DC New 52 Final week REVIEWS! Hardly the end!

And so we come to it folks... the final week of #1's... (at least the main titles!) and what a crazy month it's been! Some fantastic titles, we've been shocked, amused, horrified, saddened, fascinated and so much more over these 52 titles and its been a total blast reading and reviewing them all for you guys!

Granted I'm tired enough to almost never read a comic again - almost I said! - but it feels well worth it for our fellow comic addicts out there.

We all hope you enjoyed this rundown the last few weeks and stick around, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming before you know it, but will continue to cover your new favourite DC titles as they come out.

Share your likes and dislikes kids, let us know what you want to hear more about and we'll mark of the release dates on our calenders just for you.

Now sit back and enjoy this finale round of #1's reviewed! (AND AS ALWAYS, CLICK FOR NICE BIG VERSIONS OF THE COVERS!!)

All-Star Western

(Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray, Drawn by Moritat)

Akshay (Wayfarer Score: 10/10)

In a lot of ways I was expecting exceptional things from this book, especially given my love for the lead character – Jonah Hex – and that the creative team writing it were masters with his stories. And man do they deliver! Bringing a high-plains drifter style bounty hunter with a penchant for always getting his man and extreme violence – all while keeping to his own unique moral code – to a new, gritty and crazy place like Gotham City (in its early days) has been handled brilliantly! Toss in a weird serial-killer mystery, no shortage of action and intrigue or character exploration and an awesome ending to boot makes this yet another of the best of the reboot in my view! And honestly, the art is so damn good and suitable to the feel and narrative that I almost didnt realise how little I was thinking about it, flowing organically with the tale until certain things just catch your eye!

Anubhav (Score 8.1/10)

This being my first exposure to Jonah Hex, it definitely makes me wanna read the back issues. There’s a solid introduction to Jonah’s no-nonsense attitude. Also welcome is his team up, with Amadeus Arkham, which roots the story firmly in DC (& Gotham City) continuity. Moritat and his art team give us a splendid noir look for the book, and shows great variety throughout.

DCnU Reviews - Round 4! WRITE!

Another week of madness begins folks! Come share the adventure, the action, the changes and the unchanged – see what we thought of this new batch of DC goodness (and the not so good) and let us know what you thought of the books you like or disliked! (And don't forget, all images are clickable high-res!) 
And with that said, no more time to waste, lets get to it and bring you some reviews:

Batman 
(Written by Scott Snyder, Drawn by Greg Capullo)

Akshay (Wayfarer Score: 9/10)

Scott Snyder once again shows why he is one of the most prominent rising stars in comic writing today with his migration from a fantastic run on Detective Comics to this new Batman #1. We are given a great dose of classic Batman-ness as the Dark Knight Detective does exactly what that name implies, he is the quintessential detective, hero and the force of nature hidden in the shadows. Spectacular art by Capullo just makes this all that much more a joy to read and the ease with which the existing Batman backstory is just taken and eased into the story (like the three Robins!) and such, it shows a world of promise.

Anubhav (Score 10/10)

Personally, this was easily the most awaited title of the new 52. And boy did it deliver or what. Scott Snyder, after his critically adored run on Detective Comics, has given us yet another excellent issue. The tone is similar to that run, with the personification of Gotham as a living entity, maintaining its ecosystem between the good and the bad. It’s this grasp on both the city and the characters that inhabit it that makes Snyder one of the best writers to ever write Batman. There’s a couple of moments, including the ending, that make you sit up and despite the sheer absurdity of both, make you consider the possibilities. If you were disappointed on not getting Francavile or Jock on art for this issue, don’t be, because Greg Capullo brings his A-game to the table, with amazing action coupled with superb and flawless character work. Read it ASAP if you haven’t already. If you have, read it again.

DC's new 52! Week 3-in-double-review!!

