Darkseid Arrives. Logan's a Decent Teacher. Starfire is now Human?

Justice League #4: Written by Geoff Johns, Art by Jim Lee

This issue was the best one yet. The story is moving along and the dialogue is fantastic. The scene where the team is debating on who should lead them was classic. Johns' writes each character perfectly and its fun watching Hal be the "class clown". The back and forth banter between Batman, Green Lantern and Aquaman was quite enjoyable. Watching these characters quarrel, reminds me how much I missed these characters in JLA pre52. I have one problem with the issue, the art seemed sloppy. Did anyone else notice that?  Did you notice page eight? Wonder Woman and Aquaman both looked odd. However, I do applaud Lee, when he has the sharks jump out of the ocean to eat the Parademons. That was a cool scene. By the way, the introduction of Darkseid sent chills down my spine. I love the new costume design. In the final scene, he raises his hands, the ground shakes and all the heroes fell to their knees.  That was a lot of fun to read.

Rate 8/10

Wolverine and the X-Men #3: Written by Jason Aaron and Art by Chris Bachalo

After reading this issue, I have decided that I am Team Wolverine. I'll say it now, I am not a fan of the art but I think it fits this story arc. Jason Aaron's first arc is a lot of fun. I'm still not happy with the New Hellfire Club. Jason Aaron hasn't done enough to convince the reader why they exist.  I LOVE Quentin Quire. He's this annoying punk who is trying too hard to be "cool".  I'm really excited to watch him become an omega level character. My favorite part of the comic is the supporting cast. The Brod Kid, Idie and Kid Gladiator are so much fun to read. The best scene was the back and forth banter between those three and Quire. Quire was devastated that none of these new students knew about his juvenile record when he attended Xavier’s school. The focus on the characters is something missing in Uncanny X-men and in this series, it helps the story grow.

Rate 8.5/10

Red Hood and the Outlaws #4: Written by Scott Lodbell and Kenneth Rocafort.

I'm going to be honest with you, I wasn't a fan of the art at first but it's really grown on me. First, Rocafort does a tremendous with the face expressions. Take a glance at the bar scene, everyone has a different expression. You know what that means? The artist isn't lazy and works hard to give each character a personality. The first Starfire seen was artistically beautiful. Last issue ended with an emotional bang and this issue started slow but it improved along the way. In the first three issues, Lodbell slowly introduces the mindset of each character. In this issue, he gave us a lot. For example, Starfire and Roy explain why they are teaming up with the Red Hood in the first place. It’s fun to watch these characters become actual good friends. Finally, we get the first appearance of the villain. Oh but wait....the villain isn’t the villain. It seems as if Red Hood's detective skills failed and he's been tricked. By the way, I think Starfire lost her powers and is now human...maybe???

Rate 7/10

The Year-end Review of the New 52.

In 2011, the biggest thing to hit the comic book world was the New 52. The announcement of 52 new titles from DC (some of them reboots of age old series, some being new origins, some new series altogether) was unquestionably awesome. Some big things happened in the new 52: Barbara Gordon is out of her wheel chair, Superman’s red undies are now presumably beneath the tights, Sinestro is fighting against his own Corps, Barry Allen is no longer married to Iris (oh, and Where’s Wally?), Cyborg has finally made it into the Justice League, Superboy got a new origin, and somehow Geoff Johns made Aquaman cool again. But, as expected, the New 52 has been met with mixed reviews. When you publish that many new titles, you’re bound to have some hits and some misses. Most critics agree that Animal-Man, Action Comics, O.M.A.C, Swamp Thing and Aquaman got the job done. However, a lot of the new releases haven’t been quite as well received. Hawk and Dove, DC Universe Presents: Deadman, Red Hood and the Outlaws (wired.com) and The Fury of Firestorm (MTV Geek) all got sub-par ratings from critics.

The New 52 was undoubtedly a truly inspired marketing move. Whether you hated the idea or loved it, you bought some of these comics, just so that you could voice your opinion on how they did with their reboot. Starting fresh is always an appealing move. It makes die-hard fans buy the comics so they can say how they feel about it and it also lures in new fans because it makes the titles approachable and easy to start with.

Just as the critic’s opinions vary about how well DC did on their reboot so do we here at The Illumi-Nerdi:

Snapper Carr:  First of all, thank you 52. Since 1993, I have been a fan of comic books. I felt alone in loving comics. But after the new 52 came out, I was no longer alone. Now, two of my friends are huge fans of comic books just because of DC’s reboot. Out of all the new 52, I read 33. I love some of the titles and others bore me. My favorite comic so far is Action Comics. Superman is young and an amateur. He is not that powerful and his marriage to Lois has been made void. The most underrated comic book of the new 52 is Red Hood and the Outlaws. Yes, Starfire isn’t the one from the Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans but she is much of a badass as her counterparts.  When Connor Kent died I was sad and when he returned I was so excited for comic books again. After reading the first issue, I can’t wait to see the development of an emotionless new Superboy. I was soooo excited for Grifter but by the end I found his origin to be mundane. It simply lacked excitement. For the last 30 years, there have been so many Supergirls. Some origins have been interesting, others have sucked. The new 52 Supergirl is boring and lame. The first two issues were an entire fight scene. I expected a fresh origin story but what I got just made me fall asleep. My least favorite comic was Stormwatch. I felt so thrown into a conflict that I was unfamiliar with. Also, I was disappointed with Martin Manhunter being on the team. He is the soul of the Justice League and he is on a team with known murderers. What a bummer…

