Lanzing and kelly are wannabes who, instead of developing their own style, seemingly pick out of a hat who they want to try to ape with each book they do! If you don’t believe me, sit and really try to describe their style without saying stuff like “well, that book felt kinda like they were trying to be (insert past great writer here)” At least they pick Warren Ellis here, but if you are going to try to imitate the best writer your source material has had, you have to do a better job or else why not just read the far superior original? Everything they write is bland and generic which is a crazy juxtaposition to whom they are trying to be - Morrison, Ellis, Moore… the art is ok, but wasted on this issue and series that nobody cares about, talks about or will remember a week after it is canceled! more

More Tom King awfulness - he overexplains the obvious while he underexplains everything the reader needs to get a proper context to what they are reading!

I hate the idea of Sinestro’s son, no matter he is his true son or not. Tomasi, just stop this farce. Write your overflowing paternal love for Ghost Machine or something. Stop messing up DC’s characters.

I'm sorry y'all but this run is terrible, as dull as it can be. Issue after issue after issue we basically spend time in an random events plot that's completely unexplored and just there to have an excuse to put Diana into contrived fight scenes.

King can't write to save his live. And by write, I mean literally. The dialogue, the words- The things we, as readers, are literally reading. Diana must have been replaced by a robot version of herself here the way she talks and Soverign's narration is both extremely tedious to get through and equally superflous 99% of the time.

It feels like King is actually afraid to write Wonder Woman, so he found himself a crutch (Sovereign) he felt much more confortable writing instead.

The story is barebones and there's basically no characterization beyond repeating some beats (how many times I've read Diana say "No, thank you") that don't really say anything about the characters themselves. It's been six issues and Diana doesn't feel like a character at all, just a collection of tropes.

And now for my hot take hotter than the sun: I don't really think Daniel Sampere's work is that good either. Don'tg et me wrong, they guy is a tremendous ilustrator and each panel, when looked independently, is pretty good. But when put together, it's clear Sampere isn't that great at making a comic feel alive, characters look stiff, like marble statues, and his action scenes, beyond some creative uses of stuff like the stars we link to WW's mark, are frankly pretty bad. No impact, no speed.

Well, that's kinda all for me tbh.

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Seriously?
Our hero is scouring the docks looking for sex and another hero later tells him that's okay. This is now the calibre of person(s) we have as examples to look up to.
In the Concise Oxford Dictionary the word hero is defined as: 1. a person, typically a man, who is admired for their courage or outstanding achievements.
What's to admire in this sleazy and sordid episode? Pathetic. more

If the last two issues had limited themselves to a couple retcons here and there, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern's worst quality is in full swing here. We get Alan visiting male prostitutes on the waterfront, and it's only downhill from there.

What is it about a character that's seemed agnostic, if not downright indifferent to religion, in eighty-something years of publication that inspires the creative team here to base his internal turmoil around Catholic guilt? Why not the real life consequences that could affect the life of a young man as concerned with his career in radio as Alan had once been characterized to be? The Spectre's reassurance that homosexuality is not a sin is sort of undercut by the fact that he could've only known that about our hero because of his ability to sense sins in people, and it's further rendered meaningless by the most modern-sounding dialogue this side of any attempt at a 1940s period piece. The hug is pretty much insulting, and certainly doesn't help the sanitized feeling of this book as it resorts to children's cartoons' idea of conflict resolution. The 'twist' at the end is not even worth touching on.

And that's not even remarking on how at odds the Jim Corrigan presented here is with any previous version of him, not just lacking in the period-appropriate homophobia he'd demonstrated in John Ostrander's 1992 run but showing very little in common with any major incarnation of an endlessly interesting character.

In a book where transwomen are stereotypes in wigs with a guaranteed 'bad' end and gay intimacy has to be paid for, it's a little hard to see what's meant to be so appealing to LGBT audiences. Mr. Scott had had more heartfelt tales back when it was all told in subtext. more

Will Thor have a good run again one day? Because this one is already tiring.

I remember when The Flash comic book was fun. This was seriously hard work to get through. The narration is dense and peppered with similes that feel like they manifested from a creative writing class. See what I did there? No? Me neither.

