2 in 1 Showcase Episode 237: The New 52 Week 2 Review

Halfway through the first month of DC Comics’ New 52, Blake and Erin sit down to discuss the comics they’ve read so far. They dig into Batman, Suicide Squad, Lanterns (both Green and Red), Demon Knights, Frankenstein, Batwoman, Static Shock and much more! In the picks, Erin goes retro with Image’s I Hate Gallant Girl and Michael Crichton‘s novel The Lost World, and Blake stays contemporary with Resurrection Man #1 and Life With Archie #13. Contact us with comments, suggestions, or anything else at Showcase@CXPulp.com!

Music provided by Music Alley from Mevio.

Episode 237: The New 52 Week 2 Review

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 235: A Whole New World

The DC Universe changes this week, and Blake and Erin are there to report on it! The two talk about the conclusion of Flashpoint, the first issue of Justice League, and some of the upcoming New 52 books hitting stores in the coming weeks. In the picks this week, Blake is down with Sergio Aragones’ Funnies #2 and Doctor Who Annual 2011! Contact us with comments, suggestions, or anything else at Showcase@CXPulp.com!

Music provided by Music Alley from Mevio.

Episode 235: A Whole New World

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 232: Spider-Man, DC Changes, and Phineas and Ferb

Blake and Kenny hang out this week and touch upon a wealth of new comic book topics, but not before giving their ecstatic review of the TV movie Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension! After that moment of geeking out, the guys talk about the Ultimate Spider-Man news, images of Henry Cavill as Superman and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, the aftermath of War of the Green Lanterns, a more thoughtful reaction to the DC Relaunch, the prospect of a Tuxedo Gin movie, and more! In the picks, Kenny chooses Power Girl #26 and Blake goes with Flashpoint #4. Contact us with comments, suggestions, or anything else at Showcase@CXPulp.com!

Music provided by Music Alley from Mevio.

Episode 232: Spider-Man, DC News and Phineas and Ferb

Recent Comics Roundup: Brightest Day & Dark Tower

Today I’m going to give you guys my thoughts on a few recent comics, including three more Brightest Day issues, and the most recent comic in Marvel’s version of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. Let’s start with a book that hit the week I was in Pittsburgh…

Justice League: Generation Lost #3

Continuing the story of the four Justice Leaguers who remember the truth about Maxwell Lord. As we’ve learned through Booster Gold’s little robot sidekick Skeets, though, computer intelligences also remember Maxwell Lord and all the nasty things he did — and that includes the scarab that gives power to the current Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes. Jaime’s family is targeted by a group of Max’s OMACs, and he joins up Booster Gold to help hunt down the man who murdered his predecessor. It’s really nice to see Jaime having a place in this group, and what’s more, writers Keith Giffen and Judd Winick spread out and cover a lot more of the DC Universe here as well. Fire’s confrontation with her former associates in the Checkmate organization is very strong, and the return of another former JLI member at the end bodes poorly for our heroes. The tone of this book, of course, is drastically different from the old “Bwa-ha-ha” comedy of the original JLI run, but that doesn’t mean the book doesn’t work. the story is very solid and the characters feel like they’ve evolved since the old days, Booster especially. I also really love Tony Harris‘s cover, featuring Jaime and Ted Kord. It’s just a great cover, really. Three issues in, I’ve really been impressed with this maxi-series. I just hope that the writers can keep up this quality for the next 11 months.

