DC New52 - Red Lanterns #0 (Atros Needs a Wing-Man)

If you're not a DC fan, just haven't been reading any Green Lantern comics lately, or if you abandoned all things Lantern after all that Brightest Day crap, you may not be aware that there's all these additional colors out there.  They're all based on core emotions from all beings and tied to ancient entities.  All of them have corps associated with them, and even though we never knew it, Star Sapphire is part of the emotional spectrum love and Sinestro using the yellow power of fear has formed the Sinestro Corps.  There's also the Orange spectrum of greed, which only has a single member: Larfleeze.  As well as the Indigo Tribe (compassion) and the Blue Lantern Corps using hope.  Finally, the "Blackest Night" crossover series showed that there is also a Black Lanterns fueled by death & a White Lanterns using life.

Which brings us to the color absent in the description above: Red.  Red is not just powered by anger, but is driven by pure rage.  So powerful is this emotion, that it renders the wielder of the red ring unable to speak, with liquid lava spewing forth from their mouths.

I really liked seeing red ring-slingers in action in the War of Light & some of their other appearances up to the New52 reboot.  I thought having such power would be difficult to maintain and properly guide, so many of their characters would be conflicted & I enjoyed how many of them obtained their rings.  Mostly tragedy and such, and rather than rising above it and using it (ala Batman), these guys take their power rings and let the rage envelop them.

When I saw they would be getting their own title, I was excited and after reading this zero issue, I'm really looking forward to continuing.  I don't really know how / if they're going to tackle 'the blood spewing forth and not able to communicate' thing... They may very well dust that under the rug & say they can talk just fine.  I dunno.  Furthermore, when a red ring is worn, you not supposed to be able to take it off (something about it taking the place of your heart or something - I forget).  These questions however, want to make me continue with this title.

In this Zero issue, we see Atros becoming Atrocitus after getting down and dirty with a really gnarly lookin demon from Sector 666.  Seriously... where does he put... how would he... you know?

Either those tentacles are a good thing, or a bad thing... Not completely sure yet... 

His visions basically show him that he'll be the leader of the Red Lantern Corps and we see him on a pile of bodies over top of the dead demons.  It's a good setup for someone that doesn't really know too much about this character and would like to find out more; someone like me.  I'm looking forward to continuing to explore what's presented within this title, as it seems the morality is left for the GL books, and maybe this one can explore some of the darker aspects of the emotional spectrum.  If it turns into a "We're evil, but we're going to be good." thing, I may have to abandon it.  I mean, hell, there's already like 4 other Green Lantern titles... Swatch swapping won't give me what I'm looking for here, but I'll hold off judgement until I read a few into this series....

"I don't know why I'm saying this rhyme, but I like it so much I'll probably chant it several more times in my book series."

DC New52 - Wonder Woman #0 (Throwback Thursday - on a Tuesday)

Close to what we got in some of the Batman Zero issue titles, this issue focuses on Diana's younger years before becoming Wonder Woman.  There's not really a whole lot here: the god of war trains her and pits her against a minetaur and she refuses to kill em.

It was a pretty forgettable story, but an enjoyable read.  Not the best 'jump-in point for new readers to get a sense of the New52 Wonder Woman, but it was decently written with a distinct stylized art that I wouldn't mind seeing more of.

DC New52 - Green Lantern #0 (Is this Pulp Fiction?)

So it looks like we get yet another Green Lantern from Earth in this New52verse.  I'm not really understanding what happened to Jordan or John Stewart at this point.  I know the preNew52verse had Jordan being stripped of his green ring, so maybe that's where this is from?  Either way, I'm a little tired of all the GL titles centering around Earthlings.  With the Corps reaching so many planets within our sector, wouldn't it be neat to see a book solely dedicated to a neighboring planet's race that also has to protect Earth and becomes part of the Justice League, etc...  I know the GL Corps books and New Guardians have some arcs where it'll follow someone, say Kilowag, around and such, but I'm talking a brand new race and some alien chicken that gets the ring and assigned sector 2814 and makes her presence known on Earth and sees there's a crapton of crap happening here so joins with the Justice League, taking the place of Hal?

