Comic Book Case
Raven #1 (Why not?)
After the death of her longtime friend Tim Drake and some other issues, Raven has decided to take some time off from the Teen Titans and focus on where she comes from and goes to live with her aunt Rachel on her mother's side. However, even out of action, Raven's past continue to haunt her, and at her new high school something is psychic scanning her and has enough power to reach into her soul to repel her, and it's not Trigon.
Like when I read Starfire earlier this year, what intrigued me most about this book was a lack of exposure to her character and a lack of desire to read her book on the Titans. and I was kind of hoping it had the same writing team. This book takes the same sort of cheesy cliche that that book had but in a different "fish out of water" story but where Starfire went with "Alien in a small town" Raven went with "demon girl in high school". Raven is a really fun character and reminds me a bit of Jessica Cruz in how introverted she is. I think Raven is trying to just find out more about her roots on her less destructive side, and her aunt is an interesting parallel, very kind, religious, and family oriented and the school is pretty by the numbers so far. What makes it all really work is Raven herself, she is'n't overly broody but is genuinely trying to adjust as best she can but still feels haunted by her father and half brothers. Whatever this new threat is and how it affects her is proving to be interesting enough to not only review the issue, but to look forward to the next one.
Trinity #1 (Fancy and awkward in a good way)
Lois has invited Wonder Woman and Batman to the farm for dinner, and things are a bit awkward at first and not because Diana brought a wild boar. The trio finds itself at a bit of a crossroad, with Bruce and Diana not knowing this Clark and Clark only knowing the Bruce and Diana from his Earth. Bruce and Clark bond over Jon and Diana and Lois clear the air over Diana's relationship with her Earth's Superman and about her own issues with her memories. Just as the three are about to finally have some headway, Clark hears a voice and the three of the head to the barn where they see an a young Clark and his father working in the fields.
I was generally confused as to what to expect with this book. Everyone knows how important these three are, they're are the large scale example other heroes aspire to and I had a rather lukewarm reception to an earlier version of this story. This one has a good premise as opposed to the three of them just meeting for the first time, it's instead built up as the three of them trying to see if they can come to an understanding on a deeper level. It starts out awkward, primarily with Bruce and Clark as the two of them state their cases with Clark remembering a more fun and caring Bruce and Bruce himself remembering the friendship he had with Clark. The three of them have a long way to go before they can be any sort of real team but the effort does seem to be there. Shout out to Jon for his awesome, almost fanboy like reaction to seeing Batman and Wonder Woman.
Doctor Fate #16 (Really felt like we tired to end the book here)
The sun isn't rising and Kent Nelson is going to find out why. As he heads for a source of magical energy, he finds himself ambushed by none other than the god Osiris who takes Kent out relatively quickly and examines Kent's helmet and reveals it to be a magic trick and that he is actually the one who put Nabu in the helmet at the request of Thoth; he is looking for it and Khalid. Meanwhile, we find out that Khalid's mom knew that he was Fate because "mothers always know" and just as Khalid arrives home, Osiris attacks them. Khalid is overwhelmed by Osiris and is instantly placed on the scales to weigh his sins against the feather of truth. Bastet and other deities representing other faiths speak to Osiris and speak up for Khalid, how the Jackal is lying to them and that Khalid is is their champion. Osiris asks doesn't say they have won him over but instead says that he has determined Khalid will live and then he leaves as the sun now rises. Khalid's parents give their prayers of their own faith as do the deities (or spirits/avatars?) as Khalid answers a text from his girlfriend and thinks maybe he can handle this with their support.
So outside of his uncle showing up and teaching a little, nothing has really been going on with this book. This isn't to say that it in itself is bad, far from it but nothing has really gotten the blood flowing. It really feels like an end to the book itself and I really hope and don't hope that is the case. I'd like it to keep going because it's interesting and I'd like it to end so I would't have to pay for it anymore. Looking at how religiously diverse Khalid is (being raised in both a Christian and Muslim household), I kind of wonder if he's an atheist or if his diverse background is what made him Fate. Sort of like what Silva said about Yoh in Shaman King, the Shaman King cannot care about one group or one people, but he has to care about everyone. Khalid has been raised in a way that, whether he believes in it or not, he will defend people's lives. I still don't get the point of his girlfriend, and maybe that's ok. She isn't being hurt by her lack of story, but I would like to know more about her. As I mentioned in the heading for this, this does feel like the book coming to an end, that's even the preview title for the next issue. What does this mean for Khalid? Will he have and adventure with his uncle, John Constantine, or will he be a member of Justice League Dark? No one knows.
