comics roundup
I read a bunch of Marvel #1 issues when they were giving them away, but I still have a couple of those floating around waiting for me to finish them, so I will save those and do them all at once. In the meantime, comics I have read lately:
Single Issues:
Nightwing #81:
This is part of a 3-part story, but really I just wanted to see Cass doing stuff and the Batfamily fussing at Dick, who apparently got shot or something in the previous issue. Cass fighting Deathstroke was indeed pretty impressive. Other than that...Dick ran around worrying about Amy Rohrbach, and then her car blew up?
Robin 132-133/Batgirl 58-59
These are the issues from Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood. The Robin issues are...not great. The first one is probably a contender for the actual worst-written comic book I have ever read, and the art is also pretty terrible. Also, uh, if that is supposed to be Tim brooding/being angry/being scary, wow, I really don't believe it. The Batgirl issues make up for it, though, both character-wise and in terms of the art (although Tim looks weirdly like Robin from the Teen Titans television cartoon when he is in-uniform). I am not really sure about the plot, but Cass' narration and interactions with Tim are really lovely, and I wish they got to have awkward tea parties and take care of each other and have difficult conversations respectfully like that ALL OF THE TIMES.
Li'l Gotham #7:
Adorable, as always. Selina's faces ♥. Also, when Dick says, "Do you think it could be a Holiday-themed criminal?" Yes, Dick, all the points to you for being the only one in your family to remember the Long Halloween. :P
Trade Paperbacks:
Batman: Heart of Hush
I do not really have feelings about this except yay, Selina, and yay, Dustin Nguyen. Despite getting her heart cut out, Selina still managed to be super awesome. Hugging a lion? Check. Sassy Bechdel Test pass while beating Zatanna (!) at three-card Monte? Check. Scaring the pants off Hush while recovering in a beachside cabana? Also check. Also, I love that hustling cards in a tracksuit while having sassy but not combative interactions with potential romantic rivals is what Zatanna does in her free time. Question: if Colin, as seen here, has a phobia of bats, how does that work for his hanging out with Damian thing?
Batman: War Drums
I would like to live in the parallel universe where this led up to nice things, like Catalina making something of her life, and Leslie being a good mother figure for Bruce and the rest of the Batfamily, and Stephanie getting to be Robin for long enough that she stopped counting weeks, and, you know, not almost-dying. It started off looking like it could go good places, although, man, was Batman in a mood. He was even being mean to Batgirl, and isn't Cass kind of his favorite because she a) is essentially a perfect fighter but won't kill and b) knows what he wants her to do before he tells her? The Robin comics were pretty much the weakest point, again because of the art, and because the "scarab assassin" plot point was kind of dumb. But Stephanie and Bruce were funny together, and when he actually took her seriously, like in Detective Comics whatever the number was, that was pretty great. Also, Steph loves the Batmobile, adorable ♥, on that note, see this.
Batman: The Long Halloween:
I liked this, but I don't have a lot of feelings about it other than, "cool, noir Batman," "this is kind of like the Nolan movies," and "actual best Selina Kyle." Not getting tired of her throwing herself off buildings without a safety line anytime soon. Also, is it weird that despite the whole Holiday killer thing, this felt tame by Batman standards? I didn't have to watch anything horrible happen to a Robin, a Batgirl, a love interest of Bruce Wayne, or Catwoman, so I was good. That...seems a bit off, yeah?
Batman: Dark Victory:
Selina Kyle: still queen of everything. My favorite part was this conversation she had, in-costume, with Batman, while neither of them know the other's secret identity:
Catwoman: Let's do it. Right now. Take off the masks. No secrets.
[a whole panel while Batman is thinking.]
Batman:What is your relationship to the Falcone crime organization?
Catwoman:[scowling] Happy Valentine's Day.
Holy, mood-killer, Batman!
Also enjoyable: itty bitty angry Dick Grayson determined to help Batman fight crime. Batman's "What are you wearing?" when he sees the Robin outfit for the first time. And Dick totally named the Batcave, didn't he? Also, Alfred is great, and hilariously snarky, and he totally ships both Bruce/Selina and Bat/Cat. Just saying.
