Day-And-Date: Teen Titans 2, Aquaman 2, Flash 2, Superman 2

Teen Titans 2
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artists: Brett Booth & Norm Rapmund
Rating: 4 out of 5 Pixels

I'm still digging this. Yes, they've thrown out previous continuity and yes, Bart and Cassie's personalities have been revamped, but goshdarnit, that's Tim Drake, without a doubt, and how can I not love a story about Tim Drake investigating a worldwide conspiracy and trying to save his fellow teen heroes? Also, we get confirmation this issue that there have in fact been Teen Titans before, contrary to what Bobbie Chase said at the New York Comic Con, but in line with what Scott Lobdell has said previously and with what Bette Kane said in Batwoman. Yay!

Aquaman 2
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artists: Ivan Reis & Joe Prado
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

Continuing in the same vein as issue 1, this issue has people underestimating Aquaman and Aquaman being all badass to prove them wrong, but this issue also gives Mera a chance to be underestimated and to show off her badassedness in turn. Also, more of the creepy Trench creatures eating people. And lots of pretty pictures by Ivan Reis.

Flash 2
Creators: Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato
Rating: 4 out of 5 Pixels

While Ivan Reis does beautiful art in Aquaman, Francis Manapul does beautiful, mindblowing comics art in Flash. Manapul is pushing boundaries here, really experimenting with the art of telling stories through pictures. Brian Buccellato's colors play a big role too. Check out this page of Flash using the speed force to master "augmented cognition" and boost his brain to superhuman levels:

The inset panels show his mind flipping through different possible outcomes of the details he sees. Trippy stuff.

Superman 2
Writer: George Perez
Artist: Jesus Merino
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

Lots and lots of words by George Perez, and pretty pictures by Jesus Merino, including a great rear shot of Superman:

I'm saving this just in case I ever start a blog called Superman Butt's Forever.

A Month Late and a Dollar Short: Demon Knights 1, Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE 1, Legion Lost 1, Mr. Terrific 1, Superboy 1

Demon Knights 1
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

I won't say this is my favorite comic ever, but I'm glad that Stormwatch convinced me to give this a try. Paul Cornell manages to take two characters I've never found interesting, Etrigan and Madame Xanadu, and make them interesting. He's also set up an interesting premise, bringing together a team of somewhat familiar DC characters in the Dark Ages to battle Mordru and the "Questing Queen" (should I know who she is?). It's also not lost on me that out of this team of seven, four are women, one a cross-dresser, one a paraplegic, and one a Middle Easterner. And this is centuries before diversity became cool!

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. 1
Rating: 4 out of 5 Pixels

This is another one that I was not going to buy, but I'm glad I changed my mind. Jeff Lemire writes a solid first issue--the cast of characters is introduced, the concept and setting are fleshed out, and an engaging conflict is established right from the start. I love Father Time as a little girl, I love that Ray Palmer shows up, and I love the miniaturized floating headquarters--as I've said, I'm a sucker for cool secret hideouts.

Legion Lost 1
3 out of 5 Pixels

This is a decent story, but doesn't work so well as a first issue. I've been a Legion fan for nearly twenty years, but I don't know these characters--I know both Waid reboots much better than the classic version, and I'm not quite caught up on recent Levitz trades in order to get acquainted with characters like Tyroc, Tellus, and Chameleon Girl. Gates I know, and I'm pretty familiar with Dawnstar, Wildfire, and Timber Wolf. If I were a brand new reader reading a Legion story for the first time, though, I'd be even more lost than the titular characters here. We don't even have the little caption boxes providing name, home planet, and powers, as is common in Legion books. Also, I'll be pissed if (spoiler alert) Gates is really dead. He's one of my favorite characters from the first 90s reboot.

Mr. Terrific 1
3 out of 5 Pixels

This is an okay comic, but it didn't wow me. And I'm afraid that in order for this comic to succeed, it needs to wow people. It's a title starring a lesser-known minority character, launched in the midst of 51 other new titles. It has a strong lead character and interesting supporting characters, but the conflict is a little too vague so far to really grab onto. Here's hoping issue 2 has something more tangible to grip readers and keep this title alive.

Superboy 1
4 out of 5 Pixels

This, on the other hand, wowed me. Of the three Scott Lobdell titles, this was the one I was least excited about (hence putting it on my Month Late list), and after loving Teen Titans and hating Red Hood, I didn't know what to expect of Superboy. What I got is the most interesting take on this character since his introduction nearly twenty years ago, a well-rounded supporting cast (hey, Rose Wilson has two eyes again!), and a great narrative twist halfway through the first issue. I love the reason why Superboy ends up going to school in a small town, I love that he's fascinated by the redhead (presumably for the same reason), and I love that Lobdell seems to be picking up on the Superboy/Ravager relationship that was just blossoming in J.T. Krul's Teen Titans. I hope this leads to Ravager joining Lobdell's Titans. This title just may end up graduating to my Day-And-Date list, especially if it continues to tie closely into Teen Titans.

