Titans Hunt #1 (December, 2015)
"Titans Hunt, Chapter One: The Brave and the Bold"
Writer - Dan Abnett
Penciller - Paulo Siquiera
Inker - Geraldo Borges
Colors - Hi-Fi
Letterer - Carlos M. Mangual
Editors - Paul Kaminski & Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $3.99
It's been kinduva Convergency week here, hasn't it? Now... believe it or not, I really don't like to say the same thing over and over (and over) again... so, instead of, ya know... doing that, I'll just link to yesterday's discussion and the event.
And to avoid droning on about the other big release I was excited for, I'll just link to our discussion on Superman: Lois and Clark from the other day. All I will say is... when the news broke, I was overjoyed that two of my favorite DC properties were being given attention... and were being "fixed".
Today's subject... Titans Hunt.
--
We open in Cline, Oklahoma... a small town which Roy Harper has found himself drawn to, but he hasn't the foggiest idea why. Well, while he's there he might as well get a bottle of rye whiskey and enjoy the incoming tornado! He heads into a convenience store, where he is tended to by a fella named... Gnarrk. As he's paying, Roy accidentally knocks the bottle off the counter, but catches it before it hits the floor. To which, Gnarrk comments that Roy... is Speedy. Bottle bought, Roy heads back to his pickup to tie one on.
We shift scenes to see the smilin' face of Agent-37... otherwise known as Dick Grayson. He's on the trail of a group called Harvest, who are in the black market business of selling metahuman organs. Word on the street is they've got some Atlantean goods at the moment. Grayson works his way inside, and listens in.
Before he can act, however, a familiar-looking Atlantean busts in... and busts heads, killing the entire Harvest "inner circle".
Dick rushes in to try and gain control of the situation... and only gets beaten up for his efforts. Their fight leads to the waterside... and, when the moment is right... Garth gives in. In his wake, Dick notices a whirlpool... which catches his attention, and almost stirs up a memory.
Next stop... I wanna say Hatton Corners, where a brunette is looking at a dilapidated clubhouse. She is approached by a fisherman... and it's soon clear that we're looking at Donna Troy. She wasn't a Titan (or even created yet) when the boys first assembled at Hatton Corners... but we'll allow it.
We next attend the Golden Star Awards Ceremony where we see composer Mal Duncan winning the Best Original Score award for his work on "Trouble Always Finds You". He is joined by his pregnant wife, Karen. Worth mentioning, the award is presented by Buddy Baker! As Mal goes to collect his award... things get wonky, but just for a moment.
We rejoin Dick, who is hanging out in his hotel room and checking in with Matron. He's watching "Crash Site" on pay-per-view... because he loves the soundtrack. Weird reasoning, but we'll allow it. After hanging up, he gets another "call"... from someone who knows his real name.
This is Lilith Clay... and she implores him to find "them"... and then to find "her".
We scoot back over to check in with drunken Roy... who is splayed out in the back of his pickup truck. He literally falls off the wagon... and decides to call his addiction counselor to check in.
His counselor? Lilith Clay. They chat for a bit... and then she heads into her waiting room, where she sees two young girls playing... Twister. Oi... bit on the nose there.
She tells her next patient that she'll be right with them before returning to her office... where we get a good look at her filing cabinet.
--
I'm not sure what I was expecting from this series... but I was happy with what we got.
I remember all the speculation from the cover... "Here Lies the Forgotten Titan", I think all of our minds went to Wally. Of course, that's sorta how it all winds up... but I haven't the foggiest if that was the original intention. Keeping with the cover... it's pretty cool to have Cyborg here... even if he's standing on the wrong side.
Now... this group isn't necessarily the gang I associate with the Titans... or at least "my" Titans. To me characters like Gnarrk, Lilith, and Hornblower were just relics of the Bronze Age... worthy of a guest-spot, but I never really think of them as "full-timers". Hell, same with Roy... I guess.
Even with that said... I couldn't be happier that the Titans once again had history. Early on in The New-52!, it was mentioned that there were previous Titans teams... of course, that was "corrected" when the issues were collected in trade. It was yet another thing I/we, as seasoned fan(s) lost. It already felt as though we were getting pelted with garbage from DC... now, suddenly the garbage was wet.
