DC’S New 53- Nightwing #1

Written by Kyle Higgins with art by Eddy Barrows, Nightwing is another love it or leave it kinda book. Big Batman fan? It’s a must! You like Batman but are digging the much-touted “DC Dark”, it might not be that big of a deal for you to pass on it. Why on earth Chuck Dixon wasn’t given or offered the reigns to this reboot is beyond me. (Chuck Dixon is Awesome!)

Even Chuck Norris thinks he’s awesome and he’s kicking a wolf!

This issue starts out with Nightwing fighting some dude on a train.

Hey, that’s my job!

Sigh, so anyway, Nightwing kicks this dudes arse, then goes on to talk about how he was happy to be Batman but glad to be Nightwing again. That’s like eating a McDonalds after a lifetime of meals by Wolfgang Puck!

No idea what’s going on here.

So after that he goes and visits the circus as it’s in town. He goes to visit his old family(Well, besides his parents, they died years ago…but you already knew that!).

Yay, clowns are fun! Wait, why is he eating Jimmy’s face?!

After a visit to the circus  he gets jumped by some dude that is desperately trying not to be wolverine.

Stop jumping around, Bub!

It ends on a cliffhanger of sorts and we’re left wondering why we really read this thing in the first place! It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just not very exciting. It’s well structured, but a tad boring…we’ve see this before, but Chuck Dixon did it better!

Chuck Dixon is the man! Oh and that dude totally has his hand up a puppets ass!

Now thinking of puppet ass,

Donnie Drama

DC’S New 52- The Fury Of Firestorm The Nuclear Men #1

Co-Plotted by Ethan Van Sciver And Gail Simone, yet written by Gail Simone(Don’t ask me how that works!), The Fury Of Firestorm The Nuclear Men officially won an award for the longest title known to man!

What’s a title? I’m just a simple cave man that was frozen..Oh hey, there’s my cell phone!

It’s also a hell of a read. I know a lot of reviewers out there are a bit critical of the beginning(Mercenaries kill a family)  feeling a little too much like an episode of 24, but I felt it fit in just fine and added a bit of drama to the story that took just the right amount of time to build upon itself.(It’s called character development, people!)

Take me seriously or I’ll make you watch one of the sequels!

What DC says:

Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond are a couple of students living worlds apart. Now they are drawn into a conspiracy of super-science that will bond them forever in a way they can barely understand, let alone explain or control. The dark secrets of the murderous Dog Team and the Firestorm Protocol will force them to put aside their differences to confront a threat so terrifying it may lead to a new Cold War.

Oh my…Scary! Honestly, it’s a good read, regardless of the negative reviews or the overinflated DC Hype Machine. I’d give it a try, in fact, I did!

Furious with Fury about Firestorms Fury,

Donnie Drama

DC’S New 52- Men of War #1

Written by Ivan Brandon, and Jonathan Vankin with art by Tom Derenik, and Phil Winslade, Men of War is an acquired taste.  This is a heavily character-driven book which introduces us to the grandson of the original Sgt. Rock as he fights in modern times with his troop of  merry men.

So very merry!

While none of these men posess super powers, they do eventually find themselves up against some super-powered baddies, which gives us a delightful thought of what if someone actually wrote or directed a good Transformers Movie…am I right????

Yep…someone actually took the time to do this.

If you are a fan of character-driven drama, or war, or video games on war, you might find this a thrilling read. However, I recommend waiting for the trade…if this comic lasts that long.

Hopefully transforming into a better blogger,

Donnie Drama

DC’S New 52- Green Arrow #1

Written by JT Krul with  art by Dan Jurgens and a beautiful cover by Brett Booth, Green Arrow lands with a thud. The  more I read of JT’s work, the more I dislike it! Once again, as like Captain Atom, Green Arrow #1 thrusts you into the middle of the action, making it more like already missed a few issues, and less like an introduction.

I’m not sure what JT did to deserve to be a premiere writer for DC, but I think I probably don’t wanna know.

I’ll give you two writing gigs at DC?

I feel like readers of the old Ollie, the one everyone liked before JT started making him suck, will be a bit alienated by the new, corporate Ollie that now seems more like the dude from Burn Notice(He has a handler now!?).

I’m the new Ollie Queen!

I’m going to miss the days of Ollie’s womanizing, boozing and rebelling against the man! What I won’t miss, is this title…skip it at all costs!

Thinking of selling my soul to write for DC,

Donnie Drama

The Avengers Trailer Is HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s arrived…enjoy! 🙂
 

DC’S New 52- BatGirl #1

Written by Gail Simone with art by Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes, BatGirl begins with  the death of a man, and the impending showdown between BatGirl and The Mirror, a new villain roaming the streets of Gotham.

Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl is back, and better than ever! Having survived her ordeal in a wheel chair, Barbara is on the streets(she was wheel chair bound for over 3 years). She’s a little gun shy, a little rusty, but she still has the guts to fight crime where ever it rears it’s ugly head!

Me head ugly?

I found this issue to be delightful, filled with suspense, drama, love, affection, independence, and action! The art is fantastic, the story is a great lead-in to a character some people may not know was originally The Oracle.

She loves Aliens!

The Oracle was DC’S premiere information operative for the superheroes of the DC Universe. Barbara was her, now she’s not, but as batgirl, time will only tell if the switch is worth the gamble. Honestly, I love the idea, but I fear that by removing one of comic book’s only wheelchair bound heros, DC is reversing what they sought to do with this reboot, add diversity.

