Comic Book Case

So due to how behind I am, instead of going over each individual issue as in depth as I have done previously, we are instead just going to talk about what I liked about each issue.

Black Canary #2

This book is starting to catch my interest with the second issue. We get a lot from the band, not a lot of direct stuff but the history and situation of the band and their relation to Dinah. Dinah's own relationship with Echo finally seems to help intertwine her into the story, especially when at the end we find out that the people who are after Echo also has Dinah's husband Kurt working for them. This is something I want to see in the these books involving second string characters, using the books to flesh out the characters and hopefully this can tie into another book to give her more exposure. The art is really the only problem I have with it, while it is by no means bad, I haven' seen anything to actually make me love it.

Doctor Fate #2

Doctor Fate is really enjoyable so far. While pretty self contained, it is fun to see Khalid learning about the helmet and coming to terms with it being his. When he meets Anubis at the cab it is fun to see how Khalid knows so little about what is going because all he he has been given are vague instructions about things he doesn't know about. The helmet is less concerned with what Khalid wants and focuses more on what he needs, like when he shows him the inside of the helmet. The whole thing does come off as very Spiderman in how he wants to keep this whole thing a secret if for no other reason that he doesn't seem to know how.

Martian Manhunter #2

This is possibly the best book I've read all month and I've read a lot this month. We never really got the turmoil that J'onn was in in issue one so this really helped show us what he's going through exactly and why he wants to kill himself. Finding out that the Martians only planted the idea that he was the only surviving Martian and that he had a family adds a lot to his origin. Seeing him go toe to toe with the Justice League of Superman (depowered), Cyborg, Flash, and Wonder Woman in a way only he could made this issue a pure treat in itself. I'm still not sure what is going to happen between the disguised Maritan and little girl or the thief in Dubai but it is clear that they have some connection to J'onn and I look forward to finding out.

Green Lantern Lost Army #2

This book is getting pretty interesting as Jon and the others examine the new battery in this strange dimension. At first they think they are going to have to become Red Lanterns but when  they come under attack they don't think they have much a choice. When John goes to charge his ring the energy output of the pyramid turns green for willpower. I wish more had been done with psychological issue of becoming a Red Lantern and seeing how more of them deal with it. The next issue looks to be just as promising as while they have been dealing with a younger Krona, they will apparently deal with a younger version of Relic who they had battled earlier after the First Lantern War. I was never a fan of the Relic story or character so hopefully this will help me like it more.

Earth 2 Society #2

This book is a lot like it's predecessor books where we do have a lot of exposition. This time were getting a lot on what exactly happened and what Terry Sloan is doing or trying to do with the Cosmic Vault, a cube created with alien technology by Batman with the help of Superman and Wonder Woman containing the blueprint of every plant and animal on the planet. Sloan wants to combine with is tech to attempt to change the planet to be more like their original planet. I like the smaller things in this book, like the issues that people may have with Wayne Enterprises or seeing exactly how far Sloan has and will go for the human race, willing to be called the villain to save the world. Seeing Dick Grayson as Batman more as well as the new Flash costume has been fun as well.

Starfire #2

I find it interesting how Starfire's book has no actual set villain or mission other than "Starfire lives in a small town on a small island". This issue was a bit flat but helped people understand Starfire, which I feel was a missed opportunity as it would have been interesting to see how the character would fare against the prejudices of people treating her differently because she is an alien.  It's honestly too soon to tell if that will happen or if even needs to. 

Green Lantern #42

I honestly didn't see this coming in this book and I had originally planned to drop it but now I'm going to keep going. As Hal goes to return the prince to his planet and turn the kidnapper in he finds the planet has been turned to stone and that the kidnapper's crew is waiting for them. Hal goes out to get them to surrender but is forced to fight and we see a lot of what he can do with his gauntlet but also see that he has trouble controlling it and almost kills the crew with a giant meteor construct. When a bit of the planet that broke off during the battle touches the crew's ship they begin to turn to stone forcing Hal to escape. It is interesting to see Hal essentially have to put in a similar effort to controlling his gauntlet to the one Sinestro implies he underwent controlling Parallax.

