Finally: Reviews

Batman Annual
To be honest, I read only the latter part of the Hush arc and not much of the other Red Hood stories. And back when the Joker had Jason prisoner, I was one of the folks who voted for DC to off the annoying Robin Number 2. I was gleeful when he died and Tim Drake made a much better Robin. But I've been curious as to how Jason came back from the dead, even with lots of dead people crossing back to the land of the living.

There weren't any real surprises here, but the story was nicely told and had a movie kind of feel to it. The art was nice, especially the closeups of Jason's eyes. They convey a lot of emotion. And it helps to see the traumas that led him to become the character he now is. Which oddly enough is much more interesting than he was as Robin.

So, not a necessary chapter in the Batman area of the DCU, but a nice addition.

Nightwing 118
I happen to be a fan of Devin Grayson's writing, but I am so glad she's no longer writing this book. Suddenly, Dick is, well, interesting again. Obviously, something more has happened to him since the end of his book. I'm thinking he was badly hurt and is still recovering, though why he and Babs no longer seem to be together is a mystery I'm not happy to see. I want them together, damn it. But I digress. Showing him in bed with a redhead could be a cruel bit of teasing the reader or it could show Dick really wants to be with Babs. The art's decent and I like Dick's hair longish again. The reappearance of Clancy was a treat. She was one character from early in the run of NW that I liked and missed and having her around gives a bit of continuity to the title. And not that there was much mystery to the NW double, but any shred of suspense was killed by the "Next in... Nightwing #119" at the very end. At least, I don't recall anywhere in the actual story the other NW being identified.

Green Arrow 60
I'm not sure about this one. I love the cover, but the idea of holding off the revelation of Ollie being the mayor could have worked much better if we didn't already know Ollie was mayor. That was probably one of the worst kept OYL secrets, nevermind the cover making it pretty obvious. Things are intriguing enough to keep me reading for now, but not much happened in this first part of this OYL arc.

Birds of Prey 92
My favorite OYL title so far. I'm already full of questions re: what Dinah's up to and Shiva as one of the Birds is priceless. The story itself fits well with the Crisis storylines and the alternating storylines worked well. I appreciate not being left in the dark re: Dinah while the others are busy with Oracle's latest project. And I'm glad that Babs isn't suddenly walking. The art is okay, but not my favorite on this title.

Aquaman 40
Not much yet to go on. The premise has been established, and I don't know how seriously to take the idea that this Arthur Curry is really Aquaman but out of time? Has time gotten that screwed up in the water realm? I'm intrigued enough to keep reading (I think I'll be saying that a lot, OYL-wise), but I'm reserving judgment til I read more. The art, as expected, is nice, but not as special as I'd hoped for.

JSA 83
Typical setup issue for this book, with the usual, wonderful art. Again, there isn't much to go on, but there's nothing wrong or bad here, either. It's just a typical start to what might be a typical JSA tale or something more. I'll need to see another issue or two before I can get a feel for how much things have changed, or even if they have. I suspect, for many books, the main difference is figuring out what's happened in the missing year before we're shown it in 52, but I'm hoping at least some books will step up and be something special, above what they were in the past. Wouldn't that be something? Of course, to me, JSA was already one of the top books in the DCU, so it would have to really overachieve to reach new heights.