Teen Titans

 This book wins. And it wins because Tim Drake is finally Tim Drake again. After Fabian Nicieza nearly ruined one of the great characters in comic books, controversial writer Scott Lobdell has brought Tim home to his true self, and let me safely say, welcome home Tim!

It's becoming even more clear that while this is a "team" book, it's Tim Drake's team. He's calling the shots, he's the main protagonist, his goals are at the book's core. Cassie and Bugg are just along for the ride so far, but I'm not complaining. Tim Drake carried a solo series for many years, and hes always sold well, so he deserves a book that's essentially a solo series for him, even if it's described as a "team" book.

Blue Beetle #2

Tony Bedard said in an interview panel (NYCC I believe) that the biggest complaint from issue #1 was too much Spanish/Spanglish. Honestly, I thought it the appropriate amount for a character of latino heritage, and was glad that they didn't speak as if they were from the midwest, which many comics seem to do. It gave it a more authentic touch.

Issue #2 pushed it too far though, and I felt that it got in the way of dialogue. Luckily, every other piece of the issue picks up the slack, albeit if the issue feels a bit brief. This issue feels a lot like postlogue to a longer story, tying up a few loose ends without any major plot advancement. Essentially Jaime saves his friend, drops him off at the party his other friend hosted, and now faces a witch-hunt, as everyone perceives him as a villain.

Justice League #2

The first thought of mine when I heard that Geoff Johns and Jim Lee were doing a series together was "LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE," this comic will be continuously "LAAAAATE." And true to form, issue #2 was almost a month late. 6 weeks of comics were published in between Justice League #1 and #2, and it's this kind of delay that frustrates readers and discourages people from reading it.

This delay might be semi-justified though. As creative heads for DC, plus Johns is writing two other books (Green Lantern and Aquaman), they have a lot on their plate. This certainly isn't a David Finch situation, where he's incapable of working at the necessary speed to get a comic out on time.

This does worry me in one sense though: these are the creative bosses at DC. They should set the example of being prompt. If DC wants to refocus on getting comics out on time,  they should be in the forefront of this, getting the flagship title out monthly. 

Batman #2

Sadly, this issue doesn't have nearly as much to talk about as issue #1. However, that doesn't mean there aren't things to takeaway from this. For once Lincoln March is definitely sticking around. A foil for Bruce (looks like him, same goals for Gotham, parents were killed when he was a boy), Snyder seems to be creating his very own Hush, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as Tommy Elliot's been lackluster since his incarnation under Jeph Loeb.

The next takeaway is that once again, Scott Snyder treats Gotham as its own character, tying its history into the present. He did this in "The Black Mirror" and "Gates of Gotham". As he has started to do this in his new Bat-story as well, count on it tying into the story in a big way.

Nightwing #2

While Scott Snyder is the big buzzname in comics right now, Kyle Higgins will be joining him shortly for his work on Nightwing. This is a fantastic comic, as Kyle Higgins nails Dick Grayson, and Eddy Barrows has been putting on a spectacular art-show.

This comic picks up last comic's big showdown between Nightwing and the new villain Saiko. Nightwing shows off some impressive fighting skills, despite the superior weaponry of Saiko. We also see the return of the suit-taser, again proving Kyle Higgins' love of Nightwing. This guy has clearly read Dick extensively, even if I'm not quite sure if his claims of Dick Grayson being his favorite character are lip service, or actually genuine.

Issue #2 also explains why Haly's Circus will be playing a big role in this series, as we find out that Mr. Haly (owner of the circus) is dying, and in his will has left the circus to Dick, as originally the circus was meant to be willed to his parents. This is a great choice by Higgins. Haly's Circus is a big part of Dick Grayson's life, and him owning the circus means never having to justify why he's there, ditching the tired "I haven't seen everyone in forever!" story arc used so often.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #2

Wow. I never thought that Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 would gather so much hate. It wasn't the best comic in the world by any means, but the outrage over this issue, mostly dealing with Starfire's characterization, was quite frankly stupid. It's one freaking issue and people are tearing into Scott Lobdell for ruining the character.

What bothers me more is that it is coming out that the entire history of every Teen Titans team, as well as Young Justice for that matter, is erased. All of it. While that may partially be Lobdell's fault, how can the editor allow this? That history is crucial for everything that has happened to the next generation of heroes after Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent/Barry Allen/Hal Jordan etc.

But enough about that mess. Red Hood and the Outlaws #2  I found to be an equally entertaining followup to issue #1, as it greatly enhances the backstory of Jason Todd. It's clear that this is purely Todd's book, and Roy and Kori are along for the ride, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Superboy #2

Superboy #2 starts off right where #1 ends, with Superboy proving what a danger he is to himself and those around him. And of course, the secret organization “N.O.W.H.E.R.E.” wants to unleash him on “Red Robin and the others.” We have the classic standoff: scientist working directly with the project claims it's not ready, owner/financier of the project wants immediate results, preferably of the destructive, deadly kind.

This dynamic isn't wholly original, but it works well enough here, possibly because Rose Wilson shifts the chemistry just enough. Again, Rose here is a pleasant surprise, but Scott Lobdell hasn't really gotten into her character that much yet. As someone who's personality has shifted more than a few times in the DC Universe, I'm interested as to what role she'll play in this universe. 

