Blog Archives
What I Didn’t Buy Yesterday (And Why I Should Have/Shouldn’t Have) – Justice League #20, Batman: The Dark Knight #20, Batman: Li’l Gotham #2 (WARNING – SPOILERS)
So let’s talk about some books that I didn’t buy yesterday, why I should have/shouldn’t have, and ultimately why I didn’t. Let’s start off with Justice League #20.
First off, I only briefly skimmed through this book, and while I’m usually good on picking up details, I may have missed a couple here or there, so if you wanna know the full deal, read the book yourself. Anyway, we get to see the three newbies (Firestorm, Element Woman, and The Atom) take on DESPERO, of all people, who has the Kryptonite ring stolen from the Batcave last month, although he himself didn’t steal it, and it’s been altered to fit his giant fingers. However, while Despero is able to plough through them easily enough, he has less than stellar results when Martian Manhunter makes a surprise arrival at the Watchtower, telling Atom not to reveal that he was there after dispatching Despero, so she has to tell the other Leaguers that she managed to fluke her way into taking him down. After recovering the ring, we learn that, yes, in this continuity, Superman is still the one that gave the Kryptonite ring to Batman, just in case something happened where he was mind controlled or turned to evil or for whatever reason he might be forced to power Supes down. However, he’s less than thrilled when he finds out that there’s a box in the Batcave for each member of the League, each containing a fail-safe for each one. It’s at this point that Batman tells him other reason he doesn’t like the idea of him and Wonder Woman dating, as he shows Clark Diana’s box to reveal there’s nothing inside (shut up, don’t make that joke). Instead, should the need arise, Batman chose Superman to be his fail-safe against Wonder Woman, should the need arise. However, to keep things even, Batman hands him another box: The one containing the fail-safe against Batman, and insists that if Clark is truly his friend, he’ll use it on him if he’s ever turned rogue. We don’t see the contents, but whatever it was, it shocked Superman pretty bad.
So getting back to Rhonda Pineda, the new Atom, I’ve REALLY been enjoying her as a character. She’s smart, witty, and kind of a geek, as she apparently spends her free time shrinking down to enter and play MMORPGs. And yeah, as I made no attempt to conceal, I find her kind of hot, too… … …She’s the mole. She’s the one that hacked the Watchtower database and downloaded the entire history of the Justice League. It’s not entirely her fault, though. She doesn’t want to continue doing this, but she’s being made to. Turns out, she’s a member of the JLA, picked out to be the counter for Element Woman, and forced to do Amanda Waller‘s work.
So yeah, why didn’t I buy this issue? Mostly that, plus money, plus the Shazam mini-story that is, as per the norm, terrible. And I’m just gonna say this now: I’m dropping Justice League of America. Why? Well, remember how I said this book was headed to a not-very-fun place? I’m sorry, but it’s clear to me that the plot of this is essentially Suicide Squad with superheroes, except that some of the heroes on the team aren’t being written to be all that heroic. Just some free advice: When the most heroic members of the team are Vibe, Stargirl, and Steve Trevor, that’s a problem. Why? Because Steve isn’t even a superhero, Stargirl isn’t even an active member of the team and instead being made to work as their public face, and Vibe, while his reintroduction in the reboot has been pretty awesome, is still kinda young and feels out of place at times, like he should’ve been on Titans or something. Oh, and it gets better, because they’ve decided to BRING BACK DOCTOR LIGHT! No no, not the good one, the fucking rapist!…DOCTOR COX, I NEED YOU AGAIN!
THANK YOU, DOCTOR COX! Just…Geoff Johns, NO! Just, NO! I respect the hell outta you, and of course am sad to hear that yer leaving Green Lantern, but NO! There are characters that should be brought back and given a second chance, and there are freaks like this that need to remain dead and buried! NO!
Batman: The Dark Knight #20. First off, I wanna apologise to someone who shall remain nameless due to a pretty bad argument/discussion that broke out last night over this issue. But I digress, for all of the bad this series has had, this issue is the worst of all, and makes me so glad I dropped it a year ago. The story is pretty much crap, with Bruce continuing to grade to the point where he as a character is only motivated to make his life better by flashbacks of his parents, and Alfred actually starts talking him into considering hanging it up as Batman. But what makes me despise this issue more than any other? Well, remember that time I brought up the stupidity of Batman revealing his true identity to Natalya, the love interest no one cares about?
Related articles
- Batman: The Dark Knight Rises #18…….Wut? (jygersrant.wordpress.com/)
She’s dead. Oh, and not just dead, but she got the crap kicked out of her by Mad Hatter’s goons and then dropped out of a helicopter straight down onto the Bat Signal (see what I meant about symbolism?)…Y’know, I’ve mentioned before that I wasn’t an active reader before the relaunch, but I’ve heard some pretty sick tales of characters treated like this in comics, particularly women. And frankly, I am sick to death of seeing this shit!
And finally, that leads to Batman: Li’l Gotham #2.
