Quarter Bin 75 "Some old, some new"

This is a back issue feature.  The title is not always literal.

Recently I dipped back into the same comics pack source I hit a few weeks back, and came up with some stuff I'd already read, and some new stuff, too (hence, the title).  But let's just dive in, shall we?

Detective Comics #1 (DC)
From 2011.
These packs featured some reprints geared toward the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  You can tell, because the reprints have ads for the movie littered throughout them.  I'm glad this was one of the reprints, because it's a reminder that Tony Daniel was still writing Batman at the start of the New 52.  He's one of the many artists DC has helped transition into writing.  He was Grant Morrison's artist from "Batman, R.I.P.," which led to him writing Batman before the New 52 relaunch.  He brought the same stuff to Detective Comics, including the character responsible for the Joker's grizzly new look ("look ma! no skin on my face!").  But fans by that point hopped on the Scott Snyder bandwagon (Snyder had been writing Detective Comics, so it was a flip flop that worked extremely well for one of them).  Daniel's work on Batman is by no means lousy.  But I guess it couldn't compete with Snyder's.  Like Snyder, he was keenly interested in creating new villains.  But again, I guess Snyder just did it better.

Batman Eternal #2 (DC)
From June 2014.
The weekly series Snyder and sidekick James Tynion IV launched featured some good storytelling, although perhaps it failed to be considered as iconic because its storytelling was less precise (I mean, like Geoff Johns on Green Lantern before him, Snyder managed to make a crossover arc of every story).  This second issue features Jim Gordon in trouble with the law.  The oddest thing is that Eternal really had nothing to do with Snyder's work in Batman itself.  They existed as two separate entities, and weaved visions that really had nothing to do with each other.  Eternal was a gimme to the fans, and Batman was busy making new ones.  I guess it makes sense...

Batman #41 (DC)
From August 2015.
Featuring the debut of Commissioner Batman, this was among the most recent issues included in the packs.  It still strikes me that Snyder basically parodied the whole "Knight Quest"/"Reign of the Supermen"/Doctor Spider-Man concept.  He knew from the start that fans wouldn't really buy Gordon as Batman, and yet went with it anyway.  Took real guts.  But by this point, he literally could get away with anything, and he knew it.

Batman: Arkham Knight #1 (DC)
From 2015.
Based on the series of video games, this is part of a series of mini-series that weave a story around them (like the following title).  Peter J. Tomasi, at his best, is among the best.  But he's not always at his best.  Sometimes, he's merely functional.  That's what he is in this.

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Year Two Annual #1 (DC)
From December 2014.

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Year Three #1 (DC)
From December 2014.
These are based on a fighting game, but the reality they pose might as well come from Batman's fever dream in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  They posit a Superman gone wildly out of control, attempting to bring order to Earth as a despot.  The best story in these issues features Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Sinestro, in a dynamic that's reminiscent of how Geoff Johns depicted them.  Also featured: Detective Chimp.  But not nearly enough of him!

Justice League #1 (DC)
From 2011.
This reprint features the beginning of Geoff Johns' seminal introduction of the team at the start of the New 52 era.  I've been an eager champion of this from the beginning, but it was fun to read it again (and incidentally, this is the fourth time I've purchased this story; one time was in the collection).  After rereading Frank Miller and Jim Lee's All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder recently, it was fun to see how Johns and Lee did a variation on the Batman/Green Lantern confrontation, and how it, and its relation to Miller and Lee's work, helped set the tone of the series.  Some really great stuff.

Justice League of America #1 (DC)
From August 2015.
I read this issue when it was originally released.  Reading it again was to find it better than I remembered.  I mean, I liked it then, too, but to read it from a time when I know Bryan Hitch will be handling the DC Rebirth Justice League is to know the title will be in good hands.  So that was good to find out.

Superman #32 (DC)
From 2014.
The start of the Johns/Romita era is an exceptional as I remember it.  Johns was truly at the top of his Superman game in this run, and he was no slouch the last time.  The Ulysses character apparently plays a role in Tomasi's "Super League" arc that's helping to round out the New 52 era.  He's basically Johns' new Superboy Prime.  That's good, too.

Action Comics #36 (DC)
From January 2015.
Greg Pak's Superman just doesn't do it for me.  Although I love Superman sporting a beard. 

Superman/Wonder Woman #1 (DC)
From December 2013.
I became such a fanboy of Charles Soule's at that time, it's fun revisiting some of that time.  I thought the concept of this relationship was one of the genius moves of the New 52, but I guess it was something DC was just as quick to shut down, because the "Truth" arc wasn't especially kind to it.  Doomsday was a busy monster at that time, too.  Since I didn't read further issues of this story, or the complete "Doomed," I only know so much of what the monster was up to.  I don't even know if the arcs were related!  Oh well...Oh further note is the course of journeyman artist...Tony Daniel!  He ended up bouncing from project to project.  But at least DC kept finding work for him!

Superman Unchained #1 (DC)
From August 2013.
It's funny, because ads for Man of Steel can be found in this issue, and so I guess everything comes full circle.  Snyder and Lee, reporting for duty.  But I'm not sure what either accomplished with this project.  Certainly there's evidence of more important work elsewhere in this edition of Quarter Bin...