It probably goes without saying that this post contains episode spoilers.

Eric Stettmeier of Toyriffic thought the episode surpassed his expectations:

Hawkman and Green Arrow, together again

The JSA were extremely well represented, their reason for fading into obscurity was well established, and their reasons for reappearing equally so. The episode had “Easter-eggs” galore, including Ma Hunkel – yes MA freaking HUNKEL! No one but Geoff Johns would have slipped the original Red Tornado into the mix like that. Her brief moment on screen (only in civilian guise unfortunately) sent shivers down my spine. And it didn’t stop there. Checkmate, Amanda Waller, mention that guys like Ted Grant (Wildcat) and Alan Scott (Green Lantern) are still out there, and one final line referencing The Suicide Squad – this episode contained enough seed material to keep Smallville going for another decade!

Lady Momus of Super Critique enjoyed the episode with some reservations:

I love that they got Daniel from Stargate as Hawkman, although I really wish they hadn’t gone with such a scratchy voice. He’s a good actor, but the voice made it hard for me to take him seriously. And it’s strangely appropriate that they got him to do the part, considering that Hawkman’s known for being reincarnated, and Daniel was best known for dying and coming back to life.

I like that they included Stargirl, but I spent the whole time bashing the portrayal. For one thing, she’s supposed to be 16, and if that actress was 16, I’m Queen of England. At least she’s skinny and short, so as long as you didn’t look at her face, you could almost pretend she was 16.

While Michael from Bad News From Outer Space thought it was “Dullsville”:

I just felt the storytelling was rushed and muddled. It was all about the JSA and not the Smallville regulars. It truly was a JSA pilot episode. There were a few cute bits, like Hawkman and Green Arrow getting on each other’s nerves (name calling and acting like 12 year olds being a superhero team-up tradition). Lois meets Dr. Fate and tells him, “Nice helmet.” “Thanks,” Fate quickly responds. Early on there were some Super-Friends jokes too. But there wasn’t much more to this episode.

There was no true sense of wonder to be had in the whole two hours; early episodes of Smallville were able to accomplish this. It all seemed like a response to cash in on the retro-heroes seen in the Watchmen movie; the opening credits of that film was heralded by everyone, regardless of how they viewed the movie itself. The Incredibles also did the “government hunted us old heroes out of existence” story as well, so there was no new ground covered in “Absolute Justice.”

So what do you think?

Johnny from Fan Rants gave the series a positive review:

Human Target

Frankly the casting is spot on, all solid actors with their own strengths and they thus far have brought solid performances to the show. The main thing they have changed is the fact that Chance is no longer a master of disguise but rather a bodyguard. A highly skilled and connected bodyguard that is.

They have dropped many hints that he may have been a spy at one time, but nothing concrete. What we do know is, he speaks multiple languages, so far Japanese and Russian, knows martial arts, is a master shot and tactician.

I like the show for its action and humor. So far the writing has been very well done and as I said earlier, the casting is very good. They are actually using some quality comic book writers for the scripting, Carmine Infantino and Len Wein have writing credit on the first two episodes. Also they have had some excellent guest stars so far, Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Danny Glover, Alessandro Juliani (BSG), Sean Maher (Firefly), and Emmanuelle Vaugier (CSI NY).

Graeme McMillan feels that the concept suffers in comparison to the comic:

I’ve given up wondering why certain things are adaptations as opposed to original creations, for the most part, but Human Target just confuses me; it’s different enough in concept, characters and tone from the original that, if the names were different, it would be its own thing. It’s not an adaptation, or even a recreation; it’s an appropriation of the name and idea that someone will be protecting clients, and little else. It’s not even as if the comic Human Target would be difficult to do as a television series; it’d be the anti-Dollhouse in some senses – multiple actors playing the same character, instead of one actor portraying multiple characters – but as much about identity and personality… which, come to think of it, may be as much a turn-off to mass audiences as Dollhouse seemed to be. But it’s hard to deny that Human Target the comic – and especially Peter Milligan’s more nuanced take, as demonstrated in Chance Meetings – is much more interesting, individual and worthwhile than the TV version. It’s an ironic shame that the concept’s very identity was sacrificed in order to make it to television.

Finally the blogger at What is Unseen dislikes the writing of the show:

The stories are weak. It seems as though they’re trying too hard and trying to be something they’re not just to ‘blend in’ with television. But they’re falling flat if that is what they’re doing. I say make it your own and then own it. The cast is a pretty decent one, a lot of potential. However, the show doesn’t even keep up with their talent. I gave the show a chance, I went in with an open mind and expecting something mediocre. I kept watching in hopes it would approve…I received nothing back a bad story and boredom in return. Sigh…what is happening to entertainment? I honestly feel insulted that they actually think this kind of tv will entertain us television viewers. We might be overworked and looking for an hour vacation from our stressful days, or something just to wind down to on television but I’d rather watch info commercials on snuggies rather than Human Target. Not to mention why are so many comic characters being taken and ‘inspired’ for stories and than butchered when hitting the television screen or movie screen…? An argument for another day perhaps?

