52 in 3D and Some Spoilers

Isis broke in half after I tried to move her legs. The top half just separated from the bottom half. Has anyone else gotten her? Has it happened to yours?

Of course, I read 52 52 on the way home. Wow. 52 means a lot of things. 52 weeks, 52 seconds, 52 Earths. Multiverse? Nah. Megaverse! This was ultimately in the hands of Rip Hunter and Booster Gold and Booster's ancestor, Daniel. Mr. Mind got his comeuppance, but could still become a threat.

Seeing the ghostly Ralph and Sue at the end was a nice touch. And I couldn't believe how teary-eyed I got at Skeets' sacrifice and then, his resurrection.

The art was nice and the wraparound cover was a treat. I love that one of the Earths was the Wildstorm 'verse. Another nice bit:

Rip Hunter: "...There's an oncoming future where this moment is remembered as the beginning of Booster Gold's glory years and the dawn of something called the megaverse..."

Booster Gold's Glory Years. Let's contemplate that for a moment. Now, I'm really looking forward to the Booster comic later this year.

And I'm already suffering from 52 withdrawal.



So, where's the Renee/Question figure? I'd love to get that. Of course, I also want the Secret Six in action figures.

The Missing Year

In 52 Week 51, we learn what 52 refers to, and it isn't pretty. Well, one of things. A few threads reach a conclusion, it seems. Adam Strange is reunited with his family and gets a new pair of eyes, Buddy is reunited with his family, and Kory is back on Earth and returns Buddy's jacket. Ellen Baker is a very understanding wife.

Donna is Wonder Woman, Diana is playing agent in a job Bruce set up for her and Clark likes her glasses. In a nice splash illo across the top 2/3 of 2 pages, Power Girl is front and center. Nice to see a woman featured that way, but when her breasts and thighs are the prominent features (geez, that makes her sound like a chicken), the effect is a bit diluted. And the prominent butts are Liberty Belle (it looks like) and Star Girl. There's a decent crotch shot for Martian Manhunter, but that's it for male objectification.

Tim's got a new uniform with colors to honor Kon, Rose is obsessing, and Kid Devil asks her to intro him to Robin. Morrow is used to trap Skeets, who isn't really Skeets, anymore (ick on the description of that), and once again, Rip and Booster are a tad late as... well, that would be spoiling things. But the final issue of this yearlong romp promises to be fun. A nice little JLA origin 2-pager rounds out the issue. The editorial in this week's books honors the late (I hate saying that) Marshall Rogers.

In the Outsiders Annual, which continues the storyline from the Outsiders book, we learn that the team breaks Jefferson Pierce and Boomerang Jr out of prison, with Shift killing a lot of people by accident, sorta, and he can't live with the guilt, and grief over Indigo and Jade, so he merges back into Metamorpho, which explains why Rex and Boomer are now in the Outsiders. We also learn why the team is presumed dead, except for Roy and Dick and we see Roy quitting. He and Dick are on good terms, which was something I'd wondered about.

So, let's recap for a moment on the missing year as played out in 52 and filled in gradually in many OYL books. Events like Selina Kyle's pregnancy didn't affect other books and therefore, I haven't included them.

• Donna Troy becomes Wonder Woman at the end of the missing year.
• At the end of the Crisis, Ollie as Green Arrow was grievously injured and with Conor and Mia along, spent many months recovering and then retraining on a private island. Roy stayed, well, in the US, somewhere, I guess.
• When Ollie returns, near the end of the missing year, or maybe halfway through, he puts some plans into motion and runs for mayor.
  
• At the end of the Crisis, Dick Grayson as Nightwing was also critically injured and after being treated, as told in the recent Nightwing Annual, was nursed back to health by Babs, then went off with Bruce and Tim for some R&R. At some point, Bruce and Tim go off on their own so Bruce can spend time in a cave, finding himself.
• I believe it's during the just concluded war that Hal Jordan, sans power ring, was captured, spending time as a POW.
• Jefferson Pierce, under an assumed name, goes to prison for a murder he believes he committed.
• Jason Todd starts playing Nightwing with Dick out of town.
• Roy quits the Outsiders after the prison break fiasco. With Dick with the team, this must come late in the missing year, because Dick spent the first half or so first recovering from his injuries, then off with Bruce and Tim. So the Outsiders must've been busy with missions without him until the prison break storyline. But the issues leading up the annual made it seem like this all came much earlier after the Crisis. In either case, just what the hell has Roy been doing when he wasn't fighting baddies?

