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alexandraerinA Detective Comics review is still forthcoming, but since I've been paid to dig deep on it it's going to be a little bit longer in the coming. I'm also going to be comparing and contrasting it to Batman and Robin #1.
In the meantime, here are quick impressions of two of the other books to come out:
Stormwatch
When I read the new Stormwatch #1, I thought "This writer wrote for television."
Way more so than any other of the reboots, he made this issue about introducing the characters and concepts to the world. It didn't make for the best story.
In fact, it added a sort of hokiness I wasn't expecting... since this is part of the Wildstorm legacy that started with Image comics and since it seems like it's inheriting more from The Authority than any other incarnation of Stormwatch I was expecting this to be one of the darker books, but instead it felt more like Jubilee meeting the X-Men.
That's not to say it was bad. I would have used Kitty Pryde meeting the X-Men as an analogy in that case.
I'm not terribly invested in any of the Stormwatch or Authority characters, so most of my concerns about this book revolved around the DC mainstay J'onn J'onzz. The idea of him being a JLer is as much a part of the Justice League's concept as it is part of his. He's like the secret heart of the DC Universe; non-comic fans don't really know him, but he's always there. With his particular powerset including invisibility, shapeshifting, and globe-spanning telepathy that can get a little meta.
It's easy to see why those kinds of powers and a detached, big-picture mentality might fit in well with a team like Stormthority, but if it meant the "Manhunter From Mars" had never been a public superhero, never been a member of the Justice League... well, it would be a poor omen for the rebooted universe.
I was not at all reassured when one of the first things that was said in issue #1 was that the Authwatch team couldn't be recalled from a mission in Moscow because they'd found "our potential Superman-level recruit". I already knew that this issue was going to be about finding and recruiting the former Wildstorm character Apollo, which meant they weren't talking about J'onn.
Though J'onn would have to lose at least 6 senses and about two-thirds of his powers to be Superman-level, that line made it seem likely that DC had either decided to seriously de-power J'onn or they had forgotten how powerful he is. It's easy to do so. In the best stories, only he, the writer, and Batman actually understand what he's capable of. (Even if Batman's not there.)
But fortunately the whole issue turned my increasingly dismal expectations around on me in a single moment. That moment was when the Sutrowitcy team's new Superman-buster gets pissed off and punches J'onn in the face then falls backwards, while J'onn merely remarks "impressive." Okay. They haven't forgotten that the Martians are the sort of thing a twelve-year-old roleplayer dreams up while flipping through a superhero RPG sourcebook and giving themselves a million points so they can buy ALL THE SUPERPOWERS.
And then Apollo recognizes J'onn as a "Justice League guy". That's like Strike 2, only in bowling where strikes are good or something. (Thank you, Ariella.) And then J'onn gives him this explanation:
And with that, my fears are relieved.
And yes, my entire opinion of this book on a pass/fail level pretty much revolves around how they handled the Martian Manhunter. Why? Because I don't care about anybody else in it. I came in with no investment in them, and this story gave me no buy-in... again, it's Jubilee and the X-Men. Now I know that Beast talks all fancy-like and climbs around on walls like a gorilla and Wolverine says "bub" and claws through things and Cyclops is inexplicably in charge of anything ever, but that's not the same as caring about any of them (especially Cyclops.)
It's not a bad issue. It only really falls flat when Jack Hawksmoor and the woman with the internet in her head explain/demonstrate their powers. From what little I know of him, I want to believe that Hawksmoor is the sort of person who wouldn't act like that if you didn't catch him in an introductory episode. That's where the Jubilee and the X-Men thing gets really gratuitous.
Actually, the internet thing is even worse than any X-Men cartoon (yes, even "Pryde of the X-Men"). It's more like the bit in Uncanny X-Men #9 (the first crossover with the Avengers) where they go through a gratuitous introduction of each character and their powers (presumably for the Avengers readers dropping in), including one drama-filled moment where Jean Grey, realizing she's moments away from putting her foot down right where a hole is, thinks quickly and with milliseconds to spare uses her telekinesis to levitate a handy piece of wood over the hole, thus averting a dangerous tripping that couldn't have possibly been avoided any other way.
