Secret Origins #2 – Review

By: Ray Fawkes, Jeff Parker, & Scott Lobdell (writers); Dustin Nguyen, Alvaro Martinez, & Paulo Siqueira (pencilers); Derek Fridolfs, Raul Fernandez, & Paulo Siqueira (inkers); John Kalisz, Rain Beredo, Hi-Fi, & Pete Pantazis (colors)

The Story: “I watched my parents die in front of me. I’ll never let that happen to anyone again.” – Batman

“Man, I never got to take that fishing trip…” – Aquaman

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear your complaining over my years of slavery and abuse.” – Starfire

The Review: Throughout his seventy-five year history Batman has always been one of DC’s most marketable properties and, especially in recent years, he’s practically demolished his competition. When the New 52 started, the Batman family of titles boasted eleven ongoing books, or over a fifth of the company’s mainline publications, and that number has only just ducked below that with New 52 nine titles announced for August. So yeah, it’s not really a secret that Batman sells comics. Add in two characters who seem to enjoy appearing in various states of shirtlessness and undress and you’ve got a book that looks like gold on paper. So is it?

“We know this story,” a seemingly omniscient narrator tells us on the second page of Ray Fawkes’ Batman story, “Even if we’re new to it, we know it.” It’s a fitting way to start this tale, Batman’s beginning is well known to us, in fact there’s even a movie about it. Perhaps what’s most amazing about Fawkes’ story is that, even knowing that, he doesn’t really try to find a new angle on this classic tale, instead choosing to dive straight in and let the story stand on the strength of his narration. It’s certainly a bold move, and one that bares more fruit than you might expect, but I’m not sure that it’s quite what it takes to sell this comic.

“Man in the Shadow” is a solid retelling of the origin story that largely sticks to the classic framework laid down by “The Legend of the Batman – Who He Is and How He Came To Be” all the way back in 1939. You’ll see Bruce’s parents gunned down, a scene of him mourning them, a scene of him creating the first draft of the mission that will last the rest of his life, a montage of him acquiring the skills he’ll need, and finally the famous night in the study, in that order.

It’s tough to leave your stamp on something that’s been rewritten in that same format so many times, but, to his credit, Fawkes manages to do a decent job of it. The biggest addition is probably the explicit look at how Gotham was changed by the death of the Waynes and the appearance of Batman. The Christopher Nolan films dealt with this theme in their way, as have other stories, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it so succinctly put. The idea that Gotham, as a community, never fully healed from the loss of its first family is perhaps a bit of a stretch as presented here, but a brief but crucial mention of the unique values and positions that the Waynes held in the city does a bit to back this up. It brings a smile to my face to see Martha’s contribution to Bruce’s character remembered, especially as, going by the descriptions here, she easily could be seen as the greater loss to the city.

Fawkes’ real contribution here is to boil Batman down to what matters most and present it simply and clearly. There will always be arguments about what the true message of Batman is but Fawkes gives as strong an argument as anyone could in the span of a single page when he opts against the classic, but largely dated, concept of a candlelight oath.

Teen Titans #22 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), Jesus Merino (finished art), Eddy Barrows (thumbnails), Pete Pantazis (color)

The Story: It’s hard to say, but I assure you that the Superboy turning purple due to the magics of a giant red demon is the most logical part of this tale.

The Review: Scott Lobdell’s Teen Titans run had a fairly remarkable comeback at the beginning of the current War of Light and Darkness arc, unfortunately the arc has dragged on for months and the quality hasn’t really held up.

As has become tradition, Lobdell opens this issue with a terrible recap page that puts no effort into sounding natural. As Beast Boy rambles in the middle of a world-threatening event, I can’t help but notice that his characterization has completely changed, falling more in line with Teen Titans Go or Young Justice’s interpretations. Unfortunately this is all on the first page. By the time you reach the second, you’ll likely be aware of one of this issues greatest weaknesses, self-deprecating humor.

Don’t get me wrong, I love self-deprecation. You’ll probably catch me doing it in my reviews now and again, and it can be a wonderful attribute to give a character, however, there’s really no excuse for an entire comic to constantly apologize for itself. All too often, Lobdell falls into stilted outdated modes of comic writing that see characters announce their powers and feelings for no reason. Just because Chris Claremont can do it doesn’t mean that Lobdell can make it work and it seems like he’s kind of aware of that. Most of the time when a character winds up acting in this way, another one comments on how silly it is and then punishes them for it.  It might seem mildly clever for a moment, but once that moment has passed you realize that Lobdell has effectively acknowledged his own weak writing and, instead of changing it, has decided to blame his characters.

