Friday, January 13, 2012

Flash Friday!


Hi guys and welcome back!  This week I got two boxes of comics that I'd ordered to complete my sets up to the current books.  I got 15 and I still need to order a few more to be caught up.  I am still missing: Justice League #1, Batman #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 and Red Hood and the Outlaws #2.  Then I will be caught up on the titles I'm currently reading.  Whew!  This week's trip to the comic shop yielded this week's new releases: Batman #5 and Superboy #5.  I also was able to get the copy of Teen Titans #4 that I'd been waiting on! YAY!  Let's check them out!


Batman and Robin #5 - Wow.  What an emotional roller coaster Batman and Robin is turning out to be!!  Bruce Wayne is having trouble with his son Damian which means that Batman and Robin are not working together as well as they did when Dick Grayson was working as Batman to Damian's Robin.  This doesn't bode well and in this issue, volatile Damian causes a Bat Family crisis!  I like Damian, even though he kinda scares the crap out of me, but it makes me sad to see him in this book doing what he's doing.  BUT the root of the issue is The Batman not trusting him enough and the lack of information causing Damian to do the wrong thing.  That's right.  I said it.  I blame Batman.  I really don't want to see Damian to backslide and lose everything that he gained while working with Dick.  Damian has such potential and Bruce is totally screwing being a parent up.  (You'd think after raising Dick Grayson, helping Tim Drake grow from boy to young man and dealing with Jason Todd and Stephanie Brown- that the man would have a clue about dealing with kids!)  The cliff hanger at the end had me screaming to know what Damian was going to do.  Well played, DC, well played.  Batman and Robin #4 gets 4 Flashes for making me pull my hair out.



Superboy #5-  This book is entertaining and thrilling.  It's been kind of hard for me to read having already known Kon-el/Conner Kent as Superboy and having seen his latest incarnation on the cartoon Young Justice but I'm really interested to see what DC does with this new Superboy.  He's shown on the cover of Teen Titans #1 as if he's a Titan but he's also been described as the Titans' main villian.  SO, what path is this Superboy going to take and how is he going to turn out?  His book and the Teen Titans books weave pretty closely together so reading both really helps you get a better picture of what's going on but overall Superboy keeps me guessing.  What IS N.O.W.H.E.R.E. up to????  Will Rose end up a Titan?  (She has been before.)  And most importantly to me, will Superboy be like his predecessor who had an epic bromance with Red Robin (Tim Drake)??  Will he, Bart and Tim end up BFFF's (best freaking friends forever) again?!  I seriously hope so.  This new Superboy is more serious and scary than 90's Superboy but he has moments in Teen Titans #4 that had me seeing more in him than his book has shown us thus far.  This is going to be an exciting year for Superboy and the Teen Titans for sure! Superboy #5 gets 4 out of 5 Flashes, purely for completely throwing my for a loop JUST as I thought I knew what was going on.


Teen Titans #4-  This series is AMAZING.  I love that you see some of the characters who made the 90's Titans so awesome back and reinvented.  I think I love Red Robin more in every book.  And if you thought he was a good looking boy before, you need to see him when Brett Booth draws him.  I think Brett could draw an actual pile of garbage and make it look amazing.  I'm really enjoying Kid Flash because even though it's Bart and not Wally- he still has that personality that makes him come across as Bart.  The bickering with Tim in this issue was pretty funny but I enjoyed most seeing Tim and the others treat Bart as an equal from the start.  You don't get that in the original Young Justice when they start out treating Bart (as Impulse) like a kid.  I really like how Bart looks more like Wally in this book too- Maybe because Brett has some Wally as the Flash love?  The new characters are great because they keep things new and fresh.  Bunker is pretty great.  If you know me, then you know how much reading Hero by Perry Moore affected me.  I really feel the need for comic book heroes to be real and to represent all different kinds of people.  I think it's great that we're getting to see that.  I think Bunker's big, warm personality is going to be a great balance for the Titans and Tim's super serious Bat-itude.  My only issues with Bunker are that maybe he's a little too cookie cutter as the "gay superhero."  He's into dressing nice, he's in drama and his color is purple.  I'm trying to reserve final judgement on his character until we really get to know him but I don't want him to be some stereotype.  I really want him to feel realistic and engaging.  Bart alone is going to keep me reading this series but I really want to love this incarnation of the Titans as much as the previous ones.  I have to mention that I love the two changes I noticed in Bart from his previous incarnation: his eyes look blue now instead of the golden color they were before and his hair actually LOOKS auburn now.  I hated that they called it auburn before and it was BROWN.  I love red hair and it suits a speedster.  So, now to rate this epic-ness and close with some scans of the issue.  Of course, Teen Titans #4 earns 5 out of 5 Flashes for being a book that 90's Bart Allen would love to read.


Next week's pull list includes: Batman, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Justice League, and Nightwing!!  See you back here next Friday!  Enjoy a few shots from Teen Titans #4 in the mean time.

Oh Tim, why must you be so beautiful?!  

Bart is EPIC!  Is that a Bat-canteen I spy in your hand, Bart?!  And Tim, LIGHTEN UP- your Bat-itude is showing!  

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