Batgirl #2

This is one of the three comics on my "pull list." Mostly it involves my interest in being able to read modern-age stories of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, and not have to go back in time to read hokey Silver-Age stories that I imagine aren't very good to begin with. Also, Gail Simone is the perfect writer for the job, she practically created the Post-Crisis Barbara Gordon character. While issue #1 didn't set the world on fire, it did leave me hope that this would be an interesting series and was totally worth following.

And issue #2 paid off for keeping my faith. While issue #1 left off with a sort of silly cliffhanger where an officer tells Batgirl she's under arrest for failing to act when the new villain Mirror kills her partner, this issue quickly dismisses her absurd behavior when Jim Gordon basically tells her to put a sock in it when she starts blabbing about how they have to arrest Batgirl.

Batman and Robin #2

Wow. Just wow. There's so much too talk about in this comic I could write four times the normal amount for a review. But I'll spare my reader. To make this easy, I'm going to start at the simpler stuff and move on to the more complex topics. First off, at the end of the book, we find Bruce adopting a dog, who looks exactly like Ace the Bat-hound as seen in the "Batman Beyond" animated series. Not that this is the first incarnation of him (he appeared as early as Batman #92 way back when) but this is still really fun. There's something about Ace that I always made him best fit as Bruce's best friend, moreso than any human. Thanks Tomasi for bringing him back.

Next, the return of Henri Ducard! Peter J. Tomasi brings another character back from obscurity, even if he doesn't make a physical appearance, only his follower "Morgan" does, telling Bruce that Ducard isn't happy with him, especially in regards to Batman Incorporated. Bruce and Morgan's statements imply that Morgan is our new killer, "Nobody," though one can never know for certain. For those who don't know, Henri Ducard taught Bruce much of what he knows about detective work, and was heavily involved in his early training, although he isn't on the side of justice, he's on the side of whomever pays him the most. The return of Henri Ducard should be very exciting in the oncoming issues (last appearance that I know of in the comics was when Tom Drake went on a trip to Paris as part of his training).

Red Lanterns #2

This was another issue I was iffy on whether I would continue reading after issue #1. But in the attitude of trying new things and being open, I decided to keep with it. After all, I had the same attitude about Swamp Thing #2, and that turned out to be excellent. While the payoff wasn't as big as with Swamp Thing #2, Red Lanterns #2 also proved well worth sticking around for.

While this issue lacked the killer early illustration that the first issue possessed to draw me in, the story came on strong after a slow start.  Again, much of this story draws on Atrocitus' inner-thoughts on "rage." While some may find a second-straight issue on this type of inner-monologue redundant, I think it's a great choice. The biggest concern about the Red Lanterns and Atrocitus is that they're a one-note character lineup.

Swamp Thing #2

I was hesitant about the first issue of Swamp Thing, but I gave it a shot because, well, Scott Snyder is a total boss. His debut issue of Batman last month was the best the "New 52" had to offer, and many highly praised his Swamp Thing issue as well. I gave it some praise, but ultimately settled that it wasn't my cup of tea.

I'm pulling a 180-degree turn on that last part. Not because this isn't my cup of tea, because it inst, now my attitude is that I don't care if this is my cup of tea or someone else's, because this issue was really good tea! (Promise that's the last of the tea metaphor). This issue started a little slow, but the second half was one one hell of a show. The conversation between Alec Holland and Swamp Thing is very genuine, and extremely informative for those of us not in the know about who/what Swamp Thing is and how Alec Holland became involved with him.

Snyder is great at spoon-feeding the reader information on the character without coddling them as if they were 4th graders. This is key; to get new readers hooked onto a book like Swamp Thing that normally wouldn't read it (say, me!) he has to break things down intelligently so I don't give up because it's too confusing, but give it enough action so they don't get bored from having an entire issue of exposition.

Justice League International #2

Justice League International may not be the star-studded lineup that the Justice League of America is, but at the very least, it can take credit for putting out two issues since the Justice League #1 debuted over a month ago (Jim Lee fails). Furthermore, both issues of J.L.I., created by lessor known talents of Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti, are better than the one issue of Justice League by superstar creators Geoff Johns and Jim Lee.

This issue does a lot of things well. The most difficult task is that this is a large collection of mostly unknown characters. This team is nine members large, and the only ones who the average reader has probably seen before are Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, and of course, Batman. And yet, the reader is given strong clues to the personalities of nearly all the characters. Rocket Red and August General-in-Iron give us a great former communist rivalry of national superiority, Booster is a wannabe-A-list superhero still waiting for his big chance to join the J.L.A., Guy Gardner is an egomaniac, Godiva is a huge flirt not super-concerned with world-saving, and Batman is well, Batman.

What's great about this cast of characters is that it really is an international collection of heroes from different nations, as well as having an even divide in numbers between both genders, consisting of 5 men and 4 women. This is by no means a boy's club, as so many superhero teams tend to be.

