Flash Rebirth #1

Overview: Barry Allen is at a murder scene that reminds him of his mother's murder. His supervisor Dr. Singh tries to ward him off from the case but Barry won't hear of it. Barry sees a vision of Zoom but it isn't real.

We get the same scene with Barry and Wally from Rebirth #1. Barry then visits Batman and they look at the smiley face button that Batman found after Wally's visit.

The issue ends with two detectives at the crime scene saying that Barry Allen sometimes makes mistakes.

Final Thoughts: I didn't like this issue very much. Firs the art was ugly, very ugly. You see this style in books from time to time and I never like it. I think this is supposed to be a stylized look but it just looks sloppy and rushed to me. It feels like someone remembered they needed a Flash comic for this week and had someone throw together a layout.

Speaking of the layout, this issue had a very lazy one. There was just no creativity to the format of this book. It looks like the artist pulled up some template on his computer and then crapped out this issue.

The story itself also felt pretty lazy. It rehashed a lot of Rebirth #1 and if you were going to do that I think it needed more aftermath. Wally and Barry in Rebirth #1 was a powerful moment and this cheapened it a bit. It further adds to that feeling that this book was thrown together at the last minute.

Out of all the books I've read so far, this one makes me the least excited for the regular series. I love the Flash and I devoured the Wally West series when I first started reading the back issues in 2004. But let's be honest here, the Flash hasn't been in good hands since Infinite Crisis happened. We've been subjected to mediocre to crap for about a decade now and this series doesn't seem to be a reversal of that trend.

This one sadly is a D-.

Action Comics #957

Overview: Lex Luthor thwarts a crime in a new armor that has the Superman logo on it. As a former member of the Justice League he's claiming that he wants to carry on the legacy of Superman. This of course draws out the real Superman.

This leads to a battle between the two. Clark Kent shows up to the surprise of the Daily Planet staff. The issue ends with Doomsday escaping from captivity and confronting Superman and Lex Luthor.

Final Thoughts: This was an enjoyable enough issue but this is the kind of issue you dread showing to a non-comic book fan. It has that convoluted kind of comic logic that people outside of the bubble just don't get. You have Superman showing up to defend the honor of dead Superman and suddenly Superman's secret identity is there as well.

Let's also talk about Doomsday for a moment here. Doomsday was a cool one shot villain for the Death of Superman back in the 90s. But past that, he really isn't that interesting as a villain. Repeated uses of him kind of diminishes his mystique as a monster that took out Superman. It feels like the current management at DC are just obsessed with Doomsday. I felt like I saw him in more comic books the last 5 years than I did for the previous decade. Like I said, I just don't think he's a particularly interesting baddie and I would have been fine if he never appeared again after the Death of Superman.

Aside from those complaints I did enjoy the issue. I'm still really happy to have the real Superman back even if it's still got elements of the New 52. It's a good sign when I finish reading an issue and want to check out the next one right away. I think Superman is in good hands going forward.

Overall I'd give this issue a B.

Superman: Rebirth #1

Before we get into this issue I wanted to talk about the state of the Superman franchise. I feel that out of all the characters in the New 52 that Superman suffered the most.

When I was younger I thought Superman was boring but as I became an adult I grew to appreciate his world. As a now 30 something I love how Clark Kent strives to be a normal man with a normal life when he's not Superman. I've also grown to really enjoy his supporting cast of characters.

When the New 52 hit it just wasn't Superman anymore. Instead of the guy that wanted to be a regular guy we got angst ridden guy in anime armor. It just didn't work for me and I stopped reading Action Comics and Superman. So going into this, I've really only read New 52 Superman in the Justice League or outside appearances. So for me, I really have no idea what happened with New 52 Superman. I would check in with recaps here and there and it never sounded good.

So I'm going into this reboot pretty cold. I really liked seeing the Pre-Flashpoint Clark Kent pop up. That actually got me to give the Superman books a try.

Overview: The Pre-Flashpoint Clark Kent encounters Lana Lang. Clark believes the New 52 Clark will rise from the dead. He tells Lana the story of his battle with Doomsday and how he died and came back. Lana helps Clark find the Fortress of Solitude so he can use a Regeneration Matrix to bring his counterpart back to life.

