This is Entry 264: Old Comics

Over the past 2, 3 months I've boughten a number of back issues of comics.

Here is the list of what they are, what year they came out & anything else I think is worth noting about the issue:


DC
- Action Comics #561, 1984: Superman Vs Toyman.
- Action Comics #703, 1994: a Zero Hour tie-in issue.
- The Batman Adventures #25, 1994: Batman teams up with Superman. I think this issue marks the 1st appearance of Superman in the Bruce Timm DC Animated "Universe" since I think this came out before they made the early 90's Superman: The Animated Series.
- Batman: Mitefall, 1995. Parody of The whole Knightfall saga with Bat-Mite in the Batman role. There is a Bat-Mite version of Bane & Azrael. There is a a Bat-Mite version of "AzBats"
- Brave and the Bold #172, 1981: Batman teams up with Firestorm.
- Cobra #1, 1976: If I remember correctly is the 1st time DC had giving an on going monthly book to a Villain.
- The Creeper #1, 1997
- DC Comics Presents #37, 1981: The main "cover" story is Superman teaming up with Hawkgirl/woman. But I bought for a the backup story: Whatever happened to Rip Hunter?
- Detective Comics #535; 1984: Batman & Robin (Jason Todd) Vs. Crazy Quilt.
- Detective Comics #573; 1987: Batman & Robin (Jason Todd) Vs the Mad Hatter.
- The Flash #1, 1987: 1st issue with Wally West as The Flash.
- The Flash #94, 1994: a Zero Hour tie-in issue.
- The Flash #134, 1998: an issue focusing on Jay Garrick, the 1st Flash.
- The Flash #155, 1999: The Flash vs. Replicant.
- The Flash 80 Page Giant #2, 1999.
- The Flash: Secret Files & Origins #2, 1999: Origin of The Replicant.
- Girl Frenzy: Lois Lane #1, 1998.
- Green Arrow #1,000,000, 1998 (part of the DC One Million event)
- Green Lantern 3-D #1, 1998 (one of the more interesting 3-D comics I have).
- Green Lantern #1,000,000, 1998 (part of the DC One Million event)
- Justice League #3, 1987.
- Justice League of America #28, 1989.
- Justice League International #23, 1989.
- JLA 80 Page Giant: The Century War, 2000.
- Man of Steel #20, 1993: Funeral for a Friend, part 3.
- Man of Steel #37, 1994: a Zero Hour tie-in issue.
- Millennium #1-8, 1987: an Event that I think deserves it's on post (many a multi-part post) talking about it.
- New Titans #113, 1994 $.25
- Robin #10, 1994: a Zero Hour tie-in issue. Tim Drake meets a young Dick Grayson.
- Secret Origins #5, 1986: The Crimson Avenger.
- Secret Origins #23, 1988: The Floronic man & The Guardians of the Universe. Millennium Tie-In Issue.
- Showcase '93 #9, 1993.
- Sonic Distrupters #1, 1987: If I remember correctly this series never fully got released. After reading Issue 1, I can see why. It's not good.
- The New Adventures of Superboy #8, 1980.
- The New Adventures of Superboy #40, 1983.
- Super-Hero Holiday Special, 1980.
- The New Teen Titans Drug PSA Presented the Keebler Company and in cooperation with the President's Drug Awareness Campaign, 1983. 1st appearance of The Protector.
- Tales of the Teen Titans #42-50, 1984: which includes The Judas Contract parts 1-3.
- Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3, 1984: The Judas Contract Finale.
- World's Finest #269, 1981.

Marvel
- Alpha Flight #12, 1984.
- Blackwulf #1, 1994.
- Captain America #337, 1987: 1st appearance of The Captain.
- Dazzler #10, 1981: Dazzler Vs. Galactus.
- The New Defenders #131, 1984: The Defenders face out against The Walrus & get some help from The Fabulous Frog-Man
Excalibur #52, 1992.
Exacalibur #66, 1993.
Excalibur #67, 1993.
Excalibur #122 & #123, 1998: Excalibur goes up against Mimic.
Ka-Zar the Savage #11, 1981: 1st Appearance of Belasco.
Planet Terry #1, 1984.
Rom Space Knight Annual #3, 1984.
Sabertooth and Mystique #1, 1996.
The Mighty Thor #392, 1988: Thor goes against Quicksand.
Transformers #9, 1986.
US 1 #2, 1983.
Classic X-Men #17, 1987: reprints of stories from Uncanny X-Men #111 & X-Men #109.
X-Men #30, 1994: The Scott Summers/Jean Grey Wedding.
The Uncanny X-Men #169; 1983: 1st appearance of the Morlocks.

Other:
- Herbie #1, 1990 from A+ Comics which is reprinting some of the old Herbie comics. Herbie is to not be confused with the Love Bug or the Fantastic Four's robot.
- The World of Jughead #602 from Archie Comics which involves the Riverdale Time Police (yes, that's a thing or was a thing when the comic came out).
- Laffin' Gas #2, 1986 from Blackthorne Publishing which is a comic parodying Batman, most Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.
- Swords of Shar-Pei #1, 1991 $.25 from Caliber Press about a Samurai Mutant Dog thing.
- Guns of Shar-Pei #2 & #3, 1991 from Caliber Press which are 2 issues from the sequel featuring the Samurai Mutant Dog thing.
- Geeksville #0, 2000 from Image: this is the 1st issue Image released issue of the comic book known collectively as "The 3 Geeks" & it's awesome.
- Velocity #1, 1995 from Image.
- Samurai Penguin #4, 1987 from Slave Labor Graphics. It's about what the titles says: it's a comic book about a Samurai Penguin.
- Time Twisters #1 & #7, 1986 from Quality Comics. This anthology comic series reprints matterial from the UK comic book/magazine 2000 AD. There are a few story by Allan Moore in them.

That's what I've got. It's kind of all over the place but they all have there place in my collection :)

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 263: Brian on the Aisle #13

Welcome to another installment of the infrequent series called Brian on Aisle where I "review" movies that I've seen & want to talk a little bit about.

Today movie is The Avengers. Now why am I talking about it now & not 5 months ago like everyone else was? Well... I hadn't see it yet. I just saw the movie for the 1st time today. What took me so long? I was waiting.

Waiting for it to come to the theater a few blocks from my house where you can see movies for 3 dollars. Also, I made a promise to my Mother to see it with her. She's not really into comics or anything she just wanted to see the movie. So... I waited the time it came to my local theater to see it with her.

It came so we went (along with my father) to see the movie. Before I get to my "review" of the movie I'll say this it's no way a full review of the movie just my feelings & there might be spoilers if you haven't seen the movie yet. But I think the movie came out 5 months ago so the movie has already been spoiled awhile ago but I just thought I'd put that warning out there.

