Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse

Writer: Art Baltazar and Franco
Art: Art Baltazar
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
The Tiny Titans series is written for kids aged, at a guess, 5 to 10 years.  The Titans of the title are the Teen Titans, but aged about 7 or 8, attending primary (elementary) school.  They don't solve crime or fight monsters - they go to classes, get the bus to school, hang out together at lunch and tease each other.  It might sound mundane, but if you are 7 that's what your life is.  These stories have superheroes doing the same thing.  The teachers are villains from the DCU but there's no nastiness here.  It's light hearted and it's adorable.

Superman Family Adventures volume 1

Writer: Art Baltazar and Franco
Artist: Art Baltazar
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
This is a kids comic centred around the Superman family.  We have ol' Supes himself, Supergirl, Superboy, Lois Lane, Krypto the superdog, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Streaky the supercat, Ma and Pa Kent, and all the villains.  Each story is between 1 and 12 pages and a whole variety of events are covered: Lex Luthor tries to take over metropolis with a robot army; Bizarro (the anti Superman) visits for ice cream; the superpets get a new member; Chief Perry White wants his coffee; Lois nearly works out Clark's secret.

Zero Hour: Crisis in Time

Story and art: Dan Jurgens
Finished art: Jerry Ordway
Letterer: Gaspar
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
Zero Hour is a 5 issue mini series published by DC comics in 1994, which was billed as a sequel to their 1986 Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi series.  You can read more about the crisis stories here.


In Zero Hour, time is ending. Entropy is creeping back from the end of history to the present day and if the heroes don't do something soon the universe as we know it will be destroyed.

Alternate versions of our familiar heroes pop up - many Batmen, lots  of Hawkmen (see the page on the right) and a walking Batgirl (this story takes place after Barbara Gordon is shot by the Joker and paralysed).  Our heroes realise something is terribly wrong and gather together to form a plan.

A being called Extant seems to be responsible. Working with other mysterious figures he does his best to stop the superheroes, who of course respond with force - yet in the end it's simple human bonds and shared history which could save the day.

Gotham City Sirens Volumes 1-4

 
Credits: Various
Publisher: DC comics

What's it about?
Gotham City Sirens focuses on the DC villains/antiheroes Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn.  These three women are probably the most famous female residents of Batman's Gotham City (aside from Batgirl, of course).  They aren't exactly friends.  Catwoman (Selina Kyle) has worked with Batman too much to be true friends with the more criminally minded.  Poison Ivy doesn't really like people.  Harley Quinn gets on with most people but would leave them hanging in a moment if her beloved Joker called.

Volume 1 brings the Sirens together by having them share a house (a really big house, more like the size of a warehouse).  Ivy and Harley set out to discover Batman's identity from Selina; the Riddler has reformed; and one of the old Joker sidekicks turns up.

Green Arrow and associates Comixology sale

Apologies for the long wait between posts.  Life has been rather busy lately.  I'm afraid I cannot give you a full review tonight, but I will point you towards another comixology sale, this time it is themed around the Arrow TV show.

Oliver Queen is known in comics as Green Arrow and I believe the TV show brings in a lot of other DC characters.  There are 166 issues in the sale, here are what I think are the best.  All links take you to the first issue in the story arc.  The sale runs for 7 days from 25th March.

Best of 2013: DC

This is the last in my Best of 2013 posts,  As such I decided to focus it on my beloved DC Comics  Anyone who listens to the Radio Bamf podcast or who follows me on twitter would be forgiven for thinking that DC's output for 2013 was all utter rot.  This is not the case.  I am susceptible for going off on a tangent and declaring the company's current direction rubbish, but that's not fair to them, as they have put some excellent series.  So let's look at them!

Batgirl and Robin: Year One

Writers: Scott Beatty and Chuck Dixon
Pencillers: Marcos Martin and Javier Pulido
Inkers: Robert Campanella and Alvaro Lopez
Colorists: Lee Loughridge and Javier Rodriguez
Letterers: Sean Konot and Willie Schubert
Publisher: DC Comics

What’s it about? 
This book collects the first year of adventures of the first Batgirl and Robin.

