DC Relaunch: Green Lantern: New Guardians

At a point in time where the Corps was devastated, all the other Guardians were dead, and some hope was needed to stay alive in the universe, the last Guardian, Ganthet, fled from to find someone to take on the mantle of the Green Lantern. While it may have not been the choice the ring would have made on its own, Kyle Rayner, a struggling artist, was the person who Ganthet found. And since then, Kyle Rayner has proven himself worthy multiple times, as a member of the JLA, as Ion, the torchbearer of the embodiment of will, and as Green Lantern Honor Guard.

Now, in Green Lantern: New Guardians, Kyle stands with representatives of the other Lantern Corps as a symbol of unity and to guard against the largest threats the universe holds. And while Kyle has proven himself a capable leader within his own Corps, the other members may prove testy. Now, the image we’ve been given is deliberately obscured, but most of the other members appear to be clear. I won’t get much into them, but I will talk about each group. From left to right: Bleez of the Red Lanterns, Arkillo of the Sinestro Corps, a member of the Star Sapphires who I think may be Fatality, Saint Walker of the Blue Lanterns, and in the top corner Munk of the Indigo Tribe, and one of Larfleeze’s (Agent Orange) constructs, Glomulus.

All the Corps in some way create the energy constructs like the Green Lanterns. It gets a bit fuzzy from there. The Red Lanterns are driven by rage. It seems that many of them reach this point by experiencing great tragedy and lashing out against the injustice. Their rings are tied directly to their heart, and removing their ring can kill them. Their power often vomits forth from their body like blood. It’s a very intense event. The Sinestro Corps are made up of members who are able strike great fear in people. However it becomes complicated in that these are not the most savory or clever of folks. The Star Sapphires are powered by love, in a variety of forms (including love lost, in some cases). Their powers are interesting in that someone’s one true love can be shown to them, and the powers of their rings are distilled from a mysterious crystal. The Blue Lanterns were started by Ganthet, and instill great hope. They feed off the energy of the Green Lanterns, and can overcharge their rings beyond 100% just by being in the same proximity. However, there is little they can do without the Green Lanterns being nearby. The Indigo Tribe are still very mysterious, but they are driven by compassion and channel the powers of other Lanterns through their staffs. Finally, Larfleeze has created constructs of those who tried to take his power from him. They act on his behalf, almost without his notice at times.

All together, there is much more conflict than there are alliances, and for them to be working together will be interesting to see how it all works out. Tony Bedard is writing this along with his partner from Green Lantern Corps, Tyler Kirkham. Tony Bedard has been in the industry for some time, and has written for Exiles, Birds of Prey, R.E.B.E.L.S., and Legion of Super-heroes. Kirkham got his start through Top Cow studios, and has worked on Ultimate Fantastic Four with Mike Carey and X-Men—Phoenix: Warsong with Greg Pak.

Here’s a few Kyle Rayner trades that I enjoyed, as well as the "New Guardians" storyline that recently ran in Green Lantern, showing the various Corps working together for the first time. You can also check out his adventures in the various Green Lantern Corps trades by Dave Gibbons and Pete Tomasi that I’ve mentioned already:

Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight by Ron Marz and Daryl Banks
Ion: The Torchbearer vol. 1 by Ron Marz and Greg Tochinni
Green Lantern Corps: The Weaponer by Tony Bedard and Tyler Kirkham
Green Lantern: The New Guardians by Geoff Johns & Doug Mahnke

And tomorrow, the first of the new corps to have their own book! Red Lanterns! Be.. here.

Also! Welcome, visitors from Germany! I appreciate you stopping by.

DC Relaunch: Green Lantern Corps

As you might imagine, the space sectors that each Lantern is assigned to gets pretty big. There’s usually a secondary or a backup assigned. Due to a number of odd occurrences over the years, the Green Lantern Corps have had a number of representatives from Earth. Not to let the fans of these characters be without their favorite Lantern, the Green Lantern titles expanded outward. It also gave a good opportunity to explore other Corps members from around the universe, as well as larger threats while Hal Jordan stayed closer to Earth.

The two Earthen lanterns we see focused here are Guy Gardner and John Stewart, the first two backups for Earth’s sector. While there are a number of extraterrestrial lanterns that will likely be focused on in the series, I want to focus on the two men that will likely be our guides in Green Lantern Corps. Guy Gardner is extremely dedicated to the Corps. He’s also way more hard-nosed than Hal is, which all in all, makes for an interesting combination. In the past, he’s fought Hal to be Green Lantern, and he loves what he does. He’s also got rage issues, which has lead him into dark territory and alliances with the Red Lanterns. John is back and forth in his dedication, and has gone through some extremely rough times as a Lantern. He’s a former marine, and an established architect, all of which come in to play in how he approaches situations and how his structures are built. Both of these Lanterns are interesting in that their ring structures reflect their personalities more than Hal’s usually do. Gardner’s ring is said to spark when he uses it, as if his use of will is overflowing. John’s structures are highly functional, down to the bolts. The two of them together should prove interesting, and both have been spending a lot of time off Earth as members of the Green Lantern Honor Guard.

