What I Bought This Past Week – The Movement #4, Earth 2 #15, Batman #23, Nightwing #23, Fearless Defenders #8, Red Sonja #2 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

…Yeah, I did it again, leave me alone. lol

Before I start, I’m just gonna make it clear, I didn’t buy Batgirl #23, nor will I be. When Batgirl eventually leaves this asinine storyline, I will start buying it again. Others who choose to buy it, feel free. I do not blame any of you and respect your opinions. However, I personally cannot read this. Gail Simone knows why, and I’m just hoping this particular arc doesn’t drag much…That having been said, we DO have some Gail Simone books to look at, so let’s start with The Movement #4.

Okay, looking online, I see that this book has quite a few detractors. I think I kind of get why, but I’m still enjoying the heck out of it. That said, there is something that kinda bugged me about this book, and ironically, it’s regarding my favourite part of it: The back-stories. Specifically, we’re finally getting an idea as to who some of these people are. Mouse was a child born of a wealthy family who connected better to rats than people, so he escaped his home to the sewers. Katharsis was an immigrant who joined the Gotham City Police, but left after she killed a man who got away with assaulting and murdering an immigrant girl. Tremor ran away from home after a car accident with her friends and was enlisted by Amanda Waller to infiltrate The Movement, though later in this book, she tells military officials to tell Waller she quits. Finally, Burden was believed by his VERY religious parents to be possessed by the devil and thus ran away as to not burden their lives. I don’t have a problem with any of these back-stories. My problem is that we should’ve gotten them at least a couple of issues ago, maybe even one or two every issue so that, by this point, we’d be caught up on them all. Still, can’t fault this particular issue for that, and it is showing general improvement of the story-telling. That said, given the number of detractors to this book, I’m sadly expecting to hear any day now that DC is cancelling it, which will be a shame if it happens.

Honestly, not much to say about Earth 2 #15. The JSA fights the Terrors and get their asses kicked, Hawkgirl follows the bread-trail of clues regarding Sam’s murder to a place where she gets caught in a net, and Mister Miracle and Big Barda fight Fury while some of Miracle’s back-story is explained, only to be interrupted by Red Tornado. Granted, everything looks really awesome, and there isn’t really fault to it, it’s just that, overall, not much happened. Surprisingly, I find the next big arc they’re moving toward to be a bit more interesting, and that’s taking place AFTER James Robinson leaves, so…Huh? Me confused now.

Batman #23…Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have finally brought us to THAT point in the story. No, he’s not in the costume yet. Before that. That moment where he’s sitting in the chair, and he’s speaking to the ghost of his father, and sees the dark figure, and says “Yes, Father. I shall become a bat.” Also, the Red Hood Gang leader’s motivations are explained a bit more, we get some genuine goodness out of Alfred and Edward Nygma. If I had a single problem with this book, it’s simply that Snyder seems to be having some trouble deciding if Batman: Year One is still in canon with this story, or if Zero Year is the replacement origin for Batman. I honestly don’t care which he decides, although looking at how the scene with the bat is depicted…Yeah, it’s the new origin for the New 52 Batman. And again, I don’t care. I know a lot of people LOVE Year One, but personally, you’re not gonna hear me weep over the fact that Frank Miller’s take on Batman’s origins that also showed Selina Kyle as a prostitute and Jim Gordon as an adulterer has been retconned (although I hope the better parts of the story, of which there are still plenty, manage to pop up).

Before I talk about Nightwing #23, I wanna share a revelation I’ve had recently. I finally figured out what it is I love so much about the Nightwing book in its current setting and plot: It honestly reminds me a lot of Spider-man before they ruined Spider-man. Think about it: Snarky and acrobatic superhero with a complicated love life and a tragic childhood fights to protect a city that isn’t 100% sure whether to trust him or not. Hell, even the red on his upper torso and arms kinda makes his costume resemble Spider-man’s a little bit. Although, I should probably be careful saying stuff like this. Otherwise, instead of his constant attempts to kill off Dick Grayson, Dan Didio might just decide to force Kyle Higgins to write a story where Dick sells out his loved ones to the devil.

