Hi! :D I hope everybody had a good Christmas and your holidays are going well for you! :D
I had a good one ^^ No comic related gifts tho :O But I did GIVE comic related gifts XD I gave one of my friends the Absolute Edition of Kingdom Come, and to my sister I gave the complete collection of Bone. :)
Neways, this week I got:
52 #34
Batman #661
Batman and the Mad Monk #5 (of 6)
Blue Beetle #10
Detective Comics #827
Justice League of America #5
Justice #9 (of 12)
Supergirl #13
Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #25
Superman/Batman #31
Lots of Batman and Supergirl stuff XDDD I know I swore of Supergirl, but I decided to get this issue b/c a) it continues the arc left off in #11 and b) I wanted to compare her with the Supergirl in LoS. :)
I realized that b/c my reviews basically tell the whole plot of the book it may not be the best thing to read if you dun wanna be spoiled but you wanna know if the book is worth the money to get. :o
So here are my super short, one line reviews and a rating :) And then I'll put up the real reviews :)
52 #34 - Great cliffhanger that makes total sense for the 52 format! :D Rest of the plot is okay, but they're reusing a recent plotline, and it's getting old. :\ 3.5/5
Batman #661 - The Grotesk storyline continues. :O Decent story, but not very remarkable. :| 3/5
Batman and the Mad Monk #5 (of 6) - Excellent. Simple. Very enjoyable! 5/5
Blue Beetle #10 - Rly fun and light hearted. :) It's a little inaccessible due to the prior knowledge needed to understand some of the plot tho.. :\ 4/5
Detective Comics #827 - A new Scarface is introduced! Rly great work by Dini in bringing in the Scarface from the Animated Series. :) Also, the new ventriloquist is a great addition to Batman's rogues gallery! :D 5/5
Justice League of America #5 - Meltzer apes Jeph Loeb in acting like only the stuff he writes is important. :\ Heavily references Identity Crisis. Characterization continues to be off. :( 2/5
Justice #9 (of 12) - For a story about the Silver Age, the plot rly takes a turn for the weird and seems to be heading into the Anime Age. O_O;;; Still fun, but it's getting a little complicated. :O 3/5
Supergirl #13 - If you accept that Supergirl is not a hero, this book at least keeps her characterization consistant. :O Still rly hard to read and Churchill's drawings still make every girl character look exactly the same. :( 2/5
Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #25 - OMG this book is a BLAST!!! Rly rly funny and just FUN in general :O The plot moves well and the characters are all so well written and amusing. The dialogue is rly great!!!! 5/5
Superman/Batman #31 - The plot is actually RLY interesting. This rly should be the next mega crossover event, and not just a solitary plotline. I have no idea where this story fits in the OYL continuity tho. :O Still, it's rly interesting and well written. :) 4/5
:D
I hope that was helpful and easy to read :) I'll be posting more in depth reviews soon! :D
Have a great New Year everybody! :)
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Detective Comics #826 Review
Detective Comics - #826
Synopsis: The story starts off with Robin on his motorcycle being chased by drug dealers. He had been following the drug dealers for days and had planned to take them down when rival dealers showed up and started shooting it out with them, putting Robin right in the middle of the gang war. :o
Robin barely manages to escape, but is still in trouble when a car pulls up and tells him to get in. Just wanting to get away, he jumps in, only to find the Joker who gasses him.
When he wakes up he's tied up with Christmas lights to the passenger seat with an ornament ball shoved in his mouth. Joker tells him that he only tied him up so he wouldn't fight back, and that he just wanted to rescue Robin and not fight since it's Christmas. Robin doesn't believe him for a second and gathers himself trying to figure out how to escape. Joker then proceeds to run over a bunch of ppl and Robin notices that the couple of the car are lying dead in the backseat, victims of Joker's laughing gas.
Feeling around in the backseat, Robin finds a toy car which he tries to use to cut himself free. Meanwhile, Joker pulls up to a drive thru and orders some food, except that the cashier can't understand him b/c he talks too fast. He then pulls up to the window and demands to speak to the manager whom he promptly shoots. Speeding away, he takes the car away from Robin, saying he planted it there to give Robin false hope, just like how he said he would release him.
Robin feels himself sweating now and uses it to his advantage as his slick hands are now slipping out of their gloves. Joker ungags Robin and drives towards a Santa on the street with a bunch of kids. He tells Robin to tell him what he wants for Christmas or he'll kill the children. Robin responds with a Marx Brothers quote which makes Joker laugh and veer away from the children. He remarks about how happy he is that the youth these days still remember the classics. Robin says that he loves "The Big Store", deliberately attributing the quote to the wrong movie.
This annoys Joker who says that it's from "A Night At the Opera". Robin goads him into proving it, so Joker describes the scene it's from. As he's talking, Robin slips his hand out of his glove and punches Joker in the face! :O He breaks the rearview mirror off and pounds it into Joker's head and then dives into the backseat! :O Joker attempts to stop him but Robin eludes him, steals his gas from his coat pocket and uses it against him!!!
Joker falls out of the car, choking on his own gas and gets hit by a passing truck, knocking him off the bridge and into the traffic below.
Afterwards, Batman and the police arrive, but nobody can find Joker's body. Batman says that he's proud of Robin for surviving the worst of what Joker gave him and being able to defeat him.
Review: I've never understood how Joker can survive EVERYTHING that would normally kill a regular person when he has no superpowers xD But it's a comic book, so I'll allow that XD
I rly enjoyed this issue, much like all of Dini's issues so far (except for the Poison Ivy one, mainly b/c the artist spoiled it for me >.>). This was classic Batman: The Animated Series, but with more killing XD Joker was at his best, insane, homicidal, yet very intelligent and strategic. There's a method to his madness.
DC continues to push Tim Drake, and altho I've never rly liked Tim that much, I think it's a good move. If he's going to be Robin, then he has to be at least as good as Dick Grayson was. I like how the 3 Robins all embody parts of Batman. Dick has his finesse and physical abilities, Jason has his passion and desire and Tim has his brains. Tim is not as good a fighter as Dick, but he's more intelligent.
Dini shows us this by breaking down all of his thought patterns throughout the whole ordeal, and we see how he keeps his cool and outsmarts the Joker. Having the Joker be one step ahead of him was a great move too b/c it keeps us worrying about how Tim will escape. And worried that the Joker will anticipate every move. I rly liked how Tim escaped at the end tho and took advantage of the Joker's weaknesses.
This is another self contained story, and I think Batman rly lends itself well to these stories. All his villains can carry an entire issue by themselves, and since they're all cerebral villains, every issue has a different feel to it, and isn't just the same fight over and over again. :O I also like how violence is only used at the end, and most of the story is a chess game between Robin and Joker.
This is a rly great issue, and is prolly the best so far that Dini's written. :) I totally recommend this to everybody, whether you normally read Batman or not. ^-^
Angelwings Rating: 5/5
Recommendation: Very worth it, recommended to all :)
Synopsis: The story starts off with Robin on his motorcycle being chased by drug dealers. He had been following the drug dealers for days and had planned to take them down when rival dealers showed up and started shooting it out with them, putting Robin right in the middle of the gang war. :o
Robin barely manages to escape, but is still in trouble when a car pulls up and tells him to get in. Just wanting to get away, he jumps in, only to find the Joker who gasses him.
When he wakes up he's tied up with Christmas lights to the passenger seat with an ornament ball shoved in his mouth. Joker tells him that he only tied him up so he wouldn't fight back, and that he just wanted to rescue Robin and not fight since it's Christmas. Robin doesn't believe him for a second and gathers himself trying to figure out how to escape. Joker then proceeds to run over a bunch of ppl and Robin notices that the couple of the car are lying dead in the backseat, victims of Joker's laughing gas.
Feeling around in the backseat, Robin finds a toy car which he tries to use to cut himself free. Meanwhile, Joker pulls up to a drive thru and orders some food, except that the cashier can't understand him b/c he talks too fast. He then pulls up to the window and demands to speak to the manager whom he promptly shoots. Speeding away, he takes the car away from Robin, saying he planted it there to give Robin false hope, just like how he said he would release him.
Robin feels himself sweating now and uses it to his advantage as his slick hands are now slipping out of their gloves. Joker ungags Robin and drives towards a Santa on the street with a bunch of kids. He tells Robin to tell him what he wants for Christmas or he'll kill the children. Robin responds with a Marx Brothers quote which makes Joker laugh and veer away from the children. He remarks about how happy he is that the youth these days still remember the classics. Robin says that he loves "The Big Store", deliberately attributing the quote to the wrong movie.
This annoys Joker who says that it's from "A Night At the Opera". Robin goads him into proving it, so Joker describes the scene it's from. As he's talking, Robin slips his hand out of his glove and punches Joker in the face! :O He breaks the rearview mirror off and pounds it into Joker's head and then dives into the backseat! :O Joker attempts to stop him but Robin eludes him, steals his gas from his coat pocket and uses it against him!!!
Joker falls out of the car, choking on his own gas and gets hit by a passing truck, knocking him off the bridge and into the traffic below.
Afterwards, Batman and the police arrive, but nobody can find Joker's body. Batman says that he's proud of Robin for surviving the worst of what Joker gave him and being able to defeat him.
Review: I've never understood how Joker can survive EVERYTHING that would normally kill a regular person when he has no superpowers xD But it's a comic book, so I'll allow that XD
I rly enjoyed this issue, much like all of Dini's issues so far (except for the Poison Ivy one, mainly b/c the artist spoiled it for me >.>). This was classic Batman: The Animated Series, but with more killing XD Joker was at his best, insane, homicidal, yet very intelligent and strategic. There's a method to his madness.
DC continues to push Tim Drake, and altho I've never rly liked Tim that much, I think it's a good move. If he's going to be Robin, then he has to be at least as good as Dick Grayson was. I like how the 3 Robins all embody parts of Batman. Dick has his finesse and physical abilities, Jason has his passion and desire and Tim has his brains. Tim is not as good a fighter as Dick, but he's more intelligent.
Dini shows us this by breaking down all of his thought patterns throughout the whole ordeal, and we see how he keeps his cool and outsmarts the Joker. Having the Joker be one step ahead of him was a great move too b/c it keeps us worrying about how Tim will escape. And worried that the Joker will anticipate every move. I rly liked how Tim escaped at the end tho and took advantage of the Joker's weaknesses.
This is another self contained story, and I think Batman rly lends itself well to these stories. All his villains can carry an entire issue by themselves, and since they're all cerebral villains, every issue has a different feel to it, and isn't just the same fight over and over again. :O I also like how violence is only used at the end, and most of the story is a chess game between Robin and Joker.
This is a rly great issue, and is prolly the best so far that Dini's written. :) I totally recommend this to everybody, whether you normally read Batman or not. ^-^
Angelwings Rating: 5/5
Recommendation: Very worth it, recommended to all :)
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Catwoman #62 Review
Catwoman - #62
Synopsis: Slam Bradley comes into Selina's apartment and says he wants to see his grandchild. Selina lets him see Helena and then proceeds to tell how she came to be pregnant with Sam (Slam's son)'s child.
First she confesses that she shot and killed Black Mask (as we alrdy know) which shocks Holly (who was arrested as Catwoman for that murder) but then she and Slam both say they understand that some things have to be done. :|
Then Selina relates the story of how afterwards, she and Sam worked together as vigilantes to take down the rest of Black Mask's empire with Sam wearing a mask. They finally managed to gather evidence to have Dylan, Black Mask's former second in command, arrested. The thrill of the moment and all the night's action caused Selina and Sam to have a night of passion resulting in Selina getting pregnant.
Meanwhile, Dylan's lawyer managed to get him bail, and he was back on the street. Seeking revenge, he and his goons captured Sam and tortured him for the location of Catwoman. He shoots Sam once in each knee cap and then finds his cell phone, using it to call Selina. Catwoman, having just found out she's pregnant, gets the call and races to the rescue. However, Sam has managed to turn on the gas from the oven behind him and lights a match, destroying the apartment that him and the bad guys are in.
He ends up in the lake below and is found by Catwoman and dies in her arms saying that she and the baby will be safe.
Back in the present, Holly berates Selina for not telling nebody who the father is. :o However, Slam says that a lot of crazy things have happened, and Holly's girlfriend brings in Helena saying that she's up. Selina remarks she has Slam's eyes.
Review: >.>;; So this is the end of the post-Infinite Crisis wrap-up arc? o.O There's no resolution! :O Is Selina Catwoman again, or is Holly, or both? O_O;;; And what about her murder of Black Mask? Not that he didn't deserve something terrible to happen to him, since in recent years Black Mask (like most of DC's characters) went crazy over the edge with killing, torture, etc. Part of me is rly glad that DC decided to go back to the crazy goofy Silver Age stories, even if they're a little too silly, just so we dun have to have scenes where ppl are being chopped up and fed to their loved ones, or young girls are being tortured with hand drills. :(
But still... Selina killed a man in cold blood. And the resolution is "hey sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do"???? Batman would totally disagree with this! >:O And that's what bothers me. What happens when Batman finds out? Or superman? They consider her one of them now and help her and give her resources, like ne other hero in the DCU. This sort of privilage comes with responsibilities. How are they going to feel whent hey find out she murdered somebody, even a villain? :(
Also... how come nobody in the comicverse uses condoms, or birth control, or the morning after pill? :\ Clearly this was an unexpected pregnancy. But after having smex with Sam, how come Catwoman didn't go get herself the morning after pill? :\ I hate how pregnancy in fiction is treated as something you have no control after and would never want to do nething about if it's unwanted. And nobody ever uses condoms! Ppl have smex, and they get pregnant. :|
That's just it. Like, they wouldn't have smex with protection or nething. Smex, pregnant, keep the child, the end.
I'm amused she had to steal the pregnancy test too! Like, can't she just BUY it? Or is she so ashamed? :\ I dunno, maybe it's the feminist in me. I feel like they're treating pregnancy like something that "just happens" and that you can't do nething about once it happens, and a reason to be ashamed of.
XDDD
Neways! Besides that, the story still wasn't very good. :( I dun understand how Sam wearing a FULL FACE MASK can have his identity discovered when Robin just covers up his eyes and nobody knows who he is. Or Superman, who doesn't even wear a mask!!!! If you're going to have us suspend our disbelief, you could at least be a little consistant about what disbelief we're supposed to suspend :O
And at the end, everybody's happy, even tho Selina confessed to murder and is partially responsible for the death of Slam's son and her baby's father, b/c hey, the baby's cute!
