Speedballs' Penance

While Robbie is acting more like his old self there's still hints of the darkness .

SPOILERS AHEAD for New Warriors #5

The New Warriors vs. the Avengers

While there is an actual fight in the issue I liked this confrontation between Speedball/Justice and Ironman/Captain America. It finally addresses the elephant in the room.

 

This scene actually has a lot of depth going on. Not just the meta wording of "brand" playing with the idea of Stanford ruining the New Warriors. Speedball has a moment that no one else in the room is aware of due to how stressful the topic is and how desperately he wants/needs the team.

 

But what really won me over was how Justice handles the situation. Some Spoilers ahead.

 

Most Disliked Characters and Characterizations

It's hard for me because I don't usually hate characters but certain ones do get on my nerves to the point I get annoyed when they show up. To be fair in some cases it's just certain writers that make characters I usually like into unlikable jerks. That is the case for a few on this list. Not all though. There are other characters I'm not fond of that I might hate if I saw more of them. Their not on the list because these are the ones that currently bug me.

Meeting the New Warriors

 

New Warriors is currently the only ongoing book I'm getting from Marvel. The problem of course is that it's not selling as much as it should. But the series has so much potential and the characters are very interesting. Some lighter SPOILERS Ahead.

Short Review: Secret Origins #3

I saw the Tim Drake section online so just some thoughts on that story.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Bruces' behavior after Dicks' "Death"

I'm not reading Batman Eternal or any of the Bruce lead books so maybe this has been touched. I want to know how Bruce is acting around the family after they fake Dicks' death. Because it's canon that he's a jackass when grieving. (Well okay everyone besides Tomasi had him dealing with Damians' death maturely.) Won't it be noticeable to them that he's not going crazy? Batman and Robin gave us a Bruce that tried to bring Damian back from the dead without considering what his son wanted. Who treated his second and third adopted sons like crap in some truly inexcusable behavior. Jasons' death made him suicidal and much darker. The only reason this shouldn't be a red flag is if they think it means he doesn't care...which would be weird since Dick's supposed to be the golden boy of the family.

Artist Designer Greg Capullo Line: Talon

The Pros/Cons of Ditigal Comics

I usually get digital comics on weeks I can't go to my LCS or shipping would costs too much. For me there are really only two down sides to this: Not supporting comic shops and how incontinent it can be when you want to read a issue but can't. Either because of lack of internet access or privacy to enjoy the comics.

For DC their books go down in cost after awhile but Marvels' don't. At least I haven't seen this for their current titles. While I do enjoy having a physical copy it's nice to know that I'll be able to reduce space and if I like the title enough I can get the trade later on. I'm also a fan of the guided viewing option that takes you through the comic panel by panel. I just really like the convenience but I'm not sure if I'll convert completely.

Grayson #1 Preview

Ironically Jason Todds' the only Robin that currently has a book but next week Dick Graysons' new title gets released. Looks like Dick is doing a Ben Reilly. If you know what that reference means before checking out the preview give yourself a goldstar.

Updated Pull List

• Grayson (Maybe. I'll at least try the first issue.)
• Earth 2
• New Warriors (First Marvel series I'm following since Spider-Girl ended.)
• Red Hood and the Outlaws (Slightly behind because I misplaced a couple issues.)

I do suspect I'll be dropping Grayson and if that happens I have nothing to replace it with. Marvel will be having a event for Spider-Man called Spiderverse that's supposed to have every spider character they can legally show. Normally I'd love this since I'm a big fan of lots of the spiders but I don't know about the writer. It's be a great time to have a MC2 tie in with Spider-Girl, Darkdevil and the rest but I'm not sure if I'd trust them not to kill the characters off.

Short Review: Forever Evil #7

I'm way behind on my comic reading and reviewing. Anyway not so new spoilers ahead.

