108 Batman: The Brave And The Bold - The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1

Every day at work, I read comics.  I always have a trade or a hardcover in my desk.  The book I just finished was a labor of love.  It's this glorious book.  Bronze Age Brave & Bold stories.  This book absolutely brings me back to my childhood.  Many of these books were published before I started reading comics, but comics were so cheap back then that I'd picked up a lot of back issues at garage sales and flea markets.  As I got older, they got a little more expensive or were reprinted here and there. I've read all these stories before, but they're just as joyful and silly and fun a second, third, fourth or fifth time around.  Even moreso today.  They're all done in one stories, stripped of the darkness a modern day Batman book has.  The guest stars run a wide gamut from Wonder Woman and Flash to Sgt. Rock and the Demon and many more.

This book clocks in at just under 900 pages, so it took me quite a while to read it at work.  My lunch break is 30 minutes, so I was good to take in an issue or two at a time.  In a way I didn't want it to end.  It was so much fun to read.  They label this as volume 1, so I hope DC plans a follow up volume.  This ends at issue 109.  Brave and the Bold ran through issue 200.

And with this, I'm officially caught up on my mini-blog posts on my backlogged reading!!  

Batman: The Brave And The Bold - The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1

Writer: Bob Haney, Mike Sekowsky, Dennis O'Neil, Marv Wolfman

Artist: Ross Andru, Mike Sekowsky, Bob Brown, Neil Adams, Irv Novick, Nick Cardy, Jim Aparo, Mike Esposito, Jack Abel, Dick Giordano, Joe Kubert, Frank McLaughlin

DC Comics

107 Wonder Woman Vol. 2: Year One

Wonder Woman is published twice monthly with issues alternating storylines.  The odd numbered issues tell a story set today.  The even numbered issues tell her backstory.  I thought it was an interesting concept.  I appreciate that each story is collected separately.  But after finishing this volume, I realize that doing it this way makes you miss a certain layer of storytelling.  The modern day story and this flashback story feature Barbara Minerva.  I think you'd get more out of the stories by reading them in the order that they're published.  Not to say that you can't read them as stand alone stories.  You absolutely can and they're both wonderful.  In fact, I'm willing to say that my enjoyment of this series is higher than it's been in YEARS.  Greg Rucka is hitting it out of the ballpark with this book.  It's a shame he's already leaving the series.  I feel like he's got a lot more Wonder Woman in him that I need to read.  Also already off the book is Nicola Scott, who is giving some of her best work ever to this project.  This book couldn't make me happier.  We're stripping away the New 52 version of the character, we're pulling elements of the awesome Wonder Woman movie into the book.  It's just fabulous.  You're missing out if you aren't reading Wonder Woman.  For real.

Wonder Woman Vol. 2: Year One

Writer: Greg Rucka

Artist: Nicola Scott, Bilquis Evely

DC Comics

106 Trinity Vol. 1: Better Together

On paper this is the greatest concept in comics.  Put DC's three biggest, iconic characters together in one book.  What could go wrong?

This book is beautifully illustrated.  I can't say enough nice stuff about how beautiful it is.  But other than that, it left me a little cold.  In a nutshell, it's a rehashing/sequel to Alan Moore's brilliant Black Mercy story a hundred years ago.  This story does nothing to add to it, unfortunately.  It feels like it takes more than it gives.  Been there, done that.  It would have been better if the inclusion of Poison Ivy didn't happen.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around that.  It just does not work for me.

I'm hoping volume 2 gives us a better story.

Trinity Vol. 1: Better Together

Writer: Francis Manapul

Artist: Francis Manapul, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, Matt Santorelli, Clay Mann, Seth Mann

DC Comics

105 Supergirl Vol. 1: Reign Of The Cyborg Supermen

I love the comic book Supergirl.  I love the tv Supergirl.  I love Steve Orlando.  This book is all three things wrapped up on one.  What could go wrong?  Not much, but I find that I didn't love this book like I hoped I would.  First of all, I was having trouble wrapping my head around Steve Orlando writing Supergirl after his epic run on Midnighter.  How do you reconcile the two?  Answer, you don't.

The New 52 version of Supergirl was one of the few things about the New 52 that I actually liked.  At least at first.  I think Michael Green was writing the book at first (I'll need to look that up) and he gave great stories.  He understood the character.  He made the best out of an awful situation (that situation being the New 52).  This is supposed to be the same character, only the success of the Supergirl tv series meant that DC wanted to bring the character closer to that version.  I can't say that I blame them.  I'd do the same thing.  But the difference between the two is jarring.  Another volume of this book and the New 52 version will be a distant memory.

