This Month's Comics
Jun. 24th, 2009 03:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteYup, it's been a while. Truth is, there is not much that I've wanted to say on a regular basis. But with the slew of new Batman books and a couple of other things of note, I offer the following round-up.
I begin by noting that I've cut back on what I've been buying. With a price increase on some DC books, and with the arrival of a lot of books that sound promising, I am now trying to stick with things that are worth my money. Books that are just OK are off the list (especially since I know that down the line, odds are I can find them collected in the library). So goodbye to Angel and to Booster Gold. Both had their moments, but the current creative teams are just spotty, and the addition of Blue Beetle III (and a higher price) isn't enough to keep me reading the latter.
What have I been reading? The top of my list the past three months has been the surprisingly entertaining Great Fables Crossover. Given that Fables hasn't been as strong as it used to be, and that Jack of Fables has always been hard to read (thanks to Jack), I was dubious that a nine part event would work. But it did. It got very meta, but also keep it light, used the casts of the two books effectively, and was actually a lot of fun. Maybe it didn't hurt that instead of being stretched out over nine months, we got the whole things done in less than three months. Doesn't matter. I really liked it, and can recommend it highly to fans of either Fables series.
Meanwhile, in the DCU, there is a new Batman in town, and a slew of new Batman-related comics. I picked up four, and overall the talents involved do a good job, but there is something missing without Bruce Wayne. Yes, I will give Dick Grayson a chance - I was a huge Nightwing fan, after all, and it does make sense for him to be Batman if Bruce is presumed dead - but so far I have seen little that really makes me think it's Dick in that suit. He seems a bit generic. Which may be the point, since most people have no clue that there IS a new Batman. Still, I am not sold on it.
The highest profile of the four books is Morrison's Batman and Robin, where Dick, aided by the new Robin - Batman and Talia's sociopathic son Damian - embark on all new, somewhat demented adventures in the Flying Batmobile. Really. Morrison teams with his All-Star Superman partner, Frank Quitely, for the first three issues of this series, and if nothing else, the two work together as well as ever. The new villains they introduce are at once goofy and creepy, and the book promises to be "David Lynch does the 60's Batman show," as Morrison promised it would. But Dick is totally a cipher here, and while Damian is somewhat interesting, we have no idea why Dick fired Tim Drake. So a good plot and strong art don't quite make up for somewhat limited character play. Still, since I like most of what Morrison does (Final Crisis notwithstanding), this book gets time to find its voice.
The book I was looking forward to the most is today's Detective Comics, starring the new Batwoman, with the new Question in the second feature, and Greg Rucka writing all of it. I enjoyed the main story, though it brings back the rather absurd Religion of Crime and even though JH Williams' generally gorgeous art veers a bit into the kind of cheesecake I don't care for. We get a glimpse for the first time at who Kate Kane is, and surprisingly, her father is a) an army officer (with intelligence community connections); b) knows she's Batwoman; and c) is essentially her Watcher. So much for what I expected, based on what little we saw of her in 52. The potential to do really unexpected things with Kate and her family is far more exciting than the super-hero part of the story. Which isn't surprising since Rucka is mining ground he used quite well in his Atticus Kodiak novels.
If I wasn't in already, though, the Question back-up story really hooked me. Rucka resumes his sterling writing of the life of Renee Montoya, does a great (and very Denny O'Neil-esque) job with Tot Rodor, and tells us that she has a website for people who need answers and can't turn anywhere else. It's a great and very down to earth premise that Rucka uses well immediately. And Cully Hamner's art is perfect. So I'd say Detective offers a lot to be pleased with right away.
Paul Dini is writing two books, and neither starts off as strong as his run on Detective ended. Batman: Streets of Gotham promises to look at Batman and his city from PoVs other than Batman's, and Dini does that. A lot. Maybe too much, since the first issue feels a little scattershot. Still, he gets the voices right, and seems likely to address what the city thinks of Batman given that it might not be the same man. Dustin Nguyen's art is quite strong, too. So is the second feature with the current Manhunter. She's moved to Gotham to be the new DA in her real life as Kate Spencer, and trying to adapt to a place where even her brutal methods might not work. I've never read a Manhunter story till now, and despite how violent she is, she's likeable and the idea of a new face in Gotham is a good one. (Also, her creator, Marc Andreyko, saw my comments on a message board and is sending me a couple of copies of her cancelled series. That makes me want to give her a chance.)
Dini's Gotham City Sirens is lightweight fluff and drawn by Guillem March in an overtly eroticized style. I like the way Dini writes Catwoman and Harley, but I have a feeling that this book will remain fluff and that I will never be comfortable with the art. Odds are I will not get the next issue.
There was one Batbook I skipped that sounds interesting, Red Robin. The adventures of Tim Drake after he's not Robin, the preview pages I saw were very good. Odds are I will wait for the collection on this one, but it might be worth the wait.
Lastly, and back over to Vertigo, I tried the first two issues of The Unwritten. This new series is about a man whose father wrote the biggest fantasy series of all time and then vanishes, and who is now learning that nothing in his life - including who he really is - is what it seems. While the premise is interesting, and Peter Gross' art is good, I have a feeling that Mike Carey is trying way too hard to Say Something about stories and culture and so on, in that way that far too many Vertigo comics. It all seems so veddy serious and a bit pretentious. I'll give a chance since Batya likes it so far and since Carey was a great writer on Hellblazer. But there is a reason that I rarely like Vertigo books. They just have no sense of humor. Which might be why I like Fables. Which is all I have to say today.