Justice League United #11

I like more what this book did than what it is about honestly. Seeing this new league gather heroes and villains for specific missions sounds fun and dangerous. This may be the only book where we can see Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing working together with Mera and Animal Man or any combination like that. The mystery is interesting but I don't really know, I expect to like this book more for the interactions and seeing Miyabin fall into a leadership role along with her and Stargirl. What I felt hurt the first run was the overuse of Legionares who I personally didn't care about but they really stole the spotlight.

Sinestro #13

This was interesting seeing how Sinestro planned to deal not only with his New Korugar blowing up but also with who the traitor was. Ultimately this book really put a bit of emphasis on Sinestro's relationship with his daughter, the Sinestro Corp members, those he trusts and those he knows don't trust him. It's clear that no one in this book, even Lyssa Drak, the keeper of the Book of Parallax, knows exactly what Sinestro is going to do exactly or at least why he does certain things. His relationship with his daughter seems to be strained but it has alwasy been clear that he does care about her, enough to at least save her from the fate of the Green Lanterns. Soranik and the Korugarians think that he is a monster, members of his corp think him either a genius or a madman and it's fun knowing that only we as the reader know exactly what's going on, or do we?

JLA is such an ambitious book that I can't help but want to keep reading it. Superman is completely supporting Rao and introduces him to the world as an actual god and for the most part the world buys it. Rao comes off as an apologetic and peace loving being, apologizing to Superman for not being there to save Krypton and says he wants a chance to make Earth a better place. He sends his followers out into the world to start healing the sick and while everyone loves it, Batman is of course skeptical. He has Cyborg go over a series of plans he made to stop Kryptonians and starts looking into Rao more while looking for Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lanter. The whole thing kind of reminds me of the story from Grant Morrison's Justice League where new heroes show up to help or the the story Justice where villains all of a sudden start helping people in big ways. With that in mind I think we know how this is going to end, especially with what we learned in issue #1 with something bad happening to Superman.

Wonder Woman #42

So in the synopsis for this book was that Wonder Woman would be going on a journey to understand Ares and what it actually meant to be a god of war, that was a lie. I'm not saying it didn't happen directly, it didn't happen at all. What we got here was a story about the boy (named Aegue) who attacked her last issue, he is actually descended from one of Posiedon's bastard children and under the guidance of some unknown pool of water is trying to kill Wonder Woman to become the new god of war. This would probably be more interesting if we could care about the character but there is nothing interesting about him, like at all. On Olympus we find Donna Troy still feeling guilty for killing those men while Diana tells her she should forgive herself.  Strife showing up does hint at a this story possibly getting off the ground but the books have been rather dull with good to great ideas but no real execution of them.

Batman #42

This issue was fun enough with a new meta-human who attacks with bricks and is defeated by Gordon's new Batmobile being dropped on him. What really made this issue fun was of course the stuff in between, Gordon getting used to the role of Batman, what it means to him and even little scene with two kids talking about Batman via action figures. The best scene for me was definitely when Sawyer tells Gordon that he isn't like the previous Batman, Gordon is funded by the Powers Corporation, and the city so he effectively works for the city and isn't the vigilante that his predecessor was. One issue I have with the books is just how much Bruce Wayne shows up, it's hard to pretend that this going to be a long lasting thing if Bruce keeps ending each issue. Though he does rock that beard.

Justice League #42

So if you didn't hear, Batman is a god now. But that isn't the only interesting thing about this issue, it's only a small part of the story. The character Grail who had erupted from Flash's body reveals that she is responsible for the Anti-Monitor being here and it was a plan started by Myrina Black. Knowing that Grail is an Amazon like Diana, I can't help but wonder what role she will play, especially with BATMAN BEING A GOD!! This may end up being my favorite Justice League story since New 52 started if for no other reason than we have a lot interesting things happening. 

