The Outsiders, My idea for the DC New 52

So here's a crazy idea.. I think it'd be awesome to have a group called the Outsiders. They are a group of fractured heroes, they have no clue who they are, where they came from, or where they got their powers. All they know is they seem drawn together, a desire to help people, and a general fear of the law and other heroes. The group has "flashes" of their various and complex pasts. The team would be Donna Troy, Lilith (Omen), Sarah Rainmaker (of Gen 13), Wally West, Jay Abrams (Blue Jay), and Deula Dent. Others may join the team later.

MUST READ Marvel books (for those that don't read Marvel)

I am not a huge fan of Marvel comics (As I'm sure most people are aware), but there are some comics that are just well.. fan-fucking-tastic and you should read them. There is A LOT you can skip, seriously, there is a shit ton, but.. this is a list of Marvel titles I think you should read:

DareDevil (1998) 16-19 (Wake Up trade) and 50-55 (Echo)- This introduces Echo and tells us more about the character. She's by far one of my favourite Marvel characters and her relationship with Matt was rather cute and sweet. She's a rather kick ass character.
DareDevil current series by Waid- It's pretty good actually. It's a lighter tone for DareDevil and it's actually interesting. I like this series thus far, I hope it continues to be rather great.
Agents of Atlas- If you are a fan of Golden Age characters revamped like JSA, you'll love this. Seriously, it's a group of crazy Golden Age characters, modernized and made so awesome and cool that you will love every minute of this.
Dan Slott's She-Hulk- For the first time in a long time, Jennifer Walters has to learn to be comfortable as well.. Jennifer Walters. She's hidden behind She-Hulk persona and it has allowed her life to kinda go to shit, so.. she gets kicked out of the Avengers and is forced to get her life together. How? She goes back to her lawyer roots and helps with Superhero Law.. the catch? She has to do this all as the puny white often squirrelly Jennifer Walters instead of the gorgeous, green and powerful.. She-Hulk!
Hawkeye and Mockingbird- This is a fun and amazing spy series about a divorced couple and their rekindling relationship as well as their working relationship. The two work so well together, it's really amazing.
Black Widow (2010, the most recent one)- I started this because of Marjorie M Liu's amazing take on Black Widow. After that, Duane Swierczynski (current BoP writer) took over and the series took a mild change of direction. Both show Black Widow as a kick ass take-no-prisoners spy and it's pretty damn awesome.
Widowmaker- So, you've read Hawkeye and Mockingbird and Black Widow and still want more? Well.. here it is! The trio investigate the deaths of various spies that have died in their respective networks. They start out, at first, a little at odds with each other, then reluctantly begin to work together to find out who is behind this travesty.
Incredible Hercules- Great, fun story about Hercules and his genius partner, Amadeus Cho. It's hilarious and great fun to read, seriously. Get it.. now!
Prince of Power- This follows Amadeus Cho as he becomes the new Prince of Power for the age of the mind instead the age of strength!
Greg Pak's run on Hulk (Yes all of it!)- Starting with Hulk shipped off to space to a savage planet where he finds peace and love before it gets destroyed.. to the evil Bruce Banner era. I love seeing Bruce as the "bad guy" and showing how he's an unrivaled genius and only the fact that he's become Hulk regularly get in the way.
Marvel Knights: Inhumans- An adult Inhumans story for the adult comic audience. A race of aliens where each and every one is completely individual (with their own powers and look) struggles to stop a war that could wipe out their entire hidden city on the Moon.
Alias- Former superhero, Jessica Jones, has put up her tights and turned to a life as a Private Investigator. Rather dark and edgy series that deals with Jessica's real problems and the fact that she used to be a rather goofy and naive super heroine named Jewel.
X-Force/X-Statix/X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl- What happens when you have a reality TV show based all around "disposable" mutant superheroes? Well.. X-Statix of course. They live life on the edge knowing that every mission could be their last.
Brubaker's Captain America vol. 5 & 6/Captain America & Bucky/Winter Solider (Upcoming)- Seriously, I am not a fan of Captain America. When he died, I didn't care. I was not interested in reading it at all, but.. I heard good things and FINALLY decided to check it out and well.. I'm now a Captain America fan.. or rather, I think I'm more of a Bucky/Winter Soldier fan tbh. This series is rather amazing. I love James Buchanan and how he's been revamped (and his history with Black Widow). I even enjoy the Steve Rogers stories as Steve no longer comes off as clean cut guy, but rather he's showing he's more of a soldier with less and less desire to be a symbol.

New DCU #2 reviews

Just a quick recap of The DCU now that I've read most of the #2s. Honestly, Captain Atom, Voodoo, Men of War, and Dark Knight I couldn't even bring myself to read the second issues, so.. yeah I skipped those. After reading the #2s, I pretty much stand by my earlier assessments. Certainly nothing got vastly better.. a couple of things got worse. The only thing I did like was that it is implied that Jason Todd, Roy Harper, and Kory had a threesome that got a little wiggy for Roy and Kory. I think Roy and Jason did stuff together, but the actual issue was crap. What I liked the first time or was cool with the first time that I didn't like this time?

Wonder Woman - This issue totally lost me. The Amazons are wearing loin clothes and Diana continues to be cold and aloof. The story is still decent, but I don't care enough to read about this character anymore.

Savage Hawkman - Yeah, definitely like this considerably less. It just didn't live up to it's earlier potential.

New Guardians - Gotten even crappier. It really, really went down hill to the point where I don't want to read it anymore.

I, Vampire - Just not enjoying it. It's a decent title, but it's not for me.

Oh and the new minis? All pretty damn good. Penguin, Huntress, and Legion Secret Origins are all pretty solid. I couldn't get into Batman Odyssey. It seemed a little kooky and crazy, but I DEFINITELY recommend getting the two Levitz minis.. Huntress and Legion of Superheroes: Secret Origins. :)

Wolverine and the X-Men #1 - review

So Wolverine and the X-Men has been heralded by some as the single greatest and most original comic by either of the two big companies. It's the most non-spandex title too apparently and well, so when I picked it up I figured it wouldn't live up to these massive claims and of course, it doesn't.

What is Wolverine and the X-Men though? First of all, the title name has nothing to do with the comic at all. This is not an X-Men title in the sense that the X-Men are not a team in this title. It's about the school that Wolverine and apparently Kitty Pryde are running. It does have some interesting ideas that pleased me like mutant members of the Brood and I'm assuming the Shi'ar. I've been wanting that for years. In fact, I had an idea years ago for Luna Maximoff to be a mutant Inhuman by being of 2 castes: Warrior and artist, but Marvel ruined that. So I did enjoy that aspect of things, but.. all in all, the title is a tad too silly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Spoilers Follow*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The whole concept of this issue is the day leading up to and the first day of the new Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters. That would be fine.. if they didn't also have the New York Department of Education certifying them as "fit to teach" on the exact same day they open. That didn't make much sense to me, but that's OK. On top of that, Beast, the super genius he is, has built the entire school but apparently.. very, very badly. Everything is constantly going wrong while Wolvie and Kitty escort these two idiots from the Department of Education. These guys are of course stiff and stuck up jerks. That's the basic idea here. It just comes off way too goofy and stupid for my tastes.

The issue actually opens up the day before the big open. Wolvie is walking through the school with a rather smug and glib Xavier. The two talk about advice for Logan on how to be a good headmaster and basically Xavier giving him not sage advice, but snarky and sarcastic comments. So much so that Logan even mentions it to Xavier. It just didn't feel natural or like Xavier wanted to help Wolverine at all. He even states at one point that he thought someone would open their own school, but he never thought it'd be Logan. It's very awkward and weird conversation.

The next scene moves on to the day of, we suddenly find out that Kitty is headmistress with Wolverine as Headmaster. I don't know why they need both, but apparently they do. They go out to meet the smug Department of Education people and guide them on a tour around the mansion. These Department of Education weasels insult Wolverine and Kitty constantly and the two of them just take it with a smile and nod. We take a brief diversion from all this to see a Brood mutant being bullied by Hellion and Glob Herman. It ends quickly as the Brood kid sees Wolverine coming, then Logan in his infinite wisdom decides to punish Julian and Glob by locking them in a bathroom and using the Danger Room on them. Apparently the Danger Room is available in the whole school now (Great idea right? It's not like IDK the Danger Room has caused countless problems before when it was just one room, let's make it take over the whole school!). The snide DoE flunkies do not take well to that, of course. From there, Wolverine tried to introduce them to Idie, the chick from Schism that killed a guy. The brilliant twit she is starts telling the DoE guys how all mutants are monsters and should be dest.. i mean "cured" and she doesn't want to have to kill anyone again. Yeah, this is genius here people!

Finally we get to Beast, who is suppose to help calm everything down. Instead, Hank is completely lost in his world, almost beans Kitty with a coffee cup and rambles on with the DoE people there about how the school is out of control and he couldn't shut it down even if he tried. In fact, he mentions nuclear meltdown at least once. He also states that Emperor Gladiator is giving full alien tech support and has promised a new surprise in this latest shipment that just arrived. The surprise? Apparently Gladiator's son (Who knew?) that is kind of an arrogant ass, but his "bodyguard" Warbird seems cool. I'm assuming that Gladiator's son is a mutant of some sort, but it's impossible to say.

After all of this and an explosion with baby Nightcrawlers harassing the DoE people they decide to call it quits and get the school shut down. Of course, that happens after we get the penultimate moment in the comic supposedly. Remember Kilgore from Schism? The young leader of the Hellfire club? Well.. he looked much younger in Schism as did the other Hellfire Club members (They acted younger too), but apparently he's 12. He tells Logan his entire plan and how he caused the entire Schism (Is this the same character as from Schism? Cause it sure as hell doesn't feel like it at all) then throws down the gauntlet saying he's going to destroy Wolverine and the school. Yeah, the brilliant genius behind the Hellfire Club from Schism that kept the X-Men jumping through hoops and clueless has now come out of the closet, introduced himself to his enemy and that he was the head of the Hellfire Club. I just don't get it at all. It was goofy and stupid. Then out of no where of course, this creature comes to eat the whole school from below apparently caused by Kilgore.

So yeah, the story is really jokey. My other problem is that there aren't enough teachers with students. They break it down at the end and there are about 10 teachers and maybe 20 students. I didn't count them, but the break down made it rather clear. I mean there are only around 200 mutants and most of them are grown, so it feels odd. The other problems with the school is because of House of M bullcrap, there is a limit on new possible students. The other limitations is that unlike during Morrison's school run, the number of faculty is insanely small. This means that the range of subjects is considerably smaller. It just.. it doesn't worklogistically speaking. There is not enough students, not enough teachers.. I just don't see it as a full school as is.

The other major problem is the art. I don't like Bachalo's art at all. Never have really, but add that to the fact that characters look different sometimes than they've ever looked before. Doop looks 10 times bigger than he was in X-Statix (He must have been eating former teammates). Kilgrove looks older, Kitty looks Asian in a couple shots, others look goofy for no real reason. Beast seems to walk around with this thing all over him and it was hard for me to figure out his scene since it wasn't as clean as I'd have liked to see. THe technology looked.. muddled and all over the place.

Is this the most original, most non-spandex comic in the industry today? Not by far. It's a decent humor book if you really want a humor book, but I don't buy this title being the humor book. I think a title about Wolverine running a school should be a little more serious and less goofy. It comes across as downright stupid at points. There is just too much inconsistency here with early portrayals some by the same writer.

Batman is slipping..

I just don't get Bruce Wayne anymore. He's slipping. Previously, Batman has represented the best of the best. He's been hard on his generals and expected a lot from them. He was brutal on Tim and Jean-Paul Valley. He was down right nasty to Helena countless times. He's beaten up on her for being too "brutal", yet he's been as brutal on various occasions depending on the writer. He actually TOOK the mantle of Batgirl/Batwoman AWAY from Helena for really no reason and gave it to a complete unknown. Yes, Cass ended up amazing, but at the time it was a huge shock and it took a while for Helena to get over it. Even Babs, he was rather difficult with and this was during the happy-go-lucky Batman time. Now, however, Batman is letting just anybody in. Look at who Batman has recently put his stamp of approval on:

Damien Wayne - We're told that Damien was such an amazing fighter that at 10, he was the leader of the League of Assassins. Ok, sure, but then why can he not fight worth a crap when it really matters? I don't see him showing his great fighting talents and no one has ever mentioned it in the comics. He's clearly not disciplined as he constantly runs off and tries to do everything on his own, so.. how he is trained? I realize he's 10, but come on. He's suppose to be this prodigal genius, but we don't see it. We only see a whiney, annoying brat. The only reason he seems to have been picked to be Robin that ANYONE can mention is that he's Bruce's son. There is no sign of greatness in him. He's not very well trained, he's not very smart, he's not very strong, he's not a great detective, he's not a great fighter.. He doesn't even show the potential to be a great anything except a pain in the ass. Where is the Bruce Wayne that pushed Tim so hard? I don't see him anymore.

Stephanie Brown - another disaster waiting to happen. Yes, she's no longer Batgirl, thank GOD and she is now no longer the 2nd worst Robin to ever appear (Damien being the first), but he's still accepting her as Spoiler. This is the chick that's been around 20+ years and only managed to show SOME MINOR growth when she got her own title and that didn't even make sense since she took a huge leap in capabilities. Previous to being Batgirl or Robin, Stephanie was told by 3 separate people that the superhero life wasn't for her.. and one of those people? Batman.. Yeah you heard me.. Bruce Wayne as Batman told Stephanie Brown on at LEAST two occasions that she was going to get someone killed by being Spoiler. Her best friend, Cassandra Cain, confirmed that and Black Canary ALSO stated similar. Not to mention that Timothy Drake has now admitted he only kept her around as Spoiler because he enjoyed the make out sessions and didn't want to piss her off. So all this said, she's allowed to be Robin for some unknown reason that nobody can explain. As Robin, she screws up MAJORLY, gets herself killed literally (it was later revealed that she was faking it) and then when she comes back to life, she's literally handed the role of Batgirl with no training because supposedly Batman said it was her time? What? So if you just wait around long enough, you can get into the Bat-Family? Is that ALL it takes? Well, that's all been undone, but... Batman is relying on Stephanie Brown for a major plot line called Leviathan coming up. She'll be Spoiler again (or maybe she never stopped being Spoiler), but why? Why does Bruce need to rely on someone that he has consistently disapproved of? He hasn't suddenly started relying on Helena Bertinelli even though she's better trained, a better fighter, and OKed by Oracle/Barbara Gordon and Black Canary.

Kate Kane - A "highly" trained woman that has a confusing and complex origin and well.. we have no clue why she's so amazing. We're told she is and she seems to be able to handle her own, but that's supposedly because she was trained by Black Ops? Seriously? I don't know anyone in Black Ops IRL, but my understanding of military training for fighting is mostly with weapons and while they DO train in martial arts, it's more as a just in case situation, it's not so you can handle multiple armed opponents by yourself. She's not very smart, in fact she unabashedly let's her father, a military man himself, do all the thinking for her and basically pointing her at where he wants her to go. She's supposedly mad at him at the moment, but well.. without him she wouldn't be Batwoman. He got her her "training" (what little of it there must have been), her weapons, her armor, her well everything all through his military connections and his WIFE'S money (the same wife that Kate hates because she's the "evil step mommy"). Recently we've been told that Kate is SO GOOD that a woman that has been a hero almost 4-5X longer than Kate is nothing more than an incompetent boob compared to Kate. What? Bette Kane has been trained by Nightwing, she's worked with the Titans (I.E. she's used to fighting in a team setting), she's even faced off against Deathstroke in the past, but she's so incapable that Kate has to constantly save her and worry about her? REALLY? Kate who has been trained by??????? Ok.. And why does she get the right to wear the Bat? What has she done that shows her to be good enough? Listening to her father? I don't think so.

Batwing - Oh yeah, this guy is so highly trained.. he's.. not really anything. He's not that amazing. He's not that great of a fighter, he's not very smart.. in fact all he seems to be is Batman in an Iron Man-type suit. Bruce has set EVERYTHING up for him. He doesn't seem to be that special that he suddenly deserves Bruce's trust and part of the Batman's Inc, but sure.. In fact, most of the Batman Incers seem under-trained and un-vetted. They just seem to be chosen because.. someone said so.

I just don't get what Bruce is up to and I realize he's changed, but.. by watering him down so much an surrounding him with weaker, less capable generals.. what good does that do Batman? It hindered Dick and plagued his entire run as Batman, making him seem like a weaker, more ineffective Batman than he COULD have been. Now Bruce has finally chosen to man up and be Batman again... I just don't understand why he's putting up with such.. incompetence when he's punished and pushed those who have shown to be VERY competent.

New 52 DCU rankings! From best to worst!

1. Justice League Dark
2. Demon Knights
3. Aquaman
4. Teen Titans
5. Fury of the Firestorm
6. Animal man
7. Swamp Thing
8. All-Star Western
9. Superman
10. Birds of Prey
11. Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
12. Wonder Woman
13. Suicide Squad
14. Stormwatch
15. Action Comics
16. Justice League
17. Legion of Super-Heroes
18. Batgirl
19. DC Comics Presents
20. Resurrection Man
21. I, Vampire
22. Savage Hawkman
23. Batman
24. Green Lantern
25. The Flash
26. Nightwing
27. Superboy
28. O.M.A.C.
29. Justice League International
30. Green Lantern: New Guardians
31. Red Lanterns
32. Supergirl
33. Green Lantern Corps
34. Detective Comics
35. Batwoman
36. Batwing
37. Static Shock
38. Green Arrow
39. Batman: The Dark Knight
40. Batman and Robin
41. Mister Terrific
42. Blue Beetle
43. Deathstroke
44. Legion Lost
45. Captain Atom
46. Voodoo
47. Red Hood and the Outlaws
48. Catwoman
49. Blackhawks
50. Hawk and Dove
51. Men of War
52. Grifter

Lesbians and "Narek"

So.. apparently some idiot decided that it was "funny" to make a joke that the mysterious "Narek" title on the DCU title should be a Zatanna and PowerGirl story with them as lesbians similar to Strangers in Paradise. So I responded that I thought that was gross and pervy. He got very upset and threw a fit that I was being "preachy" and that it was a joke and well a bunch of stupid stuff that made no sense. He suggested that I was over-reacting and that I had issues for implying that taking two heterosexual women and making them into lesbians was pervy and that there was something wrong with ME for that. When I asked HIM if he would be OK if someone implied the same with two MALE heroes that they should enter into a homosexual relationship together, he refused to answer the question and instead state out and out that the new DCU means that EVERYTHING is new. DC has clearly stated NUMEROUS times that that is not true. Not to mention that if you've been reading the new DCU, it's obvious that it's not all new. The 4 Batman Titles, the Green Lantern titles, Legion of Super-Heroes, Hawk and Dove, Swamp Thing, Red Hood and the Outlaws and Animal Man all state that there are events that we have read form the old DC Universe that are still in play. So no, it is NOT all new.

BTW if you want to joke that "Narek" is a Zatanna/PowerGirl title because Narek is Karen backwards and Karen is Power Girl, Zatanna speaks backwards for her magical powers, why do they HAVE to be lesbians? Why did you HAVE to go there? Why couldn't they just team up? After all, Power Girl is Kryptonian, but she's had magical origins in the past and I think her and Zatanna could team up. I don't know how well the title would work or the team work between them, but sure.. if that's where you want to go for a JOKE, why do they have to be LESBIANS?