Pete Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin will be working on the book. Pete Tomasi was a long time editor on the Bat-books before taking the pen in writing the Green Lantern Corps, taking over from previous writer Dave Gibbons. He’s written the further adventures of Guy Gardners in Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors with Pasarin on art, and he’s also written along with Geoff Johns Brightest Day. He’s written Dick Grayson as both Nightwing and Batman, and will be writing Batman & Robin with the relaunch. Fernando Pasarin has worked for the GL universe previously doing a few fill-ins for the Ion book. He also has worked on The Outsiders and Justice Society of America (with Geoff Johns for the story “The Lightning Saga”).

As far as John Stewart and Guy Gardner are concerned, here are a few of their best recent stories. Though very complicated and weird, I also have a soft spot for the John Stewart series Green Lantern: Mosaic.

Green Lantern Corps: Recharge
Green Lantern Corps: The Darker Side of the Green
Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors vol. 1

Tomorrow we’ll be looking at Green Lantern: The New Guardians, which will give us an opportunity to talk more about the various Corps of the color/emotional spectrum, and our final Earth Lantern, Kyle Rayner.

DC Relaunch: Green Lantern

Green Lantern has become one of the largest franchise for DC Comics, behind Batman and Superman. It now boasts its own family of titles, and has expanded into a variety of worlds. This Green Lantern, the one who started this iteration of the Green Lantern, is Hal Jordan.

Being as we've seen information about the other Green Lanterns in their own books, I feel it's safe to say that Green Lantern will be starring Hal Jordan. Hal's been through alot in his life. Being burdened with a ring that allows to create almost anything out of willed energy that taps into the universe itself, having to deal for years with a variety of problems from the women in his life, and then being possessed by the embodiment of fear and killing many of his friends in the corps before dying himself. But he redeemed himself. And despite all that, being back in the ring slinging game, did Hal listen more to what others said? Did he follow what the Guardians, who overlook the actions of the Green Lanterns, told him to do? Nope, Hal will always be Hal, which is hardheaded and doing what he thinks is best. Which often, is at least somewhat in line with what is best. Or at least keeps him on his feet to do the right thing the next time.

More recently Green Lantern has had to deal with a great many foes, and the expansion of the world of the Lanterns, discovering that their green energy was not the only one that could be tapped into by a full-on army of Lanterns. He's fought hard and he's built bridges. At the end of the day, Hal has been extremely busy saving the universe the past few years. And he doesn't look to stop any time soon. If you reading this, then you've been missing out on an epic scale space adventure that is only just beginning. And you've been given a brand new starting point.

Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke are back to continue their work on Green Lantern. Together they've been working on the book since Blackest Night and have continued through Brightest Day and now The War of the Green Lanterns. Doug Mahnke is also known for his work with Grant Morrison on Frankenstein for his Seven Soldiers mini-event, and with Joe Kelly on JL Elite.

Green Lantern has been running for some time, but here's a few modern suggestions to keep you grounded:

Green Lantern: Secret Origin
Green Lantern: Rebirth

Tomorrow I'll take a look at what's in store for the other Lanterns with Green Lantern Corps.

DC Relaunch: DCU Presents... Deadman!

Sorry for another delay folks. I just got done moving and we don’t have internet still. I had some things I wanted to talk to you all about.

Let’s talk about the anthology. Moreso what Didio has confirmed DCU Presents to be: a testing ground. I’m pretty young, so I wasn’tactually around when this sort of thing happened regularly, but I look back and am able to see where this was happening. Books like Showcase and Marvel Spotlight would run these stories with lower end or new characters to see how’d they’d do. The Flash of course being the best example of this, I love lookingback to what this title might have been like to collect at that time, if you were collecting it regularly.

It’s with that enthusiasm that we look at our book’s first story arc, featuring Deadman. Deadman has been kicking around in the background of the DCU for some time, and it’s been a while since he’s been as prominent as he’s become in Blackest Night and Brightest Day. Deadman is a tragic character, though recently he’s been given a new light. Boston Brand had it all. He was a famous acrobat and was murdered during the show. He is given new power to act as a ghost in order to find his murderer.He cannot be seen by normal peop e, but he can possess them and communicates with the outside world via this power.

More recently, he was resurrected the White Entity (during Blackest Night) and had to learn how to live again (Brightest Day), as he had become too comfortable and used to the state of disconnectedness that the spirit world gave. He does learn how to live, but as a result sacrifices himself so that someone else can live. Now, he’s stuck again as Deadman the spirit, and has to find his place in that role again.