It's very rushed and forced :( It didn't ring true to me at all and just seemed like the writers wanted to get this story done and over with. Say what happened and then just end it. :
Sadly, I dunno if I'll be getting Catwoman nemore, b/c it seems like the characterization went pretty out the window this issue, and I dun rly know where they're going from here now. :|
Neways, I dun recommend this book, b/c it doesn't add nething new. We alrdy knew she killed Black Mask, and we alrdy knew she had smex with Sam and that Helena is his daughter. None of the characters react to it in a way that rings true, and none of them add nething to the story. All they do is tacitly condone Selina's actions, which feels to me like the writers are just saying "they're okay with it, so YOU should be okay with it too. So just leave it alone and forget that there's ne loose ends that need resolving and let's move on okay?" >.<;;
*sigh* It seems like while every other book is moving forward with Infinite Crisis, Catwoman is still stuck in the dark and dirty early 00s :(
Angelwings Rating: 1.5/5
Recommendation: Dun bother spending your money on this one :(
Synopsis: Slam Bradley comes into Selina's apartment and says he wants to see his grandchild. Selina lets him see Helena and then proceeds to tell how she came to be pregnant with Sam (Slam's son)'s child.
First she confesses that she shot and killed Black Mask (as we alrdy know) which shocks Holly (who was arrested as Catwoman for that murder) but then she and Slam both say they understand that some things have to be done. :|
Then Selina relates the story of how afterwards, she and Sam worked together as vigilantes to take down the rest of Black Mask's empire with Sam wearing a mask. They finally managed to gather evidence to have Dylan, Black Mask's former second in command, arrested. The thrill of the moment and all the night's action caused Selina and Sam to have a night of passion resulting in Selina getting pregnant.
Meanwhile, Dylan's lawyer managed to get him bail, and he was back on the street. Seeking revenge, he and his goons captured Sam and tortured him for the location of Catwoman. He shoots Sam once in each knee cap and then finds his cell phone, using it to call Selina. Catwoman, having just found out she's pregnant, gets the call and races to the rescue. However, Sam has managed to turn on the gas from the oven behind him and lights a match, destroying the apartment that him and the bad guys are in.
He ends up in the lake below and is found by Catwoman and dies in her arms saying that she and the baby will be safe.
Back in the present, Holly berates Selina for not telling nebody who the father is. :o However, Slam says that a lot of crazy things have happened, and Holly's girlfriend brings in Helena saying that she's up. Selina remarks she has Slam's eyes.
Review: >.>;; So this is the end of the post-Infinite Crisis wrap-up arc? o.O There's no resolution! :O Is Selina Catwoman again, or is Holly, or both? O_O;;; And what about her murder of Black Mask? Not that he didn't deserve something terrible to happen to him, since in recent years Black Mask (like most of DC's characters) went crazy over the edge with killing, torture, etc. Part of me is rly glad that DC decided to go back to the crazy goofy Silver Age stories, even if they're a little too silly, just so we dun have to have scenes where ppl are being chopped up and fed to their loved ones, or young girls are being tortured with hand drills. :(
But still... Selina killed a man in cold blood. And the resolution is "hey sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do"???? Batman would totally disagree with this! >:O And that's what bothers me. What happens when Batman finds out? Or superman? They consider her one of them now and help her and give her resources, like ne other hero in the DCU. This sort of privilage comes with responsibilities. How are they going to feel whent hey find out she murdered somebody, even a villain? :(
Also... how come nobody in the comicverse uses condoms, or birth control, or the morning after pill? :\ Clearly this was an unexpected pregnancy. But after having smex with Sam, how come Catwoman didn't go get herself the morning after pill? :\ I hate how pregnancy in fiction is treated as something you have no control after and would never want to do nething about if it's unwanted. And nobody ever uses condoms! Ppl have smex, and they get pregnant. :|
That's just it. Like, they wouldn't have smex with protection or nething. Smex, pregnant, keep the child, the end.
I'm amused she had to steal the pregnancy test too! Like, can't she just BUY it? Or is she so ashamed? :\ I dunno, maybe it's the feminist in me. I feel like they're treating pregnancy like something that "just happens" and that you can't do nething about once it happens, and a reason to be ashamed of.
XDDD
Neways! Besides that, the story still wasn't very good. :( I dun understand how Sam wearing a FULL FACE MASK can have his identity discovered when Robin just covers up his eyes and nobody knows who he is. Or Superman, who doesn't even wear a mask!!!! If you're going to have us suspend our disbelief, you could at least be a little consistant about what disbelief we're supposed to suspend :O
And at the end, everybody's happy, even tho Selina confessed to murder and is partially responsible for the death of Slam's son and her baby's father, b/c hey, the baby's cute!
It's very rushed and forced :( It didn't ring true to me at all and just seemed like the writers wanted to get this story done and over with. Say what happened and then just end it. :
Sadly, I dunno if I'll be getting Catwoman nemore, b/c it seems like the characterization went pretty out the window this issue, and I dun rly know where they're going from here now. :|
Neways, I dun recommend this book, b/c it doesn't add nething new. We alrdy knew she killed Black Mask, and we alrdy knew she had smex with Sam and that Helena is his daughter. None of the characters react to it in a way that rings true, and none of them add nething to the story. All they do is tacitly condone Selina's actions, which feels to me like the writers are just saying "they're okay with it, so YOU should be okay with it too. So just leave it alone and forget that there's ne loose ends that need resolving and let's move on okay?" >.<;;
*sigh* It seems like while every other book is moving forward with Infinite Crisis, Catwoman is still stuck in the dark and dirty early 00s :(
Angelwings Rating: 1.5/5
Recommendation: Dun bother spending your money on this one :(
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Teen Titans - #42 Review
Teen Titans - #42
Synopsis: Kid Devil is watching the backdoor of a Chinese restaurant waiting for somebody to use it to enter the magical Oblivion Bar. :o Finally, somebody does and he jumps in, finding himself in the bar. Ppl tell him to go away as he's under 21, but he yells out that he's looking for Blue Devil.
We then flashback to how Blue Devil was created. He used to be a stuntman who worked for Kid Devil's aunt who was a movie director. One day, while in his Blue Devil suit for a movie, he was zapped by a magical monster and his suit fused with him. Kid Devil idolized him since he was working on the set as an errand boy.
Over the years, Kid Devil tried to follow in Blue Devil's footsteps as his sidekick, and even made a suit for himself. o_o;; Then one day, his aunt died in a plane crash when there was some sort of electrical interference. Since he was living with his aunt, Kid Devil had nothing else worth living for, and wanted badly to be a hero like Blue Devil.
Finally, having spent the last of his money to get to Metropolis and gain powers through Lex Luthor's Everyman program, Kid Devil was left pennyless and poor, living on the street. A mysterious person gave him a candle while he was huddled in a doorway and Kid Devil takes it to Zatara the teenage magician and his friend.
Zatara tells him that it's a magical candle that when lit will take Kid Devil to whoever made it. Devil immediately lights it taking him and Zatara to hell, where the demon Neron is there. He offers Kid Devil what he wants, powers and abilities to be just like his hero, Blue Devil, on the condition that if he ever loses his trust in Blue Devil, that on his 21st birthday, he will become Neron's apprentice.
Kid Devil agrees and is turned into... Kid Devil XD But before he leaves, Neron tells him that a long time ago Blue Devil made a deal with Neron for fame. Blue Devil's deal was to destroy an electrical plant, which he did. However, this caused the interference that ultimately killed Kid Devil's aunt. :(
Back in the present, Kid Devil finally catches up with Blue Devil and helps him defeat some villains. Kid Devil confronts Blue Devil and asks him if what Neron said is true. Blue Devil admits it is and that he didn't know how to tell Kid Devil. Kid is understandably angry at Blue and says that he doesn't trust him nemore! :O
He then runs off and resigns himself to the fact that in 3 years he'll be Neron's apprentice. In the meantime however, he pretends to be happy to be with the Teen Titans. :|
Review: :O My synopsis makes the story sound sadder than it actually was. o_o;; They didn't do a very good job selling out miserable Eddie's life was :( Even tho it was pretty bad. His parents didn't want him, his aunt died, and he used up everything he had to try to reach his dream ;-;
DC has this big thing with Neron and how making deals with the devil is bad o_o;; They went over this big time in 52, and they're reminding us again here. :o It's getting a little repetitive, but it's still a good lesson. Nothing comes without a price. :o
I thought the story wasn't a bad one. It gave us the origins of 2 characters that are becoming pretty prominent in the DCU and that we dun rly know much about. And it's a stand alone which is also good. :)
I like stand alone stories b/c I like to recommend comics to my friends, and it's hard when they have to be caught up on the arc in order to understand it. :\ It's much easier to be able to read a comic from beginning to end and understand everything in it :)
My problem, is that the impact of the story isn't very big. Do comic characters even age nemore!? Like.. Tim Drake was introduced in the 80s, and he's still like 16.
I think the biggest problem with the DCverse and aging is that they're held up by ONE group of ppl. The bat family. If Tim Drake ages, then Nightwing has to age, then Batman has to age. :o And then everybody else has to age to catch up. :\ B/c there's actualy age differences that are canonical between those 3, there's no way to be ambigious about it. :(
So Eddie's NEVER going to reach 21. 3 years would have to pass in DC time, and like.. it takes 10 years in real time just for a couple to pass.
B/c of this it's hard to care about Eddie's deal with Neron. :\ It's never going to come up as a practical storyline for the Teen Titans, b/c 3 years is not going to pass.
Also... I rly dun like it when superheroes keep sekrits from other heroes for no reason. Like, why wouldn't Eddie tell the Titans? It seems like an important thing to tell. Like, in superhero comics, they act like we would irl, that, there's no point in worrying your friends cuz they can't do nething.
EXCEPT that in the superhero verse they CAN do something. It's like if you had leaking pipes in your home and your friends had parents who were plumbers or something. :O Telling them wouldn't be useless, it might be helpful in fact! *nods*
Like, Robin could tell Batman, who would get Zatanna to help, or Dr. Fate, or the entire Justice League and Superman could punch Neron in his big fat face!!! >:D
NOT telling ppl is just asking for trouble. :( It's like how Raven doesn't tell the Titans about her father Trigon until Trigon actually ATTACKS EARTH. Wouldn't it be great if the heroes of the world had 5 years warning about this and could prepare?
The hero community in the DCU is close knit and together, they can accomplish nething. If I was a hero and nething bad was going to happen to me, I'd make sure I asked everybody to see if nebody could help!
In general tho, this isn't a bad story. :) It's not very original (deal with the devil, keeping sekrits from friends, etc) but it's not bad. :] Next week starts the whole anti-Teen Titans group, and we get to see if DC is telling the truth about fixing Batgirl or if she's still going to be this whiny, stupid character who suddenly can't beat Robin. >:O
Angelwings Rating: 3/5
Recommendation: Check it out if you're interested in reading about Kid Devil :)
Synopsis: Kid Devil is watching the backdoor of a Chinese restaurant waiting for somebody to use it to enter the magical Oblivion Bar. :o Finally, somebody does and he jumps in, finding himself in the bar. Ppl tell him to go away as he's under 21, but he yells out that he's looking for Blue Devil.
We then flashback to how Blue Devil was created. He used to be a stuntman who worked for Kid Devil's aunt who was a movie director. One day, while in his Blue Devil suit for a movie, he was zapped by a magical monster and his suit fused with him. Kid Devil idolized him since he was working on the set as an errand boy.
Over the years, Kid Devil tried to follow in Blue Devil's footsteps as his sidekick, and even made a suit for himself. o_o;; Then one day, his aunt died in a plane crash when there was some sort of electrical interference. Since he was living with his aunt, Kid Devil had nothing else worth living for, and wanted badly to be a hero like Blue Devil.
Finally, having spent the last of his money to get to Metropolis and gain powers through Lex Luthor's Everyman program, Kid Devil was left pennyless and poor, living on the street. A mysterious person gave him a candle while he was huddled in a doorway and Kid Devil takes it to Zatara the teenage magician and his friend.
Zatara tells him that it's a magical candle that when lit will take Kid Devil to whoever made it. Devil immediately lights it taking him and Zatara to hell, where the demon Neron is there. He offers Kid Devil what he wants, powers and abilities to be just like his hero, Blue Devil, on the condition that if he ever loses his trust in Blue Devil, that on his 21st birthday, he will become Neron's apprentice.
Kid Devil agrees and is turned into... Kid Devil XD But before he leaves, Neron tells him that a long time ago Blue Devil made a deal with Neron for fame. Blue Devil's deal was to destroy an electrical plant, which he did. However, this caused the interference that ultimately killed Kid Devil's aunt. :(
Back in the present, Kid Devil finally catches up with Blue Devil and helps him defeat some villains. Kid Devil confronts Blue Devil and asks him if what Neron said is true. Blue Devil admits it is and that he didn't know how to tell Kid Devil. Kid is understandably angry at Blue and says that he doesn't trust him nemore! :O
He then runs off and resigns himself to the fact that in 3 years he'll be Neron's apprentice. In the meantime however, he pretends to be happy to be with the Teen Titans. :|
Review: :O My synopsis makes the story sound sadder than it actually was. o_o;; They didn't do a very good job selling out miserable Eddie's life was :( Even tho it was pretty bad. His parents didn't want him, his aunt died, and he used up everything he had to try to reach his dream ;-;
DC has this big thing with Neron and how making deals with the devil is bad o_o;; They went over this big time in 52, and they're reminding us again here. :o It's getting a little repetitive, but it's still a good lesson. Nothing comes without a price. :o
I thought the story wasn't a bad one. It gave us the origins of 2 characters that are becoming pretty prominent in the DCU and that we dun rly know much about. And it's a stand alone which is also good. :)
I like stand alone stories b/c I like to recommend comics to my friends, and it's hard when they have to be caught up on the arc in order to understand it. :\ It's much easier to be able to read a comic from beginning to end and understand everything in it :)
My problem, is that the impact of the story isn't very big. Do comic characters even age nemore!? Like.. Tim Drake was introduced in the 80s, and he's still like 16.
I think the biggest problem with the DCverse and aging is that they're held up by ONE group of ppl. The bat family. If Tim Drake ages, then Nightwing has to age, then Batman has to age. :o And then everybody else has to age to catch up. :\ B/c there's actualy age differences that are canonical between those 3, there's no way to be ambigious about it. :(
So Eddie's NEVER going to reach 21. 3 years would have to pass in DC time, and like.. it takes 10 years in real time just for a couple to pass.
B/c of this it's hard to care about Eddie's deal with Neron. :\ It's never going to come up as a practical storyline for the Teen Titans, b/c 3 years is not going to pass.
Also... I rly dun like it when superheroes keep sekrits from other heroes for no reason. Like, why wouldn't Eddie tell the Titans? It seems like an important thing to tell. Like, in superhero comics, they act like we would irl, that, there's no point in worrying your friends cuz they can't do nething.
EXCEPT that in the superhero verse they CAN do something. It's like if you had leaking pipes in your home and your friends had parents who were plumbers or something. :O Telling them wouldn't be useless, it might be helpful in fact! *nods*
Like, Robin could tell Batman, who would get Zatanna to help, or Dr. Fate, or the entire Justice League and Superman could punch Neron in his big fat face!!! >:D
NOT telling ppl is just asking for trouble. :( It's like how Raven doesn't tell the Titans about her father Trigon until Trigon actually ATTACKS EARTH. Wouldn't it be great if the heroes of the world had 5 years warning about this and could prepare?
The hero community in the DCU is close knit and together, they can accomplish nething. If I was a hero and nething bad was going to happen to me, I'd make sure I asked everybody to see if nebody could help!
In general tho, this isn't a bad story. :) It's not very original (deal with the devil, keeping sekrits from friends, etc) but it's not bad. :] Next week starts the whole anti-Teen Titans group, and we get to see if DC is telling the truth about fixing Batgirl or if she's still going to be this whiny, stupid character who suddenly can't beat Robin. >:O
Angelwings Rating: 3/5
Recommendation: Check it out if you're interested in reading about Kid Devil :)
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Back from the jaws of Xmas shopping! XDDD
AHHHH I know I haven't updated much lately. :( I apologize... Holiday stress and shopping and everything o_o;;;
Neways, lots of interesting comics lately :O
I know I skipped a couple weeks, I'll address the books that I think were noteworthy from thos weeks. :O Neways this is what we have for this week :)
52 - #33
Birds of Prey - #101
Catwoman - #62
Checkmate - #9
Ion - #9 (of 12)
Teen Titans - #42
Neways, lots of interesting comics lately :O
I know I skipped a couple weeks, I'll address the books that I think were noteworthy from thos weeks. :O Neways this is what we have for this week :)
52 - #33
Birds of Prey - #101
Catwoman - #62
Checkmate - #9
Ion - #9 (of 12)
Teen Titans - #42
Thursday, December 14, 2006
DCU Infinite Holiday Special Review
DCU Infinite Holiday Special
Angel Note: This is DC's special holiday special book :O It's made up of 7 different stories XD So I'm going to review each one seperately, and then review the book as a whole :)
Here are the stories:
1. Green Lantern in "A Hector Hammond Christmas"
2. Shadowpact in "Christmas Spirits"
3. Supergirl in "All I Want for Christmas..."
4. Trials of Shazam in "Gift of the Magi"
5. The Flash in "Father Christmas"
6. Batwoman in "Lights"
7. Superman in "Yes, Tyrone, There Is A Santa Claus"
Synopsis:
1. Green Lantern in "A Hector Hammond Christmas"
Hector Hammond summons Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) to his prison cell in Edwards Air Force Base. Hammond claims that since the air force blocks his ability to project his mind outward, he's been forced to look inward and it's allowed him to see beyond boundaries, and he's been able to communicate with Hal's deceased father. :O He says that if Hal shares one of his memories with him, he'll give him the message that Hal's dad wanted him to hear. Hal agrees and let's him have a memory from Hal's childhood where he was with his dad. :) However, Hector was trying to trick Hal and instead tries to take more memories, forcing Hal to relive more memories with his dad. o_o;; Hal manages to break free and takes out Hector with his ring. As the guards come in and gather Hector up, he mocks Hal saying that he ruined his Christmas. But Hal responds that in fact Hector made it better by making him remember his fond times with his father. :) Hal then flies off and says "I love you" to his dad. ^^
2. Shadowpact in "Christmas Spirits"
Santa Claus is in the Oblivion Bar moping about how Christmas will be ruined when Blue Devil approaches him and asks if he and the Shadowpact can help. :) Santa is thankful for the offer and explains his problem to the team. Apparently he believes he's the target of the anti-Christmas terrorists and fears for his life. Shadowpact agrees to help and tells Santa that they'll shadow him when he delivers gifts and he wun even know they're there! Afterwards Santa leaves, relieved, and Ragman asks when they're going to start preparing to save Christmas. Blue Devil says that they're not going to fight these terrorists b/c they dun exist, it's just a practical joke that somebody plays on Santa Claus every year, but nobody knows who's behind it. :o The next page reveals that Detective Chimp and Blitzen the reindeer are behind it b/c Blitzen's "a mean drunk". XDDD
3. Supergirl in "All I Want for Christmas..."
Supergirl is talking to Superman about Christmas and how she doesn't understand it. Superman directs her to a big pile of letters that he recieves every year from ppl who are hoping for a Christmas miracle. :O He says he tries to help as many as he can but he can't do them all. So he tells Supergirl to do something nice. Supergirl thinks doing nice things is stupid (srsly) and reluctantly agrees to help a kid whose dad is in Iraq and wants to see him. Supergirl shows up to the girl's house while she's building a snowman and the girl runs screaming to her mother. XDDDD
The mother tells her to go away and to mind her own business. Supergirl researches the child's dad in the Batcave (!?) and then finds out that he's not in Iraq at all! Finding the dad, she discovers that they made up the story to make the kid feel better rather than telling her that her parents are divorced and her dad is a drunken bum. The dad refuses to go see his daughter and tells Supergirl to tell her that he died. Supergirl gets angry and doesn't care nemore. She goes to the girl's house at night and eats all her cookies that were left out for Santa while trying to figure out a lie to tell the girl.
Then she thinks back to her evil father and gets angry and to spite him, she decides to try to reunite the family. She grabs the dad and flies off into the air. Then she drops him and catches him right before he hits the ground O_O;;; Apparently this shakes the dad up and after some Supergirl whining about how bad her life is, she leaves. Back at the farm, Superman tells Supergirl that she was on the news for helping kids and they were happy. She responds with a "whatever" and then wants to open presents xD Superman asks if she learnt nething and she says that she still doesn't understand and that she doesn't know if nebody's actually helped by doing good things. However as the last panel shows, the father did go back to his daughter. :O
4. Trials of Shazam in "Gift of the Magi"
A rich man and a woman walk by a homeless man on the way to a party and refuse to give him money. Another woman, however, flips him a coin. The couple walk into the party where it turns out the woman is a prostitute hired by the man who then kills her and slits her writst to pour her blood into the punch bowl. O_O;;;
The other woman, who is actually King Solomon, walks into a sports bar and talks to a soldier, who is actually Achilles. :o
Back at the party, the people there are upset that the virgin boy they planned to sacrifice killed himself when he discovered they wanted to flay his soul and they need another virgin or somebody who hasn't had sex in 13 months. o_O The rich man figures that the homeless person hasn't had sex in that long and takes him to be sacrificed.
In the sports bar, Solomon and Achilles talk about Freddie Freeman (Captain Marvel Jr) and whether or not he is worthy for the power of Shazam. Solomon says that the evil demon spawn ppl are gathering to do a spell but she has a surprise for them. :o
The evil ppl are about to sacrifice the homeless man when they find the coin he got from Solomon, and it unleashes a spell which kills one of them and teleports the man away to the sports bar, ruining the spell! Then Solomon and Achilles give the homeless man food.
5. The Flash in "Father Christmas"
Flash is lying in bed whining about his life and how he can't enjoy Christmas b/c he spent all his Christmases fighting bad guys. He goes out and gets hit with a snowball and wonders how it can be snowing in Los Angeles. :O He follows the snow to a man with Weather Wizard's wand. He's actually a person who makes gadgets for villains but now he's just trying to give his kid a white Christmas. :o He ran out on his son when he was born, but then his wife was killed by an OMAC and now he came back to take care of his son. However, they're homeless now. :( Flash takes them back to Jay Garrick's house (the old Flash) to share Christmas dinner together. :) He then says that he saved a hotel a while ago and they owe him a favour so he can get the father and son a place to stay until they find something more permanent. ^_^ Then he and the older Flash go to fight a supervillain. :O
6. Batwoman in "Lights"
While in a rare bookstore to get a book for her father, Batwoman talks to the owner who is an old Jewish woman (Batwoman is also Jewish). She shows Batwoman a menorah her father made before he was killed in the Holocaust. She says she never lights it b/c she wun celebrate a miracle when she doesn't believe in them. :(
Batwoman goes out patrolling and beats up some thieves who are stealing what appears to be a lot of candleholders XDDD Batwoman defeats them and finds the menorah :O She returns it to the old woman and tells her to light it b/c her father made it to be used. The old woman does so.
7. Superman in "Yes, Tyrone, There Is A Santa Claus"
A kid writes to the Daily Planet asking if there's a Santa Claus. Perry White is moved by the letter and tell Clark to write up an editorial, Jimmy to get background on the kid and Lois to get him a cup of coffee. XD
Superman goes back to his cave and makes a sled and a Santa costume for himself. He fills the sled with presents and flies to give Tyrone (the kid) the presents. :O Batman in a jetpack confronts him and tells him to take himself srsly and do heroic things and not play dress up. >.> Superman relents and decides he should do more heroic things. :(
However, he still wants to take the kid presents and goes to do so. Entering the house he sees Batman dressed as Santa entertaining the kids who say they love him! XDDD Batman winks at Superman who gets mad and punches him!! XDDDDDDD
Review:
1. Green Lantern in "A Hector Hammond Christmas"
This was a strange story :\ It wasn't rly very interesting, and Hector Hammond is creepy :( Also it was very predictable. It's nice that GL loves his dad, but it seemed very forced. Like the writers didn't rly want to write a feel-good story and didn't know how to write one. :(
I give it a 2/5 :
2. Shadowpact in "Christmas Spirits"
This one was very fun XD And it involved Santa! This was one of the few stories that seemed to remember that it was supposed to be a holiday story and therefore fun. :O The ending was cute too :)
3.5 Angelwings! :D
3. Supergirl in "All I Want for Christmas..."
Joe Kelly should be banned from Supergirl :( Supergirl comes off as bratty and whiny as usual :\ And it doesn't make sense that she's ALWAYS in her Supergirl outfit even when she's around Clark Kent! Ppl dun find this weird!? And ultimately she doesn't learn nething at all! She does however flirt with Alfred and Batman >.>;;; And why is she in the Batcave? Batman doesn't just allow ppl to use his computer! :\ And her dropping the person and acting like she was going to kill him was mean :( Mean mean mean :( At the end she still doesn't understand caring at all and just wants to open presents! Christmas stories should be happy and fun not sad :(
However the art is excellent :O Ale Garza should ALWAYS draw Supergirl! She actually looks cute and her expressions are great! :) I just wish she was written better :(
Quote of the year: "Then I remembered I don't like being told what to do... Especially when I'm trying to do something nice. Which I also don't want to do." - Supergirl
I give this book a 2 b/c the art is so good. But otherwise it'd be a 1. :(
4. Trials of Shazam in "Gift of the Magi"
WTF? >.> This is BARELY a holiday story XD It's mostly an advertisment for Trials of Shazam. :\ It's not very holidayish at all and involves blood and sacrifices O_O;;; It's not even entertaining and SO confusing to nebody not reading ToS (or maybe even to ppl reading it).
I give it a 1 for not even being themed right. :(
5. The Flash in "Father Christmas"
The new Flash whines almost as much as Supergirl! They should date >.>;; Emokids XD Neways... this is the third story about a father and his child. :O The writers should rly consult each other when they come up with a plot point to tug at the heart strings. :\ By the time we get to this story the father/child thing has worn on and it doesn't feel that sad nemore :( It was OKAY. At least it remembered the Christmas spirit! :) But I dun understand why Bart takes strangers to the home of Jay Garrick and reveals his own sekrit identity :O What's the point of sekrit identities nemore!? XDDDD
2.5/5 for at least remembering it's the holiday season XD
6. Batwoman in "Lights"
Batwoman seems like the token minority :( Hey we need a lesbian character! What about Batwoman? Hey we need a Jewish character! What about Batwoman? >.<;;; It was nice to include a Hanukkah story :) But it seems like they only included it cuz they felt they HAD to and not b/c they wanted to :( The story seems very rushed and forced, and the narrative is so confusing and choppy that it's like they cut a couple pages out of it :((( Bleh :\ And Batwoman threw Batarangs that lodged into the thieves HEADS!!! OW O_O;;; How did she not kill them!? :\ Can we plz have a holiday story that doesn't involve violence?
It gets 2/5 :(
7. Superman in "Yes, Tyrone, There Is A Santa Claus"
Imo, this is the by far the best story of the bunch! :D It's an Elseworld's tale (as seen by the logo at the end) XD And it's set in the silver age where Superman has his crazy fortress with the giant key XDDD I was amused by Batman starting the usual rant from Dark Knight Returns about his parents and then apologizing for it XDD And the ending was great! All Elseworld tales that ppl like involve Batman and SUperman fighting! Hehehehehe :D This one story makes the whole book worth it :D
4/5!!!! :DDDD With much <3
Overall
Overall I was very dissapointed :( Previous Christmas specials have been so good! It's sad that they've forgotten that the holiday season is the time to have fun and enjoy themselves! :\ Holiday specials should be about caring and giving and being nice! I miss stuff like the Christmas episode in the animated Justice League tv series where even the villains do nice stuff :) I personally <3 the holiday season :D And it's nice to feel like there's a time when ppl can do good and be nice, even if normally they aren't. :]
So I was dissapointed that most of the stories involved violence and nothing very nice. The writers seem to think that having parents reunite with their kids is enuf to make a story sappy. :\ Doing the single parent thing for sympathy rly annoys me since I'm the daughter of a single parent and I just dun like ppl thinking it's this horrible hard thing. I'm not sorry I dun have a father and I dun spend all my life wishing I had one. >:|
Neways, it rly bothers me that this special is just one giant advertising piece tho! Why isn't Batman or Wonder Woman or ne of the other big names here? :o Why Shadowpact, Batwoman, Supergirl, Shazam and the new Flash? XDD Could it be that those are the 5 characters that need the most help with their promotion? And the 4 books that need the most help in sales? :O
It doesn't help that most of the stories focus more on what's going on in the comic book than the holidays :( That just makes it seem more like an advertising. Like, "hey if you're confused read the book!!!!!" >:O
Overall, I think it's worth it for the last story.. but at $5, I'm not sure everybody should get it, only ppl who rly are interested in the characters involved or rly like Christmas specials :O
On a side note, they should have kept the original title of "DCU Infinite Christmas Special" and not "Infinite Holiday" b/c Infinite Christmas is a play on Infinite Crisis XD It's not politically incorrect, it's just a play on words. :
Angelwings Rating: 2/5
Recommendation: Not rly worth the $5. :( Get it if you like holiday specials or like the characters involves >.>
To Recap:
1. Green Lantern in "A Hector Hammond Christmas" - Not very interesting :( 2/5
2. Shadowpact in "Christmas Spirits" - Fun! 3.5/5
3. Supergirl in "All I Want for Christmas..." - Supergirl is mean and selfish :( But the art is good! :) 2/5
4. Trials of Shazam in "Gift of the Magi" - Seems to have completely forgotten about the theme of the book :( Also blood and sacrifices isn't in the holiday spirit >.<;;; 1/5
5. The Flash in "Father Christmas" - A kinda generic Christmas story but at least it remembers it's the holidays! 2.5/5
6. Batwoman in "Lights" - Feels a bit forced, like they felt they HAD to have a Jewish story. :( Very rushed with a broken narrative >.<;;; 2/5
7. Superman in "Yes, Tyrone, There Is A Santa Claus" - The best story in the book! Very silver age and very fun with some funny parts :) 4/5! :D
Angel Note: This is DC's special holiday special book :O It's made up of 7 different stories XD So I'm going to review each one seperately, and then review the book as a whole :)
Here are the stories:
1. Green Lantern in "A Hector Hammond Christmas"
2. Shadowpact in "Christmas Spirits"
3. Supergirl in "All I Want for Christmas..."
4. Trials of Shazam in "Gift of the Magi"
5. The Flash in "Father Christmas"
6. Batwoman in "Lights"
7. Superman in "Yes, Tyrone, There Is A Santa Claus"
Synopsis:
1. Green Lantern in "A Hector Hammond Christmas"
Hector Hammond summons Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) to his prison cell in Edwards Air Force Base. Hammond claims that since the air force blocks his ability to project his mind outward, he's been forced to look inward and it's allowed him to see beyond boundaries, and he's been able to communicate with Hal's deceased father. :O He says that if Hal shares one of his memories with him, he'll give him the message that Hal's dad wanted him to hear. Hal agrees and let's him have a memory from Hal's childhood where he was with his dad. :) However, Hector was trying to trick Hal and instead tries to take more memories, forcing Hal to relive more memories with his dad. o_o;; Hal manages to break free and takes out Hector with his ring. As the guards come in and gather Hector up, he mocks Hal saying that he ruined his Christmas. But Hal responds that in fact Hector made it better by making him remember his fond times with his father. :) Hal then flies off and says "I love you" to his dad. ^^
2. Shadowpact in "Christmas Spirits"
Santa Claus is in the Oblivion Bar moping about how Christmas will be ruined when Blue Devil approaches him and asks if he and the Shadowpact can help. :) Santa is thankful for the offer and explains his problem to the team. Apparently he believes he's the target of the anti-Christmas terrorists and fears for his life. Shadowpact agrees to help and tells Santa that they'll shadow him when he delivers gifts and he wun even know they're there! Afterwards Santa leaves, relieved, and Ragman asks when they're going to start preparing to save Christmas. Blue Devil says that they're not going to fight these terrorists b/c they dun exist, it's just a practical joke that somebody plays on Santa Claus every year, but nobody knows who's behind it. :o The next page reveals that Detective Chimp and Blitzen the reindeer are behind it b/c Blitzen's "a mean drunk". XDDD
3. Supergirl in "All I Want for Christmas..."
Supergirl is talking to Superman about Christmas and how she doesn't understand it. Superman directs her to a big pile of letters that he recieves every year from ppl who are hoping for a Christmas miracle. :O He says he tries to help as many as he can but he can't do them all. So he tells Supergirl to do something nice. Supergirl thinks doing nice things is stupid (srsly) and reluctantly agrees to help a kid whose dad is in Iraq and wants to see him. Supergirl shows up to the girl's house while she's building a snowman and the girl runs screaming to her mother. XDDDD
The mother tells her to go away and to mind her own business. Supergirl researches the child's dad in the Batcave (!?) and then finds out that he's not in Iraq at all! Finding the dad, she discovers that they made up the story to make the kid feel better rather than telling her that her parents are divorced and her dad is a drunken bum. The dad refuses to go see his daughter and tells Supergirl to tell her that he died. Supergirl gets angry and doesn't care nemore. She goes to the girl's house at night and eats all her cookies that were left out for Santa while trying to figure out a lie to tell the girl.
Then she thinks back to her evil father and gets angry and to spite him, she decides to try to reunite the family. She grabs the dad and flies off into the air. Then she drops him and catches him right before he hits the ground O_O;;; Apparently this shakes the dad up and after some Supergirl whining about how bad her life is, she leaves. Back at the farm, Superman tells Supergirl that she was on the news for helping kids and they were happy. She responds with a "whatever" and then wants to open presents xD Superman asks if she learnt nething and she says that she still doesn't understand and that she doesn't know if nebody's actually helped by doing good things. However as the last panel shows, the father did go back to his daughter. :O
4. Trials of Shazam in "Gift of the Magi"
A rich man and a woman walk by a homeless man on the way to a party and refuse to give him money. Another woman, however, flips him a coin. The couple walk into the party where it turns out the woman is a prostitute hired by the man who then kills her and slits her writst to pour her blood into the punch bowl. O_O;;;
The other woman, who is actually King Solomon, walks into a sports bar and talks to a soldier, who is actually Achilles. :o
Back at the party, the people there are upset that the virgin boy they planned to sacrifice killed himself when he discovered they wanted to flay his soul and they need another virgin or somebody who hasn't had sex in 13 months. o_O The rich man figures that the homeless person hasn't had sex in that long and takes him to be sacrificed.
In the sports bar, Solomon and Achilles talk about Freddie Freeman (Captain Marvel Jr) and whether or not he is worthy for the power of Shazam. Solomon says that the evil demon spawn ppl are gathering to do a spell but she has a surprise for them. :o
The evil ppl are about to sacrifice the homeless man when they find the coin he got from Solomon, and it unleashes a spell which kills one of them and teleports the man away to the sports bar, ruining the spell! Then Solomon and Achilles give the homeless man food.
5. The Flash in "Father Christmas"
Flash is lying in bed whining about his life and how he can't enjoy Christmas b/c he spent all his Christmases fighting bad guys. He goes out and gets hit with a snowball and wonders how it can be snowing in Los Angeles. :O He follows the snow to a man with Weather Wizard's wand. He's actually a person who makes gadgets for villains but now he's just trying to give his kid a white Christmas. :o He ran out on his son when he was born, but then his wife was killed by an OMAC and now he came back to take care of his son. However, they're homeless now. :( Flash takes them back to Jay Garrick's house (the old Flash) to share Christmas dinner together. :) He then says that he saved a hotel a while ago and they owe him a favour so he can get the father and son a place to stay until they find something more permanent. ^_^ Then he and the older Flash go to fight a supervillain. :O
6. Batwoman in "Lights"
While in a rare bookstore to get a book for her father, Batwoman talks to the owner who is an old Jewish woman (Batwoman is also Jewish). She shows Batwoman a menorah her father made before he was killed in the Holocaust. She says she never lights it b/c she wun celebrate a miracle when she doesn't believe in them. :(
Batwoman goes out patrolling and beats up some thieves who are stealing what appears to be a lot of candleholders XDDD Batwoman defeats them and finds the menorah :O She returns it to the old woman and tells her to light it b/c her father made it to be used. The old woman does so.
7. Superman in "Yes, Tyrone, There Is A Santa Claus"
A kid writes to the Daily Planet asking if there's a Santa Claus. Perry White is moved by the letter and tell Clark to write up an editorial, Jimmy to get background on the kid and Lois to get him a cup of coffee. XD
Superman goes back to his cave and makes a sled and a Santa costume for himself. He fills the sled with presents and flies to give Tyrone (the kid) the presents. :O Batman in a jetpack confronts him and tells him to take himself srsly and do heroic things and not play dress up. >.> Superman relents and decides he should do more heroic things. :(
However, he still wants to take the kid presents and goes to do so. Entering the house he sees Batman dressed as Santa entertaining the kids who say they love him! XDDD Batman winks at Superman who gets mad and punches him!! XDDDDDDD
Review:
1. Green Lantern in "A Hector Hammond Christmas"
This was a strange story :\ It wasn't rly very interesting, and Hector Hammond is creepy :( Also it was very predictable. It's nice that GL loves his dad, but it seemed very forced. Like the writers didn't rly want to write a feel-good story and didn't know how to write one. :(
I give it a 2/5 :
2. Shadowpact in "Christmas Spirits"
This one was very fun XD And it involved Santa! This was one of the few stories that seemed to remember that it was supposed to be a holiday story and therefore fun. :O The ending was cute too :)
3.5 Angelwings! :D
3. Supergirl in "All I Want for Christmas..."
Joe Kelly should be banned from Supergirl :( Supergirl comes off as bratty and whiny as usual :\ And it doesn't make sense that she's ALWAYS in her Supergirl outfit even when she's around Clark Kent! Ppl dun find this weird!? And ultimately she doesn't learn nething at all! She does however flirt with Alfred and Batman >.>;;; And why is she in the Batcave? Batman doesn't just allow ppl to use his computer! :\ And her dropping the person and acting like she was going to kill him was mean :( Mean mean mean :( At the end she still doesn't understand caring at all and just wants to open presents! Christmas stories should be happy and fun not sad :(
However the art is excellent :O Ale Garza should ALWAYS draw Supergirl! She actually looks cute and her expressions are great! :) I just wish she was written better :(
Quote of the year: "Then I remembered I don't like being told what to do... Especially when I'm trying to do something nice. Which I also don't want to do." - Supergirl
I give this book a 2 b/c the art is so good. But otherwise it'd be a 1. :(
4. Trials of Shazam in "Gift of the Magi"
WTF? >.> This is BARELY a holiday story XD It's mostly an advertisment for Trials of Shazam. :\ It's not very holidayish at all and involves blood and sacrifices O_O;;; It's not even entertaining and SO confusing to nebody not reading ToS (or maybe even to ppl reading it).
I give it a 1 for not even being themed right. :(
5. The Flash in "Father Christmas"
The new Flash whines almost as much as Supergirl! They should date >.>;; Emokids XD Neways... this is the third story about a father and his child. :O The writers should rly consult each other when they come up with a plot point to tug at the heart strings. :\ By the time we get to this story the father/child thing has worn on and it doesn't feel that sad nemore :( It was OKAY. At least it remembered the Christmas spirit! :) But I dun understand why Bart takes strangers to the home of Jay Garrick and reveals his own sekrit identity :O What's the point of sekrit identities nemore!? XDDDD
2.5/5 for at least remembering it's the holiday season XD
6. Batwoman in "Lights"
Batwoman seems like the token minority :( Hey we need a lesbian character! What about Batwoman? Hey we need a Jewish character! What about Batwoman? >.<;;; It was nice to include a Hanukkah story :) But it seems like they only included it cuz they felt they HAD to and not b/c they wanted to :( The story seems very rushed and forced, and the narrative is so confusing and choppy that it's like they cut a couple pages out of it :((( Bleh :\ And Batwoman threw Batarangs that lodged into the thieves HEADS!!! OW O_O;;; How did she not kill them!? :\ Can we plz have a holiday story that doesn't involve violence?
It gets 2/5 :(
7. Superman in "Yes, Tyrone, There Is A Santa Claus"
Imo, this is the by far the best story of the bunch! :D It's an Elseworld's tale (as seen by the logo at the end) XD And it's set in the silver age where Superman has his crazy fortress with the giant key XDDD I was amused by Batman starting the usual rant from Dark Knight Returns about his parents and then apologizing for it XDD And the ending was great! All Elseworld tales that ppl like involve Batman and SUperman fighting! Hehehehehe :D This one story makes the whole book worth it :D
4/5!!!! :DDDD With much <3
Overall
Overall I was very dissapointed :( Previous Christmas specials have been so good! It's sad that they've forgotten that the holiday season is the time to have fun and enjoy themselves! :\ Holiday specials should be about caring and giving and being nice! I miss stuff like the Christmas episode in the animated Justice League tv series where even the villains do nice stuff :) I personally <3 the holiday season :D And it's nice to feel like there's a time when ppl can do good and be nice, even if normally they aren't. :]
So I was dissapointed that most of the stories involved violence and nothing very nice. The writers seem to think that having parents reunite with their kids is enuf to make a story sappy. :\ Doing the single parent thing for sympathy rly annoys me since I'm the daughter of a single parent and I just dun like ppl thinking it's this horrible hard thing. I'm not sorry I dun have a father and I dun spend all my life wishing I had one. >:|
Neways, it rly bothers me that this special is just one giant advertising piece tho! Why isn't Batman or Wonder Woman or ne of the other big names here? :o Why Shadowpact, Batwoman, Supergirl, Shazam and the new Flash? XDD Could it be that those are the 5 characters that need the most help with their promotion? And the 4 books that need the most help in sales? :O
It doesn't help that most of the stories focus more on what's going on in the comic book than the holidays :( That just makes it seem more like an advertising. Like, "hey if you're confused read the book!!!!!" >:O
Overall, I think it's worth it for the last story.. but at $5, I'm not sure everybody should get it, only ppl who rly are interested in the characters involved or rly like Christmas specials :O
On a side note, they should have kept the original title of "DCU Infinite Christmas Special" and not "Infinite Holiday" b/c Infinite Christmas is a play on Infinite Crisis XD It's not politically incorrect, it's just a play on words. :
Angelwings Rating: 2/5
Recommendation: Not rly worth the $5. :( Get it if you like holiday specials or like the characters involves >.>
To Recap:
1. Green Lantern in "A Hector Hammond Christmas" - Not very interesting :( 2/5
2. Shadowpact in "Christmas Spirits" - Fun! 3.5/5
3. Supergirl in "All I Want for Christmas..." - Supergirl is mean and selfish :( But the art is good! :) 2/5
4. Trials of Shazam in "Gift of the Magi" - Seems to have completely forgotten about the theme of the book :( Also blood and sacrifices isn't in the holiday spirit >.<;;; 1/5
5. The Flash in "Father Christmas" - A kinda generic Christmas story but at least it remembers it's the holidays! 2.5/5
6. Batwoman in "Lights" - Feels a bit forced, like they felt they HAD to have a Jewish story. :( Very rushed with a broken narrative >.<;;; 2/5
7. Superman in "Yes, Tyrone, There Is A Santa Claus" - The best story in the book! Very silver age and very fun with some funny parts :) 4/5! :D
Monday, December 11, 2006
Girl Rant :O
While googling around b/c I can't sleep, I came upon this article:
http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/nov05/art_1105_1.shtml
It's about the death of Robin IV/Spoiler, Stephanie Brown and subconscious mysogyny in comic writing. o_o;;
You may not agree with everything in the article, but it certainly is something to think about. :o
I also think it's stupid that Stephanie doesn't have a shrine in the Batcave. And I also know why DC gets away with this. B/c the fanbase is mostly teenage boys, and in their brains, Stephanie deserved to die. :( B/c she disobeyed Batman.
Even tho Jason Todd disobeyed Batman too.
I'm surprised Catwoman still TALKS to Batman!
This is why the ending of Infinite Crisis sorta dissapointed me. Can we PLZ use IC as an excuse to retcon most of the 90s and the 00s out of DC history!? Stuff like Identity Crisis and War Games which touched on some interesting concepts, but ended up leaving everybody feeling miserable with deaths and rapes and tortures. :(
It's not Batman being a mysogynist tho, it's the writers, and rly, the attitudes that society gives us. :(
Also sloppy writing.
But I think when faced with a young male character that the writers clearly associate with (being once young males themselves), they have a tendency to think "nope, he wouldn't do that, b/c I wouldn't do that" or "I can't do that to the character."
With a female character, esp a YOUNG female character, I think that the writers envision the type of girl that they disliked in highschool. The one they never got to know, at only looked at from afar, and so they can only imagine what goes through her mind. So it's a lot EASIER for them to think "yup, she'd prolly do something stupid like that" or "yah this char is expendable". And they dunno WHY they think this, but at least PART of the reason is b/c she's female!
I'm not saying ALL comics or writers think this way, but I believe it does exist, esp in a genre where the readership are young males and the editorial decisions go towards catering to that demographic.
This is the same with Huntress. :\ Young, headstrong males are looked at favourably, while young headstrong females must be PUNISHED and are seen as "bitchy" and too "emotional".
Somehow when female heroes use their emotions, they're "emotional" yet when males do it, they end up getting rly angry and upset and using that anger to beat the hell out of their enemies. :\ And then are lauded for it.
And female heroes never use their emotions to win fights. :( They can only win fights when they're calm and centred like Wonder Woman. But when they're emotional like Wondergirl and Supergirl, they run off and cry and whine and party. But Superman gets angry and beats the hell out of Darkseid even tho he's losing the fight.
Going back to Cassandra. She makes a good point. Batman brought Jason Todd into the fold under similar circumstances and made SURE he got a good education. When Tim Drake lost his dad, Batman adopted him. He still takes great care of Dick and Tim. When he "fired" Dick as Robin, he let him become Nightwing.
When he "fired" Stephanie, he forbade her to become Spoiler (as if he has ne right to tell ppl what they can and cannot do on their own). He never adopted Cassandra, or showed interest in being a father figure to her or Stephanie or Huntress. Despite that all 3 clearly needed some guidance and direction.
In a way. A very sad way. I feel like having a fantastic writer like Gail Simone and a series like Birds of Prey that showcases the female heroes, makes it easier for the writers to ignore the female characters. B/c they know Gail will take care of them and give them proper treatment. :(
Neways.. this is getting long XD I honestly, think there ARE positive portrayals of female heroes in comics. But not NEARLY as many as there SHOULD be given the number of heroines there are. And that there are clear instances when there is subconscious sexism at play. :(
Just before I go. Imagine if a writer came up with a plot where Tim Drake died at the hands of Alfred Pennyworth. Do you think DC's editorial staff would EVER let that happen?
Yah... :(
http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/nov05/art_1105_1.shtml
It's about the death of Robin IV/Spoiler, Stephanie Brown and subconscious mysogyny in comic writing. o_o;;
You may not agree with everything in the article, but it certainly is something to think about. :o
I also think it's stupid that Stephanie doesn't have a shrine in the Batcave. And I also know why DC gets away with this. B/c the fanbase is mostly teenage boys, and in their brains, Stephanie deserved to die. :( B/c she disobeyed Batman.
Even tho Jason Todd disobeyed Batman too.
I'm surprised Catwoman still TALKS to Batman!
This is why the ending of Infinite Crisis sorta dissapointed me. Can we PLZ use IC as an excuse to retcon most of the 90s and the 00s out of DC history!? Stuff like Identity Crisis and War Games which touched on some interesting concepts, but ended up leaving everybody feeling miserable with deaths and rapes and tortures. :(
It's not Batman being a mysogynist tho, it's the writers, and rly, the attitudes that society gives us. :(
Also sloppy writing.
But I think when faced with a young male character that the writers clearly associate with (being once young males themselves), they have a tendency to think "nope, he wouldn't do that, b/c I wouldn't do that" or "I can't do that to the character."
With a female character, esp a YOUNG female character, I think that the writers envision the type of girl that they disliked in highschool. The one they never got to know, at only looked at from afar, and so they can only imagine what goes through her mind. So it's a lot EASIER for them to think "yup, she'd prolly do something stupid like that" or "yah this char is expendable". And they dunno WHY they think this, but at least PART of the reason is b/c she's female!
I'm not saying ALL comics or writers think this way, but I believe it does exist, esp in a genre where the readership are young males and the editorial decisions go towards catering to that demographic.
This is the same with Huntress. :\ Young, headstrong males are looked at favourably, while young headstrong females must be PUNISHED and are seen as "bitchy" and too "emotional".
Somehow when female heroes use their emotions, they're "emotional" yet when males do it, they end up getting rly angry and upset and using that anger to beat the hell out of their enemies. :\ And then are lauded for it.
And female heroes never use their emotions to win fights. :( They can only win fights when they're calm and centred like Wonder Woman. But when they're emotional like Wondergirl and Supergirl, they run off and cry and whine and party. But Superman gets angry and beats the hell out of Darkseid even tho he's losing the fight.
Going back to Cassandra. She makes a good point. Batman brought Jason Todd into the fold under similar circumstances and made SURE he got a good education. When Tim Drake lost his dad, Batman adopted him. He still takes great care of Dick and Tim. When he "fired" Dick as Robin, he let him become Nightwing.
When he "fired" Stephanie, he forbade her to become Spoiler (as if he has ne right to tell ppl what they can and cannot do on their own). He never adopted Cassandra, or showed interest in being a father figure to her or Stephanie or Huntress. Despite that all 3 clearly needed some guidance and direction.
In a way. A very sad way. I feel like having a fantastic writer like Gail Simone and a series like Birds of Prey that showcases the female heroes, makes it easier for the writers to ignore the female characters. B/c they know Gail will take care of them and give them proper treatment. :(
Neways.. this is getting long XD I honestly, think there ARE positive portrayals of female heroes in comics. But not NEARLY as many as there SHOULD be given the number of heroines there are. And that there are clear instances when there is subconscious sexism at play. :(
Just before I go. Imagine if a writer came up with a plot where Tim Drake died at the hands of Alfred Pennyworth. Do you think DC's editorial staff would EVER let that happen?
Yah... :(
Smallville talk o_o;;;
Hmmm... this isn't about comics rly o_o;; It's about Smallville :O
Yes I watch Smallville :D It's not that great, but it's kinda interesting... esp since I know lots about comics... and Green Arrow is HAWT *_*;;;
>.>
<.<
Yes xD
Neways... Justice is coming out! It's rly the only reason I'm still watching the show cuz I <3 team ups!!! And it's sorta a reward for watching the show too cuz the heroes from the previous episodes team up to fight Lex Luthor and the villains from previous episodes (omg you know how big a list that is!?)
I'm sorta hoping it wun suck, b/c the episode quality has been poor lately :( Neways... the "Justice League" will consist of Clark Kent (Superman), Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow and Cyborg (and maybe Martian Manhunter). :O
It's kinda a b-list Justice League. XD Esp with Cyborg :\ But it's still a team up >.>;;
However, while youtubing, I ran into some (surprisingly well done) fan trailers for a "Justice League" tv show based on Smallville. One of them includes the "Angel of Vengeance" from the Season 5 episode Vengeance. :O
For those that didn't see that episode, it was basically about a young girl with super powers who fights crime and is hunting Lionel Luthor for killing her mother. She has a "secret identity" as a Daily Planet worker and wears glasses. >.>;;;
It's a little dorky that Superman would steal his secret identity idea from another hero. >.> Neways she kills ppl, so that's bad, and vanishes at the end of the episode after Clark stops her from killing Lionel.
However, in the "Chloe Chronicles" (a kinda spin off that only comes with the DVDs), Chloe helps the Angel escape from Lionel's forces. So in that way she's been kinda reformed, at least in that she's not a villain, more of a vigilante. :O
Her whole style is very Batmanish...
NEWAYS
I think she SHOULD be in the episode! The JL is alrdy enuf of a boys club in the comics, and if she's not involved in Justice, it's gonna be nothing but a boys club in the show :(
It would also give the team a darker personality which Batman usually fills in the JL. :o
Also I rly liked her char XD And it would be so cool if she was involved! So I hope she is :( Even tho I feel she wun be :\ I hope she shows up as an "uninvited" guest to help! She doesn't like the Luthors either after all... >.>;;; And even if she's not a canon DC character, she's still a superhero in Smallville. :S
I'm hoping she'll be involved!!! Why keep her in the public eye in the "Chloe Chronicles" if not to have her return? :o
>.>;;
Neways... that's just all I wanted to say XD I'm excited about Justice, but I'd be more excited if The Angel of Vengeance was involved!!!
<3
Ami
Yes I watch Smallville :D It's not that great, but it's kinda interesting... esp since I know lots about comics... and Green Arrow is HAWT *_*;;;
>.>
<.<
Yes xD
Neways... Justice is coming out! It's rly the only reason I'm still watching the show cuz I <3 team ups!!! And it's sorta a reward for watching the show too cuz the heroes from the previous episodes team up to fight Lex Luthor and the villains from previous episodes (omg you know how big a list that is!?)
I'm sorta hoping it wun suck, b/c the episode quality has been poor lately :( Neways... the "Justice League" will consist of Clark Kent (Superman), Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow and Cyborg (and maybe Martian Manhunter). :O
It's kinda a b-list Justice League. XD Esp with Cyborg :\ But it's still a team up >.>;;
However, while youtubing, I ran into some (surprisingly well done) fan trailers for a "Justice League" tv show based on Smallville. One of them includes the "Angel of Vengeance" from the Season 5 episode Vengeance. :O
For those that didn't see that episode, it was basically about a young girl with super powers who fights crime and is hunting Lionel Luthor for killing her mother. She has a "secret identity" as a Daily Planet worker and wears glasses. >.>;;;
It's a little dorky that Superman would steal his secret identity idea from another hero. >.> Neways she kills ppl, so that's bad, and vanishes at the end of the episode after Clark stops her from killing Lionel.
However, in the "Chloe Chronicles" (a kinda spin off that only comes with the DVDs), Chloe helps the Angel escape from Lionel's forces. So in that way she's been kinda reformed, at least in that she's not a villain, more of a vigilante. :O
Her whole style is very Batmanish...
NEWAYS
I think she SHOULD be in the episode! The JL is alrdy enuf of a boys club in the comics, and if she's not involved in Justice, it's gonna be nothing but a boys club in the show :(
It would also give the team a darker personality which Batman usually fills in the JL. :o
Also I rly liked her char XD And it would be so cool if she was involved! So I hope she is :( Even tho I feel she wun be :\ I hope she shows up as an "uninvited" guest to help! She doesn't like the Luthors either after all... >.>;;; And even if she's not a canon DC character, she's still a superhero in Smallville. :S
I'm hoping she'll be involved!!! Why keep her in the public eye in the "Chloe Chronicles" if not to have her return? :o
>.>;;
Neways... that's just all I wanted to say XD I'm excited about Justice, but I'd be more excited if The Angel of Vengeance was involved!!!
<3
Ami
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Batman - #659 Review
Batman - #659
Synopsis: The issue begins with 2 cops on patrol when a man lit on fire runs at them begging to be put out of his misery. :( The cops panic and finally fire when the man charges at them, killing him. Commissioner Gordon and the other cops arrive at the scene later and examine it. Batman (in disguise) shows up to gather evidence and Gordon (recognizing him) calls off the other cops to let Batman have better access. It appears that the person was badly mutilated before being set on fire.
Apparently there have been 2 other killings in the same way, and the victims appear unrelated, even to Batman's analytical eye. The news names the mysterious killer as "Grotesk".
In conversation with Alfred, we learn that Batman's personal doctor and confidant, Leslie Thompkins, had her practice invaded by thugs recently and that he believes that they will attack again, so he sets off to teach the thugs a lesson.
The thugs do indeed attack once again, but they aren't looking for Leslie, but another doctor working for her. The doctor's brother apparently owed them money and since he died, they're going after his sister. Batman intervenes and while fighting them off, Grotesk attacks, setting many of them aflame. On his arm is a weird machine that allows him to disfigure ppl. o_o;;; Grotesk also wears a mask made of the skins of ppl he killed. :O
Batman confronts Grotesk, who tells him that they're working on the same side, but since Grotesk kills ppl, Batman disagrees and attacks him! Grotesk sets a truck on fire forcing Batman to choose between going after him or saving the truck driver. Of course Batman chooses to save the truck driver, letting Grotesk get away! :o
Back in the Batcave, Batman recounts to Alfred about how he dated the doctor that was being attacked by thugs and that he knew her brother, who was a wealthy industrialist who was known as the "Black Bruce Wayne". >.>;;; He invented the machine that Grotesk uses. It was intended to assist in surgery, but Grotesk is using it to maim ppl. When he died, another company came out with a similar design, and Batman believes that he is actually not dead but getting revenge on those who wronged him.
He goes out in the Batmobile looking for clues, as the weather report reports a huge snow storm heading Gotham's way.
Review: I'm surprised this story wasn't in Detective Comics since this is very much a detective story and something I would expect to see in Batman: The Animated Series (which was created by Paul Dini, the current writer of Detective). :O
It's an OKAY story. I'm just shocked that it's a 4 parter. O_O;;; In comic terms, this is a "filler" story. The big all-star team on Batman (Morrison and Kubert) is taking a break to work on their next arc (I hope), so they're having 4 issues of filler to allow them to catch up. But this isn't a 4 part story... it's maybe a 2 part story.. >.>;; I just worry that the story will be artificially stretched out to make it work. How many times will Batman fight Grotesk only to have him get away? :O
It's also a very generic story >.>;; Srsly.. let's break down the plot:
1) A mysterious villain is killing ppl
2) He is linked to another mystery that the hero is solving
3) He believes that he is doing good by killing bad people
4) The hero disagrees and instead of talking, he attacks him
5) To get away, the villain offers the hero a choice between chasing him or saving innocent ppl
6) The hero let's the villain escape to save innocent ppl
7) All clues point towards a dead person who was a good person while he lived, but was wronged
8) The main suspect has a living (usually female) relative who is currently an "innocent victim" and the hero is in love with her and suspects she "might" be lying that the dead person is actually dead, to protect him
Wanna guess numbers 9 and 10? XD
9 is usually:
9) While all clues point to the dead person, in reality it is the female relative who is the real killer seeking to avenge her brother/husband/father/etc's death and forces the hero into the difficult emotional situation of stopping her.
10) She "dies" in a fiery explosion leaving the hero to wonder if she will return.
>.>;;
I'll be SHOCKED if this story doesn't progress in this manner XDDD (Tho it's possible that she does get arrested and locked in Arkham at the end)
So yah... the story is RLY generic. :O It doesn't help that 90% of Batman "mysteries" follow this pattern. >.>;; It's a little dissapointing, cuz he's the World's Greatest Detective. o_o;; His mysteries should at least be more complicated and involved :O
Esp since this arc has FOUR ISSUES to work with! Dini only gets 1 issue for his stories in Detective Comics and he comes up with more interesting mysteries o_o;;;
Still, it's not a bad read and I recommend it since, imo, Batman is the most accessible of all the main DC stories since all he does is solve mysteries and it's not important to know all the history of the characters. Also, being simple and cliched means you can just turn your brain off and enjoy it, and maybe the story might surprise us! (I'm always hoping it will :) )
The snowstorm is kinda gimmicky, since everything bad seems to happen to Gotham like earthquakes XD Gotham is New Jersey! When was the last time a massive quake hit New Jersey (and only New Jersey)? XD But I think the snowstorm could at least help make the story a bit more interesting. I always love having a plot happen in the middle of a natural disaster, like a snowstorm, b/c I think the idea of being isolated and alone while everything bad is happening helps make the story more interesting and desperate. :O Also I just love snow and snowstorms xDDDD
Oh, and it's weird that Grotesk calls himself Grotesk AFTER the media named him it. Like.. so... he just watched the news and was like "omg that's such a good name, I like it!"? XDD
And one more point, and this is kinda a problem with comics in general. Comic books rarely "empty their cache", altho DC has done this once in the past with Crisis on Infinite Earths. Other than that, all previous and future stories are canon. Therefore, every time a new writer adds his or her vision to the story, it doesn't replace the last writer's vision, it just adds to it. :O Therefore Gotham, even tho supposedly crime infested and poor, has TONS AND TONS AND TONS of wealthy industrialists and companies in it. :O I liked it when Waynetech was one of the only big ones. Now apparently the Kanes are JUST as rich as the Waynes, and this new family is just as rich as both of them :O
The Kanes supposedly own the half of Gotham that the Waynes dun (according to 52). So that means together they own 100%. Except what about this new family? :O Do they own the third half? XD
It's just a little odd to consider XD And what's up with Leslie Thompkins? o_o;;; I'm so confused about her. According to "War Games", she refused to help Spoiler (the female Robin) instead allowing her to die when she was wounded, just to "teach Batman a lesson". And now Batman's acting like it never happened.
Did Infinite Crisis wipe it out of the timeline? And if so, how did Spoiler die in that case? If not, why is Batman suddenly okay with murder by negligance? >.>;; The last thing that happened was that Batman hunted Leslie down in Africa and told her that she was just another murderer to him and if she came back to the US, he'd have her arrested. So.. why is she now running the clinic again?
It was a stupid idea to have her let Spoiler die in the first place, so I'm okay if they wanna retcon it out of existence! (I liked Spoiler ;-;) But I wish they'd explain what's going on. :(
>.>;;
Stupid comic book continuity >.<;;;
Despite all this tho, it's not a BAD story in and of itself! :) I personally will prolly enjoy it and just have fun with the ride. :) Just cuz I have problems with something doesn't mean I hate it XD
I also recommend it to casual readers who just want a fun story to read XD
Angelwings Rating: 3/5
Recommendation: Pick it up if you want a cliched but possibly fun story :) Not to be taken srsly or before operating heavy machinery XDDD
Synopsis: The issue begins with 2 cops on patrol when a man lit on fire runs at them begging to be put out of his misery. :( The cops panic and finally fire when the man charges at them, killing him. Commissioner Gordon and the other cops arrive at the scene later and examine it. Batman (in disguise) shows up to gather evidence and Gordon (recognizing him) calls off the other cops to let Batman have better access. It appears that the person was badly mutilated before being set on fire.
Apparently there have been 2 other killings in the same way, and the victims appear unrelated, even to Batman's analytical eye. The news names the mysterious killer as "Grotesk".
In conversation with Alfred, we learn that Batman's personal doctor and confidant, Leslie Thompkins, had her practice invaded by thugs recently and that he believes that they will attack again, so he sets off to teach the thugs a lesson.
The thugs do indeed attack once again, but they aren't looking for Leslie, but another doctor working for her. The doctor's brother apparently owed them money and since he died, they're going after his sister. Batman intervenes and while fighting them off, Grotesk attacks, setting many of them aflame. On his arm is a weird machine that allows him to disfigure ppl. o_o;;; Grotesk also wears a mask made of the skins of ppl he killed. :O
Batman confronts Grotesk, who tells him that they're working on the same side, but since Grotesk kills ppl, Batman disagrees and attacks him! Grotesk sets a truck on fire forcing Batman to choose between going after him or saving the truck driver. Of course Batman chooses to save the truck driver, letting Grotesk get away! :o
Back in the Batcave, Batman recounts to Alfred about how he dated the doctor that was being attacked by thugs and that he knew her brother, who was a wealthy industrialist who was known as the "Black Bruce Wayne". >.>;;; He invented the machine that Grotesk uses. It was intended to assist in surgery, but Grotesk is using it to maim ppl. When he died, another company came out with a similar design, and Batman believes that he is actually not dead but getting revenge on those who wronged him.
He goes out in the Batmobile looking for clues, as the weather report reports a huge snow storm heading Gotham's way.
Review: I'm surprised this story wasn't in Detective Comics since this is very much a detective story and something I would expect to see in Batman: The Animated Series (which was created by Paul Dini, the current writer of Detective). :O
It's an OKAY story. I'm just shocked that it's a 4 parter. O_O;;; In comic terms, this is a "filler" story. The big all-star team on Batman (Morrison and Kubert) is taking a break to work on their next arc (I hope), so they're having 4 issues of filler to allow them to catch up. But this isn't a 4 part story... it's maybe a 2 part story.. >.>;; I just worry that the story will be artificially stretched out to make it work. How many times will Batman fight Grotesk only to have him get away? :O
It's also a very generic story >.>;; Srsly.. let's break down the plot:
1) A mysterious villain is killing ppl
2) He is linked to another mystery that the hero is solving
3) He believes that he is doing good by killing bad people
4) The hero disagrees and instead of talking, he attacks him
5) To get away, the villain offers the hero a choice between chasing him or saving innocent ppl
6) The hero let's the villain escape to save innocent ppl
7) All clues point towards a dead person who was a good person while he lived, but was wronged
8) The main suspect has a living (usually female) relative who is currently an "innocent victim" and the hero is in love with her and suspects she "might" be lying that the dead person is actually dead, to protect him
Wanna guess numbers 9 and 10? XD
9 is usually:
9) While all clues point to the dead person, in reality it is the female relative who is the real killer seeking to avenge her brother/husband/father/etc's death and forces the hero into the difficult emotional situation of stopping her.
10) She "dies" in a fiery explosion leaving the hero to wonder if she will return.
>.>;;
I'll be SHOCKED if this story doesn't progress in this manner XDDD (Tho it's possible that she does get arrested and locked in Arkham at the end)
So yah... the story is RLY generic. :O It doesn't help that 90% of Batman "mysteries" follow this pattern. >.>;; It's a little dissapointing, cuz he's the World's Greatest Detective. o_o;; His mysteries should at least be more complicated and involved :O
Esp since this arc has FOUR ISSUES to work with! Dini only gets 1 issue for his stories in Detective Comics and he comes up with more interesting mysteries o_o;;;
Still, it's not a bad read and I recommend it since, imo, Batman is the most accessible of all the main DC stories since all he does is solve mysteries and it's not important to know all the history of the characters. Also, being simple and cliched means you can just turn your brain off and enjoy it, and maybe the story might surprise us! (I'm always hoping it will :) )
The snowstorm is kinda gimmicky, since everything bad seems to happen to Gotham like earthquakes XD Gotham is New Jersey! When was the last time a massive quake hit New Jersey (and only New Jersey)? XD But I think the snowstorm could at least help make the story a bit more interesting. I always love having a plot happen in the middle of a natural disaster, like a snowstorm, b/c I think the idea of being isolated and alone while everything bad is happening helps make the story more interesting and desperate. :O Also I just love snow and snowstorms xDDDD
Oh, and it's weird that Grotesk calls himself Grotesk AFTER the media named him it. Like.. so... he just watched the news and was like "omg that's such a good name, I like it!"? XDD
And one more point, and this is kinda a problem with comics in general. Comic books rarely "empty their cache", altho DC has done this once in the past with Crisis on Infinite Earths. Other than that, all previous and future stories are canon. Therefore, every time a new writer adds his or her vision to the story, it doesn't replace the last writer's vision, it just adds to it. :O Therefore Gotham, even tho supposedly crime infested and poor, has TONS AND TONS AND TONS of wealthy industrialists and companies in it. :O I liked it when Waynetech was one of the only big ones. Now apparently the Kanes are JUST as rich as the Waynes, and this new family is just as rich as both of them :O
The Kanes supposedly own the half of Gotham that the Waynes dun (according to 52). So that means together they own 100%. Except what about this new family? :O Do they own the third half? XD
It's just a little odd to consider XD And what's up with Leslie Thompkins? o_o;;; I'm so confused about her. According to "War Games", she refused to help Spoiler (the female Robin) instead allowing her to die when she was wounded, just to "teach Batman a lesson". And now Batman's acting like it never happened.
Did Infinite Crisis wipe it out of the timeline? And if so, how did Spoiler die in that case? If not, why is Batman suddenly okay with murder by negligance? >.>;; The last thing that happened was that Batman hunted Leslie down in Africa and told her that she was just another murderer to him and if she came back to the US, he'd have her arrested. So.. why is she now running the clinic again?
It was a stupid idea to have her let Spoiler die in the first place, so I'm okay if they wanna retcon it out of existence! (I liked Spoiler ;-;) But I wish they'd explain what's going on. :(
>.>;;
Stupid comic book continuity >.<;;;
Despite all this tho, it's not a BAD story in and of itself! :) I personally will prolly enjoy it and just have fun with the ride. :) Just cuz I have problems with something doesn't mean I hate it XD
I also recommend it to casual readers who just want a fun story to read XD
Angelwings Rating: 3/5
Recommendation: Pick it up if you want a cliched but possibly fun story :) Not to be taken srsly or before operating heavy machinery XDDD
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Wonder Woman - #3 Review
Wonder Woman - #3
Synopsis: Hercules (who appeared at the end of last issue) takes out Giganta and Cheetah while Diana and Robin help Donna Troy and Cassie. Dr. Psycho interferes but Hercules defeats him as well and prepares to kill him when Diana stops him from doing so. :o While Hercules and Diana are bickering, something snatches away the villains and Donna and Cassie. Hercules declares that he is the gods' new champion since Diana gave up the role, puts on the tiara (XDDDD) and leaves.
There is a brief recap of Hercules' origins, which has Wonder Woman helping him carry thymiscara (that was his punishment for taking the Girdle of Gaia from Hippolyta) on his back. That act by Wonder Woman made the gods forgive Hercules and for a while he became the superhero known as Champion, before going back to Olympus.
Diana and Nemesis follow Hercules, hoping to find Cassie and Donna. There they find Hercules transformed into a minotaur and shortly after Nemesis is turned into a panther. Circe then reveals herself as the mastermind behind the villains' attack on Diana. She captures Diana and has Donna and Cassie tied up as well. She says that every day thousands of women are beaten, raped and murdered, and Diana, as Wonder Woman, could have done something about it, but instead she wasted her powers fighting crazy super villains and giant robots.
Circe declares Diana unsuitable to continue being Wonder Woman and takes her powers becoming Wonder Woman herself, leaving Cassie, Donna and Diana powerless.
Review: >.> It's rly hard to review a comic when it's been so delayed. In over half a year, only 3 books have come out in the new Wonder Woman series. In that time she's shown up in 4 issues of Justice League of America (and that only came out a few months ago). The problem with this is, while Wonder Woman is still going with the "who will be Wonder Woman" story arc, Justice League of America has Diana as Wonder Woman. So there's rly no surprise :( We all know that no matter what happens, Cassie and Donna will be okay (since they're alive in other books such as Teen Titans) and Wonder Woman will get her powers back and be fine.
That kinda makes the book less enjoyable ;-;
In general, I'm not a big fan of the arc. I dun like the idea that Diana has a human identity as Diana Prince now basically b/c after Infinite Crisis she felt kinda bored and wanted to try being human. It's so irresponsible. :\ Being Wonder Woman is important, and she can't just put it aside and say "yah I'll get a regular job now". Disasters and people who need saving dun wait on your whims! >:O
But beyond that, I just think that the plot has been pretty laughable. :\ Like, Donna Troy gets captured in Issue #1. She gets recaptured in Issue #2. And in Issue #3, she gets CAPTURED AGAIN!
In fact she spends all of Issue #2 hanging from Giganta's neck as a pendant! :O I think that makes her look rly bad. Esp since she became Wonder Woman in Diana's absense. Like.. basically it says.. she sucks.. and she can't fight the same bad guys that Diana can. :(
And having Hercules around just confuses me xD And what was the point? He shows up and then gets turned into an animal. :
It's like they're not rly sure what to do with the plot. :| Maybe that's why it's been delayed so long o_o;;
However... I RLY DO LIKE CIRCE! :D At least... her speech made a lot of sense. And I know that in the next issue (when it comes out 10 years later) they'll have her go too far, or show that Wonder Woman helps more in the "big picture" or have Diana just knock her out or something else they always do to undermine a villain when they make a good point, but at least for now, Circe is right!
Wonder Woman could use her powers to help abused women. Or other people in general! She was sent to man's world to improve it and to fight the evil in it and to set a good example. It's kinda like when Batman fights giant robots. He fights street crime and serial killers, not giant robots! That's kinda Superman's domain. XD
But it does strike home a lot. B/c like.. in the news, you only hear about the big things, like terrorism, or natural disasters, or like serial killers. But there's a lot of other stuff that goes on that barely gets reported. Gay ppl, trans ppl, women, being abused and beaten and killed. And that doesn't get a lot of press, and ppl read it and go "how horrible" and then move on. :( But everybody cares about terrorism!
So I see Circe's point! Wonder Woman has the power to do something, to make a statement (not necessarily a violent statement per se), and to help in that regard. And she doesn't. She's especially qualified too, since she comes from a female society and brings that POV. :o
I hope they resolve it in a good way, and maybe have Diana realize that Circe has some points. We know she's gonna retake the mantle of Wonder Woman, so maybe Circe convinces her to? :O It might also give Wonder Woman something to do in her comics. Like Batman always fights the street crime, and Superman fights the big robots and natural disasters. Wonder Woman could defend the people who can't defend themselves, people who are in the minority or who are treated as such. :) (Not necessarily only women)
It would be nice o_o and distinguish her comics from Superman's. :)
So that's my hope xD In general, the issue is okay, and I'm trying not to let the fact that it was so delayed affect my judgement XD I think maybe ppl should check it out, b/c there's a lot of potential in it, but besides Circe's speech, it wasn't that awesome a story. :
And as a side note, Hercules taking Wonder Woman's tiara and wearing it was hilarious xDDD
I give that scene much <3
Angelwings Rating: 2.5/5
Recommendation: Check it out if you have some spare cash
Synopsis: Hercules (who appeared at the end of last issue) takes out Giganta and Cheetah while Diana and Robin help Donna Troy and Cassie. Dr. Psycho interferes but Hercules defeats him as well and prepares to kill him when Diana stops him from doing so. :o While Hercules and Diana are bickering, something snatches away the villains and Donna and Cassie. Hercules declares that he is the gods' new champion since Diana gave up the role, puts on the tiara (XDDDD) and leaves.
There is a brief recap of Hercules' origins, which has Wonder Woman helping him carry thymiscara (that was his punishment for taking the Girdle of Gaia from Hippolyta) on his back. That act by Wonder Woman made the gods forgive Hercules and for a while he became the superhero known as Champion, before going back to Olympus.
Diana and Nemesis follow Hercules, hoping to find Cassie and Donna. There they find Hercules transformed into a minotaur and shortly after Nemesis is turned into a panther. Circe then reveals herself as the mastermind behind the villains' attack on Diana. She captures Diana and has Donna and Cassie tied up as well. She says that every day thousands of women are beaten, raped and murdered, and Diana, as Wonder Woman, could have done something about it, but instead she wasted her powers fighting crazy super villains and giant robots.
Circe declares Diana unsuitable to continue being Wonder Woman and takes her powers becoming Wonder Woman herself, leaving Cassie, Donna and Diana powerless.
Review: >.> It's rly hard to review a comic when it's been so delayed. In over half a year, only 3 books have come out in the new Wonder Woman series. In that time she's shown up in 4 issues of Justice League of America (and that only came out a few months ago). The problem with this is, while Wonder Woman is still going with the "who will be Wonder Woman" story arc, Justice League of America has Diana as Wonder Woman. So there's rly no surprise :( We all know that no matter what happens, Cassie and Donna will be okay (since they're alive in other books such as Teen Titans) and Wonder Woman will get her powers back and be fine.
That kinda makes the book less enjoyable ;-;
In general, I'm not a big fan of the arc. I dun like the idea that Diana has a human identity as Diana Prince now basically b/c after Infinite Crisis she felt kinda bored and wanted to try being human. It's so irresponsible. :\ Being Wonder Woman is important, and she can't just put it aside and say "yah I'll get a regular job now". Disasters and people who need saving dun wait on your whims! >:O
But beyond that, I just think that the plot has been pretty laughable. :\ Like, Donna Troy gets captured in Issue #1. She gets recaptured in Issue #2. And in Issue #3, she gets CAPTURED AGAIN!
In fact she spends all of Issue #2 hanging from Giganta's neck as a pendant! :O I think that makes her look rly bad. Esp since she became Wonder Woman in Diana's absense. Like.. basically it says.. she sucks.. and she can't fight the same bad guys that Diana can. :(
And having Hercules around just confuses me xD And what was the point? He shows up and then gets turned into an animal. :
It's like they're not rly sure what to do with the plot. :| Maybe that's why it's been delayed so long o_o;;
However... I RLY DO LIKE CIRCE! :D At least... her speech made a lot of sense. And I know that in the next issue (when it comes out 10 years later) they'll have her go too far, or show that Wonder Woman helps more in the "big picture" or have Diana just knock her out or something else they always do to undermine a villain when they make a good point, but at least for now, Circe is right!
Wonder Woman could use her powers to help abused women. Or other people in general! She was sent to man's world to improve it and to fight the evil in it and to set a good example. It's kinda like when Batman fights giant robots. He fights street crime and serial killers, not giant robots! That's kinda Superman's domain. XD
But it does strike home a lot. B/c like.. in the news, you only hear about the big things, like terrorism, or natural disasters, or like serial killers. But there's a lot of other stuff that goes on that barely gets reported. Gay ppl, trans ppl, women, being abused and beaten and killed. And that doesn't get a lot of press, and ppl read it and go "how horrible" and then move on. :( But everybody cares about terrorism!
So I see Circe's point! Wonder Woman has the power to do something, to make a statement (not necessarily a violent statement per se), and to help in that regard. And she doesn't. She's especially qualified too, since she comes from a female society and brings that POV. :o
I hope they resolve it in a good way, and maybe have Diana realize that Circe has some points. We know she's gonna retake the mantle of Wonder Woman, so maybe Circe convinces her to? :O It might also give Wonder Woman something to do in her comics. Like Batman always fights the street crime, and Superman fights the big robots and natural disasters. Wonder Woman could defend the people who can't defend themselves, people who are in the minority or who are treated as such. :) (Not necessarily only women)
It would be nice o_o and distinguish her comics from Superman's. :)
So that's my hope xD In general, the issue is okay, and I'm trying not to let the fact that it was so delayed affect my judgement XD I think maybe ppl should check it out, b/c there's a lot of potential in it, but besides Circe's speech, it wasn't that awesome a story. :
And as a side note, Hercules taking Wonder Woman's tiara and wearing it was hilarious xDDD
I give that scene much <3
Angelwings Rating: 2.5/5
Recommendation: Check it out if you have some spare cash
Monday, December 04, 2006
Robin - #156 Review
Robin - #156
Synopsis: The comic starts off with a full page spread of Zoanne kissing Tim Drake and then bitching him out in front of the other students for making her worry and not calling her after he escaped the kidnappers. This depresses Tim and he goes to visit Dodge in the hospital as Robin. There he finds Dodge's parents who tell him not to blame himself b/c he's saved so many people and Dodge shouldn't have gone out trying to play hero.
This talk doesn't help Robin, and he goes to the top of a roof to brood. There he spots a young guy standing at the edge of another building, planning to jump off. Robin approaches him and says that while he wun stop him from jumping, he does want to talk. The young man agrees and they sit down and talk. He explains his problems: he was an outcast in high school, his parents got divorced and his girlfriend left him when he went to university, which he is currently struggling in.
Robin tells him that when life gets him down, he finds somebody to talk to, somebody who can make him feel not alone. The guy reveals that he had a teacher he enjoyed talking to and maybe he should talk to him again. Robin encourages him to and leaves.
At the end Robin calls up Dick Grayson (Nightwing) to talk.
Review: I sorta have mixed feelings about this issue. :\ I appreciate the message behind it and they had the requisite plug for the Suicide Prevention hotline at the end, so it was clearly a comic meant to do some good. But as somebody who was there at one point in her life, the story didn't work for me.
IGN says that it's clear that the story was personal to the authors, but that's not clear to me at all. :( I've been there, both as the friend trying to prevent another person from suicide, and as the person trying to do it. A simple speech about talking to somebody, or "everybody, even Superman, has problems" will not do it. :( I wish it did, but it's not that simple.
It also sounds rly cliched. His parents divorced, he was an outcast in HS and his g/f left him. :\ Is that all the wirters could think of? Ppl usually have more complex reasons, or complex emotions. Mind you, this is a one issue comic, I shouldn't criticize it for not having enuf depth, I guess. >.>
I dun wanna be SUPER critical and sound like I'm some sort of suicide expert or something, but I think that when an issue is just a very cliched, "let's get this over with" one-shot dealing with a very serious issue, it dismisses it, and makes ppl who read it dismiss it too.
There is ONE saving grace to the suicide talk tho, and I think it's one of the best lines of the year. It's when Robin tells the guy that "YOUR problems are WORSE than anyone else's... because they're YOURS."
I've always believed this. B/c we all have problems. And yes comparitively, some problems are worse than others, but I hate saying "it could be worse", b/c it's NOT worse, and ppl have to deal with what's on their plate, regardless of how much worse it could be. If something is truly troubling somebody, telling them to suck it up, or that it's not rly that bad compared to being in a car crash isn't helpful and doesn't make them feel better, just feel worse for other people.
So I liked that line. :) I think it was a good one. So I'm inclined to believe that the writers would have put more in the issue if they had more pages to work with.
Moving away from the suicide part of the story, I didn't like the beginning with Zoanne kissing Tim and then yelling at him publicly. That's EXTREMELY cliched and I'm tired of seeing female chars act that way! >.>
*I* dun act that way! I dun even understand the kiss. They're not going out! I'm tired of girls in TV or Comics getting angry and kissing the guy b/c she's angry and then yelling at him. >.<;;;
And.. so he didn't call. She's his math tutor, not his g/f. Yes they prolly WILL go out cuz this is the comic world and a girl char is never introduced unless they're intended to be a love interest to the male lead. >.> And then she goes away later and will be replaced by ANOTHER girl char. It's like all of Jerry's g/fs in Seinfeld XD
But I like that Dodge's parents dun blame Robin. I'm tired of that "let's blame the hero" thing that Marvel has in spades (esp with Spiderman). Maybe I'm just a hopeless optimist in these things, but I believe that ppl understand when you're trying to help, and a mistake will not ruin all the good work you've done. Robin's saved the city many many times and is always helping ppl and stopping crimes. I'm glad that ppl understand he's not trying to hurt ppl and he tried his best to save Dodge.
I hope they make Dodge better later and he doesn't gain super duper powers and become a villain that's obsessed with hunting down Robin. :(
Neways... this is a SORTA standalone issue. I dunno if I recommend it b/c I think the msg is pretty simple: "dun kill yourself, talk to somebody instead" and there's not much more there except that.
I wish Robin hugged him. :( He looked like he needed a good hug! Everybody needs a good hug!!! I demand more hugging in Superhero comics!!! XDDDD
Angelwings Rating: 3/5 for trying to send a good msg
Recommendation: It's not rly worth the money, but you might wanna check it out :)
Synopsis: The comic starts off with a full page spread of Zoanne kissing Tim Drake and then bitching him out in front of the other students for making her worry and not calling her after he escaped the kidnappers. This depresses Tim and he goes to visit Dodge in the hospital as Robin. There he finds Dodge's parents who tell him not to blame himself b/c he's saved so many people and Dodge shouldn't have gone out trying to play hero.
This talk doesn't help Robin, and he goes to the top of a roof to brood. There he spots a young guy standing at the edge of another building, planning to jump off. Robin approaches him and says that while he wun stop him from jumping, he does want to talk. The young man agrees and they sit down and talk. He explains his problems: he was an outcast in high school, his parents got divorced and his girlfriend left him when he went to university, which he is currently struggling in.
Robin tells him that when life gets him down, he finds somebody to talk to, somebody who can make him feel not alone. The guy reveals that he had a teacher he enjoyed talking to and maybe he should talk to him again. Robin encourages him to and leaves.
At the end Robin calls up Dick Grayson (Nightwing) to talk.
Review: I sorta have mixed feelings about this issue. :\ I appreciate the message behind it and they had the requisite plug for the Suicide Prevention hotline at the end, so it was clearly a comic meant to do some good. But as somebody who was there at one point in her life, the story didn't work for me.
IGN says that it's clear that the story was personal to the authors, but that's not clear to me at all. :( I've been there, both as the friend trying to prevent another person from suicide, and as the person trying to do it. A simple speech about talking to somebody, or "everybody, even Superman, has problems" will not do it. :( I wish it did, but it's not that simple.
It also sounds rly cliched. His parents divorced, he was an outcast in HS and his g/f left him. :\ Is that all the wirters could think of? Ppl usually have more complex reasons, or complex emotions. Mind you, this is a one issue comic, I shouldn't criticize it for not having enuf depth, I guess. >.>
I dun wanna be SUPER critical and sound like I'm some sort of suicide expert or something, but I think that when an issue is just a very cliched, "let's get this over with" one-shot dealing with a very serious issue, it dismisses it, and makes ppl who read it dismiss it too.
There is ONE saving grace to the suicide talk tho, and I think it's one of the best lines of the year. It's when Robin tells the guy that "YOUR problems are WORSE than anyone else's... because they're YOURS."
I've always believed this. B/c we all have problems. And yes comparitively, some problems are worse than others, but I hate saying "it could be worse", b/c it's NOT worse, and ppl have to deal with what's on their plate, regardless of how much worse it could be. If something is truly troubling somebody, telling them to suck it up, or that it's not rly that bad compared to being in a car crash isn't helpful and doesn't make them feel better, just feel worse for other people.
So I liked that line. :) I think it was a good one. So I'm inclined to believe that the writers would have put more in the issue if they had more pages to work with.
Moving away from the suicide part of the story, I didn't like the beginning with Zoanne kissing Tim and then yelling at him publicly. That's EXTREMELY cliched and I'm tired of seeing female chars act that way! >.>
*I* dun act that way! I dun even understand the kiss. They're not going out! I'm tired of girls in TV or Comics getting angry and kissing the guy b/c she's angry and then yelling at him. >.<;;;
And.. so he didn't call. She's his math tutor, not his g/f. Yes they prolly WILL go out cuz this is the comic world and a girl char is never introduced unless they're intended to be a love interest to the male lead. >.> And then she goes away later and will be replaced by ANOTHER girl char. It's like all of Jerry's g/fs in Seinfeld XD
But I like that Dodge's parents dun blame Robin. I'm tired of that "let's blame the hero" thing that Marvel has in spades (esp with Spiderman). Maybe I'm just a hopeless optimist in these things, but I believe that ppl understand when you're trying to help, and a mistake will not ruin all the good work you've done. Robin's saved the city many many times and is always helping ppl and stopping crimes. I'm glad that ppl understand he's not trying to hurt ppl and he tried his best to save Dodge.
I hope they make Dodge better later and he doesn't gain super duper powers and become a villain that's obsessed with hunting down Robin. :(
Neways... this is a SORTA standalone issue. I dunno if I recommend it b/c I think the msg is pretty simple: "dun kill yourself, talk to somebody instead" and there's not much more there except that.
I wish Robin hugged him. :( He looked like he needed a good hug! Everybody needs a good hug!!! I demand more hugging in Superhero comics!!! XDDDD
Angelwings Rating: 3/5 for trying to send a good msg
Recommendation: It's not rly worth the money, but you might wanna check it out :)
Friday, December 01, 2006
Teen Titans - #41 Review
Teen Titans - #41
Synopsis: The story is narrated by Jericho who came back from the dead in the final page of last issue. XD He doesn't recognize most of the characters as he's been dead for a while, but he quickly deduces that Bombshell is the villain. Taking over Wondergirl's body, he attacks her. The Titans gang up on Bombshell but she threatens to explode, nuking the surrounding area. Miss Martian reads her mind however and says that she's lying and hypothisizes that if Bombshell reacts like a metallic substance, that heating her up and freezing her would crack her. Robin instructs Kid Devil to blow fire on her and then Raven turns her into ice and they defeat her. Afterwards, Jericho and Miss Martian join the Teen Titans but they wonder who sent Bombshell to infiltrate the Titans. :O The answer, as everybody alrdy guessed, is the Lex Luthor of the Teen Titans world: Deathstroke. The last page has him planning on which ex-Teen Titans to recruit to form his own group to take down the Titans. O_O;;;
Review: I rly dunno how to feel about this story. :\ It's not rly nething great, but it's a conclusion story, and those are rarely (if ever) good. Also, the fact that the "surprise" ending was telegraphed months ago ruins it. Everybody alrdy knew that Deathstroke was gathering his own group of Titans, and he's ALWAYS behind whatever befalls them. That's like having a Justice League story where some "mysterious" mastermind is sending stuff after the JLA and then the big reveal is: LEX LUTHOR!
=_=;;
Srsly, it's like, wow... we didn't see that coming like A MILE AWAY! XDDD
What I did like is that Jericho's narration was pretty good, and that he still can't talk. The most interesting thing about him is that he can't talk unless he enters another body, and so he has to sign or do other things to communicate. I ALSO hope that now that this is the 21st century Jericho, he can finally be gay :)
Jericho, for those that dunno, was a former Teen Titan and the son of Deathstroke. He has the ability to jump into other ppl's bodies and take them over (to a limited degree). And he was a pretty flamboyant dresser XD The original plan that Wolfman had for him was for him to be gay, but they decided against it b/c they thought it would be stereotypical for a flamboyant guy to be gay. Also prolly for other societal reasons xD But now he doesn't look flamboyant nemore, so maybe they'll have him be gay now? :O That would be nice... there's not a lot of gay superheroes :(
I think under the right writer, this version of the Titans can be RLY good. I like the chars, they've got a nice mix of the original (Robin, Wondergirl, Cyborg, Raven, Jericho) and new ones (Ravager, Kid Devil, Miss Martian). And the new chars seem to be very interesting people. :)
But, and it kinda pains me to say this, I dun think Geoff Johns is the right writer. :( I think he's the right person to PLOT the story, but he can't write dialogue for young people. :\ Like, he's GREAT at writing dialogue. The proof is that he has the line of 2005 for what Batman said to Superman in Infinite Crisis #1:
"Let's face it "Superman", the last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead."
The problem is that his dialogue for the Teen Titans just sucks. :\ I dun wanna stereotype, but I think a lot of people in the comic industries didn't have a lot of social interaction during highschool or university, at least not with the people they're trying to write. The girls come off as a stereotype for popular girls or cheerleaders, not like... real people, just what people THINK they act like.
My big problem this issue is with Miss Martian, who is portrayed as a cute friendly, likeable girl... actually.. kinda like me XD Esp when she's fighting with her teammates, she sounds exactly like I do when I play City of Heroes xD Her line where she compliments Raven's cape during a fight is stuff I say during a fight too XDD "I rly like your cape! :D"
But when she says "I just read her mind... and she's TOTALLY lying". That didn't work :( None of her other dialogue suggested that she talked like that. It's inconsistant characterization :( The same with Ravager acting like a cliched "bad girl" when none of her previous characterization hinted at that. It's like... she HAS to fill that role on the Titans. :
I think Miss Martian should have said "I just read her mind.. she's LYING!!!" And put on a big unhappy face XD
But that's just me... >.>
It doesn't help that the art is rly bad this issue. :( Robin looks like he's 6 years old at the end of the book, and Miss Martian is drawn pretty bad at some points. Esp during her "totally" line, she doesn't look at all like herself, and she looks like... 40.
I rly hate inconsistant art ;-;
And what's with the breasts? :O Miss Martian goes from B cups to like Ds! O_O;;; All the chars suddenly had HUGE chests during the middle of the book... :\ It's honestly like they just rushed the issue out or something :( I love how Bombshell loses more and more clothing has the battle continues, yet she always has just enuf to cover the naughty areas xDDDD Kid Devil blows flame on her and burns off ALL her clothing, except her tank top which is burnt everywhere except around her breasts, and her pants. XDDDD
Also, I dun understand why Bombshell would be lying. o_o They never explained that! She has all of the powers that Captain Atom has right? When Captain Atom is even *slightly* damaged, he goes nuclear. :O So, why wouldn't that be the case with Bombshell? It isn't explained, except that she's "TOTALLY lying". >.>
What is she lying about? Why wouldn't she explode like Captain Atom?
I'm TOTALLY confused ;-;
And Robin and Wondergirl spend another page not talking about that kiss they had, and planning to resurrect Superboy again >.<
Robin's such a little slut! He's kissing Wondergirl in Teen Titans and Zoe in Robin. This is why having the same char in multiple titles doesn't work. :
It sounds like I hate the book, but I dun. This issue had a lot of good ideas, but they were implemented poorly :\ The art was subpar, and the characterization was inconsistant. :(
I'm not gonna give up on it tho! I wanna see if the writing improves. *nods*
I rly think that DC needs to add another writer to help Johns tho. They've done it before. They gave Giffen, DeMatteis for Justice League International b/c Giffen could plot like nobody's business but had no idea how to write dialogue, and DeMatteis was perfect at it. Together they made JLI rly rly good :) So they could do the same with Johns on TT. ^^;;
NEWAYS... sorry for the super long review :(
I think that if you want another title to pick up, give Teen Titans a shot. :) It's gonna be a new arc starting next month and it's a good place to start :D
Angelwings Rating: 2.5/5
Recommendation: Dun get this issue, but check the series out :)
Synopsis: The story is narrated by Jericho who came back from the dead in the final page of last issue. XD He doesn't recognize most of the characters as he's been dead for a while, but he quickly deduces that Bombshell is the villain. Taking over Wondergirl's body, he attacks her. The Titans gang up on Bombshell but she threatens to explode, nuking the surrounding area. Miss Martian reads her mind however and says that she's lying and hypothisizes that if Bombshell reacts like a metallic substance, that heating her up and freezing her would crack her. Robin instructs Kid Devil to blow fire on her and then Raven turns her into ice and they defeat her. Afterwards, Jericho and Miss Martian join the Teen Titans but they wonder who sent Bombshell to infiltrate the Titans. :O The answer, as everybody alrdy guessed, is the Lex Luthor of the Teen Titans world: Deathstroke. The last page has him planning on which ex-Teen Titans to recruit to form his own group to take down the Titans. O_O;;;
Review: I rly dunno how to feel about this story. :\ It's not rly nething great, but it's a conclusion story, and those are rarely (if ever) good. Also, the fact that the "surprise" ending was telegraphed months ago ruins it. Everybody alrdy knew that Deathstroke was gathering his own group of Titans, and he's ALWAYS behind whatever befalls them. That's like having a Justice League story where some "mysterious" mastermind is sending stuff after the JLA and then the big reveal is: LEX LUTHOR!
=_=;;
Srsly, it's like, wow... we didn't see that coming like A MILE AWAY! XDDD
What I did like is that Jericho's narration was pretty good, and that he still can't talk. The most interesting thing about him is that he can't talk unless he enters another body, and so he has to sign or do other things to communicate. I ALSO hope that now that this is the 21st century Jericho, he can finally be gay :)
Jericho, for those that dunno, was a former Teen Titan and the son of Deathstroke. He has the ability to jump into other ppl's bodies and take them over (to a limited degree). And he was a pretty flamboyant dresser XD The original plan that Wolfman had for him was for him to be gay, but they decided against it b/c they thought it would be stereotypical for a flamboyant guy to be gay. Also prolly for other societal reasons xD But now he doesn't look flamboyant nemore, so maybe they'll have him be gay now? :O That would be nice... there's not a lot of gay superheroes :(
I think under the right writer, this version of the Titans can be RLY good. I like the chars, they've got a nice mix of the original (Robin, Wondergirl, Cyborg, Raven, Jericho) and new ones (Ravager, Kid Devil, Miss Martian). And the new chars seem to be very interesting people. :)
But, and it kinda pains me to say this, I dun think Geoff Johns is the right writer. :( I think he's the right person to PLOT the story, but he can't write dialogue for young people. :\ Like, he's GREAT at writing dialogue. The proof is that he has the line of 2005 for what Batman said to Superman in Infinite Crisis #1:
"Let's face it "Superman", the last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead."
The problem is that his dialogue for the Teen Titans just sucks. :\ I dun wanna stereotype, but I think a lot of people in the comic industries didn't have a lot of social interaction during highschool or university, at least not with the people they're trying to write. The girls come off as a stereotype for popular girls or cheerleaders, not like... real people, just what people THINK they act like.
My big problem this issue is with Miss Martian, who is portrayed as a cute friendly, likeable girl... actually.. kinda like me XD Esp when she's fighting with her teammates, she sounds exactly like I do when I play City of Heroes xD Her line where she compliments Raven's cape during a fight is stuff I say during a fight too XDD "I rly like your cape! :D"
But when she says "I just read her mind... and she's TOTALLY lying". That didn't work :( None of her other dialogue suggested that she talked like that. It's inconsistant characterization :( The same with Ravager acting like a cliched "bad girl" when none of her previous characterization hinted at that. It's like... she HAS to fill that role on the Titans. :
I think Miss Martian should have said "I just read her mind.. she's LYING!!!" And put on a big unhappy face XD
But that's just me... >.>
It doesn't help that the art is rly bad this issue. :( Robin looks like he's 6 years old at the end of the book, and Miss Martian is drawn pretty bad at some points. Esp during her "totally" line, she doesn't look at all like herself, and she looks like... 40.
I rly hate inconsistant art ;-;
And what's with the breasts? :O Miss Martian goes from B cups to like Ds! O_O;;; All the chars suddenly had HUGE chests during the middle of the book... :\ It's honestly like they just rushed the issue out or something :( I love how Bombshell loses more and more clothing has the battle continues, yet she always has just enuf to cover the naughty areas xDDDD Kid Devil blows flame on her and burns off ALL her clothing, except her tank top which is burnt everywhere except around her breasts, and her pants. XDDDD
Also, I dun understand why Bombshell would be lying. o_o They never explained that! She has all of the powers that Captain Atom has right? When Captain Atom is even *slightly* damaged, he goes nuclear. :O So, why wouldn't that be the case with Bombshell? It isn't explained, except that she's "TOTALLY lying". >.>
What is she lying about? Why wouldn't she explode like Captain Atom?
I'm TOTALLY confused ;-;
And Robin and Wondergirl spend another page not talking about that kiss they had, and planning to resurrect Superboy again >.<
Robin's such a little slut! He's kissing Wondergirl in Teen Titans and Zoe in Robin. This is why having the same char in multiple titles doesn't work. :
It sounds like I hate the book, but I dun. This issue had a lot of good ideas, but they were implemented poorly :\ The art was subpar, and the characterization was inconsistant. :(
I'm not gonna give up on it tho! I wanna see if the writing improves. *nods*
I rly think that DC needs to add another writer to help Johns tho. They've done it before. They gave Giffen, DeMatteis for Justice League International b/c Giffen could plot like nobody's business but had no idea how to write dialogue, and DeMatteis was perfect at it. Together they made JLI rly rly good :) So they could do the same with Johns on TT. ^^;;
NEWAYS... sorry for the super long review :(
I think that if you want another title to pick up, give Teen Titans a shot. :) It's gonna be a new arc starting next month and it's a good place to start :D
Angelwings Rating: 2.5/5
Recommendation: Dun get this issue, but check the series out :)
This week in Amiworld :O
Hi! :D
I need to put more reviews b/c I'm only reviewing like 2 comics a week XD I'll add more, I promise! Sometimes I dun rly have much to say is all XD So at least you know the ones I'm reviewing are the ones that get a reaction out of me :)
So this week I got:
52 - #30
Batman - #659
Green Lantern - #15
Superman/Batman - #30
Ion - #8 (of 12)
Teen Titans - #41
The Flash - #6
Quick recommendations are 52 (again XD) and uhh.... that's rly it XD The others are OKAY if you're alrdy into those chars, but nothing absolutely amazing this time :(
I'm having a moral dilemma with Supergirl. :( The next Supergirl comes out next week (assuming it's not delayed) and I find myself WANTING to get it b/c it's Supergirl... :\ But at the same time it just manages to annoy me every time :(
So I dunno... >.>
At least it's coming out on time now and no longer delayed by 2 or 3 months. I guess I keep hoping that the next issue is the one where Supergirl becomes a likeable character :(
Neways... so reviews coming up :)
I need to put more reviews b/c I'm only reviewing like 2 comics a week XD I'll add more, I promise! Sometimes I dun rly have much to say is all XD So at least you know the ones I'm reviewing are the ones that get a reaction out of me :)
So this week I got:
52 - #30
Batman - #659
Green Lantern - #15
Superman/Batman - #30
Ion - #8 (of 12)
Teen Titans - #41
The Flash - #6
Quick recommendations are 52 (again XD) and uhh.... that's rly it XD The others are OKAY if you're alrdy into those chars, but nothing absolutely amazing this time :(
I'm having a moral dilemma with Supergirl. :( The next Supergirl comes out next week (assuming it's not delayed) and I find myself WANTING to get it b/c it's Supergirl... :\ But at the same time it just manages to annoy me every time :(
So I dunno... >.>
At least it's coming out on time now and no longer delayed by 2 or 3 months. I guess I keep hoping that the next issue is the one where Supergirl becomes a likeable character :(
Neways... so reviews coming up :)
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