[...] the previous series, the Legion Academy series in Adventure Comics, as well as last week’s Legion Lost debut. Paul’s an old hand at juggling huge amounts of essential information, and here, it’s [...]

[...] some of you might know, I’m currently in the middle of reviewing all the DC New 52 #1 titles. So, looking for something a little more, ah… fun… to read during a break, I started [...]

(Wonder what the new readers this reboot’s supposed to attract will make of said violence… or if there *are* new non-comics readers flocking on board?)

RM was like picking up the old series, though I don’t recall the Body Doubles being quite so sadistic. Also DC really bad timing having so many plots involving plane disasters happening in September.

Red Lanterns was about what I expected, over the top violence, so I’ll be passing on it. Though strangely it’s not as gruesome as the previews for next week’s GL Corps.

Mister Terrific I liked in JSA and the first half of this was great. Completely went off the rails as you say afterwards.

Frankenstein just seems like a ripoff of Hellboy to me.

Superbly was surprisingly interesting, even if it’s plot is very similar to Young Justice show. I hope Red is Caitlan Fairchild as I love the Gen 13 characters and DC could use more characters, especially female ones, who aren’t derivatives of their other characters.

I am pleased by how many people seem to be unexpectedly enjoying Superboy, though. Lobdell’s X-Men run was one of the first comics I followed, and I recall his work on Generation X and the Hardy Boys being lots of fun. Glad to see him getting some love.

I too really enjoyed GL, Hal makes a more interesting loser than an all the time winner as he’s too often portrayed. Seeing him struggle with just basic human things is just nifty.

Demon Knight I’m iffy on, as I felt a little overwhelmed as to what exactly is all going on. There were enough good moments that I’ll come back to see more, but I can’t wrap my head around the book as yet.

I just wonder at target audience for Deathstroke, as I don’t see who is supposed to like this. I’ve read stories with guys who were bad or even evil in the past, and there were good hooks to keep me interested. This just seems like elementary schoolyard “I’m the greatest” stuff just seemed silly. Which could have been fun if it’d een played lightly as Lobo has been done in the past, but here it was supposed to be taken seriously.

Odd that I had such a different reaction to Batwoman than you though. This was my first time reading the character’s aventures and while I thought the art was gorgeous, I thought the story was very badly told.

There’s good ideas in there, but I honestly felt like I could tear the book out two pages at a time and put them in any order, and they would have made the same bit of sense. I didn’t get a narrative feel at all, but just felt like I was channel surfing and catching snippets of various stories at once.

Then the ending, I actually turned the page expecting another page, as it just seemed like it abruptly stopped. I don’t really feel like I know much about the character at all, other than she and her niece change clothes a lot.:)

Why is she so pale? Why did she choose to be a Batwoman? Why is she training her niece? Its odd how so many of the series where I have had no or little prior exposure to the character, have been among my least favorite as I don’t feel like I’m given enough info.

More later as I read the other titles.

Caitlin’s an interesting character — but for all the wrong reasons. Does DC really need its own She-Hulk-lite character?

Just was hoping a re-imagined Superboy/Lana connection might be both interesting and nostalgic for old-time readers.

[...] Westfield contributor KC Carlson continues his reviews of DC’s New 52 at Comics Worth Reading with Week 3 including Batman and Robin #1, Suicide Squad #1, and Batwoman [...]

So wait for issue #3, when she suddenly gains powers and her clothes start ripping apart and she immediately becomes a superpowered crime fighter. ;-)

I agree that Demon Knights was pleasantly surprising, with a direction I didn’t expect at all. My biggest shock, though, was Green Lantern. I haven’t read that book for years, but I liked this! I wanted to read more! I had no idea that would happen.

I was very disappointed in Mister Terrific, especially with that unexplained scene between the two women. Without the necessary context — which as you point out, is missing — it comes off a bit too much like a catfight to my taste. It struck me as vaguely sexist that the two would be fighting each other over him. Real women don’t speak to each other that way, in my experience. It was the capper on my decision to give up on the book — I had hopes for it, but the comic itself just got worse as it went on. It seems like one of those stories that is too pedestrian told straight through, so the writer decides to cut it up and play with the timeline in the hopes of adding some artificial interest.

I was surprised that Suicide Squad felt so much like Gail Simone’s much-missed Secret Six, from using some of the characters to the general “DC is publishing THIS?” pushing-the-envelope approach. Only the vile things she wrote had a point, while this seems to be more of a fanboy tease, hoping that they’ll attract people who want to see excessive violence for its own sake — plus the babes. Sexing up Waller hasn’t gone over at all well online. It’s a poor statement towards DC’s drive for diversity that now the women all look a lot more alike. Oh, and that can’t be the same Savant character, because the BOP version wasn’t that dumb.

Like you, I enjoyed Superboy a lot more than I expected. Except for that one panel where the decanted clone looked like a Ken doll, the art was nicely clean, attractive, and readable, and I want to know where the story is going.