Comic Book Resources

Your Mileage May Vary: Green Lantern Corps #42

Of this week's comic haul, Green Lantern Corps #42 seems to have gotten quite a reaction. Mostly due to the end, of course.

(I'm betting he'll be back in a month.)

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Your Mileage May Vary: Detective Comics #857

Detective Comics #857

Detective Comics' "Elegy" storyline has come to a close, and it's interesting to see what different readers have to say about the ending.

Johnny Flash at btalkworld.com mostly liked the issue, but had a few nitpicks:

While there was a lot of Batwoman in action this issue, there wasn’t much in the way of character development with Kate herself. Or at least it didn’t appear overtly until the end. At one point Kate’s dad seems to recognized the pale Alice, calling her “Beth”, but Alice turns away. As the issue wraps up, Alice is headed toward a classic “Joker” moment by falling from the plane to the waters of Gotham below but not before addressing Kate and making a remark about “Our Father”! In classic comic book fashion, we can be assured to see Alice again someday, but I love the cliffhanger! A perfect tease to make me want to know even more about Kate’s origin and see how Beth/Alice fits in!

The backup feature, Renee Montoya’s Question finally feels like she is getting somewhere in her investigation by conferring with her associate Toth, but then quickly finds herself in yet another skirmish where the bad guys would rather take out one of their own than let her find out the next bit of the puzzle. I’m just really not sure if I’m not getting into this because of the limited pages and the pacing. I think that when compiled in an eventual trade it will seem to go on endlessly with a lot of the same. I think I need to set up a weekend task of reading all the Question back up’s in one sitting to see if they are more cohesive when read that way.

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Your Mileage May Vary: More on the Marvel/Disney Deal

The Disney-buying-Marvel announcement was the biggest news this week, and it's been discussed pretty much everywhere. Which means that naturally, it's being featured in this column too.

Blogger Nicki Marvel examines what she percieves as the pros and cons of the deal:

Disney-Marvel

# Pro #1 - Disney will probably let Marvel be the brains behind their movies and animation industry, a la Pixar/Disney, since they know that the experts are the better movie makers. The success of "Iron Man" certainly proved that Marvel could handle its own characters well, and although "The Incredible Hulk" did not perform to ridiculous numbers, it did alright.

# Con to #1 - On the other hand... there is the possibility that one wrong move on Marvel's part, if a movie fails rather than surprisingly succeeds like "Iron Man," that Disney will step in and sell the soul of the comic in order to make the money back. Just look at FOX to see something like that in motion, and can we say "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and leave it at that? Sure they might be given freedom ... at first, but Disney is a smart studio and it will take control if things aren't working out. Thus sending millions of fanboys crying to bed.

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Your Mileage May Vary: Batgirl #1

All summer, we've been wondering about the identity of the new Batgirl. And now we know, thanks to Batgirl #1, which just came out. Naturally, everyone has something to say about the issue.

It probably goes without saying that the following links and excerpts contain spoilers.

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Your Mileage May Vary: Cry For Justice #2

A particular scene from James Robinson's Cry for Justice #2 has sparked a lot of interesting discussion.

Jason Fliegel at Howling Curmudgeons thinks it's boneheaded:

First, I understand that in real life, sometimes people have threesomes. So I'm not going to automatically cry "sexism!" just because some writer decides to have one of his male characters get in bed with two women. There probably is some amount of ... sexism is the wrong word, so let's go with pandering ... there probably is some amount of pandering to the typical readers' fantasies in describing a M-F-F threesome instead of a F-M-M threesome. And while one incident does not sexism make, I'd be willing to bet that if we got 100 threesomes in mainstream superhero comics, damn near all 100 of them would involve two women. So while each of the individual writers describing these threesomes wouldn't necessarily be sexist, it does (I would think) create an environment that probably makes women less likely to read mainstream superhero comics.

Second, this just seems inappropriate for a comic like this one. This isn't even a "mature readers only" comic. Even if it were, I'm all in favor of mature comics, but a mature comic doesn't just throw out sexual references for titilation purposes. If you want to do a "mature readers" Justice League comic that explores human sexuality -- well, I think it's probably a bad idea, but a good writer could make it work. But this is just a one-off crude joke.

Third, it is completely out of character for Green Lantern, it is completely out of character for the Huntress, and I don't know a damned thing about the current version of Lady Blackhawk, but from what I hear, it's completely out of character for her, too. So now we're ignoring the nature of the characters in order to shoe-horn in an inappropriate joke that panders to our readers and helps create a climate of sexism.

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Your Mileage May Vary: Wednesday Comics

So DC's Wednesday Comics had its debut recently. It's new and different, so it's very interesting to see what people have to say about it.

Glenn Walker thought it was amazing:

Wednesday Comics #1

Kyle Baker’s Hawkman is stunning. Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred have recreated the Silver Age Metamorpho perfectly. The Flash is the peak of sequential storytelling. Great to see a jet age Green Lantern, it’s the era he was created for. Father and son Kuberts do Sgt. Rock, just as husband and wife Palmiotti and Conner give us a delightful take on Supergirl, Krypto and Streaky. Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook pay homage to Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant with Jack Kirby’s Kamandi just as Paul Pope does the same for Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon with his Adam Strange. It’s just beautiful.

