AARON GLAZER:
Hey Grey, are you a guy?
GREY SCHERL:
I sure am, but what about you Glazer?
AARON GLAZER:
I’m a guy, too! What could it mean?
GREY SCHERL:
Two guys are going to ramble on about….something?
AARON GLAZER:
Well, all over the place right now I seem to have some Comics. Let’s talk about them! Two guys talk about… Comics! Let’s go!
GREY SCHERL:
Where to start, where to start? We’ve got a swashbuckling devil, a man that can not die, a father and son that just can’t get along, hell, even a tail of two fallen heroes. It was a hell of a week with Marvel actually trying!
AARON GLAZER:
Let’s start with the worst book we’ll talk about, Fear Itself #6. Gotta get it out of the way sometime.
GREY SCHERL:
That book makes me regret saying Marvel is trying.
AARON GLAZER:
It’s a pretty hardcore Captain America issue. He spends it complaining the heroes will lose, yelling at Odin, and forming a militia. And none of it feel really in character.
GREY SCHERL:
It feels like it would be in character if he was in a Western, because he felt like a cross between Duke Wayne and Clint Eastwood of the Thousand Yard Stare.
AARON GLAZER:
Did you ever read the mini-series that tied up the Reborn Universe?
GREY SCHERL:
Heroes Reborn: The Return?
I have that in singles!
AARON GLAZER:
Yes – it felt like they were trying to do that Cap and failed utterly.
GREY SCHERL:
The problem is that Fraction is writing Cap as a caricature of himself. He’s not Steve Rogers, he’s one mans take on Captain America, and it just feels out of character. He feels like a movie character.
AARON GLAZER:
It
It’s a shame; the Iron Man stuff was cool. The Odin-Thor stuff was equally out of character.
GREY SCHERL:
The Odin-Thor stuff was touching for a moment until I remembered how horribly out of character it is just based on their interactions a few issues ago.
AARON GLAZER:
Odin has never ever acted like this before. He’s a prick.
AARON GLAZER:
Rating? I go 3/10. It sure was Fear Itself.
GREY SCHERL:
I’m giving it a 4/10 because it still looks pretty, even if it reads like a bad Michael Bay movie.
It makes Transformers 2 look like X-Men 2.
AARON GLAZER:
The other big book of the week is Geoff Johns coming in with Green Lantern #1.
GREY SCHERL:
You mean Green Lantern #68?
AARON GLAZER:
There’s a difference? You liked this more than I did… why?
GREY SCHERL:
Well, I liked Green Lantern, I’ve been enjoying it greatly for years with few exceptions. I loved the War of the GLs, and yeah, I’m a big Lantern booster, and with this issue Johns might have tagged a #1 on it, but it’s the next issue of the story he’s been writing for the past several years.
For anyone jumping in fresh because of the number one, yeah, they’re going to be confused, but for fans of what Geoff was doing before this is a must because it’s quite literally the next issue. This book suffers no reboot.
AARON GLAZER:
I hate Hal. He killed this issue. He act so horribly inhuman.
GREY SCHERL:
That intrigued me, actually.
AARON GLAZER:
It felt off. I don’t buy anyone being that obtuse.
GREY SCHERL:
He’s spent so much time with the ring on and not being Hal Jordan that he really has no idea how to be Hal any more.
We haven’t seen him not being Green Lantern since the Sinestro Corps War
AARON GLAZER:
He’s still been with people and a human enough to know what a proposal sounds like. And his stuttering around the word, utterl cliche.
GREY SCHERL:
That part was kind of pathetic, I’ll give it to you, but I do fully get that Hal has to reintegrate himself into a life that it’s increasingly clear that he does not want.
AARON GLAZER:
You know what I liked about GL?
GREY SCHERL:
Sinestro is a badass?
AARON GLAZER:
Yes, but better, the Guardians brainwashing Ganthet. Long overdue and fully in character.
GREY SCHERL:
I agree completely, especially since he is arguable the most powerful one of them.
AARON GLAZER:
He’s the best and the closest to humans, who they now fear.
GREY SCHERL:
He accepts emotions, he led an entire different Corps…of six people. He was the last of them to survive, and in essence, he’s the elder still as Kyle Rayner brought back all the dead Guardians so that Ganthet wouldn’t be alone anymore.
