New 52

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1

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red-hood-and-the-outlaws-1-coverOf all the the issues set for the DC Reboot this was one that caught my interest. Here are three characters who, each in their own way, had been abused by the old DCU. I was curious to find out what the New 52 versions might look at. And you know what? I’ll admit, I kinda like it.

The first half of the issue centers around the Red Hood and Starfire breaking Roy Harper out a military prison in Qurac and getting reacquainted. First off let me say I like this version of Jason Todd far more than Grant Morrison‘s (and thankfully his additions to the character have been ignored here). I also felt the inner-monologue of each of the three characters worked well.

Some might object to this version of Starfire, but she’s always been hyper-sexual and at least writer Scott Lobdell’s explanation for her behavior (that as an alien she sees humans as roughly all the same and has a far less puritan view of sex than anyone who watches FOX News) makes more sense than the childish version we’ve seen before. And, thankfully, Roy Harper is in far better shape then we last saw him before the Reboot.

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Nightwing #1

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nightwing-1-coverAfter being disappointed with Dectective Comics #1 and Batgirl #1 (and to a lesser extent Batman and Robin #1) this week seems to be the one where the Bat-books start to make their comeback. Dick Grayson is out of the Bat-suit and back as Nightwing but writer Kyle Higgins makes sure that Dick’s time as Batman wasn’t wasted.

The issue is broken into three parts. The first involves Nightwing taking down a low-rent thug while thinking over his return to the role of Nightwing. This works well to reintroduce readers to the characters as well as a pleasant reminder that Dick’s time under the cowl hasn’t been lost in the DC Reboot.

The second-half of the story, however, was the one that the most pleasant surprise. When I heard the first issue had to do with Dick returning to the circus I was less than enthused. Haley’s Circus returns to Gotham for the first time since the Flying Graysons last performance and Dick’s conflicted feelings about making an appearance remind us, for all his differences, Dick does have a few things in common with Bruce Wayne.

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Birds of Prey #1

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birds-of-prey-v3-1-coverFor the first time since 2003 the regular writer of Birds of Prey is not named Gail Simone. As part of DC’s New 52 writer Duane Swierczynski takes over a team that, quite frankly, has seen better days.

The recent run of the title never matched the heights of the first volume and, although I love Gail Simone, I wasn’t opposed to giving someone else a shot at the title. Sadly, this isn’t what I had in mind.

Not only does Barbara Gordon‘s return as Batgirl throw Stephanie Brown under the proverbial bus but it leaves a huge hole to be filled on a title that centered around her as Oracle. The comic was about the relationship between Babs and Black Canary, and started clicking on all cylinders with the inclusion of the Huntress (and great supporting characters like Zinda Blake).

Although Black Canary is present here (in another puzzling costume redesign that makes me nostalgic for any of other costumes – even her Justice League look), the Huntress isn’t part of the team and Babs is present only a token appearance.

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Batman and Robin #1

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batman-and-robin-1-coverOne of the relationships taken away with the DC Reboot was that of the Dick Grayson as Batman with Damian Wayne‘s Robin. In its place DC relaunches the title with writer Peter Tomasi who gives us the first issue of Damian teamed up with the original Batman, his father, Bruce Wayne.

Since we last saw him it appears Damian has devolved a bit back into confrontational character minus the progress that he had made over the course of the last year as a partner for Batman.

Tomasi does give us a couple of good exchanges between Batman and son but it’s going to take a while for this relationship to work itself out (much like the Dick/Damian relationship in the previous title). The challenge is both of these characters are sullen, and neither has Dick Grayson’s humor to balance the other out.

The rest of the story deals with Batman putting the demons of Crime Alley to rest and the introduction of a new villain named Nobody who wants nothing more than to erase Batman’s mark on the world.

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Red Lanterns #1

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Although I’ve been a Green Lantern fan for almost my entire life (aside from those dark days known as the Ron Marz years) I had no intention of picking up the first issue of Red Lanterns. Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns burst onto the scene in Final Crisis and (along with the other colors of the rainbow all given their own power rings) have been a big part of Green Lantern comics ever since.

Unlike the Green Lantern Corps, the Red Lanterns use their rage and anger to fuel their rings. Their leader, Atrocitus, blames the Guardians of the Universe for the destruction of his home sector of space. Now that Hal Jordan has killed Krona, the Guardian responsible for the massacre, the leader of an army bloodthirsty killers with hate-fueled wish rings finds himself at an impasse.

Over the last two-thirds of the comic writer Peter Milligan does a fairly good job going over the events surrounding the Red Lanterns and bringing new readers up to speed. It’s the opening story, however, that made me pick this issue up.

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