|
Now. Here. Man.
|
And now the second opinions from NM:
Batman and Robin-
Y'know, I really don't like Damian as Robin, especially not while Bruce is Batman. With the proper Batman back in the cowl, you really need a foil to lighten the mood. Damian worked while Dick was Batman, because you had the interesting role-reversal of Batman being the lighter character with Robin as the brooding violent sociopath. Now you've just got the brooding violent sociopath and the other brooding violent sociopath. That, and if they're really going to keep Batman's whole continuity basically unchanged except for compressing time, then that means he's gone through 1 Robin basically every year or two, and that really doesn't look good for him. The plot wasn't much to speak of, as this was basically just them showing how the new Dynamic Duo works.....but to me, the new Dynamic Duo doesn't work. Perhaps it'll grow on me, but I'm seriously missing Tim as Robin right now.
Superboy-
I'm iffy on this one. I quite liked Red, and the portrayal of Superboy is interesting. Very nice character piece, but like SJ, I think they're trying too hard to plow through his development to shove him into the Teen Titans. Also, the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. organization really should have been Cadmus, and I believe they would have been if DiDio hadn't called dibs on them for OMAC. And I'm a little confused on the continuity-- in Swamp Thing they alluded to the fact that Superman already died and came back, but Superboy was a pretty integral part of the Return arc. So, Death of Superman happened, but Reign of the Supermen didn't, I guess?
Batwoman-
I've never read Batwoman before because I have never given a tinker's damn about Batwoman (you've already got Batgirl, who's more famous, more interesting, and has a much better costume to boot), and this didn't really do anything to change my mind. Very talky book, without much to make her stand out from the more interesting Bat-characters.
Deathstroke-
The artwork is very nice, and the supporting characters were actually fairly entertaining (which makes it all the more disappointing that they're casually killed off at the end). Unfortunately, as hard as they're trying to make Deathstroke super-cool and badass and whatnot, he's actually the least interesting character in his own book. Grimace, say a 'badass' one-liner, kill some people, continue grimacing. He's Batman with a body count and without character development.
Green Lantern-
I didn't read Brightest Day or War of the Green Lanterns, so I'm a little lost as to how Hal's ring ended up on Sinestro. However, once you get into it, it's actually quite entertaining. The 'down-and-out Hal' stuff may be trying a little too hard to dump misfortune in his lap in order to make him more relatable than his usual self, but honestly it works. And Sinestro is as awesome as ever, so that's nice. While I'm a little annoyed that folks like Superman are getting rebuilt from the ground-up but the convoluted and often difficult-to-follow GL mythos is left completely intact, this is as good a place as any to jump on.
Red Lanterns-
I don't really get the point of the Red Lanterns getting their own book, but at least they're trying to make it work. Atrocitus is basically the Spectre in space now, using his rage powers to become an instrument of vengeance, but the rest of the Red Lanterns still seem to just be snarling monster-people with very little to differentiate themselves from the Sinestro Corps.
Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.-
I'd never read Frankenstein before, but this one did hook me. It reminded me an awful lot of Hellboy, and I loves me some Hellboy. This should be a very entertaining creature comic.
Demon Knights-
Pretty mediocre title, to be honest. They do an awful lot of name-dropping and just kind of expect you to already know who most of these people are, which isn't good if you're a new reader or just never paid attention to DC's sword-and-sorcery stuff. Not as bad as Hawk and Dove (at least the artwork's decent), but definitely one of the weaker books I've read so far.
Legion Lost-
I know next to nothing about any of these characters, and they didn't do a good job explaining who any of them were, what they could do, how they ended up here, or really anything to get me to care about what was going on. It just expects you to have already read Flashpoint (or their tie-in, more likely) without anything to clue you in on the proceedings. So, yeah, I couldn't bring myself to care about this book at all; it just felt like padding so they could bring the list of books up to the magic '52' they were looking for.
Grifter-
Interesting premise, a con-artist being stalked by some sort of demons that possess people to attack him. His costume looks like a D-list Image hero, though. Overall, not a bad comic, but I'm not sure if it's solid enough to keep me coming back for more.
Mr. Terrific-
Pretty entertaining comic, does a good job of setting him up as a solo hero instead of just "that guy who's on the JSA." I'm a sucker for super-science heroes, and he's definitely one of DC's better ones. I didn't really fall in love with it, but I liked it just fine.
Resurrection Man-
Very cool comic, one that I hope sticks around. This is how you get people hooked on a character they haven't read before.
Suicide Squad-
There is absolutely no excuse for Harley Quinn to have been redesigned that badly. Seriously, she looks like a biker's tattoo; whoever green-lit that should be ashamed of themselves. Overall, the comic doesn't really do anything new, but I guess sets up the basics of how the Squad works. The writing's serviceable, but I can't get past how trashy Harley looks, and when that's the most memorable thing your book has to offer, you're in trouble.
All in all, Week 2 of the New 52 was pretty weak compared to Week 1. A lot of comics that just felt unnecessary, and comics that expect you to have read everything leading up to the 'reboot' to understand what's going on (which, again, is counterintuitive to the whole premise of the new universe) Some surprisingly good books in it, that I'm sure will be sleeper hits, but overall I felt a lot of what came out this week was just padding.
|