2018.026 Titans Vol 3: A Judas Among Us

Titans Vol 3: A Judas Among Us
Written By: Dan Abnett
Illustrated By: Brett Booth, Kenneth Rocafort, V Ken Marion, Minkyu Jung, Norm Rapmund, Mick Gray
DC Comics

2018.024 Aquaman Vol 4: Underworld

Aquaman is dead.  Mera is crushed.  Atlantis has a new King.  Things don't look good.  At all.  There's a new vigilante in Atlantis who is pretending to be "the Aquaman" and is helping the citizens one by one.  Is he pretending?  Or is he the genuine article?  Aquaman was left for dead in the last storyline, but he didn't die.  He's keeping a very low cover, doing what he can on a very small scale.  Eventually he's found out and he's forced to confront all the shit that's been going on under the terrible new King of Atlantis.  

With this story, I feel like Dan Abnett has FINALLY hit his stride.  He's been telling fine stories since taking over pre-Rebirth, but there's something about this that made it impossible for me to put down.  It's like he's been trying this and that, figuring out what's been working and what hasn't and now that he knows, he's crafting the best Aquaman stuff since Geoff Johns left the book.  I'm so excited to see where this book is going for this point out.  I'm so excited to see Stjepan Sejic draw more Aquaman.  This book is better looking that it has been in a while.  Not to saw that the last few art teams weren't any good, but Sejic brings something else to the book I can't quite figure out.

Aquaman Vol 4: Underworld

Written by: Dan Abnett

Illustrated by: Stjepan Sejic

DC Comics

177 Justice League Vol 4: Endless

This felt more like a collection of inventory stories than anything.  Not sure what's going on with this series.  Hopefully it was just a stop gap so they can settle the schedules of whomever is taking over the series.

Justice League Vol 4: Endless

Writer: Bryan Hitch, Shea Fontana, Tom DeFalco, Dan Abnett

Artist: Bryan Hitch, Tom Derenick, Philippe Briones, Ian Churchill, Daniel Henriques, Andy Owens, Scott Hanna, Trevor Scott, Andrew Currie, Paul Neary, Tony Kordos, Batt

DC Comics

149 Titans Vol 2: Made In Manhattan

Titans is my team.  Ever since I first discovered them as a (probably) ten year old when they revived the book, Titans has been my team.  This book, while not the greatest book ever published, is one of my favorites right now.  The reason being is that these are new versions of my favorite characters (okay, I'm not thrilled about that) coming back together realizing something has happened to reality and trying to figure things out as they go.  This is the book that lead directly into Rebirth.  I'm anxious to see how they peel back the layers of this onion.

This volume (re)introduces Bumblebee.  I'm happy about that, but I'm still slightly annoyed how Mal and Karen have been handled.  There's something not quite right, but I'm still happy they're here.  

This was the last book I was reading monthly from any publisher, but when DC started jacking up prices on their floppies, I dropped this book in favor of the trade.  I'm not 100% collected edition!  First time ever!

Titans Vol 2: Made In Manhattan

Writer: Dan Abnett, James Asmus

Artist: Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Minkyu Jung, Lee Weeks, Reilly Brown, Scott Hanna

DC Comics

135 The Legion By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning Vol 1

I have to say I'm rather surprised that DC has published this book.  At this time, I mean.  They just started collecting the Legionnaires and Legion Of Super-Heroes books earlier this year.  This book shouldn't be out already.  I thought it would all get collected chronologically.  But I'm wrong.  And I'm happy.  I particularly loved this run on the book.

According to the afterword in the book, both series were losing readers and Abnett & Lanning were brought in to spark new interest with a new direction.  Now, if you've read any of my mini-reviews, you know one thing I hate is when a new team is brought in to give a book a "bold new direction" and they start things off by discarding what's come before them.  Well, Dan and Andy did just the opposite.  They had a big idea, but they lead into it.  Quickly, but without throwing anything away.  Their first story introduces the Blight, their second story sets characters in place for the Blight storyline and then BAM, we're smack in the middle of the story.  And it's a good one.  And from there they start making the changes they want to make in the book.  All the changes are plot dictated and very organic.  And that, my friends, is how you change the direction of a book.

