new DCU week 9/28

All-Star Western #1- If you've read Jonah Hex and love it, then you'll love this. If you're a first to Jonah Hex, congratulations I'm sure you've found a new love. This is everything I've expected. It really is. I mean I don't know what to say about it except that it's excellent and it's a comic people should read. I don't like westerns. That's TOTALLY not my thing and if you know me, you know that, but I dig Jonah Hex. The story was fun and engaging though a tad Jack the Ripper at first, it clearly gets over that. There is a lot of depth to this story and Arkham's psychological evaluation of Jonah Hex is just.. amazing. It's well written and it's clear that Arkham doesn't have much respect for Jonah at first, but has to reevaluate things.

Aquaman #1- Great relaunch. Basically Johns uses the DC Universe to point out all the jokes and spoofs about how "stupid" Aquaman is and instead show how badass he is. There is a great action sequence and well it was a really well paced issue. I don't want to spoil to much for you but Mera is definitely here and the art is great. Aquaman looks sexy and dangerous and Mera is beautiful even if she's only at the end of the comic. A new evil is arising, but the comic itself stands as a nice story all on it's own.

Batman: the Dark Knight #1- Another really useless Batman title, that didn't even make a lot of sense. It starts with Batman and he changes while running across the rooftops into his Bruce Wayne identity then jumps into a building. Yeah, very weird. Then we move to a really pointless and stupid speech that makes no sense. The rest of the book kind of dissolves into some weird sparring match with an Internal Affairs officer that thinks Brucey has inside sources to help fund Batman. I really don't understand that. Then we have the Bond girl who appears out of no where that Bruce openly flirts with in a really gaggy and stupid scene. Finally after all this, we get a quick Batman story where once again Arkham Asylum is in an uproar.. Yes, this is the 3rd time this month we've been to Arkham and something was afoot in Arkham. Why we need 3 books dealing with Arkham is beyond me, but apparently we do. I just can't get why we need so many Batman titles if they're not really going to do ANYTHING new or different from each other and only one of them is actually worth reading.

Blackhawks #1- A U.N. based super military team with super military items that do stuff. Who they are? No one knows. What they do? No clue. Why they are formed? Umm.. for a reason? We don't get introduced to the characters, we don't really have any clue what's going on or what this team is around for. They're just there and this is just a title. I guess it's suppose to be the high action team version of Deathstroke, but it really didn't work. I don't understand why I should care enough about any of these characters or what's happening to them. The use of Legion-type description bubbles would have SERIOUSLY helped at least give us a clue who these people are. There is a mention of Lady Blackhawke, but Zinda isn't in here at all. It's just insane action and not a lot else, which I guess works for some people.

The Flash #1- This was a pretty decent issue. We start off with Barry on a date and he geeks out with a super smart genius guy who has something stolen from him. Barry flashes out and saves the day. It's a solid Flash title, I'm just not a huge fan Flash to be honest and while it is BEAUTIFUL to look at and it's a solid read, it's just not my cup of tea. I'm sure Flash fans are thrilled and it's a very good story.

The Fury of Firestorm: the Nuclear Men #1- Wow, I can tell you this is totally not what I was expecting from this title, but it was pretty freaking amazing. I just.. wow. Ronnie Raymond is the typical jock and Jason Rusch is a super genius and well.. he's all about his race. He makes it very clear that his race is VERY important to him and he points it out numerous times in the comic. My fave page is the Jason and his dad on one side and Ronnie and his mother on the other. It was just a really good comic and it wasn't what you were expecting. Seriously, pick it up and read it. It's totally different and insanely new.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #1- A little confusing at first tbh. We flash back to the death of the Green Lantern Corps to show Kyle becoming the sole Green Lantern, which was nice I guess for new readers, the problem? It wasn't set up very well. Nothing in it let you know that it was in fact in the past, so you're left thinking that Kyle's been rebooted and this is the first time he's becoming a GL and this will be a past story, but it's not. It was just a recap. Honestly, I expect very little from this title. The only reason I wanted to read it was to learn more about the different Lanterns especially the Indigo Tribe, but well.. they picked random people to represent each tribe and because of that? We get a mishmash of characters that aren't really team or group material. DC tried to hide who the people were, but it's been obvious for MONTHS now. I'm not going to spoil it if you really haven't figured it out yet, but COME ON. I posted this MONTHS ago. The best thing about this title? The Star Sapphire's got a costume redesign that actually covers them up so they don't look like they're in a porno magazine. Other than that? It felt like a VERY short read and most of the team is boring. We've seen most of these jokers before and I'm sure they have fans, but they're not half as interesting as say Carol, Sinestro, Larfleeze, and Indigo-1, which would have made the title so much more interesting.

I, Vampire #1- I'm not sold on this title just yet. I get the premise and I think it's interesting, but I don't know how long the premise can really last of a war between one vampire and a massive army of vampires and his evil ex. The other problem is they are sharing the same universe with the Justice League, Stormwatch, Superman and the new Justice League Dark, I don't see them not getting involved especially with how things are unfolding in the first issue. Also, the fact that Vertigo has a mildly similar title, American Vampire, that has some interesting concepts it's doing as well? I just don't know how many Vampire titles DC needs especially since they're not that vastly different. Yes there are differences and those may be enough in the long run. I just don't know. I think this one is really a trades or wait for a story arc to be completed title before you can really gauge how good or bad it is.

Justice League Dark #1- I love Peter Miligan. The hard thing about this is if you haven't read Shade the Changing Man, you're probably missing stuff. But if you've read Shade the Changing Man, this pretty much picks up where we left off in some ways. I like that the team is getting together because they're "damaged" and Zatanna is being MAJOR kick ass. I'm totally sold about that. All in all I like the title thus far and can't wait to read more. I'm still not sure what the hell Constantine is going to do since I view him as MOSTLY a shyster, not an actual mage.

The Savage Hawkman #1- Interesting new take on Hawkman. Gone is the reborn a bazillion times Mr. Smart-Pants Carter Hall. This one is more unsure of himself. He's not as aware of the true powers of the Nth Metal and in fact at the beginning of the story, he tries to abandon Hawkman all together (though why he shoots the armor is beyond me). Needless to say, things do not go well for Carter. He wakes up with his window smashed out and really no clue what happened. Flash forward, he gets involved with an alien and basically the armor has been fused with him. That's a nice change. I kind of like that idea and it makes it easier than hiding those giant wings on him all the time. This is an interesting comic, I'd probably read it in trades.

Superman #1- Even if Perez's name wasn't on the cover, you can TELL this is a Perez book. Look at all the word bubbles everywhere. It's such a nice contrast to all these minimalist comics I've been reading lately that really don't tell me ANYTHING because they're trying to limit what is in each bubble. It's a really nice start for Superman's own on-going. Lois Lane and Clark are on the outs and seem to have had a regular argument which could explain why they've never officially gotten together. I can LIVE with that. I would LOVE to have them married again, but at LEAST Lois has a personality all her own. She's definitely still the spitfire everyone loves and it's GREAT to see not all the women of the new DCU need to strip or be stripped down to nothing. I really enjoyed this issue and it was one I'm interested in. The other great thing? it was a complete story. It was a HUGE relief to read at least one New DCU title that WASN'T meant for trades or to be continued. It was a nice solid stand alone issue. I actually cannot wait to read more.

Teen Titans #1- Yeah I liked this. The Teen Titans are forming because well.. N.O.W.H.E.R.E. is out to put a lock down on teen superheroes. Tim Drake, of course, has a problem with that. And wow, they've really ramped him up. He's smarter and vastly better than before. He is seeming more and more like Batman's protege. As for Cassie, they've completely changed her origin, but I like that her costume seems to magically appear from her gauntlets. They pretty much HAD to revamp her since they were completely revamping Wonder Woman AGAIN. Didn't DC learn from the last time they did this that it just didn't turn out good at all? How many Who is Donna Troys have we had now? I really, really enjoyed this issue. The art was crisp and the guys looked great. The team is forming nice and I like that Tim seems to blame Bruce for the teen superheroes. This was exactly what I expected and it really revitalizes the Teen Titans for me, making them into a more interesting group. Can't wait to see the other new members.

Voodoo #1- Yeah.. boobs, boobs, and MORE boobs. Voodoo is a stripper and the entire story deals with her stripping. Yeah, there is a bunch of talking and some people who are monitoring her, but it's really all lost over the fact that she's stripping or dancing on dollars most of the issue. This was heralded as a biracial character, but well.. she's a shapeshifter so that's not really relevant at all. I see no reason to read this title or why anyone would really be interested in it beyond the obvious cheesecake factor. It really wasn't a big draw or a very good set up. We don't even know anything about the character Voodoo and honestly, we could have started with her being a waitress and gotten the SAME story with less boobage.