The New 52: Week 2 - Part 2

I sat down this weekend thinking that I would get through the rest of week 2 and week 3, but I only managed week 2. There was some highlights and much better than part 1 for sure, but still plenty of room for improvement. House rules apply so let’s get going on this already I’m tired of talking about DC. I looked at that thing on her left for an hour before I realized it was the shark inside...

Suicide Squad #1

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This was interesting, but I hope it getsbetter. I like how they train them, even if I’ve seen it done a before in spymovies, it worked for the place setting and made the Suicide Squad interestingagain. Harley Quinn was completely lack luster and frankly the new look sucks.I think there could have been a better way of updating her old costume ratherthan dying her hair purple. I liked Deadshot and hopefully they don’t make himwhine about his kid every five minutes like they did before. It made me wantthe kid to die and that’s no way to make someone feel. Decent all around and we’llhave to see if it can survive, but I think it has a market for sure.

Score: Buy

Mister Terrific #1

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It was decent, but again needs work. Ilike that they actually put a fucking hero on the West Coast rather thanshoving them all in fictional cities and New York. The first story arc seemsambitious and I’m not a big fan of stories that brag about how much the maincharacter has built and done only to destroy it by the end of the issue. Itdoesn’t make me sympathize with them it just feels like a waste of my time.Also I’m pretty sure British people don’t have candid conversations aboutpeople’s butts with one another when they’re strangers. On that note, I don’tthink I want to know that Mister Terrific has a nice butt to begin with. Istill enjoyed the book and hope that Eric Wallace can find his groove with thisstory the way he did with Titans. Outof all of the books thus far, this was one of the few I really enjoyed whilereading it since it changed how it handled the origin story making itrefreshing.

Score: Buy

Demon Knights #1

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Here it is the first book that I actuallyenjoyed and didn’t have the slightest clue as to what was going on! It was new,it was fresh and it used characters I was familiar with in a different and newway! It’s everything I wanted from a reboot! Paul Cornell takes some of DC’sbiggest throw away characters and throws them all together in a way thestrangely makes sense and it is a joy to read. Loved the art, the story andjust the freshness of the ideas in the book and honestly I wish DC and othercreative teams had tried to be more like this book and less like… well how theyare.

Score: Buy, buy and buy again!

Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1

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I see what you’redoing here and I’m not sure if I like it. Jeff Lemire is a good writer, but Ithink he’s better off doing his own stuff than playing in the DCnU. Superboywas a bust, Animal Man was tolerable and now we have another Morrison heavycharacter with Frankenstein. This book was one part S.H.E.I.L.D., one partHowling Commandoes (the monster squad version) and then the rest wasFrankenstein. I liked some of it, didn’t care about the rest of it and couldsee at least two potential future story arcs of “trouble” waiting to happenwhich I didn’t care for. Everything in the book was pretty obvious and thatmakes for a boring read. Hopefully DC will let Lemire just take off with thebook and we can get a solid twelve issues before it’s cancelled and six of themwill be amazing.

Score: Buy for now.

Red Lanterns #1

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I liked this book a lot, it wasn’tperfect, but then what first issue is? My biggest beef with this issue is thatit and the rest of the Green Lantern universe are continuing right where theyleft off. I guess DC took the approach of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”with a few of the books, but it really defeats the point of Justice Leagueacting as the catalyst for the new universe. At any rate the creative team onthis book is very solid as Peter Milligan is a welcomed voice to the GLsection. Benes shows that he can draw something other than women which waseveryone’s biggest fear with him on the title. This is a good book for him ashe can finally prove himself as a growing artist and not get pigeon holeddrawing sexy babes like several other artists have. I’m 50/50 on this bookpicking up right where the last issue of Green Lantern left off, but we’ll seeif they can make it work. Right now it seems like we’ve got two universes goingwhich seems to be a problem that DC just isn’t willing to fix.

Score: Buy!

Grifter #1

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I’ve never been that familiar with Grifter so Ireally took this opportunity to jump on board with this book. It didn’t hurtthat it had writer Nathan Edmondson on it either and I’m a big fan of hiscreator-owned work. That being said, I wasn’t nuts about everything in thisissue, but I was thankful as hell that it wasn’t just a boring origin issue. Itgives you enough to get the story going and then in Edmondson fashion, you’rebrought along on a mystery to unveil the rest of the origin. It’s a decentstory, but I think the next issue will be far better. Cafu’s art was great andif any other artist tackled this book they wouldn’t have done the storyjustice. It’s clear that the creative team isn’t quite in sync yet, but whenthey get there it’s going to be great.

Score: Buy!

Green Lantern #1

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I have had the rare opportunity to buy two Green Lantern #1’s in my life time now and really I don’t see the point.This issue is just Green Lantern # 68, it doesn’t miss a beat at all which is a damn shame since the last story arc made a big mess of everything; a big uninteresting mess that is. The only interesting thing that Johns does in this issue is show that Hal has distanced himself from Humanity too much, but then you have to remember that it was Johns that did that too him in the first place. The story has potential, but it is nowhere near as good as Green Lantern#1 back when Hal was first brought back from the dead. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the first book that returns to its original numbering after fan realize they’re still lost from the last series and that nothing is new with this book at all. Real shame too since it could have made new seeds for a new future threat the way Alan Moore did back in the day. Instead we’re just treading water waiting for something interesting to float by.

Score – Buy for now, but really be preparing to drop it when Johns gets too busy to write anymore.

Well there you have it that’s week 2 and I have to say it wasn’t that exciting. In fact I think the excitement is wearing off as fans can buy the books in stores and don’t want them digitally. For me this shit is starting to feel like a chore to get done each week. Oh well, I’ll press on to week three before number four can hit.