Paul Jenkins will be writing this story with Bernard Chang on art. Paul Jenkins has been writing in comics for along time, having a notable sized run on Hellblazer, working on the Eisner award wining run on Inhumans with Jae Lee, and also created the Sentry with him. He also had long runs on Peter Parker: Spider-man and The Spectacular Spider-man.

Bernard Chang has previously worked on a number of different project. Most recently he has been working on Supergirl, but he has worked on a number of books for different publishers over the years, going back to when he got his start working for Valiant Comics back in 1992. He’s got a nice, clean style, and also quite capable of ramping up huge visuals that will prove interesting in Deadman’s journey through the otherside.

There was a large oversized collection of the Deadman material that’s been out of print for years. However, DC has decided to reprint some of the material originally printed in the pages of Strange Adventures.

Deadman, vol. 1 by Arnold Drake, Jack Miller, Carmine Infantino, & Neal Adams.

Blackest Night by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis

Brightest Day by Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi, & various artists

Tomorrow (or later today, for some) I’ll begin looking at Green Lantern, in which I will ONLY be talking about the comic.

DC Relaunch: Captain Atom

It's kind of a story you've heard before. The main character works for the government. He's set up. They offer him a way out by means of experiment and he gets superpowers. Sounds familiar right? Well he's testing an alien spacecraft. Right, still, you've heard that one. Okay, so they're dropping a nuclear bomb on him. Now we're moving. How about that nuclear bomb melds that spacecraft to his body? And then the blast shunts him off to the future, where it turns out his whole world has been turned upside down, and he still owes one to the government. Hello Nathaniel Adam, otherwise known as Captain Atom, this is your life.



Now, whether this will still be Captain Atom's origin remains to be seen. He looks about the same. But Captain Atom has never been very happy-go-lucky. He's Mr. Down on his luck. He's been used, he's been brainwashed, and he's come out still trying to redeem himself everytime. All the same, he's a potential nuclear bomb with amazing powers. And he's a travelled time and space, though rarely has been an intentional excursion. He's got the ability to absorb powerful energy and expel it. But he's usually composed, reflective. Many times he's willing to put his life on the line to save everyone without even thinking twice about the possibility of his life ending. I know that's what a superheroes supposed to do, but I think we've many times seen that moment of hesitation on panel that he is completely devoid of. But at the same time, it's hard for him to let anyone in. Many of these aspects were drawn on when Alan Moore tackled the character as Doctor Manhattan in Watchmen.


JT Krul is handling the hazmat hero, with Freddie Williams II on art. JT Krul we've met, he's working on Green Arrow as well, and you can check out a few things about him there. This is his first time handling the character of Captain Atom. Freddie Williams II has a unique style that I am very interested to see in this series. He most recently has worked with Matt Sturges on JSA All-Stars and with Fabian Niciezca on Robin prior to the Batman: Reborn line-wide changes. He also worked with Grant Morrison on Mister Miracle, as part of his Seven Soldiers mini-event, the events of which lead into Final Crisis.


Captain Atom has a few things here and there as far as his own series (which can be found in your local comic shop's longboxes!). However, in collection, I'd recommend checking out Justice League: Generation Lost, as well as Captain Atom: Armageddon, where he is accidentally shunted off into the Wildstorm Universe.



Tomorrow I'll be talking about Deadman, as well as the concept of the anthology, as we'll be looking at the upcoming DC Universe Presents.

DC Relaunch: Mister Terrific

There’s a joke somewhere out there about superhero origin stories. It’s from someone familiar the Justice League Unlimited show, and it’s either from the webcomic Shortpacked! or one my friends who watched the show after it was cancelled. But when it comes to trying to figure out Mister Terrific’s origin, the conclusion is that, “he was bitten by a radioactive ‘t’.” I’d say thus far Mister Terrific is probably the lesser known of the characters I’ve covered (with some exceptions in the JLI), with the exception of people who caught that last season of JLU.

Mister Terrific, or Michael Holt, is the modern Renaissance man. He doesn’t have any powers, but he doesn’t need it. He has an amazing intellect (touted as the 3rd smartest man in the world), he’s an Olympic decathlete, and is scientifically inclined in a number of technical fields. Those little globes? Those are T-spheres, each one having a variety of functions that run from research to defense to weaponry. And big T on his face? That’s actually an interface in which he controls each of those little T-spheres. Not only that, but it also can render him invisible to any tech that is not his own. Which is a pretty fantastic infiltration trick. What can one expect from a Mister Terrific series? That still needs to be seen. Terrific has been a long standing member in the pages of JSA/Justice Society for a number of years as one of its many legacy characters, going so far as to being chairman of the group.

