After reviewing the state of the first half of my pull list in the last post, today we'll examine how the rest of the books I'm reading have been holding up recently.
Batman - Scott Snyder, just as in his run on Detective Comics, seems to be more concerned with delving into the history of Gotham City and a select group of its inhabitants than focusing on the titular character. That's not to say that this is a bad book by any means; its plot has been filled with enough twists and turns to keep one engaged, but lacks the depth of character to truly make it great. In the last few issues, Bruce learns that he may have a brother, but Snyder never shows Bruce's reaction to this beyond punching. The lack of focus on Batman himself is made more frustrating because Snyder can do wonderful things with his characters; his work with Gordon and James Jr. in Detective Comics was fantastic, and his side story with Harper Row was compelling. Snyder seems to be planning on focusing on the Joker over the next few months, and while I have no doubt every issue will be supremely thrilling, and we'll get great examinations of both the Joker and some of Batman's allies in side books, I fear that Batman himself still won't be given his time in the spotlight.
Hawkeye - For a character who has experienced a meteoric rise to prominence, Hawkeye lacks any real defining arcs or a character past the snarky member of the Avengers (before Spider-Man joined at least). Matt Fraction has spent the last two months building a world for Hawkeye to inhabit, and he's done a fantastic job with it. He's created a supporting cast for his title character, given him a mission, albeit a vague one, and set several criminal masterminds against him. The question is, now that Fraction has created the world, will he be able to produce plots that keep it interesting? As fun as issue 2 was, seeing Clint and Kate taking down criminals with arrows month after month as Clint hits another pin on his map would grow stale quickly. I'm also hoping that Fraction explores deeper into Barton's psyche, as right now the character feels a little bland. Nevertheless, the first two issues of this series have been fantastic and I'm optimistic that Fraction will be able to keep up the level of energy found in them for the next few months at minimum.
Justice League - What was touted as the premier book of the New 52 soon proved to be anything but, as Geoff Johns found a way to make an invasion of Earth by alien space gods feel pedestrian and boring. However, the second arc was an improvement on the first; the smaller scale allowed the characters room to breathe, and Johns proved that he has a firm grasp on what makes his group tick. The interactions between the Leaguers proved to be the books strongest element, and in the coming months this element looks to be taking center stage as Johns pits his heroes against one another. DC clearly has big plans for the Justice League franchise, and I'm willing to go along with them for the ride, but if Johns delivers plots more like the Darkseid story and less like the Graves story, they would lose me very quickly.
Legends of the Dark Knight - I think it's fair to suggest that most comic readers haven't even realized that DC is publishing a new Legends of the Dark Knight. The comic is released over Comixology every Thursday for a dollar, and features a rotating cast of writers and artists. This makes it very difficult to assess the quality of this book as a whole, as it varies wildly from arc to arc, but it has, for the most part, been at minimum a fun read week after week. With its excellent price point, this book occupies a very secure, if not glamorous, place on my pull list.
Red Hood and the Outlaws - Since its launch last September, Red Hood and the Outlaws has risen from its humble beginnings to become maybe the best book out of all the New 52. Despite the seemingly random selection of it's main trio, the interactions between Jason, Roy, and Kori are an absolute delight to read and provide the action scenes with something beyond explosions and bullets. While Red Hood and the Outlaws does contain a lot of action (which, I should say, Lobdell makes very entertaining), it never forgets that action alone does not make a book great, and it has been slowly examining its characters. Jason has finally been given a backstory beyond being the Robin that died, giving him a new sense of purpose, Starfire is in the middle of a character defining arc, and Roy's interactions with the two are revealing a character far, far more compelling than the bland Red Arrow from the old DCU. Red Hood is always the first book I read on the weeks it gets released, and despite a change in artist, shows no signs of losing it's favored place on my list.
Mars Attacks! - Mars Attacks!, based on the classic trading card set and Tim Burton movie, has put out three very fun issues. What's a little unclear, however, is whether Layman intends for the book to be a series of vignettes about the Martian invasion, or tell a larger story. Issues 1 and 2 seemed to be introducing characters we would be following long term, while issue 3 appeared to be a side story; however, neither format was worse than the other, and I'm confident that Layman will be able to keep up the quality no matter what he chooses to do. The characters, with the exception of a Martian general who is proving to be surprisingly sympathetic, are largely stereotypes, but that approach works well for a comic in which the real stars are the Martians. Despite this series' cloudy future, it seems to be a future that seems to be worth investing in.
Venom - Coming off of an absolutely fantastic run that catapulted Rick Remender to being one of Marvel's top writers, Cullen Bunn had big shoes to fill coming into this title. Chosing to pick up on one of the few remaining plot threads left over from Remender's time on the title, namely the status of Damien Hellstrom and the lasting impact of Venom's time in Hell, helps to ease the transition but fails to really establish a new status quo or explore the fallout from Remender's final arc. Bunn is going about building a new world for Venom after his old one was more or less destroyed, and therefore its hard to judge whether or not his run will be worth reading in the long term. A promised move to Philadelphia should help Bunn to spell out what his vision of a Venom comic is, past cleaning up left over business from Remender's work, and I'm willing to wait until we see what that vision is before I give up on the title.
Wolverine and the X-Men - Jason Aaron's newest books feels like a return to the storytelling style Aaron employed while writing Ghost Rider, and it's a return that's been long, long overdue. Aaron is able to include outlandish concepts, and yet the book somehow remains feeling grounded. Kitty's reaction to her apparent pregnancy felt very real, and the fact that it turned out to be an infestation of Brood a la Alien didn't detract from that; in fact, it only lead to revelations of Broo's character. The book's AvX tie ins have been just as fantastic as the main book; from Cyclops coming to the school for help, to Wolverine realizing he couldn't kill Hope after all, to everything in issue 15, its tie ins have not only been great reads on their own but in fact help to improve the goings on in the main event book. Despite having little to no information as to the direction of the book post AvX, I have no doubt that Aaron will maintain the high level of quality and look forward to the continuing adventures of the Jean Grey School.
No comments:
Post a Comment