Comic Reviews

This week Bruce and Selina get romantic; Getaway promises to make the Lost Light great again; and, Zatanna gets some of the school spirit.

Batman Annual #2

First off and most importantly, this annual features the bar full of gangsters based on Looney Tunes characters from the Batman/Elmer Fudd Special aka the most surprisingly awesome comic of the year. These guys are proper canon now and hopefully will be forevermore.

Also, this was a really sweet issue about Bruce and Selina's relationship and how it all got started in this version of continuity. I don't mean it resolves the “we met on a boat/we met on rhe street” argument Tom King keeps bringing up but it examines how they began their funny little romance and why. Naturally, Selina's the instigator of it all as she repeatedly heists Wayne Manor mostly to troll Bruce (who she already knows is Batman). Once again, King has gone to great lengths thinking about these two and how their histories and personalities square with one another.

Honestly, this is fast becoming one of my favourite versions of their relationship and not just because King has lengths not just to restore Selina's knowledge of who Bruce is but also backdating it to well before she knew in the pre-Flashpoint continuity.

There's also a glimpse of their future together which not only features Helena Wayne as Batwoman but Helena Wayne as Batwoman wearing Kate's colours. So yay for cool Bat-aunt Kate!

Transformers: Lost Light #11

As much as I miss the “Rod Squad” this trilogy of issues about the mutineers back on the ship is starting to heat up with Getaway slowly confronting the consequences of his actions. Last issue with the Protectobots was all about Getaway as mastermind, as the winner whose unassailable coup was making everything great again.

This issue he's put in positions that involve quoting Donald Trump and Theresa May for comic effect as everything begins to crumble around him. Its a great single issue fall from grace as he finds himself improvising ways out of rods he's made for his own back as lie after lie is exposed to the rest of the (surprisingly innocent) crew.

Also, I don't know if I just never noticed him before but Xaaron is on the crew. I remember him from the old Marvel UK comic. Oh, and on that note there's a little reference to Death's Head, I think.

Mystik U #1

You know, when I first heard the pitch for this one it felt strangely like one of those university AU fan fictions. Damn me if that doesn't seem to be exactly what this is. The story opens with a prologue that seems to be about Zatanna the adult as we've always known her, the women who is a big deal Justice League type and fights creatures of awesome power. However, time gets turned back because of an unspecified threat called the Malevolence and suddenly we have Zatanna the teenager who has only just come into her powers.

I'm not complaining, this is a great start and has some nice redesigns and relaunches for some classic DC magic characters like the Enchantress and Sargon the Sorcerer. They're at a special university for the magical run by the likes of Mr. E, Merlin, Madame Xanadu, a bunch of people I don't recognise (a woman called Dr. Rose Psychic seems to be in charge) and, for some reason, Cain and Abel are just sort of wandering around.

There's also a hipster who knows nothing about talking to women who I enjoyed immensely for the way writer Alisa Kwitney puts him through. He's a stereotype but he's a stereotype I think we've all encountered, women more than the rest of us. His fate is both fitting and funny.

I'll definitely pick up the second issue because it may not be the Zatanna series I hope would get launched but it is interesting. Interesting enough to keep me reading? Well, I'll wait for #2 to make that judgement.