Mister Terrific will be written by Eric Wallace with art by Roger Robinson. The cover is by J.G. Jones. Wallace has worked previously for DC working on conflicted villain turned hero the Tattooed Man in Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink with Fabrizio Fiorentino, and the two continued that story into the pages of Titans, as he is lead by Deathstroke along with a number of other reluctant, down on their luck former heroes and line-walkers. Prior to comics, Eric Wallace had worked on the SyFy original series Eureka.

Roger Robinson has worked most recently at Dark Horse with legendary writer Jim Shooter on his reworking of Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom. He’s has also worked in the past for DC on the series Eradicator and Azrael.

Being as Mister Terrific has never had a proper solo series, I’ve located some of my favorite JSA stories that featured him:

Justice Society of America: The Next Age
Checkmate vols. 1-3

Tomorrow we get into Captain Atom, who most people are more familiar with as his Watchmen reworking, Doctor Manhattan!

DC Relaunch: Justice League International

The Justice League of America, as they were once known, seems like an awfully specific name for the world's most powerful heroes saving world-from amazing threats. Apparently that was the mindset in the late 80s, when "Justice League" was introduced, and later changed to Justice League International. Basically the diverse team handled global threats, and a tight bond developed between the mish-mash of characters. The run is also well known for bringing the "bwahaha"

The Justice League International has recently reformed independently in the pages of Justice League: Generation Lost. The group is often diverse and close knit, with friendships running deep to the point of tragedy at times. I'll talk briefly about a couple of the characters shown in the image, though I want to point out that writer Dan Jurgens has said this isn't the final lineup. Batman is of course notable here, and with his Batman Inc. organization and his prominent position in the original series, it makes sense. You also have this core of the JLI group, a people who's relationships are deeply intertwined in friendship, love, etc. They make up the character usually associate with the previous JLI: Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Guy Gardner, and Rocket Red. Additionally in this image are a few international heroes: Vixen, whose totem is used to tap into the power of various animals, and August General in Iron, a Chinese hero of the group The Great Ten, his armor fashioned from alien tech. While these two have interacted with some of these other heroes before (Vixen has been Justice League on and off for a while now), it will be more interesting to see their interactions with this particular group.

Now, while there will no doubt be other heroes involved, and their missions more of an international nature (I believe they are sanctioned by the UN), this group's interpersonal relationships always stood out to me. That's the difference between them and the standard "Big 7" JLA.

Dan Jurgens will be writing this with Aaron Lopresti on art. Dan Jurgens I've mentioned before, and has long paid dues as both a writer and an artist. He's been working with Booster Gold and these members of the Justice League for a long time. So not only is he qualified, but he's familiar, and he has a consistency that is appreciated. Aaron Lopresti is fantastic artist, and handled this team along with Joe Bennett in their recent adventures in Justice League: Generation Lost. He also did much of the art for Wonder Woman during Gail Simone's run, with Brian Reed on Ms. Marvel, and on his own creation, Garbageman, which was serialized in the anthology mini-series Weird Worlds.

Now I mentioned way back when I started this but I was going to hold off on the JLI collections... and here they are!

Justice League vols. 1-6, by Keith Giffen, J.M DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, and Bart Sears.

Justice League: Generation Lost by Judd Winick, Keith Giffen, Aaron Lopresti, and others.

Later today I'm going to talk about Mister Terrific, a character who's never had his own ongoing series before (I'm not even sure he's gotten a mini!).

Also, I apologize about the tardiness. I had a rough night at my second job, and I couldn't manage to get very much typed out that wasn't gibberish. Thanks to whoever checked in at 8am, I hope I haven't driven you off with my unprofessionalism.

DC Relaunch: Green Arrow

Whenever I first came back into comics, and was reading mostly Marvel and X-Men—basically all the books I wasn’t allowed to read as a kid that I really wanted to—The first DC comic I picked up outside of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns was Kevin Smith’s Green Arrow story Quiver. So I do kind of have an attachment to the character and what he has going on. Additionally, it’s hard to not follow a character when it’s your friend’s absolute favorite character. So here’s to you, Dave.

I’ll admit, as anyone should, that Green Arrow did not have the best start, historically. He was more or less set up as an archery themed Batman. Don’t worry, that’s the most we’re gonna talk about that. Oliver Queen, or Green Arrow, has a lot of fluctuation in life. He’s had a lot of hard luck, but he gets by, and then he gets through it. He’ll get lucky, have everything back in hand, and then it all crumbles again. Back and forth, but he always lands on his feet. He’s a human trainwreck, and you can’t help but root for him to get back up.