Question: Did the writers forget that Harvey's wife was actually Holiday? Or did I drastically misunderstand the ending of The Long Halloween? Because other than referring to "Gilda, Harvey's one true love," she isn't mentioned, and they continue to claim that whatever dude took the fall for it is actually Holiday throughout the comic. Gilda never reappears.
Catwoman: When In Rome:
At this point, I had read >800 pages of Loeb/Sale in, like, a week and was massively burned out on them. I had to read this book because the library wanted it back. I did not like it. I am not sure if Catwoman, like Batman, is kind of an archetype and it's hard to get inside her head, or if she's less fun without having Batman to play off, but whatever they were doing right before, it went away. This also felt vaguely exploitative, like they were looking for excuses to get Selina in her underwear, and I KNOW I was supposed to be skeeved out by Eddie, but I didn't think he was funny, I thought he was annoying and creepy.
Wolverine & Jubilee: Curse of the Mutants:
I got the first issue free, and I really liked it so I went ahead and ordered the trade. The rest was...not exactly what I was expecting, but it was still good. I really like that Jubilee gets to be angry, and that it's hard for her to deal with other people when her life is getting turned upside down. I kind of wanted it to stay on that line of things--I was not expecting this to be the kind of comic where Santo goes to a mafia-front dry-cleaner where a lady takes his token and then turns into a dragon and takes him to a Katamari-esque magical realm where Jubilee is both trapped and ~finding herself. Although that was cool. And the art was really great. It was gorgeous, and the people actually looked like people. Like, with normal proportions and everything.
Also, does anyone know when in April the new X-Men comic that's all girls comes out? That has Jubilee in it? I can't get the internet to tell me anything more helpful than "next month."
ALSO Also I don't think this exists even in fandom, but it would be the best if Jubilee and Cass got to hang out. I think Cass would probably think Jubilee was annoying and talked too much, but then they could bond over having really weird, cranky father figures and big, strange families of choice, and over how they don't want to hurt anyone even though they are really dangerous, and then Stephanie would show up and it would just be a party.
Single Issues:
Nightwing #81:
This is part of a 3-part story, but really I just wanted to see Cass doing stuff and the Batfamily fussing at Dick, who apparently got shot or something in the previous issue. Cass fighting Deathstroke was indeed pretty impressive. Other than that...Dick ran around worrying about Amy Rohrbach, and then her car blew up?
Robin 132-133/Batgirl 58-59
These are the issues from Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood. The Robin issues are...not great. The first one is probably a contender for the actual worst-written comic book I have ever read, and the art is also pretty terrible. Also, uh, if that is supposed to be Tim brooding/being angry/being scary, wow, I really don't believe it. The Batgirl issues make up for it, though, both character-wise and in terms of the art (although Tim looks weirdly like Robin from the Teen Titans television cartoon when he is in-uniform). I am not really sure about the plot, but Cass' narration and interactions with Tim are really lovely, and I wish they got to have awkward tea parties and take care of each other and have difficult conversations respectfully like that ALL OF THE TIMES.
Li'l Gotham #7:
Adorable, as always. Selina's faces ♥. Also, when Dick says, "Do you think it could be a Holiday-themed criminal?" Yes, Dick, all the points to you for being the only one in your family to remember the Long Halloween. :P
Trade Paperbacks:
Batman: Heart of Hush
I do not really have feelings about this except yay, Selina, and yay, Dustin Nguyen. Despite getting her heart cut out, Selina still managed to be super awesome. Hugging a lion? Check. Sassy Bechdel Test pass while beating Zatanna (!) at three-card Monte? Check. Scaring the pants off Hush while recovering in a beachside cabana? Also check. Also, I love that hustling cards in a tracksuit while having sassy but not combative interactions with potential romantic rivals is what Zatanna does in her free time. Question: if Colin, as seen here, has a phobia of bats, how does that work for his hanging out with Damian thing?
