DC New52 - Blue Beetle #0 (Scarabs... Scarabs everywhere!)

I've never been much of a Blue Beetle fan.  The Ted Kord beetle story from the crisis lead-in was kinda cool.  Showed him being all dectective ala Batman, but I always thought, "Why not just read Batman?"  Anyway, after the old beetle bit-the-dust, a new guy came up all decked out in armor (ala Iron Man).  I thought, "Man, these Blue Beetle guys alway remind me of someone else."  Where this Blue Beetle is different though, is that he has a living suit, which DOES NOT want to have anything to do with him.  I thought it was an interesting take, and I put up with him in some of the major cross-overs preNew52 - still without much interest in really reading about his exploits in a solo book.

After reading this zero issue of Blue Beetle from DC's New52, I've changed that opinion!

First off, this book is beautiful.  The space backgrounds are some of the best I've ever seen in comics.  I wish Green Lantern books took their cue from these pages, because they are gorgeous!  The character are is also very well done, and at times reminds me of Mark Bagley during his 90's Spider-Man run.  I honestly felt a bit of nestalgia reading this from that.

The pacing of the story is a delight and I was honestly disappointed when I finished.  This is the embodiment of what the New52 should be about: Introducing new readers to the character, while showing something that makes you want more.  The beginning of this book begins with the Scarrab talking to Jaime Reyes about how he came to be.  At the beginning of this origin, we are introduced to a possible villian that will undoubtedly come back to haunt Jaime, as the scarab actually helped the young girl discover her powers.  Albeit, this scene is done a little too quickly, I understand the need to move past it & hopefully we'll get more info about this alien girl in the future.

The scarab goes on to tell Jaime about its adventures and how eventually it wound up with him.  

There's then a montage showing various scenes from Jaime's past - one of which the scarab makes him attack his friend, which then had the consequence of making him a villain... All pretty interesting stuff, if you're like me and don't know about these events!

Finally, the scarab reveals that the reason for this entire exposition is to tell Jaime that there are other less benevolent scarabs with hosts that are weapons of the Reach (the aliens that created them).

This reminded me SOOOO much of Planet of the Symbiots.

I've never particularly cared for this character, and honestly after they reinvented him with Jaime, I really wasn't too keen on his adventures, but after seeing this well-thought-out zero issue, I'm adding this one to my New52 reading lists.

DC New52 - Batwoman #0 (Annoying Panels Await!)

Batwoman has been around for a few years now, and (up to the New52 relaunch) has been someone that you may see in a fleeting cameo, but really didn't have much to do with the BatFamily, per say.  It was enough to know about her and get away with not knowing too much, for the purposes of cross-overs.  I'm not sure if DC is going to keep with that tradition or not, but it's looking more & more like Batwoman is here to stay, especially with her being part of one of the New52 titles. :(


I can't put my finger on exactly why I don't really care for the character, other than the atrocious art and somewhat mundane stories she's been apart of.  First introduced in DC's year-long 52 series, Batwoman was originally supposed to be Barbara Gordon's new costume.  I read that the idea was scrapped due to DC execs wanting to keep Barbara as the Oracle - a disabled super hero in her own right.  I really hoped Batwoman was going to turn out to be Gordon.  I mean, if they can bring back Superman from the dead, Batman's broken back healed, and Jason Todd from a grave, surely they can come up with a way for Barbara to be Batgirl / Batwoman again?  Nope!  Enter Kate Kane, a butt-kicking lesbian that just simply decided to be Batwoman (seriously, she just decided after meeting Batman that "I could do that!")


Anyway, this zero issue goes into her origin and explains all that.  It was boring, and I really don't think I can read through the rest of her series.  I'd be willing to overlook the pace if the art gave me something awesome, but I really hate all the crazy layouts and panels that's become the norm for this series.  The art also seems a bit... stringy?  for my tastes.  Often characters are drawn with strange thin lips and hair that reminds me of an old man's come-over that's fallen.  The film-noir style of only accenting some colors would work if this were, say, Constatine (or more literally) a Frank Miller comic, but here it just seems a bit out of place.

The pale and washed look reminded me of The Dark Knight Returns & Frank Miller books so much, that I almost excused the mediocre story... ALMOST.  When it's all said and done, there's not alot that makes me excited about Batwoman. 

If they wanted Batwoman to be a breakout title that pulled itself into the BatFamily of books, having all those things mentioned above going for it really make it too far out there and seperates itself too much for my liking.  Here's hoping Batwoman will simply be on her own for most of DC's New52.

Still, before the flashbacks, there was a bit of hope in that there's a joker-esk female character Batwoman's dealing with.  I don't think I can possibly read 12 issues to find out what this scene's about though.