Robin is Dick Grayson, 13 year old (ish) ward of Bruce Wayne.  As Robin he is the Batman’s partner, bringing fear and justice to criminals across Gotham.  Robin views Batman as a father and is determined to win his love and approval.  When an encounter with Two-Face goes wrong, Batman reconsiders whether Robin has a place in his mission.

 

Batgirl is Barbara Gordon, aged about 18, the daughter of Gotham’s Police Commissioner Jim Gordon.  This story is set a few years after Robin’s.  Barbara works as a librarian, excels at her studies, and wants to be a copper - but everyone tells her she can’t.  Not one to accept other people’s opinions, she attends a costume party in a homemade batsuit, mostly to irritate her Dad, and finds herself stopping a heist.  Thus begins her crimefighting career.

Each story was originally published separately, but the Batgirl one was unavailable for a number of years.

Superman sale on Comixology

In honour of the new Superman movie - Man of Steel - Comixology are once again doing one of their legendary sales, so once again we'll give you a guide to what's available.  The sale is on until 11pm, Thursday 20th June and most titles are just 99 cents each - that's about 60p in UK money.  It's an incredibly comprehensive sale, covering the important, and best, Superman stories of the last 80 years.

More information after the cut.

Update to an earlier post

Our post on DC's continuity has now been updated to include Flashpoint and the launch of the new 52 series of books.  Go check it out here.

We aim to produce a post explaining Marvel's major events soon as well, although explaining their continuity may be harder as they have never reset their universe like DC has.

The creation of a comic

I found this nifty diagram recently which summarises the comics creative process.  I thought it would be interesting for readers of this blog:

 

I suspect that this is relevant more to comics that inhabit a shared universe, for example DC and Marvel comics, than to independent comics where books are created as one off, entirely self contained stories.

Interesting huh? It's a wonder anything gets made!

Starman review updated

A couple of years ago a review of James Robinson's Starman was posted.  I have just read the series and I haven't been so impressed by a comic in a long time.  As such, I've just added my own comments to the review and I would encourage you all to take another look at the series and consider reading it.

It is unlike most other comics.
It is magnificent.

Superman: Birthright, the origin of the Man of Steel

Writer: Mark Waid

Penciller: Leinil Francis Yu

Inker: Gerry Alanguilan

Colorist: Dave McCaig

Letterer: Comicraft

Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?

This is an origin story for Superman.  I won't say 'the' origin story, because there have been lots.  This one is particularly good and it resonates with a lot of readers.

Comixology - Black History Month

February is Black History Month in America so Comixology, sellers of digital comics, are doing sales throughout the month of key comics with black characters.  This week's spotlighted titles are all DC issues:
Green Lantern 182-188 - introducing John Stewart, the first Black Green Lantern.
Green Lantern 14 -17 - starting John Stewart's excellent Mosaic story.
The Mosaic maxi series (12 issues) itself.
The new-52 Mr Terrific series.

I would recommend the Green Lantern titles over the Mr Terrific ones.  There are a few key DC titles they haven't yet included but I hope to see on sale over the next month.  These are:
Black Lightning Year One
Vixen - Return of the Lion
Suicide Squad - Trial by Fire

All issues are 99 cents (about 60 pence in English money) and can be read on your device of choice - ipad, tablet, iphone, android phone, laptop, pc, apple mac etc.

We have covered many comics with black characters, and you can see all entries here.  We've also done spotlight blogs on characters of colour in superhero and non superhero comics.  The final entry, which lists all previous entries, is here.