And for those of you for whom that last paragraph means nothing, don’t worry. The best thing about Wednesday Comics is that it’s non-continuity. In English, that means it’s mainstream – it’s accessible to any readers new or old. If you’ve been reading these things forever or if you wouldn’t know a Teen Titan from Tony the Tiger, you’ll still enjoy this.

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Your Mileage May Vary: Captain America #600

One of the most notable comic book releases this week was Captain America #600, which was so notable in fact, that it was released in many stores two days early.

We've already hear some retailer reactions to the entire situation, but what did comic book fans think about it?

The blogger at "Funnybook of the Week" found it baffling:

Captain America #600

Marvel has promised to hype this up as a huge event, even with an odd release date of today - a Monday for heaven's sake - to emphasize the importance of the issue. So let's pretend that the general populace, who went crazy for the death of Steve Rogers and bat-$#!% crazy over Barack Obama hanging out with Spider-Man, bites on this press release and flocks to their neighborhood funnybook store to throw down five bucks for fluff and a teaser...I wonder if they'll be as likely to dive into the shops the next time Marvel points the hype machine away from the specialty web sites and out at the non-comic obsessed public.

After all, this isn't even where he comes back from the dead...this is where they announce that he might possibly be resurrected thanks to the special gun that was used to (possibly not) kill him. It all seems anti-climactic for the kind of hype that the book has been afforded.

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Your Mileage May Vary | Red Robin #1

Now that Battle for the Cowl's over, the DCU's Batclan has undergone drastic changes, some of which we can see in DC's Red Robin #1.

Jason of Clever Name Comics & Pop Culture Blog thought the issue was great:

Red Robin #1

Red Robin #1 creates an interesting new status quo for Tim Drake, until recently Robin. During Tony Daniel’s Battle For the Cowl story, he was one of the heroes that was, ummmmm….battling for the cowl. I like Tim Drake, he wanted to be Robin and essentially applied for the job by showing Batman what he could do. But the only issue I had with him becoming the new Batman is that he’s too young. After reading this issue, I’m starting to take back that limitation. Basically, Tim has now become Batman, but as Red Robin. He’s dark and intense but in his own costume (which is a small question I have, where did he get the Red Robin costume so quickly?).

Chris Yost handles the writing duties well as Tim leaves the Batcave upon seeing Damian in the Robin costume, although Damian’s insults didn’t help either. There is a great scene where Damian shows up in his new Robin costume (which looks much better here than in Batman & Robin) and sees Tim talking to Dick who is wearing the Batman costume.

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from Magog #1

Recently DC announced a new ongoing, starring Magog. This surprising decision has, naturally, caused some reaction.

Jim at Comics And...Other Imaginary Tales is incredulous:

DC announces an ongoing Magog series by Keith Giffen and Howard Porter. Are they kiding? I mean the JSA has Hourman and Liberty Bell husband and wife team that is virtually untouched, Dr. Midnight, the revamped Sandman, Damage and many other characters that would be fascinating and great to carry a book and we get Magog. This guy is a bizarre homage to some of the worst 90 characters every created. Who the hell green lit this idea at DC? This is a really a bad idea in my opinion, Giffen has been more miss than hit, Porter's style is all over the map and there is no buzz on this character. It will not last past 12 issues is my guess.

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New Mutants #1

Recently, Marvel has reunited its classic X-Team, New Mutants in the pages of the aptly named New Mutants #1.

Paul O'Brien of If Destroyed, Still True cautiously enjoyed the issue:

That aside, though, it's a good issue. I like Wells' take on the characters, and artist Diogenes Neves is doing solid work here. Okay, his Magma and Magik are a bit too similar, and I've seen flashier artwork. But he tells a good story, and does a great job with the final few pages. Wells sets up an effective mystery and makes sure to get the plot underway instead of dragging out the set-up.

The big question, of course is: if we're not doing the junior team again, what is the premise of this book? Is it an entire series about a bunch of characters who happened to be in a series with a stronger premise 25 years ago? Is it really just a second X-Men series which happens to have a dash of nostalgia thrown in? Come to think of it, perhaps that wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Carlton Hargro of HeroesOnline is enthusiastic:

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The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Recently on their blog "4th Letter", David Brothers and Esther Inglis-Arkell each posted an interesting perspective on Frank Miller's "Dark Knight Strikes Again."

In his initial post, David Brothers discusses DKSA as an exorcism:

Even still, there is a lot to digest here. Frank Miller, for good or for ill, is responsible for our current vision of Batman. Creators took the DKR model and ran with it, and it’s easy to see DKSA as Frank Miller striking back at that idea. Where we’ve had paranoid and grim Batman for the past fifteen years, Miller gives us one who’s faking grim but skipping like a schoolboy on the inside. Where we’ve had an utterly miserable Batman who figures out ways to trap his friends, Miller delivers a Batman who believes in the strength of others and trusts his fellow warriors.

