Friday, October 21, 2011

A Month Late and a Dollar Short: Supergirl 1, Birds of Prey 1, Blue Beetle 1, Legion of Superheroes 1, Captain Atom 1

Supergirl 1
Rating: 3 out of 5 Pixels

There's nothing bad about this comic except for that godawful costume, but at the same time there's nothing in this first issue that convinces me there was a reason the story of Supergirl first coming to Earth needed to be told yet again, just a few years after the last time. (The last time, by the way, is on sale for a buck an issue this weekend.) The only part of this issue that made me stop and say, "Hey, that's cool," is the moment when Kara first discovers her superhearing, and she hears lines of dialogue from other comic books:
One of my favorite things about comics is the shared universe aspect, so I get turned on by moments like this.

Birds of Prey 1
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

Fun, fast-paced story with a cool premise--Black Canary has been framed for murder, so she has to lie low while still trying to do good. I like that Dinah is intentionally putting together a team simply because she wants to help people. It seems that superhero teams are more often thrown together against their will in order to battle some common threat, so it's nice to see a superhero being proactive about forming a team. Also, I'm glad that Barbara shows up, even briefly, and shows off her Oracle skills.

And in case you didn't believe me about Supergirl hearing lines of dialogue from other comics, here's one of those lines:


Blue Beetle 1
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Pixels

So, let's take a fan-favorite character who very recently had a critically-acclaimed series in which his origin was already told and then expounded upon, and reboot him completely, except let's not make any substantial changes--we'll just retell the same origin story, but watered down now and decompressed. And whereas the previous series was often laugh-out-loud hilarious, let's make this one just mildly humorous, but throw in a lot of Spanish words to give us diversity street-cred. And mems how one of the best parts about that series was the supporting cast? Let's keep that same cast, but mess with them unnecessarily, for example turning the goofy but lovable best friend into an annoying gangsta wannabe. Sound like a good idea?

Legion of Superheroes 1
Rating: 3 out of 5 Pixels

At least this first issue is a little more new-reader-friendly than Legion Lost 1 was--each of the characters gets a little caption intro blurb thingee, so I know who's who even though there are a bunch of new characters I haven't met before. Also, I dig that Mon-El is Legion leader, as hopefully that means he'll get a lot of screen time. (He's soooo dreamy.) I think I'll be completely immersed in this Legion within a couple of issues.

Captain Atom 1
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

From the more godlike powers to the philosophical pondering to the more-blue-than-silver look, this is very much Captain Atom as Dr. Manhattan. Very appropriate, I'd say. (Now that would have been an interesting take on Blue Beetle--make him an out-of-shape, middle-aged man with an inferiority complex, struggling with impotence.) I was surprised to see that Freddie E. Williams II is inking himself here, as the style is very different from his previous art I've seen. I applaud him for experimenting with something new.

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