I love comics. After film, it is my favorite art form.
Here’s what I read for this week- May 27, 2015.
Welcome back to Comix This Week! After a 12 month hiatus, we are back with my weekly pull list! It was strange walking away from this column. I’ve been doing this, in one form or another, since 1996. I personally blame Marvel’s Secret Wars (2015). It was so bad that it actually got me to drop nearly all of the “Big 2” titles. I held on to Star Wars for Marvel, and Justice League 3001 for DC, but that was it. Image ruled my pull list. 2 things have caused me to emerge from my hibernation den, but before we dive into 6/1/16, I want to take a step back a week to 5/25/16…
DC Universe: Rebirth – This behemoth of a comic was the primary mover and shaker behind my desire to jump back into the game. DC’s New 52 was an unmitigated disaster, in my opinion. As a Superman, Green Lantern, and Flash fan, it was truly the darkest timeline. As a Batman fan, things were pretty good-as always. Green Lantern, losing Johns, went into garbage territory. I stopped reading, and I have a complete GL collection going back to 1967. The Flash had Barry Allen back, but it lost its most important aspect- LEGACY. In my “Post-Crisis” world, Jay Garrick was the Flash of WW2. Barry Allen wore the mantle after that, and died saving the universe(s). His sidekick, Wally West, took over the costume and ran as Flash for 20 years. He then took in Barry’s grandson Bart as Kid Flash. In one Flashpoint, all of that was erased. Barry was The Flash, but Garrick was gone. Wally, the one we knew, was gone. They wrecked him. Superman was even worse. Kal-El was my first love in comics. What it became under the new 52 was garbage. DCU: Rebirth took the first steps in fixing things.
Green Lantern appears to have had no major changes, that I can see, other than some new ringslingers. Batman is carrying on as before. Flash? They fixed him. Right away. Rebirth is the story of Wally West, The REAL Wally West, coming back to the DCU with some important information. The Flashpoint was not an accident. Someone stole a decade of life from our heroes. Wally shows that that universe is not completely gone. Pieces of it have survived and will be returning to save US, the readers. As for Superman… more on that below. 10/10
6/1/16
Stray Bullets: Sunshine and Roses 15 – Lapham’s saga continues as the “Sunshine Gang” carries out their master plan. This arc has been rambling quite a bit over the last few months. This issue started to pull it together again. 6/10
Deadly Class 21 – Rick Remender’s ode to Assasins and the 1980’s continues as the “class final” reaches a shocking turn of events. Our Hero, Marcus, is impaled in the chest by a sword! Holy crap. Well written, and featuring wonderful art. A must read. 9/10.
Civil War II 1 – What a piece of shit. If you are going to follow up a Legendary series like Civil War, bring your A game. The Free Comic Book Day issue sucked donkey balls. The Zero issue was actually worse. I precariously gave this a chance, and I was wrong. It’s boring, contrived, and just plan awful. It’s bad enough the kill War Machine, one of my favorite characters, but they do it “off Camera”! Like last year’s Secret Wars, they have taken the name of something beloved and took a steaming dump all over it. Make Mine…anything else. 1/10
The Coming of the Superman 5 – Neal Adams continues his whackadoodle Superman story, sorta set in the bronze age. I honestly cannot keep this story straight, It is all over the place. The art, is wonderful though Adams can still keep up with the best.5/10
Green Lanterns Rebirth 1 – Here, I jump back into my beloved Green Lantern. It appears that Earth needs 2 new GL’s, and Hal is training them to keep Earth safe. It was a good introductory issue for a lapsed fan. The final scenes showing Atrocitus was very welcome. I am casually excited to read this again. 7/10
Green Arrow Rebirth 1 – This just felt RIGHT. New 52 created a situation where Ollie and Dinah did not know each other. That’s just WRONG. This issue sets up this new Ollie and gets these two crazy kids back together. 8/10
Batman Rebirth 1 – Let me start off with this: I am so happy to see some yellow on his chest again. We get to meet his new sidekick, not a robin is all we know so far, while setting up the new status quo for Bruce and company. I like this new vibe. 8/10
Superman Rebirth 1 – Thank you, sweet merciful Jebus. Thank you. I did not read the last story arc of Superman, or the last several to be honest. I knew there was a Bearded Superman hanging around wearing the black “Superman returns from the dead” costume, but I did not realize that it was MY SUPERMAN! At the end of the New 52 story, the “New 52” Superman dies. This picks up shortly after and reveals that the dead Superman cannot come back to life. He is gone. Luckily, that bearded Clark Kent is the POST-CRISIS Superman! The one that fought Doomsday in 1992! The one that fueled my Superman fever, even through the “Blue”perman fiasco. We don’t know exactly how it will play out, but Superman is back. The REAL Superman. 10/10
The Skinny from the Fatty 