Reading Comics 216 "Kings Cross"

I'm about to relocate again.  Don't know what kind of impact this will have on my admittedly at present sporadic comics reading, but it's certainly worth noting.  This batch of comics represents what could be my last trip to Zimmies in Lewiston, Maine, which is a shop I've been visiting in its several incarnations since I bought my first comics nearly a quarter century ago. 

Batman Annual #4 (DC)
This one's from 2015 and is set during Snyder's Commissioner Batman era, when Bruce Wayne has amnesia.  It's James Tynion writing Bruce as he returns to Wayne Manor, which at the time had just finished being used as the new Arkham Asylum.  It's interesting, story-wise insofar as it posits Bruce Wayne as a target for Batman's enemies, who may have mistaken him as the Dark Knight's financier.  But it's the cover and the art that really interests me.  The cover is from Sean Murphy.

Murphy has been a favorite since he collaborated with Grant Morrison on Joe the Barbarian, and I've tried to keep track of his work ever since, whether Punk Rock Jesus or the Detective Comics #27 (New 52 era) story he did with Snyder that rumor has it they'll be returning to soon.  Murphy also has Batman: White Knight coming up, and that sounds fascinating.

The interior is from Roge Antonio, whose work looks like Snyder's American Vampire collaborator Raphael Albuquerque.  Have a look at it yourself:

Apparently he's been on the Rebirth series Batgirl and the Birds of Prey these days.  A career well worth tracking, too, I think.

Batman #30-31 (DC)
The first is "The Ballad of Kite Man Part 2," which is apparently hugely controversial, both parts, as it seems way too heavy for some readers.  I just don't get that.  This is literally the most relevant Kite Man has ever been.  I don't expect Tom King is done with the guy just yet, sort of like Gotham Girl.  The second is the penultimate chapter in "The War of Jokes and Riddles" itself, which promises an explosive ending (and apparently whether or not Catwoman accepts the proposal).  I think the arc's been brilliant.  This is a Joker who has been every bit the savage beast he's sometimes been depicted to be (The Killing Joke) but in a context where he's "lost his smile" (quotations thanks to Shawn Michaels).  This is a Batman who has apparently been forced to ally himself with the Riddler.  This is a story that once again feels, if Batman were every to be taken seriously, and his whole world around him, like this is what would actually happen.  Too often these characters only exist one story at a time, or locked up in Arkham.  What if Batman's foes were forced to take sides?  What if Batman himself was forced to take sides? 

Birthright #19 (Image)
This is from 2016, and is Josh Williamson's main interest outside of DC and The Flash, and I figured I'd finally have a look.  Naturally it's a little difficult to know exactly what's going on, but it seems pretty fascinating.

Black Hammer #2, 13 (Dark Horse)
A kind of alternate DC from Jeff Lemire, in which the aftermath of a crisis left the heroes trapped in a kind of pocket dimension (wonder if Infinite Crisis will be reflected).  These particular issues feature a kind of Shazam in a kind of I Hate Fairyland situation, the Skottie Young series where a young girl has been a young girl for far too long in a scenario she is well and truly over.  I've been hearing that this is Lemire's best work.  I'm a huge Lemire admirer, whether his recent Moon Knight or Descender, which I wish I were reading regularly.  I'm not ready to declare Black Hammer in that league, but I suppose for fans wanting him to reflect superhero comics, in a way that makes sense to them, this is a good option.

Mister Miracle #2 (DC)
Like his Batman, King is finding readers who don't understand what he's doing in Mister Miracle.  But I'm loving it.  He is absolutely one of my all-time favorite comic book writers at this point, and I look forward to having this whole thing to relish.

Nightwing: The New Order #1 (DC)
I was quite happy when I heard this one announced.  It's a Nightwing mini-series, the kind usually only Batman and Superman, and once in a while Wonder Woman, get.  It's also Kyle Higgens returning to the character.  He was the writer who launched the New 52 series and was at one time Snyder's running mate, the role Tynion later assumed.  So I'm glad to see that The New Order was worth the interest.  This first issue isn't really going to be able to explain how Dick Grayson ended up deciding superpowers are a bad thing.  What it does instead is bring the focus to Dick's relationship with his son.  This is a scenario previously featured in the Earth 2 comics, and an interesting continuing consideration for Nightwing's further legacy.  We find out at the end of the issue that the mother is Starfire, which begs the question...is Dick's position based on heartbreak?  Either way, I'll definitely want to read more of this.

Rise of the Black Flame #2 (Dark Horse)
This is another comic from 2016, part of the Hellboy universe.  I bought it mainly for the Christopher Mitten (Wasteland) art.  Always glad to see more!

Reading Comics #130 "Bull Moose Grab Bag IV"

Local physical-things shop Bull Moose has recently changed the way it sells comics.  It remains to be seen whether it will be selling comics much longer.  But until recently it sold new comics and then slightly-less-new comics in grab bag form.  I like grab bags, and on the whole I liked what I got in these Bull Moose grab bags.  This is the last official Bull Moose grab bag, though I get to continue this sub-feature in future editions of this column as Bull Moose Bargains.  More on that when it happens!  Until then, the contents of the last grab bag.

Batman '66 #12 (DC)
The comic based on the '60s TV series that has swung back around to being culturally tolerated remains amusing for what it is.

Bravest Warriors #21 (KaBOOM!)
One of those cartoons clearly inspired by the success of Adventure Time.  Bull Moose Grab Bag did me wrong in giving me two copies, thanks to there being two different covers for some reason.

Chew #42 (Image)
I read some of the earliest issues of Chew, liked them well enough, but it was also fairly easy to...not read Chew anymore.  When John Layman wrote Detective Comics I was actually more impressed with him.  In his own sandbox, Layman is free to do what he wants...and I don't know, I guess he just wants to screw around.  These days I compare this kind of comic to Atomic Robo, and bottom line is, Chew doesn't seem as inspired.  Weirdo concept though it sports and the ability to exploit said weirdo concept, Chew is ultimately fairly throwaway.  Hey Layman, feel free to jump back into the mainstream.  Or find something more interesting to do with Chew.  Apparently he's one of the Batman Eternal writers, but does that really count?  I guess I'll keep myself posted...

C.O.W.L. #2 (Image)
A few years back I was ready to consider myself a pretty big fan of Kyle Higgins.  These days I'm wondering what happened.  Something that bothers me is that he often has a co-writer.  This is not in itself a bad thing.  He first burst onto the scene with Scott Snyder as co-writer (Batman: Gates of Gotham).  Given Snyder's reputation these days, that's not a bad association at all.  (Even Snyder had a co-writer tagging along when he worked on Severed for whatever reason.)  With C.O.W.L., Higgins is working alongside Alec Siegel.  I have no idea.  What I've read of this project, Higgins has been getting all the credit.  As far as the need for co-writers goes (it should be noted even Geoff Johns worked with James Robinson in his early years, and Robinson worked with a co-writer, too, for part of Starman), I'm wondering if this is something he really does need.  Maybe as a kind of focusing lens?  Because as far as his Nightwing ended up going, I wonder if he needed such a lens, and just never got one.  C.O.W.L., like the final issues of the Nightwing run, is set in Chicago.  There's been speculation that this is, in fact, what Higgins would have done if given the chance in his mainstream effort.  Well, maybe?  Anyway, regardless of my personal feelings on its (co-)writer, this series has gotten a fair bit of hype.  "C.O.W.L." is short for Chicago Organized Workers League, otherwise known as the World's First Superhero Labor Union.  That's interesting and all, and this is even a period piece, for whatever reason.  Maybe I just can't figure Higgins out.  Maybe I'm approaching this wrong from the start, but as with my Higgins experience in general lately, I...just wish there was as much on the page as I wish there was.

Deadly Class #6 (Image)
Speaking of Image series from writers I really wish I could like as much as it sometimes seems I should, this one's from Rick Remender, who's recently impressing me with the scope of what he's doing in Captain America.  Apparently, Deadly Class is a personal project for him.  I wish I could say I loved it and totally understood how it's so important to him, but I can't.  This and C.O.W.L. are the kinds of disappointments I think I probably need to reread.  Maybe I will.  (I generally don't do a lot of that.)

All-New Doop #3 (Marvel)
Peter Milligan is a writer I feel guilty for not liking.  He's like the advanced stage of where Higgins and Remender could be years from now.  Milligan has been around for years, a kind of junior member of the British Invasion who helped forge the early years of Vertigo.  His most recent prominent work was nearly the first two years of Red Lanterns, a series I've recently fallen madly in love with...under the auspices of Charles Soule.  As for what Milligan is doing now (not meant as a pun, but there's that, too), I...guess this is related to his earlier X-Statix, a cartoony corner of the X-Men franchise that was much cult-loved at the time.  But Doop reads like instantly pointless drivel.  I'd read Chew over this.

The Flash #32 (DC)
And what is this, a trend or something?  Another writer I wish I liked is Robert Venditti, who happens to have been the guy who took over Green Lantern following the historic near-decade Geoff Johns run.  I haven't read too much of that.  Sometimes I wish I did, because I've liked what I have read.  But then I read something like this.  I have great history with The Flash.  For some reason that history ended with the New 52 relaunch.  No disrespect to the early run, because I just never really got around to reading it, probably because I was disappointed that Johns ended a pre-New 52 run prematurely following the excellent Flashpoint event.  So I wish I liked what I read here.  But I just didn't.  The best material is still pretty weak, Barry Allen bonding with the new version of Wally West.  I don't know if Veditti's heart just isn't in this title, but it just reads so tepidly, a very far cry from Johns or Mark Waid.  For a Flash reader who wishes The Flash would always be a must-read, as it certainly was under Waid and a slightly lesser extent Johns, this is not just disappointing, it's kind of disheartening.

