Batgirl #3

Series: Batgirl
Words: Gail Simone
Images: Adrian Syaf, Vincent Cifuentes
Issue Number: 3
Release Date: November 2011
Format: Comic

 

Batgirl 3 is amazing. We see more discussion of disability issues in terms of Babs. Especially in terms of her frustration with how everyone else is over protecting her. As a woman with a disability I can relate to that frustration. There are times when people step in too much, where there are things that I can do for myself and the people who love me try to take that control out of my life. Experiences like this are not unusual for people with disabilities. I like to see that reflected in Bab's recover. The more I read the less I am worried about Batgirl becoming an able-ist story that ignores the spinal cord injury or the impact that has had on Barbara's life.

 

A total side note.  Minor spoiler but has nothing to do with the actual plot or story line really. Barbara is no longer seeing her physical therapist. I am relived. Working in the disability field. Having a disability myself. Like I said in my last review that was a huge sticking point. There is no way a professional organization would support a physical therapist having a relationship with their client / patient. I am left very happy to see that relationship is over.

 

Nightwing shows up and Simone's writing of Nightwing is amazing. All the character traits that have my back up in the most recent Nightwing run suddenly are given a context. And one of the best parts? One while he still the rich play boy, he is also a human under that. Also, we see him within the rest of the D.C. world. We see a Nightwing that fits into the current D.C. universe that fits in with the existing Nightwing run. I am much more impressed with this over say the many, many, many different versions of Batman.

 

Batgirl is one of the better reads coming out of D.C. these days. If you are not reading it already well then you probably should.

Aquaman #2

Series: Aquaman
Words: Geoff Johns
Images: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado 
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: It reads December 2011 but we got it in October
Format: Single Issue comic

If you have read the review of issue 1 of Aquaman you already know that this relaunch title is one that has impressed and surprised me. I walked into reading Aquaman with disgustingly low expectations and well it has blown those out of the water.
A little research has shown me that this is not the first time Johns has taken the laughing stock of D.C. and turned it into a serious character (the Flash). At this point it is seamless and by issue two the tension is already building. I am no longer picking up Aquaman expecting to mock the character the entire time. Johns has certainly demonstrated enough skill in these two issues that I will be keeping my eyes open for his works in the future. 
The story line itself? Reads like a very well written B movie at this point. I know that seems to go against everything I just said about Aquaman being more serious. But it builds off of the first issue. I am guessing that Johns is using that as a stepping stone into more serious territory.
This issue we see the Aquaman jokes continue. Only this time instead of laughing I found myself actually feeling his frustration.
One of the smartest moves Johns has made with his writing has been to write each issue so that they can be read as stand alones but still contain a story that builds on each other. You can pick up issue two of Aquaman and start reading right away. I have not seen a comic in the relaunch that has done this so effectively. Johns has done the best job so far of making me care about a new character I never have before. He also has done the best job of pacing so that new readers can pick up his series and just start reading. Each of the issues have given little emotional hooks that leave the reader caring about the lead character. So if you were thinking about picking up Aquaman but can’t find an issue one to start with? You can grab issue two and jump in right away.
I love Aquaman’s wife Mera. She is strong. She is powerful. She dislikes being called “Aquawoman” since her name is Mera. In issue two we see a little more of her. In a lot of senses she is presented as being his equal. Even if Johns was not making me fall in love with Aquaman I would probably still pick this up for Mera. I am looking forward to seeing much more of her and during this issue we actually saw signs she will develop as a character. 
One area I have not really discussed in terms of Aquaman is the art. I like how Ivan Reis and Joe Padro compliment the moods of the comic. It is bright and light during touching moments and when everything is fine. The colours darken as the tension builds. The detail in the essentially a horde of villains is amazing.

