Bullet Points: Earth-2 #2

Two issues in and DC’s brand new look at the Justice Society is proving itself an interesting little book. Maybe it’s because there’s less pressure with this particular property than something like the Justice League, or maybe it’s because DC finally seems happy to try something a little different here. There’s the feeling that they’re delivering and we’re getting something new.

In a world in which Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are dead, a new generation of heroes are emerging. A re-imagined Justice Society is returning to the DCU, under the stewardship of long-time JSA writer James Robinson. This is a writer who has proven that he understands these characters and he knows what makes them tick. Who better to come up with an all new ‘Ultimate JSA’? Yes, to some extent we’re seeing what we’ve had before, but it’s so far sidestepped the problem that is hamstringing the Justice League title and much of the rest of the New 52.

In issue 2, a young Jay Garrick gains his powers from a dying God and the man who would become this world’s Green Lantern makes a fateful journey. While Jay’s origin is a great read and crackles along, most of the attention that this issue has got in the media is around the reintroduced Alan Scott being gay.  In real terms this makes no difference to the character, and it’s really just blending elements of the old Alan with his openly gay son, Obsidian. What’s a real joy is that the relationship that we see is handled nicely and it’s not just an awkward teenage romance: this is adults who are totally comfortable with themselves and are doing pretty well in life. Of course given the tragedy of Alan’s origin and exactly where this issue ends, it’s clear that his partner is not going to be with us long, but it bodes well for how Alan is going to be used in this series.

It’s success for me is partly down to the sense that anything can happen in this world, but it’s also the fact that I really want to see what a re-imagined JSA is going to look like, particularly when James Robinson has promised even more diversity in the JSA line-up. Two issues in but his book has quickly become an essential title!

4/5

Bullet Points: Avengers vs X-Men #5

Avengers vs. X-Men is a big dumb summer blockbuster of a story, more akin to the Secret Wars of old than the angst-ridden melodramas of recent years. It almost doesn’t matter what it’s all about since ultimately it boils down to showdowns between key members of the X-Men and Avengers. In essence, the Phoenix Force is returning to Earth to bond with Hope Summers. The X-Men see it as an opportunity to restore the mutant race, but The Avengers see it as a massive threat to Earth that has to be stopped at all costs. Now of course this is very heavy handed, requires almost everyone acting out of character and a healthy dose of ignoring the obvious; notably, that the Phoenix Force was bonded to Jean Grey and others without endangering the planet.. but it’s unavoidably fun seeing favourites face off against each other. Do I believe for a second that Iron Man could defeat Magneto in combat? Not a chance, but it doesn’t matter.

By issue 5, the Phoenix has taken it’s new host, but thanks to the meddling of Iron Man and the Avengers, the Phoenix now possesses a whole cadre of X-Men and travels to Earth to put it’s mysterious plan into action.

Yes, it’s dumb. Yes, it’s completely throwaway and ridiculous. But there’s something to be said for a unpretentious piece of fluff that’s just about superheroes punching each other. We’ll be watching this one as it develops over the summer!

3/5

We’re back!

Had to take a bit of an exam hiatus, but as of today we’re back in action and there’s plenty to talk about. Expect reviews of my current comic stack through the week and a few surprises here and there. Thanks for bearing with us.

It’s not me, it’s you.

7 months into our new relationship and the initial excitement had already faded into desperate play-acting, weary resignation and bitterness. Sure the seduction had been fun, and new is always good, but when it came down to the reality of life together, what I’d fallen in love with wasn’t there any more.

I am of course talking about the New 52. The fresh accessible start that DC promised really hasn’t materialised and it’s not hard to see why. Let’s review!

#1 DC never wanted a fresh start. Just fresh sales.

The first major point is that DC obviously never wanted to make it fresh and accessible. That’s why there were two timelines in place in Superman/Action Comics and Justice League. How did things get like that? Guess we should keep reading, eh? It relied on the mystery to seduce (dare I say “sucker?”) us into getting the new books and to keep reading. 7 months on and the reveal of Earth-2 is making it clearer that DC are still banking on mystery to sell the books.

#2 DC is still relying on older readers and what we used to know.

