New 52

Batman #5

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batman-new-52-5-coverAlthough I haven’t been the biggest fan of Scott Snyder’s “Court of Owls” storyline I do think this issue, which picks up eight days after the end of last month’s issue, works well. Drugged and trapped in the labrynith of the Court of Owls, Batman struggles to keep his sanity while his friends and confidants wait for the missing Dark Knight Detective to reappear.

The structure of the book, the art starts to revolve from vertical, to horizontal, to upside down story-telling, works well with Snyder’s tale of a Batman is slowly loosing his grip on reality but is still unwilling to give up or give in.

Although I don’t think it’s a great Batman story, it is well-told, with some strong artwork by Greg Capullo, and begins and ends with a couple of really nice moments such as the opening pages featuring Batman’s friends wondering what has become of their hero and the comic’s final panels which (finally) give us a glimpse that Damian may be more than the rebooted spoiled little shit we’ve seen so far. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Green Lantern #5

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Hal Jordan and Sinestro‘s partnership comes to an end as the pair are able to successfully free Sinestro’s homeworld of Korugar from his Sinestro Corps. Sinestro is good to his word by allowing Jordan to keep a ring, but returns him to Earth without the ability to charge it.

Once again writer Geoff Johns gives us a good Sinestro story but at the cost of Hal Jordan looking more and more like a chump. For a writer who has gone on record as how much he likes Jordan as a character, Johns sure has a lot of fun showcasing how little he knows about using his ring.

I’m not sure any character in the New 52 has fallen as far in terms of stature in his own title as Hal Jordan has. Seriously, why is Johns so intent on turning Hal Jordan into Kyle Rayner – a character who got the ring out of chance and has still never mastered it? Although I like the title, and I’m glad to see that the Hal/Carol relationship is as co-dependent as ever, I’d like for Hal to actually feel like the hero of old. Where is the universe’s greatest Green Lantern? Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Justice League International #5

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justice-league-international-new-52-5-coverIssue #5 gives us the big showdown between the Justice League International and Peraxxus, the weird Galactus-lookin’ spice miner planning to blow up the world with four giant robots and sell off the mineral debris to the highest bidder.

Honestly, the story arc could have been wrapped up last issue, but things work out well here as the team comes together to save the planet and prove that this whole JLI thing might not be such a bad idea.

No, it’s still not as good as Keith Giffen‘s fabulous run on the title, but writer Dan Jurgens is starting to put these pieces together and focus on the relationships in this hodge-podge of heroes from many nations. He’s even got me caring about August General in Iron and Godiva. Now if someone could retrofit Booster Gold‘s costume to its pre-New 52 days!

The opening arc hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t had the huge ups and downs of the less consistent Justice League, either. The final panel makes me thing we’ll soon see another old friend from the Giffen days as well. Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

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Stormwatch #5

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stormwatch-5-coverThe Earth may be safe but things aren’t looking any better for Stormwatch. The team’s leader, Adam One, is killed and abducted (in that order) by an Agent of the Shadow Cabinet and one of the team’s own will turn traitor and put all of their lives at risk.

The comic works best when it keeps the dialogue, especially the awkward conversations between Apollo and Midnighter, to a minimum. Thankfully the episode begins with tumult involving the newly chosen leader of the team and ends with a pretty good fight over multiple pages between the Midnighter and the Eminence of Blades.

Stormwatch isn’t a great comic but, at least for one more month, it’s done just enough to get me coming back to see where it’s headed. I want to see more of the Engineer, see Jenny Quantum grow into her role, and find out how the comic plans to use the Martian Manhunter. Despite some dreadful writing in spots (and some spotty art here and there) the final page cliffhanger will bring me back for issue #6. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Birds of Prey #4

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birds-of-prey-new-52-4-coverIt takes more than half the issue but Batgirl finally joins the team. The addition of Batgil may mean good things for the future of the comic but it doesn’t do much to help out here as the story is still stuck in neutral with invisible ninja assassins and super-secret scientists planting bombs in peoples heads.

Birds of Prey is a comic I want to like but now for four months it’s given me little reason to do so. The addition of Batgirl isn’t the only change that needs to be made on this title. We still know next to nothing about Starling, Katana remains a one-note character, and I don’t see how Babs sticks around for a team that includes Poison Ivy as one of its members.

The good news is Batgirl works well here, especially with Black Canary. It’s good to see the Babs/Dinah team back together. Now if we can just figure out a way to get Zinda Blake and the Huntress to replace Poison Ivy and Katana we might, might have something. Hit-and-Miss.

[DC, $2.99]

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