Now... what did I think of it?

Well... It was good. Not great. I liked Captain America: The First Avenger & Thor better. The movie started out slow, lagged through the first half of the movie & then ramped it up for an action packed 2nd half. Not really sure who or what the alien army was. I didn't recognize the name of the race, they might of been from the comics but I didn't know who they were. They kind of reminded me of zombies & just seemed to be to be fought. No real character to them.

Another thing: It's not the Tesseract, It's the Cosmic Cube! That's what the comics call it & that's what I call it. Sure, it sounds a bit hokey but all of stuff in comics sounds hokey.

The Hellicarrier looked cool!  The Hulk looked really good, probably the best he's looked in any of his recent movies appearances.  The humor was good. Many of the jokes got be laughs from the crowd. The Death of Coulson was sad (I knew it was coming but it was still sad). I quite liked Thor's "casual" look, the sans cape look. Sort of felt like the cape was pointless. Wasn't a big fan of the Mask of Cap's costume. Something just seemed a bit off about it. I'd see the sequel to see what they did with the Mad Titan Thanos & how they represent his "girlfriend".

What do I give the movie? 3 Avenges out of 5.

The theater is also playing the Spider-Man so I'll probably try to see that. Look for that "review" soon.

Until then Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 262: To Return or to Not Return?

That is my question at the moment. Now you maybe asking: return to what? Comic Books. This year was the first time in a half dozen years I had to give up reading/buying Comic Books due to lack of funds. And soon I can return to them, but do I want to?

Some backstory: I have been unemployed for about a year or so & was using some my savings to buy stuff (like Comic Books). But then I had some massive bills come my way which need paying off. That's where most of my saving had gone to & after the bills were paid off I was left with a very small amount of money. I had to make a choice. I cut myself off & went "cold turkey" on Comic Books. It's been 6 months since I've regularly bought comics & I have now found a part time job. This means that I will start to have money coming in. So... that would means that I could start buying comics once more, right?

Yeah. I guess so. I'm just not sure. There were a number of books I was reading before I cut myself off. The books I was reading were: 5 Marvel books (Fantastic Four, FF, The Defenders, Avengers Academy, Wolverine and the X-Men) & 6 DC books (Demon Knights, The Flash, Justice League Dark, Nightwing, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Suicide Squad).

All these books have continued to put out issues over the last 6 months (In the case of Avengers Academy sometimes 2 issues a month). At about 3 dollars an issue that about 20 dollars per comic & about 200 dollars for all 11 books. That's a hefty chunk of change right there! I'm not sure I want to pay for all that. That is if I can find all the "back issues" for the comic, the store I go to might be out of a certain issue & then I'd have to search out other stores for that missing issue.

And Marvel soon to be going through their Marvel Now! thing which means a few books are being cancelled/reworked/rebooted/redone. 3 of the books that I was reading is part of that change over (1 is being cancelled & 2 are changing). There are a few of the Marvel Now! titles that do sound interesting that I'd probably check out an issue or two of.

I was looking over the books I had been reading and thinking about which ones to return to & which ones not to return to. Most of the ones I've pretty much decided to not return to have have been DC books (Those are Demon Knights, Justice League Dark & Suicide Squad). They were books that I was only partly enjoying & might of dropped by now if I had continued to read the book. That brought the total of 6 DC books I'd be reading down to 3. SIDE NOTE: When the "New 52" I started out, I was reading 15 books & the number has shrunk either due to the book being cancelled or a I lost interest in the book. There is 1 or 2 books that have come out in the last 6 months that I might like to add (I'd maybe like to add Earth 2 & Worlds' Finest they look like they might be interesting).

I've thought about just waiting for the trade paperback/collected edition of these books. Most of the Trades are about 6 issues long. It would be about the same price & I wouldn't have to worry about not missing an issue but I'm not sure I want to wait that long.

So... yeah. I still have my question: to return or to not return?

My answer is most likely that I will return. It just won't be like how it was before. They have moved on without me.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 261: The Day I found Gwen Stacy in New Zealand!

For about a month back 2009, I got the chance to go to Australia & New Zealand as part of tour group. Among the things I wanted to do while I traveled abroad was to get some local comics to add to my collection. I already owned a few international comics, most of those comics I got from my Sister who had traveled the world a bit more then I have. This was my first chance to get some myself. Sadly, Australia nor New Zealand does not produce their own "home grown" comics (I was told it was just easier to ship in comics from either the U.S. or Europe then to make their own). This saddened me a bit but did not stop me for buying some comics while I was there. The best comic purchase of the whole trip was Amazing Spider-Man #121, the story there in is entitled "The Night Gwen Stacy Died!"

I found the issue on our 1st stop in New Zealand. We were in Christchurch & would be there for a few days. While in the city we would have some planned out activities & we would also have free time to fill as we wanted to. I'm not really sure what part of Christchurch were were in. We were pretty centrally located & we're walking distance of a number things.

Among the things I found as I wandered around was a comic book store Comics Compulsion, a nice little shop. I bought a few books from their clearance bins. Comics Compulsion was not where I got Amazing Spider-Man #121, that was down the street a bit.

I found it at Smiths Bookshop. As the sign out front of the store said they had "3 floors of books". I would have just stopped in just because of that but another sign outside their store listed a whole bunch of things they sold beside Books: Vinyl Records, Sheet Music, Maps, Charts, Posters, Cigarette Cards, Trade Cards, Old Newspapers & Magazines. The Magazine thing caught my eye because I've come to find out a number of books stores will consider Comic Books to be magazines.

So... I walk in the place, not really planning on buying anything. The place is packed with books. Books as far as the eye can see. Books on shelves, Books on tables, Books under tables. Basically ever inch of the walls are cover in shelves holding books. A few feet into the store on the corner of a table is a pile of comic books & other magazine. Just sitting there in a big, neatly stacked pile. I made a note to return to that pile. I walked up the stairs (which were lined by with shelves of books). On each floor were books. I wondered the narrow aisles of book cases, stopping ever so often to look at something.

On the 3rd floor I there was a room where they kept their sheet music. I poked my head to see a man seated at a table. The table was covered in sheet music. He looked up at me as a poked my head in & then went back to what he was boing before.

I walked back down to to main floor to check out that pile of comics. Midway down the pile of comics, I found a book that registered in my mind: Amazing Spider-Man #121. At the time I wasn't sure why it registered in my mind but I knew I recognized it from somewhere. I took it out of the pile, along with a few other books. I flipped through the other comics to see if I wanted to buy them. I didn't with Spider-Man, I just knew I was going to get it. The was the most interesting thing in the pile & I didn't even look at it.

