DC Reboot, Week 3: Eh.

I decided not to pick up all the new DC reboot comics this week. The first week’s selection was mostly mediocre, so this time around I picked up major characters, characters I like, and a few that sounded neat. I skipped Deathstroke, Grifter, Legion Lost, Red Lanterns, and Resurrection Man and missed Mister Terrific (which I do want to read). The verdicts on the ones I read:

Batman and Robin
Once you get past/ignore the fact that the reboot timeline (which is supposed to be something like 5 years after the various super-heroes started appearing) means that Bats has been going through Robins at an alarming rate, this is pretty much what you expect from a comic that pairs Bruce up with his son. Damien doesn’t take orders and seems like he could just as easily be a sociopath as a hero and Bats isn’t used to dealing with quite so much attitude. It looks like the writers are taking their cues from Morrison on this one, so this should be a good one.

Batwoman
Despite being part of the reboot, this looks to be basically the same Batwoman comic that was promised a year or two ago but never got off the ground. Looking forward to finally reading it.

Demon Knights
The Demon/Jason Blood and Madame Xanadu wander around medieval Europe at some unspecified time after the fall of Camelot, occasionally meeting up with Vandal Savage. In the first issue, they also meet up with a character who appears to be a female version of Shining Knight. Not sure about this one. I really like the character design for Etrigan, but so far he only seems to speak in rhyme when transforming. I realize writing the rhymes is probably a huge pain in the ass, but not even trying seems kind of lazy to me.

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
I wasn’t reading comics when the Seven Soldiers of Victory stuff came out, so I don’t really know anything about the character. Based on the first issue, though, I like it: Frank works for the Super Human Advanced Defense Executive, which is headquartered in a microscopic city inside a 3-inch indestructible ball that moves around at 600+ mph, his boss is someone named Father Time who gets a new body every 10 years and is currently a little girl, and he’s just been paired up with a team of other variations on the classic Universal monsters. The first issue has a “Doom Patrol meets Hellboy” kind of feel, and if they can keep that up, I’ll keep reading.

Green Lantern
The book starts with Sinestro getting a power ring, which seems like a bad plan considering that he’s apparently already done a bunch of the bad stuff he did in the old DCU. Then we cut to Hal and discover that it was his ring, which the little blue guys took away from him (presumably because of recklessness) and he’s not handling it well. The issue’s basically all set-up for the final page, which looks like it will lead into the actual premise next issue. The first issue was readable enough, but there’s not enough story there to make any real judgement about whether or not the series will be worth reading.

Suicide Squad
Harley Quinn and a bunch of other really bad guys you’ve never or barely heard of (I think Deadshot’s the next most recognizable) get forced into working for Dr. Amanda Waller. I assume they’re going to be some sort of super-team, but based the description of the first mission (provided just as the issue ends), it’s also possible (if unlikely) that Waller has lost her damned mind and become a super-villain. I’ll give it a few issues, if only because they seem to be writing Harley the way I like her--disturbingly, creepily insane--and there’s a guy with a shark head.

Superboy
This one’s all origin story, so it’s going to take at least another issue to get a feel for where it’s going. It looks like it might just be rehashing the mid-90s Superboy storyline, but hopefully they’ll add something new or interesting. I kind of like the manga-style art.