1st issue Challenge

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:23 pm

My favorite books of the week were Animal Man & Swamp Thing. These earn a slot on my "pull list".

The other books I really enjoyed were Batgirl & Detective Comics. These also make it onto my pull list.

The I had a group of comics that I liked a bit, but had some shortcoming to them that prevents me from adding them to my pull list right away (I'll discuss these shortcomings when we do the review episode). These have another couple issue to try to win me over. Those books were Action Comics, Batwing, Green Arrow, Justice League International, Static Shock.

Then there was a group that really did nothing for me. Nothing particularly wrong with them, they just didn't excite me and are on thin ice. If I had to decide right now, I'd drop all of these, but I'm going to give them 3 issues, maybe some will work their way off this list: Hawk & Dove, Men of War, OMAC, Stormwatch.

Hawk & Dove - I felt the art was OK, but the story didn't grab me at all.
Men of War #1 - I really wanted a straight war story, not war with super-heroes flying around. Plus, the backup (at least) should have been self contained done-in-one.
OMAC #1 - I was not a fan of the "out there" Kirby-esque story or the kirby-esque art. Jack Kirby can get away with this for me, and not imitators.
Stormwatch #1 - A pale imitation of the Wildstorm Stormwatch that evolved into The Authority. I really don't see how you can justify this team existing in the same world as the "regular" DC heroes. And a giant hand coming out of the moon? really?

J. Farrell · Post by **J. Farrell** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 12:20 am

Elric: The Balance Lost #1: I've liked Moorcock's settings and characters for years, although I've never read any of his novels. My familiarity with Elric, Corum and the rest has come from comics and role playing games. He created a fascinating mythology that feels completely different from, say, Tolkein's worlds.

This issue was really perfectly competent. Roberson writes arch-fantasy dialogue well and the art, although not appealing to me at first, does an especially good job of portraying the more fantastic aspects of the story, like the various chaos creatures with their extra limbs and mouths where mouths just...shouldn't be.

The problems are two-fold for me. One, it tries to do too much, too fast. I know readers sometimes seem to want everything explained to them in the first 20 pages but I'm not one of those readers. In this whirlwind tour of the Eternal Champion cycle we meet Elric, learn how Stormbringer works, meet Corum, meet Hawkmoon, learn about the balance, etc. There's barely time to breathe or to establish real dramatic weight for any of it.

The bigger problem, and the reason I put it down knowing I would not continue with issue #2 is the main conceit of this series: it takes place on our Earth, with an ordinary dude and his twin, and it's implied that he's the real Earth version of the Eternal Champion. Worse, he's playing a game, probably a WOW type game, that reflects the Chaos vs. Law conflict that's at the center of Moorcock's worlds. I see this all the time now, this desire to take old ideas that were always played straight and recast them as imaginary worlds in the minds of modern day characters. HUGE turn off for me. I want to read about Elric, not Bob the game designer, or whatever the heck his name was.

Paul Nolan · Post by **Paul Nolan** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:28 am

PIGS #1 - before reading this book, something niggling in the back of my head this was going to be the next Walking Dead / Chew style pick up readers each issue type book. After reading issue #1 I still absolutely believe that. It was well crafted with intelligent references to the russians in cuba, and had possibly the best final page this year.

This emphatically goes onto my pull list.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:47 am

Paul Nolan wrote:PIGS #1 - before reading this book, something niggling in the back of my head this was going to be the next Walking Dead / Chew style pick up readers each issue type book. After reading issue #1 I still absolutely believe that. It was well crafted with intelligent references to the russians in cuba, and had possibly the best final page this year.

This emphatically goes onto my pull list.

[WebWiz20] I agree. Great read, and now it's just a matter of waiting for it to build some buzz as more people realize that it's very cool.....

GABE! · Post by **GABE!** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:25 pm

Red Lanterns

I felt like I was dropped off in the middle of a long running story. There wasn't enough character back ground or story development to keep my interests. Most of this issue was Atrocitus moaning about pain and suffering which dragged on and on taking up valuable story telling pages. Also, this book had the weakest cliff hanger last page.

Suicide Squad
Another book which they didn't explain who the characters where or what the main focus of the book will be. Nothing of substance happens.....until the cliff hanger last page. I will not add this to my list, but I will pick up the second issue off the stands, but if I do forget to grab issue #2 and miss out on the issue i will not be hurt.

Resurrection Man
I've haven't had any prior knowledge with this character so I really went in blind. I was pretty much sucked in and hook with curiosity. I like the way he is given different powers and ends up in crazy situations.

Green Lantern
I liked this book more than I thought I would. I didn't even buy it until after I read it first. I dropped all the GL titles during Brightest Day so I was unaware of what was going on with the series pre-52 relaunch, other than Sinsetro is now a Green Lantern. Johns was really able to catch me up with the current situations going on with the GLC and set the story around Hal Jordan. My only gripe with this story along with the rest of the DCnU is when does this story take place in relation to the JLA #1?

