DC Rebirth: Month One

As you're no doubt aware, DC's Rebirth initiative is currently well underway. Like apparently everyone else, I loved the DCU Rebirth special, and I've been sampling quite a few of the new series. And by "quite a few," I mean "all." I won't be doing full reviews for everything like I did with the New 52 relaunch, but I thought it would be fun to present an overview at the end of each month with a few thoughts about each issue. As always, discussion is welcome, whether here or via email or the social media of your choice. We'll be tackling them week by week, jotting down my thoughts after reading each week's issues. I want to preserve that sense of spontaneity, so you might find that these aren't quite as polished as my usual reviews. (Not that I ever obsess over that, given the casual tone I strive to maintain here, but you get what I'm saying.) So, let's be off!

June 1
Batman Rebirth: Incoming writer Tom King is handed the baton by outgoing writer Scott Snyder, while the incomparable Mikel Janin provides sumptuous visuals. While the story is rather choppy and uneven, it gives us Duke's formal induction as one of Batman's allies, along with a very interesting revamp of the Calendar Man. I enjoyed all the other Rebirth issues this week more, but this is still no slouch.

Green Arrow Rebirth: I must admit that I haven't read any of Benjamin Percy's run on the New 52 Green Arrow-- I read the Lemire/Sorrentino run, but was quickly driven away by the next couple of issues-- but I have heard some good things. I may need to track those down, if this is any indication. Percy and artist Otto Schmidt do a marvelous job of evoking the Ollie we know and love, even while reuniting him with Black Canary for the first time in far too long. This isn't just a nostalgia trip, either, as the conflict that is set up within these pages promises to be quite interesting. I've missed Green Arrow for most of the past decade-- the character's poor handling predates the New 52 by several years-- and it feels damn good to have him and Dinah back.

Green Lanterns Rebirth: Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz finally get the spotlight to themselves as they're partnered up to protect Earth. Incoming writer Sam Humphries, assisted by the sorely missed Geoff Johns, give us a nice solid issue that makes me hopeful that I'll once again have at least one Green Lantern series to look forward to again.

Superman Rebirth: Peter Tomasi & Patrick Gleason, partners on the beloved Batman and Robin, are going to do similarly great things for Superman, judging by this issue. One of the highlights is a recap of pre-New 52 Superman's epic battle with Doomsday, rendered by the always excellent Doug Mahnke. This is one of the issues that is most likely to be confusing for brand new readers, but the team does a good job of explaining what's happened without getting too bogged down in details.

June 8

Aquaman Rebirth: An excellent overview of who Aquaman is and his current status quo, this issue also clearly sets up the main conflict for future issues. Dan Abnett has been doing a great job on Aquaman these past few months, and that hasn't changed.

Action Comics #957: Dan Jurgens is riding high writing Superman once again, and he throws so much at us in this issue that it's tough to catch your breath! Luthor having the audacity to attempt to fill the deceased New 52 Superman's cape is completely in character, and given the last couple of years' developments, one can't help believing that he might actually be sincere. Zircher's art is quite nice, and the action flows well from panel to panel. This one is a winner.

The Flash: It was great to see the bombshell DCU Rebirth followed up on, of course, but it was just a damn solid comic all around. Definitely the best Flash comic I've read since before the New 52 began.

Wonder Woman Rebirth: A slower-paced, thoughtful issue that sets up what promises to be another epic Rucka run. Sharpe's art was gorgeous, and I liked how his art kicked in with the costume switch, symbolic of the transition from New 52 to Rebirth.

Detective Comics #934: I really enjoyed this issue. I'm all for a Bat family series, and Batwoman operating as Batman's partner is awesome. I've really missed Kate the last few years. When this series' premise was announced, it seemed very odd that Tim would be among the trainees, but this issue makes it clear that he is operating at Batman and Batwoman's lieutenant in helping to train Orphan, Spoiler, and Clayface. This is a great setup with so much potential!

