Thoughts on books for 6/10

Haven't done one of these in a while, so let's ease on into it, shall we?

-Flash Rebirth #3: I still don't really know what's going on here. Barry's still all mopey, he's got some sort of Midas Touch except he turns things into blackened ashes instead of gold, and Barry's costume is now black and made out of the Speed Force. I think. Oh... and he tried to commit suicide. I think. I'm pretty sure on that one. Geoff Johns is writing this, right? (Yes. He is.) I feel like I'm reading a Grant Morrison story where I'm not going to understand anything until the last page of the last issue and then I'll have to reread it all again so my head doesn't explode. Plus it doesn't help that I don't really understand anything about the Speed Force. The last few pages were pretty damn cool, though. I'm just going to avoid overanalyzing it and ride this thing out. We'll see where it goes.

-Batman #687: This was actually quite a bit better than I was expecting. The lesson, as always: keep your expectations low. For as bad a rep as Winick has, he has a few characters that he writes very well. Luckily, Dick Grayson is one of them. Alfred is pretty good, too. (Although he called Dick, "Sir," entirely too much for my liking...) Damian... meh... could use some work, but it sounds like he's not going to be in this too much, so... problem solved. Other than the fact that this book probably should have come out last week, or Batman & Robin #1 should have been held until this week, I really didn't have much too complain about. 

Oh, I'm going to complain about more stuff, just because I can score some easy jokes off of it, but the following didn't really hurt the overall quality of the book: 1) Young Dick as Robin told Bruce that he had been "served," which was totally unnecessary. Look, I'm 23 and I think the first time anyone "got served" was five years ago. Dick was, what? 8? 9 when he became Robin? Even using the comic book sliding timeline (or whatever that's called), there's no way he should be saying that. At least not until books published in 2024 start showing those flashback scenes. 2) The solemn reaction to Alfred saying, "my son has died," where everyone is looking down at different parts of the floor all at the same time and avoiding eye contact with each other made me laugh out loud. That's probably not the reaction Mr. Benes was going for, but come on. And 3) Could the Scarecrow have any lamer evil plans? All he ever wants to do is release his toxic fear gas into Gotham City's air and/or water supply. The rest of the rogues gallery must get sick of him throwing out ideas whenever they get together. Okay... after you release the gas, then what, Mr. Crane? Are you going to rob people? Kill people? Punch some puppies? Blow up a building or two? I guarantee you the Joker scares the bejesus out of people while he's carrying out his schemes. His goal isn't to scare people. (Well, maybe sometimes.) That always just happens anyway.

Two more things I really liked while flipping through again: 1) When Dick told Damian to "get in the damn car!" I laughed out loud for the right reasons on that one. and 2) I really like that this is going to be about Dick as Batman, not Dick impersonating Bruce as Batman. I'm really really looking forward to that.

-Red Robin #1: Ugh... This was a rocky start, to say the least. Look, I really like the idea of Tim going out on his own and being his own man. I do. Doing his own Nightwing-esque journey, if you will, albeit under vastly different circumstances. (Dick to escape Bruce's shadow... Tim desperately clinging it.) That idea could work really well. But the execution here was just... I dunno... sloppy, I guess. For one thing, for all the talk Tim does about his conviction that Bruce is still alive and investigating his whereabouts, we see none of that. He takes down some kidnappers in Madrid and some armed robbers in Paris. And really, admirable and all, but it's sort of the exact opposite of the "no distractions" theory Tim keeps inner monologuing about to himself. (And really, Parisian criminals... If you can't shoot a guy on the hood of your car from the passenger seat with a machine gun, you really need to hand in your armed robber card and go into a different line of work. Might I suggest unarmed robber? More along the lines of burglar type work?) And that scene that supposedly takes place in Prague, Czechoslovakia? Come on. I don't really even care what happened there, but Czechoslovakia isn't a country anymore. Prague is now in the Czech Republic, which borders Slovakia. This isn't exactly a new international development either. It happened in 1993. Hey, I love saying "Czechoslovakia" as much as the next guy. It's fun to say. But so is "Zanzibar." Doesn't mean I can set stories there that take place in the modern day. Also, wasn't a big fan of the art... everyone's faces were too gaunt and malnourished looking. And come on... nobody's hair is that mussed up all the time. I don't think you could physically get hair to do that even if you tried to style it that way.

