Justice League: No Justice

Back at the beginning of December, when my birthday hit, I was gifted with a number of comic trades to sink my teeth into including the previously mentioned Batman: White Knight, Avengers Forever, the 3rd Volume of the New 52 Action Comics and Justice League: No Justice.

I recall when No Justice was first solicited I thought it a real temptation, and almost made my pull list until the realisation that it was a weekly event and not monthly. Therefore, it turned out to be a format that I could ill afford on my dwindling finances (not helped by the fact the weekly Star Trek: TNG: Through the Mirror mini-series had dropped the month before)

And so, when questions were asked by my family as to what I want for my birthday, I figured 'why not this. It looks cool.'

Thankfully, this moment of self-recommendation seems to have paid off as I did enjoy Justice League: No Justice.

The plot is relatively straightforward; in the aftermath of the Dark Nights: Metal storyline, the Justice League has broken the source wall (effectively the edge of the universe). As a result, four Titans (think DC's answer to Galactus) have been released with the sole intention of eating planets based on which of the four universal energies (Mystery, Wonder, Wisdom and Entropy) dominate it. Their first stop: Colu, the home of Brainiac. Therefore, Superman's villain recruit many of Earth's Finest and Worst to save first Colu and then the universe. Of course (in a nice George and Tony homage I noticed on Longbox Review), hilarity ensues.

Justice League: No Justice (in a
very bad photo by me), which
makes me think of the Battle for
Bludhaven Infinite Crisis tie-in.

Now, as I started this trade I did find myself a little concerned that this would be a book I'd be quickly reselling as it felt rather slow to get the ball rolling. In fact, I think the best way to describe the opening of No Justice is to say that it was missing an introduction or some sort of prologue which lead us to the point the story opens. In fairness, given how much it is referred to, I suspect that Dark Nights: Metal is actually that prologue. However, while the synopsis on the back makes mention of DN:M as having changed the galaxy, I hadn't expected a literal follow through and so I was a little annoyed that I needed to read that first (spoiler: I haven't read DN:M yet!)

However, as the story moved forward and I got more into it, I really started to get.....well, more into it! Justice League: No Justice then became this all action, epic movie-like event that I would expect from a JLA title (or even their counterparts at the House of Ideas) which really had me hooked more and more with each page turn.

I really enjoyed (almost) all the characters who appeared in this story (Damien Wayne still doesn't endear himself to me), with characters I love feeling like how I always view them in my head and some characters who do grate on me actually feeling likeable. What I loved most about the characters though were those who found themselves in kind of lead roles as both Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow both came across as the most pivotal to the story in my opinion, a decision which (if the case) I'm more than happy with.

That said, I was a little annoyed that the villains who took part in this 'adventure' weren't more villainous. E.g. Why did Lobo, the most mercenary of all the villains not ask for payment to be a 'hero?' I have to admit I thought it strange but, then again, many a movie has been ruined by thinking about a characters actions in a 'logical' manner. However, if this view had been included, Starro's presence would have allowed for a really awesome character arc. Oh well.

I love Francis Manapul's art (it was, admittedly, the sole reason I started picking up Trinity back when it came out) and really enjoyed his work on three of the four issues. His art had a very unique style this time around which I think was thanks to some more retro colours, giving the whole title a much more cosmic look. I missed this look when Riley Rossomo took over on issue 3, but his work was cool too and it wasn't a change which made or broke my feelings.

I've got to admit, while the ending hints at new, different stories to come in the DCU, reading this made me think that we reached that place already. This read completely different to any DC event I've read previously, but that's no bad thing.

So, although it went a bit slow to begin with for me, I still think it was worth the effort and makes me both excited and interested in the new Justice League and Justice League Dark (respectively) as well as a lot of other DC books.

Hopefully, I'll get access to some of them soon, somehow.

Superfreaks Vol. 1: The New Wave

Superfreaks has been a trade that's been sitting on my Comixology account for a couple of months when I picked it up in a sale. While i had heard some mixed thoughts going around about this (as well as the other Comixology Originals comics), there was something about this cover which just made me want to check it out.

Superfreaks Vol. 1: The New Wave
and it's gorgeous Steven Byrne cover (what
can I say? I love his work).

Well, now I'm a week into the new year and, needing something to read for my comic a day resolution over the first weekend, the cover has once again pushed Superfreaks to the front of the class as I decided to try and get it read over two days and see if it was actually worth my time.

Superfreaks tells the story of a group of Super-sidekicks (although 'sidekicks' might be pushing it. Personal assistants maybe?) in a city where superheroes are gifted their powers by an all powerful VW van (seriously). When the main heroes mysteriously disappear, it falls to these 'sidekicks' to defeat a returning alien threat.

Now, I've probably simplified the plot somewhat, implying it to be an arc of Teen Titans or possibly even Danger Club (which, admittedly, I've never read and am taking the cues of the book from a Longbox Review episode). However, upon reading this series, I found it to be a lot more interesting and including a lot of ideas which did make me have a ponder over.

