I don't remember how long it's been since I did one of these. I don't take a lot of time to read comics, but sometimes I get around to it, like if I don't feel like doing anything else. So here we go:
Sword of Azrael by Dan Watters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I've been a fan of Azrael since the 90s but DC has never really been able to make the character stick. This doesn't change that. It's not as bad as Curse of the White Knight, but it's not really great. It gets bogged down too much in all the religious stuff and doesn't really focus on Jean-Paul Valley as a person.
Also, the art isn't very good. It's so crude that often it's hard to even tell what's happening. That certainly doesn't do this any favors.
They should just use my ideas for Azrael. Or they should let Tom King write the character. He'd actually get the character since so many of his stories focus on characters who have suffered trauma from war.
Speaking of...
Batman/Catwoman by Tom King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This series was basically DC's consolation present for Tom King and fans of his Batman run after cutting it from 100 issues to only 85. After the initial attempt to marry Batman and Catwoman was scuttled, this provides a do-over. It's sort of a "How It Should Have Ended" since it wasn't in continuity.
The story is mostly told from Catwoman's POV. It mixes past, present, and future. The past is during the first time Bat and Cat were together and trying to make things work. The Joker doesn't make this easy because Catwoman considers him a friend and doesn't like having to side between him and Batman. The present features the return of Phantasm from Mask of the Phantasm. She's come to Gotham to find the Joker, who killed her son, and starts killing a lot of people connected to Joker. Catwoman and Batman have married for real and yet she's still reluctant to turn on Joker. In the future, Bruce has died, his and Cat's daughter Helena is Batman, and Dick Grayson is the commissioner. When Catwoman tracks down the Joker and kills him, she becomes wanted for his murder by Dick and Helena.
It can be a little confusing sometimes to know which is present and past, but Catwoman's costume is mostly black in the past and gray in the present. The heart of the story is the conflict Catwoman feels between her criminal nature and her love for Bruce--and then Helena. As much as she wants to think she's still the independent alley cat who can't be trapped, her love does kinda trap her.
The main story is good though it feels a bit long. The "Tales" included afterwards are what really makes it worth reading. The short stories color in a lot of the details like how Bruce died, where/how the second wedding occurred, and Helena's childhood. A couple of the stories about older Bruce and Selina nearly brought a tear to my eye.
A lot of comics "fans" wouldn't like this because it's not slugfests, team-ups, and stuff like that. What King really does so well is to de-mythologize these characters so they seem human. Immature people who want simple characters, who want epic gods and goddesses, aren't going to like this--or most anything else King has done. But I love it because it is down-to-Earth and yet still entertaining.
The art is pretty typical DC stuff, which is better than typical Marvel stuff these days. My one nitpick is in the future parts they make Commissioner Grayson just look like his present day self with a beard. By this point he should be close to his 50s so he really should look older.
It's definitely worth reading to show us what could have been.
(Fun Fact: Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Huntress of Earth-2 was Helena Wayne, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. While I think they got rid of that Post-Crisis, the concept was used again in the WB series Birds of Prey that ran for one season in 2002-2003.)
Batman: Killing Time by Tom KingMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A mysterious McGuffin is stolen from Bruce Wayne's safe deposit box by the Riddler and Catwoman and then just about everyone--Penguin, Batman, the US government--are trying to get it. The history of the object and a Greek tragedy that has some relevance are also mixed into the narrative.
If you liked King's run on Batman and most of his other comics then you'll like this. If you're looking for lots of slugfests and team-ups and typical comic book stuff like that, then you'd be disappointed. Not an essential addition to the Batman mythos but it's still a good story.
Batman: Fortress (2022-) Vol. 1 by Gary WhittaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The world is blacked out by aliens seeming to use Kryptonian tech and Superman is nowhere to be found, so Batman assembles a ragtag team to find the Fortress of Solitude and get inside. For the most part it's a fun Elseworlds story with decent characterization. Besides Batman there's D'Ayl the Green Lantern who looks like a squirrel, Jackson aka Aqualad, President Luthor, and Emiko the Green Arrow's sister...or something. Emiko gets probably the least setup but the other characters are done pretty well.
Getting into the Fortress is a labyrinth that reminds me of Galaxy Quest when they're trying to get to the core of the ship and there are all these elaborate traps that seem like they'd be pretty inconvenient for Superman whenever he wants to get inside.
My only beef is the end is kind of silly. Kind of wish the author had found a better way.
(Fun Fact: the aliens wanting to try Superman for crimes his planet committed is like something I did in my book Girl Power #3: League of Evil when the Supergirl character is abducted by the Green Lantern-type group to stand trial. That was about 10 years before this. So there. In my story the whole arrest and trial was just to get her off Earth so a Galactus-type thing could destroy the planet; there was no clever twist like that here. Really they should have done one more issue for the trial and ending.)