So what do you think?

Alan of Reilly2040′s blog is excited:

Birds of Prey #1

Of course, things have moved on again since Black Canary was in JLA, and I think its fair to say that the move didn’t really do her character any favours, with her automatically playing second fiddle to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, and then the eventual Green Arrow/Black Canary book that never really seemed to take off (for the record I was never opposed to the marriage itself, but the book has never seemed to really click).

So the announcement that Birds of Prey is coming back, with the core cast of Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress and Lady Blackhawk reunited is brilliant news. I really can’t wait to see how Gail approaches the happenings in the characters lives since the first series ended (and could we please have Helena reinstate the updated version of her current costume. It looked so much more practical).

While the blogger at 1979 Semi-Finalist has some trepidation:

Of note is that it sounds like BoP is part of DC’s Brightest Day run, which as I understand it, will run for a year (26 issues) – it’s unclear if the book is supposed to continue after that. CBR’s Robot 6 makes it sound like it is an ongoing, and Simone’s interview on Comic Alliance also makes it sound like an ongoing, so perhaps it is just a book that will participate in Brightest Day…and continue beyond that? I suppose if the series does well, that DC will find a way to continue it on regardless of the original plan (whatever that was). Though a specific release date has not been announced it looks like the new series will premiere in April or May.

And finally, livejournalist scottie2558 wonders if there’s another reason:

So it seems that Gail Simone is returning to one of her most well known series besides Secret Six. This was one of my favorite books from DC when I came back into comics back in 2003. On my pull list every month. I sort of petered off reading it when she left and the fill in’s up till it’s demise took over. Canceled during the post ‘Batman Reborn’ shake-up, she gets to start it again. While it could be they realized it was a mistake to cancel it or she had a pitch they couldn’t let go past… it also might put credence towards the rumors of Grant Morrison taking over Wonder Woman soon. This could be her sort of consolation prize for backing off that title.

So what do you think?

Valerie D’Orazio points out the issue of Ms. Lively’s age:

I’ll be honest, I saw more a brunette like Anne Hathaway, or perhaps even Jennifer Connelly playing the role. And yeah, I think age is a factor here as well as overall “look” – Lively being 22 and my conception of Ferris being somewhere in her late 20s/early 30s. Ryan Reynolds, who is playing Green Lantern, is 33. According to Hollywood, guys in their 3os & 40s are still vital and sexy, while there’s a preference for their female counterparts to be in their 20s. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that’s the way it is – and this is why so many actresses, as they approach 30, drive themselves crazy and get plastic surgery and develop eating disorders, etc; it’s a business decision.

Tonedog of Agree to Disagree has issues with her acting talent:

A beautiful face is great and all, but really? Really? Acting ability should come into play. I’ve seen her work in Accepted starring Justin Long and Jonah Hill, as well as her work on “Gossip Girl”. I have to say I’m not thrilled.

Plus, does this make sense alongside Ryan Reynolds? I don’t think they match well. But who am I? Just a lowly blogger who loves movies, and comic books. I think Reynolds is too old for it to be believable. I think studios need to look at Jon Favreau’s technique and start casting some Oscar caliber actors.

While Myron Rumsey of the Blog of OA is willing to withhold judgment:

Members of the fan community have responded somewhat negatively to the news of the Lively’s casting, with most fans indicating a preference for Eva Green or Diane Kruger. I myself will reserve judgment since, as I mentioned in my earlier post about the subject, I haven’t really seen her in anything. My hope is that Lively looks a little older with dark hair. I have no reason to doubt director Martin Campbell’s judgment at this point, but he has had the benefit of seeing footage from the upcoming film “The Town” and obviously sees something in her that make him think that Lively is the right choice.

So what do you think?

Anj of the Comic Box Commentary gives us a very Supergirl-centric look at his favorite moments over the past year:

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade #6

So when I was reading Cosmic Adventures #6 and saw the hand emerging from that swirl, I knew just what Landry Walker and Eric Jones were referencing. I knew this was ‘the hand that Krona saw’, the hand of creation. And then we see that the hand belongs to Supergirl!! It was the best mix of DC history and Supergirl that this DC history/Supergirl fan could ask for. Perfect! Readers who don’t know the Krona connection probably did not get as big a bang for this scene as I did. But I had a silly grin on my face for a while after reading it.

While David Brothers of 4th Letter found a lot to love outside of the superhero genre:

While all this was going on, I was growing out of slavishly following superhero books. David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp fell in my lap like a bomb, I fell in love with Darwyn Cooke’s Parker: The Hunter, and scored several other books. I grabbed a used copy of Usagi Yojimbo: Grasscutter II on a whim and remembered how much I dig that series. Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai coming out a few weeks later was perfect timing, leaving me ripe for more. While the special edition by Fantagraphics collecting the first chunk of stories was pushed back to September 2010, I’m paying attention to Stan Sakai again and wondering why I ever stopped.

