DC the New 52: The Second Week

Batwoman..

  Absolutely stunning artwork, both the water colour and really graphic pencil lined pages. The reset button hasn't altered the look of this book or the character, costume, backstory or well anything to be precise. It's just business as usual. I haven't read the entire backstory from the Detective Comics issues she was in before. So I may not be incredibly up to date with her stories. None the less I'm jumping on this bandwagon now. Although speaking of costume, she is a pale stunning red head and yet her costumed counter part shows her as a pale red head with an even longer red wig that highlights the same natural colour she already sports..? That's worse than Clark Kent slapping some glasses on! 

  Seriously though, there are things about the writing of this character that I have respect for. She is gay and Jewish and yet neither of those are rammed down your throat like they are the only defining aspects of the character that matter. She is fully formed. She is looking for a meaningful relationship rather than making out with every female character she sees. This is a good thing. There's nothing worse than being gay for gay's sake.

  The story was intriguing if a little clichéd. Yeah it's detective story with a nice new villain who appears to be drowning people as they stand away from water. At least the Premise isn't the typical gangster or small time crook/ madman/ murderer. Instead she seems to be from an urban legend. It's clearly the art and characters that make this book.

Batman and Robin..

  This book neither drew me in or turned me off it. I like Damian as Robin, but he was far better teamed up with Dick Grayson- Batman than Bruce Wayne- Batman. Some will be over joyed to see Batman and his own son fighting crime together. I guess it's a great premise to a story but it just doesn't come across as exciting enough. 

  There are constants across the Bat books this time around, a lot of gotham is being heavily renovated. Getting rid of the crime filled streets and replacing them with the massive new skyscraping offices and apartments as shown in Batman (next week.. yeah great order of release again DC! Let us not forget the time Bruce Wayne was back in other books before "The Return of Bruce Wayne" mini had concluded!). So Bruce and Damian have gone to see crime alley where Bruce's parents were killed one last time. Glad that it's not there anymore tbh. It will or SHOULD stop the whole emo side of Batman. 

  There are lots of seeds planted in the first issue, as the duo stop a gang from stealing irradiated fuel and a new villain (yes another one woohoo!) called Nobody is killing Batman inc. team members off. Glad to see the Incorporated story will still be going on. 

  I just don't want to have to make Damian earning Bruce's respect take forever. We only just did that with Dick not trusting him.

Suicide Squad..

  Amanda Waller, now a skinny black woman, why? I have no idea why that needed changing. Is she going to wind up in a fight and we needed to make it believable that she could beat someone up? Who knows! She tortures bad guys that are working for the good guys who may in fact be bad guys. It's a confusing agenda but I like half of the characters so meh I'm reading it. 

  The issue consists of the team thinking they are on a mission only after the mission has gone bad and more torture has ensued, they find out that it was in fact the last test and they passed with flying colours. It wasn't exactly a great first issue as in setting up what you will see on a regular basis as I would imagine the team in the field would be a lot more fun to read. 

  When they finally do get dropped into there first mission they are told they are to kill an entire stadiums worth of people. That's the cliff hanger. 

  The characters look different. Some in a bad way. Harley's costume is impractical and looks ridiculous on the character. Yet if I wasn't comparing her to DC old I wouldn't think twice about it. 

  There are three artists on the book. I don't get why, it detracts from the story and the first artist is by far the best. Much cleaner lines, much less childish cartooning. Just sharp, polished and yet nicely gritty.

Green Lantern..

  This Lantern book does a good job of introducing the Lantern lore and universe of characters. A good contrast between Hal on Earth re-adjusting to his old life and Sinestro on Earth also re-adjusting to his old ring and Corps. Not a great deal happens this issue and it feels a tad dragged out but you do learn a lot about Hal and Sinestro. I love the dynamic between Hal and Carol. She thinks he took her out to dinner to propose now that he's no longer a lantern. Then the Cliff hanger is Sinestro offering Hal his ring back if he makes a deal with him. Very nice twist although I would have hoped it hadn't happened so soon. 

  The art is typical and I like how although the Green Lanterns haven't been affected by the reboot it feels like they have, as the last issue of DC old left Sinestro with a ring and this is his first time in the lead role again. Perfect reboot material. 

Superboy..

  So this science group grew the clone Superboy and after trying to kill him because they are reading no brain activity, he becomes fully conscious and awakens. He is then shoved into some Matrix like fake reality machine to be tested. They appear to be getting clues about who he was cloned from. They know the Superman half but who is the other. If it's Lex than nothing has changed at all and that would explain him not saving people in the Matrix machine. However it would be a cop out to old readers to leave a plot thread like that hanging only to have it be the same as before.

  I hope this title brings about a relationship between the red headed scientist and Superboy. It kind of hints that she has feelings for him. 

  The art on this book is so up my street it might as well move in next door to me. Seriously loved the look of it. Great line work on the characters and perfect emotional expressions. The only thing that bugged me about this book is what I realised a fortnight later. It has an identical cliff hanger to Teen Titans. I figured TT would carry on immediately after and would switch the character between not be a kind of "identical sister" title. It makes no sense. After reading both I am none the wiser. Just that he will possibly be released prematurely to the world to deal with/ join the Teen Titans. 

  Oh and why is he depicted as a Cyborg on the cover? Confusing much?!

  Another week done. No real gems here in my opinion. Although I am looking forward to the next Batwoman and Superboy, just mostly for the art. Oh and what happened to all that shebang about women needing to cover up? Harley's corset is unrealistic and whore-ish not to mention there is a changing room scene in Batwoman, which felt unnecessary yet fitted the character better that Harley. Whose character used to be all about trying to get with the Joker with their on again off again one way love. The full jester costume may have looked dated but it's how jesters look. Now she looks like a street walker, which depending on how they've changed her backstory, may be even more out of character for someone who was once a timid psychiatrist who looked up to the bonkers enigmatic Joker.