Clark, if there's one lesson I've learned from you ...

Wonder Woman #1 - I love the art (Cliff Chiang) but I will say the first half or so was a bit confusing with the lack of dialogue. I liked the action and the last bit with Diana, Hermes and Zola made up for the confusion earlier. An interesting start.

Supergirl #1 - I loved this issue. Don't know how I feel about the metor containing Supergirl going through the Earth's mantle but whatever. I liked her confusion, thinking it was a dream until the sun came up and she knew something was wrong. And then the ending page, perfect first issue.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 - I don't like the changes made to Kori that she can barely tell the difference between humans and has no care about the "group" she was with before. It's an understandable conceit and probably done so to help buffer any dislike of Kori's sexual proclivities but ugh, Kori/Dick was one of my favorite pairings and for her to be frolicking with Roy and Jason, its like a nightmare in that aspect lol.

Nightwing #1 - It'll take a bit to get used to Nightwing being red colored but I liked this first issue. The whole I have to be different than Bruce gotta be in some loft in the bad part of the city is getting a bit old, I feel like Dick is moved to a new place with every writer that takes over. Especially when having access to the Cave and the mansion is so handy, or even the penthouse with the bunker underneath it, it seems a waste to shelve all that. I do like the return of Haly's Circus and the continuing of Dick's tendency for redheads, and even the hired merc with claws is interesting.

Catwoman #1 - Not bad. I'm not a fan of Guillem March's art, disliked it on Gotham City Sirens so the fact that it has followed Selina to her own book I'm a little disappointed. I also am less thrilled by the fact that Winick is the writer and that he just had Selina brutally kill a guy. I don't mind bringing back the thief, grey aspect of Catwoman but that seemed a bit much. Hot and Heavy with the Bat, at least they kept one thing consistent lol.

Birds of Prey #1 - Interesting first issue. Again like the Batman & Robin book with Bruce/Damian, I'm a little confused and disheartened by the coldness between Dinah/Babs. Outside of that, I'm all for the book, and I'm glad that reporter wasn't going to be a continual presence because his perspective just wasn't needed. This could be Dinah's solo book in the way that Green Arrow/Black Canary never was.

Batman #1 - By far the main Batman books seem to be hitting all cylinders. Snyder just does the Bat Family so well and I love seeing the Bruce Wayne side of things along with Batman, sometimes Bruce is forgotten by other writers and all that you get is Batman. The last page twist didn't do much for me but I am sure it's going to be a great mystery to be revealed. Also love Vicki Vale. Also Capullo's art is a nice change of pace, love it!

Flash #1 - One of the first comics I read of the new DC52 and I have to say one of the things I love about the reboot is freeing up the locked in relationships (I like Patty Spivot and seeing Iris West in a more Lois Lane type role). The art by Manapul is amazing (and I have to say the seams that have been added to a lot of the heroes costumes I like a lot) and the story seems interesting with so many clones? of Barry's friend.

Teen Titans #1 - Solid first issue. I really don't get some organization getting the jump on Tim unless he meant to let them so he could find out who he's dealing with, and I'm intrigued to see how Cassie is different. Kid Flash ... it depends on who he is, there's much confusion there but I do wish they'd build the team first before sending  Superboy after them but I guess .. if he is going to be part of the team it makes sense.

Batman: The Dark Knight #1 - Not as great as the other two Batman books but pretty good. I like Finch's art, and Jaina Hudson seems like an interesting new character. That internal affairs guy I could care less about and I am intrigued by what happened to Two-Face.

Aquaman #1 - Masterful first issue, you can tell that Geoff Johns just gets it. I like how they confront the misconceptions/stereotypes built up about the character and his frustration/anger about it. And monsters from the sea, I am excited about the series.

Superman #1 - Probably the downside of freeing up relationships, it just feels weird for Lois to be with someone else. As long as they don't turn Clark into a morose voyeur like Superman Returns I can live with it for awhile. A lot happened in the book, maybe too much but I can understand wanting to try to set up the world and get going as fast as possible. One positive note, not one mention of Luthor.