I have just one nitpick, though: Is it just me, or is R.B. Silva's Superboy very oddly proportioned?

He has the forearms of a gorilla! Least sexy dude in briefs I've seen in a while.

Day-And-Date: Teen Titans 1, Superman 1, Aquaman 1, Flash 1

This was a good week for comics. I enjoyed all four books I read and there wasn't any appalling hypersexualization of women in any of them. Good job, DC!

Teen Titans 1
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artists: Brett Booth & Norm Rapmund
Rating: 4 out of 5 Pixels

I was pretty hesitant about this book after reading last week's Red Hood and the Outlaws, but I was pleasantly surprised by Teen Titans. Which makes me happy, because these are some of my favorite characters. I absolutely love Tim Drake here, as the veteran teen superhero trying to work behind the scenes, causing problems for the bad guys by blogging and wiki-leaking classified information. This is true to the character I have known since I first started reading comics. Bart Allen as glory hound isn't exactly as he's been portrayed in the past (he comes across a little more like the Timmverse version of Wally West), but it's not antithetical to his character in the way that sex-without-love blowup doll Starfire is, and there is a great moment where Bart demonstrates at once the impulsiveness of his Mark Waid era and the encyclopedic knowledge of his Geoff Johns era:

And then there's Cassie as car thief. Honestly, this doesn't seem out of character at all to me. Back when John Byrne first introduced the character, she became Wonder Girl by "borrowing" Diana's wig, gauntlet, and winged sandals. The character has always been a thief.

The overarching concept of the book, meanwhile, is a winner. In a world where people have superpowers, teenagers who have superpowers and do stupid things with them (regardless of good intentions) would be a real problem. The idea of teen heroes banding together to protect a world that fears and hates them is very X-Men, but it's enough of a twist on the concept that it doesn't feel overly derivative and in fact feels true to the core of Teen Titans. From the Fab Five (or was it Four at the time?) teaming up to fight their possessed mentors to Raven seeking out the teen heroes because the adults wouldn't trust her, the Titans have always been about superpowered teens coming together because grown-ups just don't get them. Thank you, Scott Lobdell, for not screwing this up.

Superman 1
Writer: George Perez
Artist: Jesus Merino
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

I was impressed by how much bang this comic gives for my buck. Every page is packed with panels and every panel is packed with words. And then I remembered that George Perez wrote this, and (a) Perez comes from the old school where a 22-page comic should take more than five minutes to read, and (b) Perez likely writes as if he's going to be doing the art, and heaven knows he can pack a ton into a single page of art. I'm still digging Superman's new personality, which is a little toned down here compared to Action Comics, but that makes sense since this Superman is a few years older. He's still way more interesting than Superman has been in years.

Aquaman 1
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artists: Ivan Reis & Joe Prado
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

In true Geoff Johns fashion, this comic is all about how awesome Aquaman is. It gets all metatextual with everyone being like, "Aquaman is lame" and "Did you see those SNL skits where they make fun of Aquaman?" and Aquaman is all like, "I'm too badass to even acknowledge your mockery of me." Not much happens, really, except that some Evil Creatures escape from The Trench and start Eating People (not sure why I capitalized that, it just seemed appropriate), Aquaman stops some bad guys, doesn't eat lunch, then tells Mera he's decided to live in the surface world. He doesn't really explain why, so one can only assume it's to prove to all the haters that he's the badassest superhero around. He does explain, however, that he doesn't talk to fish because fish are too stupid to talk, and therefore he has no problem eating them. I kind of dig this, as it goes against the obvious. I wonder whether Wonder Woman eats birds?

The Flash 1
Creators: Brian Buccellato & Francis Manapul
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

This actually reads very much like a Geoff Johns-written comic, in a good way. You've got the character-defining bits of newly-revealed backstory, the off-beat sci-fi mystery, and the shocking last-page revelation. I'm not too bothered by the somewhat murky continuity, as all the necessary basics are here: Barry is the Flash, he's a CSI guy, he's kind of dating his coworker, and Iris West is a pushy reporter who will likely be the third corner of a love triangle. Also, not only has Barry stolen Wally's costume (a hybrid of his comics and animated costumes that actually looks pretty cool), but he also totally stole Wally's opening line:

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.