“Unstoppable” is a well-named story. NEMO, the new society that Black Manta has become part of (which has a really goofy name) had unleashed a terrible weapon that is heading straight for Atlantis. Not only can Aquaman and the Drift not stop it, they can’t even figure out what this hulking monster is. When Aquaman finally works it out, the answer is pretty damn terrifying, and it makes perfect sense. I have no idea how they are going to manage to stop this next issue.
One of the things I was happiest about when DC started their Rebirth event was bringing back the relationship between Green Arrow and Black Canary. They’ve always been one of my favorite comic book couples. This issue has a lot of them together, trapped on an island. As the old song goes, “Reunited, and it feels so good.”
There are a lot of bad reviews out of Suicide Squad. In my humble opinion, they are wrong. I just saw it, and thought it was a lot of fun. It wasn’t as good as some top tier Marvel efforts (Winter Soldier, Civil War, Avengers) but it was a LOT better than some of DC’s recent efforts (Man of Steel, Green Lantern, Hex). I thought it was a fun action flick with a few Easter Eggs and respected the original source material.
With the introductory special out of the way, the new Titans book has begun for real. At Dick’s loft in Gotham, the team is getting used to the return of their forgotten friend, Wally West. Lilith tries to help him piece together some of his missing memories, but some of them are proving hard to reach, which likely isn’t good. Despite the fact that Dick is one of the best detectives on the planet, it’s Garth that comes up with an idea for their next lead.
With the movie coming out soon, I thought this was a good time to go over the history of DC’s team of rogues. They first appeared in 1959 in the Brave and the Bold anthology title, and have had a few different incarnations. This piece will go over the major eras, and some of the big players.
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.
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.
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.
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.
One thing I’ll give the writers of Gotham: they’ve taken one of Batman’s most obscure foes (I’d lay money no one that doesn’t read the comics had heard of Hugo Strange before this season, and even some that do might not have) and made him not only a menacing threat, but possibly the source of many of Batman’s later foes. The series has definitely had its problems, but I think this was one of their better episodes, and they even tried to address some of those flaws. If the rest of the series can hold at this level of quality, I’d be a lot more of a fan of the show.
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