Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Comic Gazing for: 2/24/10

Since I just placed my order for the past three weeks comics(including the ones coming out this Wednesday), I figured I might as well get this post out of the way while my recent purchases are still fresh on my mind. Before I get to that though, I have a few other things running around in my brain that need to get out. After reading World's Finest #4 last night, I'm starting to get the itch to do another Let's Talk About... post. If you read that review, you probably have a pretty good idea as to what that post is going to be about... Besides that, I've been having some trouble getting to sleep the past few nights, which sucks for sanity(as well as the coherence of my posts), but is really helping me catch up on some of my back issue comic book reading. Over the past three nights, I've read a couple of back issues of Batman(during the Jason Todd years), and I have to say, I have NO idea what all of the fuss about Jason was... Why did the Bat-fans resent him so badly? Was it simply because he wasn't Dick Grayson? I ask these questions because to me, Jason seemed to be a very good compliment to Bruce... Sure he was a bit rough around the edges, but he wasn't ANYWHERE near as obnoixious as the current Robin, Damian Wayne. Weird. Besides that, I finished up the Final Night mini-series that came out of DC in the mid 90's, and I've read through the first 45 issues of the Green Arrow series from the 1980's. All I can say about those issues is, DAMN did Dinah and Ollie run around killing a whole mess of people! The Punisher ain't got nothing on them! Well, that's what I've been doing instead of sleeping, but that's not what this post is supposed to be about. This post is supposed to be about what comics I plan on purchasing this week, so how's about I get to that.

Batman and Robin #9: Wow, we're all ready up to issue #9? I still haven't read issue #7 yet! Hmm, I think I know what I'll be reading tonight!

Blackest Night Green Arrow#30: On the plus side, I doubt Cupid is going to be in this issue. On the negative side, this is yet another Blackest Night x-over issue that isn't going to add anything to the main Blackest Night storyline.

Blackest Night #7: FINALLY!!! I can't WAIT to dig into this comic, especially since most of the BN x-over stuff has been trying my patientce as of late. This issue HAS to be good, right?!?

Blackest Night JSA #3: Huh, I still haven't read BN: JSA #2 yet, so guess what I'll be reading after I finish up Batman and Robin #7 later tonight...

Flash Rebirth #6: Well I'll be damned, it's the final issue of this mini-series... Sadly, I really don't even care what happens here, since we all know Barry Allen survives his final encounter with the Reverse Flash. Maybe if this comic would have come out 6 months ago, I'd be excited for it, but as it is now, the only reason I'm even buying it is to complete the mini-series. Oh, and just so everybody knows, Captain America Reborn>>>>>>Flash Rebirth.

Gotham City Sirens #9: The important thing here is the fact that the Riddler seems to be the focal part of this issue(at least according to the solicits), and that means I should enjoy this issue.

Justice Society of America #36: I'm hoping this series picks up a little bit after the last two issues, which I didn't exactly care for.

Superman #697: Eh, This series has had it's highs and lows, but I still like Mon-El, so I'm still willing to pick it up.

Teen Titans #80: Um, I still haven't read issue #79... Yeah, I'm sure you know the drill by now.

Wonder Woman #41: Wonder Woman vs. Power Girl... 'Nuff said!

Avengers The Initiative #33: Jeez, what the hell?!? I haven't read issue #32 yet... What have I been reading lately???

Dark Wolverine #83: This series might just be the best comic book coming out of Marvel(or DC for that matter!)today. I've given the past two issues consecutive perfect scores, which is almost unheard of, especially in light of how fickle I can be! In my honest opinion, Daken is one of the most complex and intriguing characters in not just the Marvel Universe, but the DCU as well. Once I'm done reading Blackest Night #7, this will definitely be the very next comic I read.

Deadpool #20: Deadpool #19 should be coming along with this order, so I really don't have all that much to say about this series yet.

New Avengers #62: Oh no... It's a new issue of New Avengers... Oh well, much like going to the dentist, reading this series is painful, but something I have to occasionally suffer through.

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update #1: I LOVE these Marvel Handbooks, I've collected every single one that's been released, and I'm overjoyed that a new one has been published. The Marvel Comics history buff in me can't get enough of these things!

Realm of Kings Inhumans #4: I'll read this mini once I have all the issues.

Thor #607: I normally don't pick up Thor comics, but since this is a Siege tie-in, I figured I'd give it a shot.

Thunderbolts #141: Read what I said about Thor #607. The same exact thing applies here.

X-Factor #202: I'm really not digging the current storyline, but hopefully things pick up with this issue.

