Countdown to Mystery #1 of 8

While the first 20 or so issues of the weekly "Countdown" have not moved me to write a review, the spin off series have shown sparks of creativity. The most recent one that I have read is "Countdown to Mystery" which stars Dr. Fate in the primary story and Eclipso in the backup story. I have always been a Dr. Fate fan back to the 70s when I enjoyed the character as part of Earth-2's Justice Society of America. I have read many of his different incarnations but always preferred the Kent Nelson Dr. Fate the most. The premiere issue of "Countdown to Mystery" has the helmet of Dr. Fate finding a bum in a dumpster who happens to be failed psychiatrist, Dr. Kent Nelson. Writer Steve Gerber weaves an interesting tale giving Kent Nelson a suitably tortued background and catching all of us up on the happenings with the helmet of Dr. Fate over the past few years. I liked Justiniano's art and his interpreation of the new Dr. Fate. This is quite the setup issue for Dr. Fate and I'm looking forward to seeing where Gerber and company will take him.

The backup story by writer Matthew Sturges and art by Stephen Jorge Segovia involves Eclipso's return. I'm not sure I really care for the Jean Loring Eclipso. I do like her fight and attempted seduciton of Plastic Man. With the Spectre and Darkseid both making appearances, I drawn into Sturges' interpreation of Eclipso. Segovia's art was suitably dark and his versions of Plastic Man, Darkseid, and the Spectre showed a range of emotion and depth. Eclipso looks to play a large part in the final chapters of Coundown due to "The Seduction of the Innoncent" tagline and I'm ready to get the action moving.

Comic Mix Online Comics

Stepping outside the DC Comics box again, I wanted to point you towards ComicMix.com's online comics. I really have not ventured into the world of online comics except for the "Heroes" comics over at NBC.com. I found out about Comic Mix's coming online comics through reading The Occasional Superheroine's blog. Starting this week Comic Mix has started publishing some very interesting comics from some great writers and artists. Each comic comes in 5-6 page installments viewable through Comic Mix's online reader. So far, I have been impressed with the quality of the books. John Ostrander's "GrimJack: The Manx Cat" is the standout at this point with Mike Baron's "Black Ice" really grabbing me as well. I really enjoyed the art in "Black Ice". Robert Tinnel and Mark Wheatley's "EZ Street" is a different kind of comic and I'm interested to see where they are going with it. The art in all of the books is top notch and well above what I've seen out there on other online comics.

The 5-6 page comics really provide a taste of where each series is going and I'm going to jump on and enjoy the ride. If you are looking for quality online comics, head over to ComicMix.com and try them out.

Suicide Squad: From the Ashes #1 of 8

Back in the day, I loved John Ostrander's "Suicide Squad". The concept and execution were exellent and Ostrander handled the various "bad guys" well, adding depth to each character. I thoroughly enjoyed the introduction and growth of Amanda Waller as well. Flash forward quite a few years and Ostrander is back with a miniseries explaining how the team leader, Rick Flag survived a nuclear blast in Qurac and made it back to the pages of DC Comics.

Ostrander assembles the classic Suicide Squad in the pages of "From the Ashes" and sets up the series end point of finding Rick Flag. The writing in tense and action packed, with each squad member getting an introduction. The team dynamics are reastablished and Amanda Waller is reintroduced as the badass that we know she is. The squad is gathered together and sent into Russia to find the thought dead Rick Flag. The mission goes awry with Ostrander delivering good dialague, action, and character motiviation. The art by Javi Pina on pencils, Robing Riggs on inks, and Jason Wright on colors is outstanding. All capturing the nuances of each character.

I'm not a follower of "Checkmate". I really had not planned on buying this series, but decided to pick up the first issue on the spot at my local comics store. This issue really drew me in and made me want to read the entire series.

Justice Society of America #9

The prelude issue to "Thy Kingdome Come" is a good read. Writer Geoff Johns provides a well written jumping on point for new readers. I love the cover art by Alex Ross. He keeps banging out great covers for this title. Dale Eaglesham's interior art is excellent. However, his rendeiton of both Green Latern and the Flash are little old. His center splash page as the heroes go into action is excellent and captures the personalities of the differing characters. The dialogue and flow of the book is excellent all the way until the final reveal of Kingdom Come Superman stepping out of Starman's black hole.

I'm really looking forward to the "Thy Kingdom Come" story. It looks to be very exciting.

Teen Titans #50

In picking up my comics habit after a 10 year hiatus, the first series that I decided to catch up on via TPB was "Teen Titans". I've always been a "Teen Titans" fan and thought it would be a good jumping on point for my reintroduction into comics. Also, I thought my son would get a kick out of the adventures of the younger heroes before moving to the big leagues. We set about finding all of the TPBs that would get us current on this title. I must say that I was impressed by Geoff Johns handling of this team. As a side note, this would lead me on to find Johns' back issues of "The Flash" and start buying Justice Society of America. To continue, while I've enjoyed the team interaction and adveutres of the current Titans, I must say that it is not a good time to be on the team. Death has stalked the Titans for quite sometime. With the losses of Connor (Superboy) and Bart (Flash), the team had entered a morose phase with many of the team sulking through the book.