 

Gabriel Partridge: My favorite new title is All-Star Western. I got this on a whim at the last minute when it came out and was instantly, pleasantly surprised. I didn’t expect all of the awesome references to Gotham. Seeing Arkham, hearing about the Waynes and Mayor Cobblepot, were pretty cool little references. Plus, it has been a pretty damn cool murder mystery with Jonah Hex, a pretty underrated character. I also loved Detective Comics. It hasn’t quite been universally well received but I think it’s fantastic. The Dollmaker is a freaking awesome original villain. He has the chaos of the Joker but the brilliant planning of Lex Luthor. Tony Daniel weaves a genuinely well done mystery yarn with the world’s greatest detective. I thought Deadman was also underappreciated. First of all, it’s a pretty cool concept, but that’s nothing new. Second of all, I really like what they’re doing with him. Boston Brand going against the god, Rama and trying to take a little more control of his own destiny is pretty damn cool. In keeping with the Justice League Dark theme, Hellblazer seemed to be an influence here, and that’s a pretty damn good lead to follow. 

So far, I’ve really liked Justice League also. It’s a completely new origin story, with genuinely likable characters. I’ve never been the biggest Green Lantern fan but Hal was pretty funny in the first few issues. I also love that Cyborg has finally been included in JLA. I like the hint at the metamorphosis of Victor Stone into Cyborg in the most recent issue. That being said, I’ve been pretty disappointed in most of the Superman titles. Action Comics has been a complete let down to me. I guess I just found the story really uninteresting and unexciting. It really didn’t do it for me. Superboy was also a really boring story. Half of issue one, Superboy was in a tank, the other half didn’t even actually happen.

            In keeping with the “52” theme, our combined score of the reboot is a 37 out of a possible 52. Even though we at The Illumi-Nerdi disagree on many of the titles, we’re definitely happy the New 52 happened. It has revitalized comics in a way that we can only hope Marvel can follow in 2012. Check out our post next week when we argue the validity and need for Marvel to reestablish itself in 2012. 

When the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world!

Q: How do you describe a superhero?

A: Someone with an ability who uses it, but not for personal gain. Instead, he or she uses it to make a difference in the world.

That certainly might not be the case for one of my favorite superheroes, The Red Hood (Jason Todd). I see him as a realistic hero because he is very far from perfect.  Scott Lobdell writes Todd’s characterization perfectly. He
writes Todd as a smartass, a troublemaker and a punk. Yes, he is the Shawn Hunter of DC Comics.

In 1988, DC Comics realized that Todd was very unpopular among their fans and they decided to kill him. The fans were given the opportunity to vote whether or not to kill him. The final verdict: 5,343 votes put Jason Todd in a casket. But thanks to Lobdell, the fans of the “New 52” are embracing Jason Todd and all the baggage that comes with him.

 

 Let’s discuss issue three of the series. It might be my favorite so far. We have character development, interesting art and tease of their past. The bulk of this issue is Jason, Roy and Starfire looking for the main villain of the story arc (Btw, the reader really has no idea who the villain is. We only know its name). To get closer to finding the main baddie, the trio enters “The Chamber of All”. But that comes with some consequences. They must give up their most cherished memory. The scenes in which we get to examine their most cherished memories are a lot fun. Let’s start with Starfire.  There is this tremendous scene in which Starfire as a young child blows up her prison guard. Starfire is a badass and I can’t wait to see what happens next with her. If some readers are still upset with Lobdell’s characterization of Starfire, it's time to get over it! Sorry! In the Roy memory scene, we get an opportunity to watch Killer Croc beat the hell out of Roy.

Lobdell not only makes Roy pathetic, but the reader actually feels bad for him. Roy has nothing to live for and since he didn’t have the balls to kill himself, he attempted to die in battle. By the end of the issue, the gang of three does not find their villain, which was kind of lame. Even though I was disappointed in that, the last scene does a great job capturing the human side of Jason Todd. After the last scene, I think every reader will finally understand why Jason Todd hates Bruce Wayne. If your father let your murderer get away, you would feel betrayed too.  His most cherished memory was staying home sick from patrol. Bruce surprisingly decided not to go on patrol and watch TV with the young Jason Todd. This was a rare moment in Bruce and Jason’s relationship. At the end of the issue, Todd didn’t ask for his memory back. This issue was a gem.

I only have two problems with this issue; the art and the villain. Who the hell is the villain or villains? We know they are called “The Untitled” but it’s simply not enough. I would have enjoyed a nice teaser of the villain. For example, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee teased us with a side and back portrait of Darkseid in this week’s Justice League. Even though I do enjoy the art, it seemed a little sloppy when certain scenes were placed in the background of the panel.

I give Red Hood and the Outlaws #3, 8.5 out of 10.