June 15

Batman #1: A decent issue that is packed with action, but it's only a moderate improvement over the Batman Rebirth special. Finch's art is a little better than usual, but that's not really saying much. Of all the Rebirth issues thus far, this series remains the weakest. That said, I'm still enjoying it, and given Tom King's track record, I'm hopeful that it will improve. 

Green Arrow #1: Rock solid issue, picking up right where the Rebirth special left off. Percy has indicated that he's basically riffing on The Court of Owls for this story, and that becomes abundantly clear in this issue. It's also worth mentioning that the recent Black Canary series is referred to again. Many readers, myself included, would prefer that series to be swiftly forgotten, but it doesn't look like that's happening just yet. That's not a mark against this series, just something I felt was worth mentioning.

Green Lanterns #1: Pretty good issue, setting up some very interesting conflicts for the future. I've seen many readers express concern over Humphries as the writer, as he doesn't exactly have the best track record, but so far, so good. 

Superman #1: A good issue from one of my favorite creative teams, though it did seem to end far too quickly. Gleason is a criminally underrated artist, and his skill really shines in the body language he gives young Jonathan. His poses and movements look very authentic, and that's one of the toughest things for any artist to convey, particularly when it comes to children. Though it felt a bit short, this was an issue I really enjoyed, and I have high hopes for Superman with this team at the helm.

Titans Rebirth: Abnett did a very good job reviving the classic Teen Titans within the New 52 continuity with Titans Hunt, and that continues right here, as Wally returns and the team gradually regains their memories of him. As for the art, well... let's just say that I'm not a fan of Brett Booth, and leave it at that. That said, he did a great job with the design of Wally's new costume. It's also damn nice to see Dick back in his classic black and blue Nightwing costume. I actually liked the New 52 red and black version that got so much hate, but the blue just suits him better. Of all the Rebirth series, this might be the one that I'm most interested to see where it goes. 

June 22

Wonder Woman #1: I still can hardly believe Rucka is back! As writer of one of the two or three greatest Wonder woman runs I've read, I have high hopes for this series. Liam Sharpe's art is gorgeous. Not a whole lot actually happens in this issue, but it still comes off feeling momentous. I can only imagine how good it'll be once things really start rolling!

The Flash #1: Offers a pretty good overview of Barry's life and motivations for new readers, and sets up a damn good hook to hang the rest of this story arc on. The art has an appropriately kinetic quality to it that brings the story to life in just the right way. It's damn nice to have a good Flash comic to read again!

Detective Comics #935: Damn solid issue that ramps up the stakes a good bit, with some nice character development, to boot. Barrows is doing a great job with the art. This also has what is probably the best spin on the old "hi-tech training room" standby that I've seen. This is definitely the better of the two main Batman series right now.

Action Comics #958: Jurgens & Zircher deliver an all-out brawl between Superman and what appears to be the original Doomsday. The presence of post-Forever Evil heroic-ish Lex Luthor makes this much more than a standard rematch, though. This series is shaping up to be a lot of fun!

Aquaman #1: Abnett & Walker do a good job on this issue, advancing the Atlantean Embassy plot that's been running for the last few months, even as Black Manta strikes! Aside from the brief "DC You" period of this series' previous volume, Aquaman has been a very strong book for the past five years, and it seems that will continue to be the case with Abnett at the helm.

Since there are no Rebirth issues coming out today, that brings us up to date. So far, Rebirth has been an amazing success, in stark contrast to the New 52. That saw some great sales spikes for a few months, but amid all that, there were quite a few readers being alienated by the content and quality of the comics. Rebirth seems to be accomplishing its goal of luring all those people back, along with new readers, and its sales numbers are exceeding those of the New 52! Only time will tell if this success will continue in the months to come, but things look very promising. There is an overwhelmingly positive buzz around DC that I haven't experienced in quite a long time.

Comic Pick of the Week: Swamp Thing #36

Comic pick of the week is a weekly column in which I choose my favorite new comic of the week(imagine that!). I'll also name five other new releases I enjoyed. These are spoiler-free posts designed to make you wanna run out and buy some good comics, so read on with no worries of having the entire plot blown! 