Other than that... Yeah, that may have been a little harsh. But I love Tim Drake (Tim WAYNE!!!) and just want to see him treated right. Here's hoping the book picks up a bit from here.

-Amazing Spider-Man #597: I kind of enjoyed this issue, despite the glaring fact that I couldn't figure out how Peter was making his costume do the "Venom-y" things like grow teeth and a tongue and whatnot. Is he actually wearing the symbiote? He can't be, right? That would be crazy. Right? I dunno. It bugged me the whole issue. And there was two page spread (the fight scene between Peter and New Wolverine) that I could not follow at all. It felt out of order somehow. Maybe it was just me. But I really have no other witty observations or snarky remarks to make about the issue. That may be good or bad for me. Hard to tell. Oh, except that Harry Osborn is clearly an idiot. But we've all known that for quite some time. And I have a very bad feeling about J. Jonah Jameson the Elder. It's just one of those "too good to be true," situations that always end up messing up Peter's life. (And yes, I realize that I probably sounded like a tween girl calling JJJ Sr. "soooo dreamy..." right there. I know it. But you know he is.)

Alright, I'm pretty exhausted, and that's all the books I had time to read for today. There will be a Fables, Green Lantern Corps, and Action Comics update sometime tomorrow.

Aaaaaand We're Back!

Well it was a crazy month. Graduated, got married, went on a honeymoon. Graduation was a waste of time. The actual ceremony that is, not the whole college thing. Although I have plenty of complaints about the amount of wasted time there too. But I'll be here all night if i get into it. The wedding was great, as was the honeymoon. We went to an all inclusive resort in Jamaica for five days. It was fun, but I probably wouldn't go back. There's only so much laying around on the beach doing nothing that I can handle before I get bored. I need sights to see and stuff to do. Although all the free drinks I could handle was nice. The rum there has something like 65% alcohol, so that took some getting used to. And thank God for SPF 100 sunblock. I don't tan. I'm either white as a ghost or pink as a panther, so I prefer the white look.

ANYWAY... I'm somewhat behind on my books for the last month. So far, nothing's really jumped out at me as something that I really missed. Nothing internet shattering anyway. Dick and Damian are Batman & Robin? BLINDSIDE! I'm not complaining, that's what we all wanted, but that whole miniseries was kind of a waste of time since we all saw it coming. "Battle for the Cowl" - No. But "Batman & Robin" - Yes!

What else...? Green Lantern was a bit "meh." The last scene was a bit confusing but I believe Hal lost a hand. Him having a glowing green replacement hand would be kinda cool. Oh, and remember when Hal as the Spectre demolished Black Hand's, er, hand way back in Rebirth? Yeah, karma's a bitch, Jordan. Although I still think Agent Orange is kind of lame, as was the "controversial" deal the Guardians made with him. Seemed reasonable to me. I'm just waiting for Hector Hammond to take the Orange Lantern. Come on! Do it already! That reminds me, I really want to do a "re-reading GL" segment sometime, seeing if i can glean anything from the earlier pages as we lead up to Blackest Night. Maybe next month. (More on that later.)

And I can't really think of any other books worth mentioning, sadly. Captain America has been shamelessly spinning its wheels until we get to #600. (Well, for the last issue or two... Alright, "shamelessly" was too harsh. But I'm not backspacing.) Spider-Man has really sucked lately, although American Son has me moderately interested. Supes and all related titles have stayed the course, no other Batman books, and I've dropped all the X-Men books. So that's all I can think of off the top of my head without my stack in front of me.

But since I'm back and have some free time now, we'll be hitting up the Character of the Month once again. June's winner is Daredevil. I have no real reason for picking him other than I just picked up the Brubaker Omnibus and I have a ton of DD books: Frank Miller's Omnibus & Companion, Bendis's Omnibus, Smith's Guardian Devil, Loeb's Yellow, and The Man Without Fear and Born Again by Miller. I'll be reading some of those for the first time and rereading others, so it should be a fun month. (I'm thinking Green Lantern will be July's since Blackest Night kicks off then.)

