Digital Video: Young Justice "Terror"

Young Justice s1e11: "Terror"
Air date: September 23, 2011
Rating: 4 out of 5 Pixels

As I've come to expect from Young Justice, this episode was packed with guest-stars from the DCU: Hugo Strange, two Icicles, Killer Frost, Captain Cold, Mr. Freeze, that Brick guy from Judd Winick's Green Arrow, the Riddler, a handful of Justice Leaguers, and best of all, Amanda Waller. I don't say "best of all" because Waller is my favorite character or anything. Amanda Waller is an okay character who works well in certain types of stories--a story about villains trying to break out of Belle Reve being one such type of story. The "best of all" thing here is that Young Justice lets Amanda Waller be Amanda Waller, not Halle Berry:

Thank you, YJ, for recognizing that not everyone has to be skinny.

Apart from a faithful depiction of the Wall, this episode has a great infiltrating-the-bad-guys story with the same tension, character development, and suspense that this show has displayed in the previous ten episodes, and on top of  all that Superboy and Miss Martian finally kiss. This is not a coupling that I would have thought of, but it works. My only complaint is that this is the second episode in a row without Robin, Kid Flash, or Artemis. Here's hoping they return next week...

A Month Late and a Dollar Short: Flashpoint Friday

This week's flash reviews:

Flashpoint: Project Superman 3
Does it make it better or worse for the woman in the refrigerator to be self-aware enough to recognize that she's a woman in a refrigerator?

Personally, I'm kind of bothered that Lois sees herself as "the girl" and not "the hero." (Or, y'know, both.)

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance 3
This book should have come out two weeks earlier. One scene leads directly into Wonder Woman and the Furies 3, which came out last week (speaking as if I'd bought all these books on their initial release date), and another scene leads directly into Project Superman 3, which came out the same week as this, but with no indication that I should read one before the other. Yes, I can put the pieces together even when read out of chronological order, but one of the appeals of a collection of miniseries like this is the connections between them and how they all come together to tell a larger story than each one tells individually. A little more planning in the scheduling department could have made that aspect work just a little better.

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost 3
I did not expect to see Max Mercury in this comic, nor many of the other references to Bart Allen's history. Sterling Gates clearly knows his Mark Waid. I would love to see a Gates-written Kid Flash ongoing. Also, Bart being the speedster to sacrifice himself in this universe-altering crisis? I didn't expect that. (Because, you know, he's alive in Teen Titans 1 next week.) Still, a nice touch.

Flashpoint: Hal Jordan 3
The end of this issue would make a great origin story for Carol Ferris, Green Lantern, who now has Hal Jordan as her very own woman in a refrigerator.

B'dg, the Cannibal Green Lantern

We take a break from our regularly-scheduled programming to bring you some very disturbing news: You know B'dg, that cute alien chipmunk Green Lantern who replaced Ch'p, who was also a cute alien chipmunk Green Lantern, one of B'dg's own species? (This is an important point, that B'dg and Ch'p are the same species.) Well, B'dg stars in one of DC's Super Pets line of chapter books for kids, Super Hero Splash Down. The book starts out with a profile page about B'dg. Here it is:

Did you catch this part?

Yes, B'dg is a cannibal. And apparently one who likes roadkill, since Ch'p was run over by a yellow tractor in Green Lantern: Mosaic. Be warned, chipmunks of the world. And stay away from salsa.

Day-And-Date: Batman 1, Nightwing 1, Red Hood & the Outlaws 1, Wonder Woman 1

Batman 1
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artists: Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion
Rating: 4 out of 5 Pixels

I've been hearing a lot of good things about Scott Snyder's run on Detective and I recently read Gates of Gotham and enjoyed it, so I had high expectations for Batman 1. My expectations were met. This issue does what I'd expect a first issue to do--it introduces me to Batman and his world, including the setting, the villains, and the supporting cast--and it does all this while telling the overlapping stories of Batman quelling an Arkham riot with some unexpected help, Bruce Wayne's efforts to improve Gotham (reflecting a subplot from Batman & Robin 1), and a mysterious new killer that appears to be closer to Batman than he first suspects. Capullo's art is fun and dynamic, though I have to say I'm not crazy about his Dick Grayson, who looks about sixteen. I mean, I know Dick is short, but not a full head shorter than Bruce. And what, is Tim thirteen again?