You never know if he’ll pull that trick arrow or it’ll be a real one singing through your shoulder. Will he be in control of his company and making attempts to help the downtrodden? Or will he be right next to them the next week, just trying to get by. Obsessed with Robin Hood, skillful as all get out, a ladies man, quick to get in your face to tell you how you’re wrong. Arrogant as hell. This is Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow. Protector of Star City.

Green Arrow will be written by JT Krul with art from legend Dan Jurgens. First off, Krul is currently the writer for Green Arrow, taking over when the book rebooted as part of Brightest Day. He did a great job putting Ollie through the paces, and looks to run him through a few more here. He’s also written Teen Titans, and worked on Soulfire and Fathom for the late Michael Turner’s company Aspen.

Dan Jurgens has proved himself as an extremely versatile writer and artist over the years, creating the hero Booster Gold, working on multiple titles for both Marvel and DC, and helming the well known Superman story The Death of Superman, and having long runs on both Captain America and Thor. He has recently been working on Booster Gold again, first collaborating with writers Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz, and later writing himself. He also worked on Time Masters: Vanishing Point, which acted as a companion to The Return of Bruce Wayne by Grant Morrison, and a lead-in to Flashpoint as well.

Here’s a few Green Arrow titles that are considered definitive, as a well as a few that I just really liked:

Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection vols. 1 & 2 by Dennis O’Neil, Elliot S! Maggin, & Neal Adams
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters by Mike Grell
Green Arrow: Quiver by Kevin Smith, Phil Hester & Andre Parks
Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle & Jock
Green Arrow: Into the Woods by JT Krul & Diogenes Nives

Tomorrow I’m gonna throw two at you. First thing in the morning, look for a lookover Justice League International, and then later in the day (probably around 4 or 5), We’ll be looking into one of the new titles I’m extremely excited about, and that’s Mister Terrific.

DC Relaunch: The Savage Hawkman

If you go up to the average comic book fan with familiarity of DC characters and asked, “Hey, what’s Hawkman’s origin?” they may groan and roll their eyes. It’s true, Hawkman has gone through some complicated changes just about every time there’s an opportunity to relaunch the property. I personally don’t think it’s that complicated, but I’m gonna go ahead say don’t worry about it. No matter what backstory is given for how he’s there with wings on, he’ll end up doing the same stuff. Which is not to say the character is boring! Not at all.

Hawkman is a complicated character, sure. I think some people like that in a character, where the possibilities are not quite limited. He always seems like he’s brooding, thinking in the background about what’s happening before him. Unless Green Arrow is around, in which case he’s like he is in battle, completely unchained, no restraint. That’s what you can expect as far as action: Hawkman uses heavy weaponry, and he is BRUTAL. If you’ve really pissed him off, expect some sort of historic weaponry slamming into the side of your face. On the other side of that, Hawkman finds himself in high-adventure. The sort of archeology-digs-gone-wrong that Indiana Jones has nightmares about. Sudden excursions to alternate dimensions, being swept off to another planet constantly embroiled in war. This is Hawkman.

The Savage Hawkman will be helmed by Tony Daniel and Philip Tan. Daniel has been writing Batman for the past year or so, and previous to that wrote mini-series Batman: The Battle for the Cowl and his creator owned series, The Tenth. He’s an artist as well, having worked on Batman with Grant Morrison and Teen Titans with Geoff Johns.

Philip Tan has had a drastic change of style recently, and it looks fantastic. The cover above is evidence of that. Recently Tan has been working providing artwork for both The Outsiders with Dan Didio, and pages for Eric Wallace’s Titans. Prior to that, he had worked with Grant Morrison on Batman & Robin, and with Geoff Johns on Green Lantern for the story “Agent Orange.” In fact, Tan design all of the constructs that compose Larfleeze’s “corps” of Orange Lanterns. The man’s worked on a lot over the years, and this is just a recent sampling.

Hawkman was recently featured in the storyline Brightest Day, which is a good one check (as I’ve already referenced it!). Here are some other noteworthy picks:

JSA: The Return of Hawkman by David Goyer, Geoff Johns, & Stephen Sadowski
Hawkworld by Timothy Truman
Showcase Presents Hawkman vol. 1 & 2 by Gardner Fox & Joe Kubert

There are also a number of volumes of the last ongoing, which feature writing from Geoff Johns, James Robinson, Justin Grey, & Jimmy Palmiotti, as well as art from Rags Morales, Ryan Sook, Joe Bennett & Chris Batista.

Up tomorrow is Hawkman’s political foil, Green Arrow, where I’ll point out that if he’s such a poor man’s Hawkeye, why’s he had more successful series than ole Clint? Hmm.

DC Relaunch: The Fury of Firestorm

Firestorm is one of those characters that I admit, I haven't read that much on. But that doesn't mean I won't give it a try!