Or we could get another dude on Earth that gets the ring... again.

What's kinda off putting is that they make it a point several times in this book to draw attention to the fact that Baz is an American despite his race.  I get it DC racism is bad.  But, man stop shoving it in my face: from BatWing having a fully armored suit except for his head so you can see he's black, to the Arabic tat on Simon Baz's arm that glows for some reason when he gets the ring (see cover), I really think you're trying too hard DC.  It's like reverse racisim or something... You're trying so hard NOT to be racist, that you're actually being racist.  They even make a point of pointing out people are being racist to Baz:

Ugh... anyway, something that was funny as hell about this issue is that it reminded me so much of that scene from Pulp Fiction it's hilarious.  I'm really not sure what the editors thought this was supposed to be, and let it go to print, but there's a whole lot of innuendos going on up in here...

I seriously thought the next panel would have someone saying, "Bring out the Gimp," & unless someone can prove it to me, I'm pretty sure we all just saw this Green Lantern rookie get raped.  I don't know what the future hold for the New52 universe, but if this guy sticks around, I'll forever and always remember he totally got the gang-bang initiation.

DC New52 - Green Lantern New Guardians #0 (Thanks for the Spoilers, DC!)

OK so I was under the distinct impression that all these Zero issues were supposed to be, as promised, issues featuring origins and jumping in points for new readers.  Most have lived up to this, while others have gone to tell origins of certain characters (most of which are due to the origin being told in the first arc of the New52 renumbering).  The other two zero issue Green Lantern books follow this pattern: GL Corps being about Guy Gardner and GL being about a newcomer to get the ring. (Reviews of the forthcoming.)

This one, Green Lantern: New Guardians is doesn't follow the above patterns at all.  Not only that, but it feels as though it actually goes out of its way to spoil anyone that may pick this up, not realizing it was smack dab in the middle of a story arc.  What ever happened to the editors not in the front saying, "This story takes place after issue #13," or whatnot?  We actually do get a few of those but it's only after a spoiler is said.

Think about it, you're a newb to comics, you see this cover with all these different ring colored people on it, notice it's issue zero, flip through and see some cool zombie cap and ring slinging, but it and start reading what is actually the middle of a story arc.  I think I would have even liked a preNew52verse recap of the entities, lanterns and colors than this.  Feels like a wasted opportunity.  If your reading through the New52verse starting from these Zero issues, please, do yourself a favor and skil this one; revisit it around issue 10ish of the GL New Guardians New52 books.  I'll be doing that jn the future and hopefully this craziness will make a little more sense.

DC New52 - BatWing #0 (I madz, so I am SuperHero!)

With the launch of DCs New52, a few new characters came to the forefront and got their own titles.  Some of these have been around for a while, and even though you may not like them, DC is determined to push them down your throats!  I'll be hitting some of those close to the end of my DC New52 zero issue romp, but I took the chance on one of the new character's series to emerge and read BatWing.  The result & verdict? Ehhhh.

So this dudes in Africa and gets all mad at these dude for beating up his bro.  He puts on a mask and goes on his own crusade.  That's about it for modivation.  It's honestly one of the most generic origin stories I've seen. The only thing that separates this guy from say... the Punisher, is that he decides not to kill.  This apparently impresses Batman (who's been all about recruiting Batpeople around the world) and this warrants Batman giving him a suit and saying, "Welcome to the BatFamily!"

Seriously...

"I mean, I appreciate it, Batman, but won't I look a little dorky with that mask on?"

"Yeah, I definitely look like a dork in this mask."

And so, I have a major issue with this character, right from the get-go: Every other person Batman had join him was seriously vetted and reluctantly let into Batman's crusade.  Robin (all of them) took a long time to get into that role.  Even all of the Batgirl throughout the pre New52verse had a really difficult time even being let into the Batcave...

