I love the premise of this Black Canary revamp — the hero’s on the road with a scrappy band — and I like the way we’re already learning more about the bigger picture. Kid-looking Ditto, who plays guitar, is being pursued by a mysterious group, and this issue lays out the back story, via Kurt, Black Canary’s estranged husband (!) and member of a secret military organization. (I hope it turns out to be related to what’s going on in […]

Brenden Fletcher and Annie Wu put a new twist on the long-running fishnet-clad hero in Black Canary. Looked at after reading, it’s a terrific choice, but not one I would have ever expected. Here, Black Canary is the name of a touring rock band. The blonde on the cover is D.D., a fighter with a mysterious past neither her bandmates nor we know anything about yet. It’s a great idea to give her some female compatriots, since she’s previously been […]

I’ve been trying a number of the new DC #1s, particularly the ones promising something other than the usual legacy white male hero, but I’ve found some of them unsatisfying. Too many of them are prologue, trying to establish a setup but not giving an accurate taste of what the actual series will be about. Not every #1 has to be an origin issue (or, like Prez, the first half of an origin). A #1 should make me want to […]

I’m not sure I’ve read any of the previous Earth One volumes. Started in 2009, the label reworks well-known names — Superman and Batman most prominently — for the bookstore market, featuring original stories published in hardcover. However, like most relaunches, the story in Teen Titans: Earth One makes most sense if you already know the brand. The odd mix of abilities demonstrated here — dirt control (Terra), shape-shifting (Chameleon), body invasion by organic metal (Cyborg), Native American mysticism (Raven) […]

I never envisioned a world where my favorite DC comic would be something called Scooby-Doo Team-Up, but each issue provides fun adventure and laugh-out-loud moments. This time, the gang is visiting the Hall of Justice, which, as Batman puts it, “seems to be” haunted. The ghosts have kidnapped Superman, which means the Super Friends need the kids to investigate while the heroes “protect people from crime and natural disasters as usual.” I love that writer Sholly Fisch bothers to come […]

I’m not going to argue that all superhero comics should be for kids, although I think the majority of them work best if they are all-age-friendly. However, I do think it’s a shame that certain heroes that kids love aren’t able to be read by them in current comics, given the emphasis on violence and blood and depravity. One of the most obvious in that category is Wonder Woman, the superpowered princess from an island of Amazons. Little girls love […]

The last issue of The Movement was #12, out May 7. Yes, I’m late talking about it, and yes, I’m part of the problem, since I didn’t draw attention to it while it was running. But now that it’s over, I’m realizing the void it left. This came home to me reading the “final issues” of a couple of more standard DC titles this week. I thought the last issue of a series might wrap something up, but Suicide Squad […]