Wonder Woman #2

Series: Wonder Woman
Words: Brian Azzarello
Images: Cliff Chiang
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: It reads December 2011 but we got it in October
Format: Single Issue comic
This second issue has put to rest any of the few concerns I may have had after reading issue one of Wonder Woman (and there weren't really many). Issue two of Wonder Woman still reads like an episode of Xena. And this is still a good thing in my book. We are seeing a little more of Diana getting drawn into the conflict with the Olympian Gods. And I like how it is playing out.
There are a few shifts to the Wonder Woman’s back story. Stife / Eris states while held by Wonder Woman's lasso that they are sisters. Implying that either Zeus had a hand in Diana's creation. At times in the past (though usually in the cartoon movies) it has been implied that Hades lent a hand in Wonder Woman’s creation from clay. Of course this information comes from Strife/Eris and if anyone would be able to mislead while telling the truth it would probably be her.
I really like the mortal and human side kick that Wonder Woman is protecting from Hera. Or at least potentially protecting from Hera. There is this one little side conversation (that is not linked to the plot at all) where Hermes is trying to find out what form Zeus came to her as. And she very quickly and effectively shuts down Hermes’ slut shaming. It pleases me to see sexually expressive women showing up in comics in a way that does not feel like an exploited caricature. My hat goes off to the writing team for finding that balance.
The art is growing on me more and more it seems with every issue I read. I am really starting to adore Chiang’s work. Normally I follow the writers more then the artists but in the last few months I have started paying attention more to the people who create amazing art in comics. I have started watching out for the ones whose work elevate the story beyond just words. Chiang’s style really compliments the story well.
I love that his version of Wonder Woman is less cheese cake then I have seen in the past. She is still a beautiful dark haired Amazonian princess but there is a little more of a classic feel to the look.  
The design behind the Olympians is also very appealing. I cannot imagine it is easy to try and make something flat and two dimensional appear other worldly but still recognizable. Chiang with his use of size and colour has managed to seamlessly express that.
I hope the these two have a long run with Wonder Woman because I am loving what they are doing together.
Well worth picking up. Well worth reading. As a Wonder Woman fan girl I am very pleased with this version of her and looking forward to reading more. It is something that I would consider accessible enough to lend out to friends who are not as into Wonder Woman or D.C. as I am. Especially worth checking out if you enjoy stories that play with old myths or if you like the Greek / Roman gods.
If you know me flip through the first two issues next time you are over. Or borrow the trade when it comes out because this is one I look forward to buying again in Trade.

Manhunter

Series:  Manhunter
Words: Marc Andreyko
Images: Jesus Saiz
Issue Number: 1-5
Release Date:
Format: Trade Paperback

I am a little late to the Manhunter party. And for those of you familiar with the Manhunter mythos I am talking about Kate Spenser. For those of you who aren't familiar with the name let me just say that the D.C. universe had more Manhunter's then it knew what to do with.

I want to get one thing out there. Manhunter is not perfect. I have read criticisms by others about both the character, her body type and the art work are not the step forward people present it as. Curled Up With a Good Book summarizes the criticisms well especially about how the main character is still overtly sexualized through out the series. And while I do agree with the reviewer from Curled Up With a Good Book that Manhunter is not a perfect feminist character, I do still think she is a step forward.  

Her costume is functional and while tight is not overtly sexualized in design. There are no short skirts, there are no boob windows. There are no painfully high heels. Beyond what she wears both Kate Spenser and Manhunter have actual depth to them and actual flaws that they develop and grow beyond. By day she’s a high powered prosecution attorney fed up defendants escaping justice on technicalities. She is driven. She is assertive. She is failing horribly to balance her life. She deals with the realistic pressures of trying to be a good mother and trying to be a professional working woman. And I like that she does not get everything perfect. There is this very fine balance between making a developed female character who is someone I can relate to and starting to break down and disempowering female characters. I felt that Marc Andreyko balanced her fairly well.

There is some great witty banter in the comic that directly pokes at some of the depictions of other women in the D.C. universe. Especially in terms of how impractical a lot of the female costumes can be for running and fighting.

Also it features back ground LGBTQ characters in a fairly positive (for the most part) and friendly way. Kate’s assistant while a little stereotypical (at points) and not as developed as Kate eventually ends up in a relationship with another D.C. character. I like that it is a happy, healthy and functional relationship. I like that some of the issues around family and their lack of understanding are touched on. It is by far one of the more realistic portrayals of a gay male relationship that I have read in comics.