19 books for me this week... That's a bit more then usual. More surprising to me though is the fact that I'll be picking up nearly as many Marvel comics(9)as DC ones(10). That's the first time in well over a year Marvel is nearly getting as much of my money as DC is... That definitely surprised me. Will next week be the week Marvel finally dethrones DC in the battle for my bucks? I guess only time will tell... Well, that's it for me. I see I have a lot of comics to read, so all I have left to say is, Long Live The Legion!!!

39 comments:

  1. I agree with you dude, don't know why Jason gets such a bad rep, he was abrasive but he's not bad as Damian like you said. Hell maybe if they made him an addict like Roy he wouldn't have gotten killed off.

    I'm getting almost all the DC comics you listed, so check my scores for the next Review a Few, and please dear God don't read Batman and Robin, you'll lose brain cells.

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  2. X-Man, I think you're right in that people hated Jason Todd simply because he wasn't Dick Grayson. I think there are a lot of parallels to be drawn between that situation and the one going on with Dick Grayson as Batman right now. A lot of people are complaining about how Bruce Wayne is "the one true Batman" and all kinds of other stuff...what they need to realize is that it's by no means a permanent thing and that they should just enjoy this brief period for what it is while it lasts.

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  3. Jason Todd got the middle child syndrome going on, no one seems to like the middle child. lol. I liked Jason and along with you guys I think people didn't like him because he wasn't Grayson. Which kind of sucks because people already had their mind set up on not liking JT. they had such high expectations for the next Robin that, they became unrealistic to the fact that hell, J. Todd wasn't going to be the next D. Grayson. Oh well, Jason is still good in my book. :D

    And X, sounds like you have a LOT of catching up to do. But I'm in the same boat with you. But I think you're going to love GCS AND WW. I definitely wanted more after reading WW. I'm such the impatient person.

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  4. Yeah, I agree with you guys that the main gripe the Batfans from the 80's probably had about poor Jason was simply the fact that he WASN'T Dick. Looking back though, that's a pretty sad reason to hate a character... It's not like Dick was killed off, or written completely out of the DCU to make way for Jason, Dick was still in the Teen Titans series, just under a new name. Plus it wasn't like he was gone from the Batman comics either, he still popped up in a few from time to time. You have to wonder how differently the DCU would look today if a few less people would have called that hotline wanting to see Jason die by the Joker's hand... There'd be no Tim Drake, that's for sure. Huh, you know, this would have been a pretty good post all on it's own! Oh well.

    Thanks for the warning, JT, but it is my solemn duty to read that Batman and Robin comic, no matter the consequences... I mean, it can't be any worse then New Avengers... I hope!

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  5. You bring up a good point in mentioning that Dick didn't disappear or get killed off when Jason came around. I guess that's why the hate toward Jason seems so much more silly when you compare it to things like Wally West replacing Barry Allen or Kyle Rayner replacing Hal Jordan. In those cases, there was a fair amount of initial outrage...but for whatever reason, they eventually caught on and both characters now have legions of diehard fans. Makes me think that maybe if Jason had stayed around a bit later, he would have a lot more loyal followers today.

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  6. Exactly, Marc. Your points about the Flash and Green Lantern situations are dead on. Fans of Barry and Hal had a real reason to hate Wally and Kyle, fans of Dick really shouldn't(in my opinion)have any reason to hate Jason...

    You know, I'd bet that if Jason had been introduced in the 90's, he probably would have had a much larger fan following, especially if DC really played up the whole troubled youth aspect of his personality.

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  7. Marc I couldn't agree with you more, it's not like Dick was made a villain like Hal or killed off like Barry, he was still around and even looked at Jason like a little brother. To be honest I think alot of people who voted to kill Jason just wanted to see if they'd do it. Because he did have alot of votes to stay alive as well.

    Gotta agree with you too Falisha, I think I said it in that article I wrote, when Morrison decided Jason just suddenly has red hair, it was just one more step to literally make him the red headed step child/or middle child.

    X you're right this could've been a Let's talk about post. I agree with you, if Jason had his personality in the 90's when everyone was "rebelling" anyway he would've fit in perfectly. He was too early and Damien's too late.

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  8. That's a lot of agreeing JT! However, even after saying that, I now have to agree with everything you said! :-) I think your last line sums up my feelings about Jason perfectly... He was unfortunately a character who was just a bit ahead of his time.

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  9. Yeah, I just hate the fact that outside of the comic community he's so unknown. Then again most people think there's ony been one Robin.

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  10. Exactly! If you ask people who are only passingly familiar with Batman, they'll of course know about Dick as Robin, a select few probably know that Tim was Robin, but pretty much NOBODY has any clue as to who Jason Todd was! That really is too bad, because Jason was/is a very interesting character.

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  11. Yeah, that's why it sucks that Dick grew and took the mantle, and Tim grew and is looking for Bruce and Jason grew and is just a petty criminal in jail. That really sucks for people who are fans of him, it's like he came back from the dead just to get arrested?