A reboot shouldn’t rely on what we’ve seen before or what we know already but time and again these aren’t treated like characters that we’ve never seen before. They’re NEW VERSIONS but instead of getting to the core of why the character is great and giving us an ultimate version free from whatever has supposedly held the character back in the past, in the majority of cases it’s all about comparing the new version to the one from the old DCU. The introduction of Earth-2 makes that point even more obvious: Alan Scott, Jay Garrick and the others aren’t the elder statesmen we knew and the drama apparently comes from finding out why they’re different. It’s all about the past. How does muddying the water even further make things easier for new readers? Which brings me on to point 3.

#3 Where are the jumping on points for new readers?

The simple answer is there aren’t any. A 6 issue arc is not a jumping on point. Let’s be honest here; the dual reboot / relaunch approach DC used did not work as promised.

If they wanted a clean launch, why not use the Zero Hour approach? Yes, I’m actually bringing up the much-maligned Zero Hour of the ’90s. Ignoring the continuity issues, it did a damn fine job of setting out exactly what the state of play was with the DCU. What did we get with that? A #0 for every series that clearly set out exactly what a character was all about in one issue. Not only that, but DC even provided a simple timeline that set out exactly when the major story beats happened with the core characters and what they were. Of course that didn’t claim to be a reboot but it was a great way to tidy things up and provide CLARITY for new readers or for anyone who just wanted to give a different character a shot.

That’s exactly what’s missing in the New 52. Mystery is all well and good, but sooner or later you’ve got to lay your cards on the table. The New 52 is the DCU or it isn’t. It has to stand alone on it’s own merits and it can’t continue to say we’ll get what’s missing down the line. Show us in every single issue why ‘restarting’ the DCU was the right decision. Show us why the current version of the character we’re reading about is the best god-damn version there has ever been. Start proving that here and now.

So what do you think, dear readers? Is old age blurring my memory of Zero Hour? Am I missing something in the New 52? Is it really the best that DC has ever been, or has Flashpoint and the New 52 just been one big sales trick? As always, drop that comment.

Clive Barker’s Hellraiser #9-11

It’s no surprise that I’m a big horror fan and of Hellraiser in particular. As I’ve said in the past, Boom comics’ ongoing series is the best thing to happen to the franchise in many a year. It’s an absolute love letter for anyone who watched Hellraiser II and wanted more.

Boom promised a big change and at last we have it. Pinhead has been brought back to life as a human and claims to be seeking salvation and the gates to Heaven itself. But he’s keeping his secrets, and those of Hell, to himself.

Meanwhile, Kirsty Cotton has replaced him as the chief cenobite and current ruler of Hell. Yes, that’s right; Kirsty is a cenobite with a nifty set of her own pins and her own posse of cenobites made from the family and friends the box once claimed from her.

Putting Kirsty in the role of her nemesis was a bold move and it makes for some interesting scenes. At first she appeared to want to turn Hell into something completely new and hold on to her humanity, but having been in the job for a year at this point, she seems to have elected to build a more traditional Hell where evil people are punished for their sins. Innocent people (for now) have no place there.

But despite essentially tricking her into the job, Pinhead (now Elliot Spencer), clearly hasn’t finished with Kirsty or her one-time ally Tiffany (from Hellraiser II) and there’s some kind of ultimate end-game in play that we can still only guess.

Despite a rotating art team, the book has consistency and characters are nicely recognisable. The new cenobite designs are also fine, particularly Kirsty’s otherworldly new look. The pacing issues that plagued the earlier issues are still here, but perhaps because of the stage the story is at now, it’s less obnoxious.

The biggest issue is that it’s hard to accept that Kirsty would walk into her situation without having thought it all through, and time after time Spencer seems to be getting away Scot-free. A good villain loses, and we’re long overdue some payback.

4/5

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the comic shop…

On the back of the recent news that Rob Liefeld’s divisive Hawk and Dove was cancelled, DC were quick to reassurance fans of the bonkers ’90s pocket fetishist that he would still be working with DC on three, yes three, titles.

April will see Leifeld taking over plotting duties on Savage Hawkman, Grifter, and Deathstroke. Fans of Slade Wilson, small feet and distended spines, can sleep easy knowing that he’ll also be working on the pencils.

