Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Weekly Previews for November 16, 2011

Very small week, with only four books making the Previews. The excellent Wonder Woman and Batman books deliver their third issues this week, and X-Factor has a showdown with major consequences.

Batman #3

  • Written by Scott Snyder
  • Art by Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion
  • Cover by Greg Capullo
  • Variant Cover by Ivan Reis & Joe Prado

As Bruce digs deeper into the mystery of the recent owl murders, he soon finds himself face to face with a shocking enemy – an enemy the Wayne family has secretly been at war with for centuries. Be there for the first shots of the war for the soul of Gotham City. Friends will become deadly enemies and secrets will be revealed – revelations that will change the Bat-family forever.

This has been good — not as good as Snyder's Detective Comics run, but good. The art's nice — not as nice as Jock and Francavilla's art on Detective Comics, but nice. It's good superheroey art for a good superheroey story; Batman is obviously a younger, less jaded (was he ever — since Year One, anyway — not jaded?), less experienced (very experienced, but still less so than pre-New 52) version. Which is in some ways a little jarring — I don't think the old Batman would ever discount something (the Council of Owls, here) so readily and especially with such evidence for it — but also refreshing. This Batman knows how to smile. And joke. So, I'll do my best to not compare it to Snyder's stellar Detective Comics run (which, so far, is the biggest complaint against the book — it's not his Detective Comics run) or to the extremely broody, “plans for every single contingency he could possibly and impossibly think of” Batman from before, and just enjoy this newer take. Because there's a lot to enjoy.

Status: Buying It.

Mudman #1

  • Writing, Art & Cover by Paul Grist

It’s the first day back at school for Owen Craig, and it’s not going too well. He’s been run over, got detention, and his police officer father has been taken prisoner by armed bank robbers.

And now his body seems to be turning into mud…

I'm not entirely sure why I'm interested in this. It's not really the most original concept, but that doesn't make it a bad or unoriginal idea, and I like how the cover art looks (which should be about how the interior art looks).

Status: Of Interest.

Wonder Woman #3

  • Written by Brian Azzarello
  • Art & Cover by Cliff Chiang

Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, has kept a secret from her daughter all her life – and when it’s revealed, Wonder Woman’s life will shatter like brittle clay. The only one more shocked than Diana by this revelation? Bloodthirsty Hera herself – so why is her sinister daughter, Strife, so eager for the truth to be told?

I only got #2 a week ago, so I haven't gotten to read it yet (I'm also kinda saving it a bit 'cause I really liked #1). I'm just going to assume this will be about as awesome as the first issue (which was awesome enough to make me really interested in Wonder Woman, so call it a win).

Status: Buying It.

X-Factor #227

  • Written by Peter David
  • Pencils by Leonard Kirk
  • Cover by David Yardin

In this issue, a member of X-Factor dies.

Well, that solicit is short and sweet, huh? I pretty much hope it's a fake-out, 'cause I'm in love with all the characters (okay, if they're counting Pip, I'll let him go). Anyway, I'm interested in the Bloodbath story, but I'm even more interested in all the issues that're coming to a head. Can't wait to see how those resolve.

Status: Buying It.

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