Batman and Robin
I was getting all the Batman titles pre-52 relaunch so I'm going to get all the new Batman books, but I will not continue with this title though. Not only was this a bad #1 issue that didn't set up anything surrounding who Damian was and how Batman now has a 10 year old son, which to brand new readers must be very confusing, but Batman/Bruce has been come a whinny child about the death of his parents. This title did answer questions about if the previous Batman and Robin title still "mattered"

GABE! · Post by **GABE!** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:39 pm

Frankenstein

Fun story. Monsters fighting monsters. You really can't go wrong with this book. It also has Ray Palmer in it. The art though, was very rough.

Pigs #1

I agree with everyone else, great book.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:44 pm

I picked up duplicates on 5 books at the LCS this week because I didn't want to wait a week for the DCBS box (well, I got the variant cover of Green Lantern, so only 4 duplicates).......

I did really good on these, 4 of the 5 have earned slots on my "pull list": Batwoman, Demon Knights, Green Lantern, & Resurrection Man. So, I've already equaled the # of books from the week of 9/7 that made it onto my pull list.

Then there was Suicide Squad which was OK, but not good enough to earn an automatic slot on my pull. I'll give it another couple of issues & see where we get to.

I'll get/read the other 7 next Tuesday.......

Frank Castle · Post by **Frank Castle** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 10:25 am

so I can't comment on GL and Red Lantern as I don't read those. But I did like the big red cat double splash page.

Superboy - Not a SB fan but I found the issue interesting. I cuold see this being a fun little book.

Legion Lost - nope, not good!

Demon Knight - Good book here, I liked the setting and the art! The cover was pretty slick too!

Resurrection Man - Another nope. I had no clue what was going on or who anyone was.

Suicide Squad - I didn't enjoy this but then I never read the last book which I heard was quite good. Maybe I should it a try first.

Grifter - Average book, nothing amazing but I intrigued to see what happens next.

Mr Terriffic - See Grifter.

Frankenstein - Really dug this one. The art wasn't my favorite but it fit the book. Lemire is turing in to quite the storyteller (not that he wasn't already). Now I've only read a little Hellboy but did anyone else get a Hellboy/BPRD feel to it?

Deathstroke - I was back and forth on this book on whether it was grn or orange! Parts seemed average but overall I liked it. I could see getting into this book more!!

Bats and Robin - Nothing amazing about this. And compared to Grant's Bat/Rob book, it wasn't that good.

Batwoman - Long awaited and worth the wait. Loved the art and the story was really good. Excited to see what Williams does next.

Frank Castle · Post by **Frank Castle** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 12:01 pm

Ult Spider-Man vol 2 - I liked it, fun little book. I think it will be fun to read a spider-man book that isn't Peter Parker. And Bendis does quite well in the Ult universe so I'm in!!

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:17 pm

Frank Castle wrote:Ult Spider-Man vol 2 - I liked it, fun little book. I think it will be fun to read a spider-man book that isn't Peter Parker. And Bendis does quite well in the Ult universe so I'm in!!

I picked one up @ the LCS to see what all the fuzz was about. Typical Bendis....VEEEERY decompressed story-telling. Good for what it is, but I'm getting weary of Bendis' pace of storytelling.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:20 pm

Frank Castle wrote: Resurrection Man - Another nope. I had no clue what was going on or who anyone was.

Probably not your cup of tea, but I thought they did a pretty decent job of introducing the main character & his powers. What's going on is a bit more mysterious, but that's part of the fun of this particular title. There's a mystery going on, they set it up fair enough, I thought.

HassanT · Post by **HassanT** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:29 pm

BobBretall wrote:
Frank Castle wrote:Ult Spider-Man vol 2 - I liked it, fun little book. I think it will be fun to read a spider-man book that isn't Peter Parker. And Bendis does quite well in the Ult universe so I'm in!!
I picked one up @ the LCS to see what all the fuzz was about. Typical Bendis....VEEEERY decompressed story-telling. Good for what it is, but I'm getting weary of Bendis' pace of storytelling.

I like Bendis writing, but I understand your criticism. I wonder how many blog posts and articles that will discuss the decompressed story-telling within Ultimate Spider-Man? Do you think it will be as many that dissect the first issue of Justice League

HassanT · Post by **HassanT** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:34 pm

Green Lantern and Batman and Robin, both strong books prior to the relaunch and continue to be so with the relaunch. I am not sure the complaints about it not being completely new. I thought they effectively explain who the characters without getting into too much detail. Batman has a son? Does it matter how it happened to the story? Not really. Hal Jordan isn't a Green Lantern but Sinestro is? It is there in the story. Obviously the backstory is more detail but not necessary to understand the characters and situation.

GABE! · Post by **GABE!** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 9:15 pm

HassanT wrote: Batman has a son? Does it matter how it happened to the story?

For new readers? Yes. Most people who are not regular comic book readers but are Batman fans would wonder what's up with Bruce having a kid. I don't remember, but I don't think they mentioned his mother being talia al ghul or even mentioned the League of Assassins

Danscomics · Post by **Danscomics** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:01 am

GABE! wrote:
HassanT wrote: Batman has a son? Does it matter how it happened to the story?
For new readers? Yes. Most people who are not regular comic book readers but are Batman fans would wonder what's up with Bruce having a kid. I don't remember, but I don't think they mentioned his mother being talia al ghul or even mentioned the League of Assassins

Yeah, they really probably should have found a way to recap that for new readers. Everything I know about Damian comes from having read the first trade of the previous Batman and Robin series.