This series was also my introduction really to the Department of Extranormal Operations. I am not entirely sure why but I adore the DEO. This is odd because I typically end up disliking the government organizations whose goal is to monitor, control and contain.  At times there is some great interactions between the department head Bones and Kate especially in terms of race. Bones (if it wasn’t for his skin and organs being translucent) would be a person of colour. Kate at times tries to use that to pressure Bones into helping her dig into areas that he has clearly ordered her to stay well away from. The play out of a liberal white woman essentially bullying someone of colour to get her way in terms of creating what she thinks should be social change for people of colour (and the consequences) are interesting. Personally I found it slightly reflective of second wave feminisms and some branches of feminism that have come out of that where feminists of power and feminists of privilege try to force their values inappropriately. Like most of the social issues touched on in Manhunter it is very briefly done and it is not perfectly executed but I am pleased to see these conversations start to appear. I am hopeful that we will continue to see more of them.

As a generic comic reader one of the biggest issues that I had with Manhunter was the pacing. In some cases I found that there were huge gaps of time in between the story lines of each trade paper back. During these gaps there are some pretty big shifts and changes. If you are going to pick up the trades keep that in mind going into the story. Manhunter was cancelled by DC in 2006 and issue 2) was supposed to be the end of her run. Due to fan pressure D.C. pushed that back to issue 30 (end of vol. 4). I get the impression that volume 5 of the graphic novel is mostly wrapping up a lot of extra loose ends. It is mostly a look at the characters in the distant future with her son’s graduation. While I was glad to have more things resolved I just felt that it was rushed. I am a little sad that we did not get to slowly explore the stories that got them to that point. However, I am pleased to see that Manhunter will be appearing in some of the post relaunch teams.

I found the strongest volumes to be the first trade and the fourth. I have to admit my love of the fourth may be how heavily it featured Wonder Woman and some outside D.C. storylines that I am familiar with. I probably would not suggest Manhunter as a D.C. starting point. While not essential having back ground knowledge of what is going on in the D.C. universe is helpful. Certainly to get the most out of Volume 4 I would suggest having already read Infinite Crisis

If you are familiar with D.C. and want some stronger female leads then I suggest Manhunter may be a good addition to your collection. Overall I will be keeping my eyes open for this author’s future works.

Batwoman

Series: Batwoman
Words: J.H. Williams & W. Haden Blackman
Images: J.H. Williams
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: In reality October 12, 2011  but our cover reads December
Format: Comic

As soon as I could I was tearing through the pages of Batwoman. The art in this comic continues to be amazing. For issue number two I think that art is even better then the stunning first issue. This is really unfair because it sets a very high standard for other artists. There is this blending of art styles and methods of drawing both characters and backgrounds that set a shifting and effective mood and tone for the comic. During one of the early fight scenes the image of x-rays is used to provide an illustration of how much physical damage is being done in a fight. And you do not have to just take my word for it Comic Book Resources had a preview of the comic (link here) that quite effectively show cases how amazing the art style is for story telling.

If you are a comic book fan you can also enjoy trying to find Warren Ellis' Desolation Jones in one of the panels. A great little Easter egg of sorts for longer term comic readers.

Stepping beyond the amazing art (which alone almost justifies buying this comic or buying Batwoman when it comes out in a trade) is this enjoyable story. It took a while for me to realize but most of this issue is filler and set up and getting the characters to where they need to be. I normally get very impatient with books or comics during these periods. I know I need this information for what comes next to make sense. But I don't want to wait. So usually I end up getting frustrated. Some how though the writers managed to slip me an issue filled with almost all set up and it was so enjoyable that I did not notice or mind. Instead of frustrated I am excited to find out where the story goes.

There is a little bit of relationship development between Batwoman and her side-kick. We get to see the first date with Kate Kane and her love interest Detective Sawyer. And as Detective Sawyer is upset that Batwoman interfered with her investigation in issue one I see foreshadowing for tension and conflict here. Issue two also marks the introduction of the Department of Extranormal Operations setting up all sorts of potential both good and bad. I've only recently become familiar with this department through the Green Lantern film and because it is also featured in Manhunter (which I am currently reading all of the trades of to review).

The only time I was taken out of the story was during an interaction between Batwoman and Batman where he cautions her that sidekicks have a tendency to die and come back as super villains. Being familiar with that back story in Batman's history it came across as a little flippant and a little out of character to me. But it did also get quite the chuckle out of me.

