I realize I am a little behind on actual postings on this. My method of picking up the New 52 comics is to pick up anywhere between 4 to 6 that I absolutely want to read when they are launched. I will then read reviews on what remains and pick out what are potentially the best of the rest and buy them the following week. So it generally takes me two weeks to actually read all the comics from one week in particular, and then I’ll go and make the post. Hence the delay.
One thing I didn’t talk about in my original post was that of the Mysterious Red Woman that has been showing up in all the New 52 comics. No one really knows who this woman is or what the purpose is, but all are agreed that DC has another mini-series up its sleeve that revolves around her. In the meantime, we have what is being referred to as a Where’s Waldo game with her in every comic. I actually think this is a really fun aspect to the new lines, and I am glad that DC is doing it. It makes me excited to find her in future comics, and also excited to see exactly what is going on. Yay DC, it seems to be working.
With that… my mini reviews of the week…
Batwoman
I was VERY hesitant to pick this one up. I really hate it when they make she and kid versions of popular comic book heroes. DC has always been the biggest perpetrators of this problem and has been one of the big reasons. [1. I’m looking at you Super Family!] And here is yet another new one… do we really need another Bat? What’s next? Batboy? (Wait I didn’t say that, please don’t do it next DC!! We don’t need a baseball themed super hero!)
It turns out that it is a rather good comic however. The comic is appropriately dark and moody in its art, much like the real Batman should be, in fact the tone of the comic feels much more akin to the Batman comic than any of the other “Bats” out there. I definitely appreciate this. Batwoman herself is a very strong character, and is a womanizer and has daddy issues much like her counterpart. I find it kind of funny that she actually does seem to have a romantic relationship with her sidekick, much like it was joked about that Batman & Robin did. Overall, this comic surprised me and is actually one of the few side-Bats that I plan to continue to get.
Demon Knights
I wasn’t going to get this one initially either, but it had really good reviews so I went out and bought it. This one really disappointed though as I didn’t understand what was really going on. I didn’t care for it overall, and don’t really have a whole lot to even say about it.
Green Lantern
This was probably one of the better comics of the week. I did enjoy this comic through and through. Though more than most, this comic emphasized that the new 52 is not a reboot, and is not always intended for new readers. You aren’t really told much about Green Lanterns in general, Hal Jordan or Sinestro, but are dropped in the midst of a story line. DC has stated that Batman and Green Lantern would see the least amount of changes (likely because they are the most popular), but I really feel like they should have done better at preparing new readers to the series. Still it was a pretty enjoyable comic that I can recommend picking up even though I don’t have a history with Green Lantern. [2. I do have a co-worker however who explains what is going on.]
Red Lanterns
On the contrary, this particular comic does a pretty good job at setting up what is going on with the main character even though there has been a previous history. They go out of their way to describe who the Red Lanterns are, and what has happened to them in the recent past to set you up for what might be coming in the future. Where it fails is that it doesn’t seem to actually do much to set up any story line that may not happen. It does more to just give you a base to start at, hopefully story line is coming. I am ok with this tactic given the limited space in these books, I’d rather have a starting point than a jump in the middle for a #1.
Suicide Squad
Suicide Squad apparently was a previous series that had some fans but I had never even heard of it so I didn’t care about it. The Suicide Squad comprises of criminals who are recruited into a squad who are sent into dangerous missions. If they choose not to do it, it seems they are generally killed. With this premise they were able to easily stick Harley Quinn into the group without any issues, and boy I do love her new outfit! I don’t know much about the other guys in the group, but they thankfully do give a few of them a mini-origin story which I greatly appreciated. My main complaint is the King Shark which is a ridiculous character overall, they teased at the end of the first issue that someone would die in #2, so here is hoping. This was a very enjoyable comic I thought and was my favorite of the week.