Comic Info
Comic Name: Various
Publisher: DC
Writer: Various
Artist: Various
# of Issues: 12
Release Date: September 21, 2011
The New 52 continues to roll out at your local comic bookstore. The crowds are getting bigger and the titles are getting harder and harder to find. New 52 Week 3 included Twelve new first issues which were released on September 21 and include Batman #1, Birds of Prey #1, Blue Beetle #1, Captain Atom #1, Catwoman #1, DC Universe Presents #1, Green Lantern Corps #1, Legion of Super-Heroes #1, Nightwing #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws #1, Supergirl #1, and Wonder Woman #1.
Not reviewed: Catwoman #1, Green Lantern Corps #1, and Supergirl #1
Batman (2) #1
Batman #1 Scott Snyder—Writer; Greg Capullo—Artist. Batman was the hot buy of the week. The store I went to sold out in minutes. It was a pretty good story and shows a lot of potential. It seemed to take the idea of the “Batman Family” more to heart with Bruce, Damian, Tim, and Dick all involved in the story. The art is strong and this one could be hard to find.
VERDICT: Buy it. The series sets up an interesting mystery, and it is nice to see the gang back together—BASEMENTREJECTS REVIEW of Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls
Birds of Prey (3) #1
Birds of Prey #1 Duane Swierczynski—Writer; Jesus Saiz—Artist. Birds of Prey has a pretty intriguing set up and the potential of being one of the better of the New 52 if they really get it going next issue. It was nice to see the newly walking Barbara Gordon show up in this issue and the set up the new Birds was interesting. It also has a good shock ending that I didn’t see coming.
VERDICT: Will probably buy the next issue to see where it goes. Worth checking out—BASEMENTREJECTS REVIEW of Birds of Prey Volume 1: Trouble in Mind
Blue Beetle (3) #1
Blue Beetle #1 Tony Bedard—Writer. Ig Guara—Artist. The Jaime Reyes version of the Blue Beetle has never been my favorite character and despite only being a few years old, this comic relaunches him with a new origin. I think it would have been better to start with the Ted Kord Beetle in this situation and brought in Reyes into the storyline to bring both Beetle fans together. The story insteads involves some space stuff and a fight over the scarab which transforms Reyes…Pretty basic and not horribly interesting.
VERDICT: Average. Not great, not bad…average. Not going to continue buying.
Captain Atom (2) #1
Captain Atom #1 J. T. Krul—Writer; Freddie Williams II—Artist. Captain Atom finds himself a power in the DC Universe once again, but the story doesn’t really seem to go anywhere. The art is ok, but it just feels like any other story.
VERDICT: Good to see Captain Atom back, but probably not buying anymore—BASEMENTREJECTS REVIEW of Captain Atom Volume 1: Evolution
DC Universe Presents #1
DC Universe Presents #1 Paul Jenkins—Writer. Bernard Chang—Artist. Paul Jenkins has done some good work in the past (the original Sentry and Inhumans mini-series were excellent…but ruined by further writing). This series just doesn’t have enough going for it. I can’t imagine an anthology series surviving in the New 52 and if it does it has to have more revelence than this series seems to have. Just not as interesting as it should be which is too bad since Deadman is an interesting character.
VERDICT: Interesting character squandered on a boring story—BASEMENTREJECTS REVIEW of DC Universe Presents Volume 1: Deadman & Challengers of the Unknown
Legion of Super-Heroes (5) #1
Legion of Super-Heroes #1 Paul Levitz—Writer; Francis Portela—Artist. Wow, not a reader friendly comic. I’ve read tons of Legion of Super-Hero comics and still found this comic kind of hard to follow with lots of characters spanning from all over Legion history. If they are trying to introduce people to the new Legion this is not the way to do it. I did like the somewhat retro Legion art which was a bit remicent of Legion glory days.
VERDICT: Want to like it, but probably not going to continue—BASEMENTREJECTS REVIEW of Legion of Super-Heroes Volume 1: Hostile World
Nightwing (2) #1
Nightwing #1 Kyle Higgins—Writer; Eddy Barrows—Artist. After reading the new Batman #1, Nightwing became more interesting. It is good to see him back in Gotham and ditching the Bludhaven setting. It hopefully will mean more Batman interaction and more Batman villains. Nightwing seems to be setting up as the “happy-go-lucky” Batman…I just wish they could do it without involving the circus again.
VERDICT: On the fence on this one. It depends what direction it goes. It could just be a look through at the comic bookstore—BASEMENTREJECTS REVIEW of Nightwing Volume 1: Traps and Trapezes
Red Hood and the Outlaws (1) #1
Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 Scott Lobdell—Writer. Kenneth Rocafort—Artist. After being kind of impressed by Superboy, this is the Scott Lobdell that seems more familiar. The story was pretty weak and he managed to make almost every character in the story unlikeable. I do have to say the art for Red Hood and the Outlaws was pretty impressive. It would be nice to see Rocafort on a better book. Plus was up with Starfire? What a waste of a character.
VERDICT: Great art in a bad book. Not worth picking up.
Wonder Woman (4) #1
Wonder Woman #1 Brian Azzarello—Writer. Cliff Chiang—Artist. Another case of great art in a “meh” story. This book isn’t awful, but the art is fantastic. I have never been a fan of Azzarello’s dialogue. Everyone raved about 100 Bullets but I thought it was awful every time he tried to write dialect. His plotting however was ok. Maybe this book will be ok, but I’m leaning toward no.
VERDICT: Another great art book with average writing…Probably not picking up—BASEMENTREJECTS REVIEW of Wonder Woman Volume 1: Blood
This week was a bit weaker than the first or second weak. The Batman book was good and Birds of Prey was also interesting, but there were too many average books. Nothing was really awful, but nothing really grabbed me. I am still waiting to see how the Flashpoint mini-series really ties into this continuity and hope it is more than just the five issue mini-series. Next week’s Aquaman and Flash better reference it, or I feel the Flashpoint series was a complete waste of time.
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