Rating: 7/10

Brightest Day #4

In the fourth chapter of the core Brightest Day series, the Hawks find an arch built from the bones of their many, many former incarnations. There’s a trap that’s been laid for them, something that’s been calling to them for a very long time. Deadman, meanwhile, finally gets a chance to rest, only to find himself throwing down with Hawk and Dove, an oasis in the New Mexico desert mysteriously dries up, and Ronnie Raymond starts to have some nasty dreams about what he did while he was a Black Lantern. There’s definite plot progression here, although some of it is incremental. The Deadman story, however, moves forward quite a bit. This, I think, is the way to best handle a book like this one. With such a large cast, coming out every other week, each issue should progress all of the stories a little bit and one of them a lot. That makes for a satisfying read, and it seems like Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi have figured that out. What happens at the end of this issue is really cool — it’s one of those instances where the characters come to the sort of conclusion that the readers did two or three issues ago, and they start to act on it. One of the most interesting things about Brightest Day thus far has been the strange new powers that Deadman is exhibiting. If the cliffhanger here is any indication, next issue we may actually get an examination of how those powers work, and that’s something we’re all interested in seeing. It’s also nice to bring in the Hawk and Dove story, which hasn’t played much a part in this main title yet (they’ve been featured more prominently in Birds of Prey). Solid issue.

Rating: 7/10

Birds of Prey #2

Speaking of the Birds of Prey, Gail Simone and Ed Benes‘s return to this title has been magnificent. Black Canary and Huntress find themselves facing a strange woman called the White Canary. As they go into battle their teammates — Hawk, Dove, and Lady Blackhawk — arrive on the scene just in time to find themselves targeted… not by the villains, but by the Gotham City Police Department. While the characters feel familiar — and wonderfully familiar — the book has a different dynamic than it did in its previous incarnation. There’s a different status quo, a different feeling, and that’s all to the good. We’ve actually got the Birds here trying to escape the GCPD and protect the Penguin, and the way it comes about doesn’t feel forced and it doesn’t make anyone seem out of character. The book is exciting, the fight scenes are fantastic, and the last few pages really makes Oracle out to be the bad-ass she actually is. Forget the fact that she’s in a wheelchair, forget the fact that she doesn’t have any super powers. Barbara Gordon’s mind and skill can make her one of the most powerful characters in the DC Universe, and Gail Simone gets that more than anybody else. The book doesn’t really seem to have a direct tie to Brightest Day, other than the inclusion of Hawk and Dove, but that’s no problem. You can read the title by itself or as part of the larger story, and either way, you’ve got a great comic.

Rating: 9/10

And as a little change of pace, let’s look at something that doesn’t have anything to do with Brightest Day, but is cool nonetheless…

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger-The Journey Begins #2

Despite having perhaps the most unwieldy title of any comic book published this year, this miniseries has really turned out to be strong. The first cycle of Dark Tower comics ended with the previous miniseries, The Battle of Jericho Hill. Although this miniseries has begun the adaptation of the first Dark Tower novel, we’re still filling in backstory, showing how Roland, the last gunslinger, went from the massacre at Jericho Hill to the point we find him at the beginning of Stephen King‘s masterwork. Here we see Roland’s final journey to his destroyed homeland, the introduction of a creature whose family will turn out to be very important to him later in the series, a terrible sight and a bloody battle, and some haunted happenings back home. Robin Furth, King’s longtime assistant, is doing great work developing the story. All of her additions and alterations come with King’s approval, which makes it easier to accept, but even if he wasn’t involved the things we see here work very well with the world he established. Peter David‘s script, and the artwork of Sean Phillips and Richard Isanove come together to make a really magnificent comic book. I’ve been reading the Dark Tower comics ever since Marvel began publishing them a few years ago, but it’s been some time since I was so impressed by an issue that I felt compelled to talk about it. King fans, check this out. It’s great stuff.

What I’m Reading: Brightest Day Begins

Well, like I said, I’m going to review all of the Brightest Day tie-in comics I read here. I’m not going out of my way for them, but I read so many DC books already chances are that I’ll cover most of ’em either here or at Comixtreme.com. At any rate, the first two books with that banner both came out this week, so it’s time to begin your reviews…

Brightest Day #0

Geoff Johns, mastermind behind Blackest Night, joins with his Green Lantern-universe writing partner Peter J. Tomasi to write this year-long biweekly maxiseries that spins out of the events of the final issue of Blackest Night. In this zero issue, we begin with Boston Brand, formerly Deadman, one of the twelve characters brought back from the dead in that previous storyline. Unlike the rest of them, however, Boston was never a force in his life. He didn’t become a hero until after he died, and the new “Aliveman” (as Johns has taken to calling him online) doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. That choice seems to be made for him as the White Lantern ring that brought him back from the dead takes him on a tour into the lives of the other 11 men and women who came back from beyond the grave and, at the end, gives him the first glimpse of just what the mission of his new life may be.

