Batman RIP
The Big Event in Batman lore is finally here. This issue is a prologue of sorts, laying out the wheres, whys and whats of the play, and giving things a gentle nudge to begin. It doesn’t begin with a bang, but there’s a few action beats, and the debut of the new Batmobile, and the reveal of the new look for the Joker (who appears to be about fifteen years late to a Marilyn Manson video).
Robin’s worried about Bruce, Alfred’s sure he’s okay, and we find out there was a paternity test on Damien, though the results aren’t made clear. All the while, the Black Hand begins closing its grip.
Enjoyable as a beginning, but not the immediate “whoa” that Secret Invasion 1, for example. Maybe I’m just trepidatious about the whole thing and need to let go of my Batlove to see where things are going…
The Boys
How do you even review a book like the Boys? The story wraps up with more character development than action, and Hughie keeps his hamster. If you like the Boys, you’ll like this issue.
Green Arrow and Black Canary
This book keeps on rolling like a great cartoon show that I only get to watch for half an hour every month. It’s never going to be Watchmen or Kingdom Come, but I like it that way. The book feels rooted in the DC universe, with cameos from the JLA in almost every issue. It’s fun, the banter’s witty, and I’m always left wanting more. What more can you really ask for?
newuniversal – Shockfront
Let me preface this by stating that I don’t entirely remember how New Universal ended, but that was back in 2006, so I guess that’s not terribly shocking. I think Starbrand got saved by Mask lady and they ran away after meeting himself from the future.
Anyway, this book picks up right where we left off. Justice is murdering people because he can see everyone’s sins and thinks he’s in hell. Sawyer– I mean, Starbrand, is hiding out at Nightmask’s house. She works at a “manhua” store (Chinese comics, apparently), giving this whole thing an odd Watchmen vibe, albeit with Romance of the Three Kingdoms comics instead of pirates.
As with the first New Universal, you’ve got no real idea what’s going on by the end of the first book, as it just sets the scene and introduces a few new players to the game. (Quite literally. One of the new players is a football player whose powers manifest in a chest-burstingly bloody way.) What’s to come? I dunno. Do I care? Yeah, I do. Hopefully, this whole thing builds to some kind of gigantically bloody super-fight the likes of which only Warren Ellis (okay, maybe Garth Ennis, too) could write.
So not safe for kids or the squeamish.
Captain Britain an MI13
Despite my suspicions of a new title that’s launching as part of a big crossover, I picked this book up because I’m British and totally gay for the English heroes. (Screw you, Union Jack’s book was awesome.)
This one’s actually good. You’ve got a traitor Skrull who has chosen the form of John Lennon as his Earth form, Captain Britain, Pete Wisdom, Spitfire, and a newly-flippant Black Knight. There’s some fun dialogue, good art, and the whole thing’s got that classic mystical bent that the magics of England provide, complete with some kind of vision and prophecy.
Also, Captain Britain punches the head off of a Skrull. Fuck yeah.
Serenity: Better Days
The “missing episode” of Firefly concludes. I find myself torn about this one. I’m going to have to go back and read the first two issues so I can keep them all in mind and get the full flow. Upon reading this one, while I find it was fun and had that old Firefly flavour, I couldn’t help feeling there were some plot points that came out of nowhere, and an oddly douchebag move by Mal to tie things up.
I just didn’t expect the droid army to show up, or the crew to get shafted financially like they did (even though I obviously didn’t really expect they were going to strike it rich since this takes place before the movie).
Not quite up to par with the Buffy series going on, but still solid work from Joss.