Ame-Comi girls

Writers: Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti
Art credits:
Ame-Comi Girls issues 1-6: Eduardo Francisco (art), Ikari Studio and Santi Casas (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls issues 7-8: Santi Casas (art), Randy Mayor (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Wonder Woman: Amanda Connor (art), Paul Mounts (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Batgirl: Sanford Greene (art), Randy Mayor (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Duela Dent: Ted Naifah (art), Randy Mayor (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Power Girl: Michael Bowden (art), Randy Mayor (colours)
Ame-Comi Girls Supergirl: Santi Casas (art) , Randy Mayor (colours)
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
It's a weekly comic series from DC. The basic premise is that this is an earth where only women are heroes.  It's based on the Ame-Comi line of statues, which are basically manga/anime inspired sexy versions of DC's heroines.  You can see some of them on Amazon here.  Some are horrific, like this Wonder Woman one (why is she not wearing anything??), others are pretty good.  There was not really a story behind the action figures, so one has been created.

From Ame-Comi Girls 6, I think

The series started with 3 issue spotlights on 5 characters - Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Duela Dent, Power Girl, and Supergirl.  Wonder Woman looks at how Diana comes to America and forms a pact with the American government.  Batgirl and Duela Dent go hand in hand, introducing each character and setting up for the full series.  Duela's origin is really creepy.  These issues also introduce us to other key players such as Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Steel, and Brainiac.  Power Girl has Kara saving the day in metropolis then fighting Lex Luthor.  At the end, another visitor from Krypton arrives, and we segue into Supergirl.  Supergirl crashes to earth with Brainiac's army close behind.  Both Karas try to stop them, but Brainiac has other plans.

From the Duela Dent issues

Then the Ame-Comi series starts proper.  Issues 1 to 6 have all the heroes, led by Wonder Woman (because she says that's what's going to happen),  band together to fight Brainiac and save the earth.  Brainiac is an amazingly advanced robot from the far off reaches of space who consumes the knowledge of all the worlds she visits, then destroys them.  Issues 7 and 8 introduce Jade as this sector's Green Lantern.

From Ame-Comi Girls 7

Green Arrow Sale on Comixology

A Twitter friend has just alerted me to the fact that Comixology, the digital comics retailer, has a Green Arrow sale.  Each issue is 99 American cents, or about 50p (English money).

Green Arrow is one of DC's superheroes.  He dresses in green and is an ace archer.  He has an on again/off again relationship with Black Canary, ace martial artist with a sonic scream.

General recommendations

I had such a lot of things to write about this week and then my other half got hit by a car and is in hospital (but thankfully isn't hurt too badly - he'll just take a long time to heal), so I find myself unable to write proper reviews.

Instead, can I suggest these books and/or series.  I may have mentioned them before - if so, then you should definitely get them!

Seen the movie? Now read the book - Batman: The Dark Knight Rises

The last of Christopher Nolan's Batman films came out a few weeks ago and, man, it was good.  It had everything in it that I wanted, and more.  It was more comic-y than the previous two films, which might be why I got so much out of it - but then my non comic reading friends who I went with also loved it.

So of course I now need to give you recommendations for books to read, based on the film.  I'll put everything below the cut because I really don't want to spoil the film for anyone. In short - go see it, it's fabulous.  Then come back here and find out which books you need to read to discover more!

Wonder Woman: The 12 Labours

Writer: Len Wein, Cary Bates, Elliott S Maggin, Martin Pasko
Pencils: Curt Swan, Irv Novick, John Rosenberger, Dick Dillin, Jose Delbo
Art: Kurt Schaffenberger, Dick Giordiano
Colours: No credits given
Inks: Tex Blaisdell, Phil Zupa, Vince Colletta
Letters: No credits given
Covers: Bob Oskner, Nick Cardy, Mike Grell, Dick Giordiano, Ernie Chan
Publisher: DC

What's it about?
Back in the 1960s Wonder Woman lost her powers and spent several years fighting crime in her civilian identity of Diana Prince (this is commonly known as the white jumpsuit era).  In 1974 she regained her powers and was asked to re-join the Justice League of America (JLA).  Questioning her abilities and skill after so many years without them, she demanded that she put through a series of tests to determine if she was still Justice League material.  These tests would take the form of other members of the JLA observing her adventures and judging for themselves whether or not she was fit to work with them again.