Have I missed anything vital? Is there an official timeline available for all this? How about an unofficial one?

52 51, which was much better than the Outsiders Annual, ended thusly:

Booster: "Where are we going?"
Rip Hunter: "Back. Back to where it all started."

So, could this mean changing what happened in the missing year. But we know that can't happen, not for everything. Hal, OYL, was still a POW. Selina still had a baby. Donna became Wonder Woman for a while. Dick was hurt, did spend time recovering with Babs, and did lead the Outsiders into a deep undercover op. Ollie did become mayor. I doubt DC would negate the OYL books and the 2 recent annuals, so if the past is changed, perhaps the status quo now remains, but the path to it changes? Or maybe Rip has something other than changing history in mind. Between 52 #52 and the 52 action figures coming out next week, it's going to be a long 7 days til then.

52, the Multiverse, Retconning, and Death in the DCU

52 42: A Review

Do not read if you do not want this issue spoiled. This is the only WARNING I'll give. :)

"Because, Faust... ...I'm a detective."

With that one line, Ralph Dibny became, once again, the character I loved when I was a kid. Ralph and Sue were the perfect couple and Ralph had a good heart, the best ethics, a joy in life and what he did with it. I hated seeing Ralph sink so low after Sue's death, giving up being Elongated Man, moaning and groaning and being rather pathetic though single-mindedly determined, all with good reason, but still.... And here he was, being the Ralph of old, tempered by grief into a hardness he didn't have before, but still, Ralph, the detective, the man who could outthink nearly every human in the DCU, having figured it out. He'd figured out Supernova and he figured out Faust and he got the last laugh, only he's dead now (for good?) which means he's with Sue where he belongs. And I want to hate DC and the writers for this, but I can't because this was so damn good.

And now my confusion over the Dr. Fate miniseries, re: where the helmet's been if it's been with Ralph for most of the missing year, but no mention of that is in the miniseries, well, now I know why.

The intro with Renee and the "Question" was nice, but could've been moved to an issue featuring her, because it was so unnecessary here, taking away from Ralph. This was Ralph's issue. I guess we'll be seeing that in issues coming up, issues focusing on the major players of 52 to resolve their storylines. Is this the "big death" or will there be others, too? I don't know, but I can't wait to find out.

Maybe Ralph is really dead, never to come back. Maybe someone else will be Elongated Man someday. It won't really matter. Because I realized a few things while reading and enjoying 52.

I've said before that after Crisis on Infinite Earths, I gave up comics because Supergirl was killed. From 1985 (I didn't even finish reading Crisis) to 1991, I read only New Titans because I loved those characters. In my mind, the collapse of universes and the end of the multiverse never happened. In 1991, I gave up New Titans, too, because all the fun had been sucked out of it. I started reading comics again, bit by bit, in the mid-'90s, because I'd read that they'd changed a bit and got curious and went into a comic shop and saw lovely books that insisted I read them. So, I read the Nightwing mini and the Arsenal + Batman one-shot and the Arsenal mini (because of my lust for all things Roy Harper). And over the years, I learned I'd missed a lot.

I didn't know from Parallax or Zero Hour. I'd missed half the retconning and forgotten most of the rest. Slowly, I came to see that DC had had second thoughts about a few things. Characters came back from the dead. Green Arrow, for one. Hal became Spectre and finally Green Lantern again. I found I didn't mind some of the retconning. Dinah Lance being the daughter of the original Black Canary on this one Earth, carrying on her mother's "job," made sense. I could live with it. I got back into the rhythms. I figured enough out to keep track. And finally, Kara Supergirl was returned, even though she's pretty much unrecognizable. Such is life.

And that brings me to the whole point of this, this thing 52 has taught me, along with Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis. Nothing is etched in stone. Things change. Just like life. But this is a fictional realm, one with superpowers and magic. These characters don't live "normal" lives and we shouldn't expect them to. They are not of our Earth. Characters come back to life and that's okay. I know there are people who think death should be permanent or it loses meaning and I agree with that, in principle. But in the DCU, things work a bit differently.

Death is still felt keenly. Characters still mourn. Not everyone comes back or comes back the same. Characters have to deal with their, with their own resurrection or that of others. Some, like Power Girl, have had to cope with being on the wrong Earth. Dinah had to face Ollie's death and then his return and how that affected her since she'd finally moved on. His cheating on her was a scab his coming back tore off. Nightwing is facing the realization that he was supposed to die. In the DCU, anything can happen, and they all know it. They feel the pains as well as they joy and when the writing is good, we feel those emotions, too. Even retconning, when done as part of a story, is a part of the way the DCU operates. And sometimes, it just a way to fix a problem or an unpopular choice -- ignore it!

