The Flash #0 – Review

By: Francis Manapul (story & art), Brian Buccellato (story & colors), Ian Herring (colors), and Wes Abbott (letters)

The Story: Get reacquainted with Barry’s less than ideal family life.

The Review:  I’d love to see what the plot outline for this issue looked like, if there even was one.  It seems as though Manapul and Buccellato threw together a random smattering of “prequel” scenes under one general unifying theme involving Barry’s father…or father figure type relationships…or something and called it a day.

Detective Comics #3 – Review

Written and Drawn by Tony S. Daniel, inks by Sandu Florea, colors by Tomeu Morey

The Story: Batman faces off against the Dollmaker and his twisted family.

The Good: There was a lot of action in this issue. Brutal, Batman-getting-his-ass-kicked action. And we get to see how much balls Batman has–or still has, despite the relaunch. Half paralyzed and realizing he can’t make it out alive, he simply tells the freaks “What the hell are you waiting for? Bring it on!” And that’s the first page. Batman then proceeds to barely escape the fight and go on to solve the mystery. That’s another thing great about this–it is a detective book. We see Batman actually do detective-like things, where in some recent stories (and movies), he’s more of a guy who simply responds. It would make sense that at least in Detective Comics, we see him investigate. And the investigation leads to more clues about the Dollmaker and what form of crazy he came from–and it’s the kind of crazy that only a Gotham City villain could have. This villain is right at home in Batman’s rouge galleries. Pretty soon a doll head will be joining that giant penny and T-Rex. Yet there are still some great mysteries left to solve–like who his “children” are. Who is he working for? What is–and why does he even seem to have–his code of conduct? The Dollmaker is becoming an easy villain to get invested in, and it also helps that Daniel puts most of his artistic talents to this character. He’s the most visually striking (I almost said appealing, but that just feels wrong) character in the issue. And for a comic artist, he’s probably a wonderful character to draw, ink, and color. All that patchwork!

Batwoman #2 – Review

By J.H. Williams III (co-writer & artist), W. Haden Blackman (co-writer), Dave Stewart (colors), Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Batwoman continues her investigation of the mysterious Weeping Woman while avoiding the federal agents trying to capture and unmask her.

What’s Good: Good lord this book is beautiful. I know I should expect that, after all the J.H. Williams III I’ve seen–and especially after how much of his Batwoman work I’ve read–but it still drops my jaw every single time I turn one of his pages. There aren’t enough superlatives in the language to discuss this adequately and even if there were, it’d get repetitive very quickly. Suffice to say that this is without question the most beautiful book on the comic shelf right now.

The writing is very good as well. While the script doesn’t quite live up to the astronomic heights set by the visuals, both co-writers continue to capture Kate Kane’s voice perfectly, and that shines through any other minor issues that are present. In the same way that Williams’ artwork carries the storytelling, Kate Kane’s personality carries and drives the script. Although I was quite looking forward to her becoming a part of Batman INC, I love the explanation she gave for being wary of signing up. Batman may be her inspiration, but they clearly have rather different ideas about how their ideals should be acted upon. I love this unexpected mini-conflict, and look forward to seeing how it plays out in the issues to come.

The State of the DCnU – Part One

With the release of Justice League #1 on August 28, DC officially launched its sparkling new universe for the masses to behold and begrudge.  Can you believe it’s been over a month already?  Me neither.  Why, it feels like just yesterday I was reading plagues of blog comments, all lambasting the relaunch as a strategy of desperation, most predicting doom and futility were inevitable and only a matter of time.  Actually, I think I did just read some of those yesterday.

But even the naysayers can’t deny what a huge move this has all been for the publisher.  And with all 52 new titles now released, it’s time to make a brief progress report on how all these efforts have panned out, creatively.

An in-depth analysis would take too long and probably wind up incomplete anyway, so let’s just stick to the highlights.  DC prudently took a “If it ain’t broke…” position in regards to titles that were already working, meaning almost anything with a bat or lantern on it.  In fact, Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps pretty much picked up where they left off in the old universe, and they even retained their original creative teams.  This makes them dependable staples in the DC roster, but also a little unexciting in comparison to their revamped peers.

Even a classic like Batman benefitted tremendously from fresh writing and art, a fact which leads to my next point: novelty.  No one doubts that a substantial part of DC’s current success lies simply with the newness of it all.  Even those who scoff at the whole shindig can’t resist flipping through a #1 issue, just to see if it’s as terrible as they predicted.  And likely as not, they end up, if not captivated, then fascinated by the dynamically different takes on familiar properties.

Some characters seem completely revitalized under the “New 52” banner, gaining widespread attention in the process.  Suddenly, they’ve found themselves a large, new audience not only willing, but eager to read them: Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Flash.  And we’re talking about longtime, iconic heroes.  When you read the titles, you’ll see they haven’t been radically reconceptualized.  So what’s made them so popular now?

It appears that DC has made a much stronger effort to allow creators to work on projects that genuinely interest them.  Take Wonder Woman as an example.  Brian Azzarello told CBR how, repulsed by some of the ideas Dan Didio pitched for the character, he passionately (well, assertively) suggested his own vision for where Wonder Woman should go.  Lo and behold, Azzarello got the gig, got paired up with former collaborator Cliff Chiang, and now Wonder Woman’s highly considered to be one of the series to beat for the year.

I, Vampire #1 – Review

by Joshua Hale Fialkov (writer), Andrea Sorrentino (art), Marcelo Maidlo (colors), and Pat Brosseau (letters)

The Review: Every once in a while, you read a comic that just has that indefinable, special “something” where everything just clicks.  This is one of those books and despite being semi-retired from WCBR, I had to come back for it.

With Catwoman, Red Hood, and Voodoo all coming out over the last two weeks, a lot has been made about the sex and violence that’s present in the DCnU.  For many, things like Starfire’s sex drive, Catwoman’s various states of undress, and Voodoo’s stripping constitute “mature content.”  I, Vampire is a book that makes such a definition of “mature content” appear laughable.  This, my friends, is quite possibly the most “mature” of the DC new 52.  There’s off-screen sex, there’s dead bodies galore, there’s violence, and there’s blood.

But unlike those other DC titles I mentioned, not a bit of this content is sensationalist or exploitative.  None of it is done purely for its own sake.  This is “mature content” that lives up to its name, where the violence is meaningful and emotionally laden and hence, all the more horrifying and affecting for it (there are a couple panels, a vampire attack in a subway station, that will surely haunt any reader).  The sexual tension between main characters Andrew and Marie is sincere, gripping, a relationship that is completely character driven.

There’s a strong argument to be made that Mary may be the sexiest female of the new 52.  She manages this without ever contorting her body into strange poses or showing off her lingerie.  Rather, it’s all in her words.  Mary’s dialogue is absolutely riveting.  Her sexuality is palpable, one psychological weapon in a mental toolbox for a character that is brilliant, sadistic, sociopathic, and utterly manipulative.  Fialkov has managed to fashion a character that leaps off the page.  Moreover, he’s made Mary into a character that is at once attractive and repulsive.  It’s clear that she’s evil and twisted as hell, and yet there’s no denying her charisma.  In fact, she’s such a seductive character that she seduces the reader almost as much as she does Andrew.  Her words, her playing on Andrew’s guilt and their shared history, her sadistic and sickening playfulness, all lead to an absolutely fascinating foil for Andrew.

Batman and Robin #1 – Review

By Peter J. Tomasi (writer), Patrick Gleason (pencils), Mick Gray (inks), John Kalisz (colors), Patrick Brosseau (letters)

The Story: Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Robin (his son Damian Wayne) mark the anniversary of Thomas and Martha’s death before being called out to work: someone is attempting to steal nuclear fuel rods from a Gotham power plant. And that someone could prove to be far more dangerous than even that terrifying crime implies.

What’s Good: Although there is clearly a story arc that needs to be set up in this first issue, the key to this #1 for me was in seeing how Tomasi chose to handle the interaction between Bruce and Damian. A great deal has been written about how good the dynamic between Damian and Dick Grayson was (and I agree), so I was very interested to see how the Batman/Robin dynamic would change in the DCnU, and how that would affect the feel of this book.

Aside from a few issues which I’ll discuss below, it actually works quite well. Rather than the old Dick/Damian ‘bright and happy vs. dark and brooding’ clash, the new dynamic duo seem to be establishing an interesting ‘old guard vs. new guard’ competition that has the potential to be very interesting indeed. While I think having Damian essentially disrespect Bruce’s parents might have taken the antagonism factor a bit far for my taste (I found myself wanting to smack him for that, which is not a reaction I’ve had to the character before), it was effective–if not subtle–in establishing where the two characters stand with each other.