This feels like a true zero issue, with lots of set-up and lots of promise. Taking the time to show us who these characters are and how they’re dealing with their return to life is a good idea. Sure, the vast majority of the people reading this issue also read Blackest Night and know who the twelve are, But some of these characters have been dead for quite a while. It’s perfectly reasonable to think that an incoming reader may not be familiar with Osiris, Hawk, Jade, or Maxwell Lord, and taking the time to remind us who they are isn’t a bad thing at all. The writers go farther than that, though, giving us a real glimpse into how their return to the living has effected them. Some of them, naturally, are handling it better than others, and this issue seems to give at least a peek into the story direction each of these characters will enjoy over the course of the next year. We also get an idea of just where many of their stories will lead — Hawk into Birds of Prey, Max into Justice League: Generation Lost, Jade into Justice League of America and Justice Society of America, Osiris into Titans and Captain Boomerang and probably Professor Zoom into The Flash, although each of them no doubt will also play a part in this main series as well. (Actually, looking at this list the only book I wasn’t planning to read anyway was Titans, and with Osiris heading there I’m sorely tempted to get it.)

Fernando Pasarin does the art for this issue, although with a biweekly series I imagine that there won’t be one “regular” artist, but probably several rotating pencilers and inkers taking turns to get this series out on time, much as was done on the previous weekly comics 52 and Countdown. I really like Pasarin’s artwork — it’s strong, traditional superhero art that works for the bright heroes (and the dark villains) we see herein.

This is a solid beginning. Brightest Day is going to be a long road, but Johns and Tomasi got it off on the right foot.

Rating: 8/10

The Flash #1

Or, more accurately, The Flash (Vol. 3) #1. While I understand why this book has been relaunched with a new first issue instead of just continuing the numbering of the previous series, that’s a pet peeve of mine in the comic book universe. This is, however, at least better than what they’re about to do with Green Arrow. But I digress, Geoff Johns re-teams with his former Adventure Comics partner Francis Manapul for the new ongoing adventures of Barry Allen, the Flash. Barry was recently returned from the dead himself (well… recently in DC Universe time, it’s been nearly two years in the real world since his return began), and as his new series kicks off we see him trying to re-acclimate into his life. Johns has a pretty plausible story for him to tell his former friends and co-workers about where he’s been all these years, and Barry wastes no time getting back into the mix.

The story really kicks into gear when a murder victim is found in the middle of Central City wearing a costume similar to that of Barry’s old foe the Mirror Master. As he tries to look into the stranger’s death, he finds that he isn’t the only one investigating… and with Mirror Master down, the rest of the Rogues can’t be far behind.

Johns does a wonderful job capturing the flavor of Barry Allen in this book. While a lot of people — fairly — miss Wally West (Barry’s former sidekick who took the top job in the nearly 25 years since Barry’s “death” in Crisis on Infinite Earths), Johns has really conveyed who Barry is and what makes him different from Wally. The relationship between Barry and his wife, Barry and his coworkers, and Barry and his enemies is all clearly defined. What’s more — as Johns so often does — he takes great pains to characterize not just the hero, but his city as well. Central City is a place concerned with speed, with getting everything done fast. And that seems a perfect fit for the scarlet speedster.

Can I say how much I love Francis Manapul’s artwork? His linework, with beautiful colors by Brian Buccellato, is unlike anything else you see in a modern superhero comic. The book has a sort of washed look to it that gives it a timeless feel. The story you’re reading could have been told twenty years ago, it could be told twenty years from now, and it will fit in just perfectly.