DKSA is an exorcism. It takes all of the grim and gritty from DKR and the ensuing years and turns it on its head. It’s a push toward day-glo superheroics and away from miserable heroes. The moral of DKSA is “Superheroes are cool!”

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All-New Savage She-Hulk #1

One new comic out this week was Marvel's All-New Savage She-Hulk #1. Reactions appear to be interesting and varied.

Chris Sims approves of the issue:

All-New Savage She-Hulk #1: With this issue, Marvel takes another stab at She-Hulk, this time ditching Jen Walters in favor of Lyra, the alternate future daughter of the Hulk and Thundra, who has come back to the present to punch men in the face with gamma-powered militant feminism. Feminism which is, of course, expressed through the time-honored medium of a fetching Andre-the-Giant-esque sports bra and skin-tight low-rise Han Solo pants, just as it should be.

Electric Goldfish didn't enjoy the issue:

All New Savage She Hulk #1 (Dark Reign tie in)
Urgh, I have no idea where to begin. I literally facepalmed a few times while reading it. Writer Fred Van Lente does a bait and switch for this book and it mainly features Lyra, child of Hulk and Thundra.
Dear Fred Van Lente: Not much Jen Walters in this issue, but I have my doubts you can salvage her from the mess she's in.
Final though: Oh gawd, please get better next issue. I don't know if I can handle all this camp.

Randy Lander's response was short and mixed:

All-New Savage She-Hulk #1 (Well, it's different, that's for sure... it's a goofy concept played straight, and not as impressive as Van Lente's work in places like Scorpion or Incredible Hercules, but a few glimmers of potential, plus Van Lente's track record, means I'll give issue two a shot)

So what do you think?

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This week saw the debut issue of the "Flash: Rebirth" miniseries. Naturally, that's leading to a lot of blog-type discussion.

Seb Patrick enjoyed the issue but thinks it might be a bit "reader unfriendly":

Flash: Rebirth

Still, such concerns are probably for the longer view, and needn’t necessarily be reflected in what this is like as a comic and an introductory issue. And it’s… well, it’s as you’d expect from a Geoff Johns tentpole book. It’s entirely, thoroughly and inextricably rooted in “DCness”, and hugely reliant on prior knowledge of the identities of just about everyone that shows up. Make no mistake - if you’re wondering what the Flash is all about and you’re looking to start following his adventures, this ain’t the place for you. There isn’t even an explanation for why Bart is suddenly (a) alive and (b) a teenager again for those of us who haven’t read Final Crisis : Legion of 3 Worlds (I had to Wiki it just to find out that that was where it had happened).

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Oracle: The Cure #1 has come out and given all the potential implications this story has for Barbara Gordon, it's probably natural that people are talking about it.

Esther Inglis-Arkell believes that the series will end with Barbara as Oracle, uncured:

Oracle: The Cure #1

While I may not be much of a second-lifer or skull-exploder, I do know my Babsology, and more importantly, my superheroes. The series is called The Cure. The first issue chronicles the villain’s desperate, yet evil, attempts to save his desperately ill daughter. It also makes much of the hero’s misery over her grievous injury. Babs is going to have to choose whether to heal the girl or heal herself. Being a hero, she’s going to heal the girl. There is a way that set-ups like these go. In fact, this is the way that this set-up has already gone in Birds of Prey.

And so, of course, I’m hoping it goes the other way. Part of this is because of my shameless bias for Batgirl Babs. Part of it - let’s say that I’ve had it up to here with stories that come complete with forgone conclusions. My heart drops a bit each time I see summaries that go along the lines of: “Will Batman kill the Joker this time?” “Is this the end for Lois and Clark?” “Is Batman dead?” The answer is always ‘no.’ Always. Without exception. We know it the moment we pick up the solicit.

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Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1

The new Batman event comic, Battle for the Cowl #1, came out this week, and of course that means a lot of people are talking about it.

Chad Nevett and Tim Callahan weren't fans of the book:

I can't believe you hated the writing more than I did! I think we hated it equally or thereabouts, but my low expectations made it seem not quite as bad, while your neutrality made it seem worse. Yeah, it's bad, but it's that workmanlike going from point A to point B sort of writing. I think that because it so utterly lacks in ambition, I can't fault it too much for being so bad, because I don't think Daniel was shooting for anything beyond this (aside from thinking it's good). I don't think he's trying to be anything but obvious in dropping obvious hints and insultingly basic narration. While Todd McFarlane's writing always had a hint of pretention, like he thought he was a great writer, Daniel's work almost screams, "Hey, I know this isn't up there with Morrison, but I'm not trying to be that good! I just want to write an action comic that ends with someone as Batman!" Not good, but it could be worse. I would have probably given it two stars...

Rokk Krinn gave the comic an average review:

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