This dude is totally given preferential treatment and I can't fathom how giving resources to those that decide to be super heroes is a good thing.  I understand that Batman's going around recruiting people cause he can't be in China or Africa while chilling in Gotham, but comeon.  "Here, guy, go be Iron Man on my dime."

Anyway this is the whole reason I don't like Batman Inc.  The appeal is awesome: Batman formally being backed by Wayne and on a mission to gather a team of BatFolks around the world... sounds cool... but the execution is really boring.  Every issue of Batman Inc really doesn't have anything to do with Batman and I find the Batpeople prospects pretty damn boring.  Also, I cant help feeling that reading about them is probably futile, since it'll probably be a few years until we ever revisit them anyway.

But, I digress.

I only really read this because I see that this particular character is still around the BatFamily of books in this post New52 era, so I wanted to get on the ground floor.  Given how generic his origin is though, I am going to struggle with this one going forward.  Thank god his costume looks better in the newer issues I've seen out.  I mean really, the half-assed mask he's got on (presumably to show everyone how DC has equal-opportunity super heroes) is going to be a giant target to the first bad guy with a gun.  While I suppose the same thing could be said with all of the BatFolks, at least they all have some amount of training; this is just some dude with a vengeance - and a suit with a pointy earmuffs.

DC New52 - World's Finest: Powergirl & Huntress (S Is the Warmest Lettour)

This turned out to be a total surprise.  Given that I haven't read too far into the new 52 before these Zero issues came out, I was able to go into this story with truly virgin eyes.  I didn't even really acknowledge the title and was pleasently surprised when I uncovered exactly what this book was setting up: Power Girl and Huntress, who are presented here on Earth 2 as Supergirl and Robin respectively.  This is an origin story about two heroes from another world that will eventually become heros on our world & I couldn't be more interested in seeing how they cope with the events of their past that's laid out so brilliantly here.

Robin here is the daughter of Batman and Catwoman and is spurred into action after a tragedy befalls her mother.  Batman, barely able to fight, calls in Superman (who's busy) which subsequently brings Supergirl into the mix.  That's really all you get from this, other than a sense that these two may be lesbians in the near future...

I mean really, isn't SuperGirl's expression a little sexual?
No?  Just me?
Well fine, I'll believe what I want!

Anyway, this is a great entry point into the Earth 2 universe, and these character's pasts.  I'm looking forward to continuing with this title.

DC New52 - Batman and Robin #0 (Don't forget: Damian is bad ass!)

It seems that the powers that be are really trying to shove Damien down our throats, and want to make sure you think he's a bad-ass and not a whiny-ass...

Well, after reading Batman and Robin #0, I'm leaning more heavily toward bad-ass now.  For the uninitiated, Batman has a son. (This is like the only thing Grant Morrison's run on Batman did right... but I digress.) The wholeheartedly believe that original origin wasn't even fully fleshed out when the character was introduced: Talia Al Ghul had administered a toxin (can't remember if this was airborne or injected) which basically allowed her to rape Bruce.  It seems like after consideration, DC changed this in the New52 origin, where it shows Damien being a test tube baby - literally.

That's not a Chia-Pet growing in there!

While not much of a stretch, I kinda liked the previous iteration better.  How sinister was Talia to do this to her beloved?  And while I still think Batman would be pissed at her for machine-creating a baby with his DNA, I can't help but feel that the insidiousness of her plan was much more so when she made him jump her bones.  How much more betrayed would he feel from that single act of betrayal?  There's an unwritten rule when it comes to male / female nemesis interaction in comics, and other than the Dr. Light issue of Identity Crisis, I can't think of another time a villain has thrown those rules out the window.  But, DC backpedaled on that one and now Damien's a test tube baby.

Post New52, Damien's a test tube baby, but now baptized in blood.