Justice League Dark #32 (DC)
I actually like this series.  I'm waiting to be really wowed by it.  Hollywood was wowed enough to option a movie based on it, so there's that.  Frankenstein is usually featured in it, but not this issue.  As referenced during his recent appearances in Batman and Robin, he's been on a sabbatical.  We've got Zatanna, Deadman, and we-have-our-own-titles-too guys Constantine and Swamp Thing.  J.M. DeMatteis is a writer I greatly respect, but he doesn't always write to potential.  He's someone who's better than the lot I've been grappling with in this column, but I sometimes wish he'd be better.  If this were a truly dark series, maybe that might be the case here.  I don't know.

The New 52: Futures End #8 (DC)
Futures End badly wants to be a new 52.  I know, with wording like that, I could easily confuse you.  52, as opposed to the New 52, was the 2006-2007 weekly series that helped prove possible the modern viability of such a format.  I loved it.  I mean, I loved it.  (It ranked fourth in my list of all-time favorites.)  I've been trying to make comparisons between Futures End and 52 since the newer title launched, based on my sporadic experience with it.  Maybe if I read it every week my opinion would be different, but I just don't see it as hitting the mark quite as truly as its predecessor.  This is disappointing, too.

...Yesh.  With all these disappointments, is this because this was all part of the final Grab Bag?  The world may never know...

Secret Origins #1 (DC)

writers: Greg Pak, Kyle Higgins, Tony Bedard
artists: Lee Weeks, Doug Mahnke, Paulo Siqueira

via Comic Vine

Some fans get tired of seeing secret origins regurgitated repeatedly.  Me, I love the stuff.  I love it as a creative exercise, to see how it'll be approached.  Even if the elements don't change (which is seldom the case), the best writers will make their presence known.  

So, four years in, DC has revived the Secret Origins series in order to catch fans up on the backstories that've emerged behind familiar faces in the New 52.  Two Septembers ago, sure, a certain amount of that was already done in the zero issues, and many of the initial launches in 2011 incorporated the idea from the start.  Still, as far as I'm concerned, this is a good idea, and I think this first issue proves why.

The first of three stories in the issue features DC's first and arguably still most iconic superhero, Superman.  It's written by Greg Pak, who's recently joined the Man of Steel's writing stable, taking over Action Comics.  Previously, Pak was a Marvel guy (best known for his Hulk and Incredible Hercules, the latter of which he wrote entertainingly with Fred Van Lente for years), which certainly makes the whole proposition all the more intriguing.  If this effort is any indication, Superman is in very good hands.

Intriguingly, Pak approaches Superman's Kryptonian and human origins from the perspectives of his two mothers.  This is incredibly rare.  You're no doubt as familiar as I am with the idea of presenting Jor-El and Jonathan Kent ahead of Lara and Martha Kent, the heavier emphasis on the fathers over the years.  In the movies, Lara had her biggest moment in Superman II when she replaced Marlon Brando's Jor-El in discussions at the Fortress of Solitude (that is, until the Richard Donner cut from 2006 brought Brando back).  Pa Kent had periodically been depicted as dying relatively early in Clark Kent's life, but he's often credited with instilling Superman with the values that would define his heroic career.  There's a lot I'm glossing over, but you get the point.

So that's perhaps reason enough to read that one.  And Pak nails the idea, with both mothers.

Next comes Dick Grayson's story via Kyle Higgins.  Higgins, of course, defined Dick for the New 52 set with his multi-year run on Nightwing.  In a way, this is the effort I was waiting for all along, what he danced around for much of the first year of that series.  Since Dick Grayson is a character uniquely defined by his past, not burdened by it but certainly informed by it, a concept Higgins nails in the piece, it's always profitable to look backward with him, which writers like Higgins and Marv Wolfman had tended to do over the years.

It helps to have Doug Mahnke doing the art for this segment.  Mahnke is awesome.  For a hiccup, after seeing his work in this issue, I feared that DC had finally let him slip through the cracks.  That's not really the case, though.  He's an excellent utility player when he needs to be (although it certainly looked like he was doing exactly that role at the end of Final Crisis, there was also the tie-in with his having already drawn the Superman two-issue mini-series for that event).  And he always delivers.

Supergirl rounds out the issue via Tony Bedard, and this segment reads like one of those young adult book series that've been turning into profitable film franchises like The Hunger Games and Divergent.  I have no idea if that's how Supergirl entered the New 52, but this is canny all the same, and deserves to be identified as such.  Sometimes jumping on a bandwagon is a good thing.  It's recognizing a good thing.  And as far as I can tell, this new interpretation of Supergirl has been a good thing.  In the past I've absolutely loved Bedard's work, but recently I've lost track of him.  So it's good to see that he's definitely still got it.

It's an interesting mix for the first issue.  Superman was certainly obvious.  Including someone from the Batman family I suppose was equally obvious.  And as I've suggested, it's probably a good thing to put Supergirl out in front of something like this, too, so she'll have a better chance of getting noticed.  Higgins may have departed Dick Grayson's adventures, but the character has recently been repositioned, so in hindsight this was like a part of that relaunch, too.

An excellent debut issue.

Digitally Speaking...#5 "Batman"

Batman #13 (DC)
From 2012.  This is Scott Snyder's introduction to the "Death of the Family" arc.  And surprise to say, but it's kind of shockingly bad.  Not bad as in it's written or drawn poorly, but conceptually it's so poorly executed that it's surprising something like this would be the start of a major story arc for a major character in a major company.  Internet critics say that sort of thing all the time.  I was following a blogger who trashed just about every issue of AvX that way, and that was an event written by Marvel's top creators.  I've ragged on Snyder in the past.  I know he's supposed to be the best Batman writer in years.  I even recently came to his defense in terms of the conclusion to this very arc and what he might have planned for some grand greater scheme.  But in terms at least of this issue, out of all the "Death of the Family" issues I've read, it's easily the worst.

It begins randomly, Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Bullock talking about omens, and then the next page taking all the steam out of the conversation, and then transitioning to Gordon's smoking habit, and then the Joker randomly appears, and then Batman arrives, and then we have a recap of an apparently aborted story Tony Daniel began at the start of the New 52 in the pages of Detective Comics, the one that got the Joker's face peeled off in the first place.  Snyder never really convincingly explains any of that, but it's okay, because it's the creepy Joker.  Then the Joker becomes all methodical, copying the events of the first time he ever struck Gotham, which becomes a pastiche on how the character operates in Tim Burton's Batman.  And finally we reach the Joker and Batman, and the real story is teased.

Honestly, I have no idea why Snyder had to be so obtuse about it.  Damian mocks the whole thing right from the start.  Maybe that's why Grant Morrison realized he had to go, because he's a barometer.  Unlike how Snyder attempts to present Joker, it's really Damian who cuts every situation down to what it really is.  So it's no wonder that the best "Death of the Family" issue came from Batman and Robin.

It's certainly not this issue.  Definitely not.  I have no idea what Snyder was thinking.  He's not really that bad a writer.  To start a major arc like this, though...When Kyle Higgins started at DC, he was paired with Snyder for the Gates of Gotham mini-series.  But now I'm thinking it's Snyder who needs a co-writer.  There's no great shame in this.  Geoff Johns had co-writers, too.  Snyder had one when American Vampire began (some dude named Stephen King).  He needs someone to help formulate stories better.  He's apparently reached the point where editors can't approach him that way (although the buzz in Negative DC Talk is that all the writers who've abruptly departed the New 52 have done so because of meddling editors), but seriously, reading this issue alone?  Any objective analysis begs for Snyder to get a little help.

That's all he needs really.  He has a lot of good instincts.  He also has a lot of bad ones.  Comics are ripe with this kind of talent.  Ed Brubaker, for example.  Brian Michael Bendis.  Even Mark Waid.  Fans like to lump Morrison in with them, Johns too.  I put Brubaker in with that lot because the best and really only good stuff he did with Captain America involved the Winter Soldier arc.  He got his reward with a whole movie based on that work.  Bendis is an undeniable talent, but he suffers from an acute case of verbal diarrhea that constantly gets in the way of telling real, actual stories (then again, sometimes maybe that's the point).  Waid is his own worst enemy.  He's literally a comics savant, but all his best instincts are usually stymied by his nervous need to rebel.  I don't include Morrison or Johns because it's really a matter of creative differences.  Whereas with Snyder, he can't formulate a story completely.  At a certain point, he just throws out whatever he's got.  He's at a point in his career where most people don't care.  But in the long run, it'll absolutely matter.

And this issue is proof of that.

