New Comics Day - October 10th, 2012. A big day for the big two.

   Today is new comics day! As always you can check over at ComicList for a complete rundown of new releases. Today is a big day for the big two. Find out why after the jump.

Art Spotlight - Daniel Vega

One of my favorite artists currently is Daniel Vega. I stumbled across his tumblr a while back by way of Renzo Podesta. Daniel's style is of a heavy anime influence, with a lot of horror injected into it. He's recently posted some images with the title Batman: The Cursed. I don't know if he's working on an original story or if this is just something he's doing for fun. Either way, it's AWESOME.

 

Daniel Vega on TUMBLR. 

Comic Releases for August 8th 2012

Today is WEDNESDAY, meaning it's time for new comics! Today's pull list consists of:

Idolized #1
Batgirl#12
Batman #12
Batman and Robin #12
Suicide Squad #12
Superboy #12
It Girl and the Atomics #1
Gambit #1
Spider-Men #4


I don't have high hopes for a lot of the DC stuff this week as it's starting to fizzle out on the excitement level. Becky Cloonan on Batman should be great, though. Spider-Men #4 is awesome, as well. If you're not reading anything with Miles Morales, there is something wrong. You can tell when Bendis really enjoys what he's writing, because the quality is so much better.

For a complete list of today's releases, head on over to: ComicList

The Dark Knight Rises - Review

This is not going to be a typical review. I saw The Dark Knight Rises and was thoroughly impressed. It was a satisfying and fitting close to the trilogy, and though it ran at two hours, I was left wanting more. To me, this was a better film as far as making me excited about what was going on. It wasn't as deep or as bleak as The Dark Knight, and some would argue was more "comic-book." Guess what? It may be the realistic "Nolan-verse" but it is still a movie based on a comic. That's probably what I liked about it. It maintained that world that has been set up, but added so much more flavor to it. I will touch upon a few things below the jump. I'm going to try and avoid spoilers as much as possible.

Quickfire DC Comics Reviews- Batman, Batman and Robin, Superboy

Batman #10

Written by Scott Synder

Art by Greg Capullo

“Night of the Owls” reaches its boiling point with a huge reveal this week that could change Bruce Wayne’s life forever. Snyder’s been building up to this moment since his first issue of the relaunched title. This story, while only running for the past year, is every bit as ambitious and mythos redefining as anything Grant Morrison has done to Batman in the past few years. This is why the Batman titles have been consistently awesome. Amazing writers actually progressing the character and his world. The tension is high as the reveal builds up. Greg Capullo is spot on as usual. His dark, gritty looking art was a perfect fit for this book. Awesome read.

Read my reviews for Batman and Robin #10 and Superboy #10 after the jump.

Batman Annual #1 Review

Batman Annual #1 hits just shy of the one year anniversary of the relaunched DC Universe. There has been a lot of confusion as to the status of several Bat-characters and the timeline of the bat-books. This annual serves to reintroduce Mr. Freeze into the DCU with a few changes in store.

We start off with a thirty year flashback as a young Victor Fries walks with his mother across a snowy field. Only it’s not just a snowy field; it’s a frozen body of water. Victor’s mother disappears under the ice but is recovered according to Victor, who is now speaking with a therapist in Arkham Asylum. As one could guess, Mr. Freeze makes his escape and goes on a murderous rampage until he’s out of the facility. He goes a little Sub-Zero on everyone, even using a breath attack that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen. He inhales an ice blast and blows it out of his mouth. We’ll pretend he could always do that, but his helmet prevented it.

Freeze pays a visit to the Penguin, who is not happy that Victor neglects to walk through the front door and instead drives through it. He retrieves his weapons from Oswald and sets out for vengeance on Bruce Wayne. There is another flashback that enters familiar territory as Fries was a scientist (this time working for Wayne Enterprises) employee who was researching cryogenics in the hopes of curing Nora.

There is a welcome appearance by Nightwing(I still don’t dig the red and black) and Robin, which is a nice nod to their partnership prior to the New52 launch. I love these two together, but Freeze gets the best of them before a final confrontation with Batman that reveals a new twist to his story. It takes the origin established by Paul Dini in BTAS, which has been one of the best contributions from the series, and flips it into an unexpected place. I’m not sure if I enjoy it because of the things it takes away from Freeze. It definitely puts him into crazy villain territory.

Jason Fabok brings down the house with great art throughout the issue and Peter Steigerwald’s blue palette with the occasional splash of color fits the tone of the story. I enjoyed this team throughout the book.

The redesign of Mr. Freeze is pretty great as well. I love the strip of hair on top and his less-armored look gives him the feel of being more of a physical threat than just another “two-bit gadget villain from Gotham City” as Hal Jordan would put it.(If you got that reference, then good for you!)

This oversized issue was welcome as a nice diversion from the ongoing “Night of the Owls” storyline running through all the bat-books. Although mentioned, and Freeze plays a direct part in the Court’s plan, there are no Talons to be seen, and it’s a good thing.  I’ll be glad for Scott Snyder to jump back into the established Batman playground and maybe re-tool some of the other rogues.

Verdict: Solid book all around.