Random DC Comic Reviews

  Detective Comics #1062 Detective Comics 1062 is a tale of two comics. The main story written by Ram V is an enthralling 5 star read in my opinion, and the back up story written by Simon Spurrier, a dryer less entertaining affair, so let's start with the former.  This month DC unveiled it's new all star writing team for both Batman & Detective Comics after having a shaky and somewhat transient creative team on the two titles for the last several months, with neither Chip Zdarsky (On Batman) or Ram V disappointing on their premier issue. Whether they can keep the quality up remains to be seen, but it's looking positive thus far.  I don't like to give away too many spoilers when I think a comic is good, so I'll just say Bruce is doing a routing check near the shipyards when he finds that his timing is off in rounding up some run of the mill thugs, and he therefore has to deal with the possibility that something is either off, or come to the acceptance that he...

  Dark Crisis Young Justice Issue #2 I have zero interest in Young Justice or any of the characters from the original team. In general, I've never been a fan of kiddie superheroes and sidekicks, I stopped liking them at a fairly early age, so  when the 90's were in full swing, I took zero interest in Tim Drake as the new Robin, the re-emergence of Superboy, and any of the other original Young Justice members, thinking at the time they should make side kicks obsolete, so why am I reading this you might ask??? Well this comic has been getting panned on social media by the anti woke crowd, and they specifically have it out for Meghan Fitzmartin as being the new SJW dragon lady, so I had to check it out to see for myself.  First off, is the issue woke? A little bit I guess, but I really think people are over reacting, but let's go through it.   At one point, Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) is in a conversation with Arrowette (Cissie King Jones) whereby Cissie makes r...

  Rogues #3 I've been reluctantly reading this comic, primarily as a result of it being called Rogues, without all the most notable Rogues in the comic being featured (Weather Wizard & Captain Boomerang)  who are instead, subbed off for other members that have no historic affiliation with being a Flash villain, which is not cool, but nevertheless...... This is a five star comic, on the strength of Williamson's writing. I've been critical of his inability to write tough street heroes and villains in the past, but he nails Captain Cold here, so good on him. The plot of this story has all the makings of a heist gone wrong (aka Usual Suspects style) whereby each character in the robbery is going to die, though I'm putting money on Bronze Tiger & Golden Glider making it out alive.  I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I will just say that Williamson does a fantastic job of upping the ante for issue 4, by having Captain Cold obtain something very precious to...

  DC vs Vampires #7 There are two big DC events going on, both of which are pretty much elseworld stories in some fashion or another. Williamson's Dark Crisis (are events that may take place in the near future) and Tynion's gothic DC Vs Vampires marathon. They are both great, but which one is better??? I can tell you which one is more fun, and that would be DC Vs Vampires. Tynion's witty but funny dialogue between the characters makes this series great, from Hal Jordan in issue #1 wanting a smoothie, to  Mister Bones making some humorous comments in this issue.  Yes I said Mister Bones, and that's another reason why this comic is so wonderful, in an era whereby literally every DC title is related to the Trinity, and there is little room for titles outside the top 6, it is great to see a title that is showcasing the wide array of heroes in the DCU. And this is where DC Vs Vampires has Dark Crisis beat in my opinion. In Dark Crisis the heroes in the spotlight tend to be t...

  Every now and then I have the misfortune of encountering changes to characters I like in a comic that makes me so irate that I can't even review the comic, solely on it's written and artistic quality....and this is one of the moments.  There are two things in this story that bother me, one is a minor irritant, and the other is a major irritant. So let's start with the minor irritant first.  1) Minor Irritant: Hawkman Racial Bending: I don't mind a little racial bending here and there if it fits the characters background. A lot of Huntress fans were PO'd that her skintone was changed, but it didn't bother me that much, because some Sicilians have a darker complexion, though she looks darker now than your average Italian, so if they want to stay true to the character's heritage, they may want to try to nail the skin tone of the region, of course however, fans all know, the racial bending has nothing to do with staying true to the character. If a Hawkman seri...

 Batman #125                                         "A new Era Begins" is a fitting cover title for the much welcome and anticipated arrival of Chip Zdarsky's arrival on Batman, after his excellent run on Daredevil over at Marvel, and he does not disappoint in his first issue. I don't want to give too many spoilers away, so I will first make the point that his co-ordination with Jorge Jimenez' art is superb, and I was so happy that the main villain upon his first issue was not the Joker, but another big name villain that I was pleasantly surprised to see.  The dialogue in this comic is also done very well, in which Zdarsky brings out the importance of family to Batman visa vi Tim Drake, for as we all know, Bruce Wayne tragically lost his own parents at a young age, and thus built a new family of young vigilantes. Therefore his greatest fear at present is losing one of them...ag...

  Suicide Squad #3 (Final Issue) Simon Spurrier is a good writer, but he lost me here primarily because he committed the cardinal sin of killing off all the characters of interest, in which I understand was probably the intent, but the problem being is that he didn't make his everyman character compelling or interesting enough to want to read on, once all the cool kids were dead. In short, his main character is not cool, but a boring underachiever with a lame ability that had me snoring through the latter half of this issue. This is a dark gothic sci fi tale for sure, and I really did enjoy the first two issues because it was a throwback to the gritty DC Comic days of the mid 80's to mid 90's where violence and gratuitous language was what sold off the shelves, and even though it was a breath a fresh air in a DC comics world that probably hasn't been so tame since the 1960's, the reckless abandon in which some of my favourite characters were dispensed with (Particul...

 Poison Ivy #2 First off, seductive cover art. That is worth the price of the comic on it's own, unfortunately Poison Ivy is the last woman in the DCU you would want to fall in love with. Fatal attraction to say the least.  G Willow Wilson is a very good writer. How do I know? Because she can keep you captivated throughout the whole story with limited action, and for me that is a tell tale sign that someone has talent.  The thing I love about this series so far is that you really start to ponder the psychologically behind Poison Ivy's insanity. A psychopath or sociopath,  by definition, is someone who is incapable of feeling empathy towards another person. That is not Poison Ivy, as she has shown deep feelings towards Harley Quinn in her relationship that shows that she sees her as more than just an object. (Though in the broad sense they would both be considered psychos) She of course also has a deep loving affection of plants, which leads me pondering (or Willow Wi...

 Dark Crisis #2 This has been getting a lot of unwarranted criticism from fans on social media forums, you tube, ect,  for not being exciting or in depth enough in regards to the writing, to which I say, I disagree. In terms of exciting, I think the action has been suitable as it falls in line with the story nicely. In short, I've read a lot of overhyped junky commercialized comic books events over the decades, and I'm happy to say that this is not one thus far, as I can see that Williamson is attempting to craft a well thought out story that has flow, which is why I'm not particularly bothered by the fact that it's not a technically in depth story. The last thing I want in a compacted 7 issue event, is for it to be covered with long speech and thought bubbles. So what do I like and dislike about Dark Crisis so far?  My biggest problem with Dark Crisis is that it doesn't take place in the present, which by default pretty much makes it an elseworlds story, which take...

  Harley Quinn #16 I hate Harley Quinn, so why am I reviewing a Harley Quinn comic....well because we've gotten to the point where DC's selection is so bad, that I've decided to read comics that are being described by fans as train wrecks, and much like Titans Academy.....I didn't find this all that bad, I've read much worst.  It's more the art that pulls down this comic than the writing in my opinion, but overall, I'm just not interested in the story or character to write a detailed review about it.  I'd much rather bemoan the lack of selection of DC titles outside of the Trinity. I've never seen it this bad, and I've been collecting for decades. I realize that streaming is killing the industry, so a lot of comics now are simply produced for speculators, but....just a few years ago, I could still find stuff of interest, but now.....I'm seriously thinking of switching to Marvel.  3 out of 5 stars