29
Blue Beetle
Keith Giffen & Scott Kolins
Blue Beetle makes me forget that Keith Giffen knows how to write comic books. It also makes me better appreciate the way a Peter David or Brian Bendis can weave episodes of natural-sounding dialogue into a superheroic fantasy. Part of the blame falls on Scott Kolins, of course. The dude seems to enjoy drawing the Beetle costume, but he really phoned it in when it came to everything else, including the layouts. Word balloons are dropped haphazardly and absolutely no thought is given to effective storytelling. Also embarrassed by the half-assed attempt at adding diversity to DC’s superhero stable. – MMDG
“Two chorizos” is not a thing, and this book shouldn’t be either. I liked the smiling ninja men, that’s it. – IP
First collection: Blue Beetle, Vol. 1: The More Things Change (April)
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28
Suicide Squad
Rob Williams, Jim Lee, & Philip Tan
Why does Katana keep showing up for no reason? I don’t know enough about DC to appreciate the pairing of Flag and Katana, but the fact that she just shows up as his second-in-command without an explanation is frustrating. I don’t like when writers reduce a character to funny accents and catchphrases, but that’s all they seem to do with Harley and Boomerang. Am I supposed to think it’s funny that Croc vomits? I shouldn’t be surprised by the lack of nuance, but here I am bitching about it. Man, I miss King Shark. And Deadshot looks dumb. If the goal is to send villains on heroic suicide missions because no one will care if they die, then mission accomplished: I don’t care. – tyrannoflores
First collection: Suicide Squad Volume 1: The Black Vault Part One (March)
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27
Harley Quinn
Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, and Chad Hardin
Lousy. There’s no nuance in the way they try to introduce Harley to new fans; it’s literally like a Wikipedia article with pictures. The dialogue is lame, though you gotta hand it to DC in the Character Names Department. “Red Tool” is another moniker in a long line of color-themed winners. This book tries to be wacky with breakneck transitions from zany thing to zany thing (zombies? “cool”), but it just comes off as obnoxious. Chris Hardin’s drawings are decent, but his version of the Harley get-up is not as good as the look from Arkham that inspired it, or the original design from Batman: TAS. I would be more interested in a detailed look at the character and psychology of Harley, instead of just throwing her among a circus-load of characters that gets her into a bunch of clichéd primetime dramasodes. – tyrannoflores
First collection: Harley Quinn Volume 1: Die Laughing (March)
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26
Cyborg
John Semper, Will Conrad, and Paul Pelletier
A book that had a big dropoff between the Rebirth one-shot and first issue. All that existential crisis potential seems to have been thrown to the wayside. Disappointing to see all the set-up just not add up to anything. Maybe one day someone will be able to convince me Cyborg belongs in the Justice League, but this is not the book for that. – MeanOldPig
This had far too much reading, far too little of it interesting. Cyborg has never interested me, and this isn’t helping. – IP
First collection: Cyborg Volume 1: The Imitation of Life (March)
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The Institute of Idle Time 