On the bright side, Lobdell continues to build his side plots, allowing us to slip into a new story quickly. It’s a good idea on a title with such a large cast, especially as it looks to be growing, but I admit to having some worries about how quickly we’ll see them resolved.

Kid Flash is clearly going to be the nest Titan to get the spotlight, so this issue spends a good amount of time laying track for his story. The climax of this issue might legitimately take you by surprise, and you might notice after the fact that it was actually hinted pretty hard, but in all his preparation for his next story, Lobdell seems to forget about the one he’s telling. Things are wrapped up swiftly and arbitrarily and the events of the last half a year are dismissed as if they had fully run their course. It feels almost disrespectful to the readers.

Lobdell and Eddy Barrows provide us with some interesting layouts that tend to sacrifice depth for dynamism; however it falls to Jesus Merino to actually realize those layouts. Merino’s art is a little up and down, but at his best, he brings a great look to the issue.

Red Robin, the clear focus of the arc and title, is a standout. His costume reads a little bit too much like Nightwing’s but seeing as he’s in a similar place of finding his own way to help the world as Dick was when he took on that outfit, it’s feels kind of right.

Other characters don’t fare as well. Raven has a number of wonky panels and, particularly towards the end, Kid Flash’s expressions get kind of extreme. Trigon has a palpable slimeyness about him that befits a deceitful tyrant, but he feels vaguely underwhelming, not enough of a step up from his children.

It’s sort of a shame that we have so many panels with minimal backgrounds, but with all that’s happening, I think it’s actually for the best.

Also, it seems that Tim has instituted a mandatory midriff rule for women on his yacht. What’s up with that?

The Conclusion: Teen Titans #22 is a deeply disappointing issue that squanders most of the buildup that Lobdell has spent so long giving us. The art is attractive and the layouts dynamic, but overall the book is only decent visually and writing like this demands better than decent. It’s a shame that it’s come to this, but this issue is not only weak on its own but undermines the best elements of the title’s last six months and that’s just unacceptable for a once proud franchise like the Titans.

Grade: D

-Noah Sharma

Superboy #6 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell & Tom DeFalco (writers), R.B. Silva (penciller), Rob Lean (inker), Richard & Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: When Superboy meets Supergirl.

The Review: Usually, I’m all for continuity respect across titles.  The sense of a shared universe feels a lot stronger when certain series make note or call attention to events happening in other books, sometimes even using them to springboard their own stories.  At a certain point, however, all that gets cumbersome, distracting, not a little bit annoying (see the constant reference captions in Suicide Squad #6).  Sometimes, you just want to focus on the story at hand, and no other.

Lobdell has the opportunity of not only writing two titles, but having those titles relate so closely to each other that he can weave one story through both.  In the hands of a craftier writer, this might produce some amazing material.  In the hands of a straightforward, middle-of-the-road writer, it feels like a lot of lost opportunities and sterile repetition.  For anyone who might follow both titles, the opening of this issue must make you feel like slamming your head against a table.  Not only does Lobdell reference the events of Teen Titans #5, he literally copies and pastes the last five pages of that issue into the first five of this one.  I’m not calling anyone lazy, but certainly I don’t think he exerted much creativity in writing that particularly scene.

Things get even more problematic when Lobdell starts bringing in continuity from other series.  Besides the fact that it feels far too soon for Superboy to be having a run-in with Supergirl, you have to question where in the context of her current story arc this scene fits in.  Not to mention the fact that the scene serves no other purpose except emphasizing Superboy’s misfortune with women and that his nature as a clone bodes ill for all, as if that hasn’t been made clear to us many, many times already.

Not really a problem, but disappointing nonetheless, is the fact that the two Super-teens part ways without much of a bond.  Both recognize correctly that they share a common loneliness in this world, and neither knows what to do with themselves from here on out.  It’s really a shame their fortuitous meeting doesn’t result in anything more than a wary connection between them.

Teen Titans #5 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), Brett Booth (penciller), Norm Rapmund (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Oh, let them punch and electrocute each other—kids will be kids!

The Review: The first time a team comes together usually goes one of two ways: they may, by fate or fortune, surpass all expectations and work as a unit naturally, or (much more frequently) they barely manage to get through their scrape without major incident, usually questioning their communal future afterwards.

Of course, the Teen Titans fall into the latter category.  They’re young and raw, many of them having only just taken up their heroic identities, and they’ve got a long way to go in working out the kinks in their teamwork.  Most of the issue has each Titan taking on Superboy on their own, with the others either spectating or standing by to rescue their teammate when the clone eventually dispatches them.

