Batgirl #0 Review
Rating: 5 / 5
Pros: Origin revelations, Babs' first costume, Joker
Cons: Hmmm...
So of course Gail Simone is handling her script of Barbara Gordon with ease, with intrigue, and with great TLC. She is welcomingly portraying Babs' character as hero-to-be, as the daughter of police officer, and a highly intelligent and skilled individual. After growing up in a policeman's family, she is revealed to have been training to protect herself since her youth. She is revealed to be pursuing her criminology degree in order to perhaps one day follow her father's footsteps, to be a hero... and she is revealed to have the fascination with this new Batman that we would all have as a resident of Gotham.
What would you do if you had all her training behind you? What would you do if you and your family was threatened? What would you do if an innocent you just met was threatened? Gail Simone effortlessly throws in a little internal monologues to keep the reader up to speed... but the action shows that Babs would kick some ass when the trouble starts (even to her own surprise).
Ed Benes has been around for a while, but I've never really paid much attention. His art and page layouts are quite similar to Fancis Manapaul's work on the Flash, if he was teamed up with Jim Lee's crisp lines and designs. I like it. He's got a great style that compliments a female lead.
That final panel is the clincher. I whole heartedly approve Gail's commitment to including the single most defining "pre-new 52" moment of the character of Batgirl. I'm glad she kept that tale as a part of the new continuum, of the new Bab's character arc.
Batman & Robin #0 Review
Rating: 5 / 5
Pros: Pat Gleason art, Damian's coming of age
Cons: Hmmm...
To be honest, I'm not a huge Batman fan. Yeah, I was swept up with the 1986 excitement of the film and, in the following years, I read and learned almost everything I could about Master Wayne. But in my teen years, I grew tired of the hero who could do-it-all, and felt more attachment with Dick Grayson and the Teen Titans, as the heroes who are still trying to get it right. I grew up some more and lost touch with the Dark Knight.
Then came Damian. Out of curiosity (and because of Frank Quitely) I picked up the last volume of Batman & Robin. Loved every minute of it... almost. The majority of Grant Morrison's intersecting storylines and years old plot points were lost on me as a new reader. When Peter Tomasi and Pat Gleason tooks the reins the New 52 (after their successful partnership with Green Lantern Corps), I just had to see what Damian was up to. This is an awesome kid, hands down. Tomasi has really developed an interesting 11 year old, fighting his own demons as he tries to live up to being the first Robin who is also a Wayne.
This issue shows that progression from "son of Al Ghul" to a "son of Wayne". He certainly didn't have the easiest childhood (being raised by Talia and her assassin minions)... but it seems that Tomasi is really defining the Wayne charactersitic in him as the part that wants answers, the part that wants justice. Tomasi has cleverly crafted little Damian into a complex and frightening child, with a hope that he will grow up to be a Batman one day (in my humble opinion). The demons he battles with are the inate Al Ghul characteristics of never giving up and doing anything to get the job done... anything, at any cost.
Gleason's art is above par here. I fell in love with his work in GLC, but he is really finding his stride in B&R in terms of page layouts, panel designs, and storyline flow. Some very powerful pages here, especially Damian's birthday sequences on pages 10 and 11, or the creepily adorable toddler in the bat suit on page 8. Gleason's art my be considered cartoonish by some (exaggerated facial expressions, round features) but his work fits perfectly for Robin. He nails it. I mean, he makes Damian both creepy and adorable! Not many can pull that off.
Team 7 #0 Review
Rating: 3 / 5
Pros: Foundation for very interesting character conflicts
Cons: A lot to absorb
This issue is pretty much an Ocean's Eleven "getting the gang together" sequence. Following these characters 5 years ago... we get to see the governmental reaction to the rise fo the super-hero in the public. We are shown some type of collective that is gathering these forces to work together... a band collected by Dinah Drake (a.k.a. Black Canary) and Kurt Lance (new guy?). Once you throw in Amanda Waller, you know this will end up being a Suicide Squad/Checkmate kind of title. Writer Justin Jordan is differentiating this title from those other Waller-connections seemingly by treating this as a well-crafted ensemble piece, with a number of highly volatile characters and personalities bound for conflict.