I took what I was going to buy up to the counter: Amazing Spider-Man #121, Planet Comics' Giant Superman Album #24 (a reprint of a number Silver Age DC Comics in black & white) & Survival in the Atomic Age (a book from 1958 by a naturopathic nutritionist about.. the future or something. I've never read the book fully, I just thought it looked cool.) I payed my 22 New Zealand dollars (5 dollars for Survival in the Atomic Age, 8 dollars for the DC reprint & 9 dollars for Spider-Man). I put the books in my travel bag & left the store to wander around a bit more.

Once I got back to my Hotel room, I got all settled in to read my comics. I think I left Spider-Man for the bottom of my stack. But when I got to it I couldn't believe what I had & how little I paid for it. I'm not sure what the exchange rate is between U.S. & N.Z. dollars. But I knew that if I was to find that books at a comic book store or a comic book convention I was going to pay a whole lot more then 9 dollars for it! The comic isn't in the best condition but I didn't care. The comic is exactly the same kind of comic I would have found at home. It's wasn't a special foreign edition. It was a U.S. copy, I just found it in a foreign country.

As I continued the rest of the trip I continued picked up some other comics at a number of different places but none matched up to what I found that day at Smiths Bookshop. The day I found Gwen Stacy in New Zealand! :)

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 260: Being a Comic Book Fan in a Non-Comic Book Fan World

This post will be in slight relation to a post I made about 2 months ago so I might be repeating some stuff. To read that post go Here.

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On the occasion that I do go out into the real world social scene, when I live my house to interact with other people most of the time the topic of comic books does come up. Partly because it's one of my main hobbies (because people will ask me what my hobbies are) & partly because I've actually been introduced as liking comic books (This Brian & he likes Comic Books) so the conversation goes right to that topic. Now I don't mind talking to people about comic books. I can & will ramble on for hours regarding that topic but I try to make a conscious effort to not do so. There is an old quote that I think was by Mark Twain of "Stop talking before they stop listening" & I have been present in a number conversation where that some people don't realize this. I'm sure I have. I know that comic books aren't for everyone so I tend to not go all that in depth with the topic.

BUT.... If I was going to talk about Comic Books I would like to talk Comic Books. I have been in more then a dozen conversation that only revolve around a small subsection of the comic book fandom: The Comic Book Movie. I get why the conversation goes there. It's easier & way more accessible for people to goes to a 90 minute plus movie about a comic book character that is maybe only tied up in only a movie or two's worth of story then to find a place that sells comic books & read a 30 page plus comic book that might be tied up in decades worth of stories.
I don't mind making some small talk regarding the movie(s). I've had some quite nice conversations regarding how the movie was different from the comics or providing some extra info on a character/item/situation from the movie. But when I do that I try to keep it short & to the point. It can easily turn into 30 minute oral report & I doubt any of the non-readers would listen to the full 30 minutes.

I sometimes find it hard to keep it to the point when I'm asked certain questions about comic books. Like "What's your favorite comic book?" There are a number of way to answer that. Do they mean my all-time favorite comic book or just my current favorite comic book? Are they asking what my favorite series is or what individual issue is? All-Time favorite series? All-Time favorite individual issue?

All these questions are running through my head & need to come up with answer fast. If I don't then they are going to go onto another topic or another person completely. If I do come up with answer there is good chance that they won't know what comic book I'm talking about which could lead into another lengthly conversation they might not what to have. Another problem with choose favorites is I like different series for different things. So I could easily run down a list of 5 to 10 series I like & why but that might be more then they want to to know. I don't want to share them off. I know they are just trying to be friendly.

This is sort of a problem I've finding with the rise of comic book movies. People who have never read a comic book in their lives are being exposed to a subculture in a very friendly fashion (The Movie) but when if they want to get to know more about sometimes they won't find it so new person friendly. Partly because the thing you liked so much in the movie might not be the thing in the comic book (Wait a minute... Why isn't Nick Fury black?)

This has been a topic I've talked about with people before & made a few posts on the Internet about. I don't mind that the movies & comic books don't match up. They shouldn't. They are 2 different things & should be tried as such. Yeah, they are connected & have similar source material but are different things.  Some people on both sides (Comic Book Reader & Comic Book Movie Watcher) just don't seem to get.

There is a saying "A little knowledge a is dangerous thing" and I find that it applies to people who want to get into comic books. They have their small knowledge base, culled together from a dozen or so movies & some stuff they have read online or gotten from friends. But when they try to find things that match to that knowledge: they get discouraged, disgusted, annoyed with what they do or don't find. Getting into comics can be a hard thing to do. Partly as I've found many people assume there is one set way of doing that. There is this mystical one formula to getting into comics. Let me say this now: there isn't. You talk to 10 people about how they got into comics & you'll get 10 different answers which can be confusing to people. I have a rather long story about how I got into comics. I'll make a post about it sometime.

I think that both sides have problems with each other. But when you've devoted a large chunk of your time/life to a certain topic. Then you have someone who knows very little about the topic comes into your special place (A Comic Book Store): it's can be kind of annoying. But then we all that person at one. If you don't let anyone new in, you won't have anyone "in" after awhile.
The best thing I could say to a person who wants to "get into" comics is find something you like & start there. It's that easy. Find something you like, read that. If you liked the writer of that book, read other stuff by them. You like the art in the book, pick up other books by that artist. You liked a character in the book, pick up more books with that character in it. Liked a setting from the book, see if there are other book with that setting. You liked the tone of the book, pick up other books with that tone. Also, don't be afraid to try something new & don't be afraid to stop reading something you don't like anymore.

Another thing is if you don't want to spent a whole mess of money on something your not sure you'll like. Try picking up some stuff from your local library. Most libraries should have some comic books in them. They are free to borrow & they got a lot of different things. You could research things on the Internet, there are lots of different websites out there discussing comics but know that almost all of them are reflective of  the writer's view on comics. This is similar to borrow comics from friends, you'll only get books they like if you borrow from them & you might not like what they like.

yeah... I think I'm rambled on long enough for now & that's enough for now. Until next time Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 259: That's Amazing, Spider-Man!

Last time, I made a post regarding the forth coming Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises & why I'm not going to see it. I thought it would behove me to make a similar post regarding the Spider-Man movie & just Spider-Man in general.

What's my feeling towards the movie? A little more favorable then my feelings towards TDKR. Yeah, it's a reboot but so are the Nolan Batman films. Do we need another origin story for Spidey? No. But I don't see how they could gotten away without having some origin story elements in their movie. It's not the origin, everyone already knows it or the basics of it. It's what you do with it/how you show it that matters. People might be complaining about it being there but they'd also complain if it wasn't there. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

What's my feelings towards the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy: They were good movies (I even kind of liked the 3rd one). There were good parts & bad parts like most any movies. I think I read that Raimi didn't want to do a 4th movie so I reboot was bound to come around.