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  12. Hmph, that's actually a really good point... So, as our resident Jason Todd fan(atic), would you have prefered it if Jason a)had stayed dead, b)had disappeared from the DCU after his return, leaving Bats to constantly wonder about him, or c)none of the above?

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  13. Hm... well if he stayed dead he just would've been a teenager that popped up during Blackest Night then was forgotten again so nah.

    If he disappeared he'd still be an adult, he's be trained just as well as Bruce and he's still be a force to be reckoned with. Plus he'd still have black hair with an awesome white streak. So... I'm gonna go with that. He should have disappeared after the big showdown with Batman and Joker before Bludhaven was bombed.

    Remember he got low blowed by Tim Drake? That was a sign that Jason was on a downward slope.

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  14. Part of me likes the idea of Jason popping up as a Black Lantern during BN... They probably could have done the BN: Batman mini-series based solely on Dick(and Tim)meeting up with Jason, and the havoc that would have played with Dick's head. Plus, you could potentially bring Jason back to life as a good guy after BN and place him on the Teen Titans as some kind of Robin themed name. Hell, if nothing else, at least we wouldn't have had to read that horrible Nightwing storyarc where Jason turned into the frigging blob...

    Then again, we would have missed out on those awesome comics where Bats discovered Jason was alive as the Red Hood... Hmm, I'm conflicted...

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  15. Lol that blob stuff was SO bad man. I HATED that, I wish I could just strike that from my memory or something because it was AWFUL. And why was he just killing random dudes?

    But mostly everything before that point was still awesome.

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  16. Yeah, between Jason Todd, Blob Monster and Jason getting kicked in the old grapefruits by Tim Drake(of all people!!!), was probably the beginning of his LONG decent into terrible storytelling...

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  17. Remember Jason first came back and beat the hell outta Tim at Titans Tower then showed him respect. That was awesome. Then all of a sudden he's just a loser. Their making it really hard to be a fan of his... lol

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  18. Well, you could point at nearly anything Jason did when he first came back and say that it was awesome. Jeez, what the hell happened to him... When did it all start to go so horribly wrong for Jason? I'm thinking it was after Infinite Crisis when he began to pretend he was Nightwing. I think that was the beginning of the end for Mr. Todd.

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  19. Yep, him being a gelatinous blob kinda ruined it. Then in countdown when not only did he get his ass kicked by Donna but also Kyle. Then he had the super awesome Red Robin costume, ditched it and decided then it was all over. Next thing ya know he's tryna kill Tim Drake. Sad thing is his Armor Batman suit with the guns was pretty damn sweet.

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  20. You read my mind, JT. I loved Jason's Batman costume, and to be quite honest with you, I have no clue as to why he ditched it. Why can't he still be wearing it as Bad Batman or something WAY more original then that?

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  21. Hell he could easily use the name Darkwing, DarkBat, Darkman hell or something because that suit was amazingly awesome. Best costume in a while... Would you rather Jason become a B-List Hero, a B-List Anti-Hero or an A-List Supervillain?

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  22. Good question. After some thought, I think I'd prefer to see Jason as a b-list Hero/Anti-Hero. I'd def like to see DC switch Jason away from the dark side, because let's face it, being a villain just isn't working for him! I wouldn't want him going crazy like Punisher, I'd rather he'd be a hero like Huntress, not killing every villain he meets, just a very select few, and only when there's no other choice.

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  23. Hm... I could see him going that route, being like Huntress. Hell I could see them hooking him and Huntress up, Dick has Babs, Tim has Steph, give Jason Helena. And yes I know Dick slept with her but he's slept with everyone.

    I agree with ya though, I think Jason would be better as a hero/anti hero. But where can you base him, becase Gotham is kinda overloaded at the moment.

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  24. Yeah, I'd almost literally kill for a Jason Todd/Huntress team-up(Almost!). I kind of think they'd blend together perfectly, with the way they fight crime, plus they were both spurned by Bruce.

    Well, Metropolis is def out. Star City's blown up, Coast City has Hal... The Starman mark in me says Opal City, but I don't think he'd fit there... Hmm, I think the Big Apple would probably be the best city for Jason to wind up.

    Oh and, "And yes I know Dick slept with her but he's slept with everyone." isn't only the best line of the night, that may be the best line EVER!!! That is beyond classic!

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  25. So I know why Bruce spurned Jason but why Huntress, because she killed those mobsters?