In giving the Titans their history back... no matter how close to the "real one" it might be, DC took one giant leap in the right direction. For far too long they'd played fast and loose with what did and didn't happen in their ridiculous "five-year timeline"... With books like this, we kinda break away from that... and, like I already said, I couldn't have been happier.
Gotta also say, this is a very pretty book. When this was announced, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a "serious" book... or if it was going to be like an X-Men Forever sort of afterthought. Was very pleased with this book... pretty much the entire thing from cover to cover.
Overall... if you're a Titans fan, you really ought to give this a look. Then again, if you're a Titans fan, this miniseries was the oasis in the desert you've been crawling through for five years... and you've probably already read it! Definitely worth checking out... and is (duh) available digitally.
--
Interesting Ads:
707
Convergence #0 (June, 2015)
"The God Machine"
Writers - Dan Jurgens & Tom King
Artist - Ethan Van Sciver
Colorist - Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer - Travis Lanham
Editors - Dan Didio & David Pina
Cover Price: $4.99
I feel like we've been kicking around ol' Convergence quite a bit on the blog here... but we have yet to discuss the actual event. Sure, we've discussed the fallout... and how the longer the story went, the more clear that it was only created in the first place to fill-in for DC's cross-country move... but, I don't think we've really discussed the story.
I haven't read this since it hit shelves almost three years ago (three years already?)... so, let's give it another look see.
--
We open with Superman appearing in a vast whiteness... then a crackling... suddenly he finds himself surrounded by all of his memories (this is The New-52! Superman, by the by). Worth mentioning that this takes place right after the Superman: Doomed story arc. He is greeted by... that really gross-looking giant Brainiac from Futures End.
Superman demands he be sent back to Metropolis... which he'll do several more times throughout the issue. I don't recall him asking to be sent home all that much before... but, it does play into this story's "angle". Brainiac informs Superman that Metropolis is currently "beyond help"... then challenges him with a test of sorts. Superman asks where they are, which brings us to one of my favorite two-page spreads in quite some time!
The Many Deaths of the Superman! We see the iconic bit from Superman #149 (1961) where Lex Luthor has him strapped to a table. There's the end of Infinite Crisis... and The Kingdom... Red Son... and, of course... Superman's death from Superman (vol.2) #75 (1993). Such an amazing page! From the sublime to the silly... Brainiac then begins to reveal his agenda... he's seeking information on the many cities of the many worlds. Yawn.
Then... he vanishes! Superman, who has (all the while?) been strapped to a machine, struggles and finally breaks free. He finds himself in a desert-like environment where he is surrounded by millions of miles of... nothing.
After stopping for a drink of... we'll call it water, I guess... he is addressed by... Brainiac... again! This isn't the same gross-looking giant, however... this is a decidedly Silver-Age take on the fella. He's looking for information on... his city.
After taunting the Man of Steel for a bit, telling him that he already has several Metropolises (Metropoli?) in his "collection", he changes into a more Bronze-Age Super Powers-y looking version of himself... and takes us to yet another a-freaking-mazing two-page spread. This time we see a sort of amalgamation of all the different versions of Metropolis in his possession... it's really quite a sight!
Superman rushes toward the 'bot to attack, when suddenly it changes into its Pulsar Stargrave form! Feel like we don't see this version nearly enough.
He doesn't stick around all that long this time either, sadly... before long he's changed into the Brainiac from Superman: The Animated Series... then into his more modern look.
Superman finally strikes... and Brainiac finally decides to fill him in on his angle. The Master (that big nasty-looking Brainiac) has created a planet called Telos, where he delivers cities hailing from doomed timelines. This isn't entirely different from the Mosaic Oa from Green Lantern: Mosaic... but Brainy's going to take it one step further. He doesn't want to see if these disparate peoples can co-exist... he plans to pit them against one another to test their merit.
Superman appears to understand... then Brainiac begins buggin' out! It's pretty cool, actually... we get to see all of the different takes on the character throughout the ages. A sign that "everything happened" and "everything matters"... which, at the time, really scratched me where I itch.
Suddenly Superman and the Brainiacs (great band name) are back in the vast desert... and the former's attention is directed to the arrival of a new dome-covered city. Our man ain't exactly pleased, considering all of the inhabitants are now prisoners of "The Master".
