Tag Barbara Gordon

A Batman #115 Micro-Review – Batgirls Begin

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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Batman 115, variant cover, Arist Deyen, Jorge MolinaBy Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

TITLE: Batman #115
AUTHORS: James Tynion IV, Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad
ARTISTS: Bengal, Jorge Jimenez, Jorge Corona, Tomeu Morey (Colorist), Sarah Stern, Clayton Cowles (Letterer), Becca Carey (Letterer)
RELEASED: October 19, 2021

The meat of this story is still good. The stuff with Batman, Simon Saint, the Scarecrow, etc. But this stuff with Poison Ivy, Miracle Molly, and what not? Gettin’ a little long in the tooth for me. Still, at least these last couple issues have been light on Harley Quinn…

Another upside? The back-up feature has shifted to a prelude for the upcoming Batgirls series with Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown, and Cassandra Cain. It’s got an interesting pseudo Birds of Prey vibe.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Batman ’89 #3 Micro-Review – What Might Have Been

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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Batman 89 3, cover, 2021, Joe QuinonesTITLE: Batman ’89 #3
AUTHORS: Sam Hamm
ARTISTS: Joe Quinones, Leonardo Ito (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)
RELEASED: October 12, 2021

This issue starts out with a cool “What if?” scenario that looks at Harvey Dent not becoming Two-Face. We don’t necessarily see that kind of thing often. So that’s cool.

It still baffles me that they changed the Catwoman costume. I just don’t get it. I mean…why?

Apparently the Batman ’89 universe’s Robin isn’t Dick Grayson or Tim Drake, but a mechanic named Drake Winston. But he’s actually pretty likable. He’s got a good look, too. So no complaints here.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Nightwing #84 Micro-Review – DC’s Ted Lasso

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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Nightwing 84, 2021, cover, Bruno RedondoTITLE: Nightwing #84
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
ARTISTS: Robbi Rodriguez, Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer). Cover by Bruno Redondo.
RELEASED: September 21, 2021

The feeling of positivity that Tom Taylor is injecting into Nightwing feels very uncharacteristic of a Bat-book. It’s almost the Ted Lasso of DC Comics.

Barbara Gordon debuts a slightly modified Batgirl costume in this issue. I’m not sure if it’s the way Robbi Rodriguez (who otherwise performs beautifully) is drawing it, but it looks a little…baggy? That can’t be intentional.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Batman: The Adventures Continue – Season Two #3 Micro-Review – A Birds of Prey Tease?

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Batman the Adventures Continue Season Two 3, cover, 2021, Stephanie PepperTITLE: Batman: The Adventures Continue – Season Two #3
AUTHOR: Alan Burnett, Paul Dini
ARTISTS: Rick Burchett, Monica Kubina (Colorist), Josh Reed (Letterer). Cover by Stephanie Pepper.
RELEASED: August 10, 2021

They’re doing a Birds of Prey tease of sorts with Batgirl and Huntress together, aren’t they?

Like Ty Templeton, Rick Burchett is a veteran of those old Batman: The Animated Series inspired comics. It’s nice to see him working on some of these characters again.

They bring back yet another one-off character from B:TAS here. Frankly, I’d rather Burnett and Dini go the extra mile and create some new characters for this series. It’s not like they don’t have the talent or the product knowledge…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Batman #109 Micro-Review – Those Damn Distractions

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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Batman 109, cover, 2021, Jorge JimenezTITLE: Batman #109
AUTHOR: James Tynion IV,
ARTISTS: Jorge Jimenez, Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, Tomeu Morey (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)
RELEASED: June 1, 2021

The stuff we’re getting with Harley Quinn and Ghost-Maker is still feeling like a distraction from what should be our main plot threads. Namely, Batman becoming a financially middle-class superhero, the Scarecrow terrorizing Gotham, and Simon Saint’s tightening grip on the city. I trust Tynion. But it still feels tedious.