And that was it! All through the pile of books I've had sitting on my coffee table for a good six months at least. Apologies for filling up so much commentary on 8 month old stories.

Here is where I will talk about comics that came out uh .. 8 months ago? Yeesh. I am so behind. Once I get through this pile I'm skipping ahead to January releases. Busy Busy Busy.

Detective Comics #881 - I really wish there had been more time to explore the Dick as Batman story. I think Snyder is one of the few writers who wrote Dick well and didn't just try to turn him into Bruce-lite. I also would have liked to have seen more between Dick!Bat and Barbara/Jim Gordon, which was some with this story. It's a great dynamic.

Batgirl #24 - It's a shame that the story was rushed to a quick end but I love Steph so it was a nice wrap up. I also liked the glimpses of what she saw under the influence and I loved the Nightwing-esque outfit in one and the one where it looks like she is a mom with I will pretend is Tim's kid since I loved those two together.

Batman #713 - A great story telling the balance between first Bruce!Bat and Dick!Robin to then Dick!Bat and Damian!Robin.  I love the parallels between the two and how Waynes seem to grow best working with a Grayson.  Not a better duo than a balanced Batman & Robin.

Justice League of America #60 - Now this is a depressing issue. I was always a fan of this incarnation of the group given that it had the next generation Dick, Donna, Jade, Kara, Jesse, etc. leading but Robinson wrote some way out there stories and honestly Bagley's art really set the book back. He just did not fit with the characters. One of the things I enjoyed greatly was seeing Dick and Kara interact, the crush aspect and all it entails.

Action Comics #904 - Okay, I'll be honest I remember very little about the Reign of the Doomsdays but I did think a previous issue had resolved everything with Luthor failing so this was a little weird to see them all fighting again. Everything was just okay, nothing special. A nice little speech by Lois at the end but I feel like that is something that is too often repeated in Superman stories this days, reminding him that his goodness is why people do what they do for him.

Teen Titans #100 - Extra-sized issue, nice sprawling battle.  Also enjoyed the appearance of the Source Wall, using it to trap Superboy-Prime. And one of the things I've always liked about a teen team book is the possibility for ever changing relationships, like this one had a little tease of Conner/Rose but of course Conner screws up by not seeing it at all and going in a complete different direction. Love the art at the end, reminds me how much I enjoyed the future Titans arc that happened so many years ago.

Wonder Woman #614 - Outside of that weird Witchblade-esque moment in the beginning with the sword, it was nice to see Diana finish her odyssey and return to the life she remembered.  Touching end with Hippolyta remarking the end of this era.

Looking forward to starting the pile of #1 issues I have left. Will save for another post. NEXT STOP THE DCNU.

Above was my PC's wallpaper for February, a crossover I'm sure many comic fans would like to see given the similarities of the two. From my recollection it was drawn by Terry Dodson (looks like his style anyway).

February was much busier than January and as a result I did not get much writing done the latter half of the month. I have outlined the next 3 chapters of His Girl Friday, and started dusting off Great Power, Great Responsibility & Great Love. WRITING TOTAL: 5,281 words (2,784 in H/HR PB XI Submission "Not According to Plan"; 2,497 in CHLARK PB XI Submission "Left Behind")

Shout out to the March birthday babes: calamityjamie (15th) & axolotl_lan (25th). Have awesome birthdays this year! ♥

PS: Just posted last night a wallpaper post for the members of my community, capes_and_cowls.

Since I've started ranting weekly about specific comic book issues this monthly wrap-up has become more commentary than outright reviews about the issues. Less spoilery.

( September's Best - 5 DC, the Rest 0 - DC Fanaticism Going Strong )

SO MANY great comic books this week.  Can't remember the last time that happened.