Firestorm is a book about two people. No matter which one it is (yes, like most of the characters I've already told you about, there's been more than one behind the mask), Firestorm needs a plus one invitation. Ronnie Raymond became the original Firestorm along with professor Martin Stein during a nuclear accident. As Firestorm, Raymond becomes a literal human reactor as well as having the ability to transmute elements. Raymond usually was in the driver seat with Professor Stein providing knowledge, and general guidance. Now lots of stuff happened over the years, and one of those was the unfortunate death of Ronnie Raymond. And so Jason Rusch became the new Firestorm. Recently, when DC revived Ronnie Raymond, Ronnie and Jason bonded together to form the new Firestorm, and had to figure out how to get along in it. Two completely different people, trying to get along, and trying to both be one Firestorm at the same time. Though the image makes me wonder if they might not be two Firestorms in this new series? That's be interesting. All in all, crazy science, crazy powers, and two people who have to learn to act as one. There's alot of promise in that.


Helming this venture is Gail Simone & Ethan Van Sciver. Gail Simone has paid major dues over the years, working on Birds of Prey (for those unfamiliar, the original Batgirl, Barbara Gordon is coordinator for Black Canary, Huntress, and other heroes on a variety of missions), Wonder Woman, and the Secret Six (a rag-tag group of villains for hire who are bizzare and quirky as they are deadly). She also has written for Bongo Comics, and wrote some of my favorite Deadpool and Superman stories. While Ethan Van Sciver has mostly handled artist duties, we have already covered the capabilities of an artist as storyteller. Van Sciver has worked in the past with Geoff Johns on both The Flash and Green Lantern, and has also worked with Grant Morrison on New X-Men. The two have never had a published collaboration (at least not to my knowledge), but have long been rumored to be working up a proposal for Plastic Man, and can frequently be seen going back and forth on Gail's creator board at Jinxworld.



Yildiray Cinar is a Turkish artist who most recently has been working with Paul Levitz on Legion of Super-Heroes. He has also worked in the past with Jay Faeber on the creator owned books Noble Causes and Dynamo 5, and with Sean McKeever on his run of Teen Titans. Having worked on the Legion will certainly prepare him for the madness he'll experience coming from the minds of Simone & Van Sciver.

As I said before, I haven't read much Firestorm, but these are the only collections available. They are respectively Ronnie, Jason, and the first experience working together.



Firestorm: The Nuclear Man by Gerry Conway & Al Milgrom
Firestorm, the Nuclear Man--Reborn by Stuart Moore, Keith Champagne, & Jamal Igle.
Brightest Day vols. 1 & 2 by Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi, & others.

Tomorrow we'll be taking a look at The Savage Hawkman.

DC Relaunch: The Flash

Everyone has their Flash story. I'm exagerrating of course, but it's not like The Flash is a character that people are not aware of. Do they know the man behind the mask like they do Batman and Superman? Most likely not. Which is fair, he's been one of 4 men since the character was first introduced in the first issue of Flash Comics way back in 1940. The man who's logged the most time behind the mask though is Barry Allen. Barry was in a way, my Flash, as he was the one starring in the live action TV series that I saw as a kid. Now, I say in a way, because I have little recollection of what happened on that show, aside from him running around.

Barry was the first one in the costume most recognize, and he's the one of the cover for The Flash by Frances Manapul and Brian Buccellato that you see here below.

Now each Flash has been defined differently. Barry Allen works in forensics for the Central City police department. An accident involve some lab chemicals and lightning bolt has given him the powers of superspeed, powers so intense that he has managed such feats as large as time travel and vibrating between dimension. Not to mention that he saved the universe from destruction in the classic DC reboot from the 80s, Crisis on Infinite Earths (yes, for you not aware, we've been down that path). And while Grant Morrison brought him back in Final Crisis, what's important to remember is that he is back now. Let's not get into that all too much. If you'd like to investigate, it's there. Otherwise, we have some great stories to move from.

The other part of Barry Allen is his wife, Iris West Allen. A reporter, she's always one step of the Fastest Man Alive, and on his case about his constant lateness (which is a fun bit about The Flash, is that Barry Allen is always late). Over the years he's amassed quite a gallery of rogues who rival Batman's in sheer size. The Flash is generally a fun and dynamic series, and while he's had his share of down moments over the years, he's generally and upbeat character, and dedicated to work both as the Flash and Barry Allen, which is something we don't always see as often from Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne. Currently, the Flash is starring in the lead up to the relaunch, Flashpoint.

Handling the series both on writing and art is Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato. Manapul has been doing the art on The Flash since Geoff Johns' launch of series last year. Buccellato has done the colors for Manapul since their run with Geoff Johns on Adventure Comics starring Superboy. The art has been dynamic, and they've introduced a color wash effect that gives a unique look to their books that stands out from standard comics coloration. I have no doubt that their artist ability to tell a story will translate to them handling the series solo.