The one thing that really bothered me about this book, and it may seem nit-picky, was that the story told in here feels more like something we should get in volume 2 or 3, not volume 1.  It's way too heavy to go along with the changes to bring the book closer to the tv Supergirl.  I would have liked to have seem more of that transition and a lighter story than what was presented here.  It was too much.  

But with that said, I'm looking forward to the new direction of the book.  I hope the book just gets better from here.

Supergirl Vol. 1: Reign Of The Cyborg Supermen

Writer: Steve Orlando

Artist: Brian Ching, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy

DC Comics

104 Spider-Woman: Shifting Gears Vol. 3: Scare Tactice

I'm mad.  Pissed off.  Spider-Woman Vol. 3 ends Dennis Hopeless's epic run on the character.  I went into this book with trepidation.  I love Spider-Woman, but the spin on the character was to give her a baby, change her costume and change her entire tone.  I hated all of that, yet my love for Spider-Woman made me try the book.  And it quickly became on of my favorite books.  Who knew?  But like I just said, this book ends Hopeless's run and makes me incredibly sad.  Like all Marvel books, it's really not a continuing series, it's a mini-series dressed up in regular series clothing.  Seventeen issues is a long lifespan in the current Marvel Comics world, so I should be happy I got this much Spider-Woman goodness.

Like I was saying in my blurb about the Kate Bishop Hawkeye book, this is the type of Marvel book I have been gravitating towards lately.  Funny, grounded, not afraid to poke fun at itself and comic books in general, female lead.  I'm really going to miss this book.  They could revive it under a new creative team, but I'm afraid it's just not going to be the same.  I love this book.  Go buy all three volumes.  I demand it.

Spider-Woman Shifting Gears Vol. 3: Scare Tactics

Writer: Dennis Hopeless

Artist: Veronica Fish, Andy Fish

Marvel Comics

103 Moon Knight Vol. 2: Reincarnations

This book has many things going for it.  Jeff Lemire.  Moon Knight.  A stand alone book from the rest of the MCU.  Moon Knight's fucked up brain.  And as much as I'm enjoying the hell out of it, I think I've enjoyed the last few creative teams' work more.  Which surprises me, because I have yet to find anything Jeff Lemire cannot do.  Until now.  He can't top the previous runs on this book.  But by no means does this mean I'm not enjoying the book.  I really am.  It's just that I think the bar is now so high on Lemire's work that I expect even more out of him.  

Jeff Lemire writes such great psychological stuff.  He and Moon Knight are a great match, but I think maybe he's gotten too psychological.  Which doesn't seem possible considering the character.  

I've loved all the Moon Knight stuff Marvel has given us in the last few years.  It makes me think that I need to go back and read more of the old stuff.  This volume gives us an old issue of Moon Knight and it makes me realize it's extremely difficult stuff to read.  At least using today's comic book standards.  I struggled to read Moon Knight #2.  That's a sign that I don't need to look back, only forward.

Moon Knight Vol. 2: Reincarnations

Writer: Jeff Lemire, Doug Moench

Artist: Greg Smallwood, Jordie Bellaire, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Garland, Francesco Francavilla, James Stokoe, Bill Sienkiewicz, Frank Springer

Marvel Comics

102 Justice League Of America: Road To Rebirth

I mentioned a few posts back that the Justice League vs. Suicide Squad book was a direct lead in to a new Justice League of America series.  Well, this is another book that leads directly into that new book.  While the JL/SS book was an actual series that laid the ground work for JLA, this book is a collection of Rebirth one-shots giving the backstory on some of the players in the new book.  We get the new, "improved" origins on the Atom, Vixen, Killer Frost and the Ray.  Some of these stories feel more like they got a New 52 treatment rather than a Rebirth treatment.  But it's hard to tell given that each origin takes place over the course of 20 pages.  I'm anxious to see how this team actual gels together.  I can tell you I'm not exactly pleased Lobo is a part of the book, but I have faith that Steve Orlando knows what he's doing.