Batwing #2

One of the pleasant surprises in the "New 52", Batwing #1 quickly became a fan favorite for those willing to give Judd Winick a shot despite his so-so track record as a comic book writer. But for those still boycotting this book because Winnick's name is on it, shame on you. Batwing #2 is every bit as good as Batwing #1, as David Zamvimbi is quickly becoming a Bruce Wayne type stubborn personality, with the Dick Grayson "devil may care" attitude, making for a very entertaining character.

Last issue left off with a crazy cliffhanger, where Massacre stabs David Zavimbe through the chest, wondering if our protagonist was already dead. Of course he wasn't, because its comics and you can't kill off your main character in the first issue, but it still led to a decent amount of drama, enough to pull most readers back for issue #2 (including yours truly).

Green Arrow #2

I wasn't wild about the first issue. Other than the facial hair confusion though, there weren't any glaring problems with the book. Issue #2 one-ups issue #1 though, significantly at that.  Green Arrow is definitely under the radar right now in the New 52, but this book has the potential to be great.

Side-note, last week I learned that writer J.T. Krul would be leaving this series after #3. He's supposedly going to start work on a new project, and between that and Captain Atom and Green Arrow, well, one of them had to be dropped. I'm sad to see you go, Krul. That said, I've heard good things about Keith Giffen, the new writer, so we shall see.

One negative aspect of J.T. Krul's writing, is his lack of development for any characters other than his protagonist for the story, although at least on Teen Titans, that changed from issue to issue. Here, Oliver Queen will always be the protagonist, which leaves little or no development at all for the rest of the cast. There's nothing distinguishing his behind-the-scenes crew from cardboard cutouts of characters.

Detective Comics #2

Admittedly, I was very hard on Tony Daniel after reading Detective Comics #1. Though in my defense, there was a lot to be harsh about in this issue, both artistically and on the writing side. It was definitely a different book than I expected, but I wasn't too impressed.

Issue #2 is more dialed back from the debut issue's exaggerated behaviors and images, but it suffers from the same faults. It's a classic Tony Daniel written issue. Cool plot, bad dialogue and average at best storytelling. While his ideas aren't bad, his execution of them is weak.

The issue spends the beginning in his Bruce Wayne guise, wheeling and dealing with a mysterious (and mysteriously athletic) businessman named Hugh Marder, and then having an "affair" with journalist Wendy Rivers (wait, I thought he was dating Catwoman?).

Aquaman #1

Aquaman is lame. And I'm not talking about the over-cliched version of Aquaman. Aquaman as he really is, is lame. Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis do their best job to convince us otherwise this issue, putting all of Aquaman's best strengths on display. Many other comic readers bought into this intent, coming away from reading it thinking about how badass Aquaman really is. I did not share their reaction.

Fact is, I'm not interested in a story of a guy who looks like a Abercrombie model dressed in fish scales and holding a trident. He looks like a wimp, but whose just very angry and uptight all the time. Also, I could not care less about Atlantis, or being telepathic with fish. Yes I get it that his muscles are much stronger because he's underwater constantly and yadda yadda yadda, but I still don't care.

I gave this title a chance because I heard rave reviews about it. And when you hear a recommendation from those you trust, you give it a shot. And that's why I picked it up, even though I wasn't originally planning on it. (The other two titles I did this with were Swamp Thing and Animal Man, the former decently good, the latter very strong).

Teen Titans #1

For some reason, Scott Lobdell is writing three of the "New 52" titles for DC. Keep in mind, Scott Lobdell hasn't written anything significant since he was a big-shot X-Men writer in the 1990's. Apparently Dan DiDio is a big fan, and Lobdell is a man who can work fast.

And frankly, his first two titles did not knock it out of the park. Both frankly were average books, not anything to write home about, and Red Hood and the Outlaws created such an unnecessary hubbubbub about feminism and sexism and what-not that it distracted from the enjoyable parts of the story.

But Teen Titans is where he gets it all right. One can tell this book is the one he's had the greatest vision on and has thought out the most. This book seemingly wipes the slate clean of all Teen Titans stories post the Marv Wolfmann and George Perez era. Tim Drake is our protagonist (glad he's not calling himself Tim Wayne anymore personally), worried about a secret organization called N.O.W.H.E.R.E. trying to round up all metahumans and use them for their own purposes.

Superboy #1

Confession: I technically already wrote and published Superboy #1. However, what I realized the day after I posted the blog entry was that it was Superboy #1 published in January 2011 and written by Jeff Lemeire, not September 2011 by Scott Lobdell. So I deleted it, frustrated because there went a lot of now-wasted time right out the window.

That's why this review is coming a few weeks late. And sadly, this review isn't as positive as the one about Jeff Lemeire's #1. Not to say this issue by Scott Lobdell and drawn by R.B. Silva is subpar, because it's not, but it does win the unique award of being the second-best Superboy #1 this year.

Superboy #1 is an origin story. Which honestly, is rather annoying. Superboy is one of those characters whose origins is rather convoluted and has been retconned over and over. To add yet another origin just makes it more confusing. The problem with characters who have lackluster, nonsensical, or overall poor origins, is that every new writer tries to improve upon it, and make it the definitive origin for that character, and most just make it worse.