So I'm giving Marvel a try

Although I'm limiting what's on my pull list because I don't want to get sucked into other books. I bought Christopher Yosts' Scarlet Spider trades which I might review at some point but I mostly love what he did with Kaine. Since he's writing New Warriors with Scarlet Spider in the cast I got all those issues and plan on having it in my pull list. Much like Scarlet Spider it's a very unrated book that's getting overlooked and needs more support to survive. I'm really looking forward to this newly solicited issue:

NEW WARRIORS #9
CHRISTOPHER YOST (W) • MARCUS TO (A)
CoverS by TAKESHI MIYAZAWA
• It’s the anti-buddy movie as odd couple JUSTICE and SCARLET SPIDER hit the road together, heading for HOUSTON, TEXAS.
• Scarlet Spider never wanted to be on a team, with… people. And this issue, he shocks no one by QUITTING!
•Can Justice convince him to stay? No! Can they dude-bond by fighting a hundred foot tall guy in a bear suit? Probably not!

Happy Fathers' Day!

What better way to celebrate it than to remember one of the best if most unconventional father/son relationships in comics?

 

Booster Gold and Rip Hunter!

Remember how Rip was trying to help Booster become the greatest most selfless hero of all time? How about how annoying that could be?

 

Then the utter amazement when Booster was able to do something by himself?

 

I miss these two more than any other DC relationship.

Batman Capullo Figures

 

I think this is the first time I ever brought a whole wave of action figures. I only opened the Talon so far and I'm not sure if/when I'll open the rest. While I do think Riddler is an excellent sculpt I'm still considering saving it for a present in the future. In general I'm not a very big collector of bad guys unless their related to the heroes (hence William Cobb.) One of the reasons I'm not in a hurry to open the others up? Much like Superboy the Talon figure smells like plastic and B.O. I'm not sure how that happened but it did. I'm waiting for the scent to fade away but I am working on a review.

 

The next wave of figures I'll be collecting will be the Outlaws (Red Hood/Starfire/Arsenal) and Worlds Finest (Power Girl/Huntress.) With any luck they won't have that smell.

The Worst Dads' List

I don't really agree with most of Newsaramas' list and this one definitely had some problems.

I mean Spider-Man? Yeah his actions in OMD weren't great but using that and his assumption that his daughter was dead don't exactly rank him up with Trigon in my book. Read Spider-Girl (MC2) he may be overprotective but Peter turned out to be one of the best dads in comics.

Roy Harper, seriously? Because Lian was kidnapped in the past and she died? No. He was a great dad and those things don't change that. She didn't die because of anything he did, Roy had a babysitter that knew how to fight to protect her when he wasn't there. I think he always had a fighter to look over her. Mia was blamed for abandoning Lian during Cry for Justice something I don't believe they ever explained but regardless not his fault.

I don't have a problem with Batman being on here because he treats his kids pretty badly. And I do believe that was a huge contributing factor in Jason and Damians' deaths. I just disagree on either Barbara or Stephanie being surrogate daughters to him. I never got the impression he sees them that way. Cassandra yes, them no.

Gun Control: Bruce, Jason, and Alfred

This topic comes up from time to time. We all know Batman is anti-gun yet some of his allies are seen with them. Dick Grayson for example already has a bit of a controversy for using a gun in his upcoming book although he has carried one when he was a police officer in the old canon. Where is the line drawn? Batmans' view on guns--whether their lethal or not--keeps changing story to story.

Marvel Digital Comics?

I've been flirting with the idea of giving a couple Marvel titles a try. I thought it'd be a good idea to go digital but the prices! I know Marvel is mainly $3.99 compared to the mostly $2.99 at DC. But the DC comics I get digitally get go down in price over time. I was able to read most of Earth 2 at a good discount, some single issues at $1.99.

The Original Art Work for Nightwing #30

Before the delay with Forever Evil Tynion wrote Nightwing #30 and artist Meghan Hetrick did the art. I don't think Tynion has released the script but the art tells most of the tale as Hetrick has released the images as DC has allowed her to sell the pages.

Thoughts below the cut.