Nightwing

Nightwing 46-52, 54-59

Nightwing 80-Page Giant

Action Comics 771

Nightwing: The Target

Mostly Greg Land on art, all Chuck Dixon on writing.  Dixon continues to do a nice job of mixing short arcs with long-running threads that have continued from the very beginning of the series.  The result is a title that continues to entertain, but never exceeds those modest expectations either.  That said, sometimes all I want is comfort food like this.  I never got bored, always had fun.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Nightwing 60-64, 67, 70, 71

But once Land leaves and Trevor McCarthy takes over, things go to shit.  I’m not a fan of McCarthy’s cartoony, ugly art style, and Dixon’s stories are barely enough for me to keep most of the issues.  (Might as well finish out his seventy issue run.)  I’m cutting the Last Laugh tie-ins and the first issue of Devin Grayson’s tenure.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes (Except for the cut issues)

Rating: Ranges from Fine to Didn’t Suck to Boring.  (Cutting 62, 63, 71)

Nightwing 101-106

Dixon and Scott McDaniel return to the title they started to tell the story of Nightwing: Year One.  It’s as good as the rest of their run, and a nice capper to my Nightwing collection.

Dick’s subway-top conversation w/ Jason Todd harkens back to a similar talk with Tim Drake back in issue 25.  (Also illustrating how Tim rules and Jason sucks.)

More awesome Batgirl action poses:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

New Comics, Nightwing

New comics!

Hawkeye: Freefall 5

When Marvel started publishing comics again after the COVID-induced pause, they ironically announced that Freefall 5 and 6 would only be released digitally.  Given the quality of issues 1-4, I’m so happy that they changed their minds (again) - Even the completionist in me would rather have an incomplete run in paper than be forced to buy digital-only.  

This is still awesome.

Seven Secrets 1

Even with the comic shops back open after the COVID closures, I’m not willing to risk my health to browse off the shelves anymore.  Which means that I’m far less likely to find comics and impulse buy on a weekly basis.  (Sadness.)  

It looks like my “give a random title a shot” comics are really going to be creator driven moving forward, like Seven Secrets.  Given his track record, Tom Taylor-written comics qualify.  So far, my faith in him is justified.  This is a solid first issue, with a very Saga “I’m going to tell you the story of my parents” narration device.  Will try more.

(Speaking of Taylor, I need to give his Suicide Squad a shot at some point.  Maybe in trade.)

Wonder Woman 760

Beautiful work by Mikel Janin, as expected.  The story is pretty bleh, though.  The real test comes next week, when Janin already needs a fill-in artist.  Will Mariko Tamaki come through with writing that demands following?

Fire Power 2

A long fight scene.  Fun enough, since Chris Samnee knows what he’s doing.  But not much to write about.

Nightwing Annual 1

Here we go, Nightwing!  Starting off with a Devin Grayson-penned story where Dick marries a woman in order to investigate a string of possible black widow murders.  Perfectly serviceable.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Nightwing 1-18, 21-40, 1000000

Green Arrow 134-135

Detective Comics 723

Robin 55

Batman Annual 23

Aside from the crossover titles, this is completely Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel.  This is the perfect title for the pair - Dixon is in his element with another Bat-title, and McDaniel shines with the kinetic action that Nightwing demands.  Sadly, Roberta Tewes’ colors are often not up to the task.  She properly emphasizes the foreground action, but at the complete expense of the background elements.  

Why is everything in the background yellow???

McDaniel is great at these action montages.  And he's moved on from the style of his Daredevil days, which you can still see in the earlier issues.

Love how he draws Superman and those bullet impacts.

McDaniel comes right up on the edge of laziness with these similar covers, but I like the cohesion and the layouts - Each one could be a statue design.

Of note is the Brotherhood of the Fist crossover, bringing together some of the best martial artists in the DCU and cementing Connor Hawke as the second-best fighter next to Shiva.

I like how Connor evaluates Batman.

Clancy, Dick’s building supervisor, is totally Cho Chang!

Cho Chang!  Although she's Scottish, not Irish...

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice.  Pretty good for the Fist crossover.  Fine for the Batman Annual and issue 40.

Nightwing 41-45

Greg Land takes over as the penciller, with plenty of fill in help from the capable Patrick Zircher.  The story doesn’t miss a beat, and Dixon still hasn’t lost any steam (Although, Nite-Wing is totally not worth 40+ issues of build up.  He’s a one-note character with an arc that was ultimately concluded with no fanfare.  Same thing is happening w/ Dudley Soames.)

Land didn't waste much time getting to the pinups.

So you're telling me Nite-Wing, who's always been colored this way...

...is supposed to be a redhead?  Editor, writer, or artist fail?

No one in their right mind would read paper in the rain...

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Movies

Quick thoughts on a bunch of movies that I’ve recently watched.  (Lots of time at three in the morning while the baby isn’t sleeping…)

Old Guard

The rare adaptation that’s better than the source material (I went back and reread the series by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez just to be sure).  The actors bring so much soul to their characters, adding a heft that I didn’t get in the comic.  Noriko’s drowning is legit one of the most painful, difficult things I’ve watched in quite some time. 