The only big concern I have with the story is the possibility of Batwoman joining Batman Inc. I am not sure if there is a way for that move to be spun with out her losing some of her strengths and some of her development. Currently Batwoman while within the Gotham / Batman universe was not trained by Bruce Wayne, she simply saw his costume and decided to take what she liked and operate on her own. At first her father was the person supporting her, helping with extra training and materials but at this point she has branched out on her own and is now training her own side kick.

The further into the story Batwoman goes the more difficult it is going to be to just pick up the latest issue and read. The story flows from one comic to another building on a foundation. I will update you when this story arch ends and the next starts. It they continue with the artwork and the great stories then this is going to be an amazing trade paperback / graphic novel to own.

If you were going to read just one of the D.C. new 52 in either graphic novel or comic formats this should be the one you get.

Batgirl #2

Series: Batgirl
Words: Gail Simone
Images: Adrian Syaf, Vincent Cifuentes
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: In reality October 12th but our cover reads December 2011
Format: Comic

With the first issue I had a whole ton of concerns about Batgirl. Especially in terms of Barbara Gordon's ability to walk again. I just read the second issue while the mister and I were driving to his parents place. Luckily he was the on actually driving. In terms of disability? I am a little more reassured at this point. I am still not happy about the lack of people with disabilities in DC but Gail Simone has not used the reboot to magically sweep it under the rug. There is mention of the character not physically being able to maintain stunts and fights because while her spinal injury has greatly improved her physical stamina is still lacking. I am slightly reassured by this. I am still sulking a little bit (I hate change) but I'm also really excited to read more.

PTSD and Babs also has not magically disappeared especially with lines like "He pointed that gun at me, just where the Joker tore up my spine three years ago and I froze... the gun triggered something I thought was long over" A fairly classic symptom of PTSD is experiencing either a flash back or a dissociation when presented with stimuli that resemble or remind of the traumatic incident.

 One of the few things that took me out of the story is Babs going on a date with her physical therapist. There is no way in heck this guy could have any sort of relationship with Babs and it be okay with his registration board. As an allied health professional who works in the disability field it gave me pause. If you do not work in the field well then it will probably be a none issue for you. In retrospect I can understand why Simone opted to approach a relationship with the physical therapist. It gives more chances for her to explore some of the back story of how Babs' got from a wheel chair to standing. Gregor's background means that some context. Comments can be made about how sometimes with spinal cord injuries the unexpected does happen but it is very rare making this a much more realistic process.

I am very pleased to see that the return of Batgirl has not meant we have lost the strengths she had as Oracle. Physically unable to take the villain down Babs has to resort to her brains. Her ability to research and her ability to make computers do magical and wonderful things that no one else in Gotham or the D.C. universe can do.

Simone also made some commentary on class and social inequality during this issue of Batgirl that really impressed me. Slipped into the story are little gems along the lines of "... The only cemetery in downtown Gotham that hasn't been demolished. Oh, they've tried. Real estate developers have made a multitude of heatbreaingly sincere please to disinter the occupants of this place. Because we need more shopping and parking, you see. But it turns out, rich people don't like the idea of their loved ones switching accommodations for a new frogurt boutique. And unlike poor people who feel that way... they have the juice to make it not happen. Even here, there is a class system in Gotham." I am pleased to see more and more comic book authors making sociopolitical commentary.

I am really enjoying the level of depth given to the characters in Batgirl. I do have to confess that this issue of Batgirl made me cry. wince and smile. I found myself sniffling at the villain's back story. I have to admit he is quickly becoming one of my recent favorites among villains.

Again the colours and art were impressive. I love how the dark grey of Gotham is broken up with flashes of purple, a bright blue, and green tones consistently though the entire issue. The physical design of women in this comic has continued to impress me. There are more realistically sized. Babs has actual muscle and tone. There were a lot of moments where some of the great character development could have been set back by sexualized depictions of character taking away from Simone's work of developing her. Luckily for the story, the experience and the reader the Ardian Syaf and Vincente Cifuentes masterfully and smoothly avoided doing so.

The comics seem to be going fast. Some people on twitter have started saying that stores are sold out. If you like interesting female leads with a varied supporting cast I would suggest checking out Batgirl.