Maybe the multiverse is returning. I hope so. I'm a big parallel time fan, from comics and science fiction novels. But I know it might not be what it was or what I'd prefer. All I can ask is that it be interesting, true to the characters, well written, and beautifully drawn. Sometimes, DC has dropped the ball in one or more of those areas, but they seem to have figured out how to do it right. They've demonstrated that with 52. I'll be with them for Countdown. Because I want to know what happens next. Because I enjoy seeing how things thread together. Now, in other books OYL, things that had to wait until the big reveals in 52 can now be told in those books. Some were not part of 52, but others did include events from 52. Now we see which events affect which books. It's been one big, fun jigsaw puzzle to piece together.

Yeah, DC still has areas that need improvement, but telling a good, complicated tale is something they've shown they can handle.

But they'd better not kill of Roy Harper, in Countdown or otherwise. ;)

First Reads

First, for anyone and everyone who's friended me on ComicSpace, I really have intended to visit your pages (well, I have at least done that) and leave comments (mea culpa, that I haven't managed to do), but time has been short, stress has been high, and I still don't quite get the whole idea of ComicSpace, but I'm gonna do my best to be social, which isn't my strong suit.

I came home with what can be described only as a "shitload" of comics. This was a very busy week for the last week of the year. The highlight is The Huntress: Darknight Daughter. I won't need to actually read the stories as I've read them when they were first published. I'll read the intro and then I'm gonna revel in the wonders of the first and best Huntress: Helena Wayne.

And with such a large haul, I don't know when I'll get 'em all read, but I did rush through 2 on the subway ride home, in the dim light of a crowded train. So maybe I missed a few things.

Justice League of America 5
There is something about an articulate Solomon Grundy that I find deeply disturbing. Just wanted to get that out of the way. And he's almost a handsome fella on the cover *shudder*

This plotline has gotten a tad more convoluted than I think necessary for an opening arc, especially since the team hasn't exactly finished forming yet. Clearly, Hal invited Roy along on a "mission" he was handling with Dinah and they weren't yet part of the JLA, or so it seems. Okay, fine, I can live with that. And by the end, we do finally have the big three onsite. Yay.

Things I'm having just a teensy bit of a problem with. I like 2-page spreads as much as the next comics fan, but some of these are impossible for me to decipher. Half the time, I'm reading in the wrong direction. And while I love Benes' art and don't mind the cheesecake if I get my share of beefcake shots (and there were no Roy butt shots but plenty of Vixen's ass), I thought Diana's outfit could've used an extra inch or two of fabric in the area where legs meets body. I shouldn't be able to tell that if she's wearing panties, they must be a thong. Storywise, I don't know what Geo-Force has to do with things, so maybe this wasn't the time to intro another element into the story? Unless he plays a role in the story next issue, of course.

Things I did like: the Vixen scenes were lovely and beautifully drawn. Roy ogling Kendra and muttering "Pretty Bird." That was pretty cute, as was Black Lightning's ribbing him about it. Oddly enough, I don't think I like Roy cleanshaven. And I guess I'll pretend his sleeve is just long enough to cover the tattoo no one seems to want to draw on his upper arm anymore.

52 34
What a cliffhanger to end the year! Some real movement in the stories. Never thought I'd feel sorry for Black Adam, but I do. And Amanda Waller is such a bitch, even moreso here than she's been in Checkmate. At least in that book, she comes across as ruthless but dedicated. Here she seems to enjoy crossing the line from decency to bully. Maybe the events of 52 tempered her a bit. .... Nah.

Neat moves by Babs to get Dinah and John into place. Natasha looks like maybe he's finally getting through for her. And did I miss something? How did Lex get his hands on Clark? The scene was pretty funny, though. This is the time anyone would be able to inject him. I can't imagine anyone not being moved by Charlie dying and the way Renee has stuck with him. Her depth of emotion, her growth as a character so far during 52 has been amazing. If for nothing else, 52 has been a success in my mind for its handling of Renee and Ralph and their storylines. And the countdown to New Year's superimposed with the countdown to Charlie's death managed to stay above the corny, maudlin level. It's not easy interweaving so many storylines and to give each starring character enough panel time, but the creative team has more than risen to the occasion. There might be slow moments and other moments that don't quite work, but overall, this book has been great.