Batman 101
This compilation is a primer comiXology has that at once serves to provide a checklist for a few noteworthy stories from throughout Batman's publication history, as well as provide previews for all the original New 52 series (plus some vintage covers to round out the set).  As far as the preview pages go, they certainly illuminate the original worth of those series.  Scott Snyder's Batman starts out as promising as most Scott Snyder series.  He's usually good at setting a mood (the above example notwithstanding).  He also helps set the tone for most of the other entries, dominated as they are by caption narration (which as a rule I love in comics).  Tony Daniel's Detective Comics comes off extremely well.  At the time, Tony was more or less being demoted.  After serving as artist during pivotal Grant Morrison issues, he'd become primary writer/artist on Batman.  When the New 52 began, he was shifted to the secondary Batman title.  I'd hoped he'd stick around for a while, but he was one of the earliest disappointments in that regard.  Since being booted from Detective Comics, he's bounced from Superman to Justice League to Superman/Wonder Woman.  I'd prefer the guy have some permanent home.  There's also Peter Tomasi's Batman and Robin, which kicks off a more visual story (which is only fitting, given he's working with ideal collaborator Patrick Gleason).  If these few pages intrigue you, know that there's much more interesting material that follows.  David Finch's Batman: The Dark Knight, a title I never had much faith in, reads about as well as any other in these opening pages.  I guess this one's my bad.  Kyle Higgins' Nightwing doesn't come off as well as it could.  I read a lot of the early issues, and it was pretty good stuff, but here it's surprisingly incoherent.  (Maybe Snyder and Higgins ought to stick together more often?)  Gail Simone's Batgirl might presumably be in the same ballpark as Tomasi's relatively feet-first introduction, but as I have far less faith in Simone than Tomasi, I never found out where she went with it.  Judd Winick's Catwoman is a highlight, but then Winick is far better than most fans care to admit.  Which might explain why his role was so tiny in the New 52, because the stupid fans never admitted as awesome he is.  The only real quibble here is why Catwoman has by default become Sexy Catwoman for the past twenty years.  I mean, I know there was the Jim Balent era in the '90s, but then by default every female character in the '90s was presented that way.  It was more the inexplicable fetish version from the early '00s that decided because she wears latex Catwoman must be Sexy Catwoman, her zipper apparently never able to find the top of her costume (and more often than not, finding it incredibly easy to find the bottom).  Winick is also responsible for the similarly impressive Batwing.  This incredibly long paragraph ends by wondering why the hell J.H. Williams' long-anticipated Batwoman ended up becoming one of the earliest lost titles of the New 52.  Seriously.  Sure, it's still being published (and now written by Manhunter mystic Marc Andreyko), but you'd hardly know it.  What's up with that?  It's enough to make me have to read it myself.  And people, I can't read everything I want to anymore.  I learned the hard way.  But it looks like I'll have to make another exception...

Batman: Black & White - A Black and White World (DC)
From 1996.  This is an excerpt from Batman: Black & White #2, from an innovative anthology series DC recently revived.  "A Black and White World" is written by Neil Gaiman, which pretty much by default makes in the best story featured in today's column.  The story more than earns the distinction, and in classic Gaiman fashion, deconstructing the world of Batman so that he and the Joker are filming their own roles in a movie straight out of a comic book script (or perhaps are simply aware that they are characters in a comic book).  The funny thing is, Grant Morrison has had them participate in similar conversations, so it wouldn't be so much of a stretch to assume that between encounters, Batman really does visit Joker at Arkham Asylum and they talk exactly like this, the Joker especially, just as if it's all a game.  It's enough to wish Gaiman would write more Batman (he also wrote "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?", a coda to Morrison's "Batman R.I.P." arc), and especially more Joker.  This few pages is more insightful to the dynamic between the two than everything Snyder did in "Death of the Family" (besides my supposition as to his ultimate, as-yet-unrevealed purpose), especially in the above opening issue.  But that's Neil Gaiman for you.

Nightwing #15 (DC)

writer: Kyle Higgins
artist: Eddy Barrows

(via dccomics.com)

"Death of the Family" kicked off in October, but the major event kicked off in December.  DC created nifty die-cut covers, which is not represented in the above image.  That was an alternate cover for the issue.  The one I have has the "face mask" of the Joker as he currently exists included as a flap under which is Nightwing's own face.  Apparently there was the chance that Joker was actually going to cut the faces off Batman's allies (the only time I heard about this before the conclusion of the story in the recent Batman #17 was in relation to Jason Todd, who shares the Red Hood identity with the Joker, who had that persona before his transformation into the Clown Prince of Crime), so these covers would have been pretty ironic in hindsight.

And so goes the cleverness of the whole arc.  Some fans were disappointed that Joker didn't have a "Death in the Family" (in which he murdered Jason, who got better) or The Killing Joke (in which he crippled Barbara Gordon, who got better) moment, while others thought it was all about the emotional impact.  As in "Night of the Owls," Dick Grayson and his current writer Kyle Higgins enjoyed the story by making it extra personal, and once again tying in the renewed Haly's Circus connection that has been the hallmark of this New 52 series since its launch.

Early on I was a pretty big cheerleader of both the series and Higgins.  Lately I've cooled on both.  It's become easier to skip issues, and it's much for the same reasons that I've found it so easy to not read Higgins pal Scott Snyder's Batman.  When Snyder first starting writing the Dark Knight in the pages of Detective Comics, it seemed like he would be a writer who would really be able to exploit the character's rich lineage.  There was a moment where he actually had the crowbar used by Joker to murder Jason on auction.  Then Snyder got Batman in the New 52 relaunch and started writing in arcs that the whole Batman family got to participate in.  He and Higgins had previously written Gates of Gotham together, so it was no surprise when Nightwing had a little extra significance in "Night of Owls," and at that point I still believed that Higgins had a vision, the way Chuck Dixon and Devin K. Grayson (no relation to Dick) did before him.  He started out so well.  But he's since begun wallowing in randomness, meandering through rather than exploring Nightwing's life, using something relevant to do nothing at all with it, which is Haly's Circus, where Dick grew up, where he lost his parents, and where a connection with a character named Zucco only goes so far (Tony Zucco called the hit on his parents, while Sonia Zucco is his current love interest).

Sometimes a slow burn is worth it.  Sometimes it's just a writer spinning his wheels.  Maybe it's because Higgins has to write around Snyder, maybe it's because he trusts Snyder too much, along with so many Batman fans.  And I'm not reluctant about Snyder because he's supplanted Grant Morrison as the main Batman writer (while Morrison is still writing Batman), but that his stories never seem to go anywhere, either.  I read the early issues of American Vampire because Snyder was working on that book in association with Stephen King, who wrote a separate narrative that did go somewhere, while Snyder didn't.  Sure, King's work ended early while Snyder's continues (currently on hiatus, though), but every now and again I want my faith in a writer to be rewarded.  King has proven that many times over.  Morrison has.  Snyder hasn't, and Higgins has reached that point, and I'm afraid he won't get beyond it.

Solicitations for future issues of Nightwing have him agonizing over the fallout of "Death of the Family," yet as evidenced in #15 there's really nothing to worry about.  Sure there are personal deaths associated with Joker's actions at Haly's Circus, but these are characters Higgins has really only just introduced.  Part of Dick Grayson's problem is that he's never had a consistent supporting cast.  He's had Batman, Barbara (maddeningly always only a would-be lover), the Teen Titans.  I mean, Jason has managed to go further with Starfire than he ever did, and Dick married the girl!  (Although the wedding went horribly, thanks to Raven, not that anyone cares.)

Anyway, this is to say that Nightwing in my experience with "Death of the Family" was certainly no Batman and Robin, which you'll remember I was gaga over.  Brilliant work there.  Not so much here.  More like frustrating.  I want something to happen in this series.  Dick has proven time and time again that he's not just a supporting character in Batman's world.  Higgins has returned him to his own.  But in many ways, he's also brought him right back to where he started, under the shadow of the Dark Knight.  That's just not right.

The 10 Best Comics of 2012 (So Far)

The following are my favorite comic books from January through June.  They are not necessarily my favorite comic books being published in 2012, but the ones that have done the best work so far.

In no particular order:

Action Comics (DC)
Grant Morrison became my favorite comic book writer a little over five years ago.  Before that time I tended to take him for granted, except in cases like his hypermainstream JLA, and have been trying to play catch-up ever since.  Action Comics has since the New 52 launch last September been a fine example of Morrison's best instincts, presenting an iconic character in an iconic way that nonetheless presents an entirely new way to view him.  No other issue besides #9 presents this so well.  Outside of the regular continuity in the series to date, this issue presents an alternate reality Superman who just happens to be black, who ends up being confronted by a Clark Kent (along with Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen) from yet another alternate reality, and forced together they challenge just about every preconceived notion of the Superman mythos, and is essential reading even if you've never cared for this character a day in your life.  I promise you that you'll know about to understand what's going on, and Morrison will blow your mind.

Batman and Robin (DC)
Pete Tomasi started out as an editor at DC (so did Mark Waid) but has transitioned into one of its most crucial writers, and I think this current stint on Batman and Robin may be the point where readers really start to notice.  While there's a lot of Batman comics out there, and Scott Snyder's dominates all the press, this is the one fans who care about the Dark Knight's continuing legacy really ought to be reading.  I wasn't reading this one at the start of the New 52, and only stumbled into it basically by accident, even though I've loved Tomasi and Patrick Gleason since Green Lantern Corps, and once I started I had to read everything I could get my hands on.  This doesn't happen to me all that often, so I knew I had found something special.  Basically this is the Damian we've all been waiting for, the one who is stubbornly claiming the story as all his own, a Robin with teeth, more controversial and more essential in the role than Jason Todd could ever hope to be, and in the signature story of the year, falling into a trap set by the son of Henri Ducard, famously depicted in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins as Bruce Wayne's original mentor (and real Ra's al Ghul, lest you forget), and clawing his way out, and even Batman doesn't quite know how to react, a story that's still unfolding.