Anyway, getting back to Nightwing #23, it continues to be a great read. Nightwing is fighting to protect the people of Chicago, but he’s clearly beginning to run on fumes, as he’s apparently been doing this for several days. Then again, he might’ve gotten a booster from the red-head he saves who gives him a big one on the lips (What IS it with you and red-heads, Richard? Barbara, Starfire, you even had a crush on Batwoman for a while). Meanwhile, the Mayor’s denying the allegations of the Prankster, even though his own men have pretty much figured out the truth of it all, but in the end, Prankster ups the game a bit by apparently kidnapping the Mayor. However, despite all this, the single last person in the world that Nightwing would ever expect to give him aid offers to help stop Prankster: Tony Zucco, the man who murdered Dick’s parents, and the very reason Nightwing came to Chicago in the first place…So tell me something, Dick, IS it like a free ride when you’ve already paid? lol

So after Fearless Defenders #7 a couple of weeks back, I was kinda confused, so I checked in with Cullen Bunn on Twitter to figure out exactly what had happened to Annabelle and Valkyrie. To quote his exact words, he said “They switch, like Don Blake and Thor….but there are some twists to how it works.” And before anyone asks, no, Valkyrie is NOT already hosting a body, as to again quote Bunn, “She’s just herself these days, I guess, ever since she was ‘reborn’ post Ragnarok.” Anyway, this is kind of a filler done-in-one book, but a good one. Plenty of great scenes, and a lot of references that got a laugh outta me like Misty Knight in the intro page talking about how Tumblr was pretty upset over Valkyrie killing Annabelle. Also, apparently Elsa Bloodstone, the monster hunter, is now a member of the team, and we get some info regarding the forming Doom Maidens. All in all, good stuff.

Red Sonja #2, and HOLY SHIT. Again, this is clearly Gail Simone being allowed to write whatever the frak she wants, and it is GLORIOUS. Although, there’s one scene that makes me wonder if she inherited Scott Snyder’s fear of horses. lol Anyway, we get some more glimpses of her time spent at the arena, fighting for her life, until only she and her now opponent, Annisia, were the last girls left. They managed to escape that fate, but now they’re on opposing sides, Annisia motivated by the ghosts of their fallen comrades at the arena that only she can see and may not even be real. Anyway, long story short, it turns out Red Sonja has the plague, and she surrenders to save the lives of the people she’s protecting, but Annisia has her marked and exiled to the snowy mountains to wait out the last of her days…Yeah, somehow, I don’t expect this badass to die to something like the plague. 🙂

Anyway, that’s all I bought this past week. I’m thinking from here on out, I may need to change the layout of how I do my recaps of what I buy every Wednesday, but as far as next week goes, we’ll see Supergirl taking on Cyborg Superman some more, we’ll see Superman battling the alien kept underground by the military, we’ll see the X-Men prepare for Battle of the Atom, and we’ll see Batman teaming up with Nightwing and…Robin?! See you guys then! Ja né!

Related articles

• New comics day! (thebeardygeek.wordpress.com)
• CCI Announcement: Dynamite releasing a female-led Red Sonja mini-series (perspectivecomics.wordpress.com)
• ‘Arrow’ Execs Still Want to Add Nightwing (comicvine.com)
• EXCLUSIVE: Brett Booth Joins “Batman/Superman” in November (comicbookresources.com)
• Batman #23 (comicvine.com)
• This Week’s Essential Comics: 08/12/13 (comicvine.com)
• Gail Simone’s Red Sonja #2 Review (comichype.com)
• The New 52 Nightwing costume (nightwingcostume.wordpress.com)
• Batgirl and Nightwing to tie-in to Zero Year (comicsbeat.com)
• CCI EXCLUSIVE: Liu Joins Simone’s “Legends of Red Sonja” Superstar Roster (comicbookresources.com)