Finally, the Zatanna origin was nicely drawn and told. I don't think she ever looked better.
~~~o0o~~~

I'm thinking I need a shtik, a something that defines this blog. A regular feature perhaps. But there's a danger there. Readers will come to expect it and what if I miss a time? Worse, what if it flops? What if I can't come up with anything clever. So many good ideas have already been taken and are in use on many fine comics blogs. Such is my dilemma.

Good Week for Comics

Many of the titles on my pull list are addicting and most of them, it seemed, were out this week. I think this is the most I've read in one night in a l-o-o-o-n-g time.

Batman/Spirit 1
A holdover from before. I love how they number these one-shots. I'd love even more to see a sequel. This was fun, the way comics are supposed to be and once were. Art that harkened back to an earlier time. Snappy dialogue. Intrigue. Danger. A villains convention to counter a cops' conference so dastardly plots can be implemented.

Shadowpact 8
This isn't a fluff comic despite its lighthearted tone at times, and some of the flakiest good guys in the DCU. Rory learning the true nature of his Ragman's suit and finally having one of the taken find redemption was wonderful, giving the story a solid, emotional thrust beyond the whole good guy/bad guy dynamic. So, I feel really petty mentioning the itty bit that made irritated me. Rory's narration that his grandfather shortened his Jewish name to an Irish one rankled a bit, since it made it sound like there weren't and aren't Irish Jews. Which there are. But I loved learning that the suit has such a long history.

Secret 6 6
Finally. This felt rushed. And since it was so long since the issue 5, I forgot how that chapter ended. Hatter was at his loopiest best, as was Dollman. Gail's dialogue was sharp and snappy as I've come to expect from her. The art was perfect, especially for Hatter's dream. I was just a tad disappointed with how easily Savage was defeated, if it could be called that, after all that led to this. And I would love this to become a series.

Aquaman 47
Nice resolution to the story-from-the-past story. The art is well suited for a book set mostly under water. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a book titled "Aquaman" this much.

Catwoman 62
I teared up when I skimmed this during my lunch hour and I teared up again when I read it on the subway ride home. And (spoiler ahead), much as I knew Sam was dead, it still got to me when Selina confirmed it. I really enjoyed him. He was far from perfect, but he was a good guy and would've been a great father to Helena. I'm glad Selina got to tell him. And I love how Selina has this family, only one (Helena) who is related to her by blood. No matter what happens in this book, no matter what Selina does, she has these people who care about her. That's a recurring theme in most of the books in today's post. The cover was stunning. In the DC Nation on the last page, DC announced a best cover poll/contest. This one is a good candidate. I'll have to think long and hard about this.

Birds of Prey 101
Another great cover. One thing Gail Simone does in her books, especially this one, is keep me hooked, eager to learn how she's going to get our heroes out of the latest mess she's gotten them in. I also like Lois' cameo appearance, reminding us of how connected the DCU is now. And Misfit promises to be a fine addition to the book. I hardly missed Dinah at all. ..... Okay, I'm lying, but still, this is a strong cast.

Checkmate 9
Another interconnected story, with Shadowpact guest-starring. I always have loved spy/espionage intrigue and this book delivers, even if it gets confusing at times. Okay, confusing for me because I keep losing track from month to month what's going on. And when books are late, oh boy. Again, great cover, solid art inside. This story has the feel of something really bad going down. I love it.

52 33
So much to love in this book, so I'll get my annoyance out of the way first. Can anyone do a bit of research and find out how many candles on a Chanukah menorrah, for pete's sake? There are eight. That's 8. Eight, plus the shamus which is used to light the others. Not 6 plus 1. This really isn't hard to check.

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, the things I loved about this issue:

• Ralph and the helmet of Fate. Talk about buddy bonding. Ralph has been stellar in this series.
• Nightwing giving Batwoman a genuine, returning batarang and Kate being unimpressed at first, then, after he explains and demonstrates it, "Wow." Wow, indeed.
• Just when you think Luther might actually have a heart, he proves he doesn't. The poor schlub who dares to recover is just a research project to Lex, valuable dead, not alive.
• Infinity Inc acting like the bunch of teens, which they pretty much are, when getting their cars as gifts.
• Renee and Charlie. This scene just about tore my heart out. Life isn't always pretty and dying never is and this book is not shying away from real life with their fictional meta realm. There are plenty of fun comics out there, and this is fun, too, but it's also very grounded in what could be real. With all the evil supervillains, it's cancer doing Charlie in.
• Kate comforting Renee.