Thankfully none of this diminishes what comes afterwords, in which we get to see the trials and tribulations Talia puts her son through as she trains him to be the heir to the demon.  It's truly the edge of cruelty to the minor as we see her run him through the gambit of training obstacles, and it's here where the book truly shines.  As he progresses, we see a longing to know his father's identity, at one point even having a very young Damien discovering the Batman cape & cowl in a somewhat touching foreshadowing moment.

Cute, albeit blatant foreshadowing.

This all leads up to the point where Damien met the Batman in the preNew52 verse.  I think this is a great introduction to the character, especially if you were not reading until now; however, you would have to read Batman pre-Final Crisis, Final Crisis, post Final Crisis, Battle for the Cowl, Return of Bruce Wayne and Batman, Inc to catch up to where the New52 would drop you off after this issue.  That's a lot of Batbooks, and I've almost certainly left one or two off of the list.  Damien could do it.  Why can't you?

DC New52 - Batman #0 | Detective Comics #0 (Nanna Nanna Nanna Nanna Batpast!)

So, keeping inline with reading the New52's zero issues, I'm elated to find some Bat-titles focusing on Batman's past.  However, after reading these issues, I really don't see how they bring anything new to the table (from the New52 perspective).  In other words, these tales could have been told a while back before this whole reboot.  That said, these are great books.  Well written and stylized, it reminds me why Bat-books are among my faves in comics.

Touching base on Alfred worrying about Bruce's absence, and Bruce training in Japan (& learning a very valuable lesson), these books go further than a movie can go about the dark knight's past.  In a great way, it goes about his first meeting with (then) detective Gordon, as well as his testing of equipment like the batterang in pursuit of eventually becoming what we all know and love.

These were great stories and never once while reading them was I not enthralled by the narrative or what was going on.  These are examples of how comics can be about superheroes without actually having anyone in costume... and how that can be a great treat.

I am a FRUIT NINJA, YO!

DC New52 - Ravagers #0 (I'm red, and naked!)

So what primarily serves as and origin story for Beast Boy and Terra, this titled is named Ravagers, simply because they already went through the Ravagers origin in the first Teen Titans / Legion Lost crossover: "Culling: Rise of the Ravagers."  Convuluted as it was, it told the story of all the characters being put in an arena-style fight club underground, where the mysterious N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (not kidding, this is literally an abreviation) is watching to see who makes it out alive.  These special teens would become Harvest's new group, the Ravagers.  Oh, and Harvest's some crazy mofo with black wings, a skull face, and he's from the future.  Got that?  Good.

So instead of trying to do anything like, I dunno... giving us more information on Harvest, or his plans or anything like that, "The Ravagers" issue 0 decides to give us a brief sidelong story about Beast Boy and Terra and their escape, and eventual meet-up with the other escapees.  Oh, then they leave.  So why would I care about these two if they're not even part of the Ravagers?  I dunno; hopefully it'll come into play if I decide to read about all these second-rate characters.  Or, maybe they'll just show up in the Teen Titans book and I'll already have their backstory stored somewhere in my comic-indexing brain.  Sorry, I don't mean to be so cinical (much), but I would expect the book title to actually be about characters that are part of that team?  At least the Teen Titans zero issue had a backstory about Red Robin; I know the entire story was about him solely and that may anger some Teen Titans fans, but reading it didn't feel like a waste of time if you're not a Batman fan.  You got some info about the main character of your book.  Here in Ravagers, I really don't feel like there was any benefit (in regards to my understanding of the team or any of its characters).

I suppose the primary reason for this to exist is to show Beast Boy being experimented on with red junk and turning all red and junk.  Also: gotta love it when a superhero spontaneously calls out their name - and this one does so as a cat!  How's that work anyway?  I didn't think cats had the necessary equipment.

And WHY OH WHY is Beast Boy naked?  Maybe other fans can answer this, but when he used to change in preNew52 days, was he naked after changing back to humanoid?

What's with the little bulge there, buddy?  Can't you morph just that part of ya to impress the ladies?

