Welcome to the new column “Comics Issues” where two Sound on Sight comics writers debate a important or controversial comics industry topic. First up, we discuss whether the DC New 52 was a successful initiative or not. Feel free to post your opinion in the comments below.
DC’s big event comic of the spring continues. Sad to say that there is not much to be excited about as most of its problems remain. The major change up this week is the takeover of art duties by Andy Kubert and Sandra Hope.
Convergence #4 Written by Jeff King Pencils by Stephen Segoiva; Inks by Mark Farmer, Julio Ferreira, Jonathon Glapion, Rob Hunter, Jason Paz, Mark Roslan, & Stephen Segoiva Colors by Aspen MLT’s John Starr & Peter Steigerwald Published by DC Comics DC’s hyped up event of the summer reaches its halfway point and sadly not much …
Batman #40 features the battle to end all battles between Batman and the Joker drawn in gory detail by Greg Capullo and Danny Miki, but the scraps of dialogue between the blows and explosion are occasionally weighed down by exposition. Snyder does punch things up in the third act and leave Gotham and the Batman title as wide open as it’s been since the dawn of the New 52. He and Capullo make “Endgame” the dark mirror of Batman Eternal, and it’s interesting to see this storyline fit in the larger context of their run on Batman and the weekly series, which preceded it. Questionable plot devices aside, Batman #40 concludes the “Endgame” in a brutal, personal manner that really shakes up the status quo on this book.
DC’s latest event comic reaches its second (technically third) issue and continues the trend of disappointment. Despite a star studded cast of the excellent Earth 2 hero roster, Convergence has had very little to do despite all the publicity hype and the bringing in of countless parts of DC’s history. With so many great stories on the table, it’s a shame that this story ends up so empty.
After a rather uneventful #0 issue, DC’s big Convergence event starts in full. For those not in the know, Telos, a living planet, has served as Brainiac’s dumping ground captured cities. With Brainiac dead, Telos takes his master’s plan in a new sinister direction sets the cities to full-scale war with each other and only one may survive. What throws a wrench into the works is the arrival of Val-Zod, Thomas Wayne, Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Dick Grayson, and Yolanda Montez. They’ve been saved from death at the hands of Darkseid but now find themselves at the center of Convergence. However, given they’ve been trapped in Earth 2: World’s End for six months, this must be like a holiday for them.
Alright, so as Convergence kicks up, a number of DC’s titles are being cancelled. One of those titles is Batwoman. To be honest this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Batwoman has been the center of multiple controversies and it hasn’t had the most spectacular of sales. It’s a downer given it means that one of DC’s few gay and female fronted titles is getting thrown out but it’s probably time. Hopefully in a year or two they’ll be able to bring her back in her own outing again with proper foresight to iron out the awkward details that have crippled this title.
As DC’s next big soft-core reboot begins underway, one of the most troubling facts to acknowledge is that despite the compay’s claims to have a new marketing strategy with a wider target audience in mind, that some of their most troubling decisions dating all the way back to 2011 are going nowhere. Case in point, just about everything involving DC’s handling of Wonder Woman, not just in comics but also video games, animated movies, and very likely the upcoming live action films, seems to be stripping the character of the revolutionary feminist philosophies that she was born from and replacing it with the same toxic masculinity straight out of 300. DC has taken William Moulton Marston and swapped him for Frank Miller and it still remains one of the New 52’s cardinal sins that intends to live on beyond Convergence.
Convergence #0 occupies a very strange space. DC had a bout of #0 issues a while back, not only an entire month dedicated to them but also a few afterwards such as Harley Quinn #0 and Justice League United #0. The problem with #0 issues in general is that they tend to fall into one of two categories, either a) just the first issue of the actual book or b) pointless prelude material that will only be explained in the #1, making the issue itself nothing less than a cynical money grab. Convergence #0 is the latter.
It’s finally come down to this, the end of World’s End. This drawn out excuse of a weekly has been going on for a good half a year and now the oversized creative crew gets to do their final send off to the book and this entire world. It’s about as disappointing as one would expect.
On this week’s NonCompliant, we’re joined by guest host Jideobi (comics editor at Geeked Out Nation) and talk about the fabulous new Jem and the Holograms comic, Gotham Academy, Wayward, and Curb Stomp. Get ready to hear about girl gangs, pop stars, magical girls, and there’s even a Batman cameo.
Artist/writer Jill Thompson has one of the most idiosyncratic bodies of work in contemporary comics ranging from important arcs on legendary comics series The Sandman and The Invisibles to more traditional superhero work like a run on Wonder Woman as well her own creator owned comic/children’s book/film series Scary Godmother. She has drawn everything from dying stripper gods to Romantic poets, Batman to Bart Simpson and even an all animal cast in her Eisner winning Dark Horse series Beasts of Burden with writer Evan Dorkin. She is also one of the few creators not named Neil Gaiman allowed to write The Endless in her Li’l Endless stories.
