Friday, September 9, 2011

Detective Comics #1


Written by Tony S. Daniel
Art by Tony S. Daniel and Ryan Winn
Cover by Tony S. Daniel
On sale September 7, 2011 - 32 pages for $2.99
Rated T

My Rating: 5/5
Will this be in my pull list? You better believe it.

Previews Text: DC's flagship title is relaunched for the first time ever, with new Batman adventures from acclaimed writer/artist Tony S. Daniel!

A killer called The Gotham Ripper is on the loose on Batman's home turf - leading The Dark Knight on a deadly game of cat and mouse.


Detective Comics. The title DC gets it's name from, starring one of their most iconic characters - Batman. The only Batman in the DCnU, by the way.

Unlike Justice League and Action Comics, this one actually takes place modern day. And according to interviews, this series will actually be based more in detective work than most recent Batman books.

Batman is going to be mostly facing off against two villains - Joker (duh!) and a new one we haven't exactly met yet, but I've got a feeling it's going to be a guy called The Gotham Ripper. Gee, where could I have gotten that idea from?

I can't say a lot about this one without giving things away, but I can say that this issue had some things in it that pretty much floored me. It's a dark book, which should be obvious considering the protagonist, but the ending is even dark for his line. That's saying something.

I can't wait for the next issue to come out - I have to see where it goes from here. Yes, this one is securely in my pull list and it will be for the foreseeable future.

Batwing #1


Written by Judd Winick
Art and cover by Ben Oliver
On sale September 7, 2011 - 32 pages for $2.99
Rated T

My Rating: 3/5
Will it be in my pull list? Hopefully. But it isn't a top priority.

Previews Text: Africa, a land of beauty - and of great horror. A land of creation and conflict. It is in desperate need of a defender, and from the ranks of Batman Incorporated comes a soldier to carry on the legacy of The Dark Knight in the most tumultuous region on Earth. Meet Batwing, the Batman of Africa!

Ah, Batwing. The first of the New 52 to not make my monthly pull list. But don't get me wrong, it was a fun read with absolutely fall over stunning art, but there was just so much good stuff that I couldn't keep it all. This is one that if I can manage another title in my pull list it'll be right back in there.

This is another branch of the Bat family. Batman Inc. is still up and running, and Batwing is the member in Africa. He's even got his own big bad - a man that goes by Massacre who enjoys killing drug dealers and former vigilantes.

Plus, Batwing takes places in the single most corrupt and crime ridden city in Africa. There's bound to be tons of stories to tell in a place like that.

Like I said, it was a good story and I would love to see out it pans out, and the art was absolutely amazing. I really do hope that my pull list has room for it next month.

Batgirl #1


Written by Gail Simone
Art by Adrian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes
Cover by Adam Hughes
On sale September 7, 2011 - 32 pages for $2.99
Rated T

My rating: 3/5
Will it be in my pull list? Yes. But not for the reason you think.

Previews Text: Yes, it's really happening!

Barbara Gordon is back as Batgirl - and she's going to have to face the city's most horrifying new villains as well as the dark secrets from her past. You won't want to miss this stunning debut issue from fan-favorite BIRDS OF PREY writer Gail Simone!


Alright. Here's the thing. Right off the bat. I have a very love/hate relationship with Batgirl. The character, not the series. (Okay, the series, too.) I adore Stephanie Brown. She's one of my favorite characters in comics in general, especially her run as Batgirl.

I. Hate. Barbara Gordon. I always have. She's one of those characters that is just too perfect for me to like. And I especially don't like that she's out of the chair and has taken the Batgirl name back. Okay, her being out of the chair doesn't bother me that much, it happens a lot in comics. I'm over that. But I just want Steph to have the bat back on her chest. And to, you know. Be somewhere in the comics.

That being said, I still gave the first issue of Batgirl a chance. There was much eyerolling at her and many thoughts of wanting her to go away, but I got through it. And the ending made me laugh. A lot.

None of this is because of Gail Simone though, because she's a fantastic writer, or because of Adrian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes's art, because they're pretty great too. It's simply because of the character. I just... I can't get behind her character. Seriously.

It's going in my pull list, but only because it's one of the books that Spoiler is rumored to be in eventually.

P.S. The mystery woman was hardest for me to spot in this issue.

Animal Man #1


Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Travel Foreman and Dan Green
Cover by Travel Foreman
On sale September 7, 2011 - 32 pages for $2.99

My Rating: 5/5
Will this be in my pull list? Oh hell yes.

Previews Text: Buddy Baker has gone from "super" man to family man - but is he strong enough to hold his family together when Maxine, his young daughter, starts to manifest her own dangerous powers? find out in this dramatic new series from writer Jeff Lemire (SWEET TOOTH) and artist Travel Foreman (THE IMMORTAL IRON MAN).