With the fall of each Titan, you begin to wonder what the point of banding up for the sake of mutual protection was if their combined might doesn’t even seem to make Superboy break a sweat.  Even in the Justice League, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter give Superman a run for his money in the powers department.  Hopefully, this issue doesn’t indicate the team will someday turn into “Superboy and his Merry Band of Back-Ups.”

It’s true, however, that Superboy has gotten a lot more formal training than his opponents, and you can’t help noticing throughout the battle how much more honed and technical he is with his telekinesis now than he ever was in his previous incarnation.  The Superboy of old had a more hands-on approach with his telekinesis, as opposed to the Jean Grey school.  In a lot of ways, that helped keep him from becoming too powerful, since the applications of full-throttle teke are pretty much limitless, as he demonstrates here.  How can his colleagues hope to catch up?

Superboy #5 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), R.B. Silva (penciller), Rob Lean (inker), Richard & Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: What is it about redheads that gets the best of every male superhero?

The Review: One of my long-running complaints about this series has been its inability to take major steps forward in the story.  A lot of what we’ve seen in the past few issues has been the same type of confrontation or information recycled into different scenes, resulting in very little progress for Superboy’s character development other than a lot of repetitive and vaguely pretentious inner dialogue.  In short, it’s been a rather bland read.

It’s also been a bit frustrating to see Superboy demonstrating few, if any, heroic qualities whatsoever.  Last issue he came somewhere close by defeating “Sweety Bum” and “Honey Bunny,” preventing them from further practicing human immolation, but his choice to confront them felt rather arbitrary, motivated more from boredom than virtue.  It really gave no sign as to whether Superboy was actually starting to grow a conscience or not.

Here, it feels like Lobdell tackles both problems at once.  That earlier taste of heroism seems to have rubbed off well on Superboy, as he goes out of his way to rescue Caitlin Fairchild from her uncertain but surely grim fate with “the Colony,” whoever they are.  It’s especially significant he describes her actions as “sav[ing] me from myself,” indicating he can distinguish between what’s right or wrong (with himself, no less) to some degree.  After all, you can’t be saved unless you’re in danger, and since Superboy’s proven that physically, little can endanger him, that leaves only moral danger for Caitlin to save him from.

It’s also important to note Superboy himself decides to move forward with this plan.  Up till now, he’s been acting, or at least reacting, on the allowance of others.  This really marks the first time he’s conceived an affirmative plan of action and carried through with it, which bodes well for what might happen after his upcoming encounter with the Teen Titans.  But let’s not oversell things; Superboy did get help from an outside force, someone who worked with Caitlin and who’s neither Rose nor Dr. David Umber, who’s tried befriending Superboy in Caitlin’s place.

Teen Titans #4 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), Brett Booth (penciller), Norm Rapmund (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Cheer up, Wonder Girl.  For some, it’s traditional to get beat up on New Year’s.

The Review: Thus far, most of the Titans are pretty one-dimensional as individuals.  Like J.T. Krul, the last writer to handle the title pre-relaunch, Lobdell has a habit of stamping a mantra to a character and emphasizing it over and over.  You have Tim, wordy and pensive; Bart, frenetic and impulsive; Cassie, defiant and contrary; Miguel, upbeat and easygoing; Superboy, sullen and aloof.  As any one of their narratives demonstrates, these kids can very easily get on your nerves if you have to deal with them on their own.

Throwing them together, however, improves the situation quite a bit.  I have to admit, I like the energy of all these kids when they’re in the same room.  They undercut each other’s personality crutches before it gets too annoying, and together they genuinely project that restless, yet eager spirit that makes members of their age group so terribly annoying and exhilarating at the same time.  It’s fun to see them encounter conflicts adults would try to avoid, yet they actually egg on, like Miguel enthusing, “Fight!  Fight!” when he sees Tim and Bart arguing over a sweatshirt.

The smart guy and idiot dynamic between the two young men is exactly right, of course, but Lobdell introduces it with the most ridiculous point of contention ever, with Tim accusing Bart, “…is that one of my sweatshirts?!”  It’s a joke that may have rung true back in the nineties, but now seems petty and cliché.  Worse still is Tim’s overblown anger over the offense: “How is that any different from what N.O.W.H.E.R.E. is doing—stealing teenagers!”  Does he not realize he just answered his own question?

Superboy #4 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), R.B. Silva (penciller), Rob Lean (inker), Richard & Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: Superboy demonstrates a very effective way of dealing with Christmas carolers.