So it’s come to this, the penultimate issue of Earth 2: World’s End and what is soon to lead in to DC’s much hyped Convergence event. Does it surprise anyone that this issue is bad? Of course not! If there’s one thing that can be said about World’s End, it’s that it’s consistently awful.
Last week, The Flash took our hero in an unexpected trip through time, after he ran so fast when trying to stop a tidal wave. The question left hanging at the end of the episode, was how many of the big events would be undone now that he’s ruptured the time continuum? As many of us expected and feared, the events of “Out of Time” are completely undone: Cisco discovering that Harrison Wells is the Reverse Flash – Dr. Wells killing Cisco – Iris confessing her feelings for Barry, and Barry revealing his secret identity to Iris – are all wiped clean off the board. The result is very disappointing.
In the penultimate chapter of his saga, Morrison has crafted the best example for self-referential, meta, blend of fiction and realism a comic has seen in a long time. Not since Pax Americana has a comic challenged you to think about what’s happening on the pages and piece together the ties that bind it to the larger scheme of things. With top-notch art, a (literally!) engaging story about comics being portals for invading aliens, and a comic that works as a simple adventure comic. The Multiversity – Ultra Comics #1 transcends all the boundaries of time and space in a single, phenomenal issue.
It’s the same old drill again, another issue of DC’s regular installment of disappointment. Guess it’s time to get it done. Earth 2: World’s End reaches issue #24 and is set to conclude in two weeks. Looking back on the last six and a half months leads one to conclude that the finale will most certainly be disappointing given how mismanaged this entire endeavor has been since day one. That being said, this week brings shockingly the closest knit issue to date, that is to say, there’s something that ties the many plot lines together and not something like the terrible art or drawn out fight scenes.
The regular Noncompliant team (Katy, Jess, Grant, & Logan) discuss the recent debacles in sexism here in the comics community, and we cover the detriments and virtues of Red One, Giant Days, Lumberjanes, and Squirrel Girl!
The 80’s were a time far removed from our own, both in time and in attitude. Things were dark, rough, and edgy. Writers were encouraged to push the envelope more and more. It was during this era that fans read stories like Watchmen, The Killing Joke, and “Days of Future Past”. In 1987, Mike Grell pushed the envelope on his own with one of the greatest Green Arrow stories of all time. The Longbow Hunters was a landmark in the history of the DC universe.
After over three years in publication, Batwoman’s ongoing series comes to an end. There is to be an annual set to release at the start of April, but #40 marks the end of Batwoman’s monthly instalments. To tell the truth, it’s quite miraculous that a title coming from the big two headlining a gay female lead has lasted this long. Then again chances are association to a certain more famous superhero helped keep this book stay afloat, sorry but it tends to be true. One of the greatest problems Batwoman has faced is the numerous controversies surrounding her book. There was the infamous marriage cancellation which caused the creative team of J. H. Williams III and Haden Blackman to walk out, prompting the series to be handed over to Marc Andrekyo. While Andrekyo has done what best he can to fix the damages, he wound up creating controversy by having Kate Kane appear to be raped by a vampire. This latest arc has attempted to fix that debacle and tries its hardest to end the book on a positive note.
Batman #39 is headed towards another meeting of greatest foes. The Joker has been ahead of Batman at every punch in this arc. To save Gotham Batman must prove again the Joker underestimated him. When it unfolds, Batman will have to become the aggressor and improviser that the Joker has been. If he fails, he’ll become the bat hanging upside down. The Joker has promised his best trick of all, Snyder will deliver.
This issue of (All-New) Teen Titans picks up immediately after the team saves New York from being blown to smithereens by a terrorist group with ties to S.T.A.R Labs. New 52 Manchester Black keeps up appearances as the guy you can’t nail down in terms of what his motivations are but, he does look to be helping the Titans out to some capacity.
Batgirl #40 might not satisfy every fan, but it’s a well-designed comic with slick action beats, a gorgeous color palette, and some character growth for Batgirl and her friends. It is a true celebration of the character.
The Flash has had a long and complicated history to say the least. These complications all began with “Flash of Two Worlds!” a landmark comic book story published in 1961, that introduces Earth-Two, and more generally the concept of the multiverse, to DC Comics. Long story short, by the 1980s, the DC Universe was drowning in these parallel Earths and multiple continuities and so the writers over at DC decided to solve these problems with Crisis on Infinite Earths, a reality-destroying crossover event that removed the concept of the Multiverse, and depicted the deaths of many long-standing superheroes.