Justice League Of America: Road To Rebirth

Writer: Steve Orlando, Jody Houser

Artist: Andy MacDonald, Jamal Campbell, Stephen Byrne, Mirka Andolfo, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert

DC Comics

101 Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 1: Anchor Points

If you've noticed my reading history, I mostly read DC books.  I've got a bunch of Marvel books, too, but DC is my jam.  But if you look at my Marvel books, a big chunk of them are books like this.  Female superheroes, down to earth stories, day in the life type heroes, fun and light.  And this book is no exception.

Kate Bishop decides to set up shop (kind of) as a private investigator.  She immediately starts building an offbeat, quirky supporting cast.  This book is fun, it's funny, it's a joy to read.  Kate really doesn't quite know what she's doing, yet she still succeeds at what she's not all the great at.  At least not yet.  I really hope this book has legs, because I need more of this light-hearted stuff in my library.  It really picks up in tone from the previous Hawkeye series that Kate shared with Clint Barton.  But she's all on her own now and I like that.

Books like this fascinate me in one aspect.  When DC decided to pull their New 52 bullshit, they wiped out anything having to do with Legacy.  At the same time, Marvel was actively building up their line in that department.  We wouldn't have Kate Bishop if not for that.  Now, Marvel has also gone out of the way to fuck that shit up, too, but right now they still have a slight edge over DC in my book.  But not for long, as Rebirth unfolds and Legacy returns to the DCU.

Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 1: Anchor Points

Writer: Kelly Thompson

Artist: Leonardo Romero, Michael Walsh

Marvel Comics

100 Doom Patrol Vol. 1: Brick By Brick

I wasn't quite sure I was going to read any of the Young Animal books.  I was pretty sure I wasn't the age group these books were being marketed to.  It feels like they're trying to take a fresh, younger approach to the line.  Fresh and younger doesn't always resonate with me, mainly because I'm neither.  But people whose opinions I trust have said nothing but good things about some of these books.  This is my first Young Animal book and I have to say, I wasn't immediately sold on it.  It took a couple of issues for things to start to gel with me, but I think that was done intentionally.  A slow and careful build.  Well, it worked.  This is a Doom Patrol book I can get behind.  While I prefer the more classic superhero version of the team, this is damn good.  After I finished it, all I could think to myself (and spout off to others) is this is a Grant Morrison style Doom Patrol book, only the storytelling is understandable.

Gerard Way goes out of his way to fit the previous histories of the team into the backstory.  I greatly appreciate that.  What happened before still happened.  But this is a new iteration and we're going forward.  I anxiously await the next volume.  I want to see where this goes.

Doom Patrol Vol. 1: Brick By Brick

Writer: Gerard Way

Artist: Nick Derington, Tom Fowler

Young Animal / DC Comics

099 Doctor Who - Tenth Doctor Vol. 3: The Fountains Of Forever

I'm still trying to play catch up with posting my finished books here.  I'm down to about a dozen, plus whatever I'm finishing while I still have this queue.  Anyway....

I mentioned in my last Doctor Who post that I've fallen behind on the Tenth Doctor's adventures because my comic supplier never got the second volume.  Now that I've finally finished it, I felt free to start reading the small backlog I have of this book.  

What I like about this volume is that it could very easily have been an actual television story.  The amount of special effects it would require doesn't seem like it would be enough to break the tv show's budget.  The cool thing about the modern revival of Doctor Who on tv is that moreso than in the classic version, it works at building up the backstory of the companions.  This is no different.  A new companion was created for this series, Gabby Gonzalez.  This story we spend a lot of time with her best friend, something you'd never see in the classic series.  We get to see this story through a fresh set of eyes.  Gabby's friend Cindy realizes that Gabby isn't making up crap about what's been going on with her as she witnesses it first hand.

This is a fun story involving an aging Hollywood actress and an ancient extraterrestrial artefact.  This series makes me realize exactly how much I miss David Tennant's Doctor.  At least we still have new stories, albeit in comic format.

Doctor Who - Tenth Doctor Vol. 3: The Fountains Of Forever

Writer: Nick Abadzis

Artist: Elena Casagrande, Eleonora Carlini, Rachel Stott, Leonardo Romero

Titan Comics

098 The DC Universe By Mike Mignola

I love Mike Mignola's art.  I always have.  Reading this book reminds me there's a whole Hellboy universe I haven't read and need to.

Books like this are a joy to read.  Focus on an artist or a writer, showing their work all collected together.  It's also great reading something like this because there's a bunch of stuff I'd forgotten about, didn't realize he drew it or completely missed the first time around.  