It’s a slightly baffling move by DC that suggests there may be more of a contractual element to it. I can understand them removing under-performing titles, but moving a writer from a title that isn’t cutting it and letting him take over three books seems like masochism.

What does Liefeld have in store for the books?

Hawkman will be moving into the intergalactic gladiator arena. Deathstroke will be going up against Lobo. And Grifter will be introducing another Wildstorm character (Deathblow) into the New 52 universe. DC’s official blog, The Source, has longer descriptions but it’s all very ’90s and we’ve seen it all before.

Savage Hawkman has been on this fans pull list since the relaunch, but come April it’s unlikely to stay there.

(Original story from The Source).

New 52: 6 titles cancelled, but replacements are on the way…

DC have confirmed that six of the New 52 titles are cancelled as of their 8th issues in April. The casualties are: BLACKHAWKS, HAWK AND DOVE, MEN OF WAR, MISTER TERRIFIC, O.M.A.C. and STATIC SHOCK.

None of them were cutting it in terms of sales, so it’s no great surprise. Perhaps worst of all, some of the books were plain awful. Hawk and Dove was a train wreck, and Mr Terrific was a dreadful misuse of someone who was once a solid character. They won’t be missed here.

So what’s coming up next? In what DC are calling the Second Wave, 6 new titles will take their place. The following info is taken right from The Source:

• BATMAN INCORPORATED – Writer: Grant Morrison. Artist: Chris Burnham. The acclaimed ongoing writer of ACTION COMICS, Grant Morrison, presents a fresh take on BATMAN INCORPORATED, in which the Batman brand is franchised globally in preparation for a major international threat.
• EARTH 2 – Writer: James Robinson. Artist: Nicola Scott. The greatest heroes on a parallel Earth, the Justice Society combats threats that will set them on a collision course with other worlds.
• WORLDS’ FINEST – Writer: Paul Levitz. Artists: George Perez and Kevin Maguire. Stranded on our world from a parallel reality, Huntress and Power Girl struggle to find their way back to Earth 2. Perez and Maguire will be the artists on alternating story arcs.
• DIAL H – Writer: China Miéville. Artist: Mateus Santoluoco. The first ongoing series from acclaimed novelist China Miéville, this is a bold new take on a cult classic concept about the psychological effects on an everyman who accidentally gains powers to become a hero.
• G.I. COMBAT – Writer: J.T. Krul. Artist: Ariel Olivetti. Featuring the return of a classic DC Comics series, THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT, along with rotating back-up stories and creative teams – including THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, with writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Dan Panosian; and THE HAUNTED TANK, with writer John Arcudi and artist Scott Kolins.
• THE RAVAGERS – Writer: Howard Mackie. Artist: Ian Churchill. Spinning off from TEEN TITANS and SUPERBOY, this series finds four superpowered teens on the run and fighting against the organization that wants to turn them into supervillains.

I’m not wild about yet another Batman book on the shelves, two if we count the Huntress in Worlds Finest, but there are some interesting titles in there. This will be our first look at the JSA in the New 52 and there are a lot of questions that need answered. For me, that’s going to be the book to watch.

I do have to commend DC for having the courage to get rid of books that aren’t working and try something new. The question is, who is next to go? And can DC stay the course and keep diversity in the line despite low sales (Resurrection Man, I’m looking at you), or will they give in to the almighty dollar and pump out even more Batman books?

It’s going to be an interesting year!

Bullet Points: Aquaman #1, Mr Terrific #1

So many books and so little time. I’ve been lucky enough to read most of the new 52 so far, but there’s only so much time I can get to tell you good folks about them. I think I’ll go with a wrap-up post with the exciting highlights (and lowlights) so far, BUT FIRST, let’s look at two books that may have surprised a lot of comic fans….

Aquaman #1

This is one I’d been eager to check out and happily Johns did not disappoint. Over many years, writers have tried everything to try to make this character work and arguably failed every time. In one issue, Johns gets it right. There’s nothing drastically different about this version of Arthur and it’s very much a clean cut classic view of the King of Atlantis. No Conan overtones, no harpoon, and no attitude. There is, I’ll concede, a sense of everyone giving it their all, but I think that can be forgiven in a first issue about a character that historically no-one’s really that excited about.

