Welcome back.  Trailers, announcements, and great books this week.  Plus for the first, I make a book vanish from my mind.  Which one was it?  Read below to find out in Spandex and Capes!

Review List
May 17th, 2015

“So if you create a world in your image, isn’t it Doomed from the start?”
– R. Richards

PREVIOUSLY…

Upfronts: So the upfronts have been happening and the big news out for comic book fans were the trailers for Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow.  And they look fantastic.  DC continues to put out quality TV in such a way that makes me question their movie strategy.  I think they should give up on movies and take the Justice League to HBO as a Game of Thrones type series.   Meanwhile, TNT is still planning on doing Titans, they’re just taking their dear sweet time to bring Dick Grayson the respect he deserves.

Make Mine Mar… Fox: In movie news, Fox continues to grow the X-men, despite their best attempts to kill it, as they announce the spin off movie: The New Mutants.  My guess is this won’t be the team you want, but made up of popular characters that don’t fit the current continuum of their movies.

Dropping the Bomb… Shell: And finally, DC has announced another round of Bombshell covers (with men this time) and a new on-going digital series.  It will be interesting to see if the series takes the approach of the Ani-Con Girls or if it will incorporate these new male Bombshell designs.

 

REVIEWS

Convergence #6 (DC)
By Jeff King and Scott Lobdell with art by Ed Benes and Eduardo Pansica
The New 52 timeline enters Convergence as the planet Telos pushes its way back into the timeline.  Meanwhile, Telos himself takes a back seat to the new series villain Demios – who I don’t think is the last villain this series will have.  We also finally get to the promise of this series as the various timelines begin to meet and interact.  The interesting thing to me the Pre-52 Superman – the one who everyone immediately turns to and says “Hey, what should we do?”  Apparently, even across worlds, this Superman is the first and greatest.  I’m hoping that at some point, he can give a pep talk to the New 52 Superman.  I think he needs it.  By the end issue, we have two camps – those who will fight Deimos and those who will follow him.  While a big fight scene next issue will be cool, I hope the series doesn’t devolve into a big long fight scene.

Convergence: Superboy #2 (DC)
By Fabian Nicieza with art by Karl Moline
Give me this Superboy book every week and I’d happy.  Mr. Nicieza captures the essence of the 90s Superboy down to the desire to prove himself worthy of the “Superman” title.  The youthful inexperience and uncertainty is also present in Superboy – we get so used to heroes knowing exactly what they’re doing, we forgot that young ones like Superboy and Robin can make mistakes.  And Superboy’s ultimate decision to give up and let the more experienced heroes try to take on Telos – it speaks of the hero he would become.   It was also nice to see that moment when Lois Lane and Superman connected – even separate by years, they still connected, even if for an instance.  Once more, DC shows that it’s only a matter of time before Lois and Clark are back together.  Overall, this was an excellent book and I want more Superboy from Mr. Nicieza.

Secret Wars #2 (Marvel)
By Jonathan Hickman with art by Esad Ribic
Damn.  You could write a book on the different ways this… Battleworld is different from our own.  What you have to wonder is how much of it is actually Doom’s doing and how much of it is Doom trying his best with what was left?  I can’t see him intentionally grabbing Ultron or the Marvel Zombies, but I can see him putting up a wall to protect those he considers his people.  Another question is where is Doom getting all of this power from?  We have a lot of questions for just two issues in and I hope we actually see the answers before the series is over for a majority of them.  One point of interest though – was that Franklin sitting the fiery Galactus’s hand?   Also if that was the 1610’s raft, where are the heroes from the 616?