The book starts off with a Phantom Stranger mini-series.  I'd forgotten he was the artist on this book.  It's been years since I read it, so it was brand new to me again.  He's perfectly matched to draw the Stranger.  I'd love to see him do a book today with the character.  

This also collects The World Of Krypton mini-series.  I never read it the first time around.  It was part of John Byrne's reboot of the Superman universe and I found it pretty fascinating.  I know, I know.  Byrne is a hack, but he's still an interesting one.  There are some other Superman stories here.  I didn't realize he'd done as much Superman as he had.  

I have to say my favorite stuff in here is his Batman stuff.  He was born to draw Batman.  His art is super moody, super stylized.  He fits Batman like a glove.  I'd love to see a Batman series drawn by him.  It would be magnificent.

I want more books like this!

The DC Universe By Mike Mignola

Writer: Paul Kupperberg, John Byrne, Roger Stern, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, Neil Gaiman, Dan Raspler, Mike Mignola, Steve Purcell

Artist: Mike Mignola, P. Craig Russell, Rick Bryant, Carlos Garzon, Karl Kesel, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, Curt Swan, Brett Breeding, John Statema, Troy Nixey, Kevin Nowlan

DC Comics

097 Batman - Detective Comics Vol. 2: The Victim Syndicate

I'm continuing my love affair with this book.  I know it's Detective Comics, but it should be called Batman Family.  It's the type of book I'm really loving.  Batwoman has been charged with training the various Batman Family members.  They've formed a makeshift team.  They're just a lot of fun to watch.

The story this time around is the BatFam battles a new group of villains.  People who were caught in the crossfire of Batman and his rogue's gallery and left broken and victimized.  These victims are now superpowered and out to make Batman pay.

One of the team, still haunted by Red Robin's "death", ends up turning on the team.  I really hope this is all part of a bigger story arc for them and not a stupid editorial decision because I've been enjoying them in this book.

I'm anxious to see where this book goes next because it's been a fun read.

Batman - Detective Comics Vol. 2: The Victim Syndicate

Writer: James Tynion IV, Marguerite Bennett

Artist: Alvaro Martinez, Eddy Barrows, Ben Oliver, Al Barrioneuvo, Carmen Carnero, Raul Fernandez, Eber Ferreira, Scott Hanna, Julio Ferreira, Szymon Kudranski

DC Comics

096 Batman - Detective Comics Vol. 9: Gordon At War

Because I haven't been reading most things in hardback, I've had to wait for the trade paperback version to come out.  This is one series that I've had weird overlap with.  This is the final volume of the New 52 run of Detective Comics, but I've also read two volumes of the Rebirth run as well.  That book is probably the next book to be written about.

I've really enjoyed this run.  It's one of the few consistent New 52 books despite changing creative teams.  This volume is written by Peter Tomasi, who I have always had mixed feelings about.  I think he's a great storyteller, but he's a lousy scripter.  This book is no different.  He's got great ideas, but he gets all caught up in the minutiae of his words that kind of gets under my skin.  For instance, Harvey Bullock is suddenly an expert on things you'd never think of, in this case, space travel.  Now that's not what bothers me, but what bothers me is while reading Harvey's dialogue, I feel like I might as well be reading Wikipedia.  Nitpicky, sure, but it's how I feel.

The stories in this volume are solid and I've thoroughly enjoyed the James Gordon as Batman run.  More than I expected to.  I'm happy Bruce is back and is Batman again, but this was a good run. 

The art by both Fernando Pasarin and Scot Eaton is simply wonderful.  I look forward to their next projects.

Batman - Detective Comics Vol. 9: Gordon At War

Writer: Peter Tomasi

Artist: Fernando Pasarin, Scot Eaton, Matt Ryan, Wayne Faucher

DC Comics

095 Avengers: Unleashed Vol 1: Kang War One

Mark Waid's Avengers book is the only Avengers book that actually feels like the Avengers to me.  It's not quite where I'd like it, but it's as close to a classic Avengers book as we're going to get.  With this volume, it looks like Marvel renamed and renumbered the book.  Again.  I really hate that, but there isn't anything I can do about it.  I'm sure after volume 2 of this book, the same thing will happen again.  I wish they'd just announce these books as mini-series and be done with it.

Anyway, this is the beginning of a year long Kang War.  It all started in the last iteration of Avengers when The Vision had finally had enough and decided to change time and history by removing Kang from it.  Things don't always go as planned and all hell breaks loose.  The Avengers try to undo what the Vision has done, but that just screws the pooch even more.  Lots of time travel, Avengers from different time periods and multiple versions of Kang.  You need to stay focused to keep on top of things.  This book ends on a cliffhanger setting the stage for working into the story the Avengers Four book I "reviewed" a bunch of posts back.