Full Disclosure Time: I've never been all that hot on Spider-Man, He's never been a favorite character of mine. All & all I can find him to be kind of boring at times. But that doesn't mean I haven't found things involving him that I haven't enjoyed. I have quite a number Spider-Man comics from the 80's that I really like (That might be because Black Cat, a character I really like, is in a number of them). The 1990's Spider-Man cartoon is awesome & I'll gladly put it up there on the lists of great comic book adaptation cartoons. Heck, even the current Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon is half way decent (At least the few episodes I've seen have been half way decent). The Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon can be good for a laugh.

I know this isn't much of a post but I just thought I'd put my feelings down on screen. Just to get them out.

- Brian

This is Entry 258: The Dark Knight Rises & I why won't be seeing it in theaters.

This summer, like last summer there are a number Comic Book movies coming out. Avengers has already come out & from what I hear is awesome (I have yet to see it. Long story on why I haven't). The next up is The Dark Knight Rises, the final chapter in Christopher Nolan's trilogy of Bat Movies (The other 2 being 2005's Batman Begins & 2008's The Dark Knight). As you you can tell by the title of this post I do not plan on seeing the movie in theaters.

Why not? It's not that I have anything against director Christopher Nolan, he makes good movies.  Christian Bale as Batman has done a fine interpretation of the character. I don't have against anyone else involved with the movie. I'm sure The Dark Knight Rises will be fine & will make tons of cash. I just don't feel like seeing the movie. But why not? Anyone who knows me & my hobbies would assume that this would be my thing! It's a comic book movie & I like comic books! I saw Batman Begins in the theaters with my Grandmother (which made for an interesting conversation post movie). I thought it was fine movie. Not sure all the movies I saw in 2005 but I most likely would have put it on my list of Good movies I saw that year. Go forward 3 years & we get to my problem: 2008's The Dark Knight. My "problem" is not really with the movie it's self. It's with the film's fans.

People seemed to loose their fricking minds in regards to the movie. Actually, they loose it regarding a major element of the movie. It's main villain: The Joker, portrayed by the late Heath Ledger. Now I haven't seen the full film but from the clips I've seen He didn't a fine good with the role. He made it his own. He wasn't a retread of the Jack Nicholson version Joker from 1989's Batman. He wasn't the Joker the Animated Series. He wasn't the Joker from the comics, which I'm fine with. I don't mind that the movies change elements, that they don't quite match up to the comics. They are separate things. 

As I said, my problem is it with the fans. I don't mind that you liked the movie. I don't mind that you liked Joker from the movie. I do mind you cramming it down my throat. This is partly in regards to the movies catchphrase "why so serious" which got run into the ground & then continued to be used for a few months beyond that. It was everywhere. I couldn't escape it. This over exposure of the character made me to start to resent that version of the character &  movie he was in.  I still like The Joker as a character, he's a great villain. I can still enjoy the movies Heath Ledger made before his death.

The Joker form The Dark Knight has never been a favorite look of mine. I got why they went with that look & was fine with it. It had some interesting points. I'll admit it does look cool. But it just wasn't my thing. I was prepared to move on.  Let it have it's moment in the sun & then move on to the next look but THEY won't let me. I think the movie got a bit over hyped due to the passing of Ledger, which was sad & still is. He should still be making movies. As I said it's not about him & the character. It's more about the fans.

I still sort of cringe at the usage of the phrase "why so serious", I feel a bit sad when the only version of the Joker I see people dressed up is the one for The Dark Knight. I do like it when I see people take that version of The Joker & do something with it, change it up a bit, make it their own.

I seen similar fan reaction lately with Tom Hiddleston's Loki (the main villain from The Avengers) but I'm more fine with it. Maybe since there isn't such a quotable catchphrase attached to that character that people can drive into the ground. Maybe that his costume isn't as easy to put together (Most of the items for Ledger style Joker costume could be found at your local Goodwill right off the rack). There could be a number of things.

I'm not exactly sure what I exactly wanted to say with this post. Not sure if I actually said what I wanted but this is something that has been on my mind the last few weeks as people ramp to the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises & my general lack of interest in the movie. I haven't even seen any of (many, many) trailers. I'm well established in the comic book fandom that I don't really need to go looking for info regarding the movie. It came to me. I of course ignored most of it. It's just not my thing.

I don't really know what the next version of Batman we'll see on film. I do know that there will be another version. There is always another version. Will it be my thing? Who know! I'll just have to wait & see.

Until nest time: Stay Jazzy Everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 257: Helpful Kryptonese Phrases & Terms!

In 1981, DC Comics put out a 3 issue mini-series called The Krypton Chronicles. The series covered Superman's genealogy & the history of Planet Krypton. In a previous post, I shared the Map of the Planet Krypton for this series.

This post will about the what at the end of each issue. On that final page was "A Krypton Glossary", a listing of various Kryptonese terms & phrases. Kryptonese is the language of Krypton (or was circa 1981). Instead of posting images of those pages from the comics I'll share the entries that I thought was interesting. You'd just be reading it anyways. :)

The Glossary gives this as a prologue: "We have done our best to translate the Kryptonese words and names into the English alphabet, but this is not always easy, as the Kryptonese alphabet consists of 118 characters each with a precise sound. A double letter indicates a strong emphasis on the sound. Kryptonese plurals are created by adding an O to the word, as we add an S in English."

Krypton also has it's own numbering system "There are 11 characters for the numerical system. Their zero is used only for the purpose of indicating a zero, while 10 has a special character of it's own. Using the Roman X to stand for it, we could say that X=10, 1X=20, 2X=30, and so on. 100 is 9X, 101=X1, 110=XX, and 111 is the first three digit number."

Scattered through out the 3 pages of the Glossary are how the People of Krypton tell time:
- 1 Thrib is a Kryptonian "second". Thribo are the pural form of Thrib.
- 1 Dendar is a Kryptonian "minute" consisting of 100 Thribo. Dendaro are the plural form of Dendar.
- 1 Wolu is a Kryptonian "hour" consisting of 100 Dendaro. Woluo are the plural form of Wolu.
- 1 Zetyar is a Kryptonian "day" made up of 10 Woluo.  Zetyaro are the plural form of Zetyar.
- 1 Fanff is a Kryptonion "week" made up of 6 Zetyaro. Fanffo are the plural form of Fanff.
- 1 Lorax is a Kryptonian "month". There are 6 Loraxo in a Kryptonian Amzet. Loraxo are the plural form of Lorax.
- 1 Amzet is a Kryptonain "year". There are 438 Zetyaro, 73 Fanffo & 6 Loraxo in a Amzet. Amzeto are the plural form of Amzet.