Plus it's a big week for me, issues and collections alike:

Issues:

Action Comics #878

Batman #687

Flash: Rebirth #3

Green Lantern Corps #37

Red Robin #1

Amazing Spider-Man #597

X-Men Forever #1

Collections:

Final Crisis

X-Men: Phoenix Rising MPC

X-Men Noir

Ultimates Omnibus

Phew... good thing I got all that cash for wedding gifts...

Bits & Pieces, This & That

Hoooo boy... It's been a bit of a busy few weeks for me lately. I'm graduating (college) this weekend and finals have been this week. Plus I'm getting married next weekend. So I haven't had nearly as much time as usual to get my comic book fixes satiated. Luckily things should be settling down pretty soon and I'll actually have some free time for the first time in a long time. But while I've got a break in my studying today, I thought I'd share some quick thoughts on the last three weeks' (has it really been that long?) worth of books.

-I'm still not entirely on board with Flash: Rebirth. I don't know Barry at all, and am having trouble feeling any connection with him. It probably doesn't help that pretty much every character who had a strong connection with him (Batman, Aquaman, Superman, Martian Manhunter) is dead or MIA except for Hal. Well, and Wally and Jay, I guess, but they have more of mentor/student relationships rather than colleagues. Spoiler Alert... Barry ends up wearing the Black Flash costume at the end of #2. How crazy would that be if they brought Barry back, and then made him a villain? I really don't think DC has the balls for something like that, but it sure feels like this series could go that way. Barry hasn't really been likable at all in this; from what I can tell, fans haven't been connecting with him all that much (or were clamoring for his return...), and he has been disintegrating people by touching them. Plus, Van Sciver said there would be some new Flash uniforms drawn up for this to differentiate them (although I think he said it would be for Wally, not Barry) so we've already accomplished that if Barry wants to stay in the black. By the way, I have absolutely no expectations that any of this "Evil Barry Allen" stuff will actually happen (like one tenth of one percent), especially after the Disastrous Journey of Hal Jordan in the '90s, which Johns himself had to come in and fix, but man... that'd be a hell of a curveball, wouldn't it?

-Blackest Night #0 was a bit of a let down. I guess I don't really know what I was expecting since it was a free comic book and all, but it didn't seem like it would pull in many new readers and it didn't really satisfy the diehard fans. However, I do think I have gleaned a tiny bit of information on how the Black Lanterns work from this. To me, it seems like all Black Hand needs to create a zombified Black Lantern is a corpse. Aquaman, Earth-2 Superman, Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, the Dibny's... they all have corpses sitting around somewhere. This seems to be the part of critical importance when it comes to Batman. Judging from this and the covers for the June books, Bruce Wayne is going to be a Black Lantern. It's gonna happen. Or, perhaps I should say, his corpse is going to be a Black Lantern. We know Bruce is living out alternate lives at various points in history (well, as much as we can know something like that) so it most likely won't actually be Bruce as a Black Lantern. Just his body. (And all of his body's abilities, I'd guess... otherwise there's not much point in superhero zombies...) That seems like a pretty nifty way to turn heroes into villains without holding them accountable for their actions later on. This lets them have Batman be a villain for this series, return later, be horrified to learn of the desecration of his body and its use for evil, and then either be tortured by that knowledge and work to redeem himself or just dismiss it as "it wasn't really me." I don't know when that'll happen with Batman, but I can almost guarantee that scenario plays out with Superboy/Conner Kent. Especially since Johns is writing Blackest Night, Legion of 3 Worlds, and the forthcoming Adventure Comics starring the resurrected Superboy.

-Speaking of Green Lantern, I was again underwhelmed by the latest issue. #40 I think. I'm still just waiting for Blackest Night to roll around now. But it does make perfect sense that Larfleeze would keep all of the Orange Lantern power for himself. That's kinda how greed works. (Seriously though... Larfleeze? You can make up any name you want and you went with Larfleeze?) But I was almost certain Hector Hammond would be involved with the Orange Lanterns somehow, considering how jealous he is of Hal's life, how prominent he was early on in this series (and in Secret Origin), and that his caption boxes are highlighted in orange... You know what, looking at all that evidence again, there's no way he's not involved with the Orange Lanterns somehow. I'm sticking to my guns on this.