And X-Man of X-Man’s Comic Blog focuses solely on the superheroes for his best and worst list:

What the Hell?!? Moment of the Year: Superman ends Final Crisis by singing Darkseid to death. This one was probably the easiest choice of all. So here you have Final Crisis, DC’s uber-huge mega crossover of 2008-2009. The main villain, Darkseid has pretty much run amok, enslaved several heroes(including Wonder Woman), killed several other heroes(including Batman… Kind of), and transformed the Earth into a living hell. How does DC’s greatest hero, Superman end the dread threat of Darkseid? He sings at him… Yes, that’s right, Superman sings a note that’s directly opposite of Darkseid’s essence(or some such nonsense)which causes Darkseid to die… Uh-huh… I don’t think I need to say anything else…

So what do you think?

Naturally, the linked articles and quotes contain spoilers.

Timster of the Crusader’s Realm appreciates the action:

For this issue in particular, Brubaker went all out an provided the much awaited action bits – case in point – the ultimate showdown between the old Cap and new Cap, Bucky Barnes. Since Bryan Hitch is handling most of the pencils here, the final battle feels a whole lot like the Ultimates… with the absence of the witty and satire laced dialogue Mark Millar presented in his books. Brubaker instead delivers monologues and head to head conversations that will have the comic book fan breezing through without holding their breath for a moment. The splash pages are wonderful art though, and you’ll get plenty of Cap vs Cap time in the latter parts of the issue. In the other side of the spectrum, original Cap is looking for a way out of his new predicament and comes face to face with the Skull in his own mind, trying to reclaim dominance over his own body. I would have loved a fist to fist battle that was adjacent with the present day Cap vs Cap battle, but both fights lack a little more substance… which is possibly being saved for the last issue. Butch Guice also lends his talents to help Hitch with the illustrations, and you’ll hardly notice the difference, unless you look and analyze every panel and page.

Matthew Peterson of Major Spoilers found the issue a bit lacking:

This issue is a good one from an action perspective, with an all out battle between robot monsters and the Avengers, the fight between Cap and Red Skull in Steve’s mind, and the fighty-fighty of battlin’ Caps against a backdrop that represents liberty itself. That said, there’s not a lot OTHER than the action going on here, as Steve’s participation is kind of tangental to the action. Bryan Hitch’s art is always good, but here he reaches heights that I haven’t seen since The Ultimates Version 1 a few years ago. I can certainly see why they chose to expand this series, though, as finishing everything up in this issue could easily have made it all cramped. This issue, like Flash Rebirth #5, features a battle between resurrected hero and their definitive villain, but here it works better for a couple of reasons. Brubaker doesn’t spend a lot of time analyzing WHY Steve Rogers would stand against the Red Skull, it just has him do it, and more importantly, has him do it definitively. We’re in the home-stretch of the return, here, and it should be super-dramatic, the last fifteen minutes of an action movie. ‘Course, The Siege one-shot two weeks ago featured Steve post-Reborn, and the New Avengers Annual LAST week featured Steve post-Reborn, undermining the effect of the climactic battle for control of Steve’s body. Obviously, Marvel couldn’t delay all the crossovers just because they added an issue to this mini, but timing once again has damaged my reception of what could have been a hugely successful issue. Still and all, Captain America: Reborn #5 is well-drawn, and well-written, ditching a lot of the characters who had been carrying previous issues to bring Steve Rogers straight into the fray, and earns 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. With any luck, we’ll get the end of this story before Steve returns to wide circulation during ‘Siege.’ (I don’t know that I’d hold my breath, though…)

While Matt_Dunford of Fanboy Gaming thinks that series was botched:

Let me just start by saying that Captain America: Reborn could be the most poorly executed resurrection story of all time. Last July when it was announced that Captain America would be returning, there was a mixed reaction between fans. Some wanted him to stay dead, and some wanted him to return. But regardless of what your opinion on him dead or alive, we were interested in the story. However Marvel really should have made an effort to keep certain spoilers out of other books before they are announced in Captain America: Reborn. So far a resurrected Captain America has made appearances in Dark Avengers Annual, New Avengers Annual, and in last week’s issue of Invincible Iron Man. Reborn was supposed to be Marvel’s book to take on Blackest Night but its been spoiled by other books. Now let me address the issue rather than the politics surrounding it. After reading this issue I went to my bookshelf and picked up my hardcover of The Ultimates and then compared it to the art in this issue. Then I really had to question if the same guy drew them both? As soon as you open this issue you see Captain America standing in a rainy city, but what really catches your eye is Cap’s chainmail. The chainmail isn’t even drawn on, you can easily tell that it was added in from photoshopped and just looks ugly. The art in general looks very flat and one dimensional, and since this issue has a lot of fighting going on that can be very distracting. There is an image of a fight scene at the Lincoln Memorial where you can’t tell whether the columns or the Lincoln statue are in different depths because it looks so flat. I know Hitch can deliver good artwork, but I have to say you won’t find it here, you have to read The Ultimates if you want to see Cap looking his best in action. I’m not sure whether to pin this on Hitch or to the colorist, but it’s not good and there is way too much mixing of penciled art and digitally added art, which is never a good combination. As for the story its come down to the fighting, and nearing the end of the story. But as I mentioned earlier the ending has already been spoiled so there isn’t much to talk about. This could have been Marvel’s winning book but it has been botched big time.