I remember being kind of upset when this book first came out.  Olivier Coipel's art was so ugly to me.  But as the story progressed, I realized he was the perfect artist to draw the whole Blight storyline.  It works incredibly well.  It holds up to this day.

I love the Legion.  I love this book.  I'm so glad DC is showing the Legion some love right now.

The Legion By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning Vol 1

Writer: Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning

Artist: Olivier Coipel, Adam Dekraker, Jeffrey Moy, Angel Unzueta, Chuck Wojtkiewicz, Andy Lanning, W.C. Carani, Jaime Mendoza, Dexter Vines

DC Comics

124 Aquaman Vol 3: Crown Of Atlantis

Dan Abnett is continuing his stellar run on Aquaman.  He's been slowly laying down the pieces to make this book his own.  He's not ignoring anything that came before, but instead building on it.  He's developing the vast supporting cast and laying down stuff that seems like it will take him quite a while to get to the pay off stage.  I like that.  It's how comics used to be.  It's nice that someone will take over a book, do a six or twelve issue run and then go on, but it fucks with continuity.

While I'm enjoying this book, there are parts that irk me.  The Aqua Marines.  They're stupid.  They feel like a rejected late 80s or early 90s concept.  I really hope this is the last we see of them.  Seriously.  I do not care for them at all.  

This book also features yet another "Aquaman isn't fit to be King" story.  We get them all the time.  But I don't really mind this time around.  I'm interested in seeing where this will lead.

Aquaman Vol 3: Crown Of Atlantis

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: Scot Eaton, Philippe Briones, Brad Walker, Wayne Faucher, Andrew Hennessey, Scott Hanna

DC Comics

078 Aquaman Vol 2: Black Manta Rising

 

I have been kind of lax with my reading lately.  There's been too much tv to catch up on and that's left not a lot of extra time for comics.  But the season just ended on most of my shows, so I hope to get some of my backlog of comics read over the summer.

This is Dan Abnett's third Aquaman collection.  He started the book just before Rebirth and this is his latest.  I've enjoyed all three volumes he's written, but something seemed just a little off to me.  I don't know what it was, but after finishing this book, I don't think that way any longer.  Maybe he was just adjusting to writing the character?  I don't know.  

This picks up where the last book left off.  Black Manta took over N.E.M.O., a covert secret society hellbent on domination, and went after his arch nemesis by pitting the world against Atlantis, leaving Aquaman in the crosshairs.  Abnett has really built up and fleshed out Atlantis more and I really appreciate it.  I hope his version of Atlantis stays as is.  Seems every writer has a separate idea of what Atlantis should be, but this one I like.

There is some silliness (not in a good way) in this story, too.  The Aqua-Marines.  Bio-engineered soldiers who transform into different human/sealife hybrids.  Really fucking cheesy and cliched.  But I'm willing to give them a pass.

Aquaman Vol 2: Black Manta Rising

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: Scot Eaton, Brad Walker, Philippe Briones, Wayne Faucher, Andrew Hennessy, Daniel Henriques

DC Comics

029 Aquaman Vol 1: The Drowning

New 52 Aquaman was one of the few bright points of DC's whole New 52 fiasco.  It brought Aquaman back to the A List.  What worked best about the book is it really didn't discard all of his past, it didn't drastically alter the character and it was well written.  And with the exception of Cullen Bunn's short run on the book, the whole run has been solid.  Dan Abnett took over for the last New 52 arc and continues on to the Rebirth run.

The trade starts off with the Rebirth Special.  I wasn't that impressed with it.  It honestly felt like a fill in issue rather than a new start.  Even the first couple of issues of this story felt off to me.  Really, it felt like a fill-in issue in between the regular creative team.  But as I read, I got pulled deeper in to the story.  I like the direction it's going in right now.  I do have an issue or two with the series, but they're minor.  First, I don't know if Dan Abnett has really captured who Mera is.  She seems a little off.  I'm willing to give him time, though.  The other gripe is the art.  I think it's the reason this partially read like a fill-in story to me.  While there's nothing bad about the art, it's just not that remarkable to me.  It's fine, but unmemorable.

Aquaman Vol 1: The Drowning

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: Scot Eaton, Oscar Jimenez, Mark Morales, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Wayne Faucher, Philippe Briones

DC Comics