18 Amzeto is equal 25 Earth years. Since Kryptonains' age at the same rate on Krypton as they do on Earth, a Kryptonian was a fully grown at the age of 15 (according to the Glossary).

Here are a few selected terms from the Glossary that I found interesting:
- Drygur: The Kryptonian word for "leader"; roughly equivalent to our "President".
- Moliom: Any Member of the Science Council.
- Drygur Moliom: The Leader of the Science Council.
- The Science Council: The ruling body of Krypton and in Kandor. Members are elected for life by a vote of the people, based on their contributions to science.
- Bethgar: The Kryptonain word for "ruler"; roughly equivalent to our "King" or "Emperor". Bythgar is the feminine form of Bethgar; equivalent to "Queen" or "Empress".
- Tanth: a title of respect for a man; equivalent to "Sir" or "Mister" in English. The feminine form is Tynth; roughly "Lady" or "Madame". Tantho & Tyntho is the plural form of Tanth & Tynth.
- Tanthuo Flez: From the same root as Tanth; Tanthu (The singular) cannot be exactly translated into English, as we have no equivalent word. It indicates a non-human creature accorded great respect. Combined with Flez, meaning "able to fly", the term is used for the amazing creatures which saved the people from the flood. The best we can do in translating Tanthuo Flez into English is to call it the "Winged One".
- El: An ancient Kryptonese words meaning Star.
- Kal: An ancient Kryptonese word meaning Child.
- Kal-El: Superman's Kryptonian Name, which means Star Child. Superman is not the only member of his family to ever have the name Kal-El.
- Hiaz: a liquid measure used in ancient Krypton. It was somewhere between one pint and one-half liter.
- Grahu: An artificial material. Somewhat like plastic but much stronger, used for building on Krypton. A Grahu-Hut is a portable shelter made from Grahu.
- Hatuar: The Kryptonian word for Asbestos.
- Oliphent: A type of large animal domesticated and used as a beast of burden in ancient Urrika. Despited the similarity to our word "elephant", there is little resemblance to this Earth creature except that both are large animals. The Oliphent was not even a mammal, but a warm-blooded egg-laying creature. If, as some scientist now believe, dinosaurs were warm-blooded, they may have been something like the Olipehent.
- Kandor: The former capital of Krypton until it was stolen, shrunken, and placed in a bottle buy the space-villain Brainiac. After defeating Brainiac, Superman kept the bottle-city in his fortress until he gowned a way to enlarge it on another world.
- Kryptonopolis: The city of Superman's birth. Actually, this is a rendering of the name in English, using the greek "polis" (city). The original Kryptonian name is very difficult to pronounce.
- Lurvan: The "new world" continent which Kandor and Kryptonopolis were located.
- Urrika: The "old world" continent on which Kryptonian civilization began.
- Dandahu: Krypton's largest ocean; east of Urrika and west of Lurvan.
- Juru: a valley on the continent of Lurvan. The only part of the planet which was never explored.
- Mithen: One of Krypton's two moons. It was hurled into a new solar orbit when Krypton exploded.
- Wegthor: The other of Krypton's two moons. It was colonized, but was then destroyed by an experiment of the criminal scientist Jax-Ur, killing the people who had colonized Wegthor. The remains of this moon joined space debris to form rings around Krypton like those around Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.
- The Phantom Zone: a twilight dimension into which convicted criminals were projected during the last year of Krypton's existence.
- Rokyn: Name of Kandor's new world. It comes from RO, the possessive form of Rao, and KYN, meaning "gift". Thus Rokyn is "Rao's Gift" or "The Gift of God".
- Rao: In the mythology of ancient Krypton, the sun-god, who was deemed the chef of all gods. So great was the respect for the red sun of Krypton that any soldier of Erok's time automatically became an officers if he had red hair. When Jaf-El preached the worship of one god, he gave Him the name of Rao, though no longer identifying Him specifically with the sun. Note that in the wedding ceremony, the phrase used was "Rao, who kindled the sun." showing HIm to be the sun's creator, but not the sun itself.
- Yuda: one of the chief goddesses of ancient Krypton. She was the patron of love and Krypton's two moons, which, when they seemed to come together in the night sky, were believed to represent marriage. Through her worship ended with the flood, she was remembered in in folklore, and at one time mechanical statue of her was at certain festivals in Kryptonopolis.

Now I'm not sure if DC Comics even uses any of this information anymore (I know they still use some of the name but maybe not the definitions they had 1981). I did think that it was cool that at one time they thought enough to come up with these terms. Feel free to use them with your friends & show how nerdy you are.

Until next time Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 256: Why would I do that?

I was talking with someone today about The Avengers movie & we hit upon the topic of the character introduced at the very end of the movie. They said they didn’t know who that was. I made a comment about reading a book they were in & the reply I got was “Why would I do that?”

I decided to let the conversation move on from there & not answer that question because I didn’t it was the time or place to fully answer that question. I sort of feel that is response you’d get from many people regarding the reading of the comics. The movies make millions of dollars but do the comics themselves see any kickback from that? Not so much.

You can get someone to pay a few dollars to watch a movie? But to get them to actually read the books the movie is based that is a bit harder. I understand this. For example: The Avengers have been around since 1963 & over the years the team has had many, many different members & many different series bare the name of Avengers. It can be hard for a perspective new reader to know where to start. Both in the terms of where to start in that almost 50 years worth of comics but also where to start in the real world: They might not know where their local comic book store is or if there is even one locally.

Also, the comics are not the movies. Many people find this problem. But it’s shouldn’t be a problem. The Movies & Books should not be the same. They have similarities but they should be their own separate things (The movies adapted from the comics). Partly because there are somethings that comics do better then movies & there are somethings that movies do better then comics. Sometimes can’t be done in the movie or just lost in translation from page to screen. I know it can be a bit confusing (Hey! Why is Nick Fury a white guy in these comics?) but if you keep that in mind you it will serve you well.

So, If the movies are going to be a different yet still similar thing why would someone want to read the comics? You could possibly have a more well rounded viewing experience? You can get some of the in-jokes yourself & not have your friends/the internet pointing them out to you? You can help out the industry that inspired the movies you like so much? There are many answers to that question.

People don’t have to go into this blind. There are many people & websites that can help on your way. Some of these people people even work at where they books are sold or if these people are your friends might even loan some books!

To end this post I’ll answer the question “Why would I do that?” with another question “Why wouldn’t you do that?” :)

- Brian

This is Entry 255: King of the Seven Seas!

*sigh*  Oh… Aquaman: why is it “cool” to hate you?

Your like the Nickelback of Super Heroes: The go to joke for a lot of people. Which make those people come off sounding a bit stupid. Like they couldn’t come up with a better punchline so they went with you & no one will say anything about how stupid the joke is. They’ll just laugh along, continuing the stereotype that you “suck” or are “lame”.

I think that many of your haters know almost nothing about you, Aquaman, other then you “talk to fish”. I doubt any them have ever read a Aquaman comic book (for many of them I suspect that they have never read a comic book ever but that’s a rant for a different posting). Your a character that has been around for over 50 years (Aquaman was created in 1941) but what has really been done with you over that time? Not a whole lot. Maybe that’s the reason why people don’t really like you?

But then your “lameness” is not your fault, it’s partly how your written & how the public perceives you. There could be the most awesome Aquaman story ever written by the best writers & best artists but people will not read just by the fact that it is about you: Aquaman, that loser who talks to fish. I’ve even heard that people don’t like the Justice League because Aquaman is a member of that group. Sounds a bit racist… superheroist, if that is even a word.

I don’t really know people hate on the King of the Seven Seas so much? Mostly because I never hear anyone ever give any good reasons why they dislike him so? “Because he talks to fish” is not a good reason.

*sigh*

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 254: Riding the Second Wave!

Last week DC Comics put out the first issues of their "Second Wave" books in the New 52. There was a number of books from the first wave of books that that had cancelled due to low sales or something (Not exactly sure what the reasons were & I'm too lazy to find out what they were). Among those second wave titles are there three titles: Earth 2, Worlds' Finest & Dial H.  This posting will be about Earth 2 & Worlds' Finest since those 2 books are intertwined together. I may make a posting about Dial H, I might not.

When the New 52 was announced I was saddened that there was no Power Girl monthly book. Her series, pre-New 52, was a series that I had been enjoying. It was frequently a highlight of my monthly comic book reading.  Another thing that made me sad was that The Justice Society of America (JSA) apparently didn't exist anymore, a team that I think held an important place in the history of the DC Comics Universe (DCU). The JSA were the 1st team, both in the DCU & in comic books in general. How the team was set up lead the way for every other team in comic books.

The only Pre-New 52 member of the JSA that seemed to "survive" the change was Michael Holt, Mister Terrific. In his self titled series, he was dating a woman named Karen Starr. Ms. Starr before the change over was the "secret identity" of Power Girl. Ms. Starr also bared a striking resemblance to Power Girl. So, among a number of New 52 titles I read (and enjoyed) the Mister Terrific title. All the while staying up to date on the news coming out regarding the New 52. I had started to formulate theories about how Power Girl could return. Which wouldn't have been all that hard. We did have Karen Starr after all! I had created an elaborate theory involving me reading in-between the lines of interviews, press releases, the comics themselves & my knowledge of Power Girl's own history. I wanted her to return!

I had pretty much thought that DC had written of the JSA & hadn't really thought about how to return them because I didn't see any of the members around. It was easily to give powers to someone who was there then to create a whole group of people out of thin air! But…. that's what happened… sort of. 

The JSA were returning! They were returning to where they had been for portion of their publication history: Earth 2 (or Earth-2 as I had seen it listed in the past)! Some might have seen this as a risky move to reintroduce the DC Multiverse so soon after they went through a major change up to simplify everything. But I think it's a good thing. This is something they have been leading up to for awhile. Every since they reintroduced the multiverse in 2007 they had never really done much with it. There were a number of one off books that visited other worlds & promises of series that took on these other world but they never came to be. With Earth 2 we are finally getting what we've been promised.

Along with the return of the JSA was announced, it was announced that Power Girl would be coming back! And the she is Karen Starr who was appearing in the Mister Terrific comic book. She would be appearing in a series with Huntress, who had been appearing in a miniseries (which I have not read but plan on doing so). Both women are revealed to have come from Earth 2 (this fact seemed to piss off a few Huntress fans). Among the books that would be cancelled to make way for the second wave was Mister Terrific. In the last issue it did set up a a few events for both Earth 2 & Worlds' Finest (The book that Power Girl & Huntress would be appearing in).

Now that all the back story is out of the way, what did I think of the first issues of both series: One was good & would look forward to seeing where it went. One I wasn't all that impressed with & sort of wished it had a different focus.

First off, Earth 2. I wasn't sure if I'd like the series. Some of the costume designs I had seen I wasn't too hot on (That had become a trend I noticed with many of the New 52 costume redesigns) & for what I had read in a few interviews I wasn't sure I'd like this take on Earth 2 but was willing to give it a try. After reading the first issue, I kept comparing it to issue 1 of Justice League (the only issue I've read so far, another book I plan on reading more of). Both start five years ago & involve a parademons. Where as Justice League #1 was just Batman & Green Lantern bickering at each other while chasing one Parademon. Earth 2 #1 has an all out invasion of Parademons. We are thrown right into battle & over the course of the new few pages find out more about the world they inhabit then I did in the whole issue of Justice League #1. 

SIDE NOTE: When I originally talked about Issue 1 of the Justice League last September I didn't talk about it all that kindly. I'm hoping that it got better as the issues went on.

Through out the issue we see that Earth 2 might be similar to the world was had been introduced when the New 52 came into effect (Earth 1 if you will) but it is very different. Metropolis is in ruins. Many, many, many people are dead. I even though this is five years in the past, Superman, Batman Wonder Woman seem to have been super heroes for an unknown period of time (Until on Earth 1 where those 3 have only started their super hero careers five years ago). Along with this trio, we are introduced to Supergirl & a female Robin. Robin is also Batman's daughter. Of the costume designs presents so far: I quite like the designs for woman more then the men. Robin being the best design & Batman being the worst. 1 last thought about costumes: I like the design for Earth 2's Superman's costume better the costume design for the Superman of Earth 1.

About half way through you the issue you get the the first really major change. As the Internet is fond of saying: s**t just got real! Before I say what it is, let me invoke the words of River Song: SPOILERS!  Our main characters, the ones we have been following the issue so far all die. Now the death of the Dark Knight does help "win the war". During that event, a portal of some kind opens up. Both Supergirl, Robin go into it & disappear.

Is Earth 2 now left with no heroes? No. This issue much like like the first couple of paragraphs of this posting was all just set up. In this issue were are introduced to Alan Scott, Jay Garrick & Sargent Al Pratt. They are civilian identities of JSA members Green Lantern, The Flash & the Atom but have not yet become super heroes yet. From what I saw in the issue, Alan Scott seemed to be channeling a bit of Tony Stark & Jay Garrick seemed to be a bit like two other DC Characters. When we first see him he is a bit like Wally West (one of the men who have he has shared the Flash mantle with but does not currently exist in the New 52) & when Jay receives his powers he is a bit like Hal Jordan (one of the Green Lanterns' of Earth 1). We don't see much of Sargent Al Pratt other then he is the head of a small army group protecting an atomic weapon of some kind. We last see him & his group being attacked  by Parademons.

