She'll Cut a Bitch

Having fallen behind on some series, I just finished a Katana marathon, reading the last five issues of the cancelled 10-issue series.  

Wow.  Did that suck.  I shouldn't be surprised, though.  It's my own fault, really, for thinking that anything current by Ann Nocenti would be good.   I like Katana, though, as a character and wanted to be supportive of her solo series.  Correction: I like the pre-New 52 Katana.  This new one is defunct of personality.  When she was a member of the Outsiders back in the 80s, she had a distinct personality that was hard-as-nails, yet she had a mothering instinct toward the naive Halo.  Now we're presented with a character devoid of personality that talks to her sword.  ALL. THE. TIME. 

It didn't help that the entire storyline presented in Katana's solo series was so convoluted and poorly written.  Nobody ever really knew what was going on.  And the New 52 Outsiders is a society formed of various weapon clans?  Yawn.  

I really can't say much more about how bad the series was other than to quote an article I read online about Ann Nocenti's writing:  "It’s like if I was a food critic and you heard that there was a new restaurant down the block –- it’s a dumpster with the word “poop” scrawled across it in spray paint.  Do you really need to hear my recommendation?" 


With that, I bid adieu to Katana (and any future comics written by Ann Nocenti).

What a Looker!

Batman and the Outsiders #31 (1986)

When Looker appeared out of nowhere and joined the Outsiders (formerly Batman and the Outsiders) back in 1985 with her heavily eye-shadowed eyes and pink bow above the hip of her bare leg, I was not a fan.  I felt like she was intruding on a great dynamic that the Outsiders had going and was a little too popular and flashy to join a group of supposed outsiders.  

Worse, when I started reading comics again in 2007, I discovered that Looker was now a vampire. WTF?  It was as jarring as learning that Jubilee from Marvel Comics' X-Men had become one, too.  It seemed that both big comic companies were taking two of their silliest creations and jumping on the vampire craze bandwagon.  

I think there's an unnecessary vampire-mania going on right now, mostly thanks to Twilight.  However, I decided to give DC's I, Vampire revival the benefit of a doubt and read the first five issues. As you can see from my review, I thought it was as awful -- if not worse -- than even Twilight.

National Comics Looker #1 (2012)

Recently, though, I purchased and read DC Comics' new Looker one-shot.  I was intrigued by the fantastic blood-red cover, and especially by the National Comics moniker.  (Quick history lesson:  DC Comics was called National Comics long, long ago.  It was the title of an anthology series from Quality Comics in the 1940s.)  

Anyway, today in 2012, DC Comics introduced this new anthology series titled National Comics, which is supposed to showcase a number of one-shot series focusing on some of DC's more obscure characters such as Kid Eternity, Looker, Rose and Thorn, Madame X, etc.  Looker reimagines the vampiress in DC's New 52.  All I have to say is:  WOW.  If only other New 52 series and characters were as interesting, well-written, and beautifully illustrated as National Comics Looker.  Ian Edginton did a fantastic job with character development.  Not just Looker (aka Emily Briggs), but also her supporting characters.  The artist, Mike Miller, gave us vivid depictions of each character and scene, bringing everything (pun intended) "to life."  I found myself reading the comic slowly to savor each panel.  I knew this was only a one-shot and didn't want the story to end.  

My only question is, "Why isn't there a Looker monthly series instead of crap like I, Vampire?" 

Birds of Prey: the team that never was?

Third time's the charm?  After reading DC Comics' newest Birds of Prey #1 (volume three), I'm not so sure.  Was there never a Birds of Prey team before in the new DC Universe?  Apparently not.  And this time, they're made up of a bunch of bad-ass chicks.  Think Secret Six with only women.

In this first issue, we meet Black Canary and a new character by the name of Starling.  They're both on the run from the law.  Black Canary killed someone?  Hmmm...a mystery to be discovered.  And the tattooed Starling sounds like she's just a crazy bitch.  

