That’s a rather grand title. Rather than some deep analysis of why super-heroes should be based and from all over the world, this was just inspired by the fact that a). three super-heroes (at least) have re-located, and b). New York and Gotham have become ridiculously over-populated by super-heroes in Marvel’s and DC’s lines.
Following less than a year after the (admittedly successful) Night of the Owls Batman series event, DC Comics is unrolling yet another – and this one’s even bigger. It is, however, the return of the Joker, so it will undoubtedly be pretty epic (especially considering what happened to the psycho at the start of the New 52). Here’s what Scott Snyder told LA Times’ Hero Complex, when asked about the Joker’s relevance to the series:
“To me, he’s the greatest villain of all time, because what he does is he forces us more than any other villain in comics, and any villain I can think of in really any medium, to look at our own worst fears about ourselves. So that’s the power he has over his enemies, is that he looks at you with these very cold eyes, and he sees the things you’re most afraid of in yourself, the things you’re most afraid are true about yourself, and then he gleefully brings those things to life and makes a case as to why those things are the total of who you are, and why you’re no good. You know, we’re only as good as our villains.”
I’m not sure that all fans will be particularly happy with the extent of the series, and there will be inevitable moaning about “having to buy so many extra/more issues/comics”. Well, that’s true, if you must have all the issues. I’m sure (at least, I hope) the overall story will be written in such a way that it won’t be absolutely necessary to read every single one of the issues. I’ve included the publishing schedule below – although, the cover images available and included below may contain minor spoilers.
(Images of the Joker leaked months ago, much to the chagrin of Snyder and Capullo, so I figured because they were already out there – and also on DC’s website – it wouldn’t be a problem to include them in this post.)
There’s been much discussion in the comics community about the New 52 “#0” issues, and so I decided I’d try to get a few of them read and reviewed for the website. I thought of them as another chance to get started with a new series and also some extra information and back-story for series I’ve already read a good deal of and enjoyed. I wasn’t able to get as many as I was interested in, but I’ll keep trying to find more (I just don’t have as much time as I used to, when the New 52 were first launched). I’ll certainly attempt to get the #0 issues for some of the series I never tried, but always wanted to (the Green Lantern series, for example, of which I’ve tried none; and also Flash; and a selection of others).
What I would say, though, is that these issues don’t all appear to work as proper introductions – a few of them lay out future storylines, or make allusion to events that have already happened in the main series chronology. In addition, there are some more revelations about how the New 52 is meant to be interpreted – especially on the Batman side of things, which appears to have been rather messed up by these zero issues… (which Newsarama has compiled in a handy post).
Reviewed: Action Comics, Batgirl, Batman, Batman & Robin, Batwoman, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Green Arrow, Justice League, Nightwing, Phantom Stranger, Superboy, Supergirl, Wonder Woman
Another busy week – with some new series and also the end to one of my favourites. There were also some surprisingly good issues, too – not because I was expecting bad issues necessarily, but they just exceeded my expectations.
Reviewed: Catwoman #9, Cobra #13, Grimm Fairy Tales #72 & #73, Guild Fawkes (One-Shot), Irredeemable #37, Justice League #9, Magic: The Gathering #4, Mind MGMT #1, Neverland: Hook #5, Nightwing #9, Resident Alien #1, Smoke & Mirrors #3, Star Wars: Darth Vader & the Ghost Prison #1, Wolverine & the X-Men #9
Some big things happening in this collection of comics – we have the next salvo in the battle between the Avengers and the X-Men over the fate of Hope and the Phoenix Force; two introductions to the Night of the Owls Batman event; some voodoo shenanigans in New Orleans; the beginning of an adaptation of a mega-selling crime thriller; a continuing epic space opera; UFOs and American politics; and a broken mutant. All-in-all, an excellent week.
Sadly, with my new strict budget, I wasn’t able to get the other exciting issues released this week – specifically, Justice League #8, Catwoman #8, Red Hood & The Outlaws #8, Defenders #5, Dawn of the Jedi #3, No Place Like Home #3, Secret #1 and Manhattan Projects #2. Maybe in the future, during a quieter week.
Reviewed Herein: Avengers vs. X-Men #2, Batman #8, Nightwing #8, Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child #2, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo #1, Saga #2, Saucer Country #2, Wolverine & the X-Men #8
This is a very good week for comics – not only did I really like a couple of the new IDW issues (particularly Smoke & Mirrors), but the crop of DC titles is stellar, as were the others I picked up. Two debut issues, five seventh innings, two second outings, and a final chapter.
There’s one other comic that I picked up this week, but have not included here, and that’s Freedom #1 – it’s a bumper issue (more a graphic-novelette, really) and so I’m going to give it a separate, more in-depth review of its own.
In the meantime, here are mini-reviews of ten pretty great comics.
Reviewed: Avengers X-Sanction #4, Batman #7, Catwoman #7, Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child #1, Justice League #7, Nightwing #7, No Place Like Home #2, Red Hood & the Outlaws #7, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #2, Super Crooks #1
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…).
A Batman-themed DC New 52 review round-up
Here we have my slightly delayed reviews for last week’s New 52 titles (I was away, and didn’t take the comics with me). This week, the titles are all Batman-related: Batman, Birds of Prey, Catwoman, Nightwing and Red Hood & The Outlaws.
[Reviews of the first and second issues here and here, and Catwoman here.]
There was also the latest issue of Justice League, but as I’ll be reading all three issues at the same time, I’m saving it for a separate post (which will also include a review of all three Superman issues – the latest of which came out November 23rd – and also Swamp Thing and Teen Titans).
This week we have issue two of the new Batman, Birds of Prey and Nightwing. Also this week, I decided to give Red Hood & the Outlaws a try, so I picked up the first two issues (I go into why, below). These are all Batman-related titles, too, so if you’d like to see what I thought of the first issues, check out this link.
It’s getting harder to cull the titles that I’m following, as many of the titles (overall, not just these four) have improved into their second month. There is, however, one that drops off this week.
A look at four of the eleven new Batman titles
Batman is the DC character I’m most familiar with – largely because of the movies, it’s true, but I think I may have read a couple of issues when I was younger. So, with the re-boot of so many Batman-related titles, I decided to pick up a selection to get reacquainted with the characters and the setting. I stuck quite conservatively to two specific Batman titles, and two ‘spin-offs’.
