What I Read Today
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Still about a week behind, but I’m trying to catch up. This is what I got through today:
52 Aftermath: Crime Bible - 5 Lessons in Blood
A scholar writes a book denouncing the Crime Bible as a myth but seems to have far too much information. The Question (Renee Montoya) tries to find his connection to the Cult of Cain, or whatever they are calling themselves. I really enjoyed the writing in this, but it’s Greg Rucka, so no surprise there. From the ending and comments made to Montoya/Question, it seems like she will be learning one of the “Lessons of Blood” in each issue, possibly leading up to her being qualified to be a Priestess of Cain?
I seem to recall reading (possibly in 52) that this whole thing was started by Darkseid and some gangsters. I know next to nothing about the New Gods and all that, so it’s always possible that I’m missing something.
The good thing is that a friend has lent me all of the essential reading for Jack Kirby’s Fourth World, so I should be fairly knowledgeable soon. Try to be patient with me for now, and if you know of anything I missed here, let me know?
Superman is called into the future to help the Legion of Super Heroes save the future, apparently contrary to the wishes of most of the Legionnaires.
I’m not a very big fan of the Big Blue Boyscout, so you may want to take this with a grain of salt. Right off the bat, I don’t like how Geoff Johns seems to be trying to return to the days of a “bumbling Clark Kent. Kent doesn’t need to be a laughingstock in order to protect the identity of Superman. Perry White’s comment that Clark’s only friend is Jimmy Olsen and that he needs to get out and meet more people seemed especially odd to me - the man is married to Lois Lane; he seems to have that interpersonal interaction down pretty well.
And I won’t even get into the fact that I’m totally confused about continuity. DC continuity in general is confusing; Legion continuity is totally FUBAR.
The art also really bothered me; there are just too many lines, especially on the faces. Even Jimmy Olsen and the teenage Clark Kent look like old men. Here, look:
Dude looks ancient!
On the bright side, it does look like we’ll be finding out what the deal was with the Legionnaires and the Lightning Saga in JLA and JSA.
There’s also a rather nice twist at the end regarding Superman’s powers.
Batman 670 (A Prelude to the Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul)
This is another run that I’m going to have to do some background reading on. I’ve never really had much of an opinion on Ra’s al Ghul, so I didn’t really care that he’s coming back, but I have alot of questions that I’d probably have the answers to if I’d read up on the Demon’s Head. Anyway, the show must go on.
This issue basically breaks down to Batman finding out that Ra’s is back. It opens with Talia’s henchmen apparently looking for Nanda Parbat, but I have no idea why. Should I? Would someone like to help me out here? I do like this game of shadows that al Ghul seems to be playing with Batman, I wasn’t even sure that he really was Ra’s al Ghul until the end. There was a very interesting reveal regarding Damien’s origins, intended purpose, and possible destiny at the end of this issue.
This crossover just might be enough to get me into Ra’s Al Ghul; this issue definitely has piqued my interest.
Countdown Presents Lord Havok and the Extremists
I didn’t know who these people are, other than those guys who captured Bob the Monitor and Co. and told Monarch to shove his army up his ass. Nor did I really care who they were beyond that. I picked up this issue anyway, hoping to be surprised to actually find something worthwhile coming from Countdown.
The Extremist’s corner of the multiverse is a kind of obvious analogue to the Marvel Universe, down to the slight twist on Civil War, and I’m really not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, this issue gets points for familairity and showing these characters in a different light; on the other hand, it seems kinda lazy to basically just be reusing characters. Are they trying to make some kind of point and I missed it? Because I’m not seeing much originality so far.
After reading this issue, I’m really not sure if I care about this corner of the multiverse. I probably will pick up the next issue, though, to see if they’re actually going somewhere with this if nothing else.
Annnnd that’s all I got to today. I guess it’s sort of obvious why I’m a week behind on my readings.
tag: 5 Lessons of Blood, Action Comics 858, batman, comics, Countdown, Crime Bible, Damien, DC, Fourth World, Greg Rucka, Legion of Superheroes, Lightning Saga, Lord Havok and the Extremists, Multiverse, Nanda Parbat, New Gods, Ra’s Al Ghul, Renee Montoya, Superman, Talia al Ghul, The Question
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Comments
That issue of Batman has caught my eye both online and when I was in the shop the other day. I’ve been reading Detective Comics but have heard nothing but bad things about the actual Batman title. I, much like you, don’t really know too much about Ra’s al Ghul. Nor do I care really. What I do know is that I need more Batman and your review maybe have just sold me.
You should check out Detective Comics if you’re on a hunt for more Batman. The arcs usually only last a couple of issues so there’s really no long-term commitment. The art and stories are really well put together.
Wes, there’s also the fact that for every reboot of DC continuity, there have been about five reboots of Legion continuity, consisting of total and complete changes to characters. I have no idea who anyone is half the time.
Mike, I agree that the Batman for all Nations arc wasn’t the greatest, but I also don’t think it was THAT bad. But then I’m biased towards Batman. I’m reading all the Batbooks - Batman, Detective, Confidential, and even the horrid horrid All Star.
[...] #670 gets 4 Panels of Awesome out of 5. Special thanks to CrackerBob for his review which sold me on the comic and caused this review to be [...]
[...] I’m still a fairly big fan of this series, though I can certainly understand some criticisms of not really knowing where Rucka is going with this. This issue seems to help in that regard, several subtle clues given throughout the issue, and one statement made by the monk of stone at the end, make me think that they know exactly who Renee is and what she thinks she’s doing and reinforce my belief that Renee is unknowingly being taught each of the Five Lessons of Blood, in the hopes tha…. [...]
[...] #670 gets 4 Panels of Awesome out of 5. Special thanks to CrackerBob for his review which sold me on the comic and caused this review to be [...]
[...] I’m still a fairly big fan of this series, though I can certainly understand some criticisms of not really knowing where Rucka is going with this. This issue seems to help in that regard, several subtle clues given throughout the issue, and one statement made by the monk of stone at the end, make me think that they know exactly who Renee is and what she thinks she’s doing and reinforce my belief that Renee is unknowingly being taught each of the Five Lessons of Blood, in the hopes tha…. [...]
“Legion continuity is totally FUBAR.”
As is all of DC continuity, period. The Legion just seems more obvious because it stands 10 centuries apart from all the other books. The Legion’s history has been altered so many times in the past 40+ years that I’m not even sure if the real hardcore fans know whats real or
unreal these days.