Tag Black Manta

Weekly Comic 100s: Batman, Superman, and DC’s Digital Offerings

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
A Giant Something or Other

In response to the comic book industry being essentially stuck in limbo due to the Coronavirus pandemic, DC is releasing stories digitally that were previously exclusive to their DC Giants line. The Giants books were originally exclusive to mass market outlets, most notably Walmart. So what we’re getting here are basically re-prints.

But hey, they’re new to me. Plus, there’s some all-star talent attached to this stuff. We’ve got Brad Meltzer and Jim Lee on Batman, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti on Wonder Woman, Gail Simone on the Flash. Hey, sign me up!

I was also finally able to purchase that Superman: Villains one-shot. So I threw that in too.

TITLE: Superman: Man of Tomorrow #1
AUTHOR: Robert Venditti
ARTISTS: Paul Pelletier, Andrew Hennessy (Inker), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona and Tomeu Morey.
DIGITAL RELEASE: April 20, 2020

Our story here is about the Parasite leeching off the city’s power grid and causing a mass blackout. In response, Superman tells the people of Metropolis to stand by one another. To share food, help find medicine for people in need, check on their neighbors, etc. Seems like a pretty poignant message right now, eh?

It’s so awesome when somebody gets Superman right. What we get here is also very accessible to new readers, and Paul Pelletier absolutely nails the art, particularly with the Parasite.

At the end of the day, this is the Superman I want to read.

TITLE: Batman: Gotham Nights #1
AUTHORS: Sal Giunta, Brad Meltzer, Larry Hama,
ARTISTS: Jim Lee, Mirko Colak, Scott Williams (Inker),
COLORISTS: Alex Sinclair, John Kalisz
LETTERERS: Chris Eliopoulos, Travis Lanham
DIGITAL RELEASE: April 21, 2020

What Sal Giunta and Brad Meltzer do with “Medal of Honor” is really special. So I’m simply going to encourage you to read it without going into things.

The Lee, Williams, and Sinclair trio give me Hush flashbacks. In a good way.

The second story follows a similar “service” theme, only with Kate Kane instead of Batman. We go back to her military days, which is unexpected but not unwelcome. But I’m sure it was a surprise for casual fans looking for Batwoman.

TITLE: Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #1
AUTHORS: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti
ARTISTS: Inaki Miranda, Hi-Fi (Colors), Travis Lanham (Letterer). Cover by Conner and Alex Sinclair.
DIGITAL RELEASE: April 22, 2020

I’m not really a Harley Quinn fan. I know that’s enough to get me strung up in some circles. But I’ve almost always found her more annoying than humorous.

But with Wonder Woman as her “straight man” you get a pretty entertaining team. To their credit, they actually got me to chuckle when Harley appeared wearing what was supposed to be Amazonian armor.

Conner and Palmiotti write a hell of a Wondie. Early on, there’s an exchange between her and two security guards that I got a kick out of. Like Robert Venditti with Superman, they get her.

TITLE: Aquaman: Deep Dives #1
AUTHOR: Steve Orlando
ARTISTS: Daniel Sempere, Juan Albarran (Inker), Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer). Cover by Liam Sharpe and Romulo Fajardo Jr.
DIGITAL RELEASE: April 23, 2020

“My name is Black Manta. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

That’s basically what this issue is about.

I imagine because these were (at least in theory) released to a different audience, they wanted to start on the ground floor in some of these stories. That means a lot of expository dialogue. Superman: Man of Tomorrow did that. But this one really lays the expository dialogue on thick.

Great fight between Aquaman and Black Manta, though. At the “Museum of Unnatural History.” I adore that.

TITLE: The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1
AUTHOR: Gail Simone
ARTISTS: Clayton Henry, Marcelo Maiolo (Colorist), Rob Leigh (Letterer). Cover by Dan Panosian.
RELEASED: April 24, 2020

Coming out of this issue I know two things.

The Flash TV show has indeed ruined Iris West for me. Not because of the actress. Because of how she’s written.

