DC New 52 Picks - Week Two Reviews

After reviewing a lot of the first week titles from DC's New 52 initiative, I'm back with more titles from their 2nd week of publishing.

So let's get in the bizniz, shall we?

Batman and Robin #1 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason -  Frankly, I was excited to read a book that finally stars father-and-son Bruce and Damian Wayne. Excited to see how their relationship goes and how Batman will deal with a spoiled brat of a son that he has. And it worked pretty well in this comic. The back and forth dialogue between them is fun, but Robin becomes more annoying everytime with his disrespectful banter and  "my way or the highway" style of doing things. I hope they will tone it down a bit.

Also, it was nice to see Batman celebrate the time of his parent's wedding instead of their deaths, and that signifies something on the lighter side that I haven't seen in the character in years. He's still brooding yes, but at least he makes an effort to forget the bad stuff and celebrate the good ones.

Finally, the action is well executed and was beautifully illustrated, but I wish their first encounter was with somebody more powerful, rather than just some bunch of ordinary thieves. Good ending with the mysterious Bat-killer and the Batman of Russia (yes, Russia has one. Read Batman Inc folks) in a pool of vat though. Its something that I could look forward to.

Rating 3.5/5

Batwoman #1 by JH Williams III and Haden Blackman - Its been a long time since I read a Batwoman story and the last one was way back 2010, with the incredible Batwoman: Elegy. So normally, I would expect nothing less but absolute perfection with this book.

And as expected - JH Williams didn't disappoint. 

He killed the storytelling (with help from Haden Blackman of course), infusing detective work with the horror genre, and then giving us his patented 2-page spreads of remarkable art filled with dynamic and fluid action sequences and awesome paneling that only JH Williams can do. The only problem I have (if there is anything), is that Williams had Kate spill all of her emotions in a spread just to keep new readers up to speed with what happening, and how the hell did we end up here. Its a beautiful storytelling technique, but its too confusing and too much to absorb, especially if you just have to understand everything through images. 

Still, this is the BEST book from that week, and its one of those comic books that you have to have in your hands in order for you to appreciate its beauty. That's right: JH Williams tells us that you can't read his book with a damn iPad (or any type of device for that matter)!

Rating: 5/5

Demon Knights #1 by Paul Cornell and Diogenes Nieves - Are you a fan of magic, sorcery and dragons? Then this book is for you. Set in the Dark Ages of the DC Universe, Demon Knights introduces the other side of DC, with sorcerers, dragons, medieval knights, and exploding babies. Wait... come again? 

Yes exploding babies. If that doesn't sound mystical (and creepy) to you, then I don't know what it is.

The book doesn't explain much as who these characters are and how are they related to each other, like you're supposed to know them already. The truth is, I don't know Madame Xanadu, Etrigan, Merlin and the Shining Knight and this was my first time encountering them in a comic, but what the hell... the comic is so damn entertaining and wonderfully drawn that I couldn't help but keep on reading. Its like reading and playing a video game with the detailed medieval environment, the familiar formula of a bleak but interesting prologue + characters meet and greet in a pub, then capping it off with DINOSAURS crashing the party. Yeah, dinosaurs. They're back! 

Paul Cornell and Diogenes Nieves are fcuking awesome. Now, they have to introduce all (if not some) of these characters in the second issue one way or another while getting them to kill some giant reptiles.

Rating: 4/5

Continue after the jump for more reviews... 

Latest Comic Book Reviews (06.23.2011) - Wolverine #11 | Power Girl #25 | Superman #712

I'ma skip the daily news first and give some of my thoughts for comic books I read a couple of hours ago.

Wolverine continues his bloody battle against the Red Right Hand, and my beloved PeeGee teams up with the godddamn Batman against a weather-controlling metahuman, and finally, the Grounded storyline takes a one issue hiatus (mainly because DC decided to scrap the original storyline that features a Muslim superhero in LA), giving way for Kurt Busiek's "lost" Krypto tale, circa 2007 (a.k.a the events after Infinite Crisis).

All my reviews after the cut.

Smallville's "Superboy" ... [Spoiler]

Is...

**drum roll please**

Ok. Just click after the jump.

Francis Manapul Does "The Flash" Like No Other

Filipino-Canadian comic book artist Francis Manapul was given the opportunity to work with DC's Chief Creative Office and big time comic book writer Geoff Johns on a new Flash comic book series and he sure embraced it and took on the challenge of bringing the speedster back to the comic book mainstream.. Manapul has been working with DC for almost 3 years now and to have his own monthly series is a sure testament to his artistry and talent.

The guy has really upped his game by taking our beloved speedster to life with great attention to detail and clean lines. And asides from working with The Flash, he also works as an illustrator in Adventure Comics (which stars Superboy and the Teen Titans) and Superman/Batman. And be sure to check out his devianArt page and website  - which are full of really nice sketches and inks. For the meantime, we have some of  Manapul's Flash preview and cover sketches, as well as some Superboy and Krypto moments, and a classic Joe Shuster Superman take.

Check some of his works:

 [images via Francis Manapul's devianArt page]