Nonetheless, it's good to see the boys all together, bickering and all.

Nightwing 1
Writer: Kyle Higgins
Artists: Eddy Barrows & J.P. Mayer
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

This is good. It didn't blow me away, but it's good to see Dick as Nightwing again--or as he says, "finally me again." I like that Gotham City is as much a character in this story as it is in Batman 1 (though not surprising since Higgins co-wrote Gates of Gotham with Snyder), I like that Dick recognizes both the differences and similarities between him and Bruce, and I like that we're starting out with a story centered around the circus. Also, I'm glad to see that the red eyes are not a permanent thing, but just some kind of infrared thing he can turn off and on as needed:

Red Hood & the Outlaws 1
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artists: Kenneth Rocafort & Blond
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Pixels

I had high hopes for this. I won't say my hopes were completely dashed to pieces, as there is some good to this issue: Jason and Roy work well together, they make sense as a team, and both characters are written more or less in character. There's a backstory hinted at, something to do with Jason Todd's past involvement with a secret society in the Himalayas, which I won't call good or bad because right now it's more confusing than anything--but potentially interesting, assuming it's explained soon. And the end of the issue tells us it will be:

Starfire's characterization, however, is horrible. It's established that Tamaraneans can't really tell humans apart and that they "have a terribly short attention span about all things Earth." Starfire doesn't even remember her former Titans teammates, or her ex-fiance, Dick Grayson.

(Also, who the hell is Dustin?) Worst of all, she tells Roy that for her making love has nothing to do with love. Apart from the fact that her seemingly empty brain and voracious sex drive make her into nothing more than a fanboy's wet dream come true, it's totally contrary to her character. Historically, Starfire has been driven above all by passion. Not by hormones, passion. If anything, she loves too easily and too fiercely. A Starfire who doesn't even remember Dick Grayson, who wants only sex without love, is not Starfire. Scott Lobdell has promised that even though the Teen Titans characters are being rebooted, they'll all be true to the core of the character. If Starfire is an indication of his idea of being true to the core of a character, then I'm scared to read next week's Teen Titans 1.

Wonder Woman 1
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Rating: 3 out of 5 Pixels

This is a good Wonder Woman story, but like Nightwing, doesn't knock my socks off. Diana is at least fully recognizable as Diana, and I do like the reinterpretations of Greek mythology going on. True to Azzarello's promise that this would be a horror comic, the gods and creatures here are more Pan's Labrynth than George Perez's Wonder Woman. Azzarello and Chiang's Hermes, especially, strikes me as a unique interpretation, with blue skin and birds' feet.

Overall, one thing I'm liking about the New 52 is that all the stories feel fresh. There's very clearly an effort to write new stories, not to redo the same stories that have already been done a thousand times. That, at the very least, DC can count as a success.

The Ray

As I was reading DC's December 2011 solicitations yesterday, my heart jumped at the sight of The Ray #1. The Ray has long been one of my favorite characters, thanks to an awesome character design and a great, snarky-yet-hopeful personality. Priest's Ray series from the mid-90s was one of the best series of the decade, in my opinion. So I was excited to see the Ray showing up in the new DC Universe... until I realized it wasn't my Ray. Here's the solicitation copy:

THE RAY #1Written by JUSTIN GRAY and JIMMY PALMIOTTIArt by JAMAL IGLE and RICH PERROTTACover by JAMAL IGLEOn sale DECEMBER 14 • 32 pg, 1 of 4, FC, $2.99 US • RATED TGet ready for a brand new Ray! Lucien Gates’s life is changed forever when he is struck by a mysterious beam of energy that turns him into a glowing gladiator – and being a human ray of light comes in handy when his city is suddenly under attack from giant, building-sized monsters. Unfortunately, light powers are less than handy in keeping his girlfriend happy!