So what happens? Aquaman arrives on land, gets a few show-stopping moments demonstrating his powers and even has a cute little scene in a diner where a merciless “aquafan” quizzes him on exactly what his powers are and how he feels about being the guy that no-one takes seriously. It was a clever move to get that dealt with in the first issue and we can get on with things now. The one thing I’m not too clear on is the status of the new Aqualad DC debuted in Brightest day. Is he another casuality of Flashpoint? There’s certainly no mention of him in this issue, and I suppose we’ll have to wait and see on that. Johns has made Aquaman a character I want to read about, and one of the very best of DC’s new books. Let’s hope he can keep it up. 5/5

Mr Terrific #1

And now for the bad news. Michael Holt was always a great character. I loved him in JSA. He’s one of the smartest men in the world, openly an atheist, and can hold his own in a room full of superheroes by virtue of his intellect alone. He was a serious character, who could be taken seriously.

Oh DC, what have you done? In giving him his own book, it’s to be expected that there would be new background characters to give the writers a bit more to work with. What took me by surprise reading it, was with that a reliance on cheap racial tension and stereotyping that really does not sit well with the character. Now Terrific is obviously African American but there is so much about him that makes him an interesting superhero that wheeling in generic soap opera nonsense about someone being jealous of him hanging around with a pretty white woman is tremendously patronising. And that was not the only example of a sense of DC over-representing what has always been a routine detail. It’s the worst kind of cookie-cutter diversity. Michael Holt deserves much better than this and it absolutely got in the way of what could have been an interesting book. If they get it under control, they might be able to salvage things before it gets cancelled, but this was a massively disappointing first issue. 2/5

Next: A ‘New 52’ wrap-up of the first 2 issues of as many books as possible, and let’s take a look at that schism they’re having over there in the X-Men books.

Bullet Points Special: Clive Barker’s Hellraiser

Don’t worry, there are a whole bunch of New 52 reviews stacking up, but for a bit of a change lets take a look at the ongoing Hellraiser series from Boom studios.

At this point even mentioning the word Hellraiser to horror fans is probably enough to ignite an argument. The first, and probably best, film was a low scale labour of love from Barker with great characters and was the best British horror for quite some time. When a mysterious puzzle box opens a gateway between our world and the dimension of the Cenobites (basically Hell), who promise the ultimate in ambiguous ‘pleasures’, the young Kirsty Cotton’s life is torn apart. The second film, Hellbound, upped the stakes and introduced an expansive and somewhat baffling mythology that still manages to impress. The story is almost lost in the visuals and amazing orchestral soundtrack from Christopher Young, but it’s undeniably a horror classic.

Sadly, that was the last gasp for the Hellraiser movies and despite a few ideas here and there in the third and fourth films especially, they never really reached the heights of the first two films, or especially tried to do so. Once Doug Bradley’s lead Cenobite, “Pinhead”, was established as the figurehead of the series, in many ways he became the new Freddy or Jason and creatively it was the end of the line.

Boom’s new series (now on it’s fifth issue) wants to have it’s cake and eat it. While it doesn’t expressly contradict the later films, it’s very much a sequel to Hellbound. It’s even co-written by Barker himself and it’s probably the closest to a true Hellraiser sequel as there’s ever going to be. Everything’s there a fan could possibly want. Kirsty, twenty or so years after the events of Hellraiser 2, is leading a group of survivors to destroy the few remaining gateways to the Cenobites realm. Meanwhile, “Pinhead”, the current leader of the Cenobites is weary of his obligations in Hell and makes a deal with Leviathan that could restore his humanity by somehow securing a replacement. It’s not yet been confirmed, but we’re led to believe in the first issue that the possible replacement is Kirsty.

So that’s the set-up. It boils down to an endgame between the most iconic characters of the Hellraiser mythos, and the stakes are high.

Working with Barker, Christopher Monfette does well to capture Pinhead’s voice. Kirsty’s team of “Harrowers” have all had their own encounters with Hell, and they hold a lot of promise. Tim Bradstreet is the perfect choice for the covers too. This is a book that absolutely loves the world of Hellraiser. What’s less successful, and what is ultimately holding the title back, is the pacing. No sooner has an issue got going and it’s over, and then the cycle starts again with the next. 5 issues in and the story has not gained any momentum, in the way that we’d naturally have at this point in a film and too many times the book just stops dead. What saves it from failure is the stakes it’s playing with the characters we’ve been invested in since 1987.

