I’m a huge Nightwing fan, so I was very glad to see he was back in costume again. I really didn’t care for the “Grayson” title. Dick as a spy didn’t really interest me. But now he’s back, and the costume has the classic blue accents again instead of the red silliness of the reboot, which never made any sense to me.
DC has certainly had their issues with live action movies over the last several years, but their animated features continue to be great. Kind of the reverse of Marvel in my opinion. The DC Animated Universe is one of the finest bodies of work out there, and the individual ones they’ve done since have been pretty damn good. There are various spoilers below. Thou art warned, reader.
Mera disappeared during the Battle of London, with things really not looking good for her. At least part of this issue deals with what happened to her. It’s a very nicely done story, and features one of the very rare male characters in the “Bombshells” era. From the ocean, the issue moves to Berlin, where we learn more about what’s been happening to Zatanna and John Constantine. A new character makes her Bombshell debut during that sequence, and there’s the return of the Joker’s Daughter.
By now, I’m presuming anyone that’s interested saw “Schism,” the season finale of Arrow. If not, be warned, there are spoilers here for that. And some news about season five. So, with that in mind, off we go.
Like a lot of long time DC Comics fans, I loathed the reboot they did several years ago. Then, recently, Rebirth started, and it seemed like the people in charge were finally listening to some of the fans. Rebirth undid a lot of what the reboot did to DC’s history.
I was one of the many long-time DC fans who didn’t like much about the reboot. I was absolutely thrilled when many elements of it seemed to be “fixed” in my admittedly biased term, when the Rebirth special hit the stores on June 1st. Now some of the new stories are being explored in more depth.
Arrow’s fourth season comes a close with “Schism.” Damian Darhk is on the loose, and he’s even more unhinged in the wake of his wife’s death. This means nothing good for Star City, and, as we find out, the rest of the world. It’s a finale with some weird twists and not so much a cliffhanger as a major status quo change at the end.
Gotham’s second season concludes with “Transference,” the end of the “Wrath of the Villains” arc. For a season finale, there aren’t a lot of surprises, nor is there a big cliffhanger. I almost wonder if when this was written, they weren’t sure they coming back for season three.
Anytime there’s a big change in something, some people will like it, and some will hate it. When it’s something that means a lot to people, the reactions are stronger. Several years ago, DC Comics rebooted their entire line, with a new history, new looks, new teams. Reaction was mixed. In the interests of full disclosure, I was a DC fan from the mid-80’s right up until the reboot.
The Flash ends Season Two with, “The Race of His Life.” There are a lot of surprises and twists, and they manage to keep curveballs coming right up until the very last scene. I didn’t see the end of this one coming, and a few other things along the way surprised me as well.
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