The Batlord

TBH it's kinda hard to stay motivated with this journal since I'm always writing stupid long posts, so today I'm just gonna briefly mention the **** I'm currently nerding out on.






Was disappointed by the Suicide Squad movie, so seeing the exact same characters in the new series worried me, but it's fixed SO MUCH that was mediocre or just plain awful about the previous volume: the characters are more engaging and likeable, the writing isn't a toilet, and the art (especially the first two arcs) doesn't look like a cheap Jim Lee knockoff (because Jim Lee is the actual artist this time).

The previous series also gave you a lot of forgettable characters who either never died (a revolving door of constantly dying characters being one of the hallmarks of the original, 80s Suicide Squad) or came back from death in a stupid fashion. This one is just as committed to not killing people off for the most part, but it also develops its cast as an ensemble so that you don't actually want any of them to die: Harley is the heart of the team rather than a juggalette, Deadshot and Captain Boomerang are ****ing hilarious, Killer Croc and Enchantress' wtf romance is surprisingly adorable, Rick Flag is pretty ****ing cool, and Katana... okay she doesn't have much personality but god damn is she pretty and badass.

Definitely buy this book. Just make sure it's got "Rebirth" on the cover and not "New 52".






I'm only about 24 issues into this series, but it's pretty awesome so far. Basically the Thunderbolts are Marvel's rather creative answer to DC's Suicide Squad: they're C-list villains playing superhero, but in this case they're operating under aliases to trick the public into trusting them in a plot to take over the world, until some of the team decide they actually like being real heroes. I wouldn't say it's quite swept me off my feet, as it's got that awkward kind of throwback camp style that still tries to be modern (as of the late 90s) that didn't quite do either particularly well, which as far as I can tell seemed to be a hallmark of the years immediately following the mid-90s comic mega-slump that ended the boom years of the grim 'n' gritty era. But this series still does that style admirably, with some cringey character designs and obsolete comic conventions offset by relatively excellent characterization and writing.

And Moonstone (hero alias "Meteor") is one of my new favorite characters. She's one of the members of the team who couldn't care less about doing good, concerned only with her own benefit. A cold, calculating, manipulative, sociopathic, amoral ultra-bitch who is one of those villains who is just a joy to watch being deliciously evil. She's also the only truly evil member of the team who... *spoiler* sticks with her more ambivalent teammates due to her picking their faction in a power struggle, making for a fascinating dynamic between her and the remaining Thunderbolts *spoiler*

So far the Thunderbolts journey from fake heroes to conflicted anti-heroes has been serpentine and highly interesting, so I'm very much going to keep up with this series.






I honestly don't know much about Captain Marvel aside from the basics, but I've been highly interested in her for a while. Marvel is highly pushing her into the spotlight after decades of neglect, probably because she's one of the few female heroes they can put in a movie whose rights aren't owned by Fox, but I'm coming to the realization that I'm okay with that. Her characterization in this series didn't immediately win me over, as she's one of those heroes who doesn't have a larger-than-life personality that's easy to digest, or some glaring character flaw or trauma in their life that defines their journey. She's just kind of a normal person with superpowers. Except she also has a believable, likeable, and engaging personality that makes her a Superman analog (most of her powers are clearly a copy) who doesn't feel like a Superman analog. It's easy to tell that she's brash, impulsive, and even reckless at times, while also being brave and driven, but it's when you start seeing the more subtle traits that operate just beneath the surface that you start to really care about Carol Danvers.

First of all, her drive to constantly be the best she can be and test her limits, combined with somewhat of an inferiority complex that further drives her to prove herself, makes her highly relatable. She's not angsty, never that, as she's always ready with pep, quips, and oddly enough a rather sizeable ego that she expresses with tongue firmly in cheek. But seriously she'd probably battle you to the death at tiddly wings just so she could rub your cold, dead nose in it for the next month. I think my favorite thing about her at the moment though, is that she doesn't see her powers as a burden, in fact seeing them as a gift with which to discharge her duty to her country and planet. But going even further, though she is far too responsible to ever use them as such, I think she kind of sees her ability to fly, shoot energy blasts, and punch things real good as almost a toy. Not a toy to abuse at her whim, but one with which to achieve even greater goals than she ever could as a normal human.

All of this fleshes out a swashbuckling adventurer who has the time of her life being Superman, even if things aren't always so fun. Officially now waiting for her movie next summer. And OMG I love her new costume. Makes her look like a total badass, and I don't mean badass for a female superhero, I just mean badass in general.






After falling in love with the animated Batman: Under the Red Hood movie I became highly interested in Red Hood. If you don't know he's a former Robin who kind of went off the deep end and became the best Punisher knockoff ever. I then read the newest volume of Red Hood & the Outlaws, which was fantastic, and decided I'd give this previous series a try even with all the bad press it had received. I got halfway through the first issue before giving up in disgust. If you're unaware of the viral ****storm surrounding this book then it all centers around the portrayal of Starfire (the designated chick). Basically they turned her into a pandering sex doll with no personality to get the randy fanboys masturbating. I avoided this series for the longest because of this, but eventually figured it can't be all bad. I was wrong.

The first issue begins with a decent fight scene involving Red Hood and Red Arrow (Green Arrow's former sidekick), but then they literally introduce Starfire with a ginormous tit joke and a page featuring her highly prominent chest that looks like a cheap, pornstar boob job, and a costume that would make a seasoned stripper blush. And then they just keep digging the hole deeper and deeper. On the next few pages Red Hood takes the most awkward "opportunity" ever conceived to tell Red Arrow that he's hittin' that. A lot. And she's totally about his dick, yo. It's honestly flabbergasting that a modern comic book could be so bro-ish and degrading to women, but Red Hood & the Outlaws goes even one step further after the scene is over by switching to a beach where Starfire is wearing a skimpy bikini and insinuating that she ****s so many dudes that she can't even tell them apart. And did I mention that her origin had been rejiggered so that she was an escaped sex slave? I went and read something else after that. I'm not easily offended, but the sheer disrespect to Starfire's character was making me gag.

I'll try finishing the first issue, as I've heard the series gets better (presumably after the firestorm over Starfire's portrayal changed DC's mind about the series' direction), and since this volume is written by the same guy who wrote the current one that I dig so much then I guess it may very well redeem itself in my eyes. But seriously issue #1 feels like the kind of original sin that will forever taint the rest of the run.


Well, that went on longer than I expected, but it was still way less time consuming than a lot of my other entries, so I'm happy. Stay tuned, as I'll hopefully be continuing this as I read new comics.

__________________