Green Lantern (DC)
The unlikely redemption of Sinestro hit its stride in 2012 as he set about trying clean up the messes that still remained from his time leading the Yellow Corps, especially on his home planet of Korugar, and then dragging the reluctant Hal Jordan along to confront the Indigo Tribe, whose origin holds the key to unraveling  the Guardians' plans for an impending Third Army.  Originally I didn't understand how Geoff Johns intended to integrate Hal Jordan into his approach to Green Lantern, and this is a statement I make going all the way back to the launch of the 2006 series after Rebirth, but over time I've come to appreciate his vision as starting with a frequently rebellious and controversial member of the Corps to an expansion of the whole mythology that has developed the concept to a greater extent than any other writer in the history of the franchise.  His handling of Sinestro is emblematic of this approach, rehabilitating a character who had long been dismissed as a cautionary tale turned into a generic villain, but now one of the most nuanced figures in comics.  Hal becomes relevant as the one person who has the most to resent in Sinestro's new life, but also the one most likely to give him a fair shot, because he knows better than anyone that a fall from grace leads to a giant leap of faith in accepting a second chance to get it right.  I've been so surprised that Johns has actually lost a lot of the momentum he had earlier in his career, in terms of critical and fan support, that perhaps the more mainstream he's become, the easier it's become to underestimate his talent.  Any other writer might have stumbled in trying to figure out what his story for a franchise he's been writing for seven years will be in 2012, but Johns is still finding new ways to explore that same territory, and keep it interesting without even needing to reinvent the wheel every few years.

Justice League (DC)
The more remarkable thing about Johns is that he's not just writing Green Lantern, or even this book, or Aquaman, but has an official post in the DC front office, too, and he's not wasting his time in any of his commitments.  Justice League has failed to capture the popular fanboy imagination, and like Green Lantern isn't particularly a critical darling, either, but it remains one of the best things to come out of the New 52.  The truly remarkable thing is that as the series has aged since its launch last fall, it still retains an almost mythic appreciation of its central heroes, and has increasingly turned its focus to more earthbound concerns, including a villain Johns has been setting up since the beginning, who finally lost his faith in them when these superheroes couldn't, ultimately, solve every evil in the world, including those that struck his own family.  There's also liaison Steve Trevor, whose growing disillusionment concerning his relationship with Wonder Woman (a classic romance most modern writers have completely forgotten about) is proving to be the true star of the book, and a guest appearance from Green Arrow that challenges our conceptions of both the original and current incarnations of the character.  This is the first Justice League since Grant Morrison's that truly has legs, and if history (and more specifically his tenure with the Justice Society) is any indication, Johns is just getting started.  Equally noteworthy is the Shazam backup feature, in which Johns and Gary Frank update Billy Batson as a cynical orphan struggling to accept life with a new adoptive family, including the kids who are trying to make him feel at home.

Nightwing (DC)
There've been some great runs for Nightwing since he gained his first ongoing series in 1996, but Kyle Higgins is threatening to eclipse them.  He's been busy establishing himself on this book since last fall, introducing a more centralized version of Dick Grayson, grounded in his own story for perhaps the first time ever, revisiting Haly's Circus and discovering unexpected inheritance and corruption, no longer hiding from his roots in Gotham but actually embracing them, even during the midst of a nightmarish revelation that pits him at the heart of the Court of Owls, a fact Higgins and Scott Snyder might have talked a little more about, with perhaps greater results than we actually got.  Still, this is the most fun I've had reading the character in years, and considering he's long been one of my favorites, I hope that's saying something.

RASL (Cartoon)
Jeff Smith's underrated (or at least, underhyped) creative followup to Bone reached its final issues this year, and there's still no telling what the conclusion this month will actually reveal about the story of Rob Johnson, a scientist who saw his life's work turn into a nightmare he decided he had to stop personally, but that ended up proving far more difficult than he imagined.  There's the hopping behind parallel worlds, the girlfriend he thought he lost forever, the affair that he's been finding solace in throughout several alternate realities, and the former colleagues who will stop at nothing to thwart his efforts, believing as he can't that there's no harm in seeing his work through.  For Smith, I can only say that I wish this story could last longer, that we could soak in this world(s) for many more years, but he's reached the end and if RASL is an argument for anything, it's for creative freedom, knowing how far to go, and being allowed to finish the job under the right terms.

Saucer Country (Vertigo)
Paul Cornell has been growing into one of my favorite writers for years now, and I've been waiting for him to work on a book that could truly be considered his.  Saucer Country is that book.  Courting the familiar tales of alien abduction, Cornell subverts expectations by not only blurring the line between perception and reality, but thrusting it into a far bigger story about politics and image, and although the book is only a few months old, it already feels like the next great Vertigo series I hoped it could be, following in the tradition of Sandman and Y: The Last Man.  A lesser writer might have ended up writing X-Files stories already, but this is something Cornell has been thinking about for a long time, and it already shows, in his devotion to a linear structure that can already be considered byzantine, working on characters we're only just meeting as if they already have a rich and distinct history, leaving some critics utterly baffled, but some of us utterly enthralled.

The Secret History of D.B. Cooper (Oni)
Brian Churilla first came to my attention as an artist, but on this book he tackles writing duties as well, and taking readers on a huge leap of faith as he blends the mysterious figure of hijacker D.B. Cooper with an unlikely government assassin who travels into an alternate dimension in order to reach his targets, depicted as gruesome monsters he nonchalantly dispatches in between conversations with a talking teddy bear, all while in the real world dealing with very harsh realities he probably prefers to avoid.  Given that so little is known about Cooper, any legend, no matter how outlandish, can be considered the truth, and over the years a lot of people have been fingered to be the culprit, and Churilla happens to have taken that to the extreme, using fiction at its highest potential to embrace an elusive icon who's already at the fringe of the popular imagination to hopefully elevate him still higher.

The Shade (DC)
The long-awaited followup to Starman sees James Robinson exploring the life of a reformed villain, now so thoroughly engrossed in his own narrative that it seems scarcely credible that he was ever considered anything but what he essentially is, a rogue who plays by his own rules because hardly any others apply to him.  The best issues this year, #s 5-7, involve his relationship with a French vampire, La Sangre, and her own battles, a sidestep from the Shade's investigation into an attempt on his life, which has led him into the darkest secrets of his family line.  This is another book I am incredulous to see get so little critical or popular attention, not the least for its pedigree or its own worth.

Wasteland (Oni)
I've only just been able to read this series again after several years of its scarce availability and inconsistent publishing schedule, but a new artist has not dulled the impact of Antony Johnston's epic vision of an apocalyptic future where the past has become both a mystery and legend and the present is dominated by religious beliefs that don't much ken to outsiders, especially when those outsiders happen to be Michael and Abi, who hold many secrets, not to mention the key to explaining everything.  The story is rapidly bringing them closer to the fabled city of A-Ree-Yass-I, a destination readers have known about from the beginning, making this book that is in so many ways so similar to The Walking Dead, and in more important ways, besides far fewer readers, so different, and better, focused in a way that allows for a heartbreaking world where power rarely saves you from misery, but merely provides a temporary delusion, as the assassin Gerr discovered in #38.

Unbeatable Comics: Nightwing #10

writer: Kyle Higgins
artist: Eddy Barrows, Geraldo Borges

Nightwing is not Batman.

I think Kyle Higgins is about to explore that better than he thought he would.  The introduction of Paragon is like the Nightwing version of the Court of Owls, someone who thinks they know how to improve Gotham better than the heroes do.  That's an important story to tell for any member of the Batman family.  For years Batman has waged a crusade to clean up his beloved city.  Yet Gotham has not become a utopia.  In most respects, Batman's failed.  The reason is the same as I've just explained: everyone thinks they have the answer.

Jeph Loeb's The Long Halloween is perhaps the ancestor text for this Batman story type, with the Falcone clan poised to define Gotham City on their terms, and Batman, just getting started, helps to subvert those plans.  Bane did it, too.  In fact, that's what Christopher Nolan has been doing in all of his Batman movies.  Everyone has a solution and no one can get any progress done because they're all fighting each other.  As far as I could tell, Scott Snyder's Court of Owls was a conspiracy that sought to accomplish the very same goal.

I didn't read most of the Court of Owls saga, but I know Snyder and Higgins have done a fair amount of collaborating, most obviously in Gates of Gotham, the DC reader's introduction to Higgins.  As this issue kicks off the ambitions of Paragon, Higgins has Nightwing muse on the sad state of Gotham, its glory days buried far beneath the collective scum that has for many years manifested itself in the nocturnal activities of the Dark Knight and the corrupt forces he works tirelessly against.  Higgins works with a different kind of conspiracy, too, someone trying to frame Nightwing for murder, and a dirty cop who's possibly been at this hobby for months.  It's not the first time a writer has flung this kind of story at Nightwing, but it's a welcome return.