But it's over quickly and the rest of the issue is perfectly serviceable. This is not a book I'm planning on following on a monthly basis, because again, I don't care about the people in it and the first issue didn't give me a reason to. But when the first storyline is collected in total, I'll give that a read and see if it's any good.
Bottom line: J'onn is handled well. A lot of the rest of the DC relaunch could have learned something from this book about doing introductions, but this book could have learned something from the rest of the relaunch, too.
Demon Knights
When I read the new Demon Knights #1, I thought "This writer is a Doctor Who fan." (There were multiple things leading up to that, but "The Celts have odd ways. Smile and nod." was the clincher.)
Then I found out that the writer is Paul Cornell, who has in fact written Doctor Who fiction and television episodes. It's weird that these two books both take very opposite tacks when it comes to introducing themselves to the world. But then, the book reviewed above concerns a team that already exists where this one shows us a band coming together. The fact that this book concerns concepts and characters who will already be somewhat familiar to DC readers might also be in play.
Demon Knights is my favorite book of the new 52 so far, by far. I didn't have high hopes for it because the name and the focus on "Dark Ages" in the promotional materials and the promotional images of The Demon all made me think it was going to be DC's answer to Medieval Spawn, just a big ol' bucket o' dark and grim grim darkness.
This impression was about as far off from the truth as it could possibly be, and I'm glad... because absent gratuitous spikes and blood and angst, everything about this book appeals to me. I've always had a weird affection for the character of Etrigan, even though I've never read any book he headlined. I also like things that mix up the high sorcery and superhero genres, and the projection of superhero tropes back into earlier ages.
Etrigan/Jason's history seems to be drastically simplified from most versions with some meta thrown in, as Merlin basically binds them together because that's how it always goes. It's like, "What, another new reality? Camelot again? Okay, it's falling to pieces all around me. Time to bind Etrigan to Jason and then wait for the next reboot." In the next universe, Merlin will probably phone it in. Some purists are already decrying it. Maybe it was necessary in the sense that the alternative was to write the whole issue as an Etrigan origin story, but... well, there are more than half a dozen figures who All Meet At An Inn in this story and we don't get origins for all of them.
And yes, the heroes do All Meet At An Inn. And that Inn happens to be in the path of an evil horde. This is totally a stealth D&D comic inserted into the history of the new D&D universe, and it is downright awesome.
Though it seems to ostensibly star Jason/Etrigan (Etrigan's been the main figure in promotional materials and is the closest thing to a title character, and they had their origin story in passing), this book is also heavily populated with female heroes, including what seems to be an itinerant Amazon. In fact, depending on how the "odd Celt" shakes out regarding gender identity, and whether you count Jason and Etrigan as separate characters, the band is either equally mixed between men and women, or nearly so.
The other confirmed male characters are an Arab artificer named Al-Jabr (the name might seem a little on-the-nose, but after 10 years of seeing people on the internet talking about the Middle East like it's still in the dark ages, it's nice to see a comic book basically pointing out that they'd be going, "Dark ages? I don't remember reading about any dark ages in any of my many tomes on science, medicine, history, or math.") and... Vandal Savage.
Yes. That Vandal Savage. He's an unexpected joy. Here we get to see him as a vandal, behaving savagely... but with a glimpse of the more erudite conqueror he may have been before and/or may become in the future. One reviewer I read fears him suffering the fate of Movie Gimli. I think it's more likely he'll become the group's Richard or Belkar.
We don't have to go on yet, but for now I prefer to believe that Vandal doesn't see the fractured tribes and isolated hamlets of post-Roman Fantasy Europe to be worth conquering so he just wanders where he pleases, doing what he pleases... if you can act like you rule everything and nobody can stop you, it's basically like ruling everything, right?
If nothing in the above makes you want to check out Demon Knights, let me add this last tidbit:
The evil queen commands an army of dinosaurs.
You're welcome.
In the meantime, here are quick impressions of two of the other books to come out:
Stormwatch
When I read the new Stormwatch #1, I thought "This writer wrote for television."