As he often does, Johns ends this issue with a teaser from an upcoming storyline, Flashpoint, which is promised to come in 2011. Johns will apparently be telling this story with artist Andy Kubert, although whether this is a storyline in this title, a crossover with other titles, or its own miniseries remains unknown. I love when Johns does this, though. The first time was back at the end of Sinestro Corps War, when he first teased a little something called Blackest Night, and since then he’s stepped up several times to give us teases. This tease features a clock running out, Barry with Professor Zoom’s costume, something happening to the other speedsters, and glimpes of Paris underwater, a red-eyed Batman, an armored Wonder Woman in front of a flaming Big Ben, soldiers protecting a bunker sporting Superman’s S-shield, and a white-gloved hand wearing a White Lantern ring. Curiouser and curiouser. Whatever it is, Johns has proven himself to me time and again, so I can’t wait to see it.

Rating: 8/10

Everything But Imaginary #346: From Blackest Night to Brightest Day

DC Comics’ mega-event Blackest Night came to a conclusion today, and so I take a little time to go over the unanswered questions and storylines that have been established for the upcoming follow-up series, Brightest Day. Be warned, spoilers abound, so if you haven’t read Blackest Night #8 yet, stay back.

Everything But Imaginary #346: From Blackest Night to Brightest Day

What I’m Reading: Blackest Night-Titans #3

Continuing to surprise me with its unexpected levels of awesometude, Blackest Night: Titans #3 wraps up J.T. Krul and Ed Benes‘s exploration of what the rising dead mean for DC’s not-ready-for-prime-time superheroes. With two dead Hawks leading the charge of the Black Lantern Titans against the living variety, our heroes are facing some hard choices. Donna Troy, wounded by the undead form of her infant son, fears what the infection will do to her if left unchecked. Beast Boy is forced to face the truth of his greatest loss, and Dove may somehow hold the key to salvation.

Donna, Garth and Dawn really tale the spotlight this issue, with each of them making terrible, gut-wrenching choices that do more for their characterization as true heroes than any other comics of the past three years. Krul puts them each through seven kinds of Hell, but the fact that they can rise the way they do is nothing short of remarkable. Dove’s importance to the overall Black Lantern story seems to mark this book as a more direct tie to the main series than some of the others, but other threads promise to lead into the upcoming two-part crossovers in Teen Titans and Outsiders as well. While all three of the spin-off miniseries thus far have been wonderful reads, this surprises by potentially being the most significant.

Rating: 9/10

 

What I’m Reading: Blackest Night-Titans #1

As far as DC’s big-name titles go, Titans hasn’t been one that has impressed me in a long time. It seems that DC’s 20-something heroes suffer something of an identity crisis. They aren’t “Teen” Titans anymore, but the older generation is still around so they can’t really graduate to Justice League status. As such, they exist in a limbo. One writer after another has tried for years to do something with them, and nothing has really worked.

So how is it that Blackest Night: Titans #1 kicks so much ass?

J.T. Krul, who also wrote the wonderful prelude in Titans #15, presents us with members of both the Teen and adult Titans teams, past and present, coming together to remember their dead (as seen in Blackest Night #1). Several of our heroes are focusing on specific people they’ve loved and lost — Beast Boy remembers the disgraced traitor, Terra, whom he loved. For Donna Troy, she remembers her dead husband and child. The current Hawk and Dove remember the first siblings to carry those names… well, you get the picture.

As the dead begin to rise, the Titans find themselves targeted by some of the most cruel Black Lanterns yet, toying with their emotions to a degree unseen in many of the other tie-ins.

We also see some development of a plot thread that began in Blackest Night #2, when the corpse of Don Hall — the first Dove — could not be raised from the dead. When we see Dawn, the current Dove, through “Black Lantern Vision,” she doesn’t register in any of the emotional colors we’ve seen thus far. She appears as white, and the Black Lanterns don’t record an emotion. Dawn, and Don before her, is an emissary of the forces of peace. Up until now, I’ve been theorizing that is there is indeed a “White Lantern Corps” to counteract the Black, they would represent Life. But is it possible that the White Lanterns could actually represent peace? Is it possible that the reason Don cannot be raised by the Black Lanterns is because he is literally “At Peace,” and has been recruited as an agent of the White?

