Star Trek Into Darkness, All The Spoilers Edition

If you haven’t seen Star Trek Into Darkness yet, this isn’t for you. This post contains spoilers, and you owe it to yourself to go into this movie unspoilt. (This goes especially for you, Liz.) You can go here for my spoiler-free observations.

Again, spoilers lie ahead! If you haven’t seen the movie, go away.

Everyone who hasn’t seen the movie gone yet? Please?

If you turn another page, we’ll get closer to the end of this book, and there is a monster at the end of this book.

Seriously, last chance. Stop reading NOW if you haven’t seen the film.

Okay. As you may know about me, I am a massive Star Trek fan. I had pretty much given up on the franchise after Voyager, Enterprise and the post-First Contact movies, though. This is one of those “tale as old as time” things, pretty much every Trekkie with a modicum of taste would tell you the same thing.

I’m young enough that the Next Generation was probably my first Star Trek, and I know why many consider it the best series. (Note, none of those reasons is “the second season.”) But even though TNG was my first love, it’s never been my deepest. The original series, although it was dated even when I first ran across it as a kid catching late-night reruns on KLJB Fox 18 whenever my parents would let me stay up late enough to do so. And I fell in love with the crew of the Enterprise — with Captain Kirk, Mister Spock, Bones, Scotty, the whole lot of them.

And I think this is one point where people who aren’t Trekkies fail to understand the show. Part of it is the label of science fiction, which Star Trek has never worn particularly well — partly because Star Trek has always sat on the very, very soft end of the Moh’s Scale Of Science Fiction Hardness, partly because Star Trek (especially the original series) has always been unafraid to pilfer (if not outright steal) from any other genre it could lay its grubby little mitts on. The original series would do a legal drama one episode, the next the Enterprise would be acting out a submarine drama, another it would be following a plot gently dusted off from an old story set in the age of sail. It borrowed from the Western, from Shakespeare, it told vampire stories and stories about witches and Jack the Ripper and it told actual science fiction stories about truly alien creatures like the Horta.

In a sense, Star Trek owed much to the idea of the anthology show and the pulp tradition, borrowing and mixing liberally. It never stopped being science fiction (that would have to wait for The Next Generation’s holodeck abuse), but it didn’t mind being something else at the same time. The thread running between all of these disparate episodes was the ship and her crew. The Enterprise of that time can be an acquired taste, particularly the interior (the reboot has pretty much abandoned most ties with the set design of the original series, which I can’t honestly say I mind), but especially from the outside she’s still a wonder and a beauty, if you’re into that sort of thing. (And I am. Oh, do I love you, pretty pretty spaceships.)

But for those of us who fell in love with the show, what we really fell in love with were the characters. Kirk was handsome, charismatic, got all the girls and was still pretty damn smart. Spock was pretty much the role model for every high school nerd to felt ostracized. Bones, Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, Scotty… they all had their faults, but they all had their glories, and they always felt like a family, and a family you’d want to be a part of.

And I remember vividly the first time I saw The Wrath of Khan, and Spock, well, Spock died.  And I cried, and I think my mother had to rush out to the video rental store (yes, kids, those were a thing) to pick up The Search For Spock to convince me that everything was going to be okay.

And… you did see the movie first, right? You paid attention to my warning up top, right? Good. So they do that scene again, only with Kirk dying from radiation poisoning and Spock outside the chamber. And it… I mean, rationally, I can think of a dozen reasons the scene shouldn’t work. It’s transparently manipulative, and it plays directly on our recollection of the original scene. It’s deliberately playing with one of the most iconic moments in Star Trek history in a rather subversive way. And the plot twist, unlike the method for Spock’s miraculous resurection that my mom had to run out and fetch for me, it was telegraphed well in advance. (I’m just shooting this Tribble up with Khan blood, it won’t be important later.) Plus, y’know, Paramount isn’t going to let them kill off Kirk two films into the gravy train.

But, but I still cried again.

And what’s interesting is how Spock cries, too. In the original, he didn’t cry. He was stoic in the face of his own death. What grieved him so was the prospect of losing a friend to tragedy, and knowing (they even point this out, in case we missed it) that he would have done the same as his friend, had their places been switched.