The Brainiacs insist that this is for the best... and, in their imprisonment, they have also been saved. Superman still ain't buyin' it... and a fight is on! It's a very short fight, though... which ends when the Brainiacs realize that this Superman has no place on Telos. He has no city here... and thus, is jettisoned.
We wrap up with an appearance by the guy we'll soon know as Telos. He's arrived to do his best Apocalypse impression, and promises to let only the strong survive. In the distance, we can see a Bat-Signal illuminate the skies of the domed city. Whodathunk it... looks like we got a Gotham City!
--
Ya know, for all the grief Convergence gets... it started off pretty damn good!
This was a great issue that will very likely excite any fan of DC Comics and DC history. The premise is... ya know, pretty simple... but it's so grounded in DC lore that I can't help but really appreciate it! That is, of course, before I flipped through the Who's Who/Where's Where in the Convergence Universe bit (included below), and realized that this was just going to be forty-five flavors of Gotham City.
Why so much Gotham? I mean, sure... everybody knows Gotham... but for a story posing as a sort of love letter to DC history, we're going to need more. And the Elseworlds... really? Sure, there are some iconic Elseworlds... but, those aren't the worlds I want to read about (I also feel like they haven't "earned their place" as a proper DC Earth). When I'm expecting to be able to visit with heroes I hadn't seen in a half-decade, seeing them trapped in a Gotham City of whatever the hell era isn't quite going to cut it.
Now before I go off on a total anti-Convergence rant... let me try and rein it in, and discuss only this issue. For what we get here, story-wise... I was very pleased. Even if I'm not completely on-board with the captured-city gimmick, I was still excited to see what was to come. I feel like if the main event book kept to a more "exploring DC lore" take, it would be far more fondly remembered. Or, maybe it would just be far more fondly remembered... by me.
What we're going to get instead is... the Earth-2 heroes looking for a new home planet? Really? If you remember, in 2015 DC was doing some strange things to facilitate launching new titles. I mean, we sat through almost an entire year of the weekly New-52: Futures End series, in order to launch a... Batman Beyond book?! Really? And here, we have a two-month break in DC's regular publication schedule... more or less, to facilitate the launch of Earth-2 Society.
I remember all of the chatter on social media at the time... this whole concept was panned, and designated (by many) as a time-killer to smooth DC Editorial's transition from East to West coast. I didn't want to believe it... instead, I held on to the idea that this was the start of DC's return to a pre-Flashpoint sort of status quo.
I had these (foolish) ideas in my head that after this we'd get maybe 4-5 books that took place in the "real" DCU. If you'll indulge me... I saw Action Comics and Detective Comics (at their legacy numbering) shifting back over... flanked by relaunched JLA, JSA and New Titans titles (maybe with their legacy numbering... but that didn't matter as much). This, in a pre-Rebirth world, might've been enough of a "best of both worlds" scenario... and also might've made Convergence stand out as something better than a more recent Millenium-esque flop (Hey! It's like a Millennial Millennium).
Well, I went and did it again... I'm tellin' ya, it's so hard to stick to discussing this issue itself! Um... I know, let's talk art! Ethan Van Sciver turns in some phenomenal work here. I'm usually one to complain about two-page spreads (especially in a book priced at five bucks!), but holy cow... these are beautiful! That Many Deaths of Superman page... that one just sticks with me. Such an amazing spread that really shows the potential this story had. If I were away from comics at the time... all it would have taken was seeing this page, and I'd have plunked my five-dollars down for this issue. That, plus that shot of the amalgamated Metropolis... woo, great stuff!
The various takes on Brainiac were also quite well done. Even if I'm not the biggest Brainiac fan, I gotta say, it was really cool to see all of them. I saw this as the first step in fulfilling the "everything is on the table" promise.
Now... this is both an easy and a hard book to recommend. I'd say it's worth it for the art alone... there really is some amazing work in here. This issue, despite being part of the Convergence event, is quite different in tone than the rest of the series. What follows, in my opinion, does not live up to the expectations this issue set. I suppose I'll just have to ride the fence on this one. I can't, in good conscience, tell ya to rush out and grab this at $4.99 (or with whatever mark-up your local shop might give it once it's bagged, boarded, and binned. Heck, even digitally... you're looking at $3.99. If you come across this on the cheap... I'd tell ya not to hesitate. To sum up... this was a great issue, that unfortunately leads to a story that doesn't quite live up to the expectations it set.