DC New52 - Red Hood & The Outlaws (You made me, so that makes us ArchNemesisisis)

I saw this issue and was excited to see what all was going on with StarFire and Red Hood and the like, but what I got was an origin story of the Red Hood / Jason Todd / Robin #2.  Not bad, but definitely not what I was expecting.  I hope there's an origin of sorts in the first arch of RH & The Outlaws focusing on the other characters, the way Teen Titans did.


Anywho, much of Jason's back-story remains pretty much the same.  He was from a broken home *insert sad violin music here* so he was bad.  Then Batman got to him.  He was good... but still bad. Fans hated him & so the Joker beat him to death.

Now, this is where it gets interesting.  I remember at one point during one of the Crises, Superboy punching a dimensional wall that echoed into all the multiverse and awoke Jason Todd from death.  I'm too lazy to find the reference & the specific issue # (I wanna say it was in a prelude to Infinite Crisis, but I may be mistaken.)  Either way, here, they explain that Jason was brought back from a Lazarus pit.  Okay, I'm down with it.

Then the retconning:
There's a follow-up to the main story, in which the Joker explains that he's orchestrated many of the events in Jason's life which led him to becoming Robin.  In Joker's words, "I created my very own Robin."  It's interesting to think Joker was responsible for all these things that happened with Jason's parents & such, but I think this is stretching it a bit...  I mean, Joker already has a grim connection to Jason Todd as the instrument of his demise.  It always kinda made sense that Jason would come back all upset that Batman wasn't there and that Joker beat him to a bloody pulp.  I don't see a reason to have Joker this interconnected with his past.  He even makes reference to Jason taking his "maiden name" Red Hood upon his return.  I'm not feeling this one.  I'm okay with Joker making a plan to lure Robin to the warehouse with the bait of his mother, but I believe that's as far as the Joker's master plan should go.

Either way, Joker is now integrated into the Batfamily's past (more so than just being a villain).  Kinda reminds me of when they replaced Joe Chill with Jack Napier in 1989's Batman movie.  It's really not needed for an arch-villain to be woven into a character's origin for them to be truly menacing.  Remember "The Killing Joke?"  Joker just wanted revenge on Gordon; there was no crazy 'I helped create you' angle.  Just pure revenge & a deviously executed plan.

Oh, almost forgot.  I loved the styled artwork here & the overlapping & crazy panels worked so well!  Take a cue, crazy panel Batwoman layout guys!!!

DC New52 - Suicide Squad (I have no funny quip, because it's boring!)

This story is about a skinny Amanda Waller, who's not at all like Nick Fury (but she is).  It's pretty dry and boring, if you're not even into Suicide Squad, but really love Harley Quinn like me.  Anyway, everything can be summed up in one freakin panel at the end of the story:

Oooo look how I can say their name as a label in my word bubble!  That's how you know I'm better than Nick Fury!  Avengers doesn't have a cool reticle in their name!

There.  I just saved you from reading all the boring crap.

All I can say, is that this upcoming Suicide Squad movie better tickle my fancy, because cute, insane clown-girl or not, I won't be continuing this series.  Better bring it, DC!  P.S. DO NOT MAKE IT AN ORIGIN FEATURING A SKINNY AMANDA WALLER SETTING UP THE TEAM.  If this book is any proof of that, it's just freakin' boring.

DC New52 - Savage Hawkman #0 (Another Origin... Again)

Hawkman's been one of those characters DC has struggled with - and probably one of the reasons for some of the reorg-ing and ret-conning they've done with the various Crises.  This time, they're retelling Carter Hall's origins again, having him be an outcast from Thanagar and a fugitive wanted for killing their king, no less.  The king, being Shiera's brother, puts her in charge of Thanagar and out for vengeance against Carter, who somehow ended up on Earth.  It doesn't go into this in this zero issue, so I'm hoping the series will touch on how he got on earth.

Either way, the story itself is pretty generic.  Shiera seems pretty quick to accuse Carter of the murder, and not even listen to reason.  Maybe it's just because this is all within one zero issue, it feels pretty rushed.  But what is captivating is the fact that the book ends with Shiera finding Carter in a 'What's gunna happen next?' cliffhanger.  I think that's what was the most appealing, honestly.  I wanna see what she does now - which is (I'm sure) where the book currently is.

I did also enjoy the story of the Nth metal being completely mystical and having unknown properties.  It explains why Carter's not walking around with a giant duffel bag with his harness & wings in it, before turning into Hawkman.  Explain it away with a mystical metal that makes those wings and gives him flight after covering his body ala Venom?  Okay!  I'm on board!