Which I think is what’s most misunderstood about this new Trek series. It is undeniably a big dumb summer tentpole movie, something even the the original series never was even in its movie adaptations (the TNG movies sometimes listed in this direction, often disasterously). But the original Star Trek was constantly reinventing itself, both in genre and in medium. It can survive one more transition, to summer popcorn flick, if it keeps the core intact, and that core is the characters.

And there are so many moments, large and small, where this film really gets these characters. Scotty’s moments of wholly-justified insubordination against Kirk, and his refusal to back down even when it means losing his place in Starfleet, are very true to the character from the original, and show a much deeper and broader understanding of the characters than the caricatures they’d become over the past few decades. It’s real easy to capture the “I cannae do it, Captain, I dinnae have the power” moments for Mister Scott. It takes a deeper understanding of the character to embody everything else about him. The Scotty in this movie reminded me of him in “A Taste of Armageddon,” for instance, where when left in command of the Enterprise in a hostile situation and being second-guessed by a Federation big-wig, he managed to pull off some impressive feats that not even Kirk would have come to on his own.

The genius of this new series is that the characters are preserved and then used. The actors all do an extraordinary job of embodying the characters while making them their own; there are moments that strongly evoke the original performances, but never do the actors resort to outright mimickry or parody. And so it is with how the characters are written — they aren’t preserved, they aren’t props and museum pieces, they’re brought back to life. The situations are different (if often more than a little familiar), and now we get to see how these characters react to the changes.

The film ends up being a love letter to the old Star Trek and a successful big dumb action movie at the same time. (Although the new Trek isn’t as dumb as its detractors like to say; there is some social commentary, although at times it does veer towards the Stock Social Commentary For Post-9/11 Films With Large Explosions, it’s a bit smarter than that.) It’s like seeing one of your favorite current bands cover some of your favorite songs from years ago — they’re still great tunes, and they’re great performances and everyone involve clearly loves performing them as much as you love hearing them. I couldn’t ask for more.

Star Trek Into Darkness, first thoughts

I will have a longer, spoilertastic essay up at some point this weekend, I think. I hope, at least. First, though, an entirely spoiler free summary of my viewing experience.

The important things you need to know:

• There is no post-credits stinger, so you can feel free to leave the movie when it ends.
• This isn’t the movie that makes anyone a believer in 3D, but it isn’t the hack job that a lot of conversions to 3D are. It’s used effectively and subtly, but not so subtly that you have to take your glasses off every now and then to make sure you didn’t wander into the wrong theater. And it’s a really, really bright movie, which counteracts the primary downside of 3D conversion, which is rendering movies too darkly. Having said that, so far as I’m aware, there is no 2D IMAX version. And this movie was shot in 65mm and it looks gorgeous on the big IMAX screens. So, if you’re on the fence on to 3D or not 3D, the benefits of IMAX are a big plus.
• If you didn’t like the 2009 movie, you’re probably not going to like this. It’s still a big tentpole movie, it still moves really fast, it isn’t idea-driven. But I think people overrate how idea-driven Star Trek was originally, there are certainly idea-driven episodes but the show was just as often about its characters and all of those characters are lovingly and faithfully preserved here. And if you see Captain Kirk getting into a fistfight and say, “That’s not my father’s Star Trek,” you really misunderstand your father’s Star Trek. The thing about this new series that’s the least faithful to the original Trek is that Chris Pine never takes his shirt off; Shatner went shirtless at some point in roughly a third of the episodes in the original series.
• If you liked the 2009 film, though, you’re in for a real treat. Just like that one, it plays with the original, throwing in a lot of little things you’re only going to catch if you’re steeped in the old CBS series and the movies, but it’s constructed organically in such a way that if you haven’t, you can still have a good time. (I thought much the same about Iron Man 3, in that it throws several bones to heavy Marvel fanboys without sacrificing the whole movie to them.)

In short: I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. But I can’t say much more without discussing specific plot points of the movie, so that’ll have to come in a separate post.

Bat Books in “WTF” Month: Kyle’s Comic Reviews for 4/10/13

Sorry I’ve been away for a while. Been kind of busy. At any rate, I’m back now and have three Batman titles from my pull list this week.