The Joker is all too eager to criple Barbara again!

I love the story, I love the art, I just wish it was done with Batwoman(Which if you didn’t know, is a lame comic.).

It’s worth picking up if you can still find it…I let this one slide past me and it ended up costing me $11.50 on ebay(EEP!).

Out of the chair and onto the streets,

Donnie Drama

DC’S New 52- Captain Atom #1

Written by J.T. Krul with art by Freddie Williams II, Captain Atom is a comic I’ve had high hopes for since I’ve heard of it’s officiall release into the world….but after reading this issue I’ve decided…it’s wasn’t released, it escaped!

And wrongfully so!

J.T. Krul has always been hit or miss with me and this is yet another miss for him. We learn nothing about the character’s rich history(he’s been around since the 60’s), we learn nothing of the man behind the power.  J.T. seems obsessed with power (Don’t let him near a position of power!), and desctruction, nothing more.

Obey me!

The art is equally bad, almost as someone is training to draw as someone else is plotting a terrible story. I was bored, and I was stunned this issue was approved for “release”. Please DC, stop putting out crap, hire someone to do something worth while, or give the title to somone you know can produce results!

Not you, Fabian!

Wishing I had the power to blow up this comic before it saw print,

Donnie Drama

DC’S New 52- Batman and Robin #1

Bursting forth from the mind of Grant Morrison, writer, Peter Tomasi takes the concept of Bruce Wayne and son and rolls off to a great start!(There’s a rolling ball-like vehicle in this issue.)

No, I said Rolling Ball…now get outta here!

The issue starts with the killing of a Russian Batman(yep, they have those now). This is a great way to set the threat level right off the bat(get it? Ha!)

We then get to  learn about the relationship of Bruce and his young son right away, as there are some anger issues Bruce must teach his son to deal with. Shortly after we are thrust into the action, learning just how effective and ineffective young Damian can be. We also learn how much Bruce sounds like an old man!

Not too sleek in that bat suit now, are ya, Bruce!

This is a fun read with a great supporting cast and an early mystery to really sink your teeth into(No real pun intended there).

I’d recommend picking it up and giving it a try as you don’t need to know too much to know that you like this book!

Oops I crapped my pants while writing this,

Donnie Drama

DC’S New 52- Static Shock #1

Phew….what a turd this one is!  Remember when comic books about teenagers were NOT all trying to all rip-off Spiderman????

No Idea!

Written by Scott McDaniel, and John Rozum with pencils by Scott McDaniel, this story lays itself out in a clear path…emulate spiderman, but tweek it just a bit, so nobody notices. Sigh…. DC already has a black, static-like hero just waiting to be used again…and he was actually pretty cool..hmmm, who could it be?

Black Lightning, Muta F@#KA’s!

But instead we get Super-powered teenager Static, AKA Virgil Ovid Hawkins..Yay!  He’s just arrived in New York City fresh from Dakota . He’s got an after-school job at STAR Labs(How the hell??!!)  and he’s already on the trail of some kind of sabotage plot. What a smart kid! The first issue and he’s already sniffed out some bad guys. Good for you! How about they take this comic and toss it off a cliff, along with that new Blue Beetle crap they keep putting out!

Bottom Line…it’s a pretty terrible comic and def. not worth your dime. Save up and buy two Swamp thing issues! 🙂

“Shocking” Reviews from:

Donnie Drama

DC’S New 52- Legion Lost #1

Written by Fabian Nicieza and drawn by Pete Woods, Legion Lost is one of those books that doesn’t quite fit in anywhere. And why is that you might ask? Blame it on Fabian! You might remember Fabian from the 90’s convoluted X-Men titles, I still haven’t forgiven him!

Forgive me, it’s been over 15 years!

And now for a little background on the Legion, via our friend, Wikipedia…take it away!

The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the DC Comics Universe. The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino.

Initially, the team was closely associated with the original Superboy (Superman when he was a teenager), and was first portrayed as a group of time travelers who frequently visited him. In later years, the Legion’s origin and back story were fleshed out, and the group replaced Superboy as the focus of their stories; eventually Superboy was removed altogether, except as an occasional guest star.

The team has undergone several major reboots during its publication. The original version was replaced with a new rebooted version following the events of Zero Hour and another rebooted team was introduced in 2004. A fourth version of the team, nearly identical to the original version, was introduced in 2007. As a result, Superman (both as an adult and a teenager) and the current version of Supergirl have been reincorporated into Legion history.

Now on with what’s happing in the current reboot (I believe this makes reboot number 5 or 6 for them.) The story starts out with some guy, turning into an alien or something….not sure because it really isn’t explained(These are supposed to be reboots, right?). After this, our team of lost travelers end up on earth, our time, I think. They try to figure out what’s going on, much like the reader and eventually two of them die..yep, two of them die, already. Now I don’t normally read Legion, but I know a few of these cats, however I had no idea what was happening or why. I thought maybe there was a #0 issue I perhaps missed…..

Bottom line, unless u are a hardcore Legion fan, you’ll have no idea what’s going on, nor will you care. It’s sad that they had a chance to really do something with these guys, but thus far they’ve really dropped the ball…thanks a lot Fabian!

How about forgiving me now? I’m wearing a cool hat!

Forever disliking Fabian,

Donnie Drama