And the cover:

It's not horrible, but it's not this:

I tend to be of the opinion that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but I also believe in giving new ideas a chance before I pass judgment. So I'm willing to try out this new Ray, even if the new series won't fill my nostalgia bucket the way a new series about Ray Terrill would, and even if the new guy does look like an old man in the cover image, despite the fact that he's supposed to be nineteen. With that spirit of trying to be open-minded, I read the interview with Gray and Palmiotti posted on Newsarama this afternoon and was encouraged by this:

Nrama: Will readers see his origin? Or how will you introduce him?
Gray: We wanted to mess with the origin story formula because so many superhero movies are centered squarely on that moment. How many times can you watch someone test out his or her powers and make goofy mistakes? How many times have we seen someone design a costume or screw up his or her first night on patrol? With The Ray we tried to take a different look at the origin story. We want The Ray to be fun and strange and very human mixed with incredible action sequences provided by the incredibly talented Jamal Igle.
Palmiotti: You just pick up the first issue and it has everything a superhero comic should have...the who , what and why of the character as well as the two things we always ask ourselves- what do they want and what do they fear. We answer all of these and then Jamal took what we wrote and made it even better.

As I've mentioned before, done-in-one issues work best for the digital comics medium, in my opinion. If I'm paying three bucks to download something, then I want a complete something, not part one of six. Gray and Palmiotti don't outright say they're doing single-issue stories, but their comments suggest to me that they're aiming to deliver a full story with issue one, rather than the beginning of a decompressed origin story. I hope that's the case. Either way, I look forward to what I hope is a return to superheroes being introduced in stories about superheroes, not fledgling superheroes going through the same old steps of the obligatory origin story. 


I'll definitely give the first issue a shot, and considering the creative team there's a good chance I'll like it. I'll let you know. 

Incorporating into the DCnU

Today DC officially announced Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes, which I guess collects the remaining issues of Batman Incorporated that didn't make it to press before the New 52 relaunch. The fact that this was originally intended to come out pre-boot and is now coming out post-boot makes it an odd beast. On the one hand, it's meant to be something of a prelude to the upcoming New 52 version of the series, which Morrison is referring to as "season two." So obviously these stories are important to the new continuity, but at the same time they feature the pre-boot costume, and if I understand correctly, in the new continuity the new costume is the only one that ever existed--all costumes were changed retroactively. I know costume details are the sort of continuity thing that more rational people laugh at us continuity geeks for getting all hung up about, but... I don't know... it just hurts my head to think about. Possibly complicating things further, Morrison refers to Batman teaming up with Spoiler in this story. Is that just his way of referring to Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, or have they actually gone in and changed her to Spoiler in this story, so as not to confuse her with the new Batgirl? If she's Spoiler in this story in order to reflect the new continuity and we still have the costume from the old continuity, I'm pretty sure my head will explode.

Also, I suppose it's safe to assume this will be released digitally the same day as print? I'm not 100% clear on the plan for titles that aren't officially part of the New 52-verse...

Digital Horizons: Collections and Sales

This week Marvel announced that it will be releasing digital collections as opposed to just single issues. I approve. This makes sense for someone who's trying to catch up on backstory--you buy several issues all together and get them at a discount. I don't know anything about Marvel's app, but I hope they allow for bookmarking. If you're working your way through a 300-page collection, it would be nice to easily return to the place where you stopped.

Apparently Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 1 broke digital sales records for Marvel. I'm not surprised. It would be interesting to be able to compare digital sales across companies and see whether UCSM or Justice League 1 sold more. My guess would be UCSM. Skitch Maillaro at Inside Pulse notes that UCSM 1 was available first thing in the morning, whereas DC waits until 2pm Eastern to release their same-day comics. I agree with Skitch that there's no real reason not to do this. Are there really people who are otherwise planning to buy print but will instead buy digital because they can get it a few hours earlier?

David Brothers at Comics Alliance takes a look at claims about digital sales--for example, Justice League 1 breaking digital sales records and now UCSM 1 doing the same--and points out that without numbers, it's just hype. He quotes Tom Spurgeon as saying it's basically "the 'I have a girlfriend in Canada' of sales analysis." This made me want to listen to my Avenue Q soundtrack again.