Most of the Dc #1s I picked up last month will not have me grabbing their follow up issues. However, last week hit me with three pleasant surprises.

Batman and Robin #2. When Grant Morrison first introduced Damian (son of Bruce) Wayne, he was a proud brat who saw Batman as weak. He was awesome. He eventually softened, but now we have the more hard edged Damian back in the Robin costume. In the first four pages here, writer Peter J. Tomasi does a fantastic job of explaining Damian’s origin and the entire Batman/Robin relationship. Bruce is hesitant to praise Damian’s work in the field, while the boy soldier is retreating further into his inner darkness. This series could turn into a great character study, while an old acquaintance of Bruce (and enemy of Batman) surfaces. Patrick Gleason’s art is fluid and dynamic and this is the kind of series that newbies and us oldies will find irresistible.

Preview here.

Green Lantern #2. Another series putting a new twist on a classic partnership is this emerald beauty. Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke know exactly what they’re doing and kicking things off last month with a green power ring back on the hand of former Lantern and Hal’s mentor, Sinestro is a great way to shake things up. Here Hal gets his desperate desires answered by Sinestro creating a power ring for him, but it comes with a tight leash. The bulk of the issue deals with the tumultuous relationship between these two space faring warriors, while one of Sinestro’s old, ugly comrades from the Sinestro Corps shows up claiming betrayal and promptly gets beaten, well, killed actually. With Sinestro demanding Hal assist him in taking the fight to his old Corps, the action will only ramp up from here on.

Preview here.

Grifter #2. Not as epic (yet) as the above two, but just as entertaining. A character I never cared for until now, Cole Cash is a grifter and former black ops soldier who now wears a groovy mask and tries to explain to his partner in crime (and the bedroom) that he can now see aliens, known as Daemonites, although only the cover refers to them as such. Aliens who follow him, disguise themselves as humans, and want him dead that is. A fight with a cop in a diner and a look at a shadowy military presence, which involves Cash’s brother, makes this a kind of Bourne in the DCU, with effective action staging from artist Cafu and some tight plotting from Nathan Edmondson.

Preview here.

October 17, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, Comics, New To Comics?, Reviews . Tags: DC comics . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a Comment