New 52: Week 3 (wave 2)

Grifter #1: I don't know anything about this character but I always had an interest in him. Probably due to the mask and the fact that he duel-wields pistols. This was my first time reading a book about Grifter and I have to say, I enjoyed it. It moved a bit slow but it's also an origin story which, for me, is perfect since I know nothing about him.

The pencils by CAFU (what the heck is with the one word names?) are dynamic and Nathan Edmondson did a fine job on the scripting. If I had a problem with the book it's that the main character, currently seems to be a direct rip-off of Sawyer from Lost. I imagine that will change as the story progresses though. I'll pick up issue two at any rate.

Legion Lost #1: Oh man... this was BAD. It's a shame because I like the creative team but I have nothing good to say about this book. Only a tiny portion of my distaste for it can be credited to my general lack of interest in these characters. I've liked some of Fabian Nicieza's work in the past (particularly his Thunderbolts stuff) but this is like trying to decipher the mad ramblings of... well, a bunch of superhero time travellers. I had a hard time following what was happening from panel to panel let alone identifying which Legion character was which.

And poor Pete Woods. This is such a far cry from the fantastic pages he drew on Action Comics that it's hard to believe they're both drawn by him. He goes for a rounder, more cartoony look this time around and it ends up just generic. I won't be adding this to my list. Obviously.


Mister Terrific #1: It strikes me that most of the books I'm talking about today weren't very good. I didn't plan it this way, I guess the first half of last weeks books were just higher quality than the second half. I hated this book. Like Legion Lost it's bad. Mr. Terrific, though, is bad due to a boring story, dull characterization and lackluster art. Eric Wallace also seems to be giving JT Krul a run for his money in the terrible dialogue department. Gugliottas work is okay. It just sort of sits there on the page and doesn't do anything to help overcome the poor writing.

I should say, while I'm a fan of Mister Terrific as a member of the Justice Society, I don't feel like he's a character who can sustain a solo series. I love him as the field leader of a team, and the way he interacts with other characters. Taken from the team book setting we're left with another rich dude who also happens to be a superhero. We've got enough of those. I won't be giving this a second try.

Red Lanterns #1: When they teased this book at the Green Lantern panel at C2E2 I leaned over to my friend and said "that doesn't sound like a book anyone really needs". Sure enough, it's not. Opening with a two page splash of everyone's favorite blood-vomiting cat, Dex Starr, Red Lanterns #1 is all sound and fury signifying nothing. Which seems a shame. I like what I've read of Peter Milligan's work and I find it depressing that Ed Benes went from drawing Justice League six years ago to drawing this. I know a lot of people don't care for his pencils but in the Jim Lee/Michael Turner camp I kind of feel that he's one of the best.

Again, this book is a good example of a new number one issue that isn't new-reader friendly. Not only did my girlfriend seem annoyed by the comic but she had to read a Green Lantern 101 app on my iPad just to understand who the Red Lanterns even are. I'm done with this title.



Resurrection Man #1: In terms of quality this is a good book. Abnett and Lanning do a fine job on the writing end (as always) and Fernando Dagnino's pencils are solid. However, this didn't do anything for me. I guess maybe I could say it's due my aversion to horror stories. But, then again I really dug the first issue of Swamp Thing and even preferred the opening issue of Animal Man to this. In the end, I guess Resurrection Man is a perfectly good comic that just didn't appeal to me at all. Probably won't pick up the second issue but maybe I'll give it another shot down the road.


Suicide Squad #1: I heard some lousy things about Suicide Squad going into it. People seemed to hate the Harley Quinn redesign and after my lack of enjoyment of the first issue of the villain-centric Deathstroke comic I was beginning to think I'd wasted another 3 bucks. I didn't. In fact I liked this book a lot. It has a cast of interesting, fun bad guys,some solid art, and one-liners.

Federico Dallocchio does good work on the art side of things here, and given the setting of the issue he deserves a lot of credit. Why mention the setting? Essentially the whole book is set in one room. Hats off to Adam Glass for writing a first issue where the plot of the opening story arc isn't even divulged by its end and still manages to be this much fun. I'm looking forward to this series now.

Superboy #1: ...is wordy. So, so wordy. This opening issue was certainly better than I'd imagined it would be but I'm not sure I'm invested enough to add it to my list... or even pick up the next issue. Also, am I the only one getting a strong Invincible vibe off this book? Not sure if that's due to the lettering, the talkiness or the outlandishl- powered-characte- in-a high-school-setting aspect.
Lobdell does a good job of setting up the characters that will make up the cast of this book (as well as his Teen Titans) but man... learn to be more spare with the exposition. RB Silva's pencils were great though. Loved the look of this book. Again, the colors and the way Silva handles action sequences really reminded me of Invincible. That's not necessarily a criticism as Invincible is one of the best old-fashioned superhero books on shelves today. I'll probably come back for the next issue if I have a couple bucks to spare and see where things go from there.