Swamp Thing was one of the surprise hits of DC's relaunch in September 2011, guided by writer Scott Snyder for its first year and a half. Everyone was surprised when he announced he was leaving the book, and the surprise only grew when his replacement was named: Charles Soule. The collective reaction was "Who?" It's funny to recall that now, as Soule has become ubiquitous in the comic industry, writing enough comics on a monthly basis to carry the entire lineup of a small publisher. I've enjoyed pretty much everything he's worked on in that time, from the sci-fi series Letter 44, which far more of you need to be reading, to team books featuring a roster of characters I've never cared about such as Thunderbolts. In a strong body of work, Swamp Thing has remained the crown jewel. It honestly gets better every single month, and this issue is simply wonderful from cover to cover. Reeling from recent events, Swamp Thing has no time to catch his metaphorical breath as he is attacked by the newly-risen Metal, an equivalent kingdom to the Red and Green composed entirely of sentient machines. Swamp Thing pays a visit to someone we haven't seen in quite a while to warn them of the rise of the machines, and the Metal realizes it needs its own avatar, and that's where things get really interesting! Jesus Saiz is just killing it on art duties, as usual. This is about as perfect a creative team as you'll find on any series out there.

I also enjoyed: Amazing Spider-Man #9(Spider-Verse begins!), Green Lantern #36(Godhead continues!), Earth 2 #28(the origins of Darkseid's Furies!), Sensation Comics #13(the conclusion to a very nice Wonder Woman two-parter), and Grayson #5(espionage action!).

Rant Ramblings: Week of 5-24-13

Regular readers probably noticed there was no column last week; I was absorbed in the important work of watching cartoons, and it just plain slipped my mind. (I did warn that this column was "weekly-ish" at its inception, so no griping!) There'll be a couple of topics covered from last week to make up for it, so let's get rollin'!

DC's solicits for August revealed the latest round of cancellations, including such beloved series as Demon Knights, Dial H, Threshold, and Legion of Super-Heroes. DK is the one that really hurts, as it's been one my favorite books since DC's relaunch. It's a book that occupies a pretty unique niche, and it's a damn shame to see it go. Dial H, despite its critical acclaim, is a book that never really won me over. The only time it's been as good as it wants to be is the #0 issue, but I've stuck with it because I can feel how ambitious it is, and that still counts for something in my book. It never really "wows" me, but it's trying oh so hard. I'll be interested in checking out whatever China Melville does next. I've been enjoying Threshold, largely because it shines a spotlight onto a little-seen part of the DCU. I'm not surprised by its cancellation, as it is one of those  books I suspect was always intended to be an eight-issue series, just not announced as such to avoid the lower sales miniseries usually get. I've never been able to get interested in LOSH, so I won't miss it one bit. It's one of those series that DC seems hell-bent on publishing no matter what, so I'm sure it will return in some form before the year is over.
Of course, this opens up more slots for new series. With the all-but-confirmed Villains Month looming in September, we can surely look forward to seeing a few of these new series previewed in the specials focusing on whichever villains are specific to each book. Shazam/Black Adam is virtually a lock at this point, and I'd be surprised if we didn't get a Question series, since the other two members of the "Trinity of Sin" have their own series already. Beyond that, there are a ton of rumors, but nothing too substantial. Whatever happens, it's sure to be interesting.

The Xbox One was revealed Tuesday, and I was watching on Xbox Live. While I think Sony did a better job with their announcement event overall, the Xbox One is much more interesting to me than the PS4. I've never been too enamored of the Kinect, but the newest version of it looks simply amazing. I doubt I'll be able to afford to get the new Xbox when it's released, but hopefully I'll be able to snag one before it's been out too long. Microsoft would have to do something pretty stupid at this point to make me not want one(the rumored used game restriction might do it, but let's face it: all it is right now is a rumor).