So what do you think?

Esther Inglis-Arkell starts things off:

Power Girl

And I heard the justification about how Canary’s outfit was in tribute to her mother, even when that means she’s in panties and a jacket in the First Wave books. And I’ve heard the one about Poison Ivy being a plant and therefore unconcerned about human modesty. Oh, and I’ve heard the one about Supergirl being invulnerable and therefore not needing pants. There are a few about how Huntress wanted to show off the fact that she was shot, and she lived, and that’s why she fought in a bikini. And then there’s the one about Batman and Superman . . . oh. Wait. There aren’t that many excuses for how Batman and Superman dress because, golly, for some reason, the male heroes in this mostly male-controlled medium put their fucking clothes on when they’re going to fight someone.

Are you kidding me? I’m getting an ‘I choose my choice’ speech from a fictional character? Feminist fans are getting a slap because they won’t accept one bullshit excuse after another for why male heroes are mostly fully-clothed and female heroes mostly walk around in their underwear?

Ragnell offers a different perspective:

That’s why they keep going back to it, because it’s a good basic costume and as it was originally just a small cut-out on an invulnerable character it’s not inherently lewd/impractical. (Unlike the midriff-baring Huntress, or the monstrosity Carol Ferris is parading around in–though my hat’s off to Mahnke for making it less eyesearing.) All the attempts to change it have had her going to worse costumes. (The one with the normal neckline actually tends to show even MORE boob than the cut-out.) And it doesn’t need a reason any more than she liked the look better than any emblem she tried to put there, and now she’s just used to it. Anything beyond that is downright insulting, like you’re trying to fool us into thinking there’s something inherently empowering about baring your breasts. There isn’t.

(We all know good fashion isn’t dependent on the amount of fabric. Different cuts do different things for different bodies. And that’s not even getting into color. Aesthetics are complicated in this area.)

Now, if DC feels guilty enough that they feel a need to justify this costume, maybe rather than offer us some bullshit they can have the artists draw it tastefully. A cut-out is ideally supposed to offer just a hint of cleavage, not go down to or below one’s nipples. Just a guess, but that and the annoying high-cut bikini bottoms might be where all that guilt and disgust originates.

While Laura Hudson calls Jen Van Meter out:

You know what, Jen Van Meter? Go write an op-ed. I’m not even being sarcastic. You’re entitled to your opinion about Power Girl’s costume, and if you’d like to explain to the female readership about how they’re totally misunderstanding the personal empowerment and meaningful symbolism offered by the cleavage window, then I would be very interested in reading about that.

But quite sincerely: Do not lecture me when I’m in the middle of reading a superhero comic about why you think I’m reading it wrong. Or at the very least, write a scene well enough so I don’t feel like you’re lecturing me, because there are few things more disruptive to a narrative experience than watching the writer peek around the curtain and set up a teleprompter for the characters.

I already suspend my disbelief to ridiculous proportions for superhero comics, so watching someone manipulate Power Girl like a highly articulated action figure specifically to give me the stink eye pretty much destroys any sense of authenticity that exists for the story, the character, or the world. It makes me feel like I’m watching a Very Special Episode about why I should shut up, and for reasons that I think are obvious, that’s not very fun.

So what do you think?

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

Peter of My Chaotic Mind sadly looks back at the history of Kyle Rayner:

Towards the end of the issue, Kyle realises he’s no better than them. As mentioned, the thugs outclassed Terry in age, size and strength and Kyle outclasses them because he’s wearing a Green Lantern ring. That scene alone made it stick in my mind as one of my favourite storylines. I later tracked down to trade, “Brother’s Keeper” and while the following storylines didn’t quite have a scene to match it, were still good.

Kyle was also DC’s answer to Peter Parker, even if they wouldn’t admit to it. Two of his three key girlfriends (Alex and Jen) died because of him. He was a freelance artist and it wasn’t until the job that lead to him meeting Terry that he got a decent paycheck on a frequent basis. I’ve never been a big fan of Batman and it’s only recently that I’ve developed an interest in and respect for Superman. Kyle was the best example of a Marvel style hero (one who deals with real life problems) in the DC universe, and acted pretty much as the doorway for a Marvel fan like me to get interested in DC.

