The New 52

Please note these reviews are not in depth and any history contained is extremely abridged. If you want more detailed information use Wikipedia like a normal person.

Two weeks ago DC re-launched there universe with Justice League #1. With a story by Geoff Johns and art by the fantastic Jim Lee this book that was to be the backbone to DC's new universe was sure to be amazing. Unfortunately it wasn't...at all. Don't get me wrong it’s not that the story was bad; the problem was it was average…painfully average. For something that had a lot of hype and two of the best creators DC has to offer working on it, I should have been wowed and I wasn’t. After all the trash and whining and moaning about what DC was doing I had hoped they would prove me wrong and they didn’t.

Honestly I didn’t want to be right I want the best from my comics. Then came last week and everything became …brighter. The first comic I read was Static Shock #1 and Scott McDaniel knocks it out the park.  I was worried about this book because Static means a lot to me. There are few African American heroes, fewer still that I actually truly become invested in. So as a kid when we get a young African American hero, one who is a bit of a science dork I was sold. I learned to use a VCR (what we used before DVD and DVR) to record episodes of Static Shock. So it was good to not only have Virgil back, but being completely awesome, lets just say I was smiling all through this book. 

Next up was Hawk and Dove, which I promptly dropped like it was on fire and sending anthrax through my system. I have no idea what went on in this book or if the story was good because as soon as I saw Rob Liefeld’s art I went into a seizure. Talking about Liefeld is not something I want to get into but I don’t understand how he still gets work. He can’t still be coasting by because of Cable and Deadpool can he? Whenever I see Liefeld’s art only one thing comes to mind:

Batgirl. This is probably the most controversial book in DC’s new 52. They took Barbra Gordon who had been in a wheelchair and acting as Oracle for years, and gave her back the ability to walk and put her back in the cape and cowl. Putting aside the fact that DC just lowered their diversity level again; I think Barbara was a better character as Oracle. Good thing for us the writer wading through this quagmire is Gail Simone. Thinks to Ms Simone’s excellent writing we pull through this, and while the reason for Barbara Walking again is glossed over as a miracle; the sharp writing, excellent characterization, and accurate portrayal of someone who has suffered a trauma made this something I will continue to pick up.

Batwing #1 By Judd Winnack was excellent. It really felt good to follow relatively new hero David Zavimbe as he fights corruption as a cop and  finds his way as Batman’s agent in Tinasha (which is a City in the democratic Republic of Congo). David is fierce and intuitive but also soft spoken. I don’t have the best grip on his character at the moment but I am guaranteed to find out more, because if this were a normal top pick post, this would be at the top. I’m can’t wait for this to continue.

As this new universe continues and we get more and more triumph (and occasional stumbles) I know that I still have excellent stories in front of me. Its too bad the flagship wasn’t better but I think it suffers from the fact that just about everything coming from this new universe is being built up from that book. I hope that once it catches up to the rest of the new universe (everything in Justice League happens 5 years before everything else) that it will start being awesome.

Titans take it. Well a Titan

It took some thinking about what comic I would review this week.  I finished Teen Titans #100 and i was like this is it the best book I'm gonna read this week I have to review this despite the utter BS DC is about to pull on us (more on that later).  This book despite being mainly a long fight scene plus an epilogue 
 was obviously a love letter to some of my favorite characters in the DC universe. When I was done all I could think was "Damn this would have been an amazing run if the whole universe wasn't getting rebooted in September"




Then later in my stack I read Kid Flash Lost #3 (also a DC offering) and I went "oh Bart not again" and as much rage I felt for the outcome of this book and the editorial and reasons it happened, I also felt that it was one of Bart Allen's finest hours and I wished the higher ups had respect for these characters. In short this post will be about one of my favorite Teen Titans Bart Allen and Teen Titans #100 will have to get its review in another post.

Before I dig into Kid Flash Lost #3 a brief overview of what is going on in DC is needed. Currently the DC universe is running their big summer crossover event Flashpoint. To make a long story short A flash villain changed the world, and now the Flash is trying to rally heroes (who don't remember how the world is supposed to be) to fix it. Kid Flash Lost is a tie in to the larger story that covers what the time displaced Bart Allen (the titular Kid Flash) is doing during this time. This last issue the art is a bit of a mess (it happens sometimes with multiple artists) but it kinda works. Bart is bouncing through time the speed force controlling his random destinations and his body is deteriorating. The rough art adds to that pain Bart is feeling as the speed force makes him encounter other speedsters from his life, and clad in black flash armor, forces him to drain their speed and kill them.

Apparently the speed force has decided that the only way to set everything right is to have Kid Flash deliver all this extra speed energy to the Flash and after a touching scene between Barry (The Flash and Bart's grandfather)  and Bart where the two finally understand each other...

Keep being awesome Bart no matter what happens

Bart delivers the speed Barry is going to need and evolves into the White flash the embodiment of the speed force and disappears forever (until the universe reboots anyway).  I had so many feelings about this guys like I said its one of Barts finest hours. The problems he had with his grandpa has been addressed and solved and if he had to go out he went out at the top of his game higher than any flash has achieved and his death was a repeat of the iconic flash death from Crisis on Infinite Earths. However I am furious that they killed him off again, and for the same reason, to make room for Barry Allen who I find boring. This is a trend at DC they don't have faith in their new characters don't give them time to grow and shine they sweep them away to make room for their old characters.

Not to disparage the original characters but really don't give us awesome new characters that we love then kill them off for shock or to just ignore them. The original characters started a legacy and you should give the new guys a chance to live up to it. Wally West (my favorite Flash) probably won't exist come september. A year or so ago they killed of Ryan Choi  an asian character that took over for the Atom. Not long after the Atom came back they ignore Ryan then kill him. Cassandra Cain another asian character who became Bat Girl and later Black Bat, has been screwed over so much in the last few years of continuity that I don't have room to list the grievances.

The list goes on and on I have more examples but this post is already suffering from TL;DR but I'd like to end it off by saying I had been against this reboot from the first I heard of it but I'm trying to let my rage subside and just see where they take me. At one point I said come September I'm not reading any of their stuff, but who am I kidding I'm obviously too emotionally involved in these characters and I have to know what's going to happen to them, how will they change, and if I can still identify what made me love them. As a friend of mine said: "I just hope I get good comics"