-Oh, and if anyone's keeping track, we now have Ghost Lanterns (Orange), Zombie Lanterns (Black), and, while this technically isn't a horror villain, Nazi Lanterns (Yellow). Any takers on what color the Werewolf Lanterns will be? My money is on Silver.

-Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? was very good, albeit a bit misleading. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet, but I will say that the death of Batman discussed in this book isn't necessarily the result of Batman RIP/Final Crisis. It could happen at any point in continuity, making it both timeless and heartbreaking once you realize the implications of the final page.

-Speaking of Batman, I really hope the Batman books coming out of Battle for the Cowl (yeech...) are as strong as the Superman books have been out of New Krypton, although there are going to be almost double the Bat Books as the Supes ones. Hmm, I should really do a "State of the Superman Books" sometime when I've got the time... (hint: 2 are excellent, 1 is good, 1 is 'meh,' I'll leave it up to you to figure out which is which) then I could do it again when Batman starts up again.

-I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I am done with X-Men until Fraction leaves. I felt I may have been a little harsh with the last issue, but instead of rereading it, I bought the next issue. And I had the same reaction. So, yeah, I'm done with that book until he's done with that book.

-I think that leaves the only Marvel books I'm currently reading are Dark Avengers and Captain America... I'll have to double check on that, but off the top of my head, that's it. So, a question to anyone who's reading this... should I be reading anything else? There's gotta be more than two quality books out there from Marvel that just happen to be flying under my radar...

-I haven't seen Wolverine yet, and after all the awful reviews I've seen, I'm not sure I want to... But I will. This weekend for sure. Already got tickets, so there's no turning back. Then, as soon as that lets out, I'm turning right back around and going in to see Star Trek. No exaggeration. I got those tickets too. It's probably the movie I've been looking forward to most since The Dark Knight. (Star Trek, not X-Men Origins: Wolverine.)

-Speaking of Wolverine, I don't know if I have any "regular readers," mostly because my posts haven't been "regular" yet, but just in case I do, what did you think of the "Character of the Month" idea? I didn't get to put as many reviews as I wanted to just because of my hectic schedule, but that's about the same ratio of character-centric to general stuff I was thinking about keeping. Just more of both. May probably won't have a character, since I won't have much time for a little while yet to read and write, but if you guys like the idea, we'll pick it up again in June. (And I may pick it up again anyway... I had fun with it. I just may have trouble finding too many more characters with as many books that I'm willing to buy as there were for Wolverine.)

-Okay, that's it for now. Thanks to everyone for checking this page out while I've been trying to figure this whole "blog" thing out. It's been a lot of fun, and I hope you guys are enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it.

Wolverine: Not Dead Yet Review (Marvel Premiere Classic)

Wolverine: Not Dead Yet (MPC Edition)

Writer: Warren Ellis

Penciler: Leinil Yu

Inkers: Edgar Tadeo & Gerry Alanguilan

Collects Wolverine #119-122; originally published 1997-98

I learned a couple new Wolverine facts by reading this book. Well, not directly by reading this specific book, but it made me do some research on the character because I was a little confused. First, Wolverine apparently was lacking adamantium from late 1993 until late 1999. Magneto removes it and Apocalypse restores it. And second, it was during this time that Wolverine's bone claws were originally introduced (not during the much more recent Wolverine: Origin miniseries as has I had originally thought.) I cannot, for the life of me, figure out the editorially logic or reasoning behind this change. So, he still has claws, still has heightened senses, and is slightly more vulnerable to damange... but he still has a healing factor, which apparently is even more powerful without the adamantium in his body. Basically, he has the exact same powers, except that he can sustain more injuries and can heal more quickly from said injuries. Okay... Hey, while we're at it, why don't we blind Cyclops, but give him cybernetic eyes that can see, maybe even better with a Daredevil-esque radar sense, and that shoot lasers? Oh, that would be stupid? All right then.