AARON GLAZER:
Well, we don’t know if that still happened.
GREY SCHERL:
Well, if Kyle is still called the Torchbearer in New Guardians than it kinda had to. That’s how he got the name.
GREY SCHERL:
Actually, Kyle is still a Green Lantern, that is REALLY telling for the GL mythos.
AARON GLAZER:
Can you imagine the backlash if not? I’d drop the line flat out.
GREY SCHERL:
Oh, so would I. And like I said before, I love the GL line right now, but if you subtract Kyle through any means other than glorious battlefield death, then I’m done.
AARON GLAZER:
So, rating?
GREY SCHERL:
I’m sink to an 8/10, I really enjoyed it, and for anyone who was enjoyed it before Relaunch, they’re going to keep enjoying it. But this issue was anything but new reader friendly.
AARON GLAZER:
I think it’s a 6/10. It was solid, but, man, I hate Hal Jordan.
GREY SCHERL:
I would not mind seeing him fall over the next year, the longer he’s not in the ring the better for his character.
AARON GLAZER:
The deader he is the better for me. Let’s stick with the Lanterns of the reboot and talk Peter Milligan and Ed Benes’ Red Lanterns #1.
GREY SCHERL:
The issue was intriguing, but it was missing something.
Possibly a non-emo main character.
AARON GLAZER:
I have no one to root for here. And really, the main character having nothing he wants to do isn’t much of a plot.
GREY SCHERL:
I’ll argue there, he had nothing to do, but the issue was about him finding a new purpose since his old one is kinda wrapped up.
AARON GLAZER:
Right, but since I paid for it and not a trade, seeing that new purpose would give me a reason to keep readings. Now? It feels like “what do villains do when not plotting against the hero?” Answer… not much.
GREY SCHERL:
….did you not finish the issue? He finds the new purpose in the last four pages.
Like, that’s the ending, Atrocitus figures out what he’s doing next to set up him doing it next issue.
AARON GLAZER:
Err, he must go to earth and deal with Red Lanterns?
GREY SCHERL:
No dude, the new mission is to go across the universe and deliver punishment. The Red Lantern Corps is going to be Universal Vengeance. This just means getting his soldiers in line.
GREY SCHERL:
He needed it though, previously he was more or less exclusively “I want revenge for my planet and my Corps is to help me get that”, but now he’s got Krona’s corpse laying in a room.
AARON GLAZER:
I … didn’t get that, but wow, I’m dropping this. Cosmic Punisher? No thanks.
GREY SCHERL:
You really didn’t finish the issue then, he flat out says most of this on the second to last page.
To be honest though, this is the same place we split on the Punisher issue as well. This actually sells this series to me as much as it turns you awa.
AARON GLAZER:
Just flippped to it. I apparently forgot it in trying to understand the crazy speech the last page gave us.
GREY SCHERL:
You mean Bleez? She’s the first change I’ve seen in the GL books thus far, as in Emerald Warriors Tomasi had a Blue Lantern fix her enough so that she could form sentences. That said, you know me dude, I love Bleez. She’s awesome.
AARON GLAZER:
Isn’t she the one going to the New Guardians?
GREY SCHERL:
Apparently the cast is going to be rotating for several of the Corps, but she is the one on all the covers!
GREY SCHERL:
She’s also the third best known Red Lantern after Atrocitus and Red Lantern Blue Kitty of Cute Death.
AARON GLAZER:
Right, well, rating?
GREY SCHERL:
I’m giving it a 7/10; it’s an interesting first issue and is actually relatively accessible, which is something I wouldn’t expect from the GL line. Ed Benes does a nice job on art, but I can’t help but feel he’d be better suited on something else with someone like Fernando Pasarin on this book…but I think he’s on Green Lantern Corps.
AARON GLAZER:
I’ll give it a 5/10. It was just dead average.
AARON GLAZER:
Let’s stick with the reluanch for Batman and Robin #1. And we can try and figure out what the hell hapenned to Peter Tomasi.
GREY SCHERL:
I have no idea. I actually thought the whole Crime Alley deal was kinda cool, but once he got to the fight the thing just fell apart to me. I didn’t get the kaboom until Batman explained it, and Robin’s cheshire cat “I kill you” grin is something that had been carefully worked out of the character over the past several years.
