diversity and progression (Some of it a little dumb).  They said the ultimate plan was to get her in her own title but then a long while passes and nothing happens.  Finally in 2009 DC announced that Batwoman would take over the lead character status of Detective Comics, as seen in Batwoman: Elegy.  That book was awesome and was supposed to spin-out into its own title but that never happened.  Eventually Greg Rucka, one of Kate’s creators and primary writer during her Detective run, left DC for independent work (And later Marvel Comics) leaving the would-be soldier’s fate up in the air.  Thankfully J.H. Williams III, the artist for that run of Detective, stepped up to take the reins of Batwoman.  DC finally announced an ongoing Batwoman series in 2010 written by Williams and co-written with W. Haden Blackman and co-drawn by Amy Reeder (Meaning Reeder will take on art duties later).  The problem was that DC had dated the comic earlier than Williams was prepared for and ultimately the book was pushed back to February of 2011.  As a compromise Batwoman #0 was created and released in November of ’10, which if you recall I really loved it.  Unfortunately by the time winter came around Batwoman was pushed back again to April, apparently due to problems with the art (I think that’s right; I might be remembering it wrong).  But by the time April finally came around DC canceled the book!  At the time no reason was given, though most people assumed that it was just going to be pushed back to sometime in the fall…or go the way of Vixen’s book during the DC Implosion.   In the wake of the announcement of the DCnU things became clear: DC had decided to delay the book until the fall to coincide with the reboot of the continuity; what’s the point of starting a new series in April when it was going to be canceled due to companywide mandate in August anyway.  

So finally here in September I have a copy of Batwoman #1 in my hands.  Sadly all the press, all the build-up and all the publicity Kate had when she was first created is all gone by now as DC failed to strike while the iron was hot.  Hell, and potential readers DC got form BW #0 is likely mostly gone as it’s taken so long for the follow-up to come out.  This issue is titled “Hydrology Part 1: Leaching” and it seems that while Reeder (Shockingly only one of two women currently working for DC as creators) is on the creative team on this particular issue she’s not involved as Williams does all the art.  So we’re ten months passed from Batwoman #0 and two years passed from Batwoman: Elegy.  Was it worth the wait?  And can Kate survive without Greg Rucka?

Find out this and more after the jump!

Review: Demon Knights #1

Gone, gone the form of man.  Rise the demon…ETRIGAN! 

Two things: 1) I don’t know much about Etrigan the Demon other than he was a creation of Jack “The King” Kirby, is a jerk, and talks in rhyme.  At least he does sometimes.  So in honesty I’m not all that interested in an ongoing title starring the character.  2) While I’m a big fan of the fantasy genre I’ve never really cared about it in comic form.  I’m not against it I just haven’t really found any that I was terribly interested in.  Except for Bone, I suppose.  So really under normal circumstances I almost certainly would have never picked Demon Knights #1 on my own.  The only reason I did last week was because Paul Cornell seemed to be the only person who treated to the infamous Batgirl of San Diego Comic-Con with any sort of dignity (Read her story here) and I decided to buy this book.  Also The Lady, who is the biggest Whovian I know, pointed out that Cornell apparently was also a writer for Doctor Who and she got excited.

This book was written by Cornell with art by Diogne Neves (Pencils) and Oclair Albert (Ink).  The story is titled “Seven Against the Dark”.  Even though I think Cornell is a rock star I have no real way of knowing if he’s any good at what he does; I never read any Doctor Who novels.   So I’m jumping in pretty blind here.

Full review after the jump.

Review: Mister Terrific #1

Today we have another example of DC Comics attempting to increase the diversity in their books by taking a well known black character, who has never starred in his own book, and finally giving him a solo title.  Mister Terrific, aka Michael Holt, was created in 1997 by John Ostrander and Tim Mandrake and based on the original Mister Terrific from the Golden Age of Comics.  Though not possessing super powers he possesses a brilliant mind and an aptitude for science which he uses to create the T-Mask, which renders him invisible to technology, the T-Spheres, which have a large verity of functions including holographic projection, generating electric charges and granting limited flight.   For most of the character’s existence he has been associated with the Justice Society of America.  He is super badass, succeeds in everything he does and is informally known as the world’s third smartest man…a title that is repeated every goddamn chance anyone at DC gets.

Mister Terrific #1 is written by Eric Wallace with art by Gianluca Gugliotta (Pencils) and Wayne Faucher (Inks) and is titled “Software Update”.  Without a doubt, after Batwoman #1, this has been my most anticipated comic of the reboot. I  truly believed that Mister Terrific is one of the coolest characters DC has to offer and I often wondered why he wasn’t in the spotlight more.  So I was hoping that this book would be one of the best titles released this month and be one of the few bright spots of this whole DCnU mess.  I mean...he’s black.  He’s a black superhero and I can’t help but be partial to that fact since I’m black as well.  I like seeing myself in superhero comics and it’s nice to pick up an issue of something that’s not one of a thousand white dudes.  But after all this time does the character stand well on his own or fall flat?