Chris Thorn of Registered Weapon is irate:

The death of Kyle is the culmination of DC’s marginalization and disinterest in the character since the return of Hal Jordan (for the uniformed, check out the wiki history). The move wreaks of spite and contempt for fans for preferring any Green Lantern over Hal Jordan and the Silver Age. Kyle has had target on his back for that reason for awhile. He’s the brightest light of an era that DC is hellbent on rewriting out of current continuity: the 90s (I could even argue the post-Crisis era too). One of the prevalent plot devices in that decade was the emergence of replacement/legacy heroes such as Jean Paul Valley, four Supermen, Wally West, Connor Hawke, Ben Reilly, Jack Knight, Artemis, young Tony Stark, The Ray and plenty of other minor heroes. Some of the heroes were editorially designed to be temporary, others were reinventions of characters not printed in decades. Despite being part of a stunt, whether or not the character WAS a stunt depended on the writer. While Emerald Twilight meets the criteria of an ultimate comics money grab with a legendary hero turning villain, killing his brothers-in-arms and destroying the decades old foundations of the intellectual property, the result was far from it.

While Kirk Warren of the Weekly Crisis enjoyed the issue:

Yes, Kyle Rayner actually dies in this issue. There was no pre-hype, no early spoilers and no indication he was set to die in any way. In fact, everyone pegged him as completely safe. He and Guy had their niche in this book and the brother-like relationship was a highlight of the Green Lantern Corps title. Kyle even had some great relationship building moments with Soranik Natu earlier in the issue that had me hoping to see more of it in the future.

Instead, he died saving the corps he helped rebuild with a heartfelt, “I love you.”, to Soranik and a, “you’ve been like a brother”, farewell to Guy before taking the fallen Alpha Lantern’s core and detonating it in the middle of the Black Lantern’s, ending that threat on Oa and saving the Central Power Battery. I know it’s hard to take a death seriously in an event like Blackest Night, which hinges on the dead coming back to haunt our heroes, but this hit me like a punch in the gut and Kyle was the character that first introduced me to Green Lantern comics.”

So what do you think?

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.

Matthew Peterson of Major Spoilers gave the story a 4.5 out of 5:

Greg Rucka does great work here, giving both Batwoman and Question a specific point of view that includes their sexualities, but doesn’t revolve around them. Moreover, each woman has a DIFFERENT personality, making the stories separate and distinct beasts… When I first heard of the lineup for Detective post-RIP, the cynical part of my brain figured that putting the two gay supers in the same book was going to lead to a sensationalistic “Lesbian Double Feature” feel, and I’m glad that it didn’t happen here. The Batwoman story took a couple of reads before all the nuances came through, but I do have a question or two. If Alice (as she claims) has the same father as Batwoman, wouldn’t said father have RECOGNIZED her, even with white face paint? Is the reveal meant to be shocking that Batwoman has a sister, or is it meant to be shocking that the man that Batwoman THINKS is her father is NOT her father? It’s not clear, but that doesn’t necessarily undermine the point of the story. The Question’s story falls into a very strange place here, as the art (by Cully Hamner, an old favorite of mine dating back to “Green Lantern: Mosaic”) does a superb job with Montoya, making her mask work, making the action sequences nice, and even managing to show her in her sports bra without being cheesecakey or titillating. The only reason I can think that Renee’s story doesn’t feel as engaging as Kate’s is the superlative art and storytelling on the first feature. Still, this book delivers the crime-fiction, delivers the street-level vigilantes, and some excellent storytelling overall. Detective Comics #857 earns a very strong 4.5 out of 5 stars overall, and makes me happy to be reading a bat-title again.

While Stefan Yong of But Before I Kill You… had some complaints about the ending.:

Having Alice and Batwoman be sisters or something makes the Batman-Joker relationship seem slightly weirder. Not necessarily in a bad way, just an interesting way. It depends. Whenever I think of the Batman-Joker relationship I always always think of that panel in Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum where the Joker grabs Batman’s ass. So this new development might be a bit disturbing in that hey you’re my brother now hands off the ass way.

But Alice is dead, so I suppose this is going to dredge up some feelings of random superguilt because for the next arc we have an origin story, oh wonder of wonders. Is that going to cause a stir, by the way, that Alice essentially commited suicide? Does it not matter because she’s not a lesbian? Or because there isn’t a fridge involved? I don’t know what kind of thing warrants Internet backlash anymore. I guess people didn’t mind Alice falling out of the plane because she kept going around quoting that fucking children’s book all the time like she just read it for the first time and she was very bloody smug about it and kept smiling and god it was nice of her to fall out of the plane wasn’t it?

So what do you think?

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.

Ragnell considers the implications of the deal for female fans:

Of course, the question all over my Twitterfeed is “will this make things better for female fans?” There’s some people dreaming of a bright future where X-women marketed side by side with Cinderella and superhero comics aimed for teenaged girls are sold as well as illustrated fairytale classics, but I find myself pessimistic.

Yeah, Disney’s good with girls, but a) the word is they acquired Marvel to attract male customers and b) they’re the producers of the ultra-feminine Disney Princess line, the long-standing keepers of traditional gender roles. I wouldn’t hold out hope that Disney will make Marvel somehow more girl-friendly, when what they want is a boy’s club under their banner and they aren’t exactly into kickass women themselves.