The scene where the team efficiently works their way through the tower made my heart sing, the smoothness and silent communication between the members is a beautiful piece of action choreography.  

This movie made me go back and order the Force Multiplied trade, even though I initially dropped it after the first issue.  I want to see where the (hopefully) next movie’s going to go.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Good

Triple Threat

This should have been a no-brainer smash hit - Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak), Iko Uwais (The Raid), Tiger Chen (Man of Tai Chi), and Scott Adkins (everything direct to video) all in the same martial arts film.  I went into this super excited.

I came out underwhelmed - No memorable fight scenes, too much talking, and too much gun play.  This should have been one of the greats.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Knock Down the House

AOC!  Now I want a documentary of her time in Congress.  I love her.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good

Furie

This was billed as Taken with Veronica Ngo (Rose’s sister in Last Jedi and Noriko in Old Guard).  That’s exactly what I got, but despite some nifty action, it left me completely cold.  I think it’s because despite her impressive fighting skills, the mom is far more desperate and grasping at random straws than the awe-inspiring competency of Liam Neeson, and I wasn’t in the mood to watch that.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Palm Springs

Awesome awesome awesome.  I was sold when I heard “Groundhog Day with Andy Samberg,” and this still exceeded my expectations.  Samberg and Cristin Milioti are a great on screen pair, and I couldn’t be happier with this film

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Really Good

New comics, Sanctuary

New comics!

Ragnarok: Breaking of Helheim 6

I bought this to finish out the series.  Fine, but not much more than that.  I won’t be getting future minis.

DCeased: Dead Planet 2

So good.  The Plastic Man stuff was pretty shocking.  

Strange Adventures 4

Mr Terrific is the best part of this series so far, he’s really the one I want to be following around.  The Adam Strange stuff is secondary to me.

Sanctuary 1-9

Taking a break from the short boxes to re-read this classic manga.  I love this story of two best friends seeking to change Japan, taking parallel tracks through the government and the yakuza.  Their rise to the top, boldness, and outside-the-box thinking make for a super fun read, and damn if they don’t know how to strike effective power poses.  

On the other hand, this is a super misogynistic comic.  Writer Sho Fumimura and artist Ryoichi Ikegami treat their female characters as eye candy to be raped (not that they don’t secretly love it *sarcasm*) or weak characters unable to control their sexual impulses.  Barf.

It’s a huge problem with the book, for all that, this is still an amazing series - Every other aspect of it is just about note perfect.  (Even if the ending is super rushed.)    

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

New Comics, Lois Lane, Manhunter, Martian Manhunter, Multiversity, Naomi

New comics!

Die 12

Yeah, this reads so much better as a collection.  Still, I want to support this title, so singles it is.  Not much else to say about this except that it’s consistently grim and entertaining.  (Which suddenly reminds me of Deadly Class.  Except that Class is even bleaker, and less entertaining.)

Strange Adventures 3

Tom King doing the usual Tom King things w/ great writing.  Mitch Gerads and Evan Shaner killing it on art as well.

Wonder Woman 759

This is how you get me to try out a title: Get Mariko Tamaki of Supergirl: Being Super fame and Mikel Janin, so splendid on Tom King’s Batman, to team up on just about anything.

On the con side, the villain looks to be Maxwell Lord, and I’ve hated him in every incarnation I’ve read him in (whether it’s as JLA smarmy agent sleeze or Identity Crisis murderer).  Also, I don’t see Janin’s name on the preview cover two issues from now - does he need fill-in help that soon?

On the pro side: Frickin’ amazing scenes like this:

Wow.

Lois Lane 1-8

Some nice character work, but the main murder mystery does not merit twelve issues of investigation.  Past me ran out of patience, and present me doesn’t disagree.  Nice to see Renee Montoya again.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Manhunter: Special Edition

Collecting Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson’s Manhunter backup series from Detective Comics back in the 70s.  The writing style’s a little dated, but Simonson’s layouts are inventive and gorgeous in a way that just isn’t done anymore, and that’s a shame.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Manhunter 1-14

Marc Andreyko writes this series, which I picked up the first two trades for on sale at a used bookstore.  I’m certainly glad I didn’t pay full price for them; Kate Spencer is one of those heroes whose many flaws (including rudeness and super poor parenting skills) make her actively unlikable, and her adventures are completely forgettable.  (It’s like I was reading it for the first time.)  

Also, there’s horrible continuity in the last issue where her hand gets impaled by a knife, only for there to be no trace of the wound for the rest of the fight.  Pet peeve triggered.

So much wrong about this cover from Jae Lee.

So cuttable.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Martian Manhunter 24

Where John Ostrander and Doug Mahnke do their finest Giffen/Maguire JLA impression, and a most worthy one at that.  It turns out J’onn transforms into a raging amalgam of the Hulk and Cookie Monster when he’s denied his Choco (Oreo) cookies.  

The result is hilarious, as is the resolution with J’onn’s physically manifested cookie addiction as it jumps from JLAer to JLAer.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Multiversity: Pax Americana 1

Multiversity: Mastermen 1

Grant Morrison writing some Elseworlds stories.  Pax Americana is his take on the “Fearful Symmetry” issue of Alan Moore’s Watchmen.  It’s a byzantine needs-to-be-read-forwards-and-backwards-to-make-any-sense look-at-how-clever-I-am issue that really isn’t worth the effort at the end of the day.  There are far better examples of how to do a comic like this (“Fearful Symmetry,” for one.  Tom King’s Grayson: Future's End for another.  Also Warren Ellis’ Black Widow time travel story in Secret Avengers.)

Mastermen is a far more straightforward story, where Clark Kent lands in Nazi Germany instead of Kansas.  The Jim Lee art makes it more fun that it would otherwise be.

It's okay to homage yourself, right?

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Naomi 1-6

So refreshing to read this after Pax Americana; This is effortlessly fun and entertaining, the complete opposite of Morrison’s torturously laborious exercise in comic craft.  This reads a lot better in one sitting; Naomi’s frustration and constant questioning isn’t nearly as annoying or repetitive, and there are enough wrinkles in the standard origin story to keep it from getting stale.  Also, Jamal Campbell’s gorgeous art.  

I’m probably going to get volume two whenever that comes out.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

The Kingdom, Legion of Super-Heroes

Kingdom 1-2

Gog 1

Planet Krypton 1

Nightstar 1

Son of the Bat 1

Kid Flash 1

Offspring 1

DC’s money grab sequel to Mark Waid’s Kingdom Come.  Granted, it’s written by Waid, which gives it a little more legitimacy, but it’s still not the same.  The entire plot, something to do with Gog kidnapping Superman and Wonder Woman’s son, is a McGuffin, and entirely forgettable.  And Mike Zeck’s art in issue 2 is horrible.  

This is the guy who drew Secret Wars?

The one-shots succeed because they work as character studies, insights into the next generation of heroes that we only know as fancy costumes in the original series.  

Nightstar benefits from Matt Haley’s art (of Elseworld's Finest fame), Kid Flash from Mark Pajarillo’s.  

Son of the Bat is amusing, because as the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, Ibn al Xu'ffasch is basically Damien Wayne, which kind of blows my mind.    

Offspring’s the highlight of the bunch, with spectacular art by Frank Quitely and an excellent study of the relationship between Plastic Man and his son, the rare instance where the  superhero father/son relationship is a positive one.   

The Kingdom isn't the worst followup to a story that didn’t need one, and not a waste of time.  But it’s no Godfather Part 2, either.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes for Nightstar, Son of the Bat, Kid Flash, Offspring.  No for the rest.

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Kingdom, Gog: Fine.  Planet Krypton, Son of the Bat: Nice, Nightstar, Kid Flash: Pretty good.  Offspring: Good 

Legion of Super-Heroes 291-294

The Great Darkness Saga, supposedly one of the classic Legion stories.  I picked these issues out of the 50 cent bin years ago, and I think I may have overpaid for them.  Perhaps it’s because I don’t know or care about any of these characters, maybe there’s too much continuity that I’m not aware of.  But what’s supposed to be an epic story comes across as a huge, convoluted mess where I’m just bored, with no emotional investment in the outcome.  

Classic cover.  Too bad the story doesn't live up to it.

Sistine Chapel homage whaaattt...

I’m only keeping this because it’s history.  Don’t think I’ll ever re-read it.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring

Legion of Super-Heroes 1-30

Now this is how you do the Legion right.  Mark Waid and Barry Kitson do some of their best work here.  This is a textbook example of how to introduce a massive cast to new readers.  (See Gotham Central for another.)  Waid focuses on a few characters each issue, giving them all a chance to distinguish themselves and make an impression.  I particularly like his takes on the justifiably arrogant Brainiac 5 and the beleaguered Cosmic Boy as an unappreciated leader with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Heh.

On top of that, Waid’s take on the Legion is remarkably prescient - The members don’t see themselves as a team, but as a movement, one where the teenagers of the 31st century stand up to an adult class unwilling to change for the better.  It’s surprisingly relevant to our situation today, and adds another layer to the story.

Both big story arcs - Lemnos’ UP takeover and the Dominators’ invasion - are exciting and grand in scale, but still personal enough to be emotionally engaging.  (Exactly where Paul Levitz’s Great Darkness Saga failed.)  

The best thing I can say about Waid’s run is that I wish he’d kept writing it - I would have liked to see where he planned to go with it following the Legion leadership election.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good (Except for the Didn’t suck fill-in issue 15 and a Pretty good stretch around 16-20)

Legion of Super-Heroes 1

The Brian Michael Bendis version.  I’ll give pretty much everything he does a try, but this is a total miss for me.  He’s got some history with great team book runs (Avengers, X-Men), but there’s not enough here to hook me, especially considering that he’s already starting with a deficit by using the Legion (despite Waid’s great stewardship).  He does bring in a few cute ideas, like the floating name tags for everyone and the orientation recurring gag, but it’s not nearly enough for me to keep reading.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine