Upcoming: “Red Hood & the Outlaws” #17 (DC)

Mico Suayan is an incredible artist… I shared the art for Red Hood & the Outlaws #18 a little while back, but for some reason missed the cover for #17. Abhinav reminded me on Twitter, so here it is, in all its awesome glory:

I really like the play on the Death in the Family artwork, which chronicled Jason Todd’s murder at the hands of the Joker. This issue comes as part of the Death of the Family cross-title story-arc, lead by current Batman-writer Scott Snyder. (Which I have not read, I should mention – so no spoilers in the comments!)

Red Hood & the Outlaws #17 will be published on Feb.20th 2013, and is written by Scott Lobdell, with internal art by Timothy Green II.

Upcoming: Red Hood & The Outlaws #18 (DC)

This is a very simple art/cover post. Just look at this cinematic artwork for the 18th issue (published March 20, 2013):

The stunning cover is by Mico Suayan. The series continues to be written by Scott Lobdell, with internal art by Timothy Green II. Here’s the issue synopsis:

Jason Todd suffered terribly at the hands of The Joker in DEATH OF THE FAMILY, and now he’s changing the Outlaws’ mission! Something is bound to break with all that’s happened… will it be Jason’s soul?

The Next BATMAN “Epic” Event (DC Comics)

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.)

Comics Round-Up (Mar.21) the Second

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

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…).

Comics Round Up (Nov.16)

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).

DC New 52: This Week’s Chosen

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.