Dark Knights of Steel Vol 1

A friend of mine lent me Dark Knights of Steel, Volume 1 awhile ago, and I finally sat down to read it today. Dark Knights of Steel sets Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman in a medieval fantasy setting with an alternate history for Kal-El. In this setting, Kal-El's parents escaped the dying planet Krypton when his mother was pregnant; Kal-El is born on Earth. Batman's parents were the rulers of one of the three kingdoms, but after they were killed by the Green Man (Lex Luthor who found the Green Lantern ring and became the Joker), Kal-El's parents took over. Bruce was the bastard son of the Waynes (Thomas isn't his dad here) and so would never have been accepted as the ruler. 

While the Els rule fairly peacefully, magic is banned from their kingdom. Batman is tasked with rounding all of the magic users up and imprisoning them. Due to this, and a prophecy from John Constantine, the neighbouring Kingdom of Storms wants the Els dead. With the help of the Green Man, Green Arrow launches an arrow and kills Jor-El, starting the three kingdoms' descent towards war.

What's really fun is that Dark Knights of Steel takes you in some really unexpected directions. There were a few moments that I did not see coming because the story plays with what you know of the characters: for example, Dark Knights of Steel's Kal-El is not the same (Superman) Kal-El who we're used to. But you don't realize it until the story unfolds.

I thought this was a fantastic reimagining of the three superheroes, and I can't wait for Volume 2!!!!

Aquaman: Unspoken Water and Amnesty

 I used to buy the Aquaman comic. I'm not going to lie, I was buying it mainly for Mera, because she's awesome.  But I got bored with where the story was going (especially after the long and drawn out stuff when Arthur was crowned king and later presumed dead when King Rath takes over).  That was followed by the story arc of Unspoken Water, which was the last arc I bought.  But then I found it and the next arc, Amnesty, at the library, so took them both out to see what had happened since I'd given up on the comic.  (I also took Unspoken Water out because I couldn't remember if I'd read the entire thing - it turned out I had).

Unspoken Water starts with Aquaman on a mysterious island with no memory of who he is and how he got there (other than I guess presuming he was on a boat that was wrecked at sea).  He's also terrified of the ocean.  He and the odd inhabitants of the island help each other out, but the ocean seems to have turned its back on them, sending them only dead fish, slowly starving them.  And so in desperation, the inhabitants ask Andy, their name for Aquaman, for help.  They are forgotten gods and goddesses of the ocean, and had banished one of their number, who they believed to be killing the waters around them.  They ask Andy to bring the banished one's daughter with him, hoping to appease the banished one with a reunion.  

I remember this story line to be confusing; it was a bit easier to read the second time around.  But it's honestly pretty weird (and only has a little bit of Mera in it, so sad).  But I'm glad I reread it, as Amnesty takes place pretty much right where Unspoken Water ends, with the gods and goddesses fulfilling their promise and helping Andy get his memories back.

This was pretty weird too.  But basically, Aquaman died and this ocean spirit sent him back to help the gods and goddesses.  The spirit freely offers Aquaman some of his memories, but cautions him not to look for others as he may not like what he finds.  Of course he wants to know more, specifically about Mera, and he finds out she was the one who killed him...

...Now, it's been a little bit since I read the comics....but I thought Arthur Curry was presumed dead after Drowned Earth?  Maybe I'm remembering it wrong?  I don't know.

While this took some odd turns, it was enjoyable enough to read.  After regaining his memories, Arthur brings his new god and goddess friends back with him to Amnesty Bay. Queen Mera gets pressured to marry, so she chooses the most unlikely candidate, and uses her wedding plans to achieve her aims of rebuilding the Ninth Tride. There was also some craziness at the end with a sort of almost Lovecraftian-sea monster.  So while crazy, it was interesting enough that I'm willing to read the next graphic novel when I eventually get my hands on it.

Injustice vs Masters of the Universe

I saw this at work and had to read it.  I love the Masters of the Universe, and the thought of He-Man vs Superman was just too good to pass up!  And wow, Injustice vs Masters of the Universe was quite the wild ride! 

It starts with He-Man vanquishing a robot named Faker, who had taken control of Eternos, Capital City of Eternia.  