Anyway, on to the actual review. This was a pretty good story, with exceptional art. I'm not sure how deserving it is of the Premiere Classic treatment... specifically the "Classic" portion of that name since it's only about ten years old. But I guess when Wolverine: Origin was the second volume in the line, written in 2005, anything is possible. But I'd much rather have Marvel giving us too many of these rather than too few. Nobody made me buy it. However, if you're going to do a more modern story, I'd expect some more extras than what we got here. As in, anything at all. All we got for extras in this volume was a brief introduction by Ellis and a cover gallery with 18 additional covers by Yu. Not exactly overly insightful.

The only other complaint I have, though, has to do with the villain, the White Ghost. He's Scottish, and Ellis decides to spell out the man's speech phonetically (i.e. "head" is "heid," "on" is "oan," etc.) It just always bothers me when writers do that. Just tell me he's Scottish. I can figure it out from there.

Other than that, though, I have no complaints. The dual stories of flashbacks/modern time were easy to follow, and the flashbacks were insightful rather than superfluous. And it's hard to argue with a short arc that's basically Wolverine carrying out a vendetta. Those are always fun in small quantities. Plus, the art is fantastic, which only makes those kind of stories all the more enjoyable.

Final Verdict: 7/10 (only because I'd expect more extras from a book in this line.)

(Oh, by the way, can anyone clue me in to why the paper in the more modern books in this line, like this one, Wolverine: Origin, Avengers: First to Last, seems to be flimsier and thinner than the older stories? All I can think is that it must have something to do with the ink, but I really don't know how that relates to the paper quality.)

Marvel's Solicitations for July 2009

-How long do you think it'll take before "Ultimate Universe, Take II" starts to get ridiculous, too?

-Do we really need a Dark X-Men team? Aren't they supposed to be outcasts anyway? It doesn't matter since I've dropped Uncanny anyway, but still...

-Other than Dark Avengers, I am picking up absolutely none of these Dark Reign titles.

-I'm getting a bit skeptical as to how almost all of Marvel's major titles (Spider-Man, Thor, Cap, Hulk) are all hitting #600 right around the same month. Can someone do some journalistic sleuthing on this? I think Marvel may be fudging the issue count a little here...

-I'm not going to get the Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol. 2, but it does get my hopes up that I'll see an Uncanny X-Men or Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 in the near future.

-This months Marvel Premiere Classics - X-Men: Wolverine/Gambit... I don't know how "Classic" this is, but it could be fun. And the longest, most ridiculous title yet, Mephisto: Vs. the Fantastic Four, X-Factor, the X-Men, and the Avengers. Really? Just look at that cover... The title takes up almost half of it. They couldn't come up with a better name for this collection. Like Mephisto: Deals with the Devil? I dunno, that's just off the top of my head.

That's really about it for items of interest for me this month. A bit of a disappointment, really.

DC's Solicitations for July 2009

Alrighty, it is time once again for Day One of my favorite two days of the month. Or, as my fiancee likes to call it, "How Luke will be wasting his money three months from now." Let's get on with the show.

-Blackest Night #1 - Sold. I need to read absolutely nothing about this. Sold. Sold. Sold. I'm also pretty pumped that this is its own mini series, eight issues even, so we should, theoretically, get twice the GL for the next eight months. Of course, we could just end up with the same amount of story with shoddier pacing for twice the price, but let's try to stay optimistic here, people.

-Green Lantern #43 & #44 - Two in one month? Hot damn. And boy, oh boy, are those covers pushing my Geek-O-Meter to 11. Let's see, Black Hand fondling Bruce Wayne's tombstone? Uh, yes please. Recently resurrected (and zombified) J'onn J'onzz fighting a recently resurrected Barry Allen and recently resurrected Hal Jordan into the open (empty?) grave of (possibly soon to be resurrected) Bruce Wayne? Where do I sign? 

By the way, anytime you can work four once dead cornerstone characters onto a single cover and have it make complete sense, you know you've probably got a winning storyline.

Double by the way, Black Hand is about 30 seconds away from going Dr. Light on Bruce's tombstone.

-Green Lantern Corps #38 and Tales of the Corps #1-3 - Here's where I think we reach our dilution point with Blackest Night plotlines.