Voodoo #1

Series: Voodoo
Words: Ron Marz
Images: Sami Basri
Issue Number: 1
Release Date: In reality September but our cover reads November 2011
Format: Comic


I was planning on doing an update on this comic last week. It was one of the first ones I meant to read of our pull. I was the one who insisted we get it and mister boyfriendface wasn't overly sold on it. Somehow though it ended up hidden away almost immediately and I've only just got a chance to enjoy it.


He did very kindly suggest that I read the comic that I wanted us to buy because it was “pretty good”.


So I'm writing this as I read for a change. And I'm sort of glad. Apparently the main character Voodoo is a stripper. I have all sorts of worries about this. The main character is certainly hyper sexualized in the art on the first panel. She after all is crawling around on a stripper floor in very little.


The male investigator watching Voodoo is sorta a dog. He's very unlikeable so far. He doesn't hide the fact that he's enjoying watching women take off their clothing for a steakout.


His partner though is another story. She's pretty kickass. She also doesn't seem to like him much which makes her so easy for me to identify with. Despite my total inability to beat a crowd of angry young men who threaten me with my fists.


Half way through the comic the writer puts some of my fears at ease. One of the women while trying to find a replacement for her baby sitter out of the other strippers announces “Look around it's single moms, kids trying to afford community college or just pay the rent.”


And the page by page update ends here because holy my goodness it really did redeem itself in a big way. We've got ourselves a shape changing cliff hanger giving potentially mind blowing goodness. It vaguely reminds me of the Grifter whose review I apparently forgot to upload here (coming soon). Looking into the history of both characters apparently this is because they are two slices in the same story. The alien's in Grifter are the same alien's in Voodoo. Only Grifter was written from the point of view of a human alone who was fighting against an alien invasion. Voodoo seems to be a monster / alien / some creature trying to pass itself off as human for who knows what reason and trying to use hyper femininity as a guise to collect information. I see all sorts of not only cross over potential but complimentary story lines showing the same story from several different points of view which excites me.


The use of a hyper sexualized female lead is totally explained within the context of the story and it shifts. So far one of the few comic's I have read where the author has gone out of the way to give a context behind why the female main character is an extreme of hyper femininity and overly sexualized. And my feminist self bought the explanation and is looking forward to reading more. Of course when I see an author doing that it means I look them up . This time that was not much of a help. To be honest I'm not familiar with pretty much any of his works. I have no idea if they are just as amazing or if they are able to balance women in comics in a way that does not fill me with rage. I am in love with what I have seen so far with Voodoo and I hope it lives up to potential I have seen in issue number 1.


Voodoo is not traditional D.C. not by any means. I would heavily suggest it for anyone who likes science fiction. Who enjoys alien invasions and is interested into expanding into comics. Or if you just want something different. It is well worth picking up in single issues and I will get back to you as the story progresses if I would also suggest it in trade version. Because I'm pretty sure I'll also be buying that.

Justice League International v.s. Justice League International

On the weekend the most magical of things happened. A friend of mine phoned and he was having to pass his comic book collection on to loving new homes. We greatly relocated 100+ of his comics into our apartment. There was a large supply of old school Silver Age Wonder Woman for me (these will show up later), piles of strong female characters popping up through D.C. and since he'd been trying to sell me on it Justice League International  from the 1980s run. Thus thanks to my friends great generosity I bring you a battle of the ages. 1987 Justice League dukes it out against 2011 Justice League reboot.

Series:	Justice League International	Justice League International
Words:	Dan Jurgens	Keith Griffen and J.M DeMatteis
Images:	Aaron Lopez	Willingham
Issue Number:	1	1
Release Date:	In reality September 2011 but the cover reads November 2011	1987
Format	Comic	Comic

The Art

I have no huge complaints about either versions art work. They are both very different but also enjoyable. To steal the wording of the friend who donated us the many comics the relaunch is very photoshop pretty. It is certainly sharper and clearer artwork. However, I don't think through the course of time the relaunch will hold up as anything exceptional.

1980s JLI's art is some what simplistic but holds up well. It would be passable artwork in a modern day comic. So when you consider that it is twenty four years old and can still hold a candle against modern comics? I have to admit I am impressed.

One of the most significant artwork differences I noticed was in how the female characters were drawn.

DC's 1980s Black Canary

Cover of JLI 2011

Putting aside how amazingly 1980's her costume is. Which is really difficult because holy my goodness that is quite the 1980s costume. I'm baffled by how much physical female character (and costume) design has changed.

The reboot female character's show much more skin, have skin tight costumes and some how their boob sizes seem to be growing exponentially. I will give the DC artists credit. Their female characters often still manage to have muscles and abs that would make most men I know stew with envy fitting of someone who is as physically active as they are. It does leave me wondering what that says about how comic books as a sub-group and society views women. If you are interested in BMI and body types in comics I suggest Comparative Sex-Specific Body Mass Index in the Marvel Universe and the "Real" World one day if I have enough free time I would love to do something similar for the DC world to see how the two hold up against each other.

Winner: 1987 JLI.


The Line Up
 

JLI 1987		JLI 2011
Character	Country of Origin	Character	Country of Origin
Booster Gold	American	Booster Gold	Future America
Batman	American	Tora Olafsdotter – Ice	Norway
Martian Manhunter	Martian	Mari Jiwe McCabe – Vixen	Zambesi (fictional African country)
Dr. Fate	American	Beatriz Bonilla Da Costa -- Fire	Brazil
Black Canary	American	Gavril Ivanovich – Rocket Red	Russian
Guy Gardner	American	Zhifu Fang – August General in Iron	China
Mister Miracle	New Genesis (alien planet)	Guy Garner	American

Winner:  Since it has actual international members outside of aliens? JLI 2011. Though it still has a heavy American bias (especially with the support cast of Batman) and I'm sad to see the lack of a Canadian hero! 

The Actual Story
I have some huge issues with JLI's 1987 story line. A part of those issues probably come out of reading it outside of the time frame it came in. Within the first few pages of the issue there are jokes cracked about low IQs, promptly followed by jokes about soliciting services of a Geisha in Japan, promptly followed by the sexual harassment of Black Canary by one of her team members, promptly followed by gay jokes. These not only age the comic but make it more difficult for modern readers to relate to it.

It also does have some strengths. Black Canary's dealing of the sexual harassment is great. She effectively and quickly shuts down Booster Gold in the span of one panel. It is nice to see a female character do that. The writer also gets huge bonus points for having mentions of StarTrek within the first few pages. My inner Trekkie squealed right away. When the dialogue wasn't pressing my buttons some of it was rather witty and the story line does overall evolve into one that could be taken as a story about other-ing.

Since this issue came out more then 20 years ago I'm not going worry too much about spoilers. But consider this your warning.

There is a very great but very tiny back and forth between the Martian Manhunter J'onn Jonzz and Dr. Fate. When J'onn calls Dr. Fate's disconnection from the awe of new experiences into question as a sign of a lack of humanity Dr. Fate dismisses J'onn as not being human enough. Of course then the othered J'onn ends up being the hero of the issue. As the rest of his team and the civilians around them are taken over by a mind controlling cell J'onn's martian anatomy leaves him resistant to it.

Later he is attacked for his difference and his resistance to the mind control. Over all it was a good story that mostly holds up but a lot of the subtle -ism's contained within the context give me pause.

JLI 2011 on the other hand was much less of a stand alone story. It is in no way self contained and that gives it some major negative points. There were fewer moments of me being horribly offended by it. On the whole it was a good show case of the characters that are joining JLI. It was a great introduction but it felt much more like a prequel then anything else. I also found myself having flash backs to Marvel's avengers. Especially since they are now a UN controlled team. There was some great starts to stories around loss of faith in government. Dissatisfaction with the appropriation of public spaces. And some mention of tensions between different group members but the issue was just too short to flesh anything out. 

Winner: JLI 1987 because it actually did have an entirely self contained story. I think with more relaunch issues they have the potential to go beyond what was done in 1987.


Overall
 Overall 1987 wins for now. With a few more issues of JLI 2011 I may revise my views on the story.

Considering I pretty much avoided the Justice League outside of their cartoon the fact that I am planning on now working my way through both quite actively does have to say something.