A comic that starred Dick Grayson, Kara Zor-El, Jennie-Lynn Hayden (Jade) and Donna Troy?!  That is like a dream title for me.  James Robinson is quickly winning me over with his run on Justice League America.  Only thing that kept it from being my favorite book of the week was that I wish there was more of the Dick/Kara storyline instead of just a few pages bookending the Jade/Donna story.

For a book about the fastest man, the Flash is mired in the slowest developing plot line and I'm really close to dropping this title.  I get that the Rogues are an important part of the Flash Universe but way too many Rogues on the pages and it feels like the story hasn't moved at least 5 issues worth and I'm not fond of wife/family in danger plots.

If Portacio is going to be Uncanny X-men's new regular artist, I'll be dropping this book.  I was already leaning that way with how Fraction writes the X-men but the art style is not something I'm fond of.  They keep making Hope look older than she is/should be and there's just a lot about the X-men I haven't enjoyed in YEARS.

The art is pretty but the stories in Power Girl since Winick took over have been not as fun and entertaining as the previous creative team.  I'm also not fond of having Power Girl's identity get figured out.  Did like seeing some Dick/Karen interaction but I'm honestly only reading this book lately for the art.  Might be dropping it soon and that's just sad because I like the character but not the direction the book is heading.

Kord Tower? Seriously? I give up, I'm dropping Birds of Prey.  This book should at least have great art and it doesn't even have that.

Is there a worse mentor/guardian-like figure than Wolverine? I never understand why the writers mess with X-23 so much.  She could be a fun character to write, but instead they always go for the tortured, born to kill, isolated from/ostracized by everyone route. Sigh.

Can we just forget about Magog? He wasn't interesting even when Geoff Johns wrote JSA. And the art in the annual was subpar at best, made it hard to even try to read through the entire issue.

ETA: Just realized I was pretty much all negative here. I guess it's just one of those weeks. Tiny Titans was my favorite issue this week.

Been awhile since I've written one of these multiple topic comic posts. It's also hot as hell so I'd rather use most of my willing brain power towards writing so here we go:

( Talking About Dropping Action Comics, Tim Drake Name Confusion, Liberty Belle's New Outfit & Book Delays. )

... And I will most likely be attending on Sunday.  That is the day pass I have and with having to make the two hour plus drive down to San Diego, I'll probably be leaving around 4am to get in line ASAP.  This will be my first time in SDCC and I am ready to be overwhelmed, haven't been to a con in over two years (thanks to WWLA being cancelled) but should everything go well and I make it down there I'll be sure to take my camera and hopefully make my one goal of attending the Smallville panel which will be insane as always.  Then I'll be searching the con floor for deals and famous faces.

Over on Tumblr, I've been doing the overdue task of going through all the favorites I've made over the months and saving the ones that I think are brilliant because there are some great art/images/comic pages that are shared on there.  It's an agonizing process because I have around 1,400 faves and for some reason my Mac doesn't always save files at their right sizes so I tend to have to re-save some files multiple times until it shows the right file size. (BTW besides my personal tumblr that I use to post videos & images I want to share on Twitter, I've created a new tumblr full of picspam goodness connected to my new blog project).

And while going through my Tumblr faves I stumbled upon some pages of Spider-man: Blue (which I really need a copy to own) and it got me thinking, what happened to Captain America: White? Does anyone remember that?  It was announced back at WWLA 2008 (I was in the audience) and issue #0 came out around SDCC that Summer and since then nothing. At first there was thought they wanted to bring Steve Rogers back (which they have now) and then it was they wanted it out around the movie (and that's approaching) but still nothing.  I know Loeb continues to write Hulk (which I won't touch with a ten foot pole) and was just put in charge of Marvel's direction to TV but I have not heard anything coming from Tim Sale.  It's strange.

When lacking a topic to post about, talk comics!

( Talking DC's 'Identity' Crisis, Avengers Redundancy & its Academy )

Had some comic book thoughts while reading that I can't really cover in my stack posts. Might do this on occasion.

( Talking the Lack of Comic Relationships, Ultimate Spider-Man, Batfamily Villains & DC Titles I'm Dropping )