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.

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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.

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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?

Knowing Jazyl Homavazir

Who is Jazyl Homavazir?

I’m a 25 year old freelance 2D Animator, Illustrator & Character Concept artist from Mumbai, India. I have a passion for art & story telling . I am heavily influenced by various animated shows & aspire to get a full time job in the field of 2D animation real soon. I do have my own style of art but I am more influenced by anime & manga, not just for the compelling art but also the fantastic long drawn out story arcs.

I am also the creator of The Beast Legion (http://www.thebeastlegion.com/) , a webcomic project that I started in 2010. Apart from that I work on various freelance projects.

Where can we check out more of your art?

Well, I post a lot of the work I do in my free time as well as some commissioned work on my Deviantart page which is http://www.jazylh.deviantart.com/ . I think it’s ‘The ‘ website to gain inspiration as well as get some great feedback from people who are actually a part of the arts & Animation Industry.

You can also find my Animation work at my Youtube account which is http://www.youtube.com/jazzistoobad . 

Monstor and child

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Adventures of a Rose (A shoujo review)

Pulling from our favourites once again folks, here's something especially for the ladies! Barajou No Kiss (a.k.a. "Kiss of the Rose Princess")!!
This is a shoujo that I absolutely loved for its uniqueness... OK, maybe not so unique since the story keeps reminding me of Card Captor Sakura now and then, but it's still unique to a great extent never the less.
To begin with, the entire portrayal of the manga screams 19th century England, and yet, somehow it oozes the Japanese essence in the story as well as the art - the kind of blend that is hard to get and the mangaka has managed to capture the essence of both elements and mix them up perfectly. Anyway, so without further ado, let me dive straight into the details you're all waiting to find out.

Plot: 
The story of Barajou No Kiss is a fantasy, action, adventure and romance story by Shouoto Aya that revolves around a high school girl (now that's what I call a real surprise!), Anis Yamamoto, who is given this strange choker by her father that looks like a black neck-strap with a pretty rose at the center. Her father specifically warns her not to lose the choker and that if she does she will be punished severely! Now, now, its not because the choker is super rare or expensive. The choker has a long story of its own that will be revealed later - no, not in the review, I mean in the story. 

What Rabhas has meant to Indian comic books.

Series End Review : The Rabhas Incident

If there ever was a Metaphor for the Indian comic book industry finally coming of age, this is it folks. Featured as part of Level 10 studios’ Comic JUMP anthology, the Rabhas Incident has captured the imagination and unwavering attention of thousands of fanboys who never believed something as good as this would ever be done by an Indian company. Probably THE most consistently awesome comic book series ever published in India, Rabhas recently ended with JUMP issue 11.

The mini-series follows the story of one RAW agent’s mission to find survivors in a zombie infested Bangalore. What really hits you about the story is the number of diverse topics and characters it manages to cover within the short span of 10 issues. On his little adventure, Major Rafeeq Ahmed encounters Zombies, political activists, a Katanna-wielding Priest, Victims of regionalism, perverts, a mad scientist, a woman getting rescued in pure bollywood fashion and a whole bunch of more zombies.

Fantasising fondly of the "Fantastic Four" (1967 animated series)

When I was a kid in the fourth grade, one fine afternoon a routine bout of channel surfing gave me a completely new channel with a wonderful concept – they broadcast Cartoons right through the day. The channel was then called Cartoon Network, and they used to broadcast mostly Hanna Barbera stuff – which I was new to, back then. I saw a lot of classics I knew (Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes), new stuff I came to love (Scooby Doo, Huckleberry Hound) and a feature that looked too interesting for words – The Power Zone. I remember this part all too well as it was a two-hour programme that featured only action cartoons.

At the outset, I remember running home from school to thrill to the adventures of The Fantastic Four, The Centurions, Jonny Quest, Thundarr The Barbarian and Super Adventures – a gamut of H-B studio works, like Space Ghost, Birdman, Mightor, The Herculoids, Shazzan, Moby Dick, Dino Boy and the Galaxy Trio. These cartoons and the ones that followed – Swat Kats, Captain Planet, Sky Commanders, Galtar and the Golden Lance – inspired me to look for comics featuring action heroes, and to be honest I wasn’t reading a lot of foreign comics, so my action comics were limited to Indrajal Comics and Diamond Comics’ Mahabali Shaka, Agniputra Abhay, Fauladi Singh and Lamboo Motu. Only after viewing these did my interest in foreign comics, as well as in Indian publications featuring other foreign characters (IBH & Dolton both printed Indian editions of DC Comics long ago), and my chief inspiration was The Fantastic Four (1967)

Gintama - A 2nd Movie Announced!

 There is no shortage of Samurai Themed anime’s out there, but one in particular stands out from the crowd for being bold and different: Gintama.
Gintama has grown in the past few years from a manga to a prime-time weekly show with over 220 episodes and counting (no fillers !). If you are in a mood for a Samurai-related-comedy-themed anime with many parodies and pop culture references, Gintama is your best bet! There is no other show like it... Seriously!!