I admit it, I'm a bad Vertigo fan. Animal Man isn't a title I'd read before. But that just meant I was able to go into the series with fresh eyes and few expectations aside from the fact that I know Jeff Lemire knows how to write a good story.

It may be in the DC universe now but Animal Man still manages to feel like a Vertigo book. And believe me, that's something I'm all for. I'm willing to give just about any title that comes out under the Vertigo brand name a shot.

In-story Animan Man hasn't been doing much heroing for the past few years. Mostly he's been a spokesman for various environmental and animal activist groups, and he recently took on his first acting hob, the lead in a movie we - the readers - know nothing about.

But one night he decides to put on his costume again to try to stop a hostage situation in the children's ward in a local hospital. He manages, but afterwards things started to go strange for him. I'm not going to say what went on in the second half of the issue, just that it threw me for a loop and introduced a new... I hesitate to say evil, but a new dark presence into the universe.

This was a great story all around, but that's no surprise considering Jeff Lemire wrote it (I'm a big fan of Sweet Tooth). Admittedly, the art took a minute to get used to, but once I did get used to it I felt like it fit perfectly with the type of story it was telling.

Action Comics #1


Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Rags Morales and Rick Bryant
Cover by Rags Morales
On Sale September 7, 2011 - 40 pages for $3.99

My Rating: 4/5
Will this be in my pull list? Absolutely.

Previews Text: The one and only Grant Morrison (ALL-STAR SUPERMAN) returns to Superman, joined by sensational artist Rags Morales (IDENTITY CRISIS), to bring you tales of The Man of Steel unlike any you've ever read! This extra-sized debut issue is the cornerstone of the entire DC Universe!

Going into this comic I wasn't expecting all that much. I mean, I've never been a Superman fan. Like. At all. I think he's one of the most boring characters out there. He's crazy overpowered and invulnerable to everything but a "rare" rock. It's so rare that everyone and their mom seems to have some of their very own. He tended to be the ultimate boyscout and I'm just not a fan of the boyscout characters.

But that was before this reboot came around.

For Justice League, I'll just say he was snarky and leave it there. And that the Justice League series takes place five years ago.

Action Comics #1 seems to take place even before Justice League though. The tights don't exist, he's in jeans, a t-shirt, construction boots, and a short cape. He doesn't seem to have his full power set yet either, both his ability to fly and invulnerability appeared to be absent in this issue. Yes, he can still leap and speed run, but he didn't fly and didn't try to act like he could. And he's still really durable, but it is possible to hurt him without having Kryptonite in your hand.

But most importantly -- at least to me -- is the fact that he doesn't seem to be quite so boyscout. When you first see Superman in the issue he's standing on the ledge of a skyscraper balcony railing, holding a criminal over his head (very much like Batman's first appearance in Flashpoint: Batman: Knight of Vengeance) then proceeds to step off the ledge, falling down to the street head first and holding the guy out ahead of him the entire way down. No, he didn't kill the guy, he pulled him back before they reached the ground, but scaring the hell out of someone isn't really the way the previous universe's Superman worked.

But considering Superman seems to have three timelines going on at the same time what with Justice League taking place five years ago, Action Comics taking place before Justice League, and Superman taking place in the current time, there's no telling how his personality there is going to compare to his other storylines.

But hey, I can't say anything about Superman yet, but at least Action Comics will be joining Justice League in my monthly pull list!

Plus, Grant Morrison is, as always, a fantastic writer and the art by Rags Morales and Rick Bryant rocks my socks off.

From The Grave It Rises!

Alright, I know, I know. I haven't updated this thing in almost a year.

But guess what! I'm going to remedy that.

Tonight expect several incoming posts, all about the DCnU. I figure why not use this thing for something I really care about for a while? And comics are something I care a lot about. So, comic reviews it is! I'm going to try to post a review for every one of the New 52 books. Except for Justice League, but that's just because I feel like it's already been too long since it came out to post a review about it.

For those of you that don't know what the New 52 is, or what the DCnU is, it's the same thing. DC Comics has just rebooted their universe. Every title went back to #1 and it starts with 52 books. August 31st saw the release of Justice League and September 7th saw thirteen more titles: Action Comics, Animal Man, Batgirl, Batwing, Detective Comics, Green Arrow, Hawk & Dove, Justice League International, Men of War, O.M.A.C., Staric Shock, Stormwatchers, and Swamp Thing. I've already read through them and it's time for me to share my thoughts on the matter.

And for the record: Initially I was very anti-this whole reboot. But after reading the first batch of issues from it I find myself being swayed. It's quality stuff they're putting out and I actually like where they're going with it.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Another Ambien Adventure!

Tonight I took an Ambien for the first time in quite some time. And I laid down, watching History International (which seems rather stuck in the US) to try to get some sleep. It's going fine for a while, then everything on the TV seems like it's in 3D. At that point it went from going just fine to going EPIC. Documentary about Jesse James and his treasure IN 3D.

And then I start noticing more and more bright colors to the side of my TV. Bright colors. I couldn't quite tell if they were little things made out of pool float plastic or awesome drapes that came out of nowhere. Cause I didn't have anything there.

I get up to check it out, but it's a slow process. It takes me about four tries to get up without falling over. Oh yes. The Ambien has kicked in. I walk the two steps from where I was flopping out of bed to the TV to examine it and I see nothing that isn't normally there. Poster of Rikku over the DVD player and beside one of many book cases. Nothing was out of place. But it was dark in here so I couldn't be positive.

I turn and stumble the three or four steps over to my lamp and get distracted. There's a scarf hanging off my lamp. It's purple and black with strings of silver thread in it. My mom got it for me when she was in Italy last year because purple and black are my favorite colors. Especially together. And this is where the distraction gets bad. Instead of switching on the light so I can see the things I want to look at I just start trying to get the scarf off of the lamp. But I forgot how I put it on there in the first place.

In my confusion I took a misstep. And the misstep was followed by a slow fall towards my window. That sounds particularly horrible, doesn't it? I go down. It was a slow fall. Or, to me it seemed like a slow fall. It wasn't graceful in the slightest. There was flailing as I tried to regain balance. It was noisy as I hit things, trying to stay upright. And then I hit the ground.

Only I didn't really hit the ground. I hit a giant stack of Anime DVDs I had by the window. My lamp, on the other hand, went through the window.

I should have mentioned before now that the lamp in question is, in fact, a floor lamp. Quite tall. Difficult to break. But, it seemed the light had gone through the window. I sat there, stunned for a moment that I didn't get cut up by the window, as I had hit it, too, and that no one had woken up and come to see what happened. I'm positive I was quite loud.

Hesitantly, pulled the lamp out of the window and set it aside. I would worry about it later. My binds, on the other hand, they got my focus for the moment. They looked horrible. Some of the end pieces completely broke off. Others are still connected, but they're just barely hanging on. All in all, my blinds are ruined. Once I had that settled, I moved on to my window. I pulled up the blinds and found a bit of luck. I've been sleeping with my window wide open for the last couple weeks. And tonight that wasn't changing.

But I still had the problem of it being dark in here. The only light I had for all of this was the flickering light of my TV. So after wobbling up to my feet I turned my attention to my lamp. As I reached out to flip it on I noticed something. The shade was missing. The shade on a floor lamp is kinda hard to get off just by bumping it. It takes actual work to get it off. But, there it was.

Keep in mind that during all of this I'm not only in the dark, but I'm also on Ambien. Yeah.

After some investigating, I found my shade on the other side of the room. That was odd. I went to put it back together but the inside part of my lamp was turned weird. It took me a minute to figure out how it went but I ended up getting it right and getting the lamp shade hooked back on.

The next problem was that the bulb was missing. Not a good thing. So I head downstairs to get one. Along the way I decide I should get a baggie to put it in because there's a chance I'll drop the light bulb with how loopy I was. I ended up talking to the painting at the bottom of the stairs after all. So I stop in the kitchen and get a baggie from the pantry. While I'm in there I decide I should also put a couple of Ambien in the baggie so that I don't have to go downstairs every time I want one. Then I go out to the garage and get a 60 watt bulb, same strength I always get. And I decide it would be good to get a Coke, too. So I head back up to my room with the bulb and some pills in the baggie, and the Coke in my other hand. I wobbled throughout the entire mission. And I talked to the stairs in the garage. It seemed like they were moving and I told them they had to cut it out. I was trying to go back inside. Then I would leave them alone for the remainder of the night.

I got back up to my room, but I don't remember the trip back at all. I have a feeling that would be for the best. New bulb in hand, I went to the lamp once more. It wouldn't screw in. I couldn't understand this. I put my finger in the ring part where the bulb SHOULD screw in, not all the way down to where I'd get zapped or anything, and there were no grooves there or anything. Nothing. It looked like there was another mission ahead of me. I had a feeling The Missing Bulb would hold the answers.

I searched around and found the bulb beside my bed. This lamp just went everywhere when it fell apart, I swear. I got the bulb. I sat for a minute and took a sip of my Coke. And because I can be a complete moron sometimes, I took another Ambien. So now I'm on two of them.

The part you screw the light bulb into had come out with the bulb. I fiddled with it for a few minutes. Then I took that bit off of the other bulb and put it on the new one. I fiddled with it for a minute, too. I got the light to come on. I stood the lamp back up. The lamp went out.

Now I'm just confused. I gave up on it.

By the way, this whole ordeal started at about 2:00am. It's now 3:38am. Over an hour and a half.

And that's why you don't try to do handy, or decorative, things when you're on Ambien.