Full review below.

Review: Colombiana

The world needs more female action heroes.  Yeah they exist but they’re a bit few and far between.  Milla Jovovich probably counts with her roles in the Resident Evil films and others and Michelle Rodriguez, who’s known for playing almost exclusively tough chicks, might count if she ever actually starred in a film rather than play a supporting role…or actually survived the film. But in general we don’t really have lady action stars the way we have with the dudes.  And I’m not certain Zoe Saldana would have been my first choice to star in an action vehicle.  She’s so…skinny.  Seriously, she’s rail thin.  I can see bones, man.  Then again I never really thought of Liam Neeson as being any sort of action hero and yet he keeps getting cast in action films (Though truth be told Liam Neeson seems to say “yes” to any offer he gets considering he stars in about eleven thousand films a year.) 

Anyway Colombiana was directed by Olivier Megaton (Badass name) and billed was being made by the people who did 2008’s Taken, which was a surprisingly cool film.  This usually implies that the movies are similar since it has the same creative team.   However it has become obvious to me that they really just meant it shares the same producer which means…almost nothing for the quality of the film.   I wasn’t going to watch this movie but, wouldn’t you know it, every single movie I planned on seeing for the past month had left theatres by the time I was ready to go see one.  It was either this or Bucky Larson: Born to be Star.  Colombiana it is. 

Full review after the jump. 

Review: Batgirl #1 (2011)

So let’s briefly talk about Barbara Gordon.  Like with Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown I have a lot to say about this character and her story, but it really deserves a post of its own so I’ll be as brief as I can.  

Barbara is the second Batgirl but the first serious attempt of giving Batman a competent female ally who wears the symbol of the Bat (The previous Bat-Girl, and her aunt the first Bat-Woman, was little more than bumbling sidekick).  Barbara, on top of being the daughter of Batman’s longtime police contact Jim Gordon, was not a teenage sidekick but rather a full grown woman, with a PhD. in library science (I think.  Feel free to correct me in her degree was in) and a skilled fighter who operated without Batman’s permission or training; she didn’t need either, mainly because she’s goddamned awesome.  She even retired as Batgirl after years of service to use her abilities for other, more practical pursuit (Yes that happened).  However in the 1988 comic The Killing Joke she is shot in the stomach by the Joker and permanently paralyzed from the waist down.  But because, as we established, Miss Gordon is a badass she soon becomes Oracle, an information broker and world class hacker who aides various superheroes in the war on crime (And eventually establishing a network between them) and begins employing agents to fight the forces of evil on a global scale, the most famous of whom were the Birds of Prey (Including her best friends Black Canary, The Huntress, and Lady Blackhawk).  Over the years she has become not only one of the very few disabled superheroes in comics but frankly she was more effective, and invaluable, in this role than she ever was as Batgirl.  Unfortunately, for reasons seemingly due to low sales of Stephanie Brown’s Batgirl title and the idea that they wanted to bring familiarity for casual readers back to the book in the Great DC Reboot the powers that be in DC Comics decided to return Barbara to her classic role as Batgirl, restoring her legs in the process, in Batgirl #1.

The trade-off is that it’s being written by Gail Simone who is one of the best working writers in comic books today, having written Secret Six and being most famous for runs on Birds of Prey.  There is also art by Adrian Syaf (Pencils) and Vicente Cifuentes (Inks).  This issue is titled "Shattered".

Like with my Spider-Man: One More Day review this is a pretty controversial comic but I want to focus on whether this is a good comic on its own merits rather than because of my personal feelings on who is or who isn’t Batgirl.  Still I do want to very quickly state my opinion on the matter before we get into the review: Yes, I agree that Barbara Gordon has no business returning to the role of Batgirl.  While I’m not happy they decided to restore the use of her legs I can live with that aspect but de-aging her (Which they have done) and putting her back in that identity feels like a straight up demotion.  You likely wouldn’t see Dick Grayson return as Robin or Wally West return as (Ugh) Kid Flash (At least freaking I hope not. Has Wally been accounted for yet?).  Barbara graduated from being Batgirl a long time ago and moved on to bigger, better, and more important things as Oracle and I find it a bit ridiculous that I’m being expected to take her seriously here.  She used to wage cyber-warfare on global threats and use her genius to regularly help save whole nations and even the world.  Now she’s gone back to fighting muggers and gangbangers on the streets of one city? Please.

Oracle reacts to Batgirl #1

 Actual review after the jump.