These are a few of my favorite Barry Allen Flash stories currently in print. There is another--the epic long-form story "The Trial of the Flash"--that will collected later on this year as well.

Flash Chronicles vol. 1 & 2 by John Broome & Carmine Infantino
Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues by Geoff Johns, Francis Manapul, & Brian Buccellato

Another great story from Manapul & Buccellato (again with Geoff Johns) is Superboy: The Boy of Steel, which collects their run on Adventure Comics.

Back on track now, we'll be looking at a new entry: The Fury of Firestorm!

DC Relaunch: Aquaman

For sometime now, poor ole Aquaman has had it kind of hard. Admittedly, most of the character that appeared in Superfriends didn't really get a fair shake, but he's in particular had a hard time carrying a series in recent years, and he's also come under fire from fans and Adult Swim as a useless character. Can he talk to fish, he can swim really fast, but what else is there? Well, y'know, being able to easily swim the depths of the sea typically gives you a pretty durable body and really impressive superstrength. He's also had some very interesting methods of his talking/controlling sea creatures, like the time he set Superboy straight by dropping a tsunami and a ton of whales on him.

Anyway, Aquaman has been getting some better attention these days, after being killed uneventfully and eventually brought back to life by Geoff Johns in the pages of Blackest Night and Brightest Day.

Aquaman is connected to the sea. And there's alot of stories to tell there, you just really have to grab the reader's attention in the first place. Over the years Aquaman has had it pretty rough, so while he can be an alright guy, he is often closed off from his friends. He's a king, but he'd much rather handle biz himself that send someone else off to do it. And since he's only half Atlantean anyway, his family, to him, is usually those he keeps close: his wife Mera, Aqualad, and Aquagirl. Mera is just as powerful as he is, and also has powers of hard water manipulation (essentially creating effective weapons out of nothing, which the current Aqualad has as well). He does have a short temper, especially when it comes to people messing around with his oceans.

Aquaman is an adventurer. When checking out his stories, fully expect there to be lots of stuff going on, and some hard action. It's fun, and all those people talking about Aquaman just talking to fish are missing out on that.

The new Aquaman will be handled by the Geoff Johns along with Ivan Reis. Together, they've worked on Green Lantern and Brightest Day. Reis has also worked with former Green Lantern Corps writer Dave Gibbons on the cosmic mini-series The Rann-Thanagar War.

My favorite Aquaman stories have been the work done by Peter David in the early 90s. While his run was cut short, his notable changes to the character (including the harpoon hand seen throughout the Justice League cartoons) have not been without recognition. However, much of it has not seen collection. Here is what you can find, aside from the Showcase and Archive volumes:

Aquaman: The Death of the Prince by Jim Aparo & Others

Aquaman: Time & Tide by Peter David & Kirk Jarvenin

Aquaman: The Waterbearer by Rick Veitch

Come back tomorrow where we'll be taking a look at the The Flash!

DC Relaunch: Wonder Woman

So I know this is late, but I decided to wait until all the books were up. And then I was busy yesterday. Anyway!

This next batch was announced shortly (and unexpectedly) after the Justice League reveal. The first of these that I'll be talking about is Wonder Woman (I am literally going in the order they appeared when announced).

Wonder Woman is interesting in that DC had just recently done some work to try and modernize her a bit. Most of that looks to remain the same, and most of that is visual anyway. There's a few points that remain constant. In fact, over the years, most of what has changed besides a few minor costume adjustments, has been whether or whether not she had an alternate identity. Most recently she has not had one, just FYI.

But what stays consistent is the juxtaposition of her Amazonian heritage, and her ties to divinity, against her unconditional love of humanity. I think that's important to the character, as is a certain amount of grace outside of battle. Now, on the other side of that she is and always has been a warrior. She is well trained, precise, and brutal. Now any number of things can actually happen in the comic, as you might imagine, but those are basics of her character.

The creators coming in on this are Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, who had previously worked together on a backup in Tales of the Unknown a few years back, which has been collected as Doctor Thirteen: Morality & Architecture. It came out after Infinite Crisis, which made some changes to the DC universe, and the mini poked a bit of fun at how some obscure characters can be left out when that happens. Despite starring obscure characters, it is easy to read if you have no prior knowledge of these characters (at the time I didn't).

Brian Azzarello is probably best known for his work with Eduardo Risso on the 100 issue crime epic 100 Bullets. He's also worked with Risso on an upcoming series called Spaceman, and numerous times on Batman, in the stories "Broken City," the currently running Flashpoint mini "Knight of Vengeance," and in a story serialized in the weekly effort, Wednesday Comics. Azzarello has also collaborated with co-publisher and new Justice League artist Jim Lee, on the year long Superman story "For Tomorrow."