--
Where's Where in the Convergence Universe:
--
Interesting Ads:
706
Superman: Lois and Clark #1 (December, 2015)
"Arrival, Part I"
Writer - Dan Jurgens
Penciller - Lee Weeks
Inker - Scott Hanna
Colorist - Brad Anderson
Letterers - A Larger World Studios' Joshua Cozine & Troy Peteri
Assistant Editor - Andrew Marino
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $3.99
Over the years, I've taken a pretty firm "don't care about Comicon" stance. I'll spare you all of the usual "old comic fan" complaints about what these conventions have become... just suffice it to say, I don't get excited for them. Being a fella who discusses comics online and maintains a small social media presence... sometimes I feel like I'm dodging movie anvils, but whattayagonnado?
When Comicon actually gives us comics news... it's usually pretty uninspired stuff. Marvel's going to launch a seventh Guardians of the Galaxy spin-off and the next in their line of "world-shattering, internet-splitting crossovers where heroes fight one another"... and DC's got a new book with "Bat" in the title. But sometimes... sometimes, something comes along that genuinely excites me.
Today we're going to discuss one of those times.
Post-Convergence DC was a strange place to hang out. I'd come back to the fandom in a big way after a half-decade on the fringes... largely in part to what I hoped would spin out from Convergence. I was hopeful that this would be a return to my DC Universe. What we got instead was... DCYOU, a weird disjointed approach by DC to seek out an audience that, shock of shocks, (for the most part) didn't exist.
I felt like I'd rolled yet another snake-eyes... and was already gathering my things for another DC-hiatus, when... in the late-Summer of 2015, two new titles were announced. One was Titans Hunt, the other... the book we'll be discussing today.
--
We open on a pretty familiar scene... if you were a reader of The New-52! We see bits from the opening arc of Justice League (vol.2)... only, we're seeing it from a different point of view. The narration is coming from Lois Lane, who makes a few comments that hit kinda close to home for a pre-Flashpoint guy like myself. She sees Superman... but it's not her Superman. Wow, how many times have we said that? Anyhoo, the Justice League takes down Darkseid... and from this vantage point, we can see that they were being watched over... by a man, in trunks!
This trunked-Superman takes his leave, as Lois' narration continues. She talks of this new Earth and how it differs from the one they'd left. More comments that hit close to home... she describes The New-52! Earth as suspicious... doubting... edgy. An Earth without faith.
Superman returns home to he and Lois' dilapidated California farmhouse to discuss what he'd just seen. He, like many of us, finds it weird that Cyborg is hanging out with the League instead of the Titans. Yeah, tell me about it...
Clark uses his heat vision to start a fire and warm his wife... and new son. From here, we get a quick and dirty explanation of how they came to wind up on this new Earth. It's all Convergency... ad involves their going back to affect the outcome of Crisis on Infinite Earths... resetting the Multiverse, but also causing their home Earth to go a bit ca-ca.
We now jump several years... to the present. Baby Jon is now a young boy... and their dilapidated farm is in much better shape. We can see that Jonno is being raised similar to his father... very modest, and (unfortunately for him) chore-heavy.
Lois sends Jon up to get ready for school... and flips on Channel-52 News, where she learns about a tsunami in the Pacific that just "mysteriously" subsided. Well, of course we know who was behind that miracle.
A sopping-wet (and bearded) Clark heads into the kitchen once he's sure the coast is clear. They're keeping everything "Super" a secret from their son... at least for the moment. This becomes a pretty big (arguably the main) plot point as this series continues. Clark checks the newspaper, and sees that the shuttle Excalibur is scheduled to return. Hey, that's the ship Hank Henshaw flew!
Lois and Clark discuss current events... including giving us a peek at the former's Super-scrapbook. Seems keeping a scrapbook is part of the Super-legacy. Jon heads down... and starts asking a whole lot of questions. Picking up on some inconsistencies in the conversation, it seems as though he's already somewhat suspicious about his parents. Not in a "sinister" way... more curious than anything, I suppose.
