Supergirl is the
only original title from The New 52 that I have continued to get without
interruption since the relaunch.
Although I’ve started getting both Batman
and Swamp Thing again recently with
the beginning of year two (along with too many other titles to mention…And I do
mean TOO MANY!). I’ve been endeavoring
to get all of her guest appearances in other books, but when Superman #13 only showed her on the last
page, I decided to skip it.
I
read Supergirl #14 early this week
even though it came out over a week ago and we’re right near the beginning of
the H’EL on Earth cross-over. It looks
like the only thing I missed in the previous chapter was Superman fighting some
Kryptonian dragon. After page four,
Superman departs and it’s strictly a regular Supergirl-centric story. We find out that Siobhan is starting to
revert back to her Silver Banshee form and Kara spends more time inside her
underwater sanctuary where she finally gets confirmation that Superman really
is her cousin. H’EL whisks her away like
the ghost of Christmas present, trying to lure her to his side. Apparently he can pop in and out like the
Spot (or Coyote) in Daredevil. His best offer to convince her is to threaten
to kill Superboy. Nobody likes clones,
you know. In one scene H’EL sports a
reverse S-shield on his pasty white flesh, so I guess he’s the new version of
Bizzaro (with a face like the Crusader’s Scarface). He also somehow gives Kara the ability to
speak English, which is a major turning point for her character. The issue ends with a cliff-hanger of her
going to see Kal in Metropolis, but inadvertently stumbling upon him as Clark
talking to Lois. Both creators have been
on the book since the start (with only a few guest artists) and this was
another enjoyable issue. There’s a lot I
don’t like about The New 52, but I really think this version of Supergirl is
the best since the pre-Crisis days.
After
that lead in, I ended up picking up Superman
#14 this week, since Supergirl played a major role this time. The direct-scan from pencil (I think) art by
Kenneth Rocafort is really good with very inventive panel layouts. However, it’s extra impressive with Sunny Gho’s
awesome watercolor-ish…colors. It’s a
bright looking book. The overall script
by Scott Lobdell was fine, except that I really can’t get behind this new
trendy/modern version of Superman/Clark, especially his dialogue (“going to kick
your butt back to space”). I’m used to
Superman acting with authority and this guy still seems like he’s trying too
hard. That’s not Scott’s fault, but the
DC editorial staff that defined this faux-hero.
The
issue begins a few minutes prior to the end of the last chapter where we see
the start of Clark and Lois’ conversation.
She’s trying to convince him to return to the Daily Planet, but they’re
more focused on relationship issues. He’s
mad that she’s moving in with someone (he spied on her and lied about using his
reporter skills to uncover the fact) and she’s been noticing how happy he’s
been since he had sex with Wonder Woman. “You
don’t think I’ve noticed the country mouse smile you had plastered on your face
all last week?” It’s at this awkward
moment where Kara shows up, which leads Lois to assume that she’s Clark’s
mysterious girl. The cosplayer comments were
pretty funny.
When
Lois leaves Clark quickly changes and takes Kara far from his apartment and
secret identity. He’s royally ticked
(another not-so super characteristic – understandable, but not “Super-manish”
to me). H’EL shows up and a battle
ensues. He reveals that he wants to
resurrect Krypton, which is why Kara is leaning his way. He pulls his Superboy rabbit trick again and
shows that he can disable Superman with one blow. All in all, it was a pretty good story and I’ll
at least be following the Supergirl parts.
I looked to see if it was worth getting Superman #13, but there were no more copies.
Now
a couple of quick thoughts on some books:
Captain America #1:
Wasn’t bad. I like the whole Krazy-Kirby
approach. It was during Jack’s classic 70’s
run that I bought my first Cap issue (#209).
What I didn’t like was the brutal wife beating at the beginning of the
issue. Has this ever been revealed
before? I was really sad for Steve and
upset that once again Marvel portrays a father in a negative light. That’s just a teaser to another post that’s
been brewing in the back of my mind. At
least the scene was certainly distasteful, but I also felt it was totally
unnecessary.
All-New X-Men #2:
Man, I totally love this book. I can hardly wait for the next issue, but I’m
not quite ready for another one next week!
My budget is seriously getting busted by Marvel Now. We got an explanation for the time travel
(Reed/Doom’s time machine tweaked by Hank).
I really loved the comment about the geniuses in the Marvel
Universe. I am so sick of everyone
talking about how smart they are. Just
show that you’re smart by your actions already.
This is definitely my favorite Marvel Now series with Thor a close
second.
FF #1: I
thought this was much better than the Fantastic
Four issue, even though the Future Foundation is still going to be a major
component of the series. It was nice to
see Reed confide in Scott (I still don’t like that they killed off his daughter). I thought the Medusa/Sue scene was the best “invite”
one. Although, it was really funny the
way Johnny invited Darla to be the Thing replacement. What do they need another strong-hero with
She-Hulk around? I guess that’s going to
be the fun thing to discover. The whole
interview framework, which has been used numerous times before, really worked
well here. This book is going to be
quirky for sure, but I think it’s going to be like nothing we’ve ever seen
before in the Marvel Universe.
That’s
it for this week. I could write more,
but the house is about ready to fall apart and we need to watch the second
episode of the Logan’s Run TV series. I really enjoyed my weekend off last
Saturday. Thanks for filling-in with
something Jim.
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