Batman and Robin #19 (by Peter J. Tomasi with art from Pat Gleason and Mick Gray) is actually “Batman and Red Robin” on the cover, and features a thorough turn to the weird in the aftermath of Damian Wayne’s death.* This issue is bizarre, dark and morbid, with cameos from Frankenstein and Carrie Kelley that probably would’ve been better served by having their own separate issues. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there’s not a single element of this story (or either of the somewhat disconnected stories) that turns out to be relevant going forward, although Tomasi told the New York Post that his plans for Kelley “play well into the future.” (h/t IGN)

While Batman grieves Damian in that issue, he’s on to the first issue of a storyline with Clayface in Batman #19 (by Scott Snyder, with art from Greg Capullo and Danny Miki). I was really excited for this book because I loved the direction #18 was headed last month, but today all of that seems forgotten as they launch this new story. If I’d written a review last month, I would’ve recommended #18 as a good jumping-in point for people considering getting into the series. Now, you might as well skip it. #19 isn’t bad, it’s just not what I was hoping for.

Finally, the best book I read this week is Batgirl #19 (by Gail Simone, with art from Daniel Sampere, Jonathan Glapion and Marc Deering). It’s an epic conclusion of Barbara Gordon’s longstanding feud with her brother, James Gordon Jr., and the entire buildup to this event is worth picking up if you haven’t seen it.

This is also the only issue with a foldout cover that I think actually makes sense in connection with the story. I get the gimmicky nature of what DC is trying to do by giving every issue a “shocking” foldout cover in April, but when you try to cram a one size fits all promotion into dozens of books some of the results just end up contrived or silly.

Looking back at my books from last week, the foldout cover made sense for Green Lantern and I could see making a case for Green Arrow’s. But the Batman and Robin and Batman foldouts this week were little more than red herrings.

On my pull list for next week: Birds of Prey, Nightwing, Red Hood and the Outlaws

* – By the way, I still haven’t seen Damian Wayne’s end in Batman Incorporated. It’s not a title on my pull list, it sold out on its release date before I got a copy and, months later, I still haven’t found a reprint. So thanks for that, DC.

Red Hood And The Outlaws #17 And More: Kyle’s Comic Reviews For 2/20/13

I read five books this week, and I’m greatly surprised by what turned out to be my favorite.

I picked up Red Hood and the Outlaws #17 (by Scott Lobdell, with art from Ardian Syaf, Robson Rocha, Ken Lashley and Wayne Faucher) on a whim despite the fact that I had previously decided to stop following the series, and ended up getting the book that maybe should’ve been billed as the actual conclusion to Batman’s “Death Of The Family” series.

Last week I complained that the official ending of the crossover event in Batman #17 came off a bit hollow, that everyone being ok, the Joker being gone and no one wanting to talk about it seemed like an empty finish. This issue is something of an epilogue, then, with Jason Todd actually talking to several members of the Bat Family and finally giving us a true vision of what the actual aftermath of the event may look like.

Damian Wayne plays an odd role in this book as something of a brooding teenager (more on him later), although he does sum up everything I don’t like about Arsenal’s look by asking him if he’s supposed to be “Redneck Man.” The third member of Red Hood’s team is Starfire, who is still dressed as a near-nude space slut, but at least now is being written as if she isn’t completely one-dimensional and emotionless.

All told, I’ll probably try to get over my issues with this series and pick up a couple of months to see where this goes. It’s the only thing I picked up this week that I’d classify as “must read.”

The crossover aftermath is also the big story in Nightwing #17 (written by Kyle Higgins with art from Juan Jose Ryp and Roger Bonet), where we see Dick Grayson struggling to come to grips with his crumbling life following the Joker’s assault on Haly’s Circus. This time we get another odd cameo from Damian Wayne as the voice of reason, and the one person who realizes Nightwing isn’t ok.

Let me detour for a moment from this conversation on Nightwing to say something about Damian Wayne. He makes a pair of appearances this week, once as a somewhat petulant child and once as the only one observant enough to spot the problem with Dick Grayson and prevent him from doing something regrettable. Not only do those two appearances seem to contradict each other, but they’re also both more substantial than his role in his own book from last week.

Getting back to Nightwing, though, the events in this issue have me seriously concerned about where this book is going. The storyline about resurrecting Haly’s Circus appears to have been cast aside, and this month’s “Channel 52″ pages (an awful idea, by the way) suggest Nightwing is leaving Gotham City for Chicago.  If they’re serious about removing Nightwing from Gotham (and presumably the Bat Family storylines), then I wonder how long this series can last as a stand-alone feature.