While Elizabeth of Magnet Junkie has a different perspective:

Back in 2000, comic artist and writer Joe Quesada was named Marvel’s new Editor-in-Chief. I remember catching a glimpse of him in an office during my Marvel tour earlier that year. I pointed at him and hissed at a fellow comic lover to look, there’s Quesada! Yup, he overheard. I was so embarrassed. Regardless, I thought it was pretty cool that an artist had taken the reigns at Marvel. He’d previously co-owned a comic book company, Event Comics, so he must know how this was done. And he’d get the comics industry in a way no suit ever would, right?

Wrong – ever since, Quesada has made some pretty bad decisions. He got rid of some of the most respected senior artists and writers working for the company. These guys are legends for a reason! His worst choice was to have Spider-Man unmask himself to the world as Peter Parker. It may have grabbed headlines, but it was a bad idea. He also made it so that Peter and Mary Jane have never been married, tossing away twenty years of continuity. Comic sales at the company over his tenure have plummeted. The only Marvel comic I’ve read over the last five years has been Pride and Prejudice – and that was mainly for the novelty and to support my local comic book store. Given the current state of Marvel Comics, I really can’t believe that Disney could do much to make it any worse. I guess we’ll have to see.

So what do you think?

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

The blogger at What Is Techno Again? liked the art but didn’t connect to the character:

I wasn’t terribly impressed with Batgirl #1. Although I like the character—she does share my first name, after all, and therefore is cool in my book—it’s hard to get behind someone as reckless as her, especially when Brown’s nightly activities endanger others. Lee Garbett’s pencils, Trevor Scott’s inks, and Guy Major’s colors make a good combination for the comic, though. The almost simplistic, adventurous art style reflects the story well, and the shift to the flashback with Spoiler and Batgirl (Cassandra)—which I particularly enjoyed—acts as a well-illustrated contrast against the book’s present events. However, at this point it’s unclear where the comic will be going, and or if the character will take a perhaps much-needed change of pace.

Seb Patrick wasn’t surprised by Batgirl’s identity but found the comic decent and enjoyable:

Having been generally unimpressed with his work on his two-parter for Grant Morrison’s Batman, I’m surprised by Lee Garbett here – an energetic style with slightly cartoony facial expression, reminiscent of Todd Nauck and the like, suits the tone of the book well. Steph is appropriately youthful out of costume, and fairly dynamic in it; and in the cameo appearance from Dick and Damian (in Da Bungalow) he nails those characters pretty well, too. There’s nothing spectacular or experimental, it’s just decent and solid.

Which just about sums up the book, really. There are a lot of comics like this out there, doing an acceptable job even if only appealing to people with a bit of affection for the characters in question – but that’s not to say there’s not room for them, as it’s not as if everything can be Captain Britain or Batman & Robin. I may not have enjoyed this if I didn’t already like Steph as a character, but there’s nothing about it that stops me enjoying it considering that I do.

Livejournalist the_narration thought the comic had some serious flaws:

The artwork also has some serious problems. Lee Garbett draws all the individual objects and characters quite nicely, but seems to have serious trouble with spatial relationships and panel-to-panel continuity. A batarang in the first fight scene seems to come in from a angle nowhere near Steph’s position, and although this may have been Dick interfering (since he was watching the fight from afar) Steph’s inner monologue doesn’t match that. Steph, in a rush to keep her mother from looking in her closet, drops a plate of waffles with butter on her bed. I pity the bedspread! But Mrs. Brown doesn’t seem to find anything strange about this. Is she on the pills again? In the fight with Cass on the docks, the enemy that Cass warns Steph is “behind you” is in fact not behind her and seems to be rushing at Cass, not Steph. No one is behind her, and the guy she backfists in the next panel is someone else entirely. And what is with this apparent tendency for Steph to stand with her arms crossed when people are behind her with guns?

There are things I like here. Steph and Babs are both characters I’m fond of (both characters I became fond of, in fact, as the supporting cast of the first Batgirl series) and I wouldn’t mind seeing Babs mentor Steph. It would be nice to see somebody mentor her, considering that every time Batman said he would he never actually bothered to and kicked her to the curb whenever the mood struck him. Steph being torn between her need to help people and her insecurities makes sense to me given all the things that have gone wrong for her lately. But this book needs to find its footing and improve if it’s going to hold my interest. It’s dragging around some serious problems.

So what do you think?

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.

Bloggers Hades and 20 Smalls at Memetic Hazard weigh in with their takes:

The image over there -> is from DC Comics Justice League Cry For Justice 2. Now, I got issue 1, and then stopped, because it sucked. But this panel has caused an uproar. Apparently, good cop Hal had a drunken threesome with two members of the Birds of Prey, maybe. And that upsets a lot of people. How dare DC has such a cavalier attitude towards sex? How could they have a hero use alcohol to obtain sex? It goes against the characterization of both Hal Jordan and Huntress.