So what are my thoughts on it?…None. Kinda the reason why I didn’t buy it: It was sold out by the time I got to the store. But I’m hoping to get an issue of it soon enough, and then I’ll share my thoughts with y’all…I will say that, even without reading it, it automatically gets points for having Damian in it, alive and well.
So that’s what I did not buy yesterday, though hopefully I buy one of them sooner than later. Leave your comments below, and I will see y’all next time. Ja né!
What I Bought Today – Batman #20, Batman and Robin #20 (Batman and Red Hood), JLA #3 (WARNING – SPOILERS) + DC Universe Online Update + Changes to Comics I’ll Be Buying
So I got a LOT I need to cover today, so let’s just start off by looking at…
I bought three comics, one fun, one kinda depressing, and one…well, I’ll get to that. Let’s begin with the fun one, Batman #20.
I feel so bad for Clayface. Poor Karlo had this perfect frakking plan, and it all fell apart before his very eyes, though not for the reason I thought. Clayface’s plot was to become Bruce Wayne and cause crimes, which would get Batman’s attention in a hurry, and then he was going to make contact with Batman’s skin, thus becoming whoever Batman was under the cowl. Well, it seemingly works, and right in front of Gordon and his men, but it turns out Batman’s wearing a fibre mask under his cowl coated with the DNA of Bruce Wayne (which is actually his own, if yer following along) in order to sort of trick Clayface. Meanwhile, Clayface is now stuck in a light-screen panic room that can only be opened by the one man who Clayface doesn’t have the sufficient DNA to assume the form of: His own. Also, HOLY SHIT, Batman Beyond!
…Man, the writers for DC must REALLY love Batman Beyond, between this and Batwing, and I’ll explain that in a later post.
Batman and Red Hood, AKA the anger phase…Umm, Bruce is a serious asshole in this comic. I know that’s probably the intent, so points there, but he is a SERIOUS asshole to Carrie Kelley, who comes looking for Damian (turns out he was paying her for acting classes, likely after the thing with Alfred in Batman and Robin Annual #1). He then recruits Jason Todd to go hunting bounty hunters who had previously come looking to collect on Damian, during which Batman INTENTIONALLY CRIPPLES THEIR HANDS FOR LIFE. And from there, it gets even better, because then he takes Jason to the place where he’d died all those years ago, hoping it would jar his memory and help him learn the method for bringing Damian back…So his plan is to make Jason remember the worst day of his entire existence so he can learn to use a method that is probably highly unethical and dangerous as shit to raise the dead. Again, Bruce is an asshole, and Jason pretty much spells it out like it is and punches him out, leaving for Red Hood and the Outlaws #19 (LET’S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!).
JLA #3…Yeah, I might be dropping this book in a month or two. There’s still some fun to be had with it, and I don’t blame a single person who wants to stick with it, but unless I’ve missed my guess, I can see where this book is going, and it’s not a happy place. Basically, Amanda Waller is forcing Stargirl to be their public face person and not allowing her to go on missions, Martian Manhunter appears downright diabolical or just needing serious emotional help sometimes, Simon Baz STILL has not shown up, and Green Arrow is pretty much bribing his way onto the Justice League of America by agreeing not to tell people Catwoman is on the team. Oh, about that? There was some confusion over the fact that the plot the JLA had in Catwoman #19 hinged on the Secret Society not knowing Catwoman was on the team, which made no sense since she was with them on their mission in this issue and the previous one. Thing is, though, apparently Vibe’s powers make it so that the robots occupying the location they went to couldn’t relay visuals of the team back to the Society, so yes, #19 of Catwoman actually DOES make sense…but it still sucks. lol
Anyway, that’s all for what I bought, but there’s something I gotta address. Like I said, I may be dropping JLA, but it won’t be the only book I drop. Obviously, one other book I’m for sure going to stop buying soon is Batman Incorporated, since the book is ending in July. However, in addition to that, I think I may be dropping Batwoman in favour of Supergirl. No offence to the character, but the story itself has gotten kinda iffy with me, and I just find Supergirl to be more solidly written with more interesting villains. I’ll still be following along with what happens, and if anything noteworthy pops up, I’ll let you guys know about it, but otherwise, I’m pretty sure I’m done with it. Also, don’t think I’ll be picking up Red Hood and the Outlaws again, though there is a MASSIVE improvement in the quality of the stories for anyone who would like to, and I’m thinking that when Batman Incorporated ends its run, I may decide to start buying Batwing.
As for DC Universe Online, I cannot play it. Why? Well, first off, the disc didn’t work right, which may or may not have to do with the fact that apparently Sony has been giving the game away to download for free…OY…On top of that, it seems that my graphics card and processor are both unable to handle the game. Good news is, if I ever get a new computer, I know where to find the game for free. So really, not a big loss.
So that’s all for today. Next week, we check in on Batgirl following the horrific events of last month, we see how Nightwing’s handling the change of scenery, and we find out how Supergirl is handling the whole her-own-base-is-trying-to-kill-her thing. Ja né!