It's worth mentioning that the JLA were ready to take her back and it was only  Diana that insisted on being tested (so you can probably see a plot flaw right away, but more on plot devices later).

Anyway, these adventures form her 12 Labours and the meat of the book.  Each adventure takes place over one issue and as such comes with titles such as The Man Who Mastered Women, Amazon Attack Against Atlantis, The Day Time Broke Loose, and Revolt of the Wonder Weapons.

The Wonder Woman of this book has a different power set to the modern Wonder Woman (because these sorts of things are continually being updated, and Wonder Woman herself was rebooted after the 1980s maxi series Crisis On Infinite Earths).  In this book she glides on air currents rather than flies, has an invisible robot plane, loses her powers if bound by a man, and knows all worldly languages.  The bullets and bracelets trick is still there, as is her magic lasso, and her Amazon strength and skill.

Death in the Family

Batman: A Death in the Family

Writer: Jim Starlin

Penciller: Jim Aparo

Inker: Mike De Carlo

Colourist: Adrienne Roy

Letters: John Costanza

Publisher: DC Comics

Today's guest review is by Jimmy McGlinchey:

Posing as a mild-mannered accountant, the entity known as @JimmyMcG on Twitter is an enthusiastic DC Comics follower who has been collecting DC comics since 1989. Other interests include travel, cinema, television and trivia.  You can follow him on twitter @JimmyMcG.

What’s it all about?

In the 1980s, Dick Grayson had quit his role as Robin to Bruce Wayne’s Batman, moving on up to the persona of Nightwing. His role as Robin was taken over by Jason Todd, a young street orphan who Batman came across when finding Jason trying to steal the tyres from the Batmobile. Todd was a much darker incarnation than Dick Grayson’s Robin, prone to defying Batman’s orders and being rebellious.  In a comic before the “Death in the Family” storyline, it was implied that Jason caused the death of a serial rapist, who, being the son of a diplomat, would escape prosecution for his crimes.

Jason Todd as Robin was not popular with the readers and, with the availability of technology to poll readers, DC Comics decided to use this to promote a storyline whereby the readers decided if Jason Todd should live or die.

As “Death in the Family” begins, Batman makes the decision to bench Jason Todd, fearing his emotional state would cause him injury. Jason, while suspended, makes a discovery that his mother was in fact his step-mother, and that three possibilities of his real mother were located in either the Middle East or Ethiopia. Jason sneaks away to try and locate his mother. However, Batman is also on the way to the Middle East as a certain escaped lunatic has absconded there with a stolen cruise missile in tow….

Batgirl Showcase

Writer: Various, but includes Gardner Fox, Cary Bates, Bob Haney, Frank Robbins, Robert Knaigher, Mike Friedrich
Pencils: Various, but includes Carmine Infantino, Curt Swan, Gil Kane, Bob Brown, Don Heck, Neal Adams
Inks: Various, but includes Don Heck, Dick Giordano, Vince Coletta, Murphy Anderson.
Publisher: DC 

What's it about?
Batgirl, lady crimefighter extraordinare!  Barbara Gordon has a PHD, a brown belt in Judo, and she can best just about any criminal you put her in front of her.  She's the daughter of police commissioner James Gordon and by day she works as a librarian.  When invited to the police masquerade ball she decides to attend in a homemade Batgirl outfit.  However, a series of coincidences lead her to take up the superhero mantle.

The closest thing Barbara Gordon has to superpowers is a photographic memory. Mostly, her talent and ingenuity come from her personality and her athletic skill. As mentioned above, she's accomplished at judo and she's inherited her detective father's investigative nature. Using her Bat themed motorcycle to get around, she solves crimes and thwarts evil doers, on her own, without help from anyone else.