20 Small thinks you could look at this multiple ways, since sex is not directly implicated. She also doesn’t think it’s a big deal even if they did, because they were all consenting and single adults.

I think “Way to go Hal.”

While looking2dastars gives finds certain aspects of the scene unbelievable:

1. A Kiss and Tell guy like Hal Jordan is going to keep quiet about pulling off a feat like that and not tell everyone himself?

2. Ollie isn’t going to be the first one he brags to?

(Read the Secret Six #12 preview before reading this next line. It will be funnier that way.)

3. Dinah hears about Hal apparently getting two of her closest friends drunk and taking advantage and her reaction isn’t to give Ragdoll and Deadshot company in the Soprano choir that Wonder Woman is forming?

It’s bad characterization for Hal (who had a girlfriend, last I checked) and Ollie, even ignoring the sexism and cheapening of two of the DCU’s cooler heroines.

So what do you think?

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.

Kelvingreen didn’t think it worked:

First off, despite the “normal” appearance, this is still being sold through Diamond’s distribution monopoly, and, as far as I can tell, is only being sold through comic shops. As a result, the intended audience becomes a little murky. The format seems to be aimed at people who once read comics, but haven’t in a while, or who don’t read superhero comics, but do read the humour strips in the Sunday papers, but then, once again, it’s only being sold through the specialist shops those people will never, ever, visit. All the new formats in the world will do no good if you’re stuck with such an exclusive distribution method, and it may even be counter-productive to try anything new because the audience served by that method may by now be trained so that they don’t want anything different.

Distribution is one thing, crucial to the success of the project, but the contents are just as important, and are just as bungled. The storytelling is abysmal, okay on its own grounds but completely wrong for a one-page-a-week format, with acres of wasted space, a distinct lack of actual things happening, and a disturbing tendency toward limp “cliffhangers”. DC have assembled a group of writers and artists here who often excel in the usual twenty-two pages of a monthly US comic, but seem to have no idea whatsoever how to pace a single page of storytelling; they seem to be writing with an eye to a full story, but have neglected how the single page reads. A lot of these creators are really good, and should be able to figure out how to tell a one-page story, but none of them have managed it (although Paul Pope comes very close); Neil Gaiman and Dave Gibbons should have an idea, at least, from their experience in the UK weeklies, but even they stumble, as if they, like the audience, have been conditioned to not understand how single page storytelling works. There are about fourteen billion webcomic creators out there, all of whom could do a better job than this A-list collection of writers and artists has managed.

While The Crosspatch explains why he passed on the issue:

1. It’s only 16 pages.

2. It’s $3.99/week.

3. It’s odd-sized.

4. It’s $3.99/week.

5. It’s a collection of 16 stories, and you know some of them are going to be crap.

6. It’s $3.99/week.

Yeah, no thanks, DC. Tell you what, collect the stories that are actually worth a damn into a TPB or (this might sound crazy) a regular freaking comic book, and I might pick some of them up. In the current format — no way in hell.

so what do you think?

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.

The admin at “The Comic Book File” didn’t dislike the issue but doesn’t get the hype:

I know I may have a lot of you out there hating on me right now, but I am not suggesting this was not a decent tribute to Steve Rogers in all the various stages of his life, but the hype is what I can’t get over. What was it all about? Once again the Marvel marketing machine has done it’s job because a lot of fans rushed out to buy this issue, including myself and really it was not a bad read, but just not what I was expecting for all the hype surrounding it. This issue kinda reminds me of a wake. When you have a close friend or loved one who has passed away and you get a gang of his/hers buddies all together and they each recant their personal experience with this individual.

Honestly I don’t know what I was expecting so I can’t say I didn’t like it. But in the same breath I can’t say that I did. I know that’s quite the juxtapositon but I really don’t have much to say about this. The thing I feel the most passionate about in regards to this book, is the excessive cover price and the excessive publicity. Maybe if it was under hyped I would have actually enjoyed it more.

While Phil Molnar of “The Midwest Review” really enjoyed the issue:

I didn’t think it was possible, but Captain America without Rogers, the man who had been wearing the costume for half a century, was actually just as good. Brubaker gave Bucky a girlfriend, continued to grow the character (who for most purposes, he reinvented), and continued to weave the same type of spy-heavy stories that made the first 25 issues of the comic such a success.

Then, Marvel announced last month that #600 would change everything. It would be followed by a series called “Reborn” (see the trailer on TMR’s homepage) and #600 would have “the most wicked plot twist since issue 25.”

After buying the issue, I went to a coffee shop and read the much-hyped issue.

It was fantastic. Comics don’t get much better than this.

So what do you think?

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.

Jim from Comics And…Other Imaginary Tales thought it was good and bad:

The bad is the actual execution and the way the first issue was told. It was very jumpy and went from past to future and place to place with almost no rhyme or reason. Tim stops a kidnapping in Spain, we cut to Czechoslovakia for some reason and then Tim is in Paris and stopping a crime. In between we jump to the past and see Tim get pissed about Dick wanting to have Damian as Robin. Tim gets pissed and breaks some stuff and says Bruce is alive and then goes on his quest.