Nightwing isn't Batman because he seems capable of taking a little perspective.  When Dick Grayson joined the Teen Titans, he found himself in a group of friends.  When Batman joined the Justice League, he had maybe one friend and a bunch of people he didn't trust.  Dick's had an alien girlfriend and complicated relationships with numerous female colleagues, including Donna Troy and Barbara Gordon, the latter of which Higgins and Gail Simone have touched on in the New 52.  He's known the responsibility of living up to an image many times over: with his parents, with Batman, as a leader, as a replacement Batman.  Batman's only ever believed in one image, and that was his own.  Nightwing might seem more carefree and replaceable, but no Robin since Dick Grayson has so successfully transitioned into his own crimefighting career, not even wunderkind Tim Drake.

Nightwing is the version of Spider-Man that would exist if Marvel let Peter Parker exist in a world where his parents mean more to him than his aunt and uncle, if he had to exist in the shadow of giants and learn how to emerge from it.  Nightwing doesn't strike fear like Batman, but then Batman doesn't make friends like Nightwing.  The more he works on his own, the more lonely Nightwing becomes, closer to the archetype set by his mentor.  But he also establishes the ability to operate independently better than Batman, who will have to reluctantly admit that he works better with a little help than he does when he's completely alone.  There will never be a Nightwing Incorporated.

Higgins has put our boy in another bad spot, in the center of another conspiracy, and while the opening issues of this series have already seen that in the remnants of Haley's Circus (which Dick seems poised to transform into his own Wayne enterprise, only instead of a business, an entertainment) and then Nightwing's unexpected connection to the heart of the Court of Owls.  Paragon calls himself "Gotham's true son," and perhaps that's what's at the center of this story, that Nightwing is a son by his core definition, and like any son, the world he grows into doesn't always respect the path to responsibility.  He's faced a thousand hurdles   already, and some ready will consider this story redundant, but it's Nightwing's story, more than the Court of Owls was Batman's.  There's a reason why the whole family took on the Talons, because that was a clash for the whole family, a challenge everyone had to face.

Everyone clashes against each other in Gotham.  Nightwing, and Kyle Higgins, are about to explore the ego behind this phenomenon.  And maybe that's it.  Nightwing doesn't have an ego.  That's why he's ideal to serve as a counterpoint to Batman, or to usurpers like Paragon.  Carry on, Higgins!

Many Happy Returns

ATOMIC ROBO PRESENTS REAL SCIENCE ADVENTURES #2 (Red 5)

I haven’t read a new Atomic Robo adventure science Free Comic Book Day.  Excuse me, let me clarify, FCBD 2011.  I didn’t read this year’s installment, because for the first time in five years, I missed FCBD.  Heroes & Dragons doesn’t participate.  I may ask them if they can at least get me copies of the free comics I wanted (the annual Atomic Robo offering, plus my regular dose of free DC).  Anyway, back to the matter at hand, I’ve just read Atomic Robo, which I’ve enjoyed doing for four years, give or take, now.  His adventures have been among the most clever material I’ve ever read in a comic book, as if BONE had never gone into deep fantasy, and remained lighthearted.  It’s primarily been the work of writer Brian Clevinger and artist Scott Wegener, but the distinctive appearance of the character has long inspired fan art, and so it was only a matter of time before Wegener actually gave way to other artists.  REAL SCIENCE ADVENTURES is essentially an anthology title that accomplishes exactly that, Clevinger delivering exactly the same kind of witty, sparse storytelling, and our first chance to see variations on the basic style already well-established (there are six paperback collections if you’d like to see for yourself).  There are clear parallels between Robo and Hellboy, but whereas Hellboy is involved in fairly steep mythology and franchise at this point, Robo is still his trademark blissfully carefree self, like the most pure form of what a comic book should be.  In fact, if that’s how you want to consider Atomic Robo, then I would encourage and endorse that view!

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #7 (Marvel)

At the start of the year, I rather pithily dismissed the launch of this series, but now I get to benefit, so I’m going to quickly and quietly reverse my position, if only for one issue.  I’m a big fan of Stuart Immonen (and his frequent collaborator and wife, Kathryn), but until this issue I haven’t seen the Marvel version of Stuart Immonen compare favorably to the transcendent version I enjoyed at DC at the end of the last millennium.  I would go so far as to say that version of Stuart Immonen as one of the best creators of his generation, both as writer and artist.  The Marvel version of Stuart Immonen has tried a variety of ways to be the exact opposite of that Stuart Immonen, and suffice it to say, I really don’t see the point.  So it was with great pleasure that I saw this issue, which features Spidey teaming up with She-Hulk in a throwback adventure in so many ways.  It’s at once an argument that Stuart should do Peter Parker (he did Pete once before, in ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, but that was Bendis Spider-Man, not Immonen Spider-Man), and that maybe he wouldn’t be such a bad fit for She-Hulk, either (and yes, I acknowledge that Kathryn was the writer of this tale and not Stuart, but for me, when Stuart’s art is the art I best associate with Stuart, the whole story becomes associated with him).  So, Marvel, take note, or if you don’t, then at least let Stuart notice that at least some of his fans are.  This might have been a random issue of a series that doesn’t really seem to have a coherent point to it, but its significance is greater than you can imagine.

HISTORY OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE (Marvel)

One of Marvel’s periodic attempts to chronicle its own fictional history in a journalistic fashion, this comic is also evidence that Marvel has produced many, many stories with a bare minimum of coherence, which may be fun to read at the time, but don’t actually make up a history that inspires a lot of confidence.  This is what people think of when they think of comic books, and maybe that helped THE AVENGERS wildly succeed as a movie, but it’s not a lot to take seriously, unless you don’t look very closely.  A DC version of this would read differently, is all I’m saying.  I know that MARVELS managed to make this kind of history lesson look remarkably impressive, and maybe the same thing could be done today with the same effect, but to see how many times Marvel has changed characters and attempted to kill them off, only to backpedal and still pretend that every single story its ever told actually exists in continuity, well…to a perpetual skeptic who can still appreciate the odd story, it just beggars the mind.  Fans really prefer, on general majority, Marvel to DC?  Maybe it’s because Marvel does the cliché comic better than anyone, I don’t know.  It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but every now and again, it’s probably worth living up to the hype instead of coasting on reputation.  Just saying…

JUSTICE LEAGUE #9 (DC)

Speaking of which, this is a book that many fans seem to assume is doing exactly that, when it’s doing anything but.  Geoff Johns has been building a coherent story since the launch, and this is an issue that really rewards faith in that, even if you haven’t always been, pardon me, a true believer.  His angle has from the start been about the world’s perception of the League which is why Steve Trevor is relevant as a character for the first time in decades, and why a new villain named Graves (for the moment?) may be the most significant new adversary for the team since Prometheus, emerging first as an anonymous cheerleader who literally wrote the book about the team, and then became embittered and disillusioned, an arc Mark Waid tried to do in THE KINGDOM, but which here may actually work.  The best comic book stories in this millennium will always tell stories on at least two levels: 1) from the ordinary perspective of the characters involved, and 2) from the greater perspective of how that story relates to the world the characters live in, which more or less means they work on objective and subjective levels.  There are many ways to do this, and Geoff Johns has perfected his, first with Green Lantern, and now with the Justice League.  Sit back and enjoy the ride.

NIGHTWING #9 (DC)

Random attacks by the Talons in “Night of the Owls” continue, and for Nightwing, they’re surprisingly personal.  Kyle Higgins continues to exploit his opportunity to give the Grayson family line the same amount of depth writers have been giving the Waynes for years, so that Dick Grayson is no longer just the orphaned son of circus performers who served as a useful surrogate for Bruce Wayne’s war on crime, but rather someone with a rich history of his own.  In fact, Scott Snyder seems to have unwittingly ceded the most relevant part of his epic to his partner in crime.  This issue reveals both the strengths and the weaknesses in the concept of the Court of Owls, how random an opponent they really are, and how convoluted it is to make them relevant in the way they’re supposed to be.  Higgins, though, makes it work in surprising fashion, and it would do well for future Nightwing writers to remember this issue.  This is a greater concern than you’d think, because most new Nightwing writers tend to ignore what’s come before them (there are exceptions, but then if there weren’t, there wouldn’t be a rule).  What Higgins is really doing here is establishing once and for all that Dick Grayson is a viable character in his own right.  I for one hope that Higgins remains onboard for many years to come.

PETER PANZERFAUST #3 (Image)

I’ve been intrigued by this title ever since I learned of its existence.  This is the first issue I’ve actually been able to read, but I’m still infinitely glad and gratified.  Peter Pan as a cultural icon is fascinating, the first time in pop entertainment where a child is held up as an ideal, even if he’s a deeply flawed one, suggesting that youth and experience are not always mutually exclusive in surprisingly profound ways.  Of course, one of the distinctions in the traditional story is Peter’s relationship with Wendy, and by sheer coincidence, this issue of PETER PANZERFAUST, a vision of the character by Kurtis Wiebe that recasts him into WWII, is the introduction of Wendy into the narrative.  Sometimes luck really does work that way.  I don’t know how long this series can last, but I’ll be a faithful reader for as long as possible.

