Week 3 Roundup

Comics 7/13/11

Such a fantastic week to read comics. So many great stories by so many great producers. And I didn't have one bad issue this week! Exciting. I had a hard time choosing my pick for the week as well, because they were all so great.

Teen Titans #97 - Written by J.T. Krul and penciled by Nichola Scott. This issue closed the arc that brought us this fantastic new hero, Solstice, an Indian girl with mysterious light powers. This issue was probably chosen as my pick if the week because I got to actually meet J.T. Krul and got this issue signed. It was a cool day. 10/10

Green Lantern #67 - Written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Doug Mahnke. This was easily my runner up for pick of the week, simply because it was just so epic. Geoff Johns has really been redefining Green Lantern these past few years and this was him doing it again. It was the last issue of this volume, and we'll have to wait until September for the reboot to come and follow up. This is the one issue I don't want to give any spoiler alerts to. It's just too epic. Check it out, it's so good. Overall: 10/10

Superman #713 - Written by J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Roberson and penciled by... 6 different artists. Come on. That's ridiculous. At least I couldn't really notice. Anyway, Superman needs a lesson on why the world actually needs a Superman, and it was kind of a cute little tale of him being told different reasons why he NEEDS to exist by random citizens. 6/10.

Amazing Spider-Man #665 - Written by Dan Slott and penciled by Ryan Stegman. The full page spread of Spidey's webs is amazing! This issue was beautiful. Not just the art but the gravity and the maturity of the tale that was told. This issue was a reminder to Peter that he has great responsibilities, not only as Spider-Man but also as a friend and the importance of putting others needs before yourself. Fantastic. This is a 10/10. Well done.

The Red Wing #1 of 4 - Written by Jonathan Hickman and penciled by Nick Pitarra. The idea that the development of time travel to fix problems isn't new. But the idea that time travel would negatively be used for warfare is. Very clever. Story is a bit slow, but if you're into SciFi, it's drenched in it. Really cool idea AND no advertisements. Winning. The cover sold me btw. It's beautiful. Overall: 7/10

Detective Comics #879 - Written by Scott Snyder and penciled by Francesco Francavilla. Batman wasn't in this issue at all, but it was certainly a mystery waiting to be solved. I didn't mind the art, although I'm not a huge fan of all that overexposure in color. In fact though, it worked out well. Fantastic story by Snyder. The Joker is such a creep sometimes. Lemme tell ya. Overall: 7/10

X-Men: Schism #1 - Written by Jason Aaron and penciled by Carlos Pacheco. This issue showed the entire world turn on the X-Men and ready their Sentinels for all out war. Awesome. Was wondering when the Sentinels would be showing back up. This'll be a series to keep on the lookout for! Overall 9/10

The Incredible Hulks #632 - Written by Greg Pak and penciled by Paul Pelletier. "Heart of the Monster: Part 3". First truly "incredible" Hulk story I've read in a very long time. He fights to save his loved ones, but alas, at what cost?

Green Lantern Corps #61 - Writtwn by Tony Bedard and penciled by Daniel HDR. This issue follows the aftermath of the War of the Green Lanterns arc, and how many that were gifted with power rings during that time returned them, except for one. She, Qurina Vint of Calados, sets out to make her place in the Corps known and asks for the help of Green Lantern John Stewart, who is also an outcast, as he recently killed Mogo. It seems as though this comic was a lesson for kids or something, but nonetheless, I always enjoy a good story. 7/10.


- A Dakota Lopez blog.

Week 1 Roundup

So what am I rounding up, on "Week 1"? Comics! I've decided that since this is the first week I started my Twitter feed, it's the first week I can round up all my reviews into one post. I plan on this being a weekly event, unless of course, life gets in the way, but we'll see! So this week we had:

The Amazing Spider-Man #664 - Written by Dan Slott and penciled by Giuseppe Camuncoli. Revolves around the plot that the Anti-Venom ties up Spider-man to, in his own twisted way, prove that he's the good guy and not crazy, and take down Mr. Negative on his own. Stuff goes wrong in classic Spider-Man style, and it came out to a good read! Overall, a 9/10!

Detective Comics #878 - Written by Scott Snyder and penciled by Jock. Dick Grayson, as Batman, has been trapped by Tiger Shark, who we learn is from some line of ancient mystical royalty. The story is told, just as a detective would take his notes: well. Overall, an 8/10!

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #11 - Written by Peter J. Tomasi and penciled by Bernard Chang. Now, I've never been a fan of Guy Gardner, particularly because he's a douchebag, but I must give credit for a job well done in this issue. He succesfully died and came back to life! Anywho. Overall, a 6/10.

Justice Society of America #52 - Written by Marc Guggenheim and penciled by Tom Derenick. I guilt myself for never taking a liking to this supergroup in the past, but I think I'll make it an effort to read more into them. This book takes us to a story about a mysterious door that leads to a forgotten city; a City of Evil! Originally apprehensive about the art, but it grew on me. Has an old time feel! Overall, a 6/10.

Namor: The First Mutant #11 - Written by Stuart Moore and penciled by Carlos Rodriguez. Namor's a new concept to my palette, but I've grown to like the many facets he caries, and Moore has brought out the plights of a solid character, although his actions may at times be rash. Not sure if this is the last issue, it ended with epic finality... Hope not! Overall, a 7/10.

Uncanny X-Men #539 - Writen by Kieron Gillen and penciled by Ibraim Roberson. I'm really craving some more involvement with Hope and her mutant team with the X-Men and I got it with this issue. She seems to be coming into her own character and is worthy of her own book, but was a warm welcome back to Uncanny X-Men. I previously described the art by Roberson as "watercolor with a hint of life" and I'm sticking tho that. It felt soothing and real. Overall, a 9/10!

The Walking Dead #86 - Written by Robert Kirkman and penciled by Charlie Adlard. Always a worthwhile read, The Walking Dead lives up to it's name. Circling the story more around the lives of those who've survived into a post-apocalyptic zombie infested world than on the zombies themselves, Robert Kirkman has himself a steady ongoing gem. Full page spread near the end by Richard Adlard was fantastic! Overall, a 7/10.

(Hehe, I reviewed them in alphabetagammical order!)

Another Shot at the New Justice League

So here's another shot at what we're to expect from the Justice League. I'm assuming these seven will be the main league members, and the few in the background will jump in and out unannounced as they please. This was taken from Toon Tumblers Facebook page, and is intended to be used as a drinkable glass cup for SDCC.

Aquaman looks about the same, except for this fins on the back of his calves which look kinda cool. Makes him more hydrodynamic. Green Lantern Hal Jordan looks the same, and it makes sense. @GeoffJohns0 is doing a great job keeping him a top seller. Wonder Woman looks completely different, so I don't even want to talk about her. Superman looks... platey, like he pieced his costume together. nd his belt is now red, instead of his tights. His shoes are... metal. Sure. I'm positive @jimlee00 know what he's doing. And the 'S' shield is actually cool, now that I've gotten a chance to look it over properly. Oh, oh, and the popped-collar. Superman knows what's in! Batman also looks the same, but his costume is also platey and looks like he pieced it together. His boots are also metal. The Flash looks the same, besides the metal boots. Cyborg... grew crab claws and a big metal underbite. I think he might have too much going on.

On the left we have Deadman (JLA status? yeah okay), Ray Palmer's Atom, Element Woman, Firestorm, and on the right we have Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary (some speculate this may be Power Girl, because we haven't seen anything of her new look yet), and Mera.

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Edit: Nevermind what I said about Aquaman's leg flipper thing. It's always been there.

Green Lantern Comes to Theatres

With all the advertisement and money DC is pouring into this movie, everyone should already know this is happening. And it looks damn good. I may just see it opening night, which is... Thursday night, wow. Crept up on me. If the persistent TV spots and well placed billboards haven't sold you, maybe this will. Here's an exclusive first look at some footage shown at Wondercon not too long ago. (Yes, this trailer came out months ago, but it doesn't make it any less cool.)

Green Lantern Clip 4

Here we have Hector Hammond introduced to by Amanda Waller. Hector, as we've seen from the trailers, is one of, if not the greatest super threat within the film. Amanda Waller on the other hand is someone you may remember in the comics leading secret groups such as the Secret Six or the Suicide Squad. A subtle cameo for the fans.

Green Lantern to Be the Truest Comic Book Adaptation Yet

Well, I hope so anyway. There are a few things that seem to be off from the comic book lore of Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), as we've already seen in the trailers, but not much. At worst, the greatest change is Hal Jordan's personality. He's a very serious character. Very very serious... But it wouldn't hit home very well if he was serious on the silver screen, sooo they got Ryan Reynolds to say a few jokes. But from a story standpoint, from a mythos standpoint, to Corps. members, to origins, to Parallax... They're doing a fantastic job. At least from what I've seen anyway. So, today HitFix.com has released 8 brief scenes from the coming movie that prove it may just be the best adaptation of a DC Comics movie to date, BUT I feel as though it may be truest in both the DC and Marvel universe. I'm really excited about it! I'll post them in future updates to the blog.

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In other news, along with the upcoming reboot that DC has in store is Batgirl #1. This will be the first time that Barbara Gordon will appear as Batgirl since the late 80's. Being someone who's grown up in the post Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe, I've known Barbara Gordon only as the Oracle; a crippled hacker in a wheelchair who's saved more lives from that seat than she ever has before the Joker shot her spine as Batgirl. Hopefully DC has something big planned for her.

Let's Try This Again...

So, let's try this again. I started this blog with a plan to keep active, but that's the opposite of what I've done. In fact, I only did make that first post...

Again, this blog is about anything geek/movie/comic/news/blah blah blah. I feel that this has to be discussed because of it's impact on comic book history. Come this August, this will be your new Justice League team.

At first glance, this seems perfectly normal, besides the sore thumb that is Cyborg: as he's rarely considered in the same line of thought as the JLA. But look closer and you'll see it's a little more weird than that. Although Cyborg is immediately identifiable to anyone who's seen the Teen Titans cartoon or walked into a comic book store recently, there are noticeable differences between the one we know and the one that's shown. He looks slightly more stylized, he has some weird little wings on his shoulders, and his chin is noticeably more macho.

The rest of the team looks different, albeit only slightly, except of course for Wonder Woman. Her costume is the most drastic modernization. No longer having her star-spangled banner look, she only shares a remnant of her former costume. The one thing that it seems all the heroes share now is that they all seem at least 10 years younger.

But wait a minute, who's that hiding in the back? Could it be Superman? Of course it is, but the more you look at him the more you realize something's different. Something's wrong. Ah, no wonder he was hiding in the shadows, or rather, no wonder Jim Lee drew him as such. He's saving the full impact of the heroes changes for later. But we can see what's up from here. He's A) noticeably darker, B) his S shield is less curved and sharper, C) he's popped his collar a little more like the Green Lantern and D) ...he lost the tights! (or at least the red ones). The outline is there, but painted in blue...

Now, what's this all about again? Well, DC has decided it's time to bring new life into their comics AND their heroes. They've chosen it's time for 52 of their titles to be rebooted and brought back to issues #1, including a reported 50 new costume changes. This is something even M. Night Shyamalan would call a "twist". So why the changes?! And what will the repercussions be for the comic book community?

Well, DC's been second in market share to MARVEL ever since 2002 (the year Spider-Man came to theaters near you). So naturally, they want to boost their profits. Start anew. BUT unfortunately, comic sales have been going down as comic prices have been going up, up and too much. Sooo, they feel that before the company goes under they'll try something new. By going back to issue #1 with EVERYTHING and ruining a few good costumes they believe they'll usher in a new age of readers.

Repercussions: THEY MESSED WITH SUPERMAN'S COSTUME! The one hero who's never had a costume change in 73 years of existence. The first superhero. THE superhero. But, I digress. I've had a few days to settle into this whole "thing." What do I think?

Geoff Johns/Jim Lee/ and the rest of the DC team are being very brave. However sacrilegious their actions may be, who knows if this will be the only way Superman will live to see another 73 years? And I'm purely singling out Superman here because lets face it, of all the superheroes throughout the years, there has never been one as symbolic and iconic as he, and a thousand years from now kids will certainly know who's S that belongs to... I'm scared for the future of DC. But I want to see what they'll do with it. Many longtime readers are upset and threaten that this is where DC will lose them as readers. Surely this is a risk that the writers at DC knew they were taking, but they could seriously bring comics out of the shadows again and into the hands of a new crowd. Many feel that this is DC saying "Thanks for your money, but we want new readers." And maybe, for some, this is the case, but only if the reader allows themselves to think that way.

Oh and about the costume. Personally, I don't mind the collar bit. But change the S back. It's not any cooler. And about the tights. Yes, we know, almost every other hero has already lost the tights, but once again, Superman started the trend. And there was a reason to him wearing the red tights: it broke up the blue on his costume. Blue all the way down wouldn't have looked nearly as iconic. We'll see what they have in store for us though... Stay tuned.