Black Canary is trying to form a new team called the Birds of Prey.  She enlists Starling and pays a visit to Barbara Gordon, the old/new Batgirl.  At least they still have some sort of a past in the new DCU.  Dinah tries to enlist Babs, but Babs shoots her down, suggesting Katana (from the previous Outsiders) instead.  Black Canary isn't too keen on that suggestion (another mystery), but she must eventually invite her since Katana appears on the cover (although never in the issue itself).  Poison Ivy also appears on the cover, but never in the book (she doesn't even get a mention like Katana does).   I guess after the cancellation of her Gotham City Sirens, Harley Quinn going to the new Suicide Squad, and Catwoman getting her own series, DC wanted to give Poison Ivy some prevalence in a new series, too. 

I'm not totally sold on this newest incarnation of Birds of Prey, but I'll stick around a few issues to see if I like it any better.  I may just end up flying the coop.

Holy Menage a Trois, Batman!

I just read the new Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 by DC, featuring Red Hood (Jason Todd / Robin), Red Arrow (Roy Harper / Arsenal), and Starfire (New Teen Titans).  All I can say is, "Holy menage a trois, Batman!" 

SPOILER! (?)  Starfire is apparently Jason's "sort-of-girlfriend," but hooks up with Roy.  Because, well...that's what she does.  The "new" Starfire will apparently sleep with anyone.  I'm curious if down the road the three of them will have a threesome.  Now, *that* would be interesting. 

These three characters are familiar, yet distinctly different from their pre-Flashpoint counterparts.   Red Hood is now a Punisher-like mercenary.  Jason Todd is also back to having dark hair.  I guess that's so readers can distinguish him from the red-headed Roy Harper.  Red Hood rescues the criminal/bad boy Red Arrow out of custody.  Starfire is still an alien from the planet Tamaran, but she has no emotions of love or feelings of caring.  Her only related interest is physical sex.  She was with the Teen Titans in her past life, but she doesn't really remember much about it, including her relationship with Dick Grayson.  Those details aren't important to her.  Both Jason and Todd seem totally cool with the other sharing a bed with Starfire. 

The Outlaws are the tougher-sounding Outsiders and/or Secret Six.  They're mercanaries/antiheroes.  There's only three of them, with Red Hood acting as the leader.  

Essence

The story in the first issue was well-written by Scott Lobdell.  The introduction of the mysterious character Essence intrigued me.  The plot was interesting enough that I'll continue buying the series for the time being.  I'm curious to learn more about these three characters, as they were favorites of mine in the "old" DC Universe. 

The Anticlimactic Return of Bruce Wayne/Batman

In the crappy tradition of the Batman: RIP storyline comes the return of Bruce Wayne/Batman from the timestream in which he was caught.  That's not to say that the individual stories of the Bruce Wayne: The Road Home one-shots are crappy, but the manner in which they were released/are being released are.  First, there has been the ever-delayed releases of current issues of the supposed-monthly Batman and Robin and the mini-series Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, both by the questionably talented Grant Morrison.  

This past week, I just picked up issue #5 (of 6) of the up-til-now-boring/lame Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne.  Additionally, I picked up four one-shots (yes, FOUR issues) of the Bruce Wayne: The Road Home one-shots, featuring (in no particular order) Batgirl, Red Robin, Batman and Robin, and Outsiders.  They were originally supposed to be released two issues per week, but apparently someone was slacking off.  Since they weren't labeled, I had to look at the back of each comic to see the "To be continued in..." box to figure out some semblance of order.  In each comic, Bruce Wayne appears to the other characters with no fanfare.  I take it that the people in his life already know that he's back, but we, the readers, have not seen this come about yet.  Maybe that's because DC Comics has only released issue #5 of the aforementioned Return comic.  For me, the "return" really lost its impact because of the delayed and crazy release schedules.  I'm going out on a limb here, but perhaps everything should have been pushed back to coincide?   And releasing four comics of the same storyline at $2.99 in the same week?  What about the Batman readers who are only kids who spend their allowance on comics?  Can they afford to shell out $12-$15 in a single week on a single character?  I know I wouldn't have been able to as a kid.  DC is really doing a disservice to its younger readers.  If kids aren't shown respect now, they're not going to show DC Comics respect later in life.  Those kids can grow up to be adult comic collectors, too, you know.  As an adult reader, I'm offended with being presented with all of this non-labeled material out of sequence.  I don't watch my Mad Men episodes out of order.  Why should I read my comic books that way? 