That said, I may continue reading The Ravagers and see if this pays off somehow, but I'm not sure if I can get through them yet, so no promises!  During the Culling story, I found myself completely board with the Legion Lost characters, and really skimmed those.  I don't normally do that, but if you throw a group of unknown heroes together, you'd better get me in the first few issues.  Throw in time-travel mumbo-jumbo tech in there that feels forced and off-putting, it's a hard sell for me to get invested in.

Dynamite - Warlord of Mars #6-9 (John Carter kills... ALOT!)

So, in continuing my romp through Barsoom (of Mars series, or more precisely, Dynamite Entertainment's 2010 - 2014 run: Warlord of Mars), I'm beginning to get a little annoyed with the main character, John Carter.  At first, he seemed as though he was willing to fall inline with the tribal customs of the Tharks, even rising to the rank of Jeddak (ala Dances with Wolves).  Then he suddenly blasts through a bunch of Tharks after joining with another faction of 'red men'.  Trying to read this series and get the policitcal factions straight was rough, especially with John constantly changing aliegences, all in pursuit of a girl he just met!

And that's what bothers me so far.  John barely met this nude red woman and is willing to slaughter another tribe of Tharks & Zodanga (red humanoid Martians) forces, all in attempt to rescue said girl.  Granted, she's hot and half-nude, and there may have even had a few 'moments,' but launching yourself into a killing-spree trying to rescue her doesn't seem all that believable... Unless you're Mario; really though, he only squished mushrooms and threw turtles around, right?

Either way, John eventually does convince Tar Tarkas to unite the Thark factions and go up against Zodanga & the other dude who's trying to get all up on that princess.  Man, all I can say is that I hope for John she's good in the sack.  Or worse... wouldn't that suck to go through all this and learn red Martians don't have genitals?  Gotta give John credit though, he interrupts the wedding in one of the most spectacular ways I've ever seen this cliche played out!

AND......

John comes with his posse, yo!

And then the Tharks kill everybody.... and I do mean EVERYBODY.

Butt (pun intended) at the end of the day, I guess being a homicidal maniac really does pay off, cause John does get some of that red strange:

Šuŋgmánitu Tȟáŋka Ób Wačhí (Dances with Wolves), be damned!

DC New52 - Earth 2 #0 (Is this a recap?)

So I really feel like I'm missing something here. DC put out this month of prequel zero issues a few issues into their new 52 reboot as a sort of intro / origin for each title... Chances are if I had read issues leading up to the Zero issue, maybe I'd know what's going on. Wouldn't that go against the spirit of what these zero issues are supposed to be?  And for the guy that's slow to the starting line & reading in chronological order, Zero is before issue one.  If that's the case, why am I presented with this recap, and at the end get a "Continued in issue 5" ?!?!?!

All that said, this story is pretty well written, but without any further context, I'm being spoon fed a story about a character that's a hero on an alternate world believing he has to blow it up to solve the world's issues.  (Too bad I just saw the same plot in Avengers: Age of Ultron.)  I saw spoon fed because I have a hard time believing this guy totally pulled one over on Batman.  Either way, his synthetic Opal Kryptonite made Supes bitch slap Wonder Woman which was epic, so I'll give this hero-turned-villian the benefit of the doubt.

So all-in-all, while I am definitely interested in checking out Earth2, I'm a little confused by this book.  I get there's only one issue to lay down a little backstory, but having a little blurb about their only being 8 supers and that this Mr 8 saw the future of their world, but also other realities, in a small little panel has me wondering wtf is going on.  Furthermore, the back page paragraph of this zero issue mentions the big 3 are dead on Earth2, so again, wtf was up with them living at the end of this story with Mr. 8 explaining that they are needed for saving his world?!?!

I'm cool with all these things if they're flushed out and explored in the Earth2 series.  As I read more, I'm hoping this is the case, and I'll just take this Zero issue as a foreshadowed intro.