Random question: How does having the use of her legs again fundamentally change Barbara Gordon’s Oracle persona, if at all? I’m still getting used to the wheelchair not being there.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Weekly Comic 100s: Nightwing #78

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

TITLE: Nightwing #78
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
ARTISTS: Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer)
RELEASED: March 16, 2021

In this issue Nightwing literally saves a puppy from a bunch of goons. A friggin’ puppy.

So obviously he’s becoming a villain, right?

All kidding aside, this is a great issue. The writing is supreme, and some of the visuals are fantastic (see the two-page spread of Nightwing diving across the cityscape). Adriano Lucas’ colors are gorgeous too. This team did great on Suicide Squad, and I’m confident they’ll do great here. The apparent addition of Barbara Gordon to the book’s cast certainly doesn’t hurt things either.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

DC’s Infinite Frontier #0 – A Rapid Fire Review

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Couldn’t jam Infinite Frontier into an edition of “Weekly Comic 100s,” so we decided to upgrade the format. We’ll cover each story in this oversized issue in rapid fire fashion, and take a glimpse into DC’s future (not to be confused with Future State).

TITLE: Infinite Frontier #0
AUTHORS: Various
ARTISTS: Various. Cover by Dan Jurgens & Mikel Janin.
RELEASED: March 2, 2021

Justice League: Wait, so is Black Adam’s name changing to Shazadam or not? I thought it wasn’t.

Batman: This one’s split into two parts. I’m liking this premise where Barbara Gordon mentors Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain in a Birds of Prey sort of way.

Also, Bane dies. Let’s see how long that lasts…

Wonder Woman: Apparently Wonder Woman did something super big and important in Dark Nights: Death Metal, so now she’s elevated to “the Quintessence” council with Phantom Stranger, the Spectre, etc., and we need a new Wonder Woman. Which is going to be…Wonder Woman’s mother Hippolyta? I think? Honestly, I don’t really get it…

Wonder Girl: So Yara Flor, the Future State Wonder Woman, is going to be the new Wonder Girl. That could be cool. But she only gets a few pages here. Frankly, I’d rather have spent more time with her than the ladies of Themyscera. We still don’t know much about her, after all.

Green Lantern: Alan Scott: In a very heartfelt scene, Alan comes out to his children as a gay man. That’s pretty cool. I’m also excited DC is borrowing from The New Frontier, and making it canon that the Justice Society was shut down during the era of McCarthyism.

Teen Titans Academy: Not much to go on here. But I continue to be optimistic about Teen Titans Academy.

Superman: Interestingly, we focus not on Clark Kent here, but Jonathan Kent. It looks very similar to what we saw in Future State. I’m not nearly as optimistic for that sort of thing here as I am with Wonder Woman…

Green Arrow & Black Canary: It looks like they’re undoing one of the deaths from Heroes in Crisis, which is a good thing. The less we have to remember from that book, the better.

Stargirl: Right off the bat, I love the art on this one. It reminds me of the original Young Justice book. A nice little teenager superhero outing by Geoff Johns. After all these years, I still miss him on Teen Titans…

Green Lanterns: We see John Stewart, Simon Baz, and Keli “Teen Lantern” Quintela here. If they’re going to do a new Green Lanterns book, I wouldn’t mind one about the three of them as a team.

The Flash: This one gets a little far out in terms of cosmic scope. But it ends with some news that should make Wally West fans happy. I’m certainly intrigued.

Overall: A good outing, worth the $5.99 price tag. This is what I was hoping those Generations Shattered and Generations Forged books would be like. A jumping on point for various parts of the DCU.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Weekly Comic 100s: TMNT: The Last Ronin, Three Jokers #3, and More!

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***”Weekly Comic 100s” keeps it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin #1
AUTHORS: Peter Laird (Story), Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (Story & Script)
ARTISTS: Eastman (Layouts), Esau & Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, Luis Delgado (Colorist), Samuel Plata (Color Assists), Shawn Lee (Letterer)
RELEASED: October 28, 2020

There’s a certain Batman Beyond vibe to the world of The Last Ronin. Some of The Dark Knight Returns too. And our villain is almost a Kylo Ren rip-off. But none of this is necessarily bad. This book has a lot of intrigue going for it, and is off to an interesting start.