So… What did I think about the book? I thought it was a good first issue & I'm interested in seeing where it goes.

Now on to World' Finest. Or Huntress Worlds' Finest Power Girl, the cover has the names of the women on either side of the Worlds' Finest name but I think the title is just "Worlds' Finest" & I will call it that. This book follows the adventures of Robin (now Huntress) & Supergirl (now Power Girl) on Earth 1. It is told in the present & via a flashback to 5 years ago when they arrived on Earth 1.They have spent the last five years trying to find away back to their world. They have built up identities on Earth 1but that is only a way to means of acquiring a way to get back home. There are 2 art styles in the book: present day is drawn by George Perez where as the flashback as drawn by Kevin Maguire. Which I think it is an interesting idea. It is also an easy way to tell what is a flashback & what is not.

Since I talked about the costume designs with Earth 2, lets talk about the costume designs here in Worlds' Finest: I still think the Robin costume is the strongest costume in the comic. Not sure we'll see it all that much. The Huntress is basically the costume the character had Pre-New 52. The Supergirl costume is ok, kind of reminds me of something Supergirl might of worn in the 1970's. BUT… the Power Girl costume SUCKS!  It just don't think it works as a costume. I think the think that really puts me off is the "symbol": I think they were going for a stylized P but it doesn't work. The upper chest portion of the costume just doesn't work (That is a part of her body that people are going to look at). It looks odd. They could have just given this Power Girl the costume she had Pre-New 52 (much like did with Huntress) & people would have been fine. But no: she & most everyone else needed a a costume change. I don't think Power Girl needs a "symbol" on her costume. She's never had on. In all the time that the character has been around she's never had a symbol on her costume. Why start now?

As a issue it's just set up & not interesting set up like in Earth 2: It just talking. I'm not sure I'd pick up issue #2, I might look at the collected 1st storyline when it comes out to see what's going on with these two. What I would have done with a book called "Worlds' Finest" is have a book that travels to different worlds in the Multiverse. Have it be like "Exiles", the Marvel Comics series or like old TV show "Sliders". If your going to hint at there being Worlds' (plural) then show us worlds. I think what they are hinting at the with the purl worlds thing is they are from Earth 2 & they are on Earth 1 so there are 2 worlds involved.

Well… that's my thoughts on the first issue of Earth 2 & Worlds' Finest. Until next time, Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 253: Maps!

Map of the Planet Krypton.
- From The Krypton Chronicles #2, 1981.

This is Entry 252: DC Comics REBOOT!

Recently I've been thinking how I would have done a company wide reboot of DC Comics.

I made a quick list of all the titles I would have. At the moment I have 32 proposed titles & I’m thinking of adding a few more. Not sure I’ll go up to having 52 books. I might if I think I could come up with enough titles to get to that number. I don’t just want to add in extra books just to get to that number.

I currently have:

- 5 titles relating to both Superman & Batman.

- 12 books devoted to 9 different teams.

- 12 books devoted to just a single person.

- 7 Anthology books.

- 3 All-Ages Books.

 I'm not done yet. I'm still thinking about a few other things. When I am done I'll post it for all to see.

That is all.

- Brian

This is Entry 251: Brightest Day Revisited?

It's almost been a year since the last issue of DC Comics' series Brightest Day came out & with that my 25 issue long nightmare had finally come to an end. When it was all said & done my personal feelings towards the series was that it SUCKED! I was finding myself getting visibly angry at stapled collection of paper that had pictures printed on them. I really couldn't see the point in the series, both in & out of the universe. Even now that The New 52 is firmly in place, BD seems to be even more pointless.

But as they say time heals all wounds & I've been thinking about returning to the series & re-reading it. Since what it would like reading it with out having to wait weeks for the next issue. Will it be as bad as I remember it being?  I'm not sure if I want to put myself through that pain again.  If I do actually go about this I'll tell you all.


To reading what I feel about the series almost a year ago, you can read it here: http://stuffbybrian.blogspot.com/2011/04/this-is-entry-195.html

This is Entry 250: Brian on the Aisle #12

This post is will be multi-tasking post. It's a 250th post, It's the 12 entry in Brian on the Aisle & I'm counting this as a part of the 2012 Project. The movie I'll be reviewing is The Adventures of Tintin.

Early on in my readership of comic books (The Early to the Mid 1990's): I read the Tintin books, collected almost the whole series (didn't notice until recently that I'm missing a few books). I loved them as kid. Still like them as an Adult. They are Awesome!

My enjoyment of the books were greatly enhanced by the fact at the same time that I was reading these books there was also an animated series based on the books on TV (They were on the cable network HBO. I think the cartoon were Canadian made or at least release in the States by a Canadian company). I could see all the action on the screen & then add those moving images to when I read the books.

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As I have done in the past, I saw Tintin at the second run theater near my house (3 dollars a movie!). Tintin is also one of the those movies that recently came out in both 2D & 3D, the theater I saw at it didn't does that the fancy 3D to show it in. I saw a few times during the movie that it might of looked cool if I saw it in 3D. But seeing in 2D in no way diminished my viewing of the movie.

The "Adventures of Tintin" series of books span over 20 books. What adventure do you start with? I think the filmmakers went with a good choose. A personal favorite of mine, a storyline that I'll be calling the Unicorn Saga. The Saga unfolds over 2 books: The Secret of the Unicorn & Red Rackham's Treasure. The movie was not just a translation of those 2 books. The Movie is a mix of those 2 books, parts & characters from another book in the series (The Crab with the Golden Claws) & Bianca Castafiore (a supporting character who appeared in a number of the Tintin books).

I understand why the added in the bits from The Crab with the Golden Crabs. That is the book where Tintin met Captain Haddock, a character who is featured quite heavily in the Unicorn Saga. So they had to explain how Tintin knew the Captain somehow. The addition of the Castafiore to the movie's story while not in any of the these 3 stories I did quite enjoy & didn't mind this alteration because it was in keeping with how she might have been used in the books.

The way the entire Unicorn saga is unfolded in the movie is totally different from the books they come from. Is this a bad thing? No. Not really. They needed to added in the elements from the Crabs to Unicorn so the overall story is different then the books. I did feel the melding of the 2 stories were done quite well. There were a few elements present in the Unicorn books that were felt out of the movie as they might of not made sense. Basically all of the plot to the Crabs books is not present in the movie which is ok since they only wanted to use the Unicorn plot line & having this secondary plot line would have been confusing as it in no way tied into the main Unicorn plot line.