There is no rhyme or reason to why he comes to this conclusion. No emotional moment where he decides Bruce has to be alive since he has lost everyone else. There is no reason for why Tim decides the main premise of the book. Then there is no reason for why Tim goes to the places he is going too. No sightings of a person like Bruce, no accessing of the Wayne fortune, no mysterious avenger of the night in these places; it appears that Tim is just trolling around Europe. The premise was strong, the idea is good, but the building of a rationale was non-existent. If they correct next issue, bravo, if not the complaint stands.

While Mart of MART GRAY is TOO DANGEROUS FOR A GIRL has a few problems with it:

It turns out Tim didn’t leave Gotham in an amicable manner, but in a snit due to Dick’s accepting of Damian al-Ghul/Head Wayne, Snot of the Demon, as Tim’s replacement. Dick, bless him, hadn’t asked Tim if he wished to be replaced. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Dick Grayson, true heir to the emotional sensitivity of Bruce Wayne.

And Tim, heir to the Darknight Detective, too dim to realise that if you’re not shooting people, you don’t need a bandoleer.

The story doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me, but I don’t hold that against Yost – the current Batman Family Shuffle is editorially driven. It wasn’t his idea to have Tim darken, that’s been coming for some time. No, the lemonade Yost makes here is likely as good as anyone could produce. I’m just not sure I want to buy it.

So what do you think?

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.

Poster Desaad on the CBR forums is more optimistic:

As to this series, I was excited as soon as I heard the creative team, and I’m more excited after this interview. I like the Magog character, in concept, if only because I love his cosmic connections. I dig his look as well.

But I also know that Keith Giffen is one of the most creative minds in comics, and that if anyone can make this book work it’s him. He really gets concepts of ‘scale’, having done great work on Annihilation and Legion of Superheroes, but he can also do mythic/religious very well, as seen in his horror-esque “Four Horsemen” mini series.

I have an unnatural love of Howard Porter’s art. I know it’s not technically the best, but it’s so damn energetic that I can’t help but be moved by it, consistently. Hopefully Giffen takes into account that Porter is an ACTION artist, rather than a pensive one, and delivers scripts accordingly.

While commenter Justin at J. Caleb Morozzo’s Every Day is Like Wednesday has some interesting thoughts about it:

I think it’s *because* Hawkman, Firestorm and everyone else you mentioned can’t support a book that they’re trying Magog. If I’m Dan Didio, I *know* a new Atom series is going to get cancelled before long, but Magog? Well, who knows *how* long they can keep that up until they try it? It’s kind of a throw-whatever-you-can-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach, but Stan Lee basically built Marvel that way in the 60s.

I’m not actually a Magog fan, and I don’t think this will last past ten issues, and turning what was essentially a parody creation into an ongoing lead is probably not a good idea, but at least it’s a *new* idea. Apparently, DC is at a point where taking a chance is at least as economically viable as taking another stab at something “safe,” and in the long run that could lead to good things creatively, right?

So what do you think?

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:

The first issue of the team’s newest incarnation is right on the money in terms of tone, direction and respect for current X-Men continuity. I especially love how well writer Zeb Wells handles the relationships between the team members; it’s obvious that they respect and actually like each other — which makes their re-teaming even more logical.

One other thing I dig about this comic is that it shows some of the more administrative aspects of being on a X-Men team. In one scene, Cannonball fills out a “roster request form.” And in another scene, we see Beast handling design and creation of the group’s uniforms. Maybe I’m the only one who gives a crap about Cyclops’ paperwork, but mundane stuff like that just makes the comic experience more “realistic” for me.

While Jim of Rokk’s Comic Book Revolution has some doubts:

The Bad: I am not sure that we needed another mutant book. This one does not seem that much different from the others. When Marvel released Captain Britain, they made sure it was different from the other X-books.

Years ago, this story would have been a 2 or 3 parter within the regular book. Now it is just another excuse to add an X-book.

So what do you think?

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!”

Esther Inglis-Arkell’s post counters the idea that the problems with Miller’s Batman involve the grimness:

One point I differ with David on is Batman’s reputed trust of his colleagues. I see very little evidence of this in any of Miller’s portrayals of Batman. On the contrary, I see unending contempt for heroes around him, and a regular dismissiveness in his dealings with him. That dismissiveness is broken, every now and again, with a word (or, more commonly, and internal monologue) about his unspoken respect.

The thing that I do see is other heroes respecting him, consulting him, and gradually coming to see his unchanging, unflinching, cynical view of the world as the correct one.

What emerges from this dynamic is a character who is vicious, close-minded, petty, and rude, and yet who becomes the infallible arbiter of morality for those around him.

And that’s a character that stuck.

So what do you think?

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?