"Teen Titans" #50 is a cathartic issue that will hopefully dispell all of the angst and sorrow built up over the last year plus. It was Sean McKeever's first issue as writer and he did a fantastic job of stitching together a story that included flashbacks to the hey-days of Titans past, along with the writers and artists from those periods. McKeever comes to DC from the excellent Marvel book "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane". Now some might snicker that I think that book is excellent, but there is a dearth of good comics on the market for young girls. My daughter loved "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane" and I'm hoping that she will take to the "Teen Titans" as well.

McKeever looks to be bringing the FUN and I'm looking forward to reading his stories.

Outsiders #50

I haven't read any "Outsiders" comics since the 80s when it was called "Batman and the Outsiders". Seeing that DC was going to release a "Batman and the Outsiders" series, I decided to catch up on the last year's worth of "Outsiders". Luckily my LCS had a special on all back issues for $1. I also put the "Five of a Kind" miniseries on my pull list to get me ready for the new "Batman and the Outsiders". I had fun catching up with the Winnick written "Outsiders" and found he did a good job of wrapping up the various storylines prior to handing the reigns over to Bedard. The "Five of a Kind" miniseries was a mix of good and bad, but overall provided a good introduction to many that would eventually be on the team.

"Outsiders" #50 is all setup. However, it was a fun read. I liked Bedard's inclusion of "Matches Malone" and the interactions between the team members. While I wasn't fully impressed with the miniseries, this issue solidified my decision to put "Batman & the Outsiders" on my pull list.

Titans East

TEEN TITANS EAST SPECIAL #1
Written by Judd Winick
Art and cover by Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund
Titans Tower is back up and running on the East Coast as Judd Winnick, Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund assemble an explosive new team of Titans under the leadership of Cyborg! But their first mission may be their last as powerful forces gather to destroy all Titans past and future!
On sale November 14 • 48 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Not new news, but something I wanted to chat about. The Teen Titans East Special lineup is shown on the cover. However, Judd Winick stated during a DC Nation panel that "The first team you see is not the last team." The days numbered for the lineup shown here Dove, Powerboy, Anima, Hawk, Cyborg, Vulcan, & Lagoon Boy as the one-shot will lead to a new Titans series which will star Nightwing, Cyborg, Donna Troy, Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy. Does the DC culling of heroes continue in this one-shot? Who is going to die? My bet is on Powerboy.

There are a lot of dots to connect to get this team together - Donna Troy is involved in Countdown, Starfire in Countdown to Adventure, and Beast Boy on Doom Patrol. However, Nightwing is available after leaving the Outsiders. I know fans would like to see Jericho back on the team, but he is currently stuck in Match's body with no relief from that situation on the horizon. With lots of dangling plot lines and use of the team members throughout the DC Universe it will be interesting to see how the team is brought back together again.

Although he hasn't been confirmed for the ongoing montly series, there has been a lot of chatting on the net about Winnick's poor handling of Nightwing during his "Outsiders" run. I have just picked up the last ten issues of "Outsiders" and will form my own opinion of that. For a long time Wolfman/Perez "New Teen Titans" fan, I'm excited to see the classic lineup back together. "New Teen Titans" rivaled the popularity of "X-Men" in the 80s and could acheive that again given a strong creative team. Although I love the Wolfman/Perez teaming, I'd like to see some fresh blood take over the team that they created. Perez is doing excellent work on "The Brave and the Bold" and Wolfman is set to start the ongoing "Vigilante" series next year. I'd like to see Mike McKone or Ian Churchill on the ongoing series with a writer that can handle the team dynamic.

New Supergirl Artist

I only have to endure one more issue of Renato Guedes' thick legged, forty year-old looking Supergirl. As of issue 23, Drew Johnson is coming on to handle the art on Supergirl. Both of my kids that are comic readers didn't even attempt to read the Guedes' issues because of the art. Maybe with Johnson coming onboard DC can pick up a couple of more young fans for Supergirl.

New DC Kids Offerings

I really liked Jeff Bone's take on Captain Marvel and it looks like Mike Kunkel will be using Jeff's work as a jumping off point. The art is quite a departure but I'm onboard for a fun Captain Marvel Series. Here's hoping that "Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!" is good.

Also coming from DC Kids (or Johnny DC) are two new titles "Super Friends" and "Tiny Titans". My eight year old will finally have some DC hereo stuff to read.

Countdown to Adventure #1 of 8

I have not always been a big fan of either Adam Strange or Animal Man, but after their tales from "52" I found them interesting and different. I decided to pick this up to see what happened after "52" concluded. Adam Strange is back on Rann while Buddy "Animal Man" Baker is on Earth with both men getting to know their families after a year's absence. Being former Navy and having returne for long deployments, I believe Beechen captures the family dynamic of a father/husband returning after a long absence. Specifically Buddy' son's reaction to Buddy trying to be the man of the house. Starfire is passed out on Buddy's guest bed most of the book and Buddy's wife reacts accordingly to having a beautiful alien princess staying at the house. Over in Rann, Adam Strange is being replaced by a former Ulitmate Fighter/Action Movie Star. The characterizations of Adam, Buddy, and Koriand'r are spot on. While this book is generally a setup for the rest of the miniseries, it was well written with Barrow's top notch art. From the first page, you get the feel that this will be an adventure.

Jim Shooter on "Legion of Superheroes"

I just heard the news over at Occasional Superheroine that Jim Shooter is coming on as the new writer for "Legion of Superheroes" as of issue #37. As a long time legion fan I'm hoping for a great new era for the Legion. I think Shooter can bring the Legion back to greatness.