SAUCER COUNTRY #3 (Vertigo)

Not surprisingly, this is going to be a series that deepens its own mythology with every new issue, exploring and meditating on the same themes as they unfold, one narrative and vision, which just so happens to be pretty profound.  What is the proper relationship one should have with fringe experiences?  Like the TV show FRINGE, SAUCER COUNTRY does not have easy answers, but Paul Cornell wastes no time getting beyond that and plunging deeply into his story.  Maybe things won’t happen very quickly, but they’ll be interesting.

THE SHADE #8 (DC)

I’m still shocked that most fans have skipped out on this one, but pleased that DC saw fit to give James Robinson a full year to explore one of the more fascinating elements of his late, critically acclaimed STARMAN series, a reformed villain with a rich history and a thorny future, all of which is intertwined in this story.  I’ve missed three issues since the last time I was able to get my hands on THE SHADE, and you’ve got to know that ensuring I didn’t miss the rest of it was one of my primary concerns in opening a box at Heroes & Dragons. So then, here we go again.

Crossing the Threshold

ACTION COMICS #9 (DC)

Sometimes it takes seeing a familiar story in a new light to understand it.  Everyone has a chance to experience this, even if the first reaction is to reject the new version in favor of the familiar one; writers are faced with this challenge all the time.  The main difference between DC and Marvel is that DC has for most of its existence been reinventing itself and its most famous characters.  Grant Morrison accepted the biggest challenge of the New 52 by tackling Superman, who has long been accused of being irrelevant to today’s readers, a relic who survives on nostalgia and tradition.  True, he didn’t toss out or drastically remodel the Man of Steel (even the blue collar “costume” from the first few issues gave way to an updated version of what Superman has been wearing for some seven decades), but rather made some of the most familiar elements of the story as vibrant as he did, famously, in ALL STAR SUPERMAN.  This particular issue does that all over again, with an alternate Superman announced on the cover, who just so happens to still have Lex Luthor as a mortal enemy.  What’s truly interesting is an alternate Lois Lane and Clark Kent who stumble onto this world.  A couple of key differences, before we proceed: the lead Superman is black, and the visiting Clark Kent is not an ordinary guy.  And yet, like in ALL STAR SUPERMAN, Morrison dwells on one of the more overlooked aspects of the Last Son of Krypton, that his abilities do not stop at his powers, as both the Superman and Clark Kent in the story demonstrate.  Morrison never presents his vision of the icon as an infallibly brilliant individual (the delusion of which fuels Luthor and is also what many other characters and creators sometimes try to and horribly botch in execution); in this one issue, which is totally out of canon (but strongly suggests MULTIVERSITY, the project Morrison has been working on for several years now), Superman is both human and superhuman on multiple levels.  It’s essential reading in that regard alone, and is probably the best single story Morrison has done for the character.  As an added bonus, Sholly Fisch adds in his backup feature further ruminations that will challenge anyone who believes they’ve got everything figured out.  Read it and then tell me what I meant (it doesn’t hurt if I now suggest that you consider the presidency of George W. Bush).

BRILLIANT #3 (Icon)

I wrote my first letter to a comic book because of this, mostly because Brian Michael Bendis pitiably laments the lack of such things so far in the letters column he has to fill with an extended interview concerning current Marvel events (before shamelessly plugging his collected works, as he always does).  I love that he is one of the creators who still insists on having letters columns, even if I have not regularly read his books.  BRILLIANT is his reteaming with historic collaborator Mark Bagley (ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN), who is now thoroughly back in his element after the TRINITY experiment that killed DC’s weekly series concept by making it too cuddly (DC’s Big Three are many things, but they are not cuddly, and that’s the general Bagley style).  “Brilliant” is also the way to describe this effort from Bendis, who can get a little carried away with doing a million variations on the same Avengers story without really getting anywhere (yes, HOUSE OF M got somewhere, but it took other creators to get there), though when he’s focused (such as in POWERS or introducing Miles Morales or Peter Parker) he’s really good.  BRILLIANT features a focused Bendis, working with a whole group of precocious teenage geniuses this time, who have created superpowers and now don’t know exactly what to do about it.  This ought to be a really good ride.

EARTH 2 #1 (DC)

James Robinson is a creator who can either get fans to love him or get them to hate him, and it really depends, like Bendis (but with the fans actually caring about the results), if he’s got a good handle on what he’s trying to accomplish.  STARMAN, for instance, was James Robinson knowing what he wanted to do.  EARTH 2 looks like it be Robinson working like that again, but it may be a little early.  Most of this debut issue features a variation on the story Geoff Johns told in the opening arc of JUSTICE LEAGUE, the invasion of Earth by the forces of Apokolips, and the shocking sacrifices of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to get the job done this time.  The fascinating implication of this setup is that the Justice Society characters who for several generations now have represented a quasi-older generation of superheroes even they were all created after Superman, who only had the benefit of sustained popularity to keep him youthful and current for decades, will finally get to be the second generation again.  Maybe that’s why DC did away with the name “Justice Society” in the nU, much as in an earlier time these heroes gave way to their own succeeding generation in an alternate timeline, with Infinity, Inc.  That’s really the best way to explain EARTH 2, as a way to remove the dust from characters with a rich history but who have even in their second Golden Age (the two ongoing series Geoff Johns helped launch, the first with the help of Robinson) been reduced to heroes who can hardly be expected to be the first line of defense, always supporting others, second-class citizens even though they also helped inspire everything DC is now.  Well, now Alan Scott won’t just be that guy who wasn’t a member of the Green Lantern Corps but nonetheless worked under the name Green Lantern; he’ll be his own man.  Here’s to seeing what Robinson actually does with this.

NIGHTWING #8 (DC)

Kyle Higgins was a virtual unknown when he was announced as the writer of the New 52 NIGHTWING, which caused me all kinds of panic, since I believed that Dick Grayson was being relegated back to relative obscurity, even though he’s been around since virtually the start of the Batman saga.  But Higgins started his DC journey on BATMAN: GATES OF GOTHAM, a mini-series he co-wrote with Scott Snyder, who has for many readers become the new definitive Dark Knight creator and current ringleader of the Court of Owls epic.  GATES OF GOTHAM has itself become increasingly important, which is unusual for a mini-series, though not totally unheard-of, especially for Batman (examples to include SWORD OF AZRAEL, for instance, or just about every relevant Bane appearance outside of “Knightfall”), and yes, Higgins is now getting to take advantage of that fact within NIGHTWING, especially in this issue, and how Dick factors into “Night of the Owls.”  That’s as much as you need to know to enjoy this issue, which may be the most important one of the series so far.  It’s a strong indication, too, that Higgins knows exactly how to keep Dick Grayson’s profile both high and significant, and that’s a very good thing.

Nightwing #6

writer: Kyle Higgins
artists: Eddy Barrows & Geraldo Borges

This is the best thing I can say for this series: the resulting trade paperback of these initial issues may be destined to be one of the essential Dick Grayson stories.

That's a testament both to the enduring potential of the original Boy Wonder, and also to Kyle Higgins' ability to understand what exactly was necessary to make Nightwing's second series seem relevant after Dick ran around as (a very popular) Batman for a few years.

To revert Dick's story back to Haly's Circus might have seemed like a gimmick in anyone else's hands, but Higgins not only realized the overlooked importance of the character's roots, but how the story could then comment on the state of the circus in the modern world as well.

For a long time now, Dick Grayson has been a product of association, whether with Batman or the Teen Titans. When Chuck Dixon launched the first Nightwing series in 1996, he tried to spin Dick's tales as a vigilante trying his best to be the Batman of another pathetic urban landscape, and that worked really well while it lasted, but then it fell apart kind of awkwardly.

What I'm saying here is, just read this series already, even if you aren't a life-long fan of the character. You'll find something that's its own shade of intriguing.

Nightwing #5

written by Kyle Higgins
art by Eddy Barrows

I still can't believe that Nightwing actually has a writer again who cares enough about the character to spend a lot of time on a story that takes its time to unfold and has a lot to do and say about Nightwing himself, something that hasn't really been done since Chuck Dixon and Devin Grayson. I can't repeat enough that Kyle Higgins has achieved that. This particular issue almost reads like an episode of Fringe (maybe that was intentional), with a freak of the week adding a new layer to Dick's renewed ties to Haly's Circus, and the many secrets he never realized existed behind its tents.

Nightwing #4

writer: Kyle Higgins
artist: Trevor McCarthy

I knew after reading the third issue (the first one I've read of the series) that I would be hooked, given half a chance. This second issue (which is the fourth of the series for anyone else) proved that out, and was a nice little tie-in with the Batgirl issue I previously read, as Babs pays back Dick's visit and they further hash out their present relationship. As anyone knows, they have a complicated history, and it's nice to know that the DCnU has made it a priority, even though it hasn't exactly been one for the past few years. For new readers, I'd like to think that this will help endear both characters as fully-dimensional.