The book is drawn by Mike Del Mundo.  Now, while I think he's a magnificent artist, I didn't enjoy him in the context of a monthly comic book.  The art just wasn't quite right for me.

Avengers: Unleashed Vol 1: Kang War One

Writer: Mark Waid

Artist: Mike Del Mundo

Marvel Comics

094 Aquaman: Kingdom Lost

Honestly, this run of Aquaman from back in the early 2000s was one of my favorite runs on the book ever.  It started with Rick Veitch bringing the character back to basics after the shit show Peter David performed on him.  Gone was the underwater Conan look, gone was the hook.  Although his hand itself wasn't back, a reasonable facsimile was and that was great.  After the Veitch run, John Acrudi came along and gave us a great run.  The Sub Diego years.  A big chunk of San Diego was sunk into the Pacific and with it, many of it's residents turned into water breathers.  It was a great storyline.  It was fun meeting new characters and watching Sub Diego begin to develop into a functioning community.

This volume concludes the Sub Diego storyline and wraps it up nicely.  And this is where I stopped reading Aquaman for a while because right after this, they introduced a brand new Aquaman who I had no interest in at the time.  I decided to go out on a high note.

Aquaman: Kingdom Lost

Writer: John Acrudi

Artist: Leonard Kirk, Andy Clarke, Patrick Gleason, Christian Alamy, Freddie Williams II

DC Comics

093 Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye Vol 1: Going Underground

I wasn't going to pick this up, but my friend George said it was such a great read.  So I picked it up based on his opinion and I have to say I'm in love with this book already.  Jon Rivera and Gerard Way take an old school Silver Age DC character, who really has a mostly blank slate, and bring him to life.  If you didn't know he existed before, it wouldn't really matter, because they really grab him and run with it.

This book starts later in Cave Carson's life.  His wife just passed away.  He has a teenaged daughter in college.  He has a cybernetic eye.  He's kind of lost with the passing of his wife, unbeknownst to him that his life is about to take a turn back into adventure.  It's kind of neat that this book is all about the present, but starts filling in missing details about his life since he was last seen.

I've bee very impressed with both Young Animal books I've read so far.  I think Doom Patrol is still in my backlog of books to post about.  I liked Doom Patrol a lot, but I loved this.  Everything about it was great.  The writing, the art, the choice of characters.  I look forward to so much more from this, especially since it ended on a cliffhanger.

 Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye Vol 1: Going Underground

Writer: Jon Rivera, Gerard Way

Artist: Michael Avon Oeming

Young Animal/DC Comics

092 Doctor Who Tenth Doctor Vol 2: The Weeping Angels Of Mons

I've fallen behind of Doctor Who.  Not because I'm disinterested, but I ordered this book forever ago from my comics retailer and it never came.  Volumes since have come, but for some reason, they were never able to secure this particular volume.  So I stopped reading until I could pick up a copy.  While on vacation last month, the only volume they had in stock at Half Price Books was this very one.  So I grabbed it.  It didn't even make it all the way home before I read it.  

What you need to know.  Tenth Doctor.  New companion.  World War I.  Weeping Angels.  It's everything you could imagine it to be.  It's everything it should be.  Those Weeping Angels are scary as shit.  This story doesn't fail in getting that point across.  Great story.  

One of the things I sometimes have to stop and think about when reading a series like this is I know exactly how the script should sound.  At least with the Doctor.  It's a lot of fun to hear David Tennant's voice in my head as I read.  Because it forces you to not just read the words, but read the words in the way you'd expect him to deliver them.

Doctor Who Tenth Doctor Vol 2: The Weeping Angels Of Mons

Writer: Robbie Morrison

Artist: Daniel Indro, Eleonora Carlini

Titan Comics

091 Tarzan On The Planet Of The Apes

Let me state this for the record.  I fucking love Planet Of the Apes comics.  Love them so much.  This book is no exception.  It's the weirdest crossover I've read yet, but it works so fucking well.  I love seeing these two worlds crash together and become something new, yet familiar.  

This book sort of spins out of the third PotA movie.  The one where Cornelius and Zira time travel back to present day.  In it, Tarzan is raised by Cornelius and Zira as their own, side by side with their son.  It just works so well.  Add to that it also deals with alternate earths and time travel, yet doesn't take away from either Tarzan's history nor PotA's.  This book is really fantastic.  

