Sunday, August 07, 2011

Upon Review as the DCU nears the End

I've been feeling downright melancholy reading DC comics this summer. I do have a nice backlog to sustain me come September, but as I read the last issues of my favorites, I keep thinking of all I'll be missing.

Case in point. Secret Six. Secret Six 36 was a fitting and brilliant end to a marvelous and marvelously warped series focusing on the fringe characters of the DCU. From the perfect cover,with Bane dismantling the log and Ragdoll peeling back the cover, to the last panel, where Bane, having helped destroy the team he came to believe was holding him back, is poised to wreck havoc on the world, specifically his enemy, Batman. This was a violent comic about violent characters who were more criminal than not, yet they also had heart and passion and were all too human, except for Killer Shark who was really, all too shark. I am going to miss these characters hugely, especially Catman and Scandal Savage. They've been loads of fun to read.

Meanwhile, at least Green Arrow is going on on a better note than this year started. Finished with the Brightest Day crossover that had grown tedious, in GA 14, Ollie is working an actual case with intrigue and danger and explosions. This isn't the comic it could've been, but it's not an embarrassment either.

There are few covers in comics that quite equal the lunacy and terror of the Joker on Detective 880. The dovetailing of the Joker and James Gordon storylines has been masterful. Scott Snyder deserves all the kudos we can heap on him and Jock's art has been pitch perfect throughout. One more issue and it's over. I almost don't want to read it. I'm caught between wanting it now so I can read how this powerful story ends and holding it aside so I'll have it forever to look forward to. But yeah, I'll be reading it first thing.

Gotham City Sirens 25 is another winner. Next issue is Selina vs. Ivy. It should be classic. And yeah, Selina's zipper is pulled a bit low on the cover, the same complaint the new Catwoman comic's cover has garnered. I wish they wouldn't always show her cleavage, but it doesn't seem overly sexed up here as it does on the preview I saw of the other, DCnU one.

Supergirl 66 is a fairly good read, if not on the same level of genius that marked the Gates/Igle run. The art is nice, though, and the story harkens back to earlier era when Kara really did go to college somewhere back in my own youth. I'll miss Kara.

Batman 712 concludes the Two-Face story and truthfully, this book, while good, isn't finishing on the strong note Detective is. The thing I've most enjoyed about the Bat books with Dick as Batman has been that it's Dick under the cowl and the stories have really used that to advantage if not outright catering to it. This could've easily been rewritten for Bruce and Dick's muscular physique in his topless panels make him look almost like Bruce. Actually, he even looks more like Bruce in the costume than he has til this arc. Maybe it's me, but I could've taken or left this story. And the cover seemed a bit much, too, given that's supposed to be Dick. I dunno. The whole thing just didn't work for me.

2 comments:

  1. I'm going to miss Secret Six SO much. And I have to say...that I am going to miss Dick as Bruce as well. He made for a less paranoid, and more human Batman, and I imagine that the police of Gotham are going to miss him as well. Not to mention poor Damian, who is going to be stuck working with Dear Old Dad.

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  2. It's funny, because while Bruce is a very complex character, Dick is the more fully developed/rounded character which is why he made, IMO, a superior Batman. I'll be rereading Dick as Batman stories for a long time. I rarely reread any Bruce as Batman stories.

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