Comics Jan 5 2005

[mamadeb]

Thin comics week, but I "discovered" a Marvel hero, which is a shock to this DC girl. Spoilers.


Detective Comics #802
There's a lot good in this issue - Marlene Welles and her paina nd love for her kids, Penguin's little raven cage o'love (I'm guessing those women were well-paid), Batman angsting along.

But. What was Dick doing there? Why was he in a Tim suit? And why were they calling him "Tim?" Dick's the wisecracker. Dick would play in the Batcave by balancing and jumping - it was his home, and that's how he grew up playing.

Tim...doesn't play. Tim has never been a kid, unlike Dick. And he's not the born and raised acrobat Dick was. And when going into a fire, he wouldn't see himself as anything but himself doing a job. I don't think Tim's the adrenaline junkie Dick is - he does what he does because someone has to. Nor would he give such a report.

Neither would Dick. I don't think even Stephanie would. I don't know Jason well enough.

Still, that could have been Dick soon after becoming Robin. Maybe. It wasn't Tim ever.

Art was pretty.


The Flash #217
More fall-out from Identity Crisis. Linda is back, and happy to be married to this Wally. Cute moment - Wally happy to be "Mr. Park." So much for medical school.

And, yeah. There is a difference between Batman's psychokillers and Flash's Rogues. Just like Wally is as sane as anyone could be who's been a superhero since was a kid and Bruce is. Not. On the other hand, no one's been messing with the Gotham crowd's heads. Um. Okay, but not to make them turn good.

I'm finding this compelling.


Justice League Elite #7
I'm not enjoying this one. I don't like the Elite - I like The Authority and we don't need another - and the only League members who are in character are Ollie and Booker. I do like Booker.

Ollie being in character means he's sleeping with a married woman. A married woman millenia out of her own time whose husband is ignoring her, but still. And this soap opera is the most interesting plotline of the book. I'm giving it one more chance.

I'll ramble about my new comics boyfriend in another post at some other time, but my comic book guy joked that the world was coming to an end when I bought two Daredevil trades.

Comments

[kerithwyn.livejournal.com]

Hee. Matt is *everyone's* boyfriend. Canonically. So it's just a matter of getting in line. ;)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Isn't he, though? My goodness. Must be the sunglasses.

[sdelmonte]

Flash: I've been reading this series pretty much constantly since 1989. Fans of the Flashes have been lucky that good writers - Bill Loebs in the 80s' Mark Waid in the 90s and Geoff Johns today - are assigned to do the job. Johns is not quite as good as Waid was, but the job he's done with the Rogues is often amazing, and he truly understands both Wally and Barry (who are probably my favorite two super-heroes).

If only he would let Wally have a bit more screen time, and would do less build-up to major stories and more smaller stories, this would be one of the best comics around. As it is, it's alwasys good, but it comes up a bit short compared to Gotham Central or Fantastic Four.

Daredevil: He has beocme something of a first Marvel hero for older long-time DC readers, due to his superficial similarities to Batman. I've read a bit of the Bendis run, and find it a bit dark for my tastes. But I can see why it has a following.

If you want to try more Marvel, I bet you would love Brian Vaughan's Runaways, which is now available in two digests with a third due out soon and with a relaunch of the comic in the spring.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Ah. I *like* dark, and the Alex Maleevi art is simply gorgeous. I've only read a couple of the Bendis collections (in what seems to be a completely random order) and I'm in love.

Yes, he does have a Batman vibe, although he's far less toy-dependent, and, well, he's not that great at the secret part of secret identity, is he? And since he's been written by Miller and Smith and Bendis, people familiar to the DC universe, he's more accessible.

I'll look at that series.

Runaways

[nuadha-prime.livejournal.com]

As a long-time DC guy, I've really enjoyed the two Runaways series, so I concur. Check out the Runaways collections. They are inexpensive and they are good reads.