The only thing I don't quite get is how Tarzan can be a youth in 1901 and an adult in 2016.  That's never properly explained and I'm just writing it off to an editorial oversight.

Tarzan On The Planet Of The Apes

Writer: David Walker, Tim Seeley

Artist: Fernando Dagnino

Boom! Studios/Dark Horse Comics

090 Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I went on vacation in mid-June (and that's when my posts stopped.)  I had a layover on my way to Austin, Texas, but because of bad weather, my flight was delayed.  By hours.  Thankfully I had a big stack of books to read during my travels.  This book I read cover to cover during my delay in the Baltimore Airport.

I'll be honest.  I wasn't expecting much out of the book.  And maybe because the bar was low, I really enjoyed what I read.  Well, most of it.  This book collects the complete mini-series as well as the crossover issues from each team's regular series.  The mini-series was a lot of fun.  The crossovers were nothing more than pointless money grabs.

The book is basically the JLA vs. the Suicide Squad, then the JLA teaming up with the Suicide Squad against the greater enemy.  Your basic super-team crossover.  But more specifically, all this is is a set up for the upcoming Justice League of America book.  The Batman lead team.  Killer Frost is a member of the upcoming JLA book, and this story is very much about her redemption, however temporary or permanent it's going to be.

While I'm not a big fan of the Suicide Squad, I've been warming up to the during the whole Rebirth thing.  I had a good time with this book.

Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad

Writer: Joshua Williamson, Tim Seeley, Rob Williams, Si Spurrier

Artist: Jason Fabok, Tony S. Daniel, Jesus Merino, Fernando Pasarin, Robson Rocha, Howard Porter, Christian Duce, Riley Rossmo, Scot Eaton, Giuseppe Cafaro, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Sandu Florea, Andy Owens, Matt Ryan, Wayne Faucher, Jay Leisten, Daniel Henriques, Oclair Albert, Francesco Mattina

DC Comics

089 Jessica Jones Vol 1: Uncaged!

Jessica Jones is back in her own book again.  At last.  I loved Alias way back when.  I've only kind of liked what's been going on with the character since.  Sure, Bendis is the one who has been writing her, but since Alias ended, she's felt very neutered to me.  She's been in the background, they softened her up and made her less appealing.  But she's in a new series and it's really back to basics.  Jessica is her own worst enemy.  She's only trying to do what's right, but even when she does that, she manages to fuck her own self over.  Repeatedly.  This story is a great example of that.

Not only is she back in her own book, the book is by her original creative team of Bendis and Gaydos.  They know Jessica better than anyone else.  This book is going to be a great ride, I can already tell.

Jessica Jones Vol 1: Uncaged!

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Michael Gaydos

Marvel Comics

088 Death Of Hawkman

So, this blog has gone askew already.  Up until this point, I've been doing posts about what I'm reading, in order of what I'm reading.  Mid-June I went on vacation, came home, enjoyed the great weather and let books start to pile up.  I no longer know what order I've read them in, so until I catch up on the pile I have, it's going to be in random order.

Today I read Death Of Hawkman.  It's an Adam Strange/Hawkman mini series and I found it very likable.  The characters have a long history together, so it seemed right to team them up.  Unfortunately, it's the New 52 versions of the characters, but still, I'll take what I can get.

The characterization of Hawkman seems very consistent with what we've gotten since the New 52.  What I mean is this is yet another version of the same character they can't seem to figure out.  DC did Hawkman a huge disservice in the New 52.  Totally changed him, then didn't like what they did, so they changed him again.  And again.  And again.  But, as the title of this collection says, it's all about his death, which is a good thing, if you ask me.  Hawkman always comes back, reincarnated.  I hope when they bring him back again, they'll bring him back to basics, not this over designed, under thought out claptrap.

Adam Strange is also following that inconsistent path.  While he's mostly like the New 52 version, he's kind of not.  But they're bringing him back closer to the true Adam Strange.

This was a fun mini-series.  Marc Andreyko writes a great buddy book, if you can call this that.  I hope DC lets him continue on and write more of these two characters.  He seems to have a feel for them.

Death Of Hawkman

Writer: Marc Andreyko

Artist: Aaron Lopresti, Rodney Buchemi, John Livesay, Norm Rapmund Sean Parsons

DC Comics