-Wednesday Comics - Pass.

-Final Crisis Aftermath Books - Still?

-Batman Titles - Yes to Batman & Robin, Batman, Detective Comics, and Red Robin. No to Streets of Gotham, Gotham City Sirens, Confidential, and Outsiders.

And these can't start up soon enough. Battle for the Cowl has been simply horrendous. And I think we're all in agreement over how it's turning out: Dick is Batman, Damien is Robin, Tim is Red Robin, and Jason is still a dick. The only questions are what costume will Jason be wearing, and how long until Bruce comes back?

-Superman Titles - Yes to everything. (Except Superman/Batman... which doesn't really count anyway.)

-The Flash: Rebirth #4 - Great cover. That's really I can say. DC's playing this one real close to the vest, and even after the first issue, I can surmise nothing about what this is going to be about. Still pumped for it though.

-Justice League: Cry for Justice #1 - Wasn't this supposed to come out, like, a year ago? And wasn't it originally supposed to be an ongoing? (The answer to both of those is yes.) I'll buy it because I like the line up, and the writer, but I have a hard time believing Hal is still going to be on such a crusade to avenge J'onn's death (the rumored reason for starting his own team) when he's fighting the guy's reanimated corpse in his ongoing title.

-Justice Society of America #29 - Sure. Why not?

-Nice to see DC finally wised up and put Hush into a single trade paperback. I have it in Absolute Edition, so it doesn't make much of a difference to me, but it was just completely unnecessary to have that storyline be in two volumes.

Speaking of Absolute Editions...

-Absolute New Frontier (New Printing) - I really didn't like this story. At all. Maybe I'll go back and reread it before this comes out to make a final decision on whether to pick this up or not. But the real reason I point this out is because it gives me hope that I may see a "new printing" of Absolute Planetary or LXG. It'd be nice to get a copy of those without having to pawn off the rights to my future first born on eBay. You hear that, you vultures? You better hurry up and dupe somebody into paying $250 for a $75 book fast... you're days of piracy are numbered...

-DC Comics Classics Library: A Death in the Family - Hey! A DC CCL that seems like it might actually be worthwhile. I won't get it, cause I'm boycotting these, but still, a step in the right direction.

-Gotham Central Vol. 2: Jokers and Madmen HC - Yes, please.

-Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 6 - I don't buy these, but it's nice to see DC hasn't completely given up on them.

-After Watchmen tanked at the box office, is a second round of "After Watchmen, What's Next?" titles really such a good idea?

-Tom Strong Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 - I have no idea what this is about, but I will almost certainly buy it.

-Fables Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 - Finally! Fables in hardcover! DC, if i may be so bold, can I humbly request that you crank these out faster than whatever your current pace is for the Ex Machina Deluxe books? I'm still waiting for even a solicitation of volume 2 of that one.

-Transmetropolitan Vol. 3 (New Printing) - I've heard nothing but good things about this series. Why aren't these getting the Deluxe Hardcover treatment?

Well that's it for DC's offerings of note this month. Check back tomorrow for Marvel's.

This Week's Books

Oh boy... I'm going to throw my back out coming out of the comic shop this week...

Books:

-X-Men Omnibus (I'm very excited about this one)

-Wolverine: Not Dead Yet MPC (Marvel must know it's Wolverine month here at the Manifesto. An Omnibus and an MPC? They're just lobbing me softballs right over the plate. What? There's a movie coming out? Oh, please, I doubt that has anything to do with it...)

-Dark Tower: Treachery

-BPRD, Vol. 10: The Warning

(I had briefly considered picking up the DC Comics Classics Library Edition of The Batman Annuals, but I've decided to stop throwing away my money. At least with that line of books. $40 for 3 issues that are reprints of earlier Batman issues from the early '40s? Um, no. I'll pick up the Chronicles for $15.)

Issues:

-Detective Comics #853 (I'm very excited about this one as well. The conclusion to "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader," and if you missed the first issue... Come on... What's wrong with you?)

-Justice League of America #32 (I don't particularly like this series, but, similarly to a horrifying car wreck, I just can't seem to look away.)

-Thor #601

-X-Force #14 (This story arc's last chance to wow me.)