Green_Lantern_1992's Profile

After an overly long slog through the Ric Grayson saga, it's fantastic to see Nightwing back where he belongs. With Tom Taylor at the head of this new arc, there's a lot of promise for this series. Taylor introduces a lot of interesting ideas: a deepening of Alfred's relationship with Dick; Dick's lifelong penchant of standing up to bullies; how the loss of the Wayne fortune has rippling effects beyond just Bruce. Bruno Redondo and Adriana Lucas do a fantastic job with the art for this issue, and I'm excited to see what this team brings to the table in future issues. It feels like the team wanted to go back to basics with Dick, bringing in a classic enemy like Blockbuster and a surprise change to the political landscape of Bludhaven. I would love to see this story play out over several arcs, rather than just however long this particular one is going to be. If you haven't already, grab yourself a copy of Nightwing #78. You won't regret it.

I don't really know what I was expecting with Superman: Red and Blue, but an anthology book wasn't it. I was very pleasantly surprised by every story in the book, ranging from emotional to whacky, serious to silly. It's a good, fun, and quick read that allows several writers and artists to capture the voice and character of Superman throughout his life. I really love how each artist uses the red/blue color scheme to tell their stories and the brilliance in sequential storytelling that allows for.

Future State was not great for Batman, as the books were hit or miss. The buildup to what seems like the inevitable future, however, is much more interesting. It really seems like DC is going to stick with the idea of Bruce not being a billionaire and having to deal with those challenges as a result. Seeing Bruce actually interact with some of the wealthy elite in Gotham is interesting, and the mystery that's been set up in this issue looks promising. The backup story with Robin has me really excited for his ongoing book next month. I would love for Damian to eventually reclaim the Robin mantle, or at least come back to being a full-fledged hero, but for right now this story is really interesting. The art on both stories is pretty good, but not my personal favorite.

I was pleasantly surprised by Brian Michael Bendis' first Justice League issue. I read his entire Superman/Action Comics runs, and found his writing style grating, his stories bland and boring, and some decisions he made were nonsensical and unnecessary. So I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. It's not great, mind you, but it's pretty good. Bendis has introduced some good ideas, I'm interested to see what Namoi and Black Adam bring to the table as Justice League members, and bringing Black Canary and Green Arrow back into the team makes for some interesting diversity in the powerset of the team. The largest plus to this issue is David Marquez's art, which is phenomenal, especially with the color palate brought by Tamra Bonvillain. The main Justice League story is just a pleasure to look at. One critique I have, and it may seem minor, but can get bigger as more characters are introduced is the way the narrative boxes are colored. They're all white with an offset color border around them, with the first using a logo to introduce who's speaking/thinking. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but the offset border colors can be incredibly similar for some characters, such as Aquaman and Hawkgirl in this issue. Nothing major, but it should be addressed. The backup Justice League Dark storyline is interesting but short. I'd like to see where it goes, which for a first issue after such a large initiative like Infinite Frontier is always a good sign.

I really like the ideas that this book is presenting. Using the Titans and the current Teen Titans teams to train up the next generation of heroes is a really good idea. It also gives some purpose to characters like Starfire, Donna Troy, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg. It's nice to see that DC and the creative team have allowed Beast Boy and Raven to be of similar age to their fellow Titans, rather than staying teenagers. The inclusion of Bunker on the Teen Titans team is really surprising, but since he was easily the best part of Scott Lobdell's run on the book, I'm happy to see him here. This issue reads a little slow, but it's setting up more stories to come later on down the line. I'm willing to give this one some time to develop. Rafa Sandoval's art is really good on this issue as well, and he's someone I love to see on any book.

So far, I'm not blown away by the story that Philip K. Johnson has crafted for Superman. It seems like they really want to push Jon into that role, but the character isn't ready for that yet. The story overall is really slow, and the artwork isn't fantastic. There are some interesting ideas here, but the execution is going to need to improve as the months go on. I'm also not a fan of Superman and Action continually crossing over with each other. Let them each tell their own stories, rather than making both of them required to understand the other. The backup story with Midnighter is interesting, and I'm curious to see where it goes. I didn't love the stylized artwork, but that was mainly due to the dark color palette.