As this is supposedly based on an old story by Eastman and Laird, I came into it thinking it took place in the original TMNT comic canon. There’s a character on the last page who indicates that’s probably not the case.

TITLE: Batman: Three Jokers #3
AUTHOR: Geoff Johns
ARTISTS: Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson (Colorist), Rob Leigh (Letterer)
RELEASED: October 27, 2020

Another beautiful issue by Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson. Though not what I would call a satisfying ending to the whole Three Jokers premise.

The story had a lot of interesting ideas, particularly when it came to Jason Todd and Barbara Gordon. Even Joe Chill, the man who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. There’s also a new, interesting twist on the events of The Killing Joke. But in the end, this should remain out of continuity. A well written, gorgeously drawn idea exhibition. Nothing more.

TITLE: The Department of Truth #2
AUTHOR: James Tynion IV
ARTISTS: Martin Simmonds, Aditya Bidikar (Letterer), Dylan Todd (Designer)
RELEASED: October 28, 2020

“Collective belief shapes the world, so everything is a little bit true, or has the potential to be true.”

That’s a quote from this issue which essentially sums up the premise of The Department of Truth. And every time I find myself getting into it, that premise pulls me right out of the story. Because even using comic book logic, I just can’t get behind it.

Plus, we see something in this issue that turns me off. Any kind of violence against children has been doing that since my daughter was born.

TITLE: Batgirl #50
AUTHOR: Cecil Castellucci
ARTISTS: Emanuela Lupacchino, Marguerite Sauvage, Aneke, Wade Von Grawbadger (Inker), Mick Gray (Inker), Scott Hanna (Inker), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist), Trish Mulvihill (Colorist), Becca Carey (Letterer). Cover by Joshua Middleton.
RELEASED: October 27, 2020

What’s interesting about this book’s take on Batgirl is that she’s integrated into her community in a way Batman has never been. She’s helping an old lady with her groceries, she’s teaching self defense classes, etc. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s yet another example of why the Batgirl costume in this series doesn’t work. Barbara Gordon is part of the community too. So, as she’s only wearing a domino mask as Batgirl, it would be that much easier for people to recognize her. 

Now that this series is over, hopefully she gets a new outfit. And soon.

TITLE: Power Rangers: Drakkon New Dawn #3
AUTHOR: Anthony Burch
ARTISTS: Simone Ragazzoni, Raul Angulo (Colorist), Ed Dukeshire (Letterer). Cover by Jung-Geun Yoon.
RELEASED: October 28, 2020

This mini started to get interesting at the end of issue #2, when it looked like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as we knew them were about to return to the “Drakkonverse.” But this issue doesn’t follow through on that, which pretty much killed it for me.

But apparently Lord Drakkon sells comics. So I’d be surprised if we don’t get some kind of follow-up to this story. As one might expect, they leave the door wide open for it.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Weekly Comic 100s: Batman #100, Champions, and More!

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***”Weekly Comic 100s” keeps it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

TITLE: Batman #100
AUTHOR: James Tynion IV
ARTISTS: Jorge Jimenez, Carlo Pagulayan, Danny Miki (Inker), Tomeu Morey (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Variant cover by Francesco Mattina.
RELEASED: October 6, 2020

In the end, “Joker War” was pretty unremarkable. Though at least not flat-out offensive the way “City of Bane” was. It wound up being, in my opinion, as much about Harley Quinn as it was about Batman. That’s exactly what I was afraid it would be.

To his credit, though, Tynion gives Barbara Gordon a pretty awesome moment in this issue.

And hey, we got a “Jokerized” Batsuit out of the deal that’s just dying to be made into an action figure or a Funko Pop. So there’s that I guess.

TITLE: Champions #1
AUTHOR: Al Ewing
ARTISTS: Simone Di Meo, Federico Blee, Clayton Cowles. Cover by Toni Ifante.
RELEASED: October 7, 2020

I like this angle on the Champions. Superheroes under 21 are outlawed, which gives them something to rebel against. Teenage defiance and all that. This series isn’t starting off with the same sort of real-world intrigue the 2016 Mark Waid book did. But it’s making up for it with superhero drama.

So wait, Kamala Khan is the face of the law banning teen heroes, but Ms. Marvel is the leader of the Champions? How does that work? Superhero logic, I guess…

TITLE: Star Wars #7
AUTHOR: Charles Soule
ARTISTS: Ramon Rosanas, Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by Carlo Pagulayan.
RELEASED: October 7, 2020

Charles Soule starts to get this book on track here, as we get a pretty darn good origin story for our new villain, Commander Zahra. The Zahra character was mentored by Grand Moff Tarkin, who Soule has historically been very strong with.

This is our second time seeing Carlo Pagulayan this week. He impressed me with this cover. It reminded me quite a bit of Olivier Coipel’s work. For my money, that’s a compliment.

Ramon Rosanas turns in a strong performance as well. A suitable replacement for Jesus Saiz on this series.

TITLE: We Only Find Them When They’re Dead #2
AUTHOR: Al Ewing
ARTISTS: Simone Di Meo, Mariasara Miotti (Color Assistant), Andworld Design (Letters)
RELEASED: October 7, 2020

We Only Find Them When We’re Dead is a gorgeous blaze of vibrant colors. Truly wondrous from an artistic standpoint.

The trouble is, and perhaps this is just my ADD talking, I’ve been having some trouble following along. We’re learning about some intriguing characters. But there’s a lot of spaceship tech jargon in here, much of which feels like fat to be trimmed. My hope is the book starts to take off (pun intended) as we get into the real meat of the story.

TITLE: Batman: The Adventures Continue #13
AUTHORS: Alan Burnett, Paul Dini
ARTISTS: Ty Templeton, Monica Kubina (Colorist), Josh Reed (Letterer). Cover by Becky Cloonan.
RELEASED: October 1, 2020

One of the things Batman: The Adventures Continue does is answer certain questions left unanswered from the show. Including one I didn’t think to ask: Why isn’t Leslie Thompkins in The New Batman Adventures? Hint: It involves Jason Todd.

Oddly enough, in this issue Red Hood throws a grenade that’s read and has white “eyes” like his helmet. It looks like he’s throwing a Spider-Man grenade.

That’s right, folk. A Spider-Man grenade. That’s the kind of keen insight you’ll find here at PrimaryIgnition.com.

TITLE: The Department of Truth #1
AUTHOR: James Tynion IV
ARTISTS: Martin Simmonds, Aditya Bidikar (Letterer)
RELEASED: September 30, 2020

This first issue is packed with intrigue and possibility. Not to mention a sense of dread. As if we’re about to learn some horrible secret about how the world works. And we do…kinda…

Simply put, I don’t buy the big twist in The Department of Truth #1. The book is written and drawn like a government espionage type drama. But the revelation is a piece of comic book science so far-fetched that even I don’t buy it. Such a shame, as I’d been looking forward to this for months.

TITLE: Batman/Superman Annual #1
AUTHOR: Joshua Williamson
ARTISTS: Gleb Melnikov, Dale Eaglesham, Clayton Henry, Alejandro Sanchez (Colorist), John J. Hill (Letterer). Cover by Gabriel Rodriguez & Sanchez.
RELEASED: September 29, 2020

Wanna have some fun? Read Mr. Mxyzptlk’s dialogue in Gilbert Gottfried’s voice, and Bat-Mite’s in Paul Reubens’ voice. Just like on those old cartoons.

This annual is about our two fifth-dimensional imps arguing about whether Batman or Superman would win in a fight. It’s played for laughs, and it’s a lot of fun. But most important of all? The story has the right ending.

Remember, kids: Superman and Batman are both heroes. They shouldn’t be fighting. They’d find another way to work things out.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

The Joker’s Animated History by Noah Sterling

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Our friend Noah Sterling is at it yet again! Having previously given his animated take on Green Lantern, Robin, and numerous other comic book icons, the Joker is the latest to get the Sterling treatment!

One thing’s for sure, there’s no shortage of ground to cover…

For more, check out Noah Sterling’s official site or his YouTube page.

Email Rob at at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.