Birds of Prey Vol. 1: Endrun by Gail SimoneMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Not really a consequential volume since this was wiped out in a little while by the "New 52" reboot that let Barbara Gordon become Batgirl again but for a little while it got the band back together: Oracle, Black Canary, and Huntress plus Hawk, Dove, and Lady Blackhawk. When someone threatens to expose their secrets, they have to find who it is and take her and her co-conspirators down.
It's good for what it is. Plenty of action and some banter and a little love that some snowflakes might find unsettling. There's no Harley Quinn to mess things up either, unlike that movie a few years ago. The art is normal stuff for that time period so it looks fine but nothing really spectacular--good or bad. Not recommended reading but if you're looking for something to while away an hour or two and catch up on this period of DC history then it's a good time.
Blue & Gold by Dan JurgensMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The original "Blue & Gold" came together in the late 80s in Justice League International. The new character of Booster Gold and the second Blue Beetle (recently acquired from the defunct Charlton Comics) became a great comedy duo that has appeared on-and-off for about 35 years, though sometimes they've been split apart or been "killed" or disappeared or whatever.
This lets Dan Jurgens (creator of Booster) bring them back together for a fun series. Having not been accepted in the Justice League, they decide to form their own "hero for hire" business. But it gets complicated when an alien princess lays claim to Earth and Black Beetle shows up. There are cameos by the Justice League, Guy Gardner, Rip Hunter, and Batman.
For anyone who wants a fun superhero comic, this is good reading. It's funny and light without being stupid. I'd read more if that was possible. The art is mostly pretty standard DC though it's lower quality (more like Marvel) for issue 7. I'm not sure why.
That is all.
Nightwing, Vol. 1: Leaping into the Light by Tom TaylorMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is I guess the re-re-re-(however many times) reboot. After Dick got shot in the head during Tom King's Batman run and had amnesia where he thought he was someone named Ric or something like that. But of course now he's back to normal--only now he inherits billions from Alfred's will--again see Tom King's Batman run.
This volume really just starts laying the groundwork for Dick's new status quo. He meets a new relative, there's a new villain called "Heartless" who takes hearts to keep in jars, and Blockbuster (basically Kingpin with hair) is still around. Plus Barbara Gordon is around. Dick sets out to embark on a socialist plan that even Bernie Sanders might think is too ambitious. And he gets a dog.
Overall it's pretty fun. A little heaviness in the story of his new relative and people's hearts being ripped out, but not enough to weigh it down. Tim Drake Robin, Titans, Superman, and of course Batman have cameos. The art is pretty typical DC stuff so it's not crude sketches like a lot of Marvel junk. Overall it's decent and a good foundation for the future that I think is new enough it hasn't been rebooted yet.
Fun Fact: In "The Hazards of Love" (Tales of the Scarlet Knight #3) back in 2009 I had a killer cutting out hearts though for a more specific reason. So there. Though I think "Heartless" is a better name than mine. So there.
Blue Beetle, Vol. 1: Metamorphosis by Tony BedardMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
If you read the original origin of Jaime Reyes's Blue Beetle in the 2000s then this "reboot" for the New 52 is pretty redundant. It's mostly the same story, only the way he finds the "scarab" is a little different and there's more about the aliens known as "the Reach" who use the Scarabs sort of the way Galactus uses the Silver Surfer. Otherwise pretty much the same thing as Jaime is a high school kid in El Paso who likes a girl named Brenda, whose aunt is a crime lord who collects artifacts and can do magic--like real magic. Jaime is bonded to the Beetle, which has some alien name, and has to escape from the aunt and some low-level supervillains and also battle another scarab that he used to save his best friend.
It's OK for the most part but like I said it feels mostly redundant if you already read the original. Both are still better than the movie though.
The Crow: Special Edition by James O'BarrMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
My literary hero John Irving has often talked about "writing as therapy" and suggested authors not do it, though he has not taken that advice several times himself. When you read the background of the making of "The Crow" you can very clearly see that this is writing as therapy. O'Barr's girlfriend was killed by a drunk driver and there was probably very little he could do to get revenge, so he created this elaborate fantasy where a man comes back from the dead to kill the killers. It's a story that since this was first created has been used many times in Hollywood for movies like Robocop and Darkman and even been used by me in my novel "Chance of a Lifetime." So it's almost become a trope by now where some innocent person is somehow revived to get revenge. I wouldn't say this is where it began, but it put a new spin on it.
This was the first time I'd ever read the comics but I've been a big fan of the movie since its release. I watch it every Devil's Night because that's when most of the story takes place. The movie and comic are very, very different. In some ways the movie is better as it defines a lot of things better like who Eric and Shelly are and the rules for the crow bringing Eric back to life. It's a lot murkier in the comics and without having seen the movie about 50 times I really wouldn't have known much about Eric except he can apparently fix cars or about Shelly except that she's pretty. The crow is just kind of around (and talks!) but there's not really any definition of its power. Even the scenario of how they die is a little murkier in the comics. Their car breaks down and these bad guys happen to drive by and murder them. Strangely it says this happened on I-75, which is a major highway, not some little country backroad. You'd think in the late 70s there'd be enough traffic that someone else would have passed by.