I wanted to say Bruce was out of character, but honestly, he was more in character than anybody, his partner is his son who he has never worked with and did not raise, who happens to randomly kill henchmen with nuclear fuel rods?
AARON GLAZER:
Damian just felt horribly off. We need set up for the trust me not just issue 1 here we are. Bruce was also mighty full of exposition. Damian knew all of this and they insisted on narrating it all anyway.
GREY SCHERL:
Yeah, but Bruce being an exposition device isn’t horribly out of character, that’s standard “I trust that you, the reader, don’t understand the unspoken things I’m doing so I’m going to explain them in detail to make sure you get it”, which is kind of insulting. Though finding out why the orb caught fire was nice.
Trust should be the issue, but it should be handled naturally, this just feels cobbled together…though what do you want to bet we get a new bad guy out of the “dead” thieves?
AARON GLAZER:
Bruce doesn’t do that though! That’s usually the role of other characters as he’s more quiet. This feels very very forced.
GREY SCHERL:
Like I said, the first act of the issue I enjoyed. I like Bruce admitting that it’s time to remember his parents lives instead of their deaths.
AARON GLAZER:
I’m fine with it; I just wish it were a process not jsut a ta-da moment.
GREY SCHERL:
I’ll grant you that.
This book has fallen a long way since Grant had it must read for a year and a half.
AARON GLAZER:
What the hell happened to Tomasi!
AARON GLAZER:
Rating?
GREY SCHERL:
It’s not like his last Batman and Robin arc was that good, while Emerald Warriors was great. I really think that he’s just not a Batman guy. Nightwing, sure, but not Batman.
He keeps trying to go too big too fast.
I’ll give it a 5.5./10.
AARON GLAZER:
I’ll give it a 4.0/10. It just wasn’t good.
GREY SCHERL:
The art was good, though I really do miss Gleason on a GL book.
AARON GLAZER:
The art is where the rating comes from.
One last relaunch book, the one I bet fewest of you are reading – Mr. Terrific #1!
GREY SCHERL:
Ehhh, we got one more relaunch book after this one!
I scoped Mr. T, and I mean, anyone who knows me, I hated on this book. Eric Wallace? Villains for Hire? Pass. He proved me wrong.
AARON GLAZER:
It was a good book. Mr. Terrific has a good hook – he’s a brilliant guy trying to help after his wife and unborn son die senselessly. There’s some weird mystic science stuff going on I’m curious about, and even a potential love interest that doesn’t seem forced.
GREY SCHERL:
Speaking of, this is exactly where I expected Karen Starr to be when they revealed she would be in the title back at San Diego. It works, but you know what my issue is.
AARON GLAZER:
No, I don’t…
GREY SCHERL:
I’m a Power Girl fan!
AARON GLAZER:
Oh, right, I forgot that embarassing tidbit.
GREY SCHERL:
I’m not embarrassed, that book was awesome even after Amanda left.
AARON GLAZER:
The character had no reason to exist.
GREY SCHERL:
Sure she did, she was great! JSA, her solo series, her time in Generation Lost, Infinite Crisis, Peeg really came into her own in the last six or seven years. Though I’ll admit that prior to any of that, yeah, I agree completely.
AARON GLAZER:
I don’t see why she can’t just be Supergirl.
GREY SCHERL:
Because Power Girl lets you have Karen Starr, who can be a really good supporting cast member as was proven in this issue.
You get the powers of Superman without the direct tie to Superman, which opens the character up more.
AARON GLAZER:
I guess. I’ve never had much interest in that, really. Rating?
GREY SCHERL:
I’m going to give this a 7.5 and say that it might be the most surprising success of the relaunch
AARON GLAZER:
I’m fine with a 7/10 and, well, I was reasonably sure I’d like it. But, what else do we have for the relaunch?
GREY SCHERL:
One of my favorite titles of the week, actually, by two of our favorite writers.
AARON GLAZER:
Ressurection Man #1!
GREY SCHERL:
You will believe a man can’t die!
AARON GLAZER:
Heaven and Hell don’t buy it though! They want him dead. Him figuring out his powers and learning that makes up the issue.
GREY SCHERL:
And while that may not seem like much, it creates a great introduction, or reintroduction, to an obscure character with a cult following.