There isn't on in this universe and Clark accepts that his counterpart won't be coming back. Clark helps Lana bury the New 52 Clark and builds a statue to honor him in the Fortress of Solitude.

Final Thoughts: That plot doesn't sound like much written out but it does play out better on paper.

You know what. This was a really strong first issue. It felt right, it felt like Superman. It really makes me happy to have the old Clark Kent back and this book feels like a promising start to a new series. I will eagerly be checking out the next issues of Action Comics and Superman.

The art was really strong in this issue and I thought it was well written. I like how they did a far callback to the Doomsday battle and used that to justify Clark's motivations. I am a little unsure about Clark just sitting on the sidelines in this new universe for so long without stepping in and battling someone like Darkseid.

This issue was really good closure to the New 52 era of Superman. They said goodbye to that character in a respectable manner. But I also think a lot of people are ready to have the real Superman back for good.

I've been pleasantly surprised by what I've read from the DC Rebirth books so far. I've liked 4 of the titles I've read out of 5. That's a good ratio so far. I'm optimistic that Didio and company have finally learned some lessons and changed accordingly.

I give this a solid B+.

Detective Comics #934

Overview: The issue starts off with it appearing that Azrael is being beaten up by Batman. The real Batman arrives on the scene and discovers a drone.

The scene shifts to Batwoman who gets approached by Batman. He wants her to train the new vigilantes in Gotham. They go out and recruit Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan and Clayface to form a sort of team. The issue ends with a mysterious figure giving a speech to an army of men dressed up as Batman.

Final Thoughts: Now this is more like it. I have been dying to have Tim, Cass and Steph back into the fold in a meaningful way. This issue really got me excited to see the direction of the Rebirth era Batman titles.

The idea of Batman using Clayface for good is an interesting idea. I'm curious to see how they'll work him into the Bat-Family and if it ends up being a long term move or something that's just going to lead to some twist ending.

As a long time reader of the Batman titles I'm happy to see the Family getting restored. I'm really hoping this means a return of the Tim Drake that we all know and love. I felt like Tim was one of the biggest losses in the New 52 changes. He became one of my favorite DC characters during the 2000s and I think he adds a much needed balance to the Bat-Family.

I was really critical of the Batman Rebirth issue but this was a much better effort. I really think this is what that issue should have been. Good introduction to the direction and the characters that will be in the books going forward. It also gave a quick but good insight to the personalities and workings of the various characters.

I'd give this a B for a good first effort.

Saturday Morning Batman: Detective Comics #37

Wow, you don't read one of these Golden Age Batman's for awhile and suddenly the poor writing is hard to follow.

Overview: The essentials of this plot is that Batman saves a boat from being destroyed by a foreign agent. That's really all there is to that story. Batman saves a man from some mobsters who ends up turning on him because he's a sort of double agent. Then Batman foils a plot and the head Mobster Turg ends up being a Count.

Final Thoughts: This was not a good issue. Sometimes you get a story that you can follow and draw entertainment out of even bad writing. This issue was not that. This was just a rough read. The story didn't spend more than a few panels on any particular scene and the setup was just kind of silly.

I'm looking forward to the next issue as that introduces Robin into the series and then we can get into the regular Batman title.

Overall I give this book an F.

Green Lanterns: Rebirth #1

Before we get into this review. I just want to be honest about Green Lanterns. Out of the titles on my pull list right now this one has the least leeway. Simon Baz has never really done anything for me and I'm not sold on Jessica Cruz. But, it is a Green Lantern title so I'm going to give it a fair shot to win me over.

So let's get into this review. So far I loved the DC Universe Rebirth issue and was pretty lukewarm about the Batman Rebirth issue.

Overview: There's not much in the way of action in this issue. We see a Guardian with a mysterious box trying to escape the Dominators in the early part of the issue. Then we get an introduction to the backstory of Simon Baz and a lesser introduction for Jessica Cruz.

They get called to action and face off with a Manhunter. This turns out to be a simulation that they failed. Hal Jordan appears and lectures them on the importance of teamwork and fuses their batteries together to try and force the issue. He also introduces them to the Justice League before heading off to deal with Sinestro. We end the issue with Atrocitus making an appearace.

Final Thoughts: I was really skeptical going into this issue. Simon Baz is just one of those characters that has never grabbed me. I know I've read books with him as a character but nothing has ever stood out to me as far as moments or anything that really defines the character.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Unlike Batman this provided a really good introduction to what this series is going to be in the future. I really like the idea of Baz and Cruz having to work together and not really wanting to. I also thought they made Baz and Cruz very interesting as characters I am not familiar with.

This book also felt a little more lighthearted than a lot of the New 52 titles over the last 5 years. It wasn't a comedy but things didn't feel so grim and gritty.

I also liked seeing the Dominators pop up. It feels like a really long time since I've seen them outside of the Legion of Superheroes. That was really refreshing to see. On the other side of that I wasn't happy to see Atrocitus at the end of the issue. I've really grown tired of the whole Emotional Spectrum and other Lantern Crops that have dominated the GL titles for the last decade. I've been ready to move on and I think I'm just going to have to be patient for the time being.

Overall I'm excited to read this book going forward. I think the premise is solid and they have two interesting characters to carry it. I think this book might actually have some chance for success if the writing is good going forward. I was really surprised that I enjoyed this.

I'd give this book a solid B. Quality start to this series.

Batman: Rebirth #1

So let's dig into the series I was looking forward to the most with Rebirth... Batman. I lost interest in Snyder's run after about 30 issues. I really liked the first two arcs but then I felt like Snyder got really long winded with his storylines. I also didn't like that Snyder was trying to cram the Batman family with even more characters while DC was actively ignoring members that already existed like Stephanie Brown or Cassandra Cain.

Overview: Batman brings on Duke and is training him for a role in the Bat-Family. We also get some villainous fun as the Calendar Man was trying to release some spores to destroy Gotham.

I really want to write more about this comic but there really wasn't very much to it. It's kind of a very base overview of I guess what's going on. We see Batman bring Duke in and we get a scene where Lucius Fox restores Bruce's fortune and we're out.

Final Thoughts: There's actually a lot to say about this issue and very little of it is good.

First, the scene with Bruce and Lucius was just dumb. Bruce was doing one armed pull ups on a helicopter landing pad at the top of a skyscraper. Now, if you've seen 5 seconds of a Batman cartoon you can see why this is dumb. The point of Bruce Wayne is he is nothing like Batman. He's supposed to come across as a carefree playboy. Doing something that extreme is a good way to out himself as a potential ID for Batman or to slip and fall to his death. It really just rubbed me the wrong way and came across like the new writer Tom King doesn't get the character he's writing.

Then we get to the Calendar Man. They turned the Calendar Man into this weird guy that dies in the winter and is reborn in the spring instead of just a guy that bases his crimes on the time of the year. This change is a perfect example of what DC has been doing for the last several years with their properties. You take a character that's perfectly acceptable in their current form and then change them just because you feel like you have to tinker with something. I was really excited to see the Calendar Man and then was immediately bummed out when I saw what they did to him.

This was a real letdown after DC Rebirth #1. This felt like the same soulless writing that DC has bee subjecting me to for the last several years. Also, this was a terrible introduction for someone that wasn't up on more current Bat-book events. It felt like I was missing something plot wise the entire time and that the book assumed I had a base level of knowledge about the last few years.

I was really excited to read more after DC Rebirth #1 and after this issue I'm back to being uneasy about spending any money on the new DCU. This was just very mediocre like a lot of DC books have been since the New 52 started. I'm really hoping Batman #1 is an overall better read than this was.

Overall I give this a C for a mediocre book and a complete failure as an introduction to the Rebirth Batman.

Going Forward

A couple of notes because I used this blog for a short time back in 2010-2011 and moved on. I'm interested in kind of chronicling my journey through this new DCU. That could mean any number of things since I don't really know what I'm getting myself into. I might really enjoy some of the books and read them for a long time or we might be 3 months in the future and I've dropped all but a handful of books. It's really hard to say right now. I will try to write about everything that I'm reading even if that means mini reviews for some books.

I do plan to pick up where I left off on the Saturday Morning Batman reviews. Those are mostly quick and easy and I like seeing the beginnings of Batman. I might add some older comic reviews as time moves on as well. So stay tuned.

Pull List 6/20/2016

This isn't the entirety of my comic book reading every month. This is merely what my DC Pull List will look like through the month of August. Some of these books are going to be on shorter leashes than other books will be. I obviously have a backlog because I jumped on a little late but I will post reviews to books as I read them. So here are the books I will be pulling for DC Rebirth:

Action Comics
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey
Batman
Detective Comics
Green Lanterns
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corp.
Justice League
Nightwing
Superman
Teen Titans
The Flash
Titans

Most of these books are going to be double shipped to start with so hopefully I can keep up with that many to start with. So stay tuned.

DC Universe Rebirth #1

If you're a fan of DC Comics it's been a tough ride since the New 52 started in 2011. I gave the new universe a try and slowly lost interest as the quality just wasn't there. Sales seem to back up my opinion on that front.

A little less than 5 years later and DC has kind of raised the white flag on the New 52 and decided they need to bring elements back from the original DC universe.

I wasn't going to give them the time of day. I tried the new Marvel stuff and nothing really stuck with me. The books weren't bad but Marvel has changed so many characters at this point that it's alienating if you've followed their titles for any length of time. But this isn't about Marvel.

Being the degenerate comic book addict that I am, I started kind of peaking at the new lineup of DC titles. I have to admit that while I'm not expecting an amazing turn around to their output of books they did do just enough to make me curious.

So my goal is to blog about my experiences with the DC Rebirth. I've plotted out the books that I'm going to get at the start. Nothing out of the ordinary for me. I will spend a future post discussing what I plan to pull. So let's get into the DC Universe Rebirth #1.

Overview: This story essentially boils down to the return of the real Wally West as Kid Flash. He reveals that the DC Universe was changed and attacked by someone at the end of Flashpoint. The main plot is Wally visiting a number of characters in the DCU and trying to get them to pull him out of the Speedforce. The book also introduces some elements returning to the DCU. The JSA are mentioned, the Legion appear and Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi make an appearance.

This book also makes a big introduction to the DCU as the Watchmen are now a part of the DCU proper. Yes, go ahead and groan with me right now.

The big climax of the book is Wally appearing to Barry Allen right before he is about to die. In a rarely powerful moment Wally pours his heart out to Barry and Barry remembers at the last moment and pulls Wally from the Speedforce. After years of soulless writing, they finally had a scene that had some emotional punch to it. It actually took me by surprise that DC was still capable of making you feel anything while reading one of their books. It actually kind of gives me hope for the future of this Rebirth idea.

Final Thoughts: Let's start with the good on this comic. This is probably the best single issue of a comic book I've read from DC since the Justice League Dark had a brief teamup with the Flash and Swamp Thing a couple of years ago. It feels like they finally got why people didn't like the New 52 and while not doing away with it completely changed some serious problems with it.

It feels like there's some actual diversity in their heroes again. Everyone in this book didn't feel like an angst ridden teenager or 20something that wasn't married. We're hopefully regaining heroes from every age bracket and from different walks of life. This made the DCU feel big again.

Coming out of this issue I would say my interest in the Rebirth titles has grown. I originally had a list of about 4 books I was going to get and I decided to grow that to about 12. That might not last for long but that's the most DC I've had on my list since probably somewhere in 2009.

I do have some real issues with the Watchmen coming into the regular DCU though. That strikes me that they learned nothing from Wildstorm's failure to integrate. The characters just don't fit in that universe and it's going to be painfully obvious. I also think the Watchmen characters lose their impact as ongoing DCU characters. I'm hoping that they're easy to avoid or minimally used.

I also looked through the new books and it still looks like Tim Drake is getting the shaft in these new books. That really disappoints me because he's probably my favorite DC character. But I guess we have to take small steps here.

I would probably give this book an A- as far as quality goes. Really solid story that sets the foundation for what they're going to be doing with the new titles. Hopefully DC can deliver on it.