Will Read Comic Books

philnoto:

Big Barda - done for this week’s cosmic theme at the WhatNot Blog -http://whatnotisms.blogspot.com/

dcu:

Happy Holidays from DC Comics!

And Merry Christmas from me too!

dennisculver:

172 The Demon

Merry Christmas!

(via dcu)

A First Look at the Ray - aka another comic to buy

Here is the first look at The Ray 4-issue mini starting in December. I do believe I’ll be adding this to the heap.

DC Women Kicking Ass: Solict and cover for Wonder Woman #6

dcwomenkickingass:

I’m very nervous. This is another issue without Chiang on art. His work, I think, has been hugely important to this book’s success. I hope there is not a team change on this book coming (which could explain why there is a delay on the trade announcement.)

WONDER WOMAN #6
Written by BRIAN…

Sue, you’re scaring the hell out of me with this conjecture!

dcu:

Ladies and Gentleman:

DARKSEID

Hrm…..I don’t know what to think about this…

So up to this point, I think I’ve been fairly clear about how I feel about Lemire and Foreman’s Animal Man. It happens to be probably my favourite of the New52, along with Wonder Woman and Swamp Thing. Well, for #3, Lemire and Foreman brought their game faces. And by faces, I mean creepy things with no faces at all.

<SPOILERS—Sorry, but the reveal in this issue is crucial, so if you care, stop reading>

What I’m referring to are the Totems, the former avatars of the Red - many without faces -through whom Buddy actually got his powers (slight retcon) and that Maxine, not Buddy, is the true next Avatar of the Red. Up until this issue, everyone had a basic consensus that Animal and Red equaled Swamp Thing and the Green; to see that put on its head is just fantastic. 

And aside from the reveal, I feel like so much more happened in general. While Maxine and Buddy are in the Red, two of the Three Hunters go after them there, and Buddy seems to get an extra power set of looking similar to whatever animal he takes the powers of—whether this is because they are in the Red or not is left to be seen. Back on the home front, Cliff and Ellen are similarly attacked and are now on the run. This looks like a set up for multiple parallel storylines between the two parts of the Baker family for a little while, giving Lemire some extra leg-room for a more literary approach, perhaps. 

Now, no review of this issue should go without mentioning the level of creepy that is elevating with every issue. While Animal Man is certainly earning its place as part of the ‘Dark’ family of DC books, it certainly isn’t the creepiest book that came out that week. With only one fairly calm death and almost comical body-snatching (re: ala Egger from Men in Black), its creepy factor is coming from Foreman’s fantastically surreal art. And intestine tentacles.

As for Travel Foreman, I have no idea how this guy is going to top himself. The sheer amount of non-violent viscera in this book is staggering, to the point that it is abstract in its portrayal - in truth, it’s some weird shit. Couple that with great Hunter and Totem models, and you have the space for some eventually-iconic interpretations of things in the DCU. And the lovely colourist, Lovern Kindzierski, gives the ability for the human brain to even begin to comprehend what Foreman is putting down. I mean that in the nicest, most effusive way possible.

TL;DR

Friggin amazing, as usual. 

WK

Well I gave it my best shot.

I think I’m going to keep my review of Action Comics #3 short, mainly because I don’t want to waste any more time on this book. 

Plot-wise, Sneak Peak at Astro City on Krypton (with scary Krypto), Clark gets the shake-down by the cops, his landlord thinks he might be Superman, Metropolis doesn’t like Superman saving cats from tree, talking machines, Luther talking to (most-likely) Brainiac, Metallo. I still feel like I’m reading Spiderman, but with more aliens and inter-planetary socialites.

Art-wise, Morales makes a cool Krypton, but dumpy clark is driving me nuts. I can say that he is a trained, competent artist. I just hate almost anything he wants to put to paper.

+UPDATE+ Apparently Gene Ha did the Krypton Scenes. I’m officially cutting this and never picking up a Rags Morales book again.

Frankly, I’m disappointed. Morrison’s All-Star Superman (which I picked up just three weeks ago—forshame on me) is just amazing. It appeals to everything I love about Superman and his archetypal good-guy nature. Angst should be had over not being able to save the world, not about whether or not people like him or his inability to stop greedy politicians from doing bad—but not super villain bad—things to their constituents. 

I have a Messiah Complex to live out vicariously through Superman and Morrison is not allowing me that anymore. Now he’s gotta be really ‘down to his socialist roots’.

Whatever, I’m done.

TL;DR 

I’m dropping Action Comics because its boring and I don’t like Morrison’s Superman. I also hate Rags Morales’ art.

WK

We’ve seen in general that DC’s new52 is keeping pace with itself - the good books stay good, the mediocre books stay mediocre, and the terrible books stay terrible. While I’ve heard Stormwatch got way better, most quality jumps stayed fairly small. (I’m still not going to pick it up though.) One of the books that got marginally better with its sophomore issue was Justice League Dark.

Plot-wise, we’re still putting the pieces in place, so it’s still a little disjointed, but in this issue we get some magic dueling, as well as a piece on why Deadman, who is essentially a ghost, can’t be with his (living) girlfriend, Dove. The questions you immediately asked at the end of Brightest Day about their love post-boomerang are somewhat answered here, and definitely enters creepy, Swayze Ghost territory. While a little strange, it did perk my interest in Deadman enough to pick up the first two issues of DC Comics Presents, whose inaugural story centers on Boston Brand himself. Great cross-promotion.  

The only thing that bummed me out some was that other than the Deadman sections, I felt that the story is still moving too slow; something needs to happen soon. 

And right at the end, we get a fun twist with what seems to be a betrayal of a group that does not yet exist. Will it ever actually exist? Is this going to be like Seven Soldiers of Victory? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.

One of the things I like about the book is how it subtly demonstrates everyone’s different magical and supernatural abilities - Zatanna’s backwards talking is different from Constantine’s rituals, which also feels very different from whatever Xanadu is doing with those cards. This is a great meld between Milligan and Janin and I look forward to seeing how they’ll work together when everyone is finally in the same room.

Speaking of the art, Janin and colorist Ulises Arreola do a bang-up job here. The style and colour palettes change with whoever we’re focused on, making for a distinct difference in tone, which of course helps the pacing of the book. The level of grit on constantine and enchantress compared to the smoothness of Zatanna and Xanadu make for a well-put-together book.

TL;DR

Another win, and possibly better than #1

WK

Sorry for the lack of reviews in the last 2 weeks - I’ve had computer troubles.

Expect the (late) review of Justice League Dark #2, Animal Man #3, Swamp Thing #3 and (ugh) Action Comics #3 before Wednesday Morning.

Cheers,

WK