AARON GLAZER:
It made me care about him and want to see what happens next.
GREY SCHERL:
Exactly! And I have to say, the fact that we only saw an angel in this issue is what really blew me away. If heaven is willing to go this far for him, imagine what hell will do?
AARON GLAZER:
Hell was all the “sexy” ladies. It was a bit cliche, but not enough to stop this from being my third favorite relaunch book thus far. 9/10.
GREY SCHERL:
You mean at the end? The Body Doubles? They aren’t demons, they’re hit women who want to make a XXX version of the Wizard of Oz!
GREY SCHERL:
They’re from the original run, they hunted Mitch the entire series more or less.
AARON GLAZER:
Wow, that’s… okay then. I like silly in my comics.
GREY SCHERL:
They had a one shot where you find out that one of them has a transestite cat burglar uncle. If you like silly, you will see a lot of it with the Body Doubles. Strippers turned hit-women.
This book is a 9.5 for me, and in a toss up for my book of the week.
AARON GLAZER:
Well, let’s make it a 9.5 for me too. It’s only behind 2 Action Comics… and Demon Knights.
GREY SCHERL:
I have not read Demon Knights yet, as of this, I’m reading it after we’re done.
But currently Resurrection Man is splitting with Buffy Season Nine for my top spot this week.
AARON GLAZER:
Have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons? Because it’s the most awesome DC meets Conan game of DnD ever.
AARON GLAZER:
And our final book, Daredevil #3.
GREY SCHERL:
Interesting….
Waid continues to make Daredevil worth reading.
AARON GLAZER:
It was another good issue, and I really dug Rivera visually playing with Klaw’s powers.
GREY SCHERL:
It was cool to see all the various Klaw’s exist in sections of themselves.
AARON GLAZER:
I mena, even the cover is a cool bit of visual play. Daredevil having to suffer to get through the machine he’s hooked too wasn’t shown as well, but still, great use of the medium.
GREY SCHERL:
How about the new status quo of Nelson & Murdock?
AARON GLAZER:
I like the idea – we keep changing things in this book and I keep being interested.
GREY SCHERL:
He’s rehabbing the character on the fly.
AARON GLAZER:
He’s made this among my top reads. Daredevil and Demon Knights were the first 2 books I read this week.
GREY SCHERL:
Green Lantern and Fear Itself were mine….stupid Fear Itself needing reviews.
AARON GLAZER:
Ha, Rating?
GREY SCHERL:
Oddly enough, I read New Avengers, the other Daredevil story, before I read this.
DD gets an 8/10.
AARON GLAZER:
I’ll give it an 8/10 as well.
What did you think of New Avengers?
GREY SCHERL:
New Avengers is exactly what the cover promises us, Daredevil does something to join the Avengers. I thought he was ridiculously badass, and the only thing I’d argue with is a guy with hyper sonic hearing firing a gattling gun right next to his ear with any sort of accuracy, but it was a pretty good issue.
It’s only issue, really, was that it was too predictable.
AARON GLAZER:
There were silly points – Super Daredevil was unneccessary, but it did it’s job.
GREY SCHERL:
Avengers do their “History of the Avengers” bit talking about what makes an Avenger, talk about how they aren’t in Daredevil’s league because he’s so awesome, Daredevil then kills dozens of super nazis because he’s awesome, and then single handedly saves Avengers Mansion, Squirrel Girl, and Luke and Jessica Cage’s daughter. Then they make him an Avenger. The End.
AARON GLAZER:
I’m very done with the reality TV type storytelling. They love Daredevil a lot – thanks so much. It’s a 5/10 or dead average.
GREY SCHERL:
You know I love the talking heads style approach to writing Avengers that Bendis has developed, but I’ve also said that it’s not something that works when everyone is saying how great one person is.
It’s a better device for putting over the scale of the threat.
I’m actually going to give it a 7, because despite its flaws, if you can forget that Daredevil should never be that bad ass, and that he’s put over a bit too much, it’s a fun issue to read. Deodato hits a homerun on art and it’s a fun flip through book.
AARON GLAZER:
And we’re done!
AARON GLAZER:
Hope you enjoyed 2 Guys and keep it here for a ton of reviews, including every DC Relaunch book!
GREY SCHERL:
Have a good one everyone!