• The most natural inclusion of Jewishness and a Jewish holiday I've seen in a comic, far better than the forced Batwoman story in Infinite Holiday Special.
• The 2-page "catch-up" with characters we haven't been seeing in the book (much) as they celebrate Christmas. Obviously, GA didn't spend the entire year on that island recovering and training.
• Black Adam and his new family and what they do in an attempt to prove he's changed, by showing their humanness. Wonderfully done. I also like the whole "a boy and his croc" aspect of this family.
• The Suicide Squad, Waller, and the first move in explaining how Capt. Boomerang Jr ended up with the Outsiders, perhaps. I like that his hair was colored blondish, not red. He didn't look like Roy here.

Criminal 3
Yet another great cover, more a painting than comic art. Sean Phillips' interior art sometimes reaches the same level. He's been doing amazing work on this title and Ed Brubaker's story sizzles. I love these characters with all their quirks. And I'm really rooting for them because the bad guys are so sleazy, they make our good guy criminals almost seem like heroes. The noir quality is in fine form here.

The Lone Ranger 3
Another book where too much time between issues eroded my memory of the previous installment. The pacing didn't feel as smooth as the previous 2 issues, but this is still a compelling read with probably half the amount of words as the other books I read today. So much is said by the art. Great stuff here.

I'm going to really try to read and review White Tiger tomorrow. And Spirit 1. Then I'll be ready to tackle Wolverine: Origins and catch up on Manhunter and....

Fun Comics

Flash 5
Maybe, at the end of this arc (next issue, apparently), things will make sense and what has been a disjointed story will gain import, but right now, this is a disappointment. I'd been expecting much more, a fresh take on Flash and speedsters in general, but this is just another tale of a misguided hero causing trouble for the hero, with some real villains thrown in for good measure. The "new" stuff is a reworking of the current state of the speed force, but nothing much really seems to be happening. I'm not sure how much longer I'll stick with this.

Wolverine 47
These Civil War crossovers can't end soon enough for me. I don't like the art. I prefer Logan with a neck. I did like the use of a power nullifier not working on him because his claws aren't a super power, and therefore, gave him his means of escape. I really need to get to the Origin series. I hope it's better than this has been.

Birds of Prey 99
We knew Dinah was leaving, if we were paying attention, but the emotion all rang true here. I like the new "Batgirl," but questions really weren't answered. I hope she'll be back so we can maybe find out how she got into Babs' sanctuary. And along with the usual wonderful characterization and nice art, I liked the references to past events. Consistency can be a force for good if it were only used more often. ;)

Catwoman 60
Gawd, Slam has hit bottom, not that I can blame him given that nasty message on his torso and what he clearly now knows about his son and Selina. Nice, snappy dialogue and Holly gets the Adam Hughes treatment on the cover. I love this comic. Brubaker, and now Pfeifer, have made Selina relevant in the DCU, a force to be noticed, reckoned with, and never ignored.

52 24
Things really start moving toward OYL in this issue, but before I get to the actual story, I must point out my favorite moment, a not-so-inside joke/nod/homage to a Green Arrow of years ago. The story was "What Can One Man Do?" and it was published in Green Lantern 86 and Elliot S! Maggin wrote it, his first comics story, done for a college assignment. Seeing Ollie on the first page of 52 #24, talking with the media about his bid to be mayor and introducing his campaign manager, Elliot, was just the coolest way to start a story, because that first story Elliot wrote flashed through my mind and there I was on the subway, on my way home, smiling knowingly to myself.

Okay, the story. Except for a reference to Ralph and some scenes with the Black Marvel family, this issue took a whole new direction. Sure, we had more of Luther's little meta army, but we also got important info about the missing year. Checkmate was disbanded, then restarted as an organ of the UN. The past was referenced, mainly Ted Kord's death. We saw metas in battle, feeding the fears of metas out of control, and we got some details about the political situation with China that, as I recall, since it's been so damn long since I last saw an issue of GL, affects the Green Lantern book as well as Checkmate. And we got a Justice League that was very short-lived, but gave us a look at Firestorm, Ambush Bug, Bulleteer, and a whole lot of other costumed heroes.

The pieces are mostly on the table and they're starting to connect or move toward each other. I'm expecting the pace to pick up and complications to arise in rapid succession. I'm looking for this title to really deliver on its promise as I've seen no reason so far that it won't.
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BTW, I've seen a lot of comics bloggers doing beefcake/cheesecake posts. I already did mine, a while ago, so I direct you to the Roy Harper Galleries in the Roy Harper category.