The characterisation of Sakharine, the movie's main villain, is different then it is in the books. How he is presented in this movie he is more an amalgamation of very different characters from the books. This did leave me a bit puzzled as I watched the movie. I being a big fan of the books & having just reread the Unicorn saga recently I had the book freshly in the mind. I just couldn't place who Sakharine was in the books as I watched the movie. I knew that name! I thought of the character with that name to be a some what minor character (which I still think so as I took a look back at the books) where as in the movie he is the main villain! Many of the Tintin books used a number of different villains in the books & I can see why they wanted to have 1 central villain for the movie.

For the main cast, I would say the characterisations is pretty spot on. All the voices & actions fit with how I think they should have been. The catchphrases were all there! The CGI was a bit weird but something you could get use to. I was a bit weird seeing the "cartoony" look of the characters represent in such a realistic way. At times I felt that Captain Haddock's head was a bit to large.

Professor
Cuthbert Calculus

One thing I thing they could have done was the "whole" Unicorn story in this one movie. This one leaves us on a cliffhanger, setting up a sequel. I put the word whole in quotation marks because the movie does end how the story ends in the books. There were a few different events that happened in the books that didn't happen here & a few that happen in a different order. I suspect that many of those events would happen in the second movie. Many of those events are from the second book/second half of the story. I really hope they do make a sequel because my favorite character from the Tintin series is introduced in the second half of the Unicorn story. That character is Professor Cuthbert Calculus! He is Awesome! I'm not sure why I like him so much but I do. He is just plain awesome & quite a snappy dresser I might say. He was the one character I wanted to see show up in the movie but he didn't. Mainly because all of the stuff he did the Unicorn saga hadn't happened yet. If He's not in the sequel, I am going to be mad!

There were so nice references to the the other Tintin books in the movie (mostly in the opening credits & in the framed newspaper clippings at Tintin's home). You did get to see some of the Art of the books in the movie too which was nice.

So... Final Thoughts: What did I think of the movie? I thought it was good. Did I think going into that it was going to be bad & that it was going to "rape" a cherished piece of my childhood? No. I mainly wanted to see how they handled the story which they did quite well. It did quite boring (at least for me) during two long action sequences in the later half of the movie. I just felt they were overly long.

What do I give this movie? 3 & half Blistering Barnacles out of 5!

I greatly look forward to seeing the sequel!

Until next time, Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 249: The State of the New 52, Part 1

Part 1

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All Star Western

Writers: Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti

Artist: Moritat

I did not read this series past Issue 1 on this book. Why? It wasn't bad but then there wasn't really anything to really grab me to want to pick up issue 2. It's not that the writing wasn't bad. I have read stuff by the writing team of Gray & Palmiotti in the past that I did enjoy. The art by Moritat was nice. I did feel that it fit the setting quite nicely. I could see that there was a mystery being set up in this issue, I just wasn't sure I wanted to wait around to see that mystery unfold over the next couple of issues. I'm not a big "western" kind of guy & I haven't read many Jonah Hex comics in the past so I'm not sure what I was expecting from this comic.  

I would consider to pick up this storyline/mystery when it's collected in a trade paperback to see what I missed out on.

Batgirl

Writer: Gail Simone

Artist: Ardian Syaf

Cover Artist: Adam Hughes

*sigh* Oh... Batgirl.

I sort of came into this comic partly not wanting to like it & partly wanting it to change my mind on the whole "Barbra Gordon is Batgirl again" idea. What I wanted in Issue 1 was 1 question answered. That question was "How did she get up out of the wheelchair?" None that might of been too much to ask for a 1st issue. Maybe just something to explain why she was up & around again. Well... that question was answered just not very well (at least according to me). She was paralyzed from the waist down from a gunshot worn inflicted by The Joker (Ala The Killing Joke). Then 3 years later, one morning a "miracle" (the comics' own word) happened & she could walk again.

WHAT?

I just don't understand why this part of Barbra's backstory needed to make it's way over into the "New 52". They could have easily just left it out & done something else with her. They could have done anything with her. They were basically giving a chance to do a "clean slate" with her.

They could have just done how she was pre-Killing Joke. Brought her back to a more "classic" version of Batgirl. But then I have a problem with that. Most people who read comics today have never read a present day story with Barbra Gordon as Batgirl in them, if they have seen Barbra as BG it's in a flashback or some other media (Movies, TV, Cartoons, etc.). I know I haven't unless I read some old Batman comics from the 60's, 70's or 80's. In the 20 years I have read comics it's been either Cassandra Cain or Stephanie Brown. I quite liked the Stephanie Brown version of Batgirl & her series. It's what I wished this series was (a young girl trying to juggle being Batgirl & all her other responsibilities). I did read this series until Issue 4 hoping it would have gotten better, It didn't. That is sad, I wanted to like this book. I have never read a lot by Gail Simone, I keep hearing she's a great writer. From what little I had read I'd say she's ok. This kind of degrades my shakey opinion her.

Batwoman

Co-Writer & Artist: J.H. Williams III

Co-Writer: W. Haden Blackman

*sigh* This was a book I was excited to read. I happen to like the the art by Williams. He does wonderful stuff. The past Batwoman stuff (written by Greg Rucka) was really good. But.... I didn't read this past Issue 1. Why? This book was to come out way before the "New 52" happened. Like 6-9 months before. There was a preview/Issue 0 for this series in January/February 2011 which I read & enjoyed. Then the series didn't come out until it was part of the New 52 and sort of read like it was still part of the Pre-New 52. That was a bit off putting. Also, by that point I had lost what enthusiasm/interest I once had with the series. I wasn't just going to buy the book for the pretty art (which as I'm told isn't even done by Williams anymore & that was a major selling point for many people).

Catwoman

Writer: Judd Winick

Artist: Guilem March

Oh... Catwoman. What are we going to do with you?

By Issue 4: stop reading you that's what. :)

I was kind of excited to read this book. I think both the writer & artist on this book are good. They have done stuff I have enjoyed in the past. But..... I just lost interest in this book. I think I gave this book a few more issues that other people did. What with how they ended Issue 1 with (Batman & Catwoman having sex). I at least wanted to see want happen after that (not much).

I wanted to like you. I really did. This should have been a good book: Good Writer, Good Artist, Good Character. But it just didn't do it for me. There were other books I was just enjoying more then you. So at Issue 4, I stopped reading you. Should have done that at 3 but I gave you one more issue to see you could turn it around (you didn't).

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That's it for this part of the "State of the New 52". I know that sort of downer to end things on. I promise you: it gets better. There are books coming up that I did actually like!

I'll be back with the other 11 books later. Until then, Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian