Anyone else read the first issue of Frank Miller's new Dark Knight comic? The direction he (and cowriter Brian Azzarello) apparently decided to go in is... unexpected, to say the least. The general storytelling style seems more reminiscent of Dark Knight Strikes Again than anything else, focusing more on the outside world's reaction to Batman than on Batman's actions themselves; but thankfully, the artwork is MUCH better here than it was in DKSA.
Yeah, guessing just because IDW and DC seem to be doing a few projects, as I saw some Green Lantern/Star Trek books in the shop today too (and remember that DC used to do Star Trek in the 90s)
I'm actually enjoying the New 52 Harley Quinn solo series more than expected, the 3rd graphic novel collection was just released recently. It relies a little too much on toilet humor for my tastes but there's a good mixture of pathos/comedy in Harley's character along with some good humanizing moments.
Skip most of the 2nd trade outside of the Harley/Ivy arc stuff but check out the 1st collection and the 3rd collection (some of the main arc stuff sucks but the holiday related story and Father Time story is good stuff).
reposted from where I accidentally put it in my rage:
CWM said:
909 finally got me to read some more DC and I immediately remember why I stopped. I was on the 19's and I've read a few series through like 36/future's end shit. This is a couple years ago so I'm not spoiler tagging anything and I'm going to be ranting.
Teen Titans is an abortion. Right down to all the red everywhere. everything is black with bright red. The backstories change repeatedly, who is fucking who keeps changing, none of the storylines are good, they keep getting tied into books that are as bad or worse (superboy, ravagers, etc). Just a terrible series.
Suicide Squad seesawed. Some of it was good but it also suffered from the same shit where they started stories and then dropped them, added people and dropped them, etc. Harley started hearing Quinzel's voice in one issue and then NEVER AGAIN. That's just one example. Killer Croc kept going back and forth from mindless brute to literate vegetarian. Also turning Amanda Waller from an unattrative older woman to a big titted hottie was unnneeded and dumb.
Aquaman....I like Aquaman mostly. Some of it is stupid but for DC it gets a pass. Good job.
Wonder Woman is the best of the ones I've read but the surprises were all obvious from the start. Still a good read.
Stormwatch... an entire arc in a split timeline then back to the normal timeline to make it seem meaningless? well whatever. Midnighter's dickchin spike is still ridiculous.
Forever Evil's main story was pretty silly but had some fun stuff as far as the actual Crime Syndicate. Ultraman getting cucked and snorting kryptonite.
I also tried to read shit like the movement and green team but it was the worst stuff I've read in years. Teenage super teams based on the 1% and and occupy? fuuuuuuuuuuuck that.
Superboy: Hahahahaha. I didn't think it could get worse than it had started but then it dives into this shit with more clones and time travel and in one issue they literally use a fucking FLOW CHAT to show what happened to explain everything. A FLOW CHART. Just fucking terrible. Unreadable garbage.
Supergirl: This had a few good issues like when the two Kara's met. When she wasn't acting like a raging psycho or a whiner it had potential. But that wasn't often. Still for DC it was better than normal!
I got hints at what is coming in the Superman comic and I can't wait to hate on that...
Superboy: Hahahahaha. I didn't think it could get worse than it had started but then it dives into this shit with more clones and time travel and in one issue they literally use a fucking FLOW CHAT to show what happened to explain everything. A FLOW CHART. Just fucking terrible. Unreadable garbage.
the lead-up to/conception of Rebirth in Action/Superman
when it's implied/basically flat out revealed that the New 52 Superman and Lois are fakes actually kind of explained why all this was so awful because "Kon-El" was cloned from the shitty fake New 52 Superman
but also just makes me miss the real Kon-El even more.
Batman issue 25 is about to come out and will be running an arc through #32 called The War of Jokes and Riddles about, as you could infer, a fight between The Joker and The Riddler.
Batman issue 25 is about to come out and will be running an arc through #32 called The War of Jokes and Riddles about, as you could infer, a fight between The Joker and The Riddler.
BATMAN #25
Written by TOM KING • Art and cover by MIKEL JANIN • Variant cover by TIM SALE
“The War of Jokes and Riddles” part one! Don’t miss this extra-sized anniversary issue! In his own words, Bruce Wayne narrates a harrowing, never-before-told story of the Dark Knight’s greatest failure…and the horrors it unleashed! In the spirit of YEAR ONE and THE LONG HALLOWEEN, prepare to see a side of Batman you’ve never seen before—get in on the ground floor of a classic Batman epic in the making!
Finished the Rebirth Volume 1 trade for Harley Quinn (combining issues #1-#7) and if you've read her New 52 run by Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti then this is a lot more of the same style/tone/cast of characters. I did think the artwork was better and enjoy the interplay between Harley/Ivy. The plots vary from bad to average with "good" being few & far between in the New 52 (6 Trades Read) and likely this run. I've gotten used to the supporting characters but I wouldn't necessarily call them good. I'd take maybe a few as characters but most could be jettisoned/axed and I wouldn't shed a tear at all.
I do like that Harley/Ivy are official, in a sense,
Harley wanting Ivy to move in with her and Ivy refusing/having reservations about doing so
is an example towards that sort of/sort of not officially together. I love that they are able to be romantic with one another like a real relationship without feeling smutty or overly sexualized to pander to the fappers and Harley's admission that having Ivy by her side because she "gets her" (despite Harley being surrounded by 6-8 of her other supporting characters) during an early scene whilst patrolling an underground secret cavern was a nice spotlight to how their relationship is different and unique for Harley's character.
Recommendation: Worth reading if you're a hardcore fan of HQ or can get the New 52/Rebirth runs on the cheap. Plots vary too much with most being adequate at best. Harley's character is a solid take but she's taken farther in a more hardcore/psychopathic route with the humor very hit or miss and leaning more towards black humor/gallows humored quips than general zaniness. Paul Dini (or even Karl Kesel/Terry Dodson) this is not. The supporting characters mostly suck with a few being passable.
I'll continue with it just because it's HQ and there are glimpses of good here and there as spotty as they may be.
Is that the one where it got invaded by Apoklyps and semi-fought them off? I'm dead because the internet went down during it all and I can't live without the board duh.
Is that the one where it got invaded by Apoklyps and semi-fought them off? I'm dead because the internet went down during it all and I can't live without the board duh.
That was the new 52 Earth 2. I think the question is more so based around like the Flash TV show version of Earth 2 where its just an alternate timeline where things went different for you.
I'm not actually on Twitter, guys, and I'm not going to register just so that I can ask him to explicate his tweet. I just interpreted it as a broad, "What's the version of you that lives in an alternate universe doing right now?" kind of question. Superpowers and/or the presence of superheroes are presumed to be optional.
I'd like to imagine Earth-2 me as having a Lobo-level healing factor, but no other powers, and making a living as a stunt man/bounty hunter "real life" version of the Fall Guy.
DC's Rebirth: Harley Quinn Volume 2 is worth picking up as it's a massive leap ahead of the first trade collection. It was less raunchy/zany and gave Harley a bit more weight when strictly focusing on her relationships with Ivy and then a returning Joker and her history/once upon a time devoted future with him. The writing and her character really are at their best when she's playing off others rather than being the central key lead IMO. The Santa story tacked on at the end is the best kind of pointless fun that the writing duo can conjure up from time to time with Harley's character.
Also fun seeing the dreams/flashbacks with Harley in 'classic costume' which makes me miss it even more but whatever.
so i gave up on DC in the early 30's of the new 52 (and I was skimming hard at that point) but I've been thinking about giving DC a try again because while I still like some individual Marvel a lot the overall picture is a mess. Is there a real point where things pick up where I can jump on? any recommendations?
Been reading the DC Bombshells AU series (halfway through Volume 4 which collects #19-#24). It's pretty solid for the most part, giving a lot of female characters depth although some of the characters being forced into the time frame feels kind of forced/doesn't quite mesh as smoothly as it could. It worked better when the characters were split apart doing their own thing and now that they've mostly come together, it's kind of feeling a bit sluggish but it had to happen at some point.
DC Rebirth has been pretty damn fantastic to read. I'm interested to see where the current storylines are going. I don't think there's any particular comic or storyline that I've read that I was like "meh, I won't stick it out". Sure, something can be worse than others, but overall, good stuff!
...better by far than the bullshit Marvel keeps dragging out.
Also, Jonathan Kent is the best thing to come out of DC Rebirth.
Still, the action of preventing a mass murder, which seems in line with Superman’s moral compass, hasn’t come without controversy. Fox News has a column calling the Man of Steel a “propaganda tool for the defenders of illegal aliens,” and the right-wing website Breitbart derided him as “Social Justice Supes.”
Bumping this after dropping the Rebirth: Harley Quinn and still enjoying/sticking with the Bombshells series.
Also finally got around to reading the classic Batman: Hush run and what great stuff. Loved the utilization of the villains, the varied threads linking them together yet uniquely separate from one another, and the climax of it all.
Surprised at myself for not trying it earlier (despite hearing how great it was) but I think a large part of that was I just didn't know much about it as a concept in comparison to other stuff like Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall, or The Long Halloween. Somehow I had always had it in my head that was it similar to like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm which it isn't at all.
I've been trying to catch up on DC. Everything before Rebirth except for Grayson and some of the Batman stuff and Wonder Woman is just terrible as I expected. I've been getting stuff from the library so far so i'm well ahead on some series in rebirth and haven't started others yet but will be as they come in. I like the direction of a few series but others are already trending very badly.
so far I've read anywhere from one to 3 volumes of if you aren't into at least 2017 (909) there are some spoilers but I'll try not to be too bad:
Action Comics- I've read the first volume so far and it was ok but didn't get me going. I'm not a big superman guy so bringing in some of the worst elements of death/rebirth of superman (MULTIPLE SUPERMEN!) isn't going to thrill me. Having pre52 Supes back is a breath of fresh air though.
AllStar Batman- an even more hardcore assholeish but even more badass batman seems kind of pointless to me. The first volume kept it somewhat reasonable but the second got sillier. At least it wasn't GODDAMN BATMAN levels.
Batgirl- I liked parts of this and it has a much lighter tone than most of the other comics but its been nothing special.
Batman- This has been one of the more solid titles just like before Rebirth.
Batman Beyond- Only read the first volume and they were trying to reset things it felt like. It was just fine. I'm a fan of the setting.
Detective Comics- I love the concept of Batman and Batwoman training a team and I love the picks. I was so happy when Stephanie was in it as well as she's my all-time favourite Batgirl. The direction they headed with her though....I won't spoil but I'm pretty fucking pissed. Clayface and Cassandra are the only reasons I kept reading.
Green Lanterns- Awful. the Lantern titles even since the birth of the new-52 have consistently been among the worst books and it looks like it is going to continue with this. Jessica has no character beyond a terribly presented anxiety issue. Baz doesn't have much of one either and feels like a wasted opportunity. Also how many times are we going to get "I'm the first blank!" "it's the secret first blank ring/lantern" so on? Trying to revive the success of the Sinestro Corps Wars isn't working.
Hal Jordan- I hate Hal. He's a cardboard cutout of a character. Everyone is always TELLING us he's a maverick who DOESN'T PLAY BY THE RULES! But he never acts any differently than any other main character does except with far less charisma. The first volume of this book was actually decent though because Hal was gifted one of the best villians in DC with Sinestro.
Hellblazer- What have they done to you Constantine? This series is garbage. The entire second volume is just them wandering around paris doing nothing (unless you count following a sneaker). There's no Constantine charm or swagger and instead a lot of dumb references to politics from 30 years ago and other things.
Justice League- This is better than most of the JL I read from new52 if only because they're getting used to the old superman showing up. I've read several volumes and it's very uneven. The two green lanterns really just take up room and feel unneeded. I'd rather have Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter.
JLA- I like Killer Frost and Lobo (so glad it's the good version) but this is not a good series. The Ray is a whiny douchebag and the new Atom is a character we've seen a thousand times before (science geek who gets a crush on the first girl who looks at him). Even Batman feels like he barely cares about this shit.
Nightwing- The first volume wasn't amazing but I love Nightwing. I'm still bitter about Dick not getting a longer/permanent run as Batman because he was perfect. He might be my favourite DC character.
Wonder Woman- I've only read the first volume and it seems like theyre doing a MAJOR rewriting of continuity which I don't know if i'm going to be a fan of based on the direction it is made to look like in the last issue. The issues themselves were fine although nowhere near as good as they were pre-rebirth generally, which is one of the only times I can say that about a DC title.
I've got some more superman, action comics and nightwing books as well as green arrow, harley quinn, titans, and teen titans stuff here or incoming before i have to start looking at other reading means.
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