Way more so than any other of the reboots, he made this issue about introducing the characters and concepts to the world. It didn't make for the best story.
In fact, it added a sort of hokiness I wasn't expecting... since this is part of the Wildstorm legacy that started with Image comics and since it seems like it's inheriting more from The Authority than any other incarnation of Stormwatch I was expecting this to be one of the darker books, but instead it felt more like Jubilee meeting the X-Men.
That's not to say it was bad. I would have used Kitty Pryde meeting the X-Men as an analogy in that case.
I'm not terribly invested in any of the Stormwatch or Authority characters, so most of my concerns about this book revolved around the DC mainstay J'onn J'onzz. The idea of him being a JLer is as much a part of the Justice League's concept as it is part of his. He's like the secret heart of the DC Universe; non-comic fans don't really know him, but he's always there. With his particular powerset including invisibility, shapeshifting, and globe-spanning telepathy that can get a little meta.
It's easy to see why those kinds of powers and a detached, big-picture mentality might fit in well with a team like Stormthority, but if it meant the "Manhunter From Mars" had never been a public superhero, never been a member of the Justice League... well, it would be a poor omen for the rebooted universe.
I was not at all reassured when one of the first things that was said in issue #1 was that the Authwatch team couldn't be recalled from a mission in Moscow because they'd found "our potential Superman-level recruit". I already knew that this issue was going to be about finding and recruiting the former Wildstorm character Apollo, which meant they weren't talking about J'onn.
Though J'onn would have to lose at least 6 senses and about two-thirds of his powers to be Superman-level, that line made it seem likely that DC had either decided to seriously de-power J'onn or they had forgotten how powerful he is. It's easy to do so. In the best stories, only he, the writer, and Batman actually understand what he's capable of. (Even if Batman's not there.)
But fortunately the whole issue turned my increasingly dismal expectations around on me in a single moment. That moment was when the Sutrowitcy team's new Superman-buster gets pissed off and punches J'onn in the face then falls backwards, while J'onn merely remarks "impressive." Okay. They haven't forgotten that the Martians are the sort of thing a twelve-year-old roleplayer dreams up while flipping through a superhero RPG sourcebook and giving themselves a million points so they can buy ALL THE SUPERPOWERS.
And then Apollo recognizes J'onn as a "Justice League guy". That's like Strike 2, only in bowling where strikes are good or something. (Thank you, Ariella.) And then J'onn gives him this explanation:
"I am known in some quarters as a hero. I can wear that shape when I need to. But when I need to be a warrior, I do it with Stormwatch."
And with that, my fears are relieved.
And yes, my entire opinion of this book on a pass/fail level pretty much revolves around how they handled the Martian Manhunter. Why? Because I don't care about anybody else in it. I came in with no investment in them, and this story gave me no buy-in... again, it's Jubilee and the X-Men. Now I know that Beast talks all fancy-like and climbs around on walls like a gorilla and Wolverine says "bub" and claws through things and Cyclops is inexplicably in charge of anything ever, but that's not the same as caring about any of them (especially Cyclops.)
It's not a bad issue. It only really falls flat when Jack Hawksmoor and the woman with the internet in her head explain/demonstrate their powers. From what little I know of him, I want to believe that Hawksmoor is the sort of person who wouldn't act like that if you didn't catch him in an introductory episode. That's where the Jubilee and the X-Men thing gets really gratuitous.
Actually, the internet thing is even worse than any X-Men cartoon (yes, even "Pryde of the X-Men"). It's more like the bit in Uncanny X-Men #9 (the first crossover with the Avengers) where they go through a gratuitous introduction of each character and their powers (presumably for the Avengers readers dropping in), including one drama-filled moment where Jean Grey, realizing she's moments away from putting her foot down right where a hole is, thinks quickly and with milliseconds to spare uses her telekinesis to levitate a handy piece of wood over the hole, thus averting a dangerous tripping that couldn't have possibly been avoided any other way.
But it's over quickly and the rest of the issue is perfectly serviceable. This is not a book I'm planning on following on a monthly basis, because again, I don't care about the people in it and the first issue didn't give me a reason to. But when the first storyline is collected in total, I'll give that a read and see if it's any good.
Bottom line: J'onn is handled well. A lot of the rest of the DC relaunch could have learned something from this book about doing introductions, but this book could have learned something from the rest of the relaunch, too.
Demon Knights
When I read the new Demon Knights #1, I thought "This writer is a Doctor Who fan." (There were multiple things leading up to that, but "The Celts have odd ways. Smile and nod." was the clincher.)
Then I found out that the writer is Paul Cornell, who has in fact written Doctor Who fiction and television episodes. It's weird that these two books both take very opposite tacks when it comes to introducing themselves to the world. But then, the book reviewed above concerns a team that already exists where this one shows us a band coming together. The fact that this book concerns concepts and characters who will already be somewhat familiar to DC readers might also be in play.
Demon Knights is my favorite book of the new 52 so far, by far. I didn't have high hopes for it because the name and the focus on "Dark Ages" in the promotional materials and the promotional images of The Demon all made me think it was going to be DC's answer to Medieval Spawn, just a big ol' bucket o' dark and grim grim darkness.
This impression was about as far off from the truth as it could possibly be, and I'm glad... because absent gratuitous spikes and blood and angst, everything about this book appeals to me. I've always had a weird affection for the character of Etrigan, even though I've never read any book he headlined. I also like things that mix up the high sorcery and superhero genres, and the projection of superhero tropes back into earlier ages.
Etrigan/Jason's history seems to be drastically simplified from most versions with some meta thrown in, as Merlin basically binds them together because that's how it always goes. It's like, "What, another new reality? Camelot again? Okay, it's falling to pieces all around me. Time to bind Etrigan to Jason and then wait for the next reboot." In the next universe, Merlin will probably phone it in. Some purists are already decrying it. Maybe it was necessary in the sense that the alternative was to write the whole issue as an Etrigan origin story, but... well, there are more than half a dozen figures who All Meet At An Inn in this story and we don't get origins for all of them.
And yes, the heroes do All Meet At An Inn. And that Inn happens to be in the path of an evil horde. This is totally a stealth D&D comic inserted into the history of the new D&D universe, and it is downright awesome.
Though it seems to ostensibly star Jason/Etrigan (Etrigan's been the main figure in promotional materials and is the closest thing to a title character, and they had their origin story in passing), this book is also heavily populated with female heroes, including what seems to be an itinerant Amazon. In fact, depending on how the "odd Celt" shakes out regarding gender identity, and whether you count Jason and Etrigan as separate characters, the band is either equally mixed between men and women, or nearly so.
The other confirmed male characters are an Arab artificer named Al-Jabr (the name might seem a little on-the-nose, but after 10 years of seeing people on the internet talking about the Middle East like it's still in the dark ages, it's nice to see a comic book basically pointing out that they'd be going, "Dark ages? I don't remember reading about any dark ages in any of my many tomes on science, medicine, history, or math.") and... Vandal Savage.
Yes. That Vandal Savage. He's an unexpected joy. Here we get to see him as a vandal, behaving savagely... but with a glimpse of the more erudite conqueror he may have been before and/or may become in the future. One reviewer I read fears him suffering the fate of Movie Gimli. I think it's more likely he'll become the group's Richard or Belkar.
We don't have to go on yet, but for now I prefer to believe that Vandal doesn't see the fractured tribes and isolated hamlets of post-Roman Fantasy Europe to be worth conquering so he just wanders where he pleases, doing what he pleases... if you can act like you rule everything and nobody can stop you, it's basically like ruling everything, right?
If nothing in the above makes you want to check out Demon Knights, let me add this last tidbit:
The evil queen commands an army of dinosaurs.
You're welcome.
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no subject
on 2011-09-16 02:40 pm (UTC)In a lot of ways, Cornell is the J'onn J'onzz of Doctor Who: his influence is always there, even if most people who aren't huge Doctor Who geeks aren't aware of it.
no subject
on 2011-09-16 03:56 pm (UTC)Made it sound like he wrote TV shows and also separately from that some Doctor Who stuff.