The Review: I talk a lot about the importance of “advancing the story” in these reviews, and I think I should elaborate on what I mean.  Now, I have nothing against a writer who wants to let his story stew a bit before serving.  But the advent of the decompressed storytelling has taken things to a problematic level, where often several issues can pass without anything of real substance happening.

That’s pretty much the situation happening in this title.  Since issue one, nothing much has changed in the status quo of the plot except Superboy discovering he is not fully human (which we all knew from the beginning) and that “Red” is actually Caitlin Fairchild, formerly of Wildstorm’s Gen¹³, which is a surprising development to be sure, but not one that has much of an impact other than removing yet another of Superboy’s sparse supporting cast.

Caitlin’s confrontation with Superboy also has some logical faults to it.  Having been protective and even a bit meek around the clone since he was still floating in a silo, it’s not entirely convincing that she would hulk out and even threaten to finish him off simply because he broke into her room and interrogated her.  The whole scene feels mostly forced, and it adds absolutely nothing to the plot whatsoever.

Teen Titans #3 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), Brett Booth (penciller), Norm Rapmund (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Presenting the fabulous entrance of Bunker!

The Review: It sure seems like Lobdell attracts more than the usual share of controversy on his titles.  After the whole outcry over Starfire and sexism on Red Hood and the Outlaws, he almost immediately had to answer for his creation of Bunker, an openly gay (“flamboyant” is the word used by Comic Book Resources) teen with all the superficial signs of flamboyance: hipster clothes, funky colors, preening hairdo.

Here I’d like to apply a point I made about strippers in Voodoo #1: the flamboyantly gay are facts of life; they don’t just exist as hilarious sidemen in sitcoms or reality TV.  So fiction shouldn’t have to be shy about portraying these people, so long as they stick to the principles of good writing and avoid clichés, flat characterization, or lazy research.

On that note, what can we make of Bunker?  He certainly has a cheerful, go-with-the-flow personality, even if the flow leads him to sparring with a silver-haired transient on a train car (“I don’t know how you’re going to [kick my ass] from—a—hospital bed.”).  But also proves that extreme narcissism, wherever your sexual preference may lie, is an highly irritating quality in a person: “Look at me!  You think something this exquisite—this perfect—happened by chance?”

While Bunker himself steers clear of campy stereotypes, there’s no shortage of camp in the issue, as the entire showdown between him and Red Robin is just full of it.  Let’s allow the dialogue to speak for itself, shall we?  Bunker: “Maybe my papi owns this railroad and I want to look firsthand at my inheritance.”  Red Robin: “That’s an awful lot of maybes.”  “Maybe I just like maybes.”  “Maybe so.  Maybe not.”

Superboy #3 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), R.B. Silva (penciller), Rob Lean (inker), Richard & Tanya Horie (colorists)

The Story: She’s melting—melting!

The Review: From the start, this series has emphasized Superboy’s disconnect from the “outside.”  His virtual existence has prevented him from taking a position on the big moral compass one way or the other, and so far, we’ve mostly gotten hints that he leans toward the dark side.  Now, you don’t get to have “Super” in your name unless you have some tendencies toward the heroic, but whether the real world will bring that out of his is a different matter entirely.

That’s the question we run into in this issue, when he manages to escape the depths of the Earth, only to realize the surface has its own set of hellish experiences.  His first real introduction to humanity is through young swingers Tony and Allison.  Tony reacts to Superboy naturally—and violently—but the surprisingly well-spoken Allison offers a more mixed experience.  She starts out flirty and wise (“We’re just regular people around these parts.  Fragile, even.”), then turns flinty (“—you freak!”) once she suffers the side-effects of Superboy’s powers.

Before he gets the chance to figure out this tricky situation, Superboy gets confronted by another Pen 51 resident, a buxom, fiery, redheaded alien (not Starfire, unfortunately) who tracks him down to…well, she doesn’t give a very good reason, actually.  She accuses him of following her, while the facts are clearly the other way around, and their brief confrontation does little more than establish Superboy’s Kryptonian heritage, which we all, old and new readers, knew anyway.

Teen Titans #1 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), Brett Booth (penciller), Norm Rapmund (inker), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: All they want are some BFFs they can count on—to fight evil secret cabals with.

The Review: Of all the new DC titles, perhaps the one with the most controversy attached is Teen Titans.  The concern most people have, I suspect, is how a largely unknown writer will handle not only one of DC’s biggest properties, but also some of the most iconic characters in the DCU.  The Titans may be sidekicks, but they’re also incredibly popular in their own right.  No one wants to see them “reimagined” to the point where we can’t recognize them anymore.

