usuallyhats: The cast of Critical Role sitting round a table playing Dungeons and Dragons (cass)
incorrigibly frivolous ([personal profile] usuallyhats) wrote2012-12-04 12:15 pm

Comics read in November

Justice League of America: Injustice League
JLA Classified: New Maps of Hell
X-23: Chaos Theory
Blue Beetle: Shellshocked
Blue Beetle: Road Trip
Batman: Heart of Hush
Global Frequency: Planet Ablaze
Dark Reign: Young Avengers
Teen Titans/Outsiders: Insiders
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Vol 1
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Vol 2
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Vol 3
Green Arrow: Year One


Injustice League started off very nicely by making me laugh at Oliver Queen's bachelor party ("How could you possibly know that?"/"I'm Batman.") but descended into a fairly by the numbers punch-up. It also included a couple of one off issues, one of which introduced an alternate universe female Flash (yay!), who was sadly dressed like this. (Linked image possibly not safe for work. /o\) REALLY? *sigh* New Maps of Hell also started strongly, and made me really like Clark, who I can usually take or leave (Lois was great too! I always like her), and pretty much stayed good throughout. It also had a great role for Oracle, hurray! If only she still existed.

X-23's is a darker universe than I usually like, but I enjoyed Laura's characterisation and her relationships with the other characters, especially Jubilee. (HOWEVER. I picked this volume up when I was in the library, assuming that because it was marked as volume two, it would follow directly on from the one I've already read, which was volume one. Not so much! Also, as it turns out, the volume one I read wasn't the first volume one. That would be too easy. COMICS. *shakes fist*)

Blue Beetle = EPIC SPARKLY LOVE. I was overwhelmed with delight with these two trades, not least because they were HILARIOUS. Seriously, everyone who follows me on twitter should count themselves lucky that my laptop was switched off when I read it, because otherwise I would've tweeted basically every other line. ♥ ♥ ♥

Dark Reign: Young Avengers and Teen Titans/Outsiders: Insiders I think both suffered from being read in isolation - I am assuming that there was more build-up/context for both of them which I haven't read. While I quite enjoyed reading them, I was left feeling a bit "well... that happened" about them. I liked the fact that most of the powerhouses of the Titans AND the Outsiders were women: Wonder Girl, Starfire, Thunder, Grace etc. And I always enjoy a comic where Dick's motivations can be interpreted as "overwhelmed with feelings". (See also: Gotham Knights.) I still don't understand Raven, though.

I enjoyed the Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive (I read Murderer a while ago) arc very much, despite not really caring overmuch about Bruce. (The few longueurs definitely coincided for me with the bits where I was supposed to be v. interested in his pain.) There was a lot of focus on the importance of his family, which I loved - seeing everyone's shocked faces in Vol 2 when he started talking about his feelings was worth the price of admission - and I loved that it specifically called out the "'Bruce Wayne' is just a mask" attitude as wrong and unhealthy. The "day in the life" issue I liked a lot, partially for the same reason - it shows Bruce doing good as Bruce, as well as as Batman. I was of course not happy that Vesper had to die to provoke this feelings crisis, but I liked that at one point Bruce actually acknowledges that she's the victim and that that's getting lost. Since I loved Checkmate it was great to see some more of Sasha, though I didn't love how the Batfamily more or less forgot about her. (Apart from Alfred. ALFRED IS THE ACTUAL BEST.) Oh, and one little thing: I was pleased to see Spoiler listed as a member of the Batfamily in the "previously..." blurbs at the beginning of each volume, even the ones she didn't actually appear in. ♥

I was and remain completely neutral on Oliver Queen, but a few niggles notwithstanding I thoroughly enjoyed Green Arrow: Year One. Very well written with great art - not something I'm usually good at noticing, but it was particularly good here.

In other comics news, [tumblr.com profile] operationbatgirlinc is having a Cass month! REBLOG ALL THE THINGS.

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