Nightwing #3

writer: Kyle Higgins
artist: Eddy Barrows

Owing to the fact that I QUIT READING COMICS this year and it initially proved difficult to find issues of this particular New 52 launch, I was almost content not to read the new Nightwing book, which is basically heresy for me, since Dick Grayson has been one of my favorite comic book characters for as long as I've cared about superheroes. The previous Nightwing series took a turn for the eclectic once Devin Grayson was booted from the book, revolving through a number of writers who rebooted Dick's context so many times that it was difficult for any of them to truly get a handle on him, even Marv Wolfman, who came closest to establishing a feel that felt natural and not just distinct from what had previously been done. Higgins, as it turns out, matches what Wolfman attempted to do very nicely. I'd heard that Haly's Circus was going to be involved, but actually reading it is much like what readers were saying about Scott Snyder's Detective Comics (which was only partially accurate), getting into Dick's past in a real and meaningful way. Chuck Dixon originally set out to create a whole new world for Dick to explore, but that had been played out by the time Devin Grayson departed, and no one was able or willing to return to that world, so it's appropriate and gratifying that someone has finally and confidently begun exploring Dick's prior existence, the one Bruce Wayne basically interrupted (with the best intentions). I was one of those fans who loved that Dick had seemingly permanently gained the mantle of Batman, and so was distressed that the New 52 was booting him back into his loner's position, scared that he'd spin back into random and mostly meaningless adventures that would once again cause Dan DiDio to consider him expendable...I'm glad to report that this will not be the case, at least for the foreseeable future. This may be the best Dick Grayson in years.

The New 22

Confession time: this reformed Comics Reader comics junkie has been relapsing in the past month, thanks to the dastardly “New 52” from DC Comics. I’ve made several trips to Heroes & Dragons, and even bought some comics at Barnes & Noble (the evil remainders from the loss of Borders). Heroes hasn’t exactly made (or perhaps been in the position to) a solid effort to support the “New 52,” so there are notable omissions from the comics I intended to at least sample, including NIGHTWING, RED HOOD & THE OUTLAWS, WONDER WOMAN, and BLACKHAWKS). I’ve heard plenty about the supposed controversy surrounding “sexy” Starfire in OUTLAWS, disappointment that DC didn’t take the opportunity to align their comics version of the character with the cartoon variation kids enjoyed last decade. Maybe I was concentrating too much on Jason Todd finally getting his own series, but I never saw this one coming. If none of those kids picked up an actual regular DC comic in all the time since TEEN TITANS animated itself on the small screen, “New 52” would never have made a difference. Starfire in OUTLAWS is perfectly consistent with the character as comics fans have known her since her debut. Why should that have changed? Because some Internet commentators wanted to draw attention to themselves?

Anyway, so as suggested, I bought twenty-two new comics over the past handful of weeks, not all of them from the “New 52,” so let’s dive in without further adieu.

GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #1 (DC)
Kyle Rayner debuted eighteen years ago in the aftermath of Hal Jordan’s descent into Parallax. Writer Tony Bedard, charged with launching a new series featuring Kyle, figured it was a great time to remember the circumstances fans first got to know him, as a recipient of a ring from the apparent last Guardian of the Universe, Ganthet. The thing I’ve liked about Bedard (career highlight: THE GREAT TEN) is his sense of context and continuity, not just continuity itself, but how it fits into a given story. Here he continues the same general continuity the Green Lantern franchise enjoyed before the “New 52” reboot, with a story about various members of the spectrum corps (Red Lanterns, Sinestro Corpsmen, Star Sapphires, and the Indigo tribe) losing their rings, which come into the possession of Kyle Rayner. Naturally, none of them are very happy about this, and just as he was eighteen years ago, Kyle is just as confused by events. I heard this comic referred to as a reboot of Kyle’s origin, which it isn’t (though, sadly, the iconic NIN shirt is gone), since it clearly moves a different story along, a new one, which expands and develops things we’re already familiar with. That’s what makes Bedard so valuable a commodity at DC, that he’s able to do this with a wide variety of characters most creators and readers wouldn’t even have considered briefly, certainly not in the way he does. I look forward to the day his skills are widely appreciated. Being a part of the “New 52” certainly can’t hurt those chances.

FAME: CONAN O’BRIEN (Bluewater)
Formerly the home of indy superhero comics, Bluewater has reshaped its identity in recent years as the biographer of choice for pop personalities, hoping to carve out a niche in a crowded market. Like the above title, I got this one at Barnes & Noble. Conan is certainly a remarkable figure, a cult favorite among humor aficionados and subject of the latest TONIGHT SHOW controversy. Most fans are already familiar with the outlines of his career, including his stint as writer for THE SIMPSONS, but this is a nice summary of his life to this point.

THE SHADE #1 (DC)
As an earlier blog indicated, I’ve become a fan of James Robinson’s STARMAN, and so eagerly anticipated an announced Shade follow-up mini-series, though I had no idea when it was scheduled to be launched, being somewhat out of the loop these days. As it turned out, earlier this month, which I found out with perfect timing. The Blackest Night STARMAN #81 issue was a great reminder that Shade is a worthy and engaging subject in himself, and this first issue of his own book more than supports that belief, both supporting his mystique and subtly pushing at its boundaries. Given that this will be a full twelve issues, one might almost wonder why DC didn’t make it a part of the official “New 52” slate, given that it’s hardly likely all fifty-two titles will survive to even that length, but I guess “optimism” was the word of that particular day.

AQUAMAN #1 (DC)
The subject of so many attempts at ongoing series that a cornerstone of DC became a very public joke (as Raj on THE BIG BANG THEORY says, “Aquaman sucks”), it’s a wonder this guy was tapped by none other than Geoff Johns to be his next big project, beginning in the pages of BRIGHTEST DAY. Here, as in that book, we have ample reason to believe Johns knew exactly what he was doing, since once again he seems to have grasped what so many writers before him failed to, and that’s the intrinsic worth, and not just the mythology, of the character. That is to say, Johns understands what Aquaman is, what he’s about, and his potential as the star of his own series, not just as the dude who talks to fish and is associated with an underwater kingdom. So many writers have attempted to do everything but (the cosmetic changes Peter David created were a good effort, but didn’t really affect the intrinsic perception that Aquaman himself wasn’t interesting), even replacing him with an heir (Tad Williams did a good job to that end, to little credit), it’s refreshing that someone the caliber of Geoff Johns is finally taking the direct approach, while Aquaman actually has some momentum (both from BRIGHTEST DAY and a key role in FLASHPOINT).

ANIMAL MAN #1 (DC)
Jeff Lemire is the latest of the fresh faces to be called up to the big leagues, and this book absolutely has the feel of Grant Morrison’s own ANIMAL MAN, a piercing look into the character’s greater potential, not just “dude who can mimic animals.” Ever since Morrison, DC has had some idea that Buddy Baker is a worthwhile property, and since 52 he’s been the subject of perennial efforts to keep his name in the air, even the subject of a “last days” mini-series that was mildly intriguing, but seemed to take him back a step, keeping the focus on his apparent Starfire obsession and off his potential. Lemire seems to have done everything possible to take Buddy back to the land of Morrison, short of actually copying the metaphysical ambitions. Instead, he seems to have discovered that Animal Man, at his best, may in fact be ideal material for horror.

MARVEL SEASON ONE GUIDE (Marvel)
This was a freebie (always nice!) advertising the company’s 2012 slate of “season one” graphic novels, which seem to be as much about giving readers a starting point for Marvel’s most popular characters as providing a spotlight for creators they might expect to join their “Architects” in the future, including writers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Anthony Johnston, and Cullen Bunn. I’m not convinced these things are going to be anything but fairly standard origin rehashes, based on the previews, which is kind of disappointing, but the idea may yet be worth keeping in mind, especially for a company apparently convinced, Ultimate comics aside, that continuity is something that fits in a comics bin.

SEVERED #3 (Image)
Scott Snyder is a writer everyone seems to have become excited about. Whether in the pages of AMERICAN VAMPIRE, DETECTIVE COMICS, or the “New 52” BATMAN, he’s being hyped as the next big thing. This is a more modest-sized work, but has a ton in common with AMERICAN VAMPIRE. Co-written by Scott Tuft, it’s another urchin’s tale of running into unexpected danger, and on that score is a little disappointing to see so directly reflected in other work, no matter how engaging this particular iteration may be.

AVENGERS 1959 #1 (Marvel)
Howard Chaykin is one of those veteran-of-many-decades creators who just keeps working, seemingly any way he sees fit (DIE HARD: YEAR ONE was a recent favorite), regardless of how little acclaim he unjustly seems to enjoy these days. This book is set in the Marvel proper, so features Nick Fury as he’s been traditionally depicted (how confused fans of the movies and comics must be, far more than those disgruntled Starfire fanatics!), so no Ultimate Samuel L. Jackson here, and comes packaged with a bunch of known historical figures, including Victor Creed (Sabretooth), Sergei Kravinoff (Kraven the Hunter) and Aquaria Nautica Neptunia (Namora), a sort of full-Marvel version of Jonathan Hickman’s S.H.I.E.L.D. As usual, Chaykin dives right into his adventure, all fast and loose, allowing the clash of male and female impulses drive his scenes without concern to unwarranted feminist complaints. Any time there’s new Chaykin, there’s cause for celebration. Anytime an Avengers project doesn’t follow the Bendis Expansion Principle or cater to the upcoming and extant film work, it’s got to be worth applauding.

VENGEANCE #3 (Marvel)
Joe Casey must be some kind of madman, since he’s unleashed this madcap superhero adventure and nobody seems to have noticed. “Madcap” is the only way to describe it, and “madman” is the only way to characterize Casey, since there’s no other explanation possible, for work of this quality that has gone completely under the radar. VENGEANCE is one of those comics that hopes readers will somehow be able to keep up, because it proceeds at a breakneck speed, exactly how real superheroes in the traditional comic book sense would probably be operating, with all typical restraints finally loosed. The “Brand New Day” Doctor Octopus is featured here, along with a slew of new heroes. All of it would probably make more sense if I’d read the first two issues first. But the energy is catching.

