Weekly Comic Review for 12/7/11
We’re into the 4th week of the New 52. On top of those, we also have the return of an old favorite super-hero group from way back, the Defenders.
Defenders #1 – The Hulk shows up to the home of Doctor Strange (who seems to have become a player) asking him to pull the old team together. This brings in both Namor and the Silver Surfer (who it seems can change shape/disperse his form now). Sine Hulk can’t be associated with trying to take down the creature he brought the guys together for, they end up getting the new red She-Hulk and Iron Fist for the team and they head off to Wundagore Mountain to start their investigation. Things are looking pretty decent so far.
Green Arrow #4 – Blood Rose breaks into Queen Industries and runs across Oliver. He escapes, changes into Green Arrow, and starts going after her. Now, she’s just seen the 2 of them in close quarters within a few minutes when they are the only other people in there and doesn’t put 2 and 2 together? Really? *sigh* There’s definitely more to Blood Rose than she’s showing. I’m talking heightened strength, not intelligence obviously.
Hawk and Dove #4 – Hawk and Dove talk to the human behind Condor (who seems to be a lot older than he looks) and his cryptic information about the avatars keeps coming out. We also get more info on what happened between Dove and Swan and find out Swan’s not actually dead. In fact, she manages to kidnap Deadman and Condor escapes. The art of Rob Liefeld is bad enough but the story isn’t too great either. I’ve always been a big Hawk and Dove fan so I want to like this but it’s a little rough. At least it’s not as bad as Firestorm and Hawkman though.
Red Lanterns #4 – Atrocitus is trying to find out what Bleez is up to so he throws 3 more Red Lanterns into the Blood Ocean. We get some background on the characters as they fight for their sanity. It’s an interesting way to really introduce us to the characters who were only in the background of the stories before. On top of everything else, the body of Krona disappears!
Stormwatch #4 – It’s Midnighter and Apollo vs the creature that absorbed the rest of the team. After being freed, Jack gets the city of Alba Umbra to resurface just in time for the team to get pulled back to their base to deal with a representative of the Shadow Cabinet. A lot is filling itself in and I’m finding some promise in this book. Yes, I don’t have any history to compare the changes to (other than knowing the Martian Manhunter wasn’t part of it before) but I’m enjoying learning about them.
The New 52 books are still working on finding their place and are splitting into the good and the bad (and the ugly in some cases too). The top 3 this week stand out strongly from the other 2 books. They are Defenders, Red Lanterns, and Stormwatch. Now to see where the next week of books leaves us.