Rating: 9/10

What I’m Reading: Blackest Night #2

Picking up right where Green Lantern #44 left off, this week we got our hands on Blackest Night #2. The dead are rising across the DC Universe, including many, many old friends who will be more than happy to spread their current state of affairs to their still-living loved ones. While Hal Jordan and Barry Allen face off against the Martian Manhunter in Gotham City, Tempest and Mera find themselves under assault by a contingent of risen Atlaneans, including Tula, Dolphin, and Aquaman himself. The Atom reaches out to the wrong people for a little understanding, and the magic users of the DCU see something horrible happen to one of their own.

While last issue was heavy on set-up, this issue is heavy on the action. The GL/Flash/J’onn fight doesn’t miss a beat and the repercussions at the end are pretty terrible for our heroes. Ivan Reis really nails the action scenes, and makes the horror of the Black Lanterns stand out. I particularly liked the battle with the Atlanteans — we see soldiers attacked by Black Lantern-led sharks with pretty gruesome results. T’ain’t no code approval on this book, friends.

This is not, however, a case where we just see an issue-long slugfest that does nothing for the plot. What happens with the Spectre here is very interesting, and there’s anothing surprising tidbit I’ll talk about in the Spoiler Section coming up.

I was really impressed with this issue — a strong action punch that keeps things moving forward.

Rating: 8/10

Okay, now getting into some spoilers and speculation. Geoff Johns has done a really great job working in the plot progression without sacrificing the action at all. In the midst of this, though, he gives us a few little bits that really make you wonder. One involves Deadman, but as that is developed further in Blackest Night: Batman, I’ll wait to discuss those elements in that review.

The transformation of the Spectre into a Black Lantern is also a point of real concern. Here we see a being who is, in fact, dead, but whose form has merged with that of God’s agent of vengeance. The sheer power of the Black Lanterns is what I find incredible here — to overwhelm and take over the Spectre is pretty intense, and the fact that he’s gunning specifically for Hal Jordan is telling. One has to wonder if Johns has been planning this ever since he wrote the stories where Hal lost his link to the Spectre (in Green Lantern: Rebirth) and when the Spectre bonded with its new host, Crispus Allen (in Infinite Crisis).

Finally, there’s a smaller moment that I think may turn out to be a bigger key than anything else. As the black rings continue to fall on Earth, two of them fall on the moral remains of Hank and Donald Hall, the two brothers who were the original Hawk and Dove. Hank, Hawk, rises just like everyone else, but the rings try several times to raise Don only to be met with failure. “Don Hall of Earth at peace,” the rings report, time and again. So evidently, not everyone the rings want can be raised?

What does that mean?

Two theories.

First, we know the Black Lanterns feed on emotion. The murders they’ve comitted so far have all been about absorbing the emotions of the victims to slowly charge their Lantern (until “He” rises). Don, Dove, was the embodiment of the lord of Order, just as Hawk is the embodiment of Chaos. Perhaps Don, a man truly, spiritually content, doesn’t carry with him the emotional turmoil necessary to raise a corpse.

Somehow, though, I don’t think that’s it.

Theory two. Because of what happens with Deadman, we’ve got confirmation that the rising of a Black Lantern does not raise the soul along with the corpse, but does that mean the soul itself is no longer necessary? Part of the idea behind this story is to redefine what death means in the DC Universe, and clearly, the various characters who have returned from the dead over the years are going to be a centerpiece of that theory. What if a body can only rise from the dead if the soul is still present on the Earthly plane? Part of my overall theory of Blackest Night is that, before the end of the story, we’ll see some of these Black Lanterns — the bodies of the dead manipulated by the Black Light — facing the souls that once inhabited the bodies they’ve corrupted. In other words, the ghost of Ralph Dibney vs. the Black Lantern Ralph Dibney. Perhaps the reason Dove can’t rise — and the reason he’s never risen in all the years since his death — is because his soul has moved on somewhere else, to some other plane, something Superman and Hal Jordan and all the other heroes who have risen from the dead have never been able to do?

Just speculation, of course, but I’d like to hear your thoughts.