BRAINIAC (Superman #23.2)
I was surprised at this issue. I’m not a huge fan of the Brainiac character, especially the comics version–there have been so many interpretations that it might as well–to me–be outright inconsistency. Geoff Johns attempted to bridge that a few years ago, positing that we’d only essentially seen “avatars” of the one, TRUE Brainiac…but that story came rather late in the pre-New-52 era, and did not really seem to get time to develop. This is my first exposure to the New 52 version of the character, and we get a bit of a blend of past versions. That this version of the character strongly resembles Johns‘ take works well for me; we also see that there are other emissaries out there working for Brainiac. This issue worked QUITE well for me as an origin story, as we see where Brainiac came from and how he got to be what he is and what set him off on his quest to shrink and preserve alien cities. That we get a mix of the 5th dimension (I don’t believe Mxyzptlk has shown up in the New 52 as yet?) and a DC version of the Annihilation Wave (a nice nod to Marvel) tied in to Brainiac gives an interesting depth and motivation to the character. As with all the other villains issues so far, I’m hardly inspired to go seeking OTHER issues beyond this one…but like the Zod issue, my interest is piqued, and I wouldn’t be oppose to reading a full story in collected edition should the occasion arise.
MR. FREEZE (Batman: The Dark Knight #23.2)
I seem to be quite a sucker for this character. Like many people, one of my favorite episodes of the 1990s’ Batman: The Animated Series is the one that introduces a new version of Mr. Freeze and gives him a tragic backstory and plausible motivation. I don’t remember the character really appearing in any form in most of the Batman comics I read throughout the ’90s and early 2000s…but when the first New 52 Batman Annual focused on Mr. Freeze amidst the Court of Owls stuff last year, I went ahead and bought it, and quite enjoyed it. It was the memory of that annual that led me to include this issue with the villains issues I’d get, and I wasn’t really let down. This one does less exploration of an origin and more “where the character is now,” actually taking place after the events of Forever Evil #1 and leaves Mr. Freeze “out there” for whatever story he gets involved in next. This was an enjoyable one-shot, and while I wasn’t blwon away by the art, I actually enjoyed the interior more than the cover.
RIDDLER (Batman #23.2)
I’m no great fan of the Riddler, even though I do rather appreciate some of his riddles as written by whoever’s used the character at the time. I actually can’t remember ever particularly enjoying any of the Riddler-centric stories in the comics. I had not planned on buying this issue–I intentionally did not include it in the list of requested issues I submitted to my comic shop last week–but when I found myself filling an unexpected gap in what I’d planned on spending, I pulled this from the shelf and added it to the week’s buy. And surprisingly enough, despite really expecting to dislike the issue, I found myself enjoying it. While the story is set somewhere between the ongoing Zero Year stuff I’ve not been reading and whatever comes next in Zero Year, this seemed more like a “timeless” story, and a (morbid as it sounds) “fun” one-shot focused on the Riddler. We see how dangerous he can actually be, yet a hint of depth beyond simply a gimmick…and this, quite frankly, stands out as probably my favorite Riddler issue at this point.
OVERALL THOUGHTS ON WEEK 2
At least this week being a “big week” was somewhat planned…though it still proved to be a bit larger than I’d intended. All six of these Villains Month issues are ones that–two weeks ago–I’d had no intention of buying.
It’s extremely dismaying to realize that I bought TEN new comics this week (at least DOUBLE what I usually buy in a week!) and they were all $3.99 books. At least these DC Villains issues with the 3-D plastic-ish covers FEEL like they’re actually WORTH the price, physically. They’re regular-sized issues content-wise, but the covers are certainly sturdy, high quality.
I’m continuing to enjoy that these are by and large truly one-shot issues. Even though they carry the “point whatever” numbers on the covers tying them to series I’m not actively following, FUNCTIONALLY they remain single-issue stories focused on the titular villain. Some of the issues do say the story continues into a series/issue, but as far as I’m concerned–for what I’m buying these for–I’m rather satisfied with what I’ve got and nothing’s led me to chomp at the bit for another issue or the next appearance…though some have got my interest such that I’ll at least read about issues they might appear in and perhaps pick up a collected volume that I probably wouldn’t otherwise have any interest in prior to all these issues.
Filed under: DC, New 52, The, Villains Month (event) | Tagged: 3D covers, Batman, Brainiac, Comic Reviews, Dark Knight, DC Comics, Forever Evil, Mr. Freeze, New 52, Riddler, Superman, Villains Month | 3 Comments »
Comic Reviews by Walt 