With Jonno off to school, the Whites (the name Lois and Clark have taken) can go about their day. Lois, known professionally as "Writer X", delivers her latest piece on Intergang to her... agent (?) Cora. She intends to keep her identity private... however, it looks like the jig might be up.
We join Superman in space, where he intends to ensure a safe return for the Excalibur. We don't need this Henshaw to go all crazy and cyborgy like the other one. The ship hurtles toward Earth, however, Superman is able to right it before it crashes. Inside the cockpit (is it called a "cockpit" on a spaceship?) we see Henshaw... alone! The rest of his crew are nowhere to be seen.
We pop in on Lancaster Elementary School to check in on Jon... who's mind is anywhere but on math. He's actually sneaking a peek at the Excalibur rescue on his cell phone. As you might imagine, Teach ain't pleased.
We wrap up our opening chapter in a far off star system. Something, something... Oblivion Stone.
--
Okay... before I start gushing, let me get one thing off my chest. This wasn't the Superman book I wanted back in the Fall of 2015. It really wasn't. When this book was announced, I was hopeful that these stories would take place on post-Crisis/pre-Flashpoint Earth. I wanted to see how that Earth looked after our being away for a half-decade. Would it be the same as we left it? Would there be people and things missing? Would there be new concepts that had been introduced in the interim? That was the book I wanted to read... and when I heard that it was set to take place on New-52! Earth, I gotta say... I was a bit disappointed.
That having been said... Jurgens and Weeks absolutely knocked this out of the park! How do I even start to say how much this meant to me? Hmm... I make fried ravioli twice a year... once in the summer, and on Christmas Eve. That first bite... that's how this book made me feel. Also, the trepidation as I watch the raviolis disappear from the plate... that's how I felt with every turn of the page.
The word "apology" was bandied about a lot around the time of DC Universe Rebirth... an apology to fans like me. The old guard that felt as though we were being driven away. I still disagree with using that term... and this, like Rebirth, feels more like reuniting with an old friend. Sure, they've gone through some stuff... and their lives have changed a bit (or a lot), but they're still the same person. There's a familiarity and a comfort... and, for a fella like me... there's no better writer for that than the one we got.
I mentioned during our Convergence: Superman discussion that, without a doubt, to me... Dan Jurgens is the Superman writer of my generation. I'm so happy to have him back where he belongs... and am so excited for him that he'll be taking part in the upcoming Action Comics #1000. I'd be remiss to leave out the art... which is just wonderful. Weeks and company deliver one helluva pretty book here!
Now... we probably ought to discuss the issue, right? That's kinda what we do here. I can't really be as objective as I'd like... because this one just felt so right. In only a handful of pages, we get pretty much caught up on Lois and Clark's arrival and time on this new Earth. If you didn't read Convergence... it doesn't really matter. If you didn't read the first arc on Justice League... it also doesn't really matter. Sure, if you read both these scenes will mean a lot more to you... but, you could, if you were so inclined, come in to this series cold. Which is pretty great.
Now, my having read those arcs, really added to how I received this story. It's weird... knowing that my Superman was present at the dawning of The New-52! gives me a strange sense of comfort. At the risk of coming across a bit precious... it's now as though this world was being protected. Suddenly, The New-52! is a bit less dark and edgy in hindsight. Weird, right?
If I were to pick nits, the only time in which the issue kinda faltered for me was... the last page. I don't really care about the Oblivion Stone. Sure, it's necessary to facilitate the subplot... but it was at that point that I remembered that I was reading a comic book. If that makes any sense...
Up until that point, I felt as though I was experiencing something rare and special... which, don't get me wrong... I was. The Oblivion Stone subplot just reminded me that I was reading a comic... and eventually, we were going to have to break away from our reunion... and get to fightin'.
Overall... duh, check this issue (and series) out. If you're reading and enjoying post-Rebirth Superman comics... you've likely already read this. If not... this is where it all begins. Well, after the Convergence two-parter... but you know what I mean. Gonna cut it off here, as I'm starting to (starting to?) ramble. This has been collected in the Road to Rebirth trade paperback (available... at least for the moment... at DC Digital for FIVE BUCKS). Well worth your time!
--
Interesting Ads:
705