 

Astro City #23 (DC); Batman ‘66 #60 (DC); Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier #8 (Marvel); Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #8 (Marvel); Captain Marvel #15 (Marvel); Convergence: Aquaman #2 (DC); Convergence: Batman – Shadow of the Bat #2 (DC); Convergence: Catwoman #2 (DC); Convergence: Green Arrow #2 (DC); Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax #2 (DC); Convergence: Justice League International #2 (DC); Convergence: Suicide Squad #2 (DC); Convergence: Superman – Man of Steel #2 (DC); Darth Vader #5 (Marvel); Howard the Duck #3 (Marvel); Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Four #2 (DC); Legendary Star-Lord #12 (Marvel); Magneto #18 (Marvel); The Mantle #1 (Image); Mortal Kombat X #19 (DC); Ms. Marvel #15 (Marvel); Savior #2 (Image); Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman #34 (DC); Silk #4 (Marvel); Spider-Man 2099 #12 (Marvel); Storm #11 (Marvel);

 

Thor #8 (Marvel)
By Jason Aaron with art by Russell Dauterman
So, in 1991, DC Comics published a crossover event call “Armageddon 2001” – it was big mystery series, but just before the release of its last issue, the identity of the villain was leaked.  In response to that leak, DC Comics made decision to change the villain into someone different.  This went about as well as you would expect when you change things at the last minute and even at 11, I knew something was off about the story.  So what does that have to do with “Thor #8”?  Well, I get same feeling off this issue as I did off the end of that series.  While, it could be true that Jane Foster was always to be the new Thor, none of the clues pointed in that direction.  I think that originally either the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Solomon or Freya.  However, I think the internet guesses it way too quickly, so modifications to the story were made.  I think the break of Secret Wars will help them sort out what they want to do next, but I really don’t think this was the plan from the beginning.

 

 

Convergence: Supergirl #2 (DC)
By Keith Giffen with art by Timothy Green II
So I thought a lot about what to say about this book that crapped over one of my favorite characters.  I thought about how much I’ve enjoyed Mr. Giffen other work over the years and I wonder how he got this character so goddamn wrong.  I thought about cutting and pasting my previous review to here.  But finally I settled on this:  F*** IT.  This book never happen.  I will not keep it, read it, or discuss ever again.  As far as I’m concerned, when they did Convergence – they left my Supergirl out of it.

 

Peek Reviews

Action Comics
By Aaron Kuder and Greg Pak with art by Aaron Kuder
THIS LOOKS AWESOME!  Mr. Pak continues to inject a feeling of horror deep into the invulnerable muscles of this character and I haven’t’ been this excited for Superman in a few years.
Verdict: I’m picking this one up – the question is “why aren’t you”?

Aquaman
By Cullen Bunn with art by Trevor McCarthy
This was all right – it did a lot of set-up, but ultimately this didn’t pull me in enough.  I don’t believe that Mera would be after him without good reason.  And I didn’t like that Aquaman killed a soldier without much thought.  I did like the new costume – though I don’t think it will last.
Verdict: I’ll get it in trade.

Bat-Mite
By Dan Jurgens with art by Corin Howell
This was highly amusing – but not for me.  I barely need one issue of Bat-Mite, let alone six.
Verdict: I’ll pass, but recommend it to kids.

Bizarro
By Heath Corson with art by Gustavo Duarte
Nope.  Not for me and the art style is awful.
Verdict: I’m out on this one.

Deathstroke
By Tony Daniel with art by Peter Nguyen
So the young Deathstroke stays and apparently goes all “God of War” for a bit.  It’s an interesting idea, but not one that I’ll follow.
Verdict: I’ll pick it up in trade

Dr. Fate
By Paul Levitz with art by Sonny Liew
I’ve always had a soft spot for Dr. Fate.  And while this mainly sets up the new mantle wearer – I think I’ll give it try.  The big question is what Earth is this?
Verdict: I’ll try it out for the first arc

Gotham by Midnight
By Ray Fawkes with art by Andrea Sorrentino
I liked the first run and this seemed to be a reintroduction into the status quo.  Nothing much changed.
Verdict: I’ll pick it up in trade

Green Lantern: Lost Army
By Cullen Bunn with art by Jesus Saiz
Unlike the Green Lantern preview this book left me wanting to skip this mini-series.  The problem is once they find their way home, the book is over.
Verdict: I’m out on this one.

Justice League 3001
By J.M Dematteis and Keith Giffen with art by Howard Porter
I am honestly surprised this book made it to the relaunch.  I didn’t care for the first run and it doesn’t look like I’ll care for this.
Verdict: Not really for me.

Lobo
By Cullen Bunn with art by Cliff Richards
While the concept of Lobo going up against Sinestro is intriguing, it’s not intriguing enough for me to get this on a regular basis.
Verdict: Not for me.