New comics

Children of the Round Table 2

Boilerplate stuff; the kids start training with their weapons and mysterious government agents start chasing them.  One of the kids’ grandmothers turns out to have known more than she let on.  Nothing to write home about.  But the art is fun, the colors are bright, and I have no problem supporting these creators.

Battle Beast 6

Same with Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley.  I’ll plunk down my cash for whatever they want to put out, but even more so.  

Batman: Long Halloween: Last Halloween 9

Chris Samnee puts in his usual good work, Loeb fully retcons Selina Kyle as a Falcone, and talk about people who have lost their fastball.  Between this and Batman: Hush II, Jeph Loeb is cementing my belief that he hasn’t written anything good in a long time.

Krypto 5

This series did not need to exist.  I did not need to buy it.  It’s a slight, pointless waste of time and Ryan North’s talents.  I would never have believed that it came from his pen.  

Wonder Woman 26

The origin of Mouseland.  It’s pretty ridiculous, and I don’t buy it.  The execution and art save it some, but not really.  I’ll be happy when Tom King and Daniel Sampere put this behind them.

One World Under Doom 8

Valeria Richards enters the fray, and Ryan North finally reveals how this whole thing is going to end.  (Unless he has one final twist, which I wouldn’t put past him.)

New comics

Batgirl 11

Batgirl and her half-brother fight the second Sword, then agree to go on a quest with the third one.  (Not sure why the three bad guys were lumped together, they weren’t working together at all.)  I’m done with this, there’s nothing that puts this above replacement level.

Free Comic Book Day: Fantastic Four 1

There’s a cute little FF story by Ryan North and Humberto Ramos here.

Absolute Superman 11

This is such an up and down series. This is a down issue.  The “brainwashing by running the subject through thousands of VR scenarios” story has been done to death, and this iteration doesn’t bring anything new.  The “push the hero to the dark side only to fail” thing has been done even more times, and Jason Aaron doesn’t make it all that interesting either.  Hoping he ends this arc on a high note.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 11

Things fall apart for the evil DA as the city rallies around the Turtles.  Cue the final fight.  Gene Luen Yang takes over w/ issue 13, I might actually stick around and give it a shot.

Absolute Green Lantern 6

I’m done.  This is all nonsense.

Mr Terrific: Year One 4

I cancelled my sub, but picked up this issue after it was pick of the week on iFanboy.  It’s fun seeing Bruce Wayne and Michael Holt interacting, but I don’t know if it’s enough for me to get the rest of the series.  I’ll flip through it in the shop next time around.  

The War 2

Garth Ennis is still bringing his A game after all of these years.  This is one of the darkest, grimmest things I’ve read in a long, long time, and it’s so so good.  I only wish Ennis didn’t bring in the armed intruders at the end.  The series is so strong because it’s grounded in realism, and this new element takes me out of that headspace.  

Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League 1-2

Another iFanboy recommendation, and it’s a good one.  It feels like I haven’t read Greg Rucka in a long time, and he’s as good as ever.  The titular characters are still gathering their crew, and it’s a fun ride so far.  

Absolute Flash 7

Not as bad as Absolute Green Lantern, but there’s not enough to keep me around.  I’m done.

Krypto 4

I appreciate the sadness warning at the beginning of the issue, but I’ve read sadder.  This has not been the best of series, but with only one issue to go, I’m going to play it out.

Fantastic Four 3

The FF figure out a way around Doom’s video game save/restore machine, with Ryan North’s typical cleverness.  Lots of fun, how does this guy not run out of ideas?

Battle Action 6, 7, 10

Apparently real-world comic distribution problems created this gap in issues.  Issue ten finishes off this Johnny Red arc with a happily-ever-after.  Fine, but not up to Ennis’ best.  

New comics

More new comics!

Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum 1

I was intrigued by the art and interesting layouts, so I gave this a shot. Superman discovers four new shades of Kryptonite, and somehow thinks that using himself as a guinea pig is the best way to discover their effects on him.  Batman wisely thinks that this is a stupid idea, but Superman doesn’t listen.  Hijinks ensue.  I’m not sold on this, but I’ll flip through the next issue when I see it on the shelf.