Cliff Chiang is a dynamic artist who has been doing both interior and covers for DC for a few years. He notably has worked with Judd Winick on a run of Green Arrow/Black Canary (collected as "Family Business") and with Josh Dysart for Neil Young's graphic novel Greendale.

As far as my favorite Wonder Woman story is concerned, I am admittedly, a bit unfamiliar with the character. I did follow Gail Simone's run and have read the current story, "The Odyssey," and these are my favorites from those:

Wonder Woman - Ends of the Earth

Wonder Woman - Odyssey vol. 1 (vol. 2 is yet to be released)

While this goes out early this morning, late tonight I'll be posting on Aquaman. Stay tuned, and as always, feel free to share your favorite Wonder Woman stories in the comments!

DC Relaunch Daily, Part one: Justice League

As many of you who may stumble across this blog are aware, DC Comics is preparing a massive relaunch of their titles, with 52 new books being released to the general public (that's right they're not just for nerds anymore (p.s., they never were!)), not only in shops, but online the same day. For those of you aware, thanks for stopping by. Please link this blog to a friend who could potentially be interested in reading comics. Because that's what I want to do here.


I've decided that I want there to be more people reading. I like the idea of reading comics as something that people do because they enjoy it, not something we wallow in as nostalgia, whether it be people like myself who are regular Wednesday release readers, to the people who whenever I bring up comics they think back to something they read as a kid, and how much they loved it (but you couldn't get them to pick up a book if you tried). As comic book readers, we have a negative stigma. So invite those reading this to forget about that. DC has given you a way around the comic book shop. Comics are now released online. If you've ever been interested, even remotely, I'd like to help open the door. But, I'd imagine, you don't really know where to begin. So day by day, I'll be going over these books that DC is providing for you. By no means should you try to read them all! That way lies madness. But if something catches your eye, why not?



So I'll begin with the first title being announced, and that is Justice League by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee.


Here's the first cover that was released:


The Justice League has always been a team that handled the largescale threats to Earth that as individuals may have been a bit much. But together, they're the heaviest hitters Earth has to offer, and it's hard to get very far against that.



Most of these characters should be pretty familiar to you: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Aquaman. Depending on your age, it may even be safe to say that you're familiar with Cyborg, as he was one of the main characters of Teen Titans (which was a great show for young and old, in my opinion). These are your Big 7, as they're usually referred to. The core of the Justice League. As you might imagine, being the biggest and most important characters in the DC Universe is a busy job in itself. A few members aside, these are protectors of their respective cities. So as per usually, there's a few more members that have yet to be revealed. Geoff Johns, the writer, has stated the League will boast up to about 13 members. So there's room for everyone.


I'd like to now talk about the creators working on the book, which can be, for many, as important as who the book is about.


Geoff Johns is a writer who's been working at DC Comics for sometime. Currently, in addition to writing, he is Chief Creative Officer at DC. He's well known for long runs on the comics The Flash, JSA (and later published as Justice Society of America), Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E., Action Comics, and for his very long run in revitalizing Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern, and expanding the Green Lantern franchise into multiple books and soon to be a movie. His works are known for having hints and seeds throughout a long run, while still being accessible to new readers jumping into the latest story. I myself started reading his Green Lantern about 25 issues in.


Jim Lee is an artist who has been in the comics industry for a long time. Part of the teams responsible for the immense popularity of the X-Men in the early 90s, he left Marvel Comics with other artists to start Image Comics. After a time, Lee took his properties and studio Wildstorm on its own, separate from Image. After a time it became enveloped as a line all its own within DC, publishing his Wildstorm Universe, licensed properties, and various creator owned works such as Alan Moore's ABC line of comics. Recently he was named with Dan Didio the co-publisher for DC Comics.



Just a few works by these two creators I'd like to recommend:


Green Lantern: Rebirth by Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Sciver
The Flash: Dastardly Death of the Rogues by Geoff Johns, Francis Manapul, & Scott Kolins
Superman: Secret Origin by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank
Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee


And a few of my personal favorite Justice League storylines (excluding Justice League International, more about that later):



JLA by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter (vols. 1-4)
JLA: The Obsidian Age by Joe Kelly & Doug Mahnke (Books 1 & 2)
Justice League Elite by Joe Kelly & Doug Mahnke (vols 1 & 2)



Being as these are my personal favorites, I'd hardly say they are the easiest or the most representative of what you'll be reading in the new Justice League title. Merely representative of what I liked before. If you are interested in reading further, these suggests are here, and if any readers would like to further those, please do so in the comments! But I should say, do not feel pressured into reading these books as a primer for the new title. It should stand on its own.



Tomorrow, we'll be getting into the first of the solo titles announced, Wonder Woman!