So I definitely think the movie is stronger for the most part, which then gives me a sinking feeling for a reboot that's based more on the book--supposedly. But you really have to admire O'Barr's passion poured into this therapy project. I think it's on the 10th anniversary DVD that I have of the movie where there's an interview with him and in talking about the background of the comics, O'Barr just seemed so sad that I wanted to give him a hug. Anyway, I hope he's doing better by now.
DC vs. Vampires, Vol. 1 by James Tynion IVMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This seemed like a pretty obvious move for DC, especially after the success of DCeased, which was essentially a zombie story set in the DC Universe. From the company that had two "I, Vampire" series and three Batman: Vampire Elseworlds stories is this out-of-continuity story where superheroes and villains are turned into vampires.
Overall it's pretty...blah. I mean I didn't hate it because it gives you pretty much what you expect. But a lot of stuff seems rigged so the bad guys can win and justify a second volume. Early on is like a less competent "Watchmen" where a couple of heroes die and that sets Batman and others into motion trying to figure out what's going on. The beginning features Andrew Bennett of "I, Vampire" delivering a dire warning. But he's basically too late.
Anyway, there are superheroes and villains and people being turned into vampires and others just being turned into corpses. If that's what you want, it's what you get and not really any more than that.
One thing I don't get: if Hal Jordan or another Green Lantern turns into a vampire, wouldn't the ring notify the Guardians? You'd think they wouldn't want their Lanterns turning into bloodsucking fiends murdering innocent people. I suppose Tynion would handwave this by saying their will overrode it or whatever but it seems like a plot hole--one of several.
DC vs. Vampires, Vol. 2 by James Tynion IVMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The first volume of this was pretty meh. It basically set up the idea that superheroes and villains were becoming vampires and taking over the world. This volume takes place years after that with vampires in total charge of the world. There are still heroes like Green Arrow, Black Canary, Constantine, Batgirl, and a lot of the Bat-Family un-turned.
These six issues focus on three plans: one to rescue humans on a "farm" in Smallville, one to get Supergirl her powers back after vampires blotted out the sun, and one to get into Gotham to kill the "king." And some stuff happens and then...there's no satisfying conclusion at all. Is there more to this? Maybe an upcoming sequel? Not that I desperately want one but this ended with not much actual resolution. And while Batgirl has a better costume this time, her role in this stinks.
The art this time is pretty meh. It's still as cartoony and middling as the first volume only there's no better style stuck in there for...reasons like the first time. Some stuff that happened was hard to understand with how weak the artwork was. Almost as weak as the story.
DCeased was a lot better because it did more with the characters. This doesn't really do a lot except turn some into vampires and kill others. It was nice that some lesser-used characters like Frankenstein and the Wonder Twins got into it. Overall though a pretty mediocre "event" for DC.
DCeased: War of the Undead Gods by Tom TaylorMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked the first two volumes of DCeased a lot more than I thought I would. It was even better than similar events like Marvel Zombies or Blackest Night. What I really liked was the new "Trinity" of Batman (Damian Wayne), Superman (Jon Kent), and Wonder Woman (Cassie...something). In the first book they're just young sidekicks but in the second book they grow up.
Unfortunately until the end this doesn't give them a lot to do. Instead because the disease has spread throughout the galaxy thanks to Darkseid there's a lot going on with "New Gods" and Darkseid destroying planets and adding those to their numbers. There's also the revival of Kal-El from the sun so he comes back and is involved a lot along with Green Arrow, Green Lantern Canary (formerly Black Canary), and Guy Gardner. Really I wanted the new Trinity to take charge, which they don't do until the final issue. There's also a lot of Alfred, who gains a new identity.
Still, it's an action-packed book and the story mostly makes sense, especially if you're more familiar than me with all the New Gods and cosmic stuff. The art is pretty standard for DC but it's clean and neat so you can tell what's happening and who's who, unlike some other comics.
The only thing that really ruined it for me was killing the greatest Green Lantern of all. Stupid poozers. While it says "the end" I'm sure they could do more, though I don't know how it could get any bigger than this. I'd just like to see more of what happens to this new universe as it tries to recover. That's always a sign of a good story when you don't want it to end.
Batman: Broken City New Edition by Brian AzzarelloMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
When Batman finds a mother and father dead and a child who's catatonic, he tries to find out who did it, which leads to a lot of red herrings involving another case. Azzarello worked on Dark Knight Returns III with Frank Miller and you can see Miller's influence in his Batman. There's no Alfred, Robin, the rest of the "family," or even Commissioner Gordon, just one detective. There are also some of the traditional villains like Killer Croc, Penguin, Scarface, and Penguin.
Overall it's fine if you like that Miller-inspired Dark Knight. A lot of punching and blood and tough guy talk like it wants to be a film noir. I didn't really love it and the art didn't help for me. It's that more primitive stuff I don't really like that much. The story and art aren't really bad either. Just didn't work that much for me. You might feel differently.
And there you have it.
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