175 Justice League Of America Vol 2: Curse Of The Kingbutcher

Not Steve Orlando's strongest work.

Justice League Of America Vol 2: Curse Of The Kingbutcher

Writer: Steve Orlando

Artist: Felipe Watanabe, Jamal Campbell, Andy MacDonald, Neil Edwards, Scott Hanna, Sandu Florea

DC Comics

046 Suicide Squad Vol 1: The Black Vault

Admittedly, I'm not a big Suicide Squad fan.  I think the New 52 Suicide Squad was shit.  There was nothing slightly enjoyable about it to me.  With hesitation, I tried this.  The Rebirth stuff I've read hasn't been horrible.  Some of it has been surprisingly good.  I'm afraid I would have to say the same about this.  This volume was surprisingly good.  Good?  Or not bad?  There's a fine line between the two.  But I did find myself enjoying it.  There's still a lot of stuff I'm not hot on in it, but it was decent.  I'd love to see Deadshot's look redesigned back to his pre-New 52 look.  It's still dreadful.  And I don't particularly care for this version of the Enchantress.  But I do like that Amanda Waller is suddenly no longer Angela Bassett.  She's got her heft back.  This is my Amanda Waller.  I'm intrigued by Katana being in this group.  On the surface, I wasn't hot on Killer Croc being here, but there's always been a lot more to him than meets the eye.  I'm willing to try another volume of this to see if this is a fluke or something that will be worthwhile to read.

Suicide Squad Vol 1: The Black Vault

Writer: Rob Williams

Artist: Jim Lee, Philip Tan, Jason Fabok, Ivan Reis, Gary Frank, Scott Williams, Jonathan Glapion, Scott Hanna, Sandu Florea, Oclair Albert, Sandra Hope, Trevor Scott

DC Comics

037 Justice League Vol 1: The Extinction Machines

Here's Bryan Hitch's second shot at writing a Justice League book.  His first attempt was kind of a mess.  Delays plagued the book almost from the start.  That's the problem when he tries to write and draw a monthly book.  Even with a head start.  This time around he's just writing, though he drew the Rebirth special, too.

I'm trying to figure out why I liked this book, but didn't love it.  The longer I think about it, the more I'm sure it's because he over thinks things.  The story he told was going along fine, but then it kind of started making less sense.  I think this is something an editor should have stepped in and helped smooth out.  But otherwise, it was a fine book.  They're easing the new Superman onto the team, they've added two new Green Lanterns.  Everyone is feeling out the new dynamic.

What I love love love about Bryan Hitch's storytelling is how cinematic it seems.  I thought we'd see less of that in this volume with a new artist, but this story also had a big screen, cinematic feel to it.  He does this extremely well.  I'm anxious to see what else he has in him.  Justice League is supposed to be a big book.  I hope he's able to deliver.

Justice League Vol 1: The Extinction Machines

Writer: Bryan Hitch

Artist: Tony S. Daniel, Bryan Hitch, Jesus Merino, Sandu Florea, Daniel Henriques, Scott Hanna, Andy Owens