I like quite a lot of Spurrier's comic book work but this one has lost me. I was hoping for a cool, weird and wonderful story. Instead it felt like a chore to read. more

James Robinson remade Earth 2 in 2012. Here Alan Scott was a young gay man, a ‘new’ character and I had no issue with making him gay, and enjoyed that series very much.

11 years later and the original Alan Scott is now gay, throwing away the love for his wife who he went to hell for, his children(dont know where they are to be honest), his heroism and selflessness. Also I would assume a gay man would have much better dress sense than green tights and a gaudy, frumpy red jumper combo. I don’t need to read about a gay man’s relationship in a superhero comic. I don’t need to see a hetero relationship centre stage in a comic either. I want to see amazing ring creations, fights and heroism. Get off your soapbox Tim Sheridan and write a decent comic. You’re part of why the industry is failing so badly. more

This is the third time Selina has seen Bruce break down in front of her and only this time does she display any sort of care or empathy. The difference between now and the previous times is that the plot finally allows for her to react as her character is supposed to react, rather than in an unnatural way that serves solely to move a poorly constructed storyline forward.

Fight scene with Scandal was pathetic, art is meh, dialogue/prose is subpar. Not the worst issue of this event but still bad. The Bat editors need to be fired for allowing this pathetic excuse of a storyline and such gross mishandling of characters to exist. more

While they’re tones are completely different, I couldn’t help but compare/contrast Christian Ward’s Batman: City of Madness to Rafael Grampá’s Batman: Gargoyle of Gotham. They’re both Batman comics from creators better known for their art than their writing and they both pull elements of established Batman lore to tell new stories. Where Grampá’s story never felt like it was ready or willing to introduce a new twist or layer to the Batman franchise, the first book in Ward’s story three-book tale sets itself apart with an entirely new world full of fantastical monstrosities below Gotham ready to wreck havoc on the city.

Ward packs a ton of story into this first entry without ever making the book seem bloated. Batman, Alfred, Two-Face, the Court of Owls, and a new young boy all receive ample development over the course of the issue, with Alfred’s scenes being the emotional anchor to the book. The core plot of the book revolves around the Court of Owls’ knowledge of what’s waiting beneath Gotham and a sinister plan they’re about to enact. Ward does an amazing job setting the stakes and building tension within the Court themselves. We don’t necessarily know who is in power, but we know it can’t be good.

My favorite moments of the book were the scenes involving Two-Face. Ward adds new wrinkles of complexity to the character, casting a diabolic, yet sympathetic shadow over the villain’s inner conflict with his own demons. Ward implies that Two-Face’s situation is somehow tied to the larger story but we’ll have to wait and see what comes of it.

Hands down, this is one of the most beautiful books of 2023. Every page was a visual feast, with Ward’s art adding to the twisted and uneven tone of the book in the best ways possible. I could gush over so many different aspects, but Ward’s depiction of Harvey Dent/Two-Face is so unique and draws attention to the duality the character represents. The Batman from Below looks freaking AWESOME. I loved the blue/green color palette used for most of the book and the different shades of reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows used for details or to strike a moment of importance. He’s one of the best in the business, but I’d be remiss not to also acknowledge to herculean work of Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou on lettering. He makes Ward’s exposition read like poetry on the page with some of it living outside letter boxes/bubbles and flowing free-form against the beautiful illustrations.

Batman: City of Madness Book One was a tour de force of imaginative storytelling from start to finish. Ward uses every aspect of the book to invent a new, nightmarish take on Gotham that immediately captivates the reader and immerses them in this twisted tale.

Rating: 10/10 more

Cool first issue, sets some exciting and new ideas we haven't seen in a batman book before or atleast that I can remember which is saying something considering how many bat books we get.

disgusting

All three stories are very solid this time around! Since moving to this format, the trend has been that the main PKJ story is great, and then there’s one that’s fine and one that is passable to horrible.

PKJ continues a run that has been phenomenal, with a beautiful opening nailing the greatest aspects of Superman. The rest of the issue adds some intrigue to Blue Earth, which has been in the background throughout the last story arc.

We also get the final installment of the Lois and Clark 2 story that has been going on for 9 MONTHS now. It’s been good, but boy this was way too drawn out. Still, this was the best entry of the story.

I don’t care about Superboy at all, and his story made me feel very bad about that. Like Power Girl as of late, Connor’s odd editorial history is being used to add layers to his character, and the pathos of that really worked here. more