I begin by noting that I've cut back on what I've been buying. With a price increase on some DC books, and with the arrival of a lot of books that sound promising, I am now trying to stick with things that are worth my money. Books that are just OK are off the list (especially since I know that down the line, odds are I can find them collected in the library). So goodbye to Angel and to Booster Gold. Both had their moments, but the current creative teams are just spotty, and the addition of Blue Beetle III (and a higher price) isn't enough to keep me reading the latter.
What have I been reading? The top of my list the past three months has been the surprisingly entertaining Great Fables Crossover. Given that Fables hasn't been as strong as it used to be, and that Jack of Fables has always been hard to read (thanks to Jack), I was dubious that a nine part event would work. But it did. It got very meta, but also keep it light, used the casts of the two books effectively, and was actually a lot of fun. Maybe it didn't hurt that instead of being stretched out over nine months, we got the whole things done in less than three months. Doesn't matter. I really liked it, and can recommend it highly to fans of either Fables series.
Meanwhile, in the DCU, there is a new Batman in town, and a slew of new Batman-related comics. I picked up four, and overall the talents involved do a good job, but there is something missing without Bruce Wayne. Yes, I will give Dick Grayson a chance - I was a huge Nightwing fan, after all, and it does make sense for him to be Batman if Bruce is presumed dead - but so far I have seen little that really makes me think it's Dick in that suit. He seems a bit generic. Which may be the point, since most people have no clue that there IS a new Batman. Still, I am not sold on it.
The highest profile of the four books is Morrison's Batman and Robin, where Dick, aided by the new Robin - Batman and Talia's sociopathic son Damian - embark on all new, somewhat demented adventures in the Flying Batmobile. Really. Morrison teams with his All-Star Superman partner, Frank Quitely, for the first three issues of this series, and if nothing else, the two work together as well as ever. The new villains they introduce are at once goofy and creepy, and the book promises to be "David Lynch does the 60's Batman show," as Morrison promised it would. But Dick is totally a cipher here, and while Damian is somewhat interesting, we have no idea why Dick fired Tim Drake. So a good plot and strong art don't quite make up for somewhat limited character play. Still, since I like most of what Morrison does (Final Crisis notwithstanding), this book gets time to find its voice.
The book I was looking forward to the most is today's Detective Comics, starring the new Batwoman, with the new Question in the second feature, and Greg Rucka writing all of it. I enjoyed the main story, though it brings back the rather absurd Religion of Crime and even though JH Williams' generally gorgeous art veers a bit into the kind of cheesecake I don't care for. We get a glimpse for the first time at who Kate Kane is, and surprisingly, her father is a) an army officer (with intelligence community connections); b) knows she's Batwoman; and c) is essentially her Watcher. So much for what I expected, based on what little we saw of her in 52. The potential to do really unexpected things with Kate and her family is far more exciting than the super-hero part of the story. Which isn't surprising since Rucka is mining ground he used quite well in his Atticus Kodiak novels.
If I wasn't in already, though, the Question back-up story really hooked me. Rucka resumes his sterling writing of the life of Renee Montoya, does a great (and very Denny O'Neil-esque) job with Tot Rodor, and tells us that she has a website for people who need answers and can't turn anywhere else. It's a great and very down to earth premise that Rucka uses well immediately. And Cully Hamner's art is perfect. So I'd say Detective offers a lot to be pleased with right away.
Paul Dini is writing two books, and neither starts off as strong as his run on Detective ended. Batman: Streets of Gotham promises to look at Batman and his city from PoVs other than Batman's, and Dini does that. A lot. Maybe too much, since the first issue feels a little scattershot. Still, he gets the voices right, and seems likely to address what the city thinks of Batman given that it might not be the same man. Dustin Nguyen's art is quite strong, too. So is the second feature with the current Manhunter. She's moved to Gotham to be the new DA in her real life as Kate Spencer, and trying to adapt to a place where even her brutal methods might not work. I've never read a Manhunter story till now, and despite how violent she is, she's likeable and the idea of a new face in Gotham is a good one. (Also, her creator, Marc Andreyko, saw my comments on a message board and is sending me a couple of copies of her cancelled series. That makes me want to give her a chance.)
Dini's Gotham City Sirens is lightweight fluff and drawn by Guillem March in an overtly eroticized style. I like the way Dini writes Catwoman and Harley, but I have a feeling that this book will remain fluff and that I will never be comfortable with the art. Odds are I will not get the next issue.
There was one Batbook I skipped that sounds interesting, Red Robin. The adventures of Tim Drake after he's not Robin, the preview pages I saw were very good. Odds are I will wait for the collection on this one, but it might be worth the wait.
Lastly, and back over to Vertigo, I tried the first two issues of The Unwritten. This new series is about a man whose father wrote the biggest fantasy series of all time and then vanishes, and who is now learning that nothing in his life - including who he really is - is what it seems. While the premise is interesting, and Peter Gross' art is good, I have a feeling that Mike Carey is trying way too hard to Say Something about stories and culture and so on, in that way that far too many Vertigo comics. It all seems so veddy serious and a bit pretentious. I'll give a chance since Batya likes it so far and since Carey was a great writer on Hellblazer. But there is a reason that I rarely like Vertigo books. They just have no sense of humor. Which might be why I like Fables. Which is all I have to say today.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: Jun. 25th, 2009 03:21 pm (UTC)Red Robin #1 was cool, but I'm not sure if I plan to keep reading it. We'll see.
I too tried The Unwritten, and so far, I can't get into it. I should probably drop it.
And did I call it a while back on you liking The Question? I think I did.
(no subject)
Date: Jun. 25th, 2009 03:50 pm (UTC)Beyond all that, if it turns out that I missed several great issues, I can find the next Booster Gold collection, which might be a bit cheaper than the monthlies since I expect that the Blue Beetle feature would be collected separately.