Hard to say if I want to continue reading this title.  I think after the main conflict between Shiera and Carter are settled, it may be something I'm not interested in at all.  But, I'll give it a shot, I guess.  Artwork's not bad; colors pop... Just hope the writing will be a little less predictable and exciting.  I counted 5 times Carter says that his brother-in-law was doing bad things.  5 times in a 20 page book.  Geez... we get it... Hawkman's a good guy.

Oh, and there's phallic worms on Thanagar, apparently.

DC New52 - Sword of Sorcery Amethyst #0 (Harry Potter in Medieval Times)

So this is essentially an Alice In Wonderland / Harry Potter / Narnia story.  Basically, a modern teen hates moving around everywhere and stuff, and is a little punk.  Her mom promises to take her to her "real home" when she comes of age.  Insert stereotypical bad guys coming for princess scenario & inadvertently opening the main character's eyes to a world they never knew existed.  This is basically The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, in comic book form.  I know there was a Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld series back in the 80's, and it would be interesting to see if this character's mom is the same main protagonist there.  But I'm not going back to 80's tiny-panel-style for Amethyst, just to see their correlation.

I don't think I'll be following up on this series, because there wasn't a whole lot here that captured my attention.  I think it's interesting to see DC take a trip to another world with sword and sorcery, but there's other pubs that do it better.  I mean, let's face it, every sword slashing battle that's depicted basically makes me wish I were reading Dungeons and Dragons or some Drizzt adventure.

In true "protagonist learns of a greater destiny & of a world beyond them" fashion, the main character is pulled into another realm!  Original, huh :(

Scenes like these are a dime-a-dozen in other publisher's books.  Or better still, go read some official D&D stuff.  Not sure I can really get into a fish-out-of-water story in a magical realm (FOR THE 30th TIME!)

There's also follow-up story in this 2-packed-in-1 issue: Beowulf...

Just about as interesting as it sounds, Beowulf is here!  (Wherever "here" is.)  We're never given a clear picture of what planet, realm, etc... we're on or even WHEN it is.  Judging by the hunting party in search of Beowulf, it looks as though it's old Nordic times & place.  However, Beowulf emerges from a high-tech chamber looking all cyborg like with a high-tech sword, then proceeds to slay all those on the expedition to find him.  

The kid telling the tale explains that they were there to recruit him - not to slay him - and that he is to come back with them to be the hero they know he is.  So Beowulf's like, "Sure!  I'm a hero!  I'll slay this monster Grendel for you!  I'm Beowulf, yo!"

Anyway, this is a strange story, and it was too predictable and corny for me to really get into.  I think it's somewhat interesting to have Beowulf as a cyborg from the future, but if he's not there to kill John Conner, I'm out!  Furthermore, there are hints that maybe this is the distant (maybe post-EMP era) future, since there's a few newer building types shown with overgrowth... eh... still not enough to captivate me.  Maybe I'm being too harsh, but there's just SOOOOO many comics out there, that, at this point, I think we can afford to be selective.  Especially when I'm like 5 years behind on my reading. ;)

DC New52 - All-Star Western #0 (Hex gets the weird eye thingy)

I just wonder exactly how many Jonah Hex fans there are out there.  I suppose if you're a fan of the western genre, you'd be a little hard-pressed to find good comics out there, so Jonah's kinda one of your only choices.  At the very least, DC seems to always push this character into other titles having to do with time-travel, and keep him and a few other characters in the past around for this purpose.

I don't really enjoy Jonah Hex or wild west in comics, so I couldn't really get into this one.  However, if you ARE one of the select few that like him, I suppose this would be awesome.  Having not read any of the All-Star Western series before (or probably even after) the New52 relaunch, I'm not sure if this story's ever been told: How Jonah got is jacked up face.

I can sum the book up by this one picture here:

Don't eff with Indians buddy!

I'd be interested to see if anyone reading this blog actually reads and likes any of the All-Star Western books or Jonah Hex.  Sound off if you do & let me know why I should even consider reading this when there's a plethora of stories in the DC Universe ranging from the grounded to the fantastical; this title just seems to plain & quite a bit uninteresting.

DC New52 - Dial H #0 (Seriously? Bumper Carla?)

So in trying to give all the New52 series a try, I left some of the more obscure titles toward the end.  I had gathered that Dial H was a sort of reality-hoping mystery team that solved the unexplainable by using magic.  I'm not sure where I gathered this conclusion, but what I read in the Dial H zero issue was nothing like that... and I mean NOTHING!