Had it come out a month or two sooner, a few less people would have gotten on those disease-infested cruise ships.

Not surprisingly, Gail Simone writes a great Flash. Gail Simone writes a great almost-anything. Together with Henry, Maiolo, and Leigh, they’ve put together one of the highlights of this DC Giants digital-first campaign.

TITLE: Superman: Villains #1
AUTHORS: Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Jody Houser
ARTISTS: Michael Gaydos, Riley Rossmo, Scott Godlewski, Bryan Hitch, Cully Hamner, Steve Lieber, Jim Mahfood.
COLORISTS: Gaydos, Ivan Plascencia, Gabe Eltaeb, Alex Sinclair, Dave McCaig, Nathan Fairbairn, Mahfood.
LETTERERS: Dave Sharpe, Clayton Cowles, Tom Napolitano, Troy Peteri, Josh Reed.
RELEASED: March 4, 2020

So here we have a bunch of villains reacting to Superman telling the world he’s Clark Kent. We hear from Toyman, Mongul, and a Joker-ized Supergirl (see Batman/Superman). We also get a story that bridges into future Superman and Action Comics storylines.

But by far the best part of the issue is a two-page Lex Luthor story, as he discovers he has 98 messages on his voicemail. And several of them (Possibly all of them?) are from the Joker. And he’s laughing. Take a wild guess at what he’s laughing at, folks…

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

A New Suicide Squad #1 Review – New Game, New Line-Up

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

New Suicide Squad #1, 2014TITLE: New Suicide Squad #1
AUTHOR: Sean Ryan

PENCILLER: Jeremy Roberts
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASED: July 9, 2014

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

In theory, this New Suicide Squad relaunch is a welcome one. DC has swapped out the likes of Captain Boomerang, King Shark, and James Gordon Jr. for characters with a more of that edgy, cool factor: Black Manta, Deathstroke, and James Gordon Jr. Sadly, there’s an awkward element to this book that negates a lot that coolness.

Government official Vic Sage (a character who was The Question in the pre-New 52 DC Universe) has been put in charge of the Suicide Squad. He recruits Deathstroke, Black Manta and Joker’s Daughter to the line up, an opts to keep Deadshot and Harley Quinn. Amanda Waller sticks around because she “generally knows the ins and outs of how all this works.” Our team’s first mission takes them to Russia to destroy a top secret base. But of course, they’re the Suicide Squad. And things go…well, how they usually go.

New Suicide Squad #1, Vic Sage, The Vic Sage character is clearly meant to be somewhat aloof and in over his head, at least on the surface. He seems largely concerned with the team’s look and marketability, and doesn’t seem to have much in-depth knowledge about them individually. In the opening scene he calls them “this clown girl,” and “the marksman with the red eye thing.” I also particularly enjoyed this line about Black Manta: “He does have a cool look. Plus, he’s got the word black in his name. That never hurts.” He’s got a humorous ineptitude about him that might be interesting when placed next to the ultra-serious Waller.

But what I have a problem with in that opening scene is how the secretary of state talks. It lacks a certain gravity, and thus he comes off a bit like the J.K. Simmons character in Burn After Reading. Also, and granted this is an odd point, but why is there nothing on his desk?

New Suicide Squad #1, Deathstroke, Harley QuinnThe scene where our five team members meet isn’t exactly inspiring either. The art itself isn’t bad, thought Deathstroke is wearing  football pads on his shoulders, and Harley Quinn still looks like a clown stripper. Again it comes down to the dialogue. We’ve got annoying expository name-dropping (“Deathstroke. Can we just get to the business at hand?” “Of course, Manta. I just needed to get everyone’s attention.”), combined with Deathstroke sounding like a dumb jock with a gun. When Harley and Joker’s Daughter get into it over the latter wearing Joker’s face, Slade shoves a gun in Harley’s mouth and delivers the awe-inspiring line: “Shut. Up. Or someone will be wearing your face, Harley Quinn.” By God, what a master of manipulation and intimidation…

Also, Amanda Waller is still skinny. Amanda Waller should not be skinny. Put her on a steady diet of Five Guys, then gimmie a call.