(Click to enlarge)

Batman and Robin

(Written by Peter J. Tomasi, Drawn by Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray)

Akshay (Wayfarer Score: 7/10)

One of the bigger name titles starts off this week – an ongoing series being renumbered to a new volume, unlike many of the entirely new titles in this DC reboot. This was a title I was both anticipating but also solidly weary about. Kick-started previously by Grant Morrison to bring the world the Dick-Damian version of the Dynamic Duo, this new series has a lot to live up to and more so being that it is also the first real time given to the Wayne father-son dynamic since Damien first being introduced. It was this dynamic and the direction Bruce's character takes that makes me hopeful for this as a series/book, because it was the characters and their relationship that marked the awesomeness of the original series. The friction between the two leads was well portrayed and I was glad to see it touch on the Batman Inc. part of things but I don't much care for what I see of the villain here. The art was good and went well with the story but nothing spectacular. Still has a lot of potential, but as a first issue, I would say only 'good'.

Anubhav (Score 9.0/10)

God Damian Wayne has got to be the awesomest Robin yet. Peter Tomasi gives us a very good issue illustrating the Father-Son relationship between Bruce and Damain and moving Batman’s character plenty of leaps forward by showing him finally looking ahead to the future instead of the past, while Damian debates the need for looking back to the fateful day in Bruce’s childhood repeatedly. Some solid character interactions in the backdrop of an engaging plot makes this issue a total win. Patrick Gleason delivers just the right amount of Noir required in the book, in a way that the art doesn’t distract readers too much from the characterisations.

DCnU Week 2-in-review! All 13 titles!

Welcome ladies and gent's to Comic Addicts special rundown that we've created just for all you good folks out there!
We have for you burst reviews of all the new DC #1's out this week from two very different points of view - one an old-hand DC reader familiar with it all, the other a Marvel fan relatively new to the DCU a.k.a the kind of fan DC is trying to attract with the reboot.
Will DC's reboot gel with new fans? Will old fans be offended? Will the creative teams do the books justice? Who's review will you agree with? Hell, will the reviewers agree on anything? Keep reading to find out!
And of course - all images are good resolution and can be clicked on for nice BIG versions!

Action Comics (Written by Grant Morrison, art by Rags Morales)

Akshay (Wayfarer Score: 10/10)

Right off the bat, let me say this is my favourite book out of all I've read so far and its done nothing but cement my opinion that Grant really, truly loves and knows this character and will really do this new incarnation justice. Great story, well told and well paced with a fantastic finale to the issue and what an opener for #2! I was in awe! Even Lex is awesome here in his young and oh-so-aggravating way. This is Superman the way he should be, as a young and wayward man who has no family ties, no real home and is just a decent person at his core – albiet idealistic; watching him wanting to kick ass and have fun swatting away bullets and such, great fun!.  So deeply reminiscent of the original superman from his earliest days before he was rebooted a few decades later.

The only weakness was in the art – overall Rags has got a great feel for this and he seems to transfer Grants energy well from script to page, but there are inconsistencies in the facial designs and such here and there, hopefully he can improve on that over the issues ahead.

I'm definitely going to be following this!

Anubhav - Score : 9.1/10

So yeah, looks like Morrison has another masterpiece coming. After his stellar Batman run, Grant Morrison has now shifted his focus to re-establishing the early long-jumping-instead-of-flying part of the Man of Steel’s career. This is the Superman everyone always wanted : Vulnerable and not afraid to kick ass. Master storyteller that he is, Morrison has established the main cast and their relationships with both Superman and Clark perfectly in this issue, a list which includes General and Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Lex Luthor. The art by Rags Morales finds just the right blend between good action and excellent character depiction. Particularly worth a mention is his work on depicting a younger Clark Kent as well as his alter ego. Solid debut issue, all in all.

A Marvelite reviews DC's Justice League #1

DCnuEverything will change in a Flash

Big words DC, big words.