Elsewhere in books whose long-term direction I’m questioning, we have Birds of Prey #17 (by Duane Swierczynski, art by Romano Molenaar and Vicente Cifuentes), the latest installment in a series that could probably just be called “Black Canary and Friends.”

I picked up Volume 1 of this series a few months ago and loved it, back when the BoP team was:

• Black Canary
• Starling
• Batgirl
• Katana
• Poison Ivy

The mix was a little weird, but their interactions were good and the story was compelling. Less than a year later, 40% of that original team is gone and Katana and Poison Ivy have been replaced by Strix, a Talon who does not speak, and Condor, a bizarre fit as a male character on what had been an all-female team.

And, for a variety of reasons, I’m just not invested in this current group.

• Black Canary has been dealing with the same issue (inability to control her powers) for four issues now with no notable steps towards identifying the reason or fixing it.
• I’ve read eleven of the 17 issues in this series and all I can tell you about Starling is that she wears a corset and “people” appear to be after her.
• Batgirl is Batgirl, but she has her own series to do Batgirl things.
• Condor was a villain in this series three issues ago, and seems completely out of place on this team.
• Strix is a voiceless, faceless character.

When you combine a nondescript team with a storyline that doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to get anywhere, you have a book I’m considering dumping from my pulls.

I’ve complained loudly about Green Lantern before, so I won’t burn too much space on the same complaints regarding Green Lantern #17 (written by Geoff Johns, art by Doug Mahnke et al). Suffice it to say my concerns about Hal Jordan being shelved in his own book remain in play as he’s a fringe character in this issue, but this time so is Simon Baz.

Finally, for the sake of nostalgia I ventured outside of my DC bubble and picked up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #19. One of the truly pleasant surprises of my adulthood is the fact that the TMNT still have some wide appeal decades after I loved the cartoon as a kid. It’s cool to pick up a comic and see fringe characters from the cartoon (whose action figures I have around here somewhere) back in action.

With that said, before I finished this book (which features the TMNT and the Neutrinos teaming up to fight Krang), my feeling went from nostalgic to “I’ve seen this before.” There’s nothing about this retelling of the story that compelled me to give it any more than a cursory glance again.

I also meant to pick up a copy of Justice League of America #1 this week, but didn’t reserve one and my comic shop sold out before I got there on Wednesday. I haven’t seen many reviews of the book yet, but the fact that so many people were interested (anecdotally at least) seems like good news to me.

On my pull list for next week: Justice League Dark #17 and The Flash #17.

Batman #17 And More: Kyle’s Comic Reviews For 2/15/13

The east coast snowstorm delayed delivery of my books this week, but I eventually got four and one of them was very well-anticipated.

Batman #17 (written by Scott Snyder, art by Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion) was billed as the “shocking conclusion” to the “Death of the Family” story arc, but I honestly didn’t find it all that shocking. After a multi-month buildup across multiple books, I was expecting something more than “everyone is fine and the Joker is gone” from the final issue in the series.

Even the final explanation to Batman’s extended insistence that the Joker doesn’t actually know the Bat family’s true identities comes across as hollow: Despite all the evidence to the contrary presented over multiple months, we’re left with the conclusion that the Joker couldn’t possibly know Batman and friends’ secret identity because Batman thinks he doesn’t care. This is Batman’s second major event since The New 52 and both have centered around an adversary (first the Court of Owls, now the Joker) that has gotten the best of him based on his insistence that what is must not be. This time they didn’t even bother forcing him to change his perceptions. Hopefully we’ll see something new with #18.

With that storyline wrapped up, the other Bat books are free to move onto their own storylines this month. I think they did a great job of that in Batgirl #17 (written by Ray Fawkes, art by Daniel Sampere and Vincente Cifuentes*), which for my money was the best book I read this week. The focal shift to James Gordon Jr., alluded to in #16 last month, is seamless. This issue has gone straight from a can’t-miss storyline into another great one, and I’m excited to see where it goes.

Meanwhile, Batman and Robin #17 (written by Peter J. Tomasi, art by Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray) did a much less exciting job with the transition. I recently praised B&R Annual #1 as a great stand-alone introduction to the series, but this month’s issue is another stand-alone affair that may or may not do much to hold the attention of any new fans they’ve gained recently. This issue’s little journey through Batman, Robin and Alfred’s dreams really doesn’t add a lot to the conversation, and if you’ve missed it I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to catch up.