Of course, I didn't say that I enjoyed reading this comic and that's not because I didn't. In fact, I did enjoy Superfreaks, particularly that Steven Byrne cover (which continues to make me wonder why he isn't on an ongoing somewhere). Also, I thought the art held beneath that awesome cover was also equally gorgeous, with Margaux Saltel's style looking very ethereal or dreamlike while also giving the book this new age/millennial vibe which fitted the characters.

However, it was Elsa Charratier and Pierrick Colinet's story which had me in two minds as it got into a state of ambivalence as I read through it.

It occurs to me that, I'm not sounding very enthused about Superfreaks and nothing could be further from the truth. Admittedly, Superfreaks' story felt very slow to begin with but really picked up steam in my opinion with the start of the third issue and continued on from there to be very enjoyable.

Also, I absolutely loved all the female characters we are introduced to, all of whom felt interesting and full of depth. It sucked that characters like Circuit and Garb didn't see half as entertaining from my perspective but Blue Aura, Red, Savage and Rookie more than made up for that with some immensely complex social dynamics.

And that is where the ambivalence comes into it. What I hadn't mentioned earlier was, during the events of the story, how these characters faced a lot of criticism from almost everyone they met. I found this incredibly heavy going and just a little bit brutal as every adult in this story; from parents to television presenters to even a doctor in the third issue, seemingly berated these kids just for being young. To me, this implies a very cynical world within these pages.

Of course, while I find this incredibly brutal I also find the concepts to be very interesting as well as maybe a little thought provoking. As I read through this, I thought that the reactions towards these sidekicks bordered on emotional abuse, something that made sense when you look closely at some of the characters 'habits'. This realisation I had made me think about my own place in the world as I wondered if I could end up as a parent like the ones in this book, the ones where these abuses primarily extend from.

In the end though, I'm probably overthinking about a good story which, essentially, describes a group of people growing up and coming into their own. If that's the case then Superfreaks was still a very enjoyable read overall that, while I'm not sure I'd revisit if it continued, I'm glad I checked out.

My Lazarus Dilemma.

I almost skipped out on posting anything this week because;

A. New Year has only just began and I wanted to pace myself.
B. All my bills and insurance need rearranging straight out of the year.
C. Work is murder and..
D. I didn't really have anything to talk about.

Fortunately, that all changed yesterday (Thursday) when I saw an announcement on Twitter which has since had me thinking long and hard about how I move forward with my comic book buying.

Therefore, I figured I'd lay it all out here just to clear my head.

So, here's how it is. Previously, I saw a tweet retweeted by Lazarus artist Michael Lark about an article announcing the return of his and Greg Rucka's series with a new title and new issue 1. Lazarus Risen is the new Quarterly format following on from their original run which was promised last year around the release of issues 27 and 28.

Lazarus: Risen #1 (Image from Comixology).
But  why the new series?

In one sense, I'm excited about this as Lazarus is a fantastic series and the fact it's still on my pull list after all the cullings I've had is a testament to its quality. However, from another perspective, I find myself rather nervous in regards to it's release.

Now, this new format will contain 44 pages relevant to the main story as well as an additional short story and a supplement to the Lazarus roleplaying game and beyond. Now this is an incredible amount to hold within a single comic and for that I'm totally ok with.

However, this new extra size requires extra cost and, according to Image previews on their website, this comic will now be going to $7.99, or £6.99 at my local comic book shop. For me, this is an awful lot of money (I could get two other comics for this), especially in light of the fact that I've had to tighten my belt and reduce my pull list to almost nothing. As a result, even if I take into account that this is a quarterly book (meaning I only need an additional £2.33 a month), I'm unsure if I can truly justify increasing my budget by even this meagre amount and if I do, how do I live with myself that I have dropped perfectly good (regular priced comics) and now am going about face for this one.

And this brings me to my dilemma; what do I do from here? Ultimately, I really enjoy Lazarus and, for that reason alone, I should really consider continuing to collect it. However, this is a lot of money with (at present) no end in sight.

However, there are alternative options. firstly, I could wait for the trades. I suspect these would be of a larger price than other trades on the shelves but at least they would be cheaper overall than the single issues. The problems I see with this are 1. it messes up my collection of so far single issues and 2. If I can't afford the trades at release, I could be waiting a long time.

The other option is, of course, digital. #1 of  Lazarus: Risen is priced on Comixology at £5.49. This, while still expensive, is cheaper than the print copy. Also, after 30 days, Image comics tend to reduce in price on Comixology, meaning only a month delay to save some money. Then there are more likely to be sales on Comixology which allow me to pick up either the singles or the trades for bargain basement prices and all for the need to wait until such sales occur.

Again, however, going down this route would mean messing up my collection of Lazarus single issues, as the story would be read physically (which I'm starting to get back into) before having to transfer over to digital for the final half. A transition I'm not particularly fond of (despite how it may appear).

As I come to the end, I find myself every bit as conflicted as I was when I started. I know for a fact that, probably against my better judgement, I will not just drop this series as I'm already too invested in the characters, story and world to give up now. And, ultimately, I suspect that I will cave and just buy the single prints, regardless of the additional costs. However, as of this moment I'm in a serious quandary over this, a rather trivial decision by all accounts.

So, if anyone has reached this far, do feel free to weigh in with your opinion.

I think I could do with all the help I could get.