I really didn't like this.  The concept may be cool but the execution was too far off in left field for me.  Basically this girl touches a tablet and becomes something else that can magically combat the attacking creature.  What she becomes is (get this): Bumper Carla!  No kidding. A super hero that has a magical bumper cart.

I actually stopped reading at this moment.  Later I decided I passed judgment too soon and went back.  What I found is that the book actually took itself seriously instead of being comical about it.  I I think that's the fault I couldn't overlook.  In a universe that has Billy Baton turning into an adult after saying a magic word, it's a little believable that there's magic that could give someone powers, but why pick something so dorky and then NOT have the humor to poke fun of itself.  The book goes one step further by giving the Bumper Carla persona a back story as a champion in another dimension!

If you were a complete newb to Dial H and picked up this zero issue thinking you'd check it out, you'd be really hard pressed to read another issue.  This is the boat (or bumper cart) I'm in; I don't think I'll continue with this series until I hear something that makes me want to try again... and that would have to be one hell-of-an-awesome thing...

Bumper Carla... I mean, seriously...

DC New52 - Green Arrow #0 ("Oh man, did I Eff up!")

Green Arrow has started to be a little more mainstream ever since the Arrow TV show brought the character to the forefront.  Honestly, I'd probably not be too interested in the character without having watched the Arrow show, so I'd say DC's awareness campaign for the character's working.  What I do know of the character is that in the early 90's I saw a few graphic novels where he was shown as a womanizer & a rich playboy, who fought crime using a bow & arrow as a main weapon.  (Basically a Batman that actually had sex with women & used weapons and gadgets, not fists and gadgets.)

He was eventually brought into the 90's JLA, where I got a taste of who the character was.  He was portrayed as an aloof loner, not completely committing to the League, but available when needed.  Even though this parallels Batman's MO a lot, they often did not see eye-to-eye, and on more than one occasion, Green Arrow would stand up to Batman (which I always thought was really cool).  When nobody else in the League questioned Batman's intent or plan, Ollie would.

My knowledge of the character lacks anything from his own story line until after his Justice League appearances, where I discovered he had a thing with Black Canary & got married, killed a bad guy, had his secret ID outed to the world, and put in jail, where Canary left him while he was in the slammer (bitch!).  I know that Speedy / Red Arrow / Arsenal / Roy Harper turned druggy, then good & sober, then bad & had his arm chopped off, then good, then druggy again, then good...  I'm really not sure where he stands at this point anymore.  Furthermore, FlashPoint had Ollie as more of a gadget head without too much of the bow & arrow path, so I was interested to see what's up with his new52 version.

Since this is a zero issue (and I haven't read anything else other than these DC zero issues up to this point - for those just happening upon this blog), we get an origin story before and slightly after his stint on the island.  Most people know his story already: Stranded on an island, taught to use bow & arrow for survival, comes back to civilization & becomes a super hero...  I choose to think he was on the opposite side that the SS Minnow crashed on.

Anyway, this story is just basically Ollie being a douche, throwing a party, helicopter dropping his buddy Tommy Merlin in.  It is this billionaire carelessness that allows the offshore shindig to be infiltrated by some pirates, one of whom is like a version of Mortal Kombat's Kano mixed with Bane.  He comes in shouting his name and threatening to kill everyone and stuff.  Oliver thinks he can take them on with the bow he was using to show off to his guests with... and here's where the book totally excelled... See up until this point, I was about three seconds away from giving up.  I know Ollie's a douche. I get it. I don't need 6 pages showing it.  I figured he'd end up on the island by way of a coward or that the terrorists would blow the boat or something; but it is Ollie's own incompetent foolhardy attempt to be a hero that triggers the catalyst of the explosion that leaves him stranded!!!

Oh, Ollie, you done effed up!  That was a dead-man switch, dummy!

And now you're gunna be stuck on an island without the company of the lovely Mary-Anne and Ginger!

As if it wasn't already enough that Ollie has to live with the guilt of getting everyone blown to shark chum, he's also the one responsible for Tommy Merlin's burns.

Like I said before, I'm only really a fan of the TV series up to this point. I've only ever read Green Arrow as he appears in the JLA and one shots with others.  This is going to change!  This book did such a good job of setting up what one can only hope is a rivalry between two old friends, that it makes you want to see what happens.   The only thing I think I can fault it for is that it totally rushed through his stint on the island and showed him in full Arrow garb.  I would have much preferred this zero book ending with Ollie on the island and a sneak peek at Merlin in the ICU or something.  In any case, check this one out.  The art is outstandingly busy (in a very good way) and reminds me of the old Ropocop series' line work!

Villians should learn to only shout their moniker out when they've hit the big-time...
otherwise you're doomed to be a throw-away villian-of-the-month!