This week: a
long forgotten design disaster makes its return to DC continuity,
Star Wars goes gentler on paternity than usual; Brian Michael Bendis
treads water; and, the Outsiders cosplay as the Justice League.
PICK OF
THE WEEK
Detective
Comics #950
League of
Shadows prologue
As much as I
like having on-cover titles to tell me when a new story starts,
calling this issue the “League of Shadows prologue” is just plain
terrible advertising. This is an anthology issue, plain and simple,
catching us up with focus stories for various members of Batman's
crew.
The issue
opens with an introspective piece about Cassandra Cain and her ballet
obsession. Have I mentioned how much I love that idea? It seems so
perfect and yet no one thought of it before Batman & Robin
Eternal. This short really goes
into the psychology of Cass and the feelings she has but can't
express because of her limited verbal skills. There's also a moment
that is absolutely meant to be platonic but just makes me ship
Cass/Harper because I've been starved of adorable hero cuddling since
Tim got himself blowed up.
Speaking
of, a Tim flashback story ends the issue. Not as personal or
revealing as Cass' story as its more a tease for future events and a
recap of where the various Robins are headed in their own titles but
there are some nice moments including, of all things, the return of
Robin's car from waaaaaay back in the Chuck Dixon days.
It
still looks bloody awful.
Between
the these two stories there's a two-hander between Batwing and
Azrael, the two newest members of the team and, personally, the two I
know the least. I've only experienced Batwing as an occasional love
interest in Batgirl
and this version of Azrael has clearly been slightly rebooted since
Batman & Robin Eternal.
By and large its a science versus faith story, which I normally don't
have much time for, but for a change neither side is portrayed as
unreasonable or irrational and we get more background on the Order Of
St. Dumas who could stand to have a comeback sometime soon.
Non-prologue
status notwithstanding, a fine oversized anniversary issue.
Star
Wars: Doctor Aphra #4
Book
I, Part IV
As
fun as this was, it was hard to ignore the feeling that not much
happened. Most of the issue was Aphra and company running from last
issue's cliffhanger and arriving at the next one. We're teased with a
moment where it seems Aphra and her father are about to have the big
row they've been headed for since he turned up but then it turns out
she's too tired.
Still,
Kev Walker keeps up the impressive visuals including an interesting
riff on the standard template Imperial officer and no one ever
accused Gillen of failing to deliver the character moments. Given
price and infrequency, there are few creative I'll give a pass for a
slow issue but this is one of them.
Guardians
of the Galaxy
Grounded
On
the other hand...
Now,
I like Bendis but I can't help but feel this arc is just marking time
until the end of the run. This issue isn't as egregious as the one
where Ben Grimm shuffles through set-up for his role in Infamous Iron
Man but its close. Plus, the next issue is going to be about Angela,
a character who left the team ages ago to go be a lesbian space angel
in her own series.
I'll
probably see the series through to the end in case the character
cliffhangers actually amount to something though I'm not counting on
it.
Justice
League of America: Rebirth one-shot
Or,
as I think of it, “The Outsiders relaunch” because that is
blatantly what this series is. I also feel pretty vindicated at
having skipped three of the four prologue one-shots (I only read the
Atom one because I always liked Ryan Choi) since this is a pretty
good done in one getting the team together story. I missed three
quarters of the series set-up, missed the Justice League vs
Suicide Squad series that I'm
pretty sure Batman is talking about when he references Killer Frost's
face turn and I'm none the worse for it.
This
is either good brand management or terrible, I'm not sure which.
Anyway,
its the Outsiders with a JLA lick of paint! Batman assembling a team
of his own to do... well, that's not entirely clear. This issue is
long on introducing characters but not so much on situation. In many
ways that's more important, especially considering that someone who
paid more attention than me probably knows what this series is about
and so what most are spending money on here is the question of
whether they'll like these takes on the characters.
I
do, as it happens. I like how earnest and open Ryan Choi is; I like
that we're back to grubby 90s biker dude Lobo and that Canary hates
him; I like that the League has second string rookies again in the
form of Ryan and the Ray; and, I like literally everything about
Rebirth era Vixen as being a Bruce Wayne that everyone knows is a
rich superhero.
Now
I just have to pick up the actual #1 and find out if I like the
series' direction as much as I like these characters.