Fantastic Four 2

I don’t quite buy how the FF get out of this predicament.  Both Reed’s solution and Sue’s ability to figure it out are too much of a stretch, so I’m ultimately disappointed at this resolution to what was an awesome setup.  I also didn’t expect this story to go a third issue.  I’m sure that Ryan North will turn it back around.  

Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman 3

Trinity’s perpetual failure and her two younger selves’ exasperated frustration had me LOLing at several points in the story.  Some good fun by Tom King and Belen Ortega, along with a nice little lesson about perseverance to boot.

Absolute Batman 11

Absolute Bane’s origin story is pretty close to mainline Bane, but Scott Snyder tells it well.  Unfortunately, it falls apart in the back half with an incomprehensible fight scene from Clay Mann.  (Who also does a really poor job with some super scratchy self-inks.)  I can’t tell what’s happened at the end; has Bruce really been Anakined into a limb-less Darth Vader/Mecha-Batman scenario?  So confused.

Wonder Woman 24

Ugh, I hate hate hate this “Mouse Man knows” speech bullshit.  It’s completely ruining what would otherwise be a fascinating story.

Detective Comics 1100

Anniversary anthology issue.  As I’ve said before, Tom Taylor is a master of writing the obvious-but-never-done-before stories.  Here, he teams up w/ Mikel Janin to tell a sweet, wordless story about locating a lost puppy.  Lots of feels.  The Mariko Tamaki story is a waste of pages.  The Greg Rucka story’s pretty good, and the Bill Sienkiewicz tale gets by on the art.  (The plot’s meh.)

Battle Beast 4

Too much talking, not enough fighting.  Why is Robert Kirkman swerving away from what works on this title?

Absolute Flash 6

I said a few more issues last month.  Giving it one more month; this Rogues Gallery origin didn’t do much for me. 

Krypto: Last Dog of Krypton 3

Such a waste of money.  Krypto saves a girl lost in the wilderness.  This issue took two minutes to read and even less time to forget.  

New comics

Battle Beast 2

This is just beautifully drawn and stupid fun.

Absolute Batman 10

The indomitability of Batman is on full display here.  It’s stunning to behold, a wonderful issue from Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta.

Wonder Woman 23

Tom King introduces us to the creepy inner workings of Mouseworld (or whatever it’s called).  All setup for what’s to come.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 10

More setup, this time getting us to a satisfying final splash page of April O’Neal dressed in Casey Jones’s mask beating the crap out of some soldiers.  Two more issues of this before Jason Aaron, and probably me, take off.

Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton 2

Turns out Lex is a shitty dog owner.  Who would have thought?

Absolute Flash 5

I’m worried that I’m only sticking around because of the “Absolute” on the title.  This isn’t bad, but is it really good enough to keep reading?  Maybe a few more issues.

Detective Comics 1099

Old school in the sense that it’s a solid, self-contained arc that leaves Batman where he started with no real consequences.  At least Lee Garbett’s art is still great.

New comics

Aliens vs Avengers 4

God, what a massive letdown from a promising beginning.  This is why I’m surprised whenever Jonathan Hickman writes something good for any extended period of time.  This is just a nihilistic exercise in “none of this matters, I was not satisfied or entertained in any way, why did I read this?”  Even Esad Ribic is a disappointment here.  A complete fail by the end.  

Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton 1

Ryan North writing Krypto is enough to get me on board.  I don’t know how there’s enough here for a full series, but I have faith in him.

Battle Beast 2

I’m so glad Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley are back in this universe!!!  This is good, clean, comic book fun at the highest level of execution.  A+, recommend. 

Absolute Flash 3-4

Things get more interesting w/ the introduction of Monkey Grodd.  Things are still new enough in an Ultimate Universe kind of way for me to want to stick around.

Absolute Green Lantern 3

Jon Stewart discovers the Lantern’s gold weakness, and Al Ewing somehow manages to make it not sound that stupid.  I still don’t know why they’re fighting Boo from Dragonball Z.  

DC vs Vampires: World War V 10

As I’ve said before, not a fan of the New Gods in general, but with the twist here, Matthew Rosenberg at least keeps things interesting enough for me to want to know what happens next.