New Suicide Squad #1, Deathstroke, Black MantaAll this being said, New Suicide Squad does have some interesting potential as far as infighting is concerned.. Putting Harley Quinn and Joker’s Daughter together obviously creates an inherent rivalry right off the bat, and injects the series with plenty of “Joker appeal.” This issue also drops a pretty blatant teaser for Deathstroke vs Deadshot, in what could be a fight to determine the world’s greatest assassin. Black Manta also makes for a hell of a wild card. He can certainly shake things up at any time. Suicide Squad vs. Aquaman, perhaps?

New Suicide Squad has, for the moment, piqued my interest. Compared to the old series, there’s more to sink your teeth into right off the bat. But unless Ryan and Roberts sharpen up their execution, as far as I’m concerned this book’ll be on track for the morgue.

Image 1 from comicsalliance.com.

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A Brightest Day, Vol. 3 Review – Prelude to a New Dawn

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

Brightest Day, Vol. 3TITLE: Brightest Day, Vol. 3
AUTHOR: Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi
PENCILLERS: Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark, Joe Prado
COLLECTS: Brightest Day #17-24
FORMAT: Hardcover
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $29.99
RELEASED: September 7, 2011

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

So here we have it: The third and final Brightest Day collection, which ties everything together, and lets us know who Earth’s ultimate champion is. I’m going to stay spoiler free here, but I talked at length about the big reveals at the end when Brightest Day #24 was originally published. So that’ll be your fix for spoilers on this one.

When we open the book, all the characters are in the middle of their respective storylines. Boston Brand (Deadman) reunites with his only living relative, Hawkman and Hawkgirl do battle alongside Star Sapphire in space, Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch race to save Ronnie’s father and Professor Stein, Martian Manhunter continues to be tormented by a most unexpectd foe, and Aquaman and the new Aqualad prepare for what may be the battle of their lives. All the while, the entity that resides within the mysterious White Lantern is becoming more aggressive in preparation for a moment that may decide the fate of the world.

Deadman, Brightest Day #22Until we get to our big reveal at the end, this book is pretty good. In all fairness, while I wasn’t a big fan of the ending, it did make sense given what had been established in Blackest Night and other stories. I found myself wanting to see more from the Deadman story arc, but it’s likely best that things turned out the way they did. If they overdid it, the arc could have been tainted. The Hawkman/Hawgirl story never really did it for me, but it ends on an interesting enough note.

Aquaman and his cast of characters get a nice spotlight in this particular book, as the “Aquawar” story within a story played out. Particularly strong were the moments between Aquaman and Black Manta, two rivals whose contempt for one another rivals that of Batman and The Joker (yep, I said it). Aquaman and the new Aqualad, Jackson Hyde, also have a few interesting moments together, which leads me to believe the two will have an interesting partnership.

This book has what some would consider to be an all-star team of artists. Ivan Reis’ work with Johns has been well publicized, and he delivers yet again here. Ardian Syaf continues to have strong showings (despite his talent being wasted on that damn Grounded story). Those two turn in the strongest performances here in my opinion, though the art is great all around.

Brightest Day #24 (2011), Hawk & Dove, DeadmanI’m interested to see if this entire story remains in continuity with the New 52. Apparently, the romance between Dove and Deadman will still be in continuity. And as our mystery savior at the end is getting his own book as well, one can conclude his arc is canon. Firestorm may be as well. To an extent, one can only speculate.

In any event, Brightest Day certainly created a decent amount of momentum for its stars, which may be evidenced by most of the stars getting their own ongoing books this month. Deadman will also be featured in the first story arc of DC Universe Presents. From my perspective, this final volume saw the quality dip a bit, but not much. Brightest Day is a worthwhile venture.

RATING: 7.5/10

Image 1 from x-mensupreme.blogspot.com. Image 2 from panelxpanelcomics.wordpress.com.

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