STAR TREK #1 (IDW)
Mike Johnson and Stephen Molnar make an ideal team to begin the further adventures of the J.J. Abrams-verse, adapting episodes of the original STAR TREK TV series, beginning with “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Introducing Gary Mitchell into this reality is the most interesting aspect of the issue, since this new Trek needs at least one character to draw upon to work properly. It’s a little disappointing that the comic ends up feeling episodic, especially since it’s the first new adventure featuring characters who spent most of their time defining themselves in a fast-paced quest, but if Mitchell is to be our anchor, it’s at least appropriate.

THE FLASH #1 (DC)
I was disappointed to learn, initially, that Geoff Johns wouldn’t be continuing with Barry Allen into the “New 52,” but FLASHPOINT was such a seminal story for the character, it would almost have been a backwards step for Johns to try writing the way he had since FLASH: REBIRTH, since Barry had finally overcome the death of his mother. Francis Manapul, who was Johns’ artist on the last relaunch, instead gets to drive Barry along a kinetic new arc, one that hues to the spirit of the character’s latest incarnation without needing to be mired in the same morass writers not named “Mark Waid” or “Geoff Johns” could sometimes tend to recently. If the “New 52” is all about getting to the heart of its featured characters, then this book is, as it should be, a prime example.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1 (Marvel)
For the second time, the Ultimate line ended a major event with the death of Spider-Man. The difference this time is that it appears to have stuck, with Brian Michael Bendis continuing his adventures with the name, but this time with a different face underneath, the much-publicized Miles Morales. I often seem to criticize Bendis as being something of a hack, but the truth is, I’m simply not invested enough in Marvel to follow his stories, not because they’re too dense but because they require more love for the characters he uses than I have to give. His Ultimate Spider-Man was always an exception; Bendis alone seems to have understood the potential of this line, and that’s no doubt a prime reason for why he’s most identified with it. The chance to redefine Spidey, then, must have been irresistible, after more than a decade setting a new record in more ways than one (not just the Lee-Kirby FANTASTIC FOUR count, but overall dedication to a single character), to add to his legacy by replacing the iconic Peter Parker in the only venue readers would have accepted it as anything but temporary. So how is Miles in reality? His seems to be a story ripped straight from LOST, a youth caught in the middle of a struggle between father figures (or, Walt between the dueling Michael & “Mr. Locke”). This could very well define Brian’s legacy.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1 (DC)
Peter J. Tomasi has gone from editor to one of DC’s most important writers, so it’s no wonder that he’s among the prominent names of the “New 52.” Relaunching the title that sheds a little more expansive light on the Green Lantern mythology, but putting the focus on Guy Gardner and John Stewart, Tomasi uses the opportunity to take a look at their character in ways that haven’t been seen in a while, not just as members of the Corps, but as humans who had regular lives and concerns outside of their identities as role models and heroes. There’s also a quintessential galactic mystery they join their colleagues in discovering, but it’s nice to see Gardner and Stewart receive some attention.

RED LANTERNS #1 (DC)
I had a goal to read all four of the Green Lantern offerings from the “New 52;” this was the one I was most skeptical about, since I wasn’t sure the Red Lanterns deserved their own series above some of the other spectrum corps (how interesting would it have been to follow Saint Walker on a monthly basis?). Peter Milligan, like Geoff Johns, seems to have appreciated Atrocitus as a worthy tragic figure, though, and in this issue even suggests an origin for a human member of this vengeful corps, which may prove the greater hook for the series, once the early issues play out. There’s definite potential in this one.

GREEN LANTERN #1 (DC)
Geoff Johns, the incredibly busy man that he is, stuck around one of his signature series after the big reboot, with the improbable redemptive arc for Sinestro continuing, as he offers a unique bargain with Hal Jordan by the end of this issue. Hal, meanwhile, also does a good job of screwing up his ring-free prospects, including a date with Carol Ferris that ends badly. It may seem redundant for viewers of the recent movie, to have this relationship misfire again, but in the comics, they’ve been apart literally for decades, even though in their first appearances Hal and Carol promised to be typical comic book romance material. Well, all those other relationships eventually ended up in marriage, while this one hasn’t. I have a feeling that Johns is driving at an eventual happy culmination. The one criticism I’ve had of his Green Lantern work is that he’s often had Hal a slave to the latest crisis, but with “War of the Green Lanterns,” he was once again stripped of his duties as space cop, forcing him to resume a normal life. Geoff understands character too well (see his work with Barry Allen) for this to be a coincidence.

SUPREME POWER #4 (Marvel)
Kyle Higgins was announced as the writer of the NIGHTWING “New 52” relaunch, which I initially found underwhelming, since I’ve been a big fan of Dick Grayson for as long as I can remember. If he wasn’t going to be Batman anymore, and reclaimed the Nightwing identity, then I hoped DC would continue to show him the same support he’d gotten as the Dark Knight, when he was written on a monthly basis by Grant Morrison, Scott Snyder, and Tony Daniel. Who’s this Kyle Higgins, anyway? So I eventually found out. Higgins had a number of projects he was working on recently, including this latest iteration of Marvel’s Squadron Supreme. Published under the MAX line, this one’s an adult read, as mainstream superhero comics go, but Higgins seems to have concentrated all his attention on the characters in the story, their psychology. It’s a good indication that Dick Grayson is in good hands.

MISTER TERRIFIC #1 (DC)
This was one I was tremendously excited about, since Michael Holt is one of the most important characters of modern DC comics who hasn’t until this point gotten his own book. Imagine my slight disappointment, then, when writer Eric Wallace spends a cursory among of time establishing Holt’s undernourished backstory, and instead plugs him almost directly into a fairly generic adventure. This isn’t to say that I’ve lost faith in Mister Terrific as a lead character or this series in itself, but that as introductions go, it was probably the least impactful of the “New 52” I’ve had a chance to read. There’s also the whole future son thing and the Power Girl/latent Justice Society connection which prove fruitful, the real upsides of this debut.

BATMAN: GATES OF GOTHAM #5 (DC)
Kyle Higgins again, plus Scott Snyder (again!) revisiting Gotham City’s past, plus famous fathers like Thomas Wayne. As an origin for the Architect, it’s certainly one of the more compelling projects the Batman mini-series pool has developed in recent years, something Paul Dini easily could’ve done in STREETS OF GOTHAM (which I say as a compliment), and serves as a credit to both Higgins and Snyder.

INCREDIBLE HULKS #635 (Marvel)
The last time I read a Hulk comic, it was when Jeph Loeb finally revealed the secret origin of the red version in the franchise’s other ongoing series (strange that there was finally more than one), and I’ve been no great devotee of the jolly green giant, believe me. This issue was really no different, but what made it special was that it was Greg Pak’s last, and through his and Fred Van Lente’s work with Hercules and Amadeus Cho, I’ve come to be a great admirer of Pak’s efforts. There’s a lot of celebratory essays in this one, expounding his legacy on the title, and I confess that I felt kind of bad not having read some of the truly memorable adventures I found recounted. Well, there’s always tomorrow. In the meantime, cheers, Greg Pak!

COBRA #4 (IDW)
One of the bad things about having cancelled my Midtown subscriptions is that I’ve effectively cut off my link to the best G.I. Joe book being published, which was recently relaunched without the enemy’s name in the title. Writer Mike Costa (who began these efforts with Christos Gage, but has been flying solo for a while now) and iconic series artist Antonio Fuso continue their great psychological games with Major Bludd, another key but often underrepresented member of the brood, as the search for the new Cobra Commander continues in the midst of the Cobra Civil War. The impact of this series, through its several incarnations, is so great that it forced the tie-in Civil War arc across IDW’s Joe line, even though its has yet to receive its critical or popular due. I remain an enthusiastic champion, no matter if I read it regularly or not.

WONDER WOMAN #614 (DC)
Phil Hester concludes J. Michael Straczynski’s “Odyssey” in the final issue of the series (I was interested in but missed the “New 52” relaunch). Though still laden with bluster rather than intrigue and development, Hester’s version of the story is more rewardingly detailed, which just begs the question of what he might have done if he’d had free-reign on the franchise. Maybe some day.

SPIDER-MAN: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY (Marvel)
Reprinting ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #33 (in which the Venom saga begins), ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #97 (in which the Ultimate Clone Saga begins), and ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #1 (in which the last reboot began), this is a fine sampler of Brian Michael Bendis’ work as I was indicating earlier, and was no doubt printed with exactly that retrospective aspect in mind.

I have also read and enjoyed ACTION COMICS #1 (with Grant Morrison in full force refashioning the Man of Steel for modern times), BATWING #1 (with truly exceptional art from Ben Oliver), JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 (Geoff Johns and Jim Lee going All Star, as I’ve stated in the past), DETECTIVE COMICS #1 (Tony Daniel introducing a creepy new Batman villain in the most effective way possible), STATIC SHOCK #1 (featuring Scott McDaniel unleashing his full creative force), and STORMWATCH #1 (Paul Cornell melding Martian Manhunter with WildStorm’s Finest).

But, I’m a recovering addict. Really!