New 52 Round 2, Week 2

For those keeping up, we are now in the second round for this week. We dropped Resurrection Man and Legion Lost last time, and this time, despite giving us two new series, we will drop two more books from this week's list as well.

Batgirl 2

I really don't have anything that negative or positive to say about Batgirl's sophmore issue. Its honestly 20 pages of Barbara Gordon asking herself if she's really superhero material anymore. The Mirror's identity has been deduced as an Army officer whose family died in a car crash and he was saved from the wreckage so he has survivor's guilt. Batgirl gets a hold of the list long enough to see that she is on the list in both her identities, which is of course upsetting to her. Though I'm not nearly as upset as this character:

I'm still clueless as to what an (old?) cowboy woman is doing in Gotham driving cabs, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at anything anymore. We also get to meet the physical therapist "responsible" for her miraculous recovery, who she is now dating, as well as seeing her roomate, who I'm still praying gets killed very quickly. Overall, pretty basic and boring.

Verdict: C+. Its not bad at all, but its nowhere near great, so that leaves us with something average. I'm going to keep this one on probation for another month

Batman and Robin 2

The perils of raising a dangerous son continue with this issue. We open to Bruce and Alfred discussing how impressive Damien's skills are, and Alfred encouraging Bruce to show some appreciation and tell Damien that he's proud of him, but Bruce just can't get to that point. Some low time hoods are captured when the Dynamic Duo goes on patrol, but the crooks are subsequently killed by NoBody. After the night of crimefighting, Bruce says that Damien's activities were commendable, but nothing more, and goes to bed... and we get this:

Yeah... that kid might need some help. Alred witnesses his cruelty to the bats and just sighs. The next day, Bruce is buying a dog, named Ace appropriately, for "security" but I think it has more to do with giving Damien a friend. A black guy shows up and we are quickly shown that this guy is NoBody, and Bruce already knows him. The guy is an acolyte of Henri Ducard, a former trainer of Bruce's, and he promises the usual, "You'll pay soon enough" kinda thing and disappears.

Verdict: B-. I'm getting tired of the same old kind of thing with Bruce and Damien, so maybe somethign will happen to break that monotony soon enough. And this villain just seems kind of weak honestly.

Batwoman 2

Batwoman is once again, short on content and long on the art. The art in this book is just out of this world, but I feel that it doesn't lose much with story. It might be one of the best books of the week. We open with two page spread of a fight that does a number of things well: There's dialogue, action, x-ray attacks that, as a Mortal Kombat player, appeal to that part of me, and finally we are shown the current members of Batman Inc. Some of these surprised me, especially continuity-wise:

Chief among the surprises- Renee Montoya- the Question, Catwoman, Red Robin (in his original costume), Lady Blackhawk, Azrael, and Huntress. Not sure why some characters are outlined completely in white, but I'm anxious to know more. The issue continues, as Batwoman regrets her decision for turning Batman Inc. down, and there's a lot of focus on the missing children and haunted water thing. The book also features Agent Chase pushing maggie Sawyer to turn Batwoman over to teh government, which doesn't go over well as date conversation for the Captain and her date, Kate Kane. Eventually, Batman shows up to warn Batwoman that Chase is insane and drops a line about taking on sidekicks.

All in all, a pretty decent issue that ends with Batwoman being swallowed by water, which is not as dumb as it sounds, I promise.

Verdict: A-. Another ok book made really good thanks to JH Williams and his art. Certainly worth buying in paper rather than digital, once again, because of how tough it is to see page spreads on a viewer.

Deathstroke 2First off, there is a misleading cover to this issue, where we are promised a "carpocalypse" which never comes. Second off, we are once again shown this suitcase MacGuffin from the last issue and we still don't know what is inside, but apparently its horrible and its related to Slade. Anyway, we have something similar to what we've come to expect from Slade: tracking down the guy who hired him, killing him and at least 30 other people in the process. Seriously, the kill count by page ten is 23. Finally, the giant machine guy from the cover arrives and is subsequently killed a page later. Turns out, he planned for this huge massacre so that the media would film all his rampage, and now Slade will get hired for any job. At least 100 people dead by the end of the issue, and all for what boils down to a video resume.

Verdict: B-. The comic is exactly what you would expect and nothing less. Its liek the Expendables- its not a great film, its not smart, or anything new- but its all action, all the time and if that's what you're into, this is your comic.

Demon Knights 2

Demon Knights continues to surprise me with how fun the story is, despite having a bunch of characters I can't stand in it, and being set in a time that I don't really care about. Honestly, I think I just like it because Vandal Savage is written like Brave and the Bold's Aquaman, who might be my favorite character on that show. Case and point:

So, we last left the newly crafted team (which I will henceforth refer to as the Maleficent Seven) in a tavern as dragons were attacking. Not surprisingly, they kill off all the dragons, and Exoristos makes a dick joke for the 5th time in two issues:

And since the dragons don't work out, the evil king and queen decide to just burn the village to the ground with a meteor. Simple issue overall.

Verdict: B. Its a solid issue, but a bit too action-y for any character development to happen. Hopefully this tem will get fleshed out more in the next issue.

Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE 2

With this issue, we take a complete turn from the kind of adventure we had last time. Well, not completely, but enough that its a very different tone. The Monsters find out that this town has killed a kid and dumped their body into the lake as a sacrifice to the monsters that live through a portal at the bottom. The monsters got tired of waiting and came early and killed the whole town this time. After saving all the kids from the town, the monsters evacuate, except for Frank and Nina who go into the water to get info on this portal. As they fight monsters down there, we get Nina's backstory. Where she was human and tried doing monster experiments before but she accidentally made them insane and they had to be killed after killing a bunch of people. She joined her test subjects this time, and that's how she, and the other creatures, ended up the way they are. The team returns to SHADE and teleports to the other side of the portal where there are literally tens of thousands of these creatures... and the Bride fighting them all by herself.

Verdict: B. Its certainly a step down from the wonder that was the first issue, but its still got a lot of good stuff. Plus, and this is just incidental, but this pairs really nicely with Demon Knights. Like watching Game of Thrones and then watching Fringe/ The Walking Dead.

Green Lantern 2

This issue can be neatly summarized as "Hal Jordan was a terrible choice to get a ring." And if you think that might be too subtextual, you're wrong and the comic reminds you of that every other page as Sinestro just berates him constantly. Sinestro creates a ring out of his own for Hal so taht Hal will go with him to save Sinestro's planet from the Yellow Lanterns. That's pretty much the whole issue, save for a nightmare-ish Yellow Lantern appearing and Sinestro cutting him in half.

Verdict: A-. Johns continues to hit this one out of the park, and I will definitely continue reading this book.

Mister Terrific 2

I have to say that I'm disappointed in this book. The first issue seemed to have a lot going for it, but this thing honestly reads more like a chore. Holt saves himself from the rage disease with one of his T-spheres which apparently got rid of the disease in some deus ex machina way. Karen (Power Girl, still without powers) and the jealous black girl help stop the nuclear reactor that Holt set off in the last issue, and then Brainwave, our big villain arrives and infects a ton of people with the disease and they attack Holt.

Verdict: C-. It's incredibly boring really, and I'm just not in the mood to keep reading a series that bores me and doesn't at least deliver Power Girl. I might read another issue, but this thing might as well be DROPPED.

Suicide Squad 2

Man, am I happy I gave this title another shot... Every character on the team gets fleshed out and they fight zombies, eventually leading to the big bad from the movie Slither, which is so fun that you hardly notice the travesty of their costumes. I still miss Deadshot's facial hair, and most of Harley's clothes, but to be honest, I actually like the blurred makeup look on her. I think it opens her face up to being more emotion-conveying. The pther thing about this series that I always enjoyed- everyone is expendable, and every issue, one more from the team will die. This time, what would arguably be the heaviest hitter for the issue bites it, which just goes to show you that no one is safe, and that's a rare feeling in a comic, outside of a major event.
Verdict: B. While its not perfect, the issues is 1000 times better than its predacessor, and that's something. Its no Secret Six, like DC wants readers to think, but it might get close enough that I don't mind. Only time will tell.

Superboy 2

Superboy, for me, is just kind of a stick in the mud. The story, for me, doesn't go anywhere new. Despite the fact that we were teased a "Superboy going after the Titans" story last month, that never really happens. Sure we get to see Fairchild and Rose Wilson, but its all pretty bland. I've never really liked Superboy that much, and for me, I liked him best when Johns had him as a Titan, and then killed him in Infinite Crisis. He's got a new personality everytime someone new writes him and that gets old fast.

Verdict: C-. A nowhere story with decent artwork should mean a DROP, but if it ties to Titans, I think I should stick, so I'm kinda in the middle here. I'll probably read it next month and my my final decision, but for all intents and purposes, it is DROPPED.

My Greatest Adventure 1

Remember when I talked up Weird Worlds a few months back? No? Well, go look it up and come back to me. Ok, now that everyone is up to date, this book is like a sequel, but with Robotman instead of Lobo. The problem is- I don't care about any of these stories. The Robotman one was ok, but I kinda want to know how he works in the New 52 universe if the Doom Patrol never existed. Plus, his story has zombies. So... B+. Next is Garbageman whose story is told out of sequence, but without any tags to tell us that so its just as much of a mess as he is. C-. And finally, there's Tanga whose story was actually incomprehensible. I feel liek they are trying to make her a sexy Lobo here but that fails because she just seems like a blue skinned valley girl who gets hit a lot and has anger issues. The good art though, moves it up to a D. So, add all those up and you get...

Verdict: C. Its not great and I might read the Robotman story next month but this book is definitely DROPPED, as far as I'm concerned.

The Shade 1

Finally, we have the Shade series that no one asked for. Surprisingly, this reads as one of the better books of the month. We don't get to see him use his powers but one time at the end, and most of the issue focuses on him and the blue Starman hanging out and drinking tea talking about how much the Shade, who is immortal (if you didn't know that, its ok, the comic reminds you at least ten times) hates October, and how the new Starman is a big fruit- and may or may not be in a gay relationship with a gorilla with the mind of a 1930's explorer. Like all comic relationships- its complicated. So, one night the Shade is taking a stroll and Deathstroke shows up and as all meetups go, the two fight. Then Shade gets decapitated. The end. Wait, what? Yeah... I had to double check to see if this was a one shot because I think the whole immortal thing only applies to age-ing, not straight up being murderproof. But this is definitely a series, so I guess I will have no choice but to come back next month.

Verdict: B+. Its another solid issue with a character I never thought I would like, but here we are. Still kinda wondering how his origin makes any sense post New 52, though. Maybe that's why he got killed?

So another week down, just in time for a new batch to arrive. We lost three books, so check the score post for info on what's still in and what's out.