An era ended when Green Lantern #20 was released Wednesday, capping off the epic nine-year run of Geoff Johns. I've been there from the beginning(and before, as I'd been buying the GL series for years prior to Rebirth), through all the ups and downs. The quality dipped a bit with the War of the Green Lanterns crossover, and the recent Rise of the Third Army and Wrath of the First Lantern were decidedly weak. For all of that, the entire run has been a hell of a thrill ride, and easily ranks among my all-time favorites. GL #20 is a fantastic sendoff. Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give Johns is that his GL run was so good that it took a series featuring a character I absolutely loathe-- Jordan-- and made it one of my favorite books each and every month. It's some damn fine work that can make you love a book that stars a character you hate. I'm looking forward to seeing where the new teams take the books, but they have a hell of an act to follow. (I'm also happy that the excellent Doug Mahnke is joining Johns on Justice League of America, but that's a little off-topic.)

Gillian Anderson did an AMA on Reddit, so go check that out.

In still more comics news, here's a fun interview with Masters of the Universe writer Keith Giffen about the upcoming Masters of the Universe vs. DC Universe series. A standout excerpt:
"I talked to [DC Comics co-publisher Dan] DiDio, he said, "I don't care if you cut off Wonder Woman's head. It's not in continuity." And I said, "Yes." Because I wanted to know how much I could push DC because I wanted to have this very specific scene. I wanted a scene with He-Man and Teela and while He-Man and Batman are talking, Teela is wandering around looking at the glass cases full of Robin suits and at one point she walks up to He-Man and says, "Yeah, we have to get out of here. I think he kills kids." [Laughs] And I was told: "Sure. Put it in."
This book is gonna be so awesome. Giffen's doing good work on the MOTU comics, and you should all give the current series a shot. It's not a big nostalgia wank.

The season finale of Arrow aired last week, and the season definitely ended on a high note. I was cautiously optimistic about this series when it debuted last fall, and it was just okay at first. Thankfully, it improved steadily, and I thoroughly enjoyed most of the season. I never liked Smallville, but this show is honestly better in every way. I'm not down with every creative decision that's been made in the show, but on the whole, it's a good series, and it ended its first season with one of its best episodes. I'm really looking forward to its return.

That'll do it for today; see you Wednesday for another Trash Rant!

Rant Ramblings: Week of 3-22-13

I'm still in the middle of packing up all my worldly possessions, so things are pretty hectic around here. This week's column is again a bit on the short side as a result.

To kick things off, here's the trailer for Saints Row 4, which was released last Friday(after I already had that week's post up). It looks appropriately insane. I friggin' love that you're the president of the US in this game! Hopefully we'll be able to bling the fuck out of our White House crib.

What the hell is going on at DC? Wednesday, we discovered that incoming Action Comics writer Andy Diggle has left the book, while Joshua Hale Fialkov has left the Green Lantern books he was slated to write. The first issues of their respective runs have yet to even ship. Yesterday, the rumor made the rounds that Fialkov's exit was due to his objections over an editorially-mandated edict to kill John Stewart.  Writers leaving books over creative differences is nothing new, but there has been an unusually high occurrence of such conflicts since the DC New 52 relaunch. Frankly, DC editorial seems to be a bit of a mess, and that's not good for the line. It results in some poorly-written books, and that screws the readers who spend good money on them. I still enjoy a good many DC books, but all too many have been negatively affected by such issues in the past couple of years. There is one editor in particular who is involved with several of the books that have had these issues; one wonders if he might be the problem. Whatever the case may be, I hope DC editorial can get its act together a little better.

Here is an awesome story about the 1400 pound block of cheese President Andrew Jackson received as a gift, and how he disposed of it. This is a must-read.

This dude has figured out a way to grow pears that are shaped like baby Buddhas. That just rocks on so many levels.

I leave you with this animated Calvin and Hobbes strip, made by animator Adam Brown. Brown wisely chose a strip that is silent, so you don't have to worry about being weirded out by suddenly hearing a voice for Calvin.

Rant Ramblings: Week of 2-15-13

Obviously, the big news this week is Sunday's tornado damage and the subsequent flooding. My girlfriend and I were at a restaurant Sunday afternoon when things began to get bad; we could see the sky to the west through the large windows, and it was literally black. Here's a photo she took on her phone.