With all that said, I will say that issue #5 of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne has been the best so far in that otherwise unnecessary series.  Bruce's parents have been recently murdered, and he learns some not-so-great details about their lives that he probably wished he hadn't.  I've only read two of the Road Home one-shots so far (Batgirl, and Batman and Robin), but both were well-written and enjoyable.  Perhaps, though, the stories would have fit better into their own series instead of one-shot issues so we the readers can, again, see some sequence to the events.  I would have liked to have seen the characters' reactions/reunion with Bruce Wayne.  I'm sure some were heartfelt.  

Sadly, since the Batman: RIP storyline, I've really lost interest in the Dark Knight and his cast of supporting (and not-so-supporting) characters.  Why?  The delays, the out-of-sequence releases, the nonsense storylines, myriad of one-shots, revamping of series titles (and starting over at #1 issues), Batman rip-off characters like Knight and Squire taking over the Bat-titles, the thought (and fear) of the too-many-to-name upcoming Batman series, the concept (and title) of Batman, Inc., etc.  Maybe I'll just stick to non-Bat titles until some of the titles fail and are cancelled and Batman becomes interesting again. 

Inside the Outsiders

When Batman and the Outsiders debuted in the 1980s, it quickly became one of my favorite comics to read every month. The concept was brilliant: take a superhero that is well-established and everyone loves, have him leave the Justice League where he's been forever and was a charter member, and then have him start his own superteam with a bunch of misfits and unknowns. Not only did we get more Batman every month (besides his regular self-titled book and Detective Comics), but now we got to become involved with these minor characters that had interesting backgrounds and storylines of their own: Geo-Force, Katana, Halo, Black Lightning, and Metamorpho. The friendship between Katana and Halo was unique in that they had such different personalities, and the tie between the Outsiders' Geo-Force and Teen Titans' Terra was fantastically engineered. Later, the team is joined by the mysterious Looker who stirs things up between the team members, especially between Halo and Katana when she horns in on their friendship by befriending the innocent Halo.

After Batman leaves the team, though, the Outsiders became less interesting to me. Not because of Batman's departure so much as the writing and stories seemed to plummet. Not surprisingly, the book was cancelled soon after. Revivals of the Outsiders were attempted over the years, but never with Batman. In fact, once, Nightwing (from the Teen Titans, and the former Robin) became their leader with a totally new group of Outsiders. I wasn't reading comics during this period, so I can't really comment on the revivals.

However, when DC Comics decided to revive the Batman and the Outsiders concept in 2007, I thought, "Yea!" Sadly, it's been kind of lame, with the worst blow being Batman leaving the team AGAIN, this time because he "died." I continued reading the series, though, because...well, I don't know. I guess I'm a bit nostalgic, and I just felt sorry for them.

Having just read Outsiders 23-25, though, I have to say that they're getting back on track. We begin to see more of their individual personalities and character interactions again. It also doesn't hurt that the events in these issues tie in with DC's crossover Blackest Night event and feature the (dead) Terra coming back to haunt Geo-Force and play with his emotions. These are the Outsiders I know and love.

The prospect of DC Comics' Senior Vice President/Executive Editor Dan Didio taking over the writing duties with the next issue (issue #26) intrigues me, especially since it looks like he's having Superman join the team. This concept harkens back to the days when the original Outsiders were created ("take a superhero that is well-established and everyone loves, have him leave the Justice League where he's been forever and was a charter member, and then have him start his own superteam"). Let's hope he can deliver and make the Outsiders one of my favorites again!

P.S. just please take the Creeper off the roster. He is one of the most annoying characters in the DC Universe. Thank you.