This is the last we’ll probably see of these original characters as they were intended by Barker, and make no mistake this is simply the best Hellraiser has been since Hellraiser 2. For all the flaws and the issues with the pacing, it is light years ahead of everything in Hell on Earth, Bloodline, Inferno, Hellseeker, Deader, and Hellworld.

It’s the next story arc that will determine the books staying power, but for Hellraiser fans this is essential reading.

4/5
Next time:  A whole bunch of New 52 reviews!

Bullet Points special: Flashpoint #5, Justice League #1

Flashpoint #5

And so ends the DC Universe as we knew it. Not with an epic battle that shows the worlds greatest heroes at their best, but, sadly more like an overextended death-rattle. Flashpoint‘s been a tough read and this final issue unfortunately does not deliver, either as a satisfying conclusion to the Flashpoint story or as a goodbye to the way things were. As this final issue opens, the war between Atlantis and the Amazons is in full swing in the ruins of Britain and there’s a messy showdown involving all the altered DC characters and a few new faces. The most memorable part is that the Enchantress is squashed like a cockroach by Superman. Urgh. The Reverse Flash reveals that he actually isn’t behind the new timeline, and it was all down to a change made in the past by, gasp, Barry Allen. Then, in a confusing sequence, Barry travels back in time to stop himself interfering in the first place, and is drawn back into the timestream again by an unknown woman who forces him to join together three different timelines (which look like Vertigo, Wildstorm and the traditional DCU) and create a unified timeline; the new 52. Let’s look at what she says…

“Because the history of heroes was shattered into three long ago. Splintered to weaken your world for their impending arrival. You must all stand together. The timelines must become one again. You can help me fix that, Barry Allen, but at a cost.”

And that’s what’s behind the new 52. An unseen threat that comes out of nowhere and last minute meddling from a Harbringer style character we know nothing about. It’s incredibly weak. And from the last few pages of the book, it’s unclear if any characters even remember what happened. Flashpoint, for all that it changed, ironically does not appear to have had any consequences.

I can’t help but think there must have been a better way to  get to this point. Was there any need at all for the world of Flashpoint? Was there much gained from five issues and multiple tie-ins? What’s most disappointing  is that the traditional DCU really did deserve better than that. The characters we’ve known for decades, after everything they’ve faced and everything they’ve been through, were quietly done away with off-panel. Why not allow them to go out in style? Instead Flashpoint as a whole was a bloody, violent, and mostly forgettable mess. Almost twenty years ago, Zero Hour did things much better.

2/5

Justice League #1

Maybe it was all a conspiracy? Maybe Flashpoint was deliberately bad to make extra sure that Justice League felt great in comparison. It doesn’t matter in the end, as happily this rebooted and reimagined Justice League is a great read. Five years ago in the new timeline, the world didn’t know what to make of super-heroes. An outlaw Batman is investigating an alien threat in Gotham, when Green Lantern pops up to help. They decide that the creature may have something to do with Metropolis’s very own alien, and travel to the city to question him. It’s there that we get our very first look at the all new Man of Steel…

Most of the issue is extended banter between Batman and a very cocky Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), and it works well, clearly defining who they are and the different approaches they have to crime-fighting. Writer, Geoff Johns, has had fun in the past with the rivalry between the two characters and it’s nice to see that continued, albeit in a milder form. Jim Lee on pencils does a reasonable job. It looks good, without being too showy and Green Lantern’s constructs have a nice otherworldly look to them. While in some ways an extended origin story for DC’s premier superteam is disappointingly routine, and obviously written for the trade, there’s a clear sense that DC is really making the effort with this book. There’s an undeniable feeling of quality from every page.  Superman’s last minute appearance is an intriguing preview of his own reboot in Action Comics, and with only a couple of lines of dialogue, we’re left in no doubt that this is the edgier and arguably more interesting Superman we were promised. At the end of the day, this was a fun book that more than lived up to the hype.

Definitely a good start then for the new 52. Lets hope this is the shape of things to come.

4/5

Next Time: A change of scene with Clive Barker’s Hellraiser…