On that point, Lobdell exercises considerably more restraint that you might have feared.  With Red Robin and Kid Flash, at least, he doesn’t make any radical changes to their characters.  Both come with fairly well-developed personalities and back-story, thanks to past ongoings, so there’s no real reason to mess with what already works, and Lobdell wisely doesn’t.

Superboy and Wonder Girl are different stories.  I’ve already talked about the inconsistency in Superboy’s portrayals, and Wonder Girl fares no better, especially since she’s never had a single ongoing dedicated to her name.  These two can definitely stand to use some tweaking in their conceptions, but it’s hard to say if Lobdell’s take truly gives them the lift they need.

You can’t tell at this point if turning Wonder Girl into a rough-talking felon will do much to reinvigorate her character, but at least it engages you more than the morose girl with a poorly hidden inferiority complex we used to get on J.T. Krul’s version of the Titans.  And anyway, Lobdell doesn’t take her over the top; her sullen attitude may run against your usual idea of her, but at least it makes sense given the explosive circumstances in which she appears.

Superboy #1 – Review

By: Scott Lobdell (writer), R.B. Silva (penciller), Rob Lean (inker), the Hories (colorists)

The Story: Look on the bright side, Superboy—you could also be a monkey.

The Review: It seems like no one really knows what to do with Superboy’s character.  The inconsistency in his various portrayals says it all: he’s gone from swinging teenager, to slightly dim pretty boy, to angsty with a bit of rebel-without-a-cause mixed in, to gung-ho Midwestern schoolboy, to awkward worrywart.  You can chalk some of these changes to evolutions in his character, but even in the last year or so, he hasn’t managed to stick to a core identity.

The one thing that’s managed to take off is the revelation of his mixed genetic heritage, love child to the world’s finest hero and the world’s greatest villain.  Here, Lobdell plays up both parts of Superboy’s dual genetic heritage, and throws in a little bit of wide-eyed newborn to the world for good measure.  These elements don’t break new ground in the Boy of Steel’s conception, but at least they refrain from too radical a take on him as well.

In some respects, you can get the sense Lobdell has the right idea of Superboy: restless and edgy, but well-intentioned and even a little innocent under it all.  But the writer also he tries way too hard to sell you on the grim captivity of the clone’s laboratory life: “‘They’ are the people out there.  Beyond this prison of glass and wet…”  The grating narration really could’ve been done away with altogether, and the issue would’ve flowed and been all the better-crafted for it.

Gotham City Sirens #3 (Batman Reborn) – Review

By Scott Lobdell (Writer) and Guillem March (Art)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: While the art has been fantastic, everything else about Gotham City Sirens has been, at best, average. Maybe writer Scott Lobdell can turn things around a bit..  I’m fairly certain that artist Guillem March will hold up his end of the book. Also, how stylish is that cover?

The Story: Edward Nigma, the man once known as the Riddler, finds himself trying to crack a murder case with the help of the new Batman. Meanwhile, Catwoman and Ivy begin their search for Harley.

What’s Good: For the first time in the short history of Gotham City Sirens, the writing is actually something worth talking about. Scott Lobdell’s tight one-and-done Ed Nigma story/character study is one hell of a fun, satisfying read. From the back and forth narration (and dialogue) from Nigma and Batman, to the intriguing villain with a clever name, nearly everything about Lobdell’s script just simply works extremely well.

From the excellent character work to the detailed settings, Guillem March’s art is, as expected, incredible (though some of the action is a tiny bit hard to follow). His Edward Nigma looks as shady and charismatic as the script makes him out to be, his Batman is appropriately threatening, and his cheesecake stuff is… well… they’re as expected, but always executed in a way that feels anatomically realistic (even if it is gratuitous). In short, Gotham City Sirens continues to be one great looking series. Also, for fans of cool-looking stuff, there’s another Guillem Gotham gargoyle to check out that looks even more badass than the ones featured G.C.S. #1.

What’s Not So Good: Gotham City Sirens #3 is a pretty great comic all around and easily the best issue of the series so far. There’s two major problems though. The first problem is that the titular Sirens are shown on exactly one page. What’s that say about the group of characters the series is based around? The other problem is that the main writer for the series, Paul Dini, has nothing to do with the latest issue of Gotham City Sirens. What’s that say about the writer that’s supposed to be handling the series? My opinion? I think that Lobdell should be given the reigns and Ed Nigma (The Riddler is dead) should be added to the cast permanently.

Conclusion: Even if the whole Gotham City Sirens thing isn’t up your alley, you really should take the time to check out Gotham City Sirens #3. It’s basically a great looking one-shot about a cool character.

Grade: B+

-Kyle Posluszny