Thursday, November 03, 2016

Weekly Reviews First Batch

Another big week for comics. I might soon have to drop the iffy titles -- I'm looking at you, Blue Beetle! -- so I can better keep up. Especially, since I keep adding titles.

Champions 2
The newly formed team goes camping so they can bond. It's as cute and precious as you'd think.

Superman 10
Jon Kent/Superboy meets Damian Wayne/Robin and it's as explosive as you'd think, especially when their dads get involved. Damian thinks he needs to keep an eye on the super amateur, especially given that Jon is still in the process of discovering his powers. This storyline is intended to lead into the upcoming Super Sons book, another title I plan to add to my reading list.

Action 966
I'm not reading Action. Really. I just bought this and the previous issue for the Lois-centric story. This is the concluding chapter and it's pretty emotional, with Lana telling the other Lois what happened to her Lois, and the other Lois uses the password Lana's Lois had sent her to access a file on that Lois' computer. (Confused yet?) The file is a doozy, with that Lois saying she's probably gone if Lois is watching the video and asking her to continue her work. Which Lois decides to do, taking the deceased Lois' place at the Daily Planet. A nice interlude in the midst of whatever else is going on in this book.

Green Arrow 10
Nothing beats an assassins-on-a-speeding-train story. Things get complicated quickly. I love this book.

Frostbite 2
Our wanted trio gather supplies and a vehicle for their trip north in this new ice age story. I'm still not sure about this, but the art is really nice and I feel cold just looking at it.

Nightwing 8
Wow. I can't say enough good things about this. So many writers have tried to fill in or alter character backgrounds over the years, and the New 52 was a DCU-wide attempt at it, and so many of those efforts fail or fall flat or get ignored. At least, that's how I usually feel about stories altering reader perceptions of Batman or Flash or Superman. But for some reason, when it comes to Dick Grayson, there are more successes than failures for me. The New 52 Nightwing was one of the few New 52 titles I read, and I loved how the circus Dick grew up in became part of the Owls storyline that permeated the Bat books. It enriched the character without diminishing his history, and of course, this was a different Dick Grayson than pre-New 52, yet he remained so recognizable. I didn't read the Grayson comic in single issues because I was annoyed by his secret identity being outed and his death faked, but I've been reading it in trades and loving it because Dick gets to be the best version of himself. And now in his Rebirth Nightwing book, we get the best of all versions. The way Raptor tied into Dick's history, the way Dick remains a positive, hopeful character despite everything Raptor has tried to do to change that, the way the story concluded with this chapter has made it one of my favorite Dick Grayson stories ever.

I'll admit, I was skeptical when I heard Dick was getting a new mentor, but I've learned to not believe hype all that much. So much of it is misdirection. But I remained wary as I read the first chapters, unsure where things were going, but I soon realized this was really personal for Raptor. He seemed to have a real stake in bringing Dick to his view of the world, to force Dick to choose his way over Batman's way. But Dick, bless his heart, despite a few missteps, never wavered. His flaw, as always, was trusting too much and yet, that proved to be not a flaw, but his, and Bruce's, salvation. That's what Dick has always represented in the Batman and Robin dynamic. Hope. Dick tries to find the best in people. He doesn't always succeed, but I don't want him to ever stop trying. And that last page was everything.

2 comments:

  1. I am with you on Blue Beetle. And have heard some very good things about the Tomas Superman, so I think I will give it a try.

    Also Champions was a whole lotta fun.

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    Replies
    1. Superman is definitely a fun book.

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