The most awaited comic book in the history of, well, comic books is officially out. Estimates suggest that around 93% of the people who read comic books are buying this book. The other 7% are downloading it off the internet even as we speak. Eager for its little gamble to succeed, DC has assigned the flagship title, which is supposed to introduce us to the new DCU, to its A-team : Geoff Johns on words and Jim Lee on art. Unfortunately, it appears DC has only half of that equation working for it.

Set 5 years before the present day DCU, Justice League #1 takes us to the time of the first Introduction of Super-Heroes to a world that fears them. The book opens in Gotham City with Batman chasing some kind of Alien getting chased himself by the police. Green Lantern swoops in and does his thing while mocking Batman for not having any powers. They then decide the ‘unauthorized extraterrestrial presence’ and this weird alien who’s been showing up in Metropolis have to be somehow connected. They track Superman in a demolition zone in Metropolis and Green Lantern gets knocked out before they can say ‘Howdy’.

I know what you’re thinking – “So that’s how the book starts.”

No it’s not, that’s all we get. I kid you not, all we get in the first issue of the Full reboot is Batman and Green Lantern playing Buddy Cop. What DC really needed to do was give us all the main characters and bring them into conflict with big explosions all over the place. That would be starting with a bang.

(click to enlarge)

See, I’m all for Character interactions and, as a casual DC reader, actually liked the I-hate-you-but-I-love-you bromance Batman and Green Lantern always had, but this is just not the place for it. The intentions are obvious in pairing up their most popular character with the character who recently got an albeit bad summer flick to give the new readers something familiar. However, the issue completely pales if you compare it with the other Big Superteam origin story in the modern era, New Avengers #1. Also, one more thing not in the book’s favour is the fact that instead of getting the Hal Jordan we’ve known and loved for decades, we get the Douche bag Van Wilder version that already got his ass kicked in the Box Office. On the other hand, Johns writes one heck of a Batman, so much so that I’d now rather he’d write Batman or Detective comics instead of JL.

There were (and are) a lot of apprehensions about whether Jim Lee would be able to keep up with a monthly schedule considering his history of delays, but tell you what, I won’t mind reasonable delays if he continues to hit it out of the park like he’s done here. Excellent Visual storytelling and some good Batman action and GL constructs go a long way in salvaging the issue.

All in all, badly plotted, with awesome art, Justice League #1 kicks off the DC reboot to a lukewarm start. The next month will tell if this goes on to be accepted and embraced by the fanboy community, or goes the way of ‘Heroes Reborn’. 

Score : 2.6/5

Review by Anubhav Sharma

And so it begins: JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 (2011) REVIEW!

Its here folks! At last after all the hype and chaos that has been the news of DC reinventing itself and the madness of Flashpoint that sees its finale issue out this week, we see the first glimpse of the New DC Universe!

Apologies for the delayed post but I felt that waiting for a chance to read this and get the earliest possible review out to you all was worth delaying and postponing the scheduled post for today... ok, ok, you caught me and I really, really wanted to read it!

And for your consideration we here at Comic Addicts bring to you the all the gory details about the new face of the iconic names we have all grown up with and love.

(Click to enlarge)

Today we start with the first book out the starting gate: Justice League #1.

This opening salvo is written by recent DC architect for the Green Lantern franchise, Geoff Johns, a brand which he took from vague old title to the among the most popular and strong brands in the entire DCU line, except perhaps the Batman family. Johns is also the brains behind "Blackest Night", "Brightest Day" and "Flashpoint" among many others.
And of course on art duties we have legendary comic creator Jim Lee who has been akin to a god for comic fans and was the architect and boss-man behind the awesome Wildstorm comics and co-founder over at Image.

And so now we come to a crossroads - the old DCU which we all had our own loves and hates with is being effectively put to a halt, much like the famous "Crisis on Infinite Earth" tried to do all those decades ago but only partially managed. This time an entirely new DC Universe is being brought to life with only selective connections to the past and all of that molded to fit this new Universe.
Is it worth it? Is this really a good and fresh start? Have DC shot themselves completely in the foot? Will this bring DC back to the greatness it once had and give new life to beloved characters? Lets find out together shall we?