Batman: War Drums
I would like to live in the parallel universe where this led up to nice things, like Catalina making something of her life, and Leslie being a good mother figure for Bruce and the rest of the Batfamily, and Stephanie getting to be Robin for long enough that she stopped counting weeks, and, you know, not almost-dying. It started off looking like it could go good places, although, man, was Batman in a mood. He was even being mean to Batgirl, and isn't Cass kind of his favorite because she a) is essentially a perfect fighter but won't kill and b) knows what he wants her to do before he tells her? The Robin comics were pretty much the weakest point, again because of the art, and because the "scarab assassin" plot point was kind of dumb. But Stephanie and Bruce were funny together, and when he actually took her seriously, like in Detective Comics whatever the number was, that was pretty great. Also, Steph loves the Batmobile, adorable ♥, on that note, see this.
Batman: The Long Halloween:
I liked this, but I don't have a lot of feelings about it other than, "cool, noir Batman," "this is kind of like the Nolan movies," and "actual best Selina Kyle." Not getting tired of her throwing herself off buildings without a safety line anytime soon. Also, is it weird that despite the whole Holiday killer thing, this felt tame by Batman standards? I didn't have to watch anything horrible happen to a Robin, a Batgirl, a love interest of Bruce Wayne, or Catwoman, so I was good. That...seems a bit off, yeah?
Batman: Dark Victory:
Selina Kyle: still queen of everything. My favorite part was this conversation she had, in-costume, with Batman, while neither of them know the other's secret identity:
Catwoman: Let's do it. Right now. Take off the masks. No secrets.
[a whole panel while Batman is thinking.]
Batman:What is your relationship to the Falcone crime organization?
Catwoman:[scowling] Happy Valentine's Day.
Holy, mood-killer, Batman!
Also enjoyable: itty bitty angry Dick Grayson determined to help Batman fight crime. Batman's "What are you wearing?" when he sees the Robin outfit for the first time. And Dick totally named the Batcave, didn't he? Also, Alfred is great, and hilariously snarky, and he totally ships both Bruce/Selina and Bat/Cat. Just saying.
Question: Did the writers forget that Harvey's wife was actually Holiday? Or did I drastically misunderstand the ending of The Long Halloween? Because other than referring to "Gilda, Harvey's one true love," she isn't mentioned, and they continue to claim that whatever dude took the fall for it is actually Holiday throughout the comic. Gilda never reappears.
Catwoman: When In Rome:
At this point, I had read >800 pages of Loeb/Sale in, like, a week and was massively burned out on them. I had to read this book because the library wanted it back. I did not like it. I am not sure if Catwoman, like Batman, is kind of an archetype and it's hard to get inside her head, or if she's less fun without having Batman to play off, but whatever they were doing right before, it went away. This also felt vaguely exploitative, like they were looking for excuses to get Selina in her underwear, and I KNOW I was supposed to be skeeved out by Eddie, but I didn't think he was funny, I thought he was annoying and creepy.
Wolverine & Jubilee: Curse of the Mutants:
I got the first issue free, and I really liked it so I went ahead and ordered the trade. The rest was...not exactly what I was expecting, but it was still good. I really like that Jubilee gets to be angry, and that it's hard for her to deal with other people when her life is getting turned upside down. I kind of wanted it to stay on that line of things--I was not expecting this to be the kind of comic where Santo goes to a mafia-front dry-cleaner where a lady takes his token and then turns into a dragon and takes him to a Katamari-esque magical realm where Jubilee is both trapped and ~finding herself. Although that was cool. And the art was really great. It was gorgeous, and the people actually looked like people. Like, with normal proportions and everything.
Also, does anyone know when in April the new X-Men comic that's all girls comes out? That has Jubilee in it? I can't get the internet to tell me anything more helpful than "next month."
ALSO Also I don't think this exists even in fandom, but it would be the best if Jubilee and Cass got to hang out. I think Cass would probably think Jubilee was annoying and talked too much, but then they could bond over having really weird, cranky father figures and big, strange families of choice, and over how they don't want to hurt anyone even though they are really dangerous, and then Stephanie would show up and it would just be a party.