Detective Comics #42

Detective Comics is ultimately where I think Jim Gordon as Batman belongs. The series and this book are very grounded and deal more with the GCPD and how it deals with threats as opposed to the dangerous and action packed life of the Batman books. There is more focus on Gordon doubting himself as Batman and thinking he may be over his head. Bullock and Montoya prove that they are still great characters regardless of the changes to the DCU or just Gotham in general.

Aquaman #42

This was pretty interesting but I found it to be a bit  meh overall and I think it comes down to the fact that we aren't getting enough to really know what is going on. Arthur says that he is protecting these people because they need help and he is aware that protecting them is putting the Earth and Atlantis in danger soon enough. We don't get enough of the other dimension to really get a feel of it or the wizard that Arthur is working with. We've also seen very little of Mera who is leading a hunt for Arthur, going so far as to spread propaganda about him and sending a team to hunt him. I'm enjoying the mystery but at times the flashbacks never reveal enough and it does seem that Arthur is considered an enemy.

Darth Vader #7

Darth Vader 's book has always been a bit of an issue for me (I did a thing), I was a bit upset over what changes were made the the Star Wars continuity so I went into this and Star Wars upset by the changes and hoping it would be worth it. Honestly, the books have been great and I can't wait to get more in the future (I plan to read Princess Leia and Lando as a trade). This issue really brought Bader back to the plot as he spent the previous issues dealing with stuff that while interesting went on a bit too long though I loved Aphra. Seeing how Vader would react to finding out the boy he met a few days ago was not only the one who blew up the Death Star but is also the child of Anakin Skywalker was understandable. One of the best things about Vader is that we can't see what he is feeling so it relies more on his dialogue and movement to tell us how he feels. I twas especially fun to see him break down the battle and seizing Skywalker up is fun but I kind of wonder how long each story will be before it goes into Empire Strikes Back.

Star Wars #7

So I had honestly though that the case Ben Kenobi had for Luke was going to be a training manual and maybe it can be but it is in reality Ben's journal of his time on Tattoine. It is by no means a bad thing, as we see Kenobi trying very hard not to be a Jedi on a world that seems to need him. He admits to not having touched his lightsaber in a while and he finds it frustrating because there are people he can and should help, he even wishes he could be training young Luke. I do like how Kenobi makes no connection between Anakin and Darth Vader, only mentioned how he understands why Owen doesn't want him training Luke because of what happened to the last Skywalker he taught. It also looks like there may be more journal entries we will read and it looks promising like everything else in this line so far.

Batgirl #42

This book was pretty heavily focused on Batgirl's relationship with her father knowing that she is the new Batman and finding out that he has been ordered to bring in vigilantes like her. It ultimately bogs down the issue and the battle with Livewire which while fun, seemed largely in the background. I also take issue with Batgirl essentially flirting with another guy, I'm not saying she can't flirt with guys and I'm probably exaggerating it but every time she meets a guy, there is this need to flirt. It just seems distracting and unnecessary. Also, looking at this issue, I kind of wonder if Gordon knows that Barbara is Batgirl, because this has to be the fourth time  where the two of them have been this close together. Alyssa showing up in this book was nice because fans had been wondering what happened to her at the end of Simone's run when it seemed she would still be living with Barbara. 

Batgirl Annual 3

This may be one of my favorite annuals. It's all one big story with Batgirl essentially going through the other groups in Gotham that aren't Batman. Grayson, Batwoman, and Gotham Academy (kind of want to read that now) as a mystery involving a man with amnesia leads to the search for missing U.N. diplomats takes he through a rather fun story. The problem  is the mystery itself never really plays out, it relies more on Batgirl meeting characters she either hasn't met or interacted with much like Spoiler as hinting if Barbara will figure out Dick Grayson is alive. What really helps this book stand out is the difference of art that is a nice departure from the art in the main book which isn't bad but I think is an acquired taste.

Closing Thoughts

So this month was fun for comics, some new books still finding their ground while others seem to really be trying to cement themselves into new stories. I'm a bit worried about the new books that are out like Doctor Fate and Starfire,. They have a lot of potential but low turnout and interest can hurt them, especially if DC doesn't promote them and I hope they show up in other books to help give them some more spotlight.

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