The sky was much darker than it appears in the photo. Minutes later, we saw the tornado itself, and we headed into the kitchen. After a few minutes, it was clear the the tornado had gone in another direction, as it had been close enough that we would have known by that time if it had continued toward us. After things calmed down somewhat, we managed to find a path back home that wasn't blocked by fallen trees. Even thought the tornado had veered off in another direction, trees and debris from buildings were everywhere. After a few hours without electricity, the power returned; it went out for a while a few more times, but things were basically back to normal for us after that.
Not everyone in the area was so lucky. Last I saw, the official tally for Petal and Hattiesburg stands at 1439 homes damaged, and 298 of those were completely destroyed. More than 200 people lost their homes, though fortunately, no one was killed. There is much to do in the area in the aftermath; thankfully, the community has pulled together nicely to help those who were affected, and to rebuild.

Moving from that somber news to frivolous matters, DC Comics revealed that Geoff Johns is leaving Green Lantern. Johns took over the series in 2004 with Green Lantern: Rebirth, which restored dead boring douchebag Hal Jordan as the "main" GL and restored the Green Lantern Corps. The GL line quickly expanded into a franchise, supporting several series as the scope of the books broadened with the introduction of hundreds of new characters and the aggressive fleshing out of the mythos. I feel that Johns's GL lost much of its momentum and quality after Blackest Night, but it's still been a remarkably consistent and solid series over the course of the past decade. The rest of the creative teams on the GL books are leaving as well, though it remains to be seen if all-new teams are taking over the books, or if there will just be some shuffling around. Personally, I'll be surprised if Peter Tomasi doesn't take over the main GL book, but we'll have to wait and see. Whoever takes control of the franchise's steering wheel has some big shoes to fill.

DC's May solicits reveal the collections of the controversial Before Watchmen comics, which are due out in June and July. There has been much speculation about exactly how DC would go about collecting the various series, and they have settled on grouping series together (mostly) by writer. For my part, the only ones I plan to get are the Minutemen/Silk Spectre and Rorschach/Comedian collections. The other series were mostly just decent, and the Straczynski collection should be avoided at all costs, despite the excellent art.

The Death of the Family storyline concluded in Batman #17 this week, and Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo absolutely killed on this issue. Their run just keeps getting better and better, and I can definitely see it  becoming one of those legendary runs that will be remembered fondly and highly recommended to new readers in years and decades to come.

Here's a photo album of a border collie who likes to balance various objects on her head.

I was able to get Halo 4 last week, thanks to a timely sale. I haven't quite finished the campaign, as I am about halfway through the final level and it's demolishing my ass, but I'm enjoying the game quite a bit so far. The campaign has been excellent overall, and even with a few irritations in the level design here and there, I don't hesitate to say it's the best campaign of any Halo game to date. (The main Halo games anyway; I have yet to play Reach.) I've seen some griping about the game not giving you enough information on the antagonist or certain events that occur, but honestly, if you find all the terminals and simply pay attention to the in-game dialogue and cutscenes, I don't see how you could be confused. I can understand some people being unhappy that you have to find the terminals and watch those videos to get the antagonist's background, but it's still part of the game, so it's not as if you're forced to go elsewhere for the information.
On every technical level, the game is absolutely superb. The graphics are probably the best of any game released to date for any game console; I really can't believe 343i managed to get a game on the Xbox 360's 7+ year-old hardware to look so damn great. Aside from the campaign, I've dabbled with the multiplayer, but haven't managed to stop playing Flood mode yet. It's loads of fun.

Reddit threads of note: Dave Grohl did an AMA, as did Bill Gates. Yes, that Bill Gates. Some pretty interesting reading in there.

Here is a gif of a cat born without the use of her hind legs. She gets by just fine.

Today is Valentine's Day, so be sure to have fun with your significant other, if applicable. (If not, be sure to get yourself some candy or something.) Here's the card my lady got today:

Jonah Hex'll give ya the screamin' thigh sweats.

I can think of no better way to wrap things up than with this gif of President Obama's exploding fist bump with Senator Mark Kirk at the State of the Union address on Tuesday night.