The one major drawback I felt, with this being the introduction to the series and the Team, is that the sequences were very short and quickly snapped together. I was getting kind of lost when character after character were thrown at the reader. Some familiar. Some not. I spent some time between panels trying to figure out if I knew this guy already or not, which unfortunately pulled me out of the story. Same with seeing Dinah over and over again. It actually took me a couple of times to realize that it was her and Kurt that were getting the band together (although that was partially me just not paying attention). There was a lot going on. Too much. Too quick.
This may have been a difficult start to the series... kinda going in blind, as opposed to typically learning a backstory to a familiar name like the other Zero issues. There's hope. It will be interesting to see what type of world is being created here... and if the fact that it is told as if it was 5 years ago will cause any confusion or discord with any present day storylines (especially in Grifter, Deathstroke, Birds of Prey).
Rating: 1 / 5
Pros: Hmmmm... I always like Slade
Cons: I feel worse for having read it
Ugh. So, in the early 90s, I fell in love with Rob Liefeld for a weekend. I liked his different approach to art and design. I liked his attitude and for sticking it to "the man" when he helped start Image. I was impressed by the fact that he helped to define an entire shift in the comic book industry! ...and then I turned 14. Then I had personal growth and tried to understand the multi-facted answers to "what is art?". Then I understood and could identify plot and character development. Then I realized Mr. Liefeld wasn't as talented as I thought. I grew up. The comic industry grew up. Things got dark. Things got fun again. Amazing writing emerged (from Bill Willingham and Tony Daniel to Geoff Johns and "non-Vertigo" Grant Morrison). The readers were forced to be challenged again... seemingly for the first time since the early 80s when "adult reader" direct market titles were released.
He's okay. He does better art than I can... but then I haven't spent the last 25 years honing my craft (not that it shows in his work either). The problem with Liefled is that his storytelling, his art, and his creations have not changed since 1992. This may as well have been the origin story of anybody in Youngblood or New Mutants or X-Force. I'm not going to get into his poor portrayal of anything-near-accurate body structure, or his understand of depth perception and scale. Nor will I even mention his need for excessive shoulderpads and pouches. That's his thing. I get it. I won't mention it anymore.
It's his writing that bothers me so deeply. Even though there are diverse writers and characters and publications in the industry today... Liefeld still seems to me like a Michael Bay film in a world of Merchant Ivory! Things are just that much more formulaic and simple. Everything is two-dimensional. Man goes to war, man falls in love, man loses wife and son, man raises other son to be his sidekick killer. Right there is almost as much plot detail as Rob gives in 22 pages (I know I'm exaggerating, but I'm trying to make a point). Action sequences are not plot, Rob. Text boxes ares not character development, Rob. With this issue, I was led to believe that his wife and youngest son died... kinda. That his eldest son became of stone cold killer... kinda. Liefeld follows these plot points with a couple explosions and splash pages... but he shows very little for character development. All the reader is given is a little text box that "explains" what he are seeing between the "Blam Blam Blam"s. I appreciate authors who "show the audience" and not "tell the audience". I was not drawn in at all. I felt no connection, no pathos for Slade Wilson. I cared nothing at all for any of these characters... I didn't understand any of their motives at all (despite what Liefeld told us what they are).
I'm also led to believe that Slade killed ALL the North Koreans... like, the whole country? Misleading and unclear prose is not the finest quality of any writer. I love, have always loved, Slade as a character. I collected much of his appearances in Titans and his own self-titled series. I still love seeing him (although I skipped this recent series). My appreciation of him is the only thing keeping this from being a 0 out of 5.
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