Justice League #5 (Ehhh)
Aquaman heads to four special points on Earth to place his magic singing crystals to hopefully stop the earthquakes while Cyborg finds out that he is connected to at least one part of the Purge as he and Batman head to see the Flash.Flash reveals that one of the giants took his speed while Wonder Woman herself is dropped out of one them after they tell her that she KNOWS who they are and soon she will know who SHE is. Wonder Woman says that each of the giants represents fundamental forces: starlight, magic, the color spectrum, and speed and that they have people inside of them. Flash gives a great moment about how his speed is not theirs to claim as the Speed Force is his and he will take his stolen speed back. Aquaman and Superman are almost finished with their own jobs but it's getting close as Wonder Woman tries to bring down one of the giants and Cyborg gets Jessica and Simon to drop his newly synched up Purge clones to be dropped on them. Aquaman drops the last crystal, and that stops the earth from having more earthquakes and he uses one of the crystals to strike the giant that I believe is the giant of magic and Jessica then absorbs more green light from the other giant with encouragement from Flash and defense from Simon.Superman wipes the giants out by bringing up the last orb from underground which fully destroys the giants and frees the people inside, mission accomplished.
A good phrase for this story if "ehh" didn't do it for you would be "sound and fury signifying nothing". This was more of a way to get Hitch to show readers what he could do and honestly I don't think it would ever be as good either Geoff Johns' early JL run in New 52 or Hitch's own JLA book. There is a lot happening and it's a great threat; you can't go wrong with the end of the world on a giant scale. The problem is that we don't know anything and maybe we will later on, but so far we have no idea what's going on like who was behind this. A lot of it feels like a bunch of weak ideas were thrown together to make one story. Literally, the most interesting thing that happened was that Jessica asked Barry out and it seems they are going to go out at some point. I don't know how to feel about it. Hitch tried too hard here it seems. He went for more scale than story here. Maybe the next story will be better, but this feels like the weakest story in the Rebirth line that I've read.
Superman #7 (Almost felt like an annual, but good)
Clark, Jon, and Lois decide to spend the the last day of the festival together as a special family outing and things go good. We see Kathy and her father up and about, and we see Jon's teacher Tony Martinez. Things go fine enough, though Clark does have to slightly break his promise to Lois by getting involved in a robbery but all in good fun as he dresses like a knight as opposed to his regular costume.
This issue was just fun. It's a nice way to cool down after the big event with the Eradicator. Instead of some big story, it feels like a harmless filler episode of your favorite anime, but takes time introduce characters we will see later. It really does feel like an annual but more like the second Batgirl annual, but less big mission and more "what is a casual day for the White family?". It reminds me of the earlier issues this book had before the Eradicator showed up, and it really does show what Tomasi really is good at, which is creating great moments between characters and their families.
Civil War 2 (So we are agreeing that this is stupid right?)
So early this week I decided to binge read the entire Civil War 2 book and early on my favorite part of this book is when Jen Walters talks of the importance of not being able to persecute someone based off the idea that they MIGHT do something, regardless of their history. This idea was later juxtaposed with Carol Danvers talking about how she wanted to prevent crimes from happening. Ignoring that the these two points would imply that the conflict would be between Jen and Carol, The simplicity and nuance to this story was later ruined by a poor execution and a lack nuance to it that even I'll admit Civil War and Injustice: Gods Among Us had. There is no argument to be had in this book despite it thinking so. The moment Tony Stark revealed that Ulysses' powers were probability based and that Carol started keeping people locked up indefinitely with no evidence created a flaw within the story. Bruce Banner and Rhodie have been killed in a lackluster story that feels a lot like Trinity War, the DC event that happened early in New 52, one that had the illusion of nuance, but lost itself in it's story. While this event holds none of the same scale that Trinity War had, I wonder if it also serves the same purpose that event had which was to set up ANOTHER event? This would be fine if not for the fact that Secret Wars, the large scale event Marvel had, wasn't a few months ago.
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