Finally, I was pleasantly surprised by Katana #1 (written by Ann Nocenti with art by Alex Sanchez), a solid debut to the character’s first stand-alone series. Katana has a chance to be a real breakout character in the coming months as a member of the Justice League of America and a supporting character in the new Batman cartoon, and this book won’t hurt that opportunity.

Part of me is wondering if Katana isn’t getting her own book in response to criticisms of DC’s lack of strong female characters and female writers. Katana is a relative rarity as a female character where “sexy” isn’t a primary attribute. I just flipped through the book again to confirm, and there isn’t even a single panel in this issue where a female character has cleavage showing. This is a significant departure from, for example, Ann Nocenti’s recent portrayals of Catwoman.

With that said, Katana’s “strong female character” vibe comes with an odd twist: The book reveals that her swordsmanship comes not from her but from her sword, which controls her in battle and contains the soul of her dead husband. So Katana is a badass female character…but in her strongest moments she’s controlled by a man.

Moving on to the book itself, this is a compelling story of Katana’s return to the US and the start of her battle with Coil, who knows the secret of her sword. I’m glad I added it to my pull list and don’t anticipate removing it anytime soon.

My only quibble with the plotline in this book is that Katana left Birds of Prey just a few months ago to stay in Japan. Now she’s already back in San Francisco and presumably in the US to stay, since she’s a part of the new JLA. If you’re just going to bring her back in a month or two, why have her leave at all?

Looking ahead to next week, I’m expecting Birds of Prey #17, Green Lantern #17 and Nightwing #17 in my box.

* – The DC website credits Gail Simone, Ed Benes and Juan Jose Ryp for having produced Batgirl #17, but the cover credits Fawkes, Sampere and Cifuentes. If I were responsible for this great book, nothing would irritate me more than someone else getting credit for it.

Green Arrow #17: Kyle’s Comic Reviews For 2/6/13

There was only one book in my box this week, but it’s a much-hyped one:

Green Arrow #17 (written by Jeff Lemire, art by Andrea Sorrentino) is DC’s third attempted reboot of Oliver Queen since The New 52, but I think they may finally have gotten it right.

Jeff Lemire is one of DC’s most prolific writers right now, with recent credits including Animal Man, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. and Justice League Dark. He’s also working on the new Constantine series due to launch in March. He picked up quite the challenge here in attempting to make Green Arrow relevant and readable again without completely disregarding what had been established in the previous 16 issues.

The result was a book that reads like #1 in a new series, but does…let’s say “tie up some loose ends” from the previous issues. At the same time it clearly displays the ending of some of Oliver Queen’s less-relatable qualities, like his “responsibility-free billionaire” status, and introduces a new villain (mysterious fellow archer Komodo) out to destroy his life. All told, it’s a compelling read and I’m looking forward to seeing where Lemire takes it.

Meanwhile, the biggest thing I’m still thinking about a day after reading this comic is Adrea Sorrentino’s artwork, which is significantly different from everything else I’m reading. Sorrentino’s style is dark and gritty and I’ve seen it widely praised elsewhere, but I’m not sure how I feel about it. Queen’s face from the second and sixth pictures in this post on Lemire’s blog is an example of what I’m finding off-putting: the take on (and sometimes lack of) detail is a striking change from what I’m used to and that’s not always a good thing.

With that said, the writing is strong enough and the story compelling enough that I’m going to keep reading this, and if you haven’t yet I’d recommend you pick it up and do the same.

It’s also a great time for a strong relaunch for Green Arrow, which could help DC capitalize on the popularity boost from his popular and surprisingly good CW Network show. The Oliver Queen we’re seeing here is significantly different from the character on TV, though, which could confuse some new readers. The TV show also spawned another Arrow comic, raising questions about whether or not the market is really interested in two similar titles on a hero that’s not really near the A-list.

Kyle’s Comic Reviews, 1/30/13: The Flash #16, Batman and Robin Annual #1, Justice League Dark #16

Colin reads comics and writes about them, so hopefully he won’t mind if I do too.

Let’s just go ahead and say what should be obvious before we start here: Comic reviews contain mild to moderate spoilers.

The Flash #16, by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato: This was easily the highlight of the week for me. If comics got rationed or something and I had to trim my pull list down to two, I’d keep Batman and The Flash.

I haven’t been entirely on board with The Flash since the outset of The New 52 – I jumped in late, picked up Volume 1, and have now been reading steadily since #12. I don’t know the full background of all the characters, there are bits of the story I’m missing and I’m afraid I don’t understand The Flash’s powers quite well enough to understand how he got away from Grodd in #16. With that said, I left my house in a blizzard yesterday to go pick up my pulls because I was that excited for this issue.

Despite not having seen everything, I’m invested in these characters. Reading Colin’s work on this site has gotten me thinking more about the writers and artists behind comics and I’ve really developed a liking for Manapul and Buccellato after they’ve managed to put together something that hooked me so quickly. The reviews on the book jacket for Volume 1 cite the series as “an accessible, charming superhero tale” and say “any reader can easily jump on board,” and I agree 100% with both statements.

Anyway, on to this specific issue: I’ve seen Colin write previously about how hard it is to portray a character as being in legitimate peril in their own series. If you think logically you know The Flash isn’t going to die in a relatively unheralded early issue of his own book, but you spend better than two thirds of this edition wondering just how exactly Flash is going to come out ahead after what appears to be an unconditional surrender to Grodd.

All told, the surprise ending (which may or may not actually be a surprise if you looked at the cover) is a nice setup to the New 52 redebut of a well-known Flash villian (details here, if you don’t want to be surprised), expected to happen next month.

My only quibble with this issue is that the cover is misleading. It teases a “Battle in the Speed Force” between Flash and Grodd and (spoiler alert) they don’t even get there until the third to last page and never actually battle.

Batman and Robin Annual #1, by Peter J. Tomasi with art by Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes: Any other week this would have been my #1 book, and even if you’re not reading the series it’s got great stand-alone value.

The premise of the book is Damian Wayne sending his father and Alfred on a “scavenger hunt” of sorts across Europe to the scenes of various notable events in the life of his family, culminating with the predictable conclusion that Bruce knew what was going on all along and why, but played along.

I would think one of the fascinating challenges of writing a ten-year-old Damian Wayne is handling a child character in a non-children’s title. Make no mistake, Damian is no ordinary ten-year-old (as demonstrated by his ability to drive the Batmobile, outsmart police and come out on top in remarkably violent confrontations with multiple adults). In this book, though, it’s also quite clear that both criminals and Commissioner Gordon are able to tell the difference between him and the real Batman, and that he’s capable of concocting elaborate schemes but is not nearly capable of outwitting the world’s greatest detective.

It’d be all too easy to turn Damian Wayne into the obnoxious, childish Jar Jar Binks of the DC Universe or go too far the other way and create a character whose age is completely negligible. Tomasi and company routinely do a great job of straddling that line.

As a bonus, this book wraps up with a great, brief look into Alfred’s past and a comedic highlight.

Justice League Dark, #16, by Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes with art by Mikel Janin: I’ll wrap up with this week’s lone disappointment.

Let me admit before we start here that this book was a “jumping back in” point for me. I recently read JL Dark Vol. 1, enjoyed some of the characters from it and decided to tack it onto my pull list. So the fact that I don’t understand everything going on here and don’t recognize some of the characters is at least mostly my fault and I’ll accept ownership of it.

With that said, this book presented one of the greatest “overpromote, underdeliver” moments I’ve ever seen. If you’ve been reading any DC book you’ve probably seen ads for this issue promoting the debut of “Infernal Core,” a character designed on a SyFy show I never knew existed. The ad ran in all my books from this week (more on that later), and in every #16 issue I’ve seen this month.

The character debuts on page 3, and he’s dead on page 6. I completely fail to see the point of spending this much time promoting the crap out of a character that they might as well have introduced in a red Starfleet uniform.

So anyway, I reached the end of this book and there’s the same ad, promoting the character debut for JL Dark #16 inside of the very book where they introduced and killed him. There’s literally not a word changed from the ads in the other editions. Nothing screams “mailing it in” quite like running an outdated ad for your series in your own series.

Moving on, I’m still waiting for Batman: The Dark Knight #16 to come in the mail.

There’s nothing on my pull list coming out next week, but I may give Green Arrow #17 a shot. I read Volume 1 and was unimpressed, but a new creative team may mean it’s worth another look.