    Hm I like Jason taking over New York, But do we really want him there after the whole deal with him killing people in front of kids and turning into a blob. Something tells me he should move to a certain hometown where they have Lions and Tigers and Piston's, Oh My. ;)

    Lol he has, I mean damn he may have slept with more women than Bruce. And speaking of that...dude! I read there's a comic where some New God brainwashed Superman and Barda into making a porno...then Darkseid found it and showed it to Mister Miracle...you ever heard of that?

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  26. Yeah, it was something like that... I know Bats put her up to become a member of the JLA, but she acted in a non-JLA manner, which made Bruce throw her out of the League and pretty much ignore her.

    Hmm, good point... Maybe we should just keep him FAR away from NYC... Hey, I'd be fine with Jason going to Detroit. Maybe DC could make up for the Justice League Detroit by sending Jason their!

    "I read there's a comic where some New God brainwashed Superman and Barda into making a porno...then Darkseid found it and showed it to Mister Miracle" WHA?!?!?!?! That's DEF news to me! I can't even imagine what series that would have taken place in! The creepiest part to me is Darkseid showing it to Mister Miracle...

    Darkseid: "Hey Miracle, come on over here, I've got something I wanted to watch with you..."

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  27. Hm... they actually did that on the Justice League Unlimited cartoon, except J'onn was in charge of sending people on assignments and saw Huntress trying to kill the mobster that killed her parents and kicked her outta the JLA.

    Yeah, I like how we just had an entire Justice League here in Detroit and now there's no one. We can't even get a low level hero like Red Tornado or B'wana Beast lol. Jason would fit in well in a city like Detroit, no where big as New York but still large enough to expand a hero rep.

    Lmao, I kid you not dude. It was in Action Comics #592 and #593. I was bored so I just used Stumbleupon and it takes me to comic stuff, and I saw an article about that. Here's the link

    http://www.cracked.com/article_17626_the-5-creepiest-sex-scenes-in-comics.html

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  28. Huh, cool. I'm pretty sure that in the comics it was Batman who put her up for membership and then kicked her out... Of course, I could be wrong.

    Well, the JL Detroit was kind of like not having a super-hero team anyway... They were a pretty lame bunch...

    Oh great, now you KNOW I'm going to have to search that issue out! Thanks alot!

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  29. I'm sure you're right they probably changed it just for the show. Also sorry for the late reply I lost this post lol.

    Who all were on the JL Detroit team anyway? Wasn't it like Aquaman and Steel and some more people?

    Lol well if you do let me know what you think, I'd love to see your review for that.

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  30. No biggie dude, you'd be surprised at how many times I forget to reply to some comments!

    I think it was like Aquaman, the Martian, Steel(but NOT the one you're thinking), maybe Vixen and Gypsy and a few other c-listers. It was REALLY bad though. I guess DC hates Detroit or something!

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  31. You'd think Geoff, being a native would hook us up with someone. So what Steel was in the Detroit League since it was Irons?

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  32. Yeah, you gotta wonder why Geoff isn't giving his hometown a little bit more love!

    Jeez, that's not an easy question to answer... I think the Steel on the JLA-D was the grandson(or something)of the original Citizen Steel... Or something...

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  33. He's an ingrate I tells ya. Hanging out in Hollywood on the set of Green Lantern... lol.

    Who...the hell is Citizen Steel? Lol I think ya know some stuff then you spring something like this on me.

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  34. Ah, so Geoff's gone Hollywood...

    Citizen Steel was a hero with the JSA back in the day. At least I think that's what he called himself... Anyways, that Steel was somehow related to him, but wound up dying. Now there's a new Citizen Steel on the JSA because you know how DC LOVES to recycle the names of their characters!

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  35. Sounds kinda lame. I love how JSA is made up of a Flash, a Green Lantern, Two Wildcats and other recycled names. So does this Citizen Steel just wear a suit or does he have powers?

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  36. The current Citizen Steel has super-strength and durability. As for the other one... I'm not exactly sure... I'd guess the powers would be similar though.

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  37. No wonder the JLA Detroit sucked so much... we had like no one of importance. Oh, I had an idea about making a bracket for like some type of contest or tourny or something. I was thinking we could compile a list of our favorite comics, so many of each and have like a NCAA style tourny and see what gets voted best comic/or comic hero.

    Honestly I'm looking forward to your year end awards and it's only March so i need something else to occupy me lol.

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  38. HA! Dude, it's still a LOOOONG way off before it's time for my year end awards! Once again, the only problem with doing anything that requires voting is that since I'd say 90+% of the people who check out this site are DC fans, which would leave out any Marvel books, which there are quite a few I like...

    I do love Tournaments though...

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  39. Yeah lol I just really love stuff like that. Seems like something cool to do that out blogs could collaborate on. Hm... I wish I had an idea on how to run it. You got any ideas? Maybe limit it to DC only? Or team up Marvel and DC people?

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