15 posts tagged “dcu”

Jeph Loeb had big success with this series and I always wanted to check it out. Now that I have I will share my thoghts.
 

1-6: World's Finest, Ed McGuiness
This first arc surprised me a lot. It introduced the characters and their relationship, and it also showed them fighting many super villains as well as cameo appearances by many fellow heroes. What really surprised me was the main villain being Luthor, who ends his presidency in this arc. That's a huge event in the Superman/DC universe. This to me said that this series is totally in continuity and tells important stories, as well as self contained ones. I was a bit disappointed that the meteor/Darkseid connection was not fully explained in later issues. The art by McGuiness is nice, but it's not a favorite of mine. It is a little bit too cartoony for me, it takes me away from the seriousness of the story.
 
7: Protege, Pat Lee
This story is about Robin and Superboy, who recruit Toyman, a character seen in the first arc. This was interesting in that it very briefly explored the relationship between the sidekicks and S&B. Other than that this was basically an excuse to have Pat Lee draw robots.
 
8-13: The Supergirl from Krypto n, Mike Turner
Following the arrival of the meteor, we also get a new Supergirl (I am totally confused on the other Supergirls). I liked the way this new character is introduced, I especially liked the conflict between Superman and Batman on how to treat her. It makes sense that Wonder Woman is involved as well, which makes it even more interesting. There is also a death in this arc, and though it's not a huge character, it still makes this series "count". I was fooled by the surprise death towards the end, I really thought that was it. But I didn't like how Superman dealt with Darkseid so easily. He could have done it before. I was also disappointed at the end: after Darkseid is gone, we find Kara hiding, afraid to let people know about her. Then she just reveal herself to everbody?!? The art by Mike Turner is very nice, and obviously well chosen for Supergirl and all the other Amazons running around half naked. I do like his style, but his characters look too much like models.
 
                                        14-18: Absolute Po wer, Carlos Pacheco
This story started as an elseworld, presenting us with the main concept: 3 villains from the future go back in time and kill all superheroes during their origins, except for Batman and Superman, who are adopted by them. So now we have "bad" Superman and Batman who rule the world. As I said, a good premise. We also get other versions of DC characters, however I am not too familiar with DC, so I didn't get them all. At the end the time travel becomes very confusing, and although I understand the concept I just don't "believe" it. In particular I have problems with the fact that Superman and Batman remember everything that happens to them, even though they come from alternate time lines, as well as different times. This is more like a Silver Age explanation, which to me is not acceptable. The art by Pacheco is very clear, I like his style though it does not excite me too much.

19: Supergirl, Ian Churchill
This is just a set up for Supergirl's ongoing series, where we setup her status as well as Luthor's interest in her. I was midly curious about Lex's involvement, but I don't think I'm going to read her series.
 

20-25: With a Vengeance, Ed McGuiness
This last arc sees the return of McGuiness, this time dealing with an arc that might be more appropriate to him. Mxy and Bat-mite's involvement means a more cartoony story, also thanks to Bizzarro. Unfortunately for me, I do not like any of those 3 characters. Not to mention that basically everything that happened does not count. This story reminded me a little of the first arc in JLA Classified, drawn by McGuiness and written by Morrison. I was totally confused by both.
 
26: Sam Loeb
This last story was plotted by Jeph's son Sam, who died of cancer. So this is just a tribute to him by his father and a long list of artists. The story goes back to Robin, Superboy, Toyman, where they just have some fun. The backup story by Jeph Loeb and long time collaborator Tim Sale was very emotional.
 
Overall I wouldn't call this a favorite series of mine, but it did have some great moments and great art. I did not like the internal dialogs from Superman and Batman, it felt like a gimmick to see their opposing point of view on everything that happened to them, which might have worked at first, but after a while they were distracting me from the main plot. I do not think they really told me anything new about these characters. None of the 4 arcs blew me away, I had some problems with all of them.

 

In preparation for the recent Batman arc by Morrison & Kubert, I re-read the story that inspired them. This is a self-contained Batman story, published as a graphic novel in the 80's.
 
The first time I read this story I just started reading comics, and I was totally unfamiliar with the Batman comics. So when I read this I was surprised to discover that Batman was not only working with Ra's Al Ghul but at the end he had a baby!! I thought this was an Elseworld type of story, until the recent Morrison story.
 
I really liked this story, it had a good plot involving global terrorism and it starred one of the biggest Batman villains. They have a common enemy, so in this story they are actually allies.
 
I also loved the Batman/Talia relationship, even though it wasn't given much time. For the first time Batman seemed happy, which is a huge deal.
 
Overall this just feels like a milestone in the Batman history. If this story were done today, it would have been a big event story. Instead we get a great little self-contained story in the best format, the graphic novel.
 
The art by Bingham is surprisingly modern-looking, certainly inspired by Neal Adam's Batman. This is a perfect story to hand to new readers of comics.

 

This is a short story arc following the return of Superman One Year Later. This arc felt like a stepping stone for future story lines in the main Superman books.
 
It's actually a nice short adventure that establishes Superman's return in the world's view, so that nobody will doubt the identity of Superman. This is also a nice self-contained story featuring a lot of superheroes (which I liked, since this was a global crisis).
 
Lastly this is a setup for future story lines, in particular the Johns/Donner/Kubert run on Action Comics (which due to delays has not been completed yet), as well as the Busiek run on Superman (though that particular thread is being followed on only now).
 
The art by Pete Woods is very good, I think his Superman is the best modern interpretation of the last few years. Very clear lines and great storytelling.
 
I want to read more Superman stories, however none of the long arcs so far have been completed. The Son of Krypton storyline in Action Comics will be done in February, while the conclusion of the Superman arc about Camelot by Busiek/Pacheco has not been scheduled yet. In between there has been other stories, but most of them tie-in to Countdown, which I am really not interested in. So for the moment I am afraid I won't be reading these two titles.

 

Allan Heinberg really surprised me with his Young Avengers, so I was eager to read his Wonder Woman story. Unfortunately this doesn't come close to the Marvel series, but it had its moments.
 
First of all this story tries to define Wonder Woman's role in the DC Universe, what her motivations are and what she wants to do in her future. This also ties to her history, which is also touched upon in this story.
 
The plot itself was secondary to that, so it suffered a little bit. A pretty typical and simple story line. But Heinberg also managed to introduce a new status quo for Diana's powers.
 
This new status quo might seem too similar to Superman's or Batman's dual identity, however it is well justified in the story. So I can accept it.
 
The art by the Dodsons is very pleasant. I think they are perfect for this title, maybe also thanks to Adam Huges covers in the past.
 
I was a little disappointed that this story was not brilliant, but this is not a bad story at all. If you're interested in the character or don't know much about it, this is a good start.
 

This is a massive undertaking in terms of format. Grant Morrison set out to tell the story of the Seven Soldiers in 7 different mini-series plus two bookends, for a total of 30 issues. The Seven Soldiers do not even meet, even though they're working toward the same goal.
 
As with all Morrison stories, very often I felt lost. Each mini is supposed to be self contained, with interlocking threads. This is true for the most part, but each mini ends on a cliffhanger, and they all converge to the final bookend.
 
Some of the parts where the minis are supposed to cross over are obvious, some others are very subtle. The problem for me is that I really couldn't tell what the main picture was most of the time, so I just gave up on that early on.
 
Instead I just concentrated on enjoying the single minis, or sometimes the single issues. Obviously some of the minis I liked more than others, but one thing I liked throughout: the art. Each mini has a different artist, but they all looked great and perfectly suited to the characters. My favorites are probably JH Williams III and Simone Bianchi, but all the others did a fantastic job as well.
 
The ending felt a bit rushed, only giving each character a few pages to wrap up their storyline.
 
I can't say I totally enjoyed this series, but all Morrison titles read better the second/third time. The problem is I don't know if I want to read it again.

 

This team-up between the new JLA and JSA series actually involves the Legion. There are 3 teams, for a total of... a lot of characters.
 
The plot is actually simple, this is a time travel story that has one important result and some other important subplots that will be explored in future stories.
 
Beyond this main story, there are many other character moments, especially different characters teaming up. I felt slightly confused as usual, but I still enjoyed this story.
 
This is a crossover alternating between two different titles, each with their own creative team. The difference in art style between Benes and Eaglesham is very noticeable, so at first whenever I switched to the other title it felt a little bit jarring. I enjoy both styles, but it just felt weird switching back and forth between them.
 
I liked the ending of the story, even though not everything was explained, or maybe I just didn't get everything I was supposed to. These two titles are definitely at the center of the DC universe, which is what they're supposed to be.
 

I read Kingdom Come when it was first published. I didn't remember much of the story by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, though I still love Ross's art, so when I read the Absolute edition I really enjoyed it.

Even though there are so many characters in this story, both newly created and older versions of existing ones, this story is really about the DC trinity: Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. The theme of this story takes precedence over everything else, and that is that of old vs new.

I really liked how the bleak future without Superman was presented. And then at the end of the first chapter Superman returns. That was a great moment. I like how the other characters evolved as well. Green Lantern and Flash being my favorites.

There is plenty of history that we are only hinted at, but it is clear that Superman gave up on humanity after Lois died and the public clearly indicated that they preferred the new method of the newer generation of heroes. I have a hard time believing that Superman would ever give up, but it didn't happen on panel, only in a short flashback so I think I can accept that.

The theme is so important that some of the expected action does not happen, for example when Magog just surrenders instead of fighting. Some other actions are not exactly explai ned fully, for example why didn't Batman help Superman at first? If he always intended to infiltrate Luthor's group, why not tell Superman about his plan? Batman refused to help Superman with the prison, but in the end he did go and help them. So I don't really understand why he just didn't trust Superman.

That conflict between Batman and Superman/Wonder Woman didn't feel reasonable to me. I also don't understand why they didn't even have one scene where Bruce acknowledges his son. If I hadn't read the notes at the end of the book I wouldn't even have known that. I can understand all the other characters are not addressed, there simply isn't enough space for them. But Batman's son?!

The ending was little bit disappointing to me, I am not sure exactly why. Maybe I was never a Captain Marvel fan, so I didn't care for his story. Also I didn't think the change of Superman's mind at the end felt natural at all. It just felt awkward for me.

The art is really what convinced me to buy the Absolute. It is just gorgeous. There is so much happening in each panel, even entire sub plots. Not to mention all the various homages. I am still amazed at how Alex Ross manages to make realistic people in tights look cool. That just blows my mind.

I am not totally sold on some parts of the story, but this is definitely a very good story with fantastic art. 

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale are famous for their work on Batman: Long Hallowing and Dark Victory. This Catwoman miniseries can be seen as a spin off of those two, with a lighter plot but still satisfying.

There is still a main mystery, and the tone of the story is very noir. Characters are introduced, but it is not clear whose side they are on.

We view the events from the point of view of Catwoman, in fact we can see her thoughts and how she reacts to the twists thrown at her.

This story takes place in Rome, which is both good and bad for me. Coming from Italy, I was happy to see this comic taking place in my country (not my city though). On the other hand the Italian dialogs are really bad. They were obviously obtained by using online translators, which don't translate the grammar, but only word by word.

Reading those dialogs really distracted and annoyed me, I don't understand why they couldn't call their italian publishers and help them with those simple translations. Of course it doesn't matter for the majority of people reading it, but it did for me.

The art is gorgeous as usual. I feel like Tim Sale decided to draw more pin-up full pages, which makes sense given the attractiveness of the main character.

The mystery was not mind blowing but it worked. I was satisfied by the conclusion, and I came with a fondness for Catwoman that I didn't have before. Recommended for anyone who doesn't speak Italian :)