Awesome BATGIRL Cover

I haven’t shared any comic cover art recently, After I spotted this one, though, I had to share it (thanks to Abhinav, who shared it on Facebook, which is where I saw it first):

It’s Alex Garner’s cover for Batgirl #24, which is part of Gail Simone’s “Wanted” storyline. It’s pretty good, no? Internal art is done by Fernando Pasarin and Jonathan Glapion. Batgirl is one of the best DC New 52 titles, and it has rarely dropped below very good. I’m waiting for all the issues in this storyline to be released (Volume 4, in the collected hardcovers), before catching up. I’m rather looking forward to it.

Two Years (ish) of DC Comics’ New 52

Someone asked me on Twitter if I was still reading comics (they pointed out I hadn’t posted many reviews of them lately). I have been, but because I’ve been reading them in big chunks, interspersed with work reading, as well as both fiction and (future-work-related) non-fiction books, I’ve been letting the comics reviews slide a fair bit. There is another reason, of course: not all of the comics have been single storylines, or complete storylines, which makes reviewing them really tricky. Once you get to around issue #10, anything you write about the story is likely to throw out spoilers. This, I think, is maybe a weakness of reading and reviewing comics on a weekly basis – and is really why I stopped doing that almost a year ago (that and financial considerations). Regardless, my insatiable need to read All The Things With Words means I have been reading a good number of comics via ComiXology’s app on my iPad. With the exception of the frankly phenomenal Hawkeye, I do not buy any issues full-price. I just can’t afford to. So, as and when things go on sale or are discounted (either one or two months after release), I’ve been collecting issues to read in bursts.

That being said, the number of series I’ve been reading has also been steadily culled. I usually give each series a single “volume” – that is, what would appear in a collected, printed trade hardcover or paperback. It’s been a useful way of separating storylines, as well as providing a “book’s worth” to review. (Ahem, if I bothered to review them, that is…)

So which of DC’s New 52 have I kept reading? Which ones will stay? And which will have to go, and why? Below is a brief run-down (by no means exhaustive) of the titles I’ve been reading, collected by theme/larger series…

[I may add to this, over time, as I remember other titles I’ve tried, or just think of something else I’d like to add.]

News! Gail Simone takes on Red Sonja!

The ever-awesome Gail Simone will be taking over writing duties for their fan-favourite series, RED SONJA!

Published by Dynamite Entertainment, Simone’s run will kick off with a brand-new #1 issue, to be published in July 2013. Hopefully this means it’ll be good for new readers… Interior art for the series will be provided by Walter Geovani

Red Sonja is a character I’ve been aware of for many years, and I remember watching the Red Sonja movie, many moons ago. In fact, I believe I even had a bit of crush on Brigitte Nielsen, who portrayed the titular character in that 1985 movie. It was released when I was only two years old, but I think I must have seen it around the age of eight or nine… For nostalgia’s sake, here’s the trailer:

Anyway, back to Simone and the comic. I haven’t had a lot of past reading experience of Simone’s work, and have actually only read the first nine issues of her current, storied run on DC’s New 52 Batgirl series (which is rather excellent).

More DC Cancellations & Intriguing New Titles

It’s spring-cleaning at DC once again, with six more titles getting the axe. From the initial New 52 series, we see the end of Deathstroke, Fury of the Firestorm, and The Savage Hawkman – all with their 19th issues.

From the “second wave” of New 52, we see Ravagers cut at issue #11. And, perhaps more depressingly in terms of longevity, Sword of Sorcery and Team 7 – both of which were only launched in September 2012, will end with their seventh issues.

Of these, I’ve only read Deathstroke and Savage Hawkman, both of which I’ve had mixed feelings about, so I’m not exactly sad to see them go. Fury of Firestorm I was actually quite interested in, seeing as it was co-written with Gail Simone. I’ve decided to pick up the collected editions, once they are all released. I also recently bought the five-issue (2004-7) run of the character, written by Dan Jolley with art by ChrisCross, as part of this week’s ComiXology Black History Month Sale. I’m sure I’ll pick up the collected editions of the other New 52 cancelled series in the future.

In related news, DC has also announced two new titles that will be coming soon. Taking cues from contemporary American politics, these two titles – The Greem Team and The Movement – could be quite interesting, if they are done well. The fact that Gail Simone is writing The Movement certainly bodes well, though.

The two books were announced over on Huffington Post (which was interesting in itself), and Bryan Young was able to get Gail Simone on the record about The Movement:

“It’s a book about power – who owns it, who uses it, who suffers from its abuse. As we increasingly move to an age where information is currency, you get these situations where a single viral video can cost a previously unassailable corporation billions, or can upset the power balance of entire governments. And because the sources of that information are so dispersed and nameless, it’s nearly impossible to shut it all down… It’s an adventure story, but it really isn’t about mad scientists and jewel heists, it’s more about the injustices that can affect real people’s lives, just tarted up in costumes and superpowers.”

Sounds very Occupy Wall Street. It will be interesting to see what the team comes up with.

The tag-line for The Green Team – “Teen Trillionaires” – makes me a little worried, though. I’ve never been keen on books that feature kids as heroes or so centrally – there is a tendency, that I’ve experienced, at least – that the characters are invariably terribly written. Perhaps the only exception that I’ve been reading lately is Batman & Robin, in which Damian (Robin) is actually a complex, nuanced and compelling character (I’ve read up to #10).

Comics: “Night of the Owls” & “Avengers vs. X-Men”

Here’s a quick, extra comics round-up for four issues I managed to catch up on recently. As you can gather from the title, it focuses on two on-going story “events”, one from DC and one from Marvel. I have very different feelings for the two of them.

Reviewed: Avengers vs. X-Men #3, Batgirl #9, Batman #9, Batman & Robin #9

DC New 52 Catch-Up: Bat-Family

And so, the final New 52 Catch-Up, in which I round off my reading with issues #4-6 of five series fr0m the extended Batman family: Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman, Nightwing, and Red Hood & the Outlaws.

All of these have strengths, a couple have weaknesses, and while I wish I could keep reading them all, a couple will probably be dropped from my pull-list (much as it pains me to do so…).

New 52 Catch-Up: “Batman & Robin”, “Batgirl” & “Batwing”

Three more of DC’s new Batman-related reboots

These three titles I decided to check out very much on a whim. I’d read the synopsis for Batman & Robin, and thought it sounded pretty interesting – Batman’s concern for this incarnation of Robin (his son) could bring a new and interesting aspect to the dynamic and his own actions that we don’t see in the other Batman titles. Batgirl… well, I knew nothing about the character, but the author of the series has a superb reputation (deserved, as it turns out), and someone at Forbidden Planet said it was a fun title. So onto the pile it went. Batwing was simply the last of the Batman-related New 52 titles that I hadn’t picked up (bar one – see the end of this post), so being the OCD fellow that I am, I decided to try that out as well. Thankfully, I felt that all three of these titles have something to offer, so they will possibly make frequent appearances on this site.