My partner and I have tried to do art stuff together. As anyone who read TRANSLUNAR (available for FREE here) knows, most apes have more innate artistic talent than I do. I’m still trying to draw, but I know I’ll never be great at it. So my partner makes these fabulous things in like, five seconds (view them here or on Twitter as @evilbob_mt). In the time it takes me to draw a crude interpretation of a poorly shaded sphere, Evil Bob makes around 14,328 really great ink over pencil sketches.
Lately, it’s been chibis, those little stylized things that punch you in the neck with their cuteness. We got to talking, and came up with an Idea. You can tell it’s important, because the “i” is capitalized. That lead to an evening of character design, scripting, and arguing about the relative shapes of goblin heads. Also, horny viking jokes, but that’s not that far out of the ordinary.
Evil Bob’s recap of the evening made me think that I should say something about it, because I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll be far too busy scripting for a while to really maintain Fishy Intent. It took a lot not to immediately open up Google Docs and start going when I sat down. But I promised to keep you guys in the loop, so here we are.
When we know more, I’m sure you’ll be the first to know. Now excuse me, I have to counteract the cuteness of the chibi style with some good old-fashioned psychological horror and graphic violence.
Megs is part of the team behind 
Isa is the genius behind the art of Namesake (and some of the story), so everything I said above applies here. But there is more!
I am a sucker for crime stories. No one writes crime like Ed Brubaker. I recently had the opportunity to read his Criminal series, and it knocked my socks off. Okay, not literally, but it was close. If I hadn’t been wearing shoes at the time, my socks would have come right off.
I’ll be honest, I had never heard of Jen until my partner met her at 
I fell in love with Greg Rucka reading Gotham Central (also Ed Brubaker, it must be admitted. Seriously, whoever thought to put them together is a genius.) Then I read Stumptown. Now I’m hooked. Want more? Greg is writing the Punisher.
Superman distinguishes itself because it is the only DCnÜ book I couldn’t finish on the first read through. I actually had to take a break from reading any comics for an hour or two. I was afraid that the taint of this book would rub off on something else.
I’ve never been a fan of the Green Lantern (any version, really), but this one promised to be a different enough story that I was willing to give it a shot. Kyle Rayner has to work with a bunch of different colored Lanterns to do…something. We’re not sure what, because this issue is all about the team getting together.
This book had a lot going for it. I’m an admitted Gail Simone fanboy, so I was willing to give it a shot knowing next to nothing about Firestorm. I still don’t know much, but I know enough that I’m interested in learning more.
Reading Superboy (which I didn’t review because I bought it on a recommendation well after I got my other books that week – it was great, by the way) prompted me to pick this one up. I have to say, for being a teen book, there is surprisingly little teen angst in this one. Instead, we get a great story, chock full of action and suspense.
Remember the baddies from Firestorm? Because the Blackhawks are the good guy version of them. A team of U.N. badasses who handle thing no one else can, the Blackhawks are a fun ride. Compared to Men of War, Blackhawks is better in every way. There isn’t a lot of jargon thrown around. There isn’t a lot of exposition. There is action, and romance, and nanobots.
Aquaman is a joke. Geoff Johns knows this. Rather than trying to fight it, he embraces it. People make fun of him. People make stupid assumptions about him. I’m surprised he didn’t murder anyone.
Aquaman is fighting H.P. Lovecraft’s Deep Ones. I am so excited.
A few things made me nervous about this one. I was a fan of Gail Simone’s run on the pre-relaunch BOP, so I was a little concerned that she wasn’t behind this title. In addition, I had heard an internet rumor a while back that the new Birds were going to be a more “Charlie’s Angels” team, with some dood running the show. To top it all off, I was terrified that there was going to be some crippled person as the new Oracle. Look, disabled folks are good for more than just being tech support (I’m looking at you, Proxy).
Supergirl is never a character I’ve cared about all that much. She’s neat and all, but Kryptonians don’t really do it for me. Power Girl has been an exception in the past, but she’s not in the DCnÜ yet. I picked this up on a whim.
The internet hates this book. I enjoyed the hell out of it. I like Jason Todd, I like Starfire and shockingly, I like Roy Harper. I want to see these flawed people grow and become less flawed. I like stories where change happens, and this book promises change.
This book was perfect. I loved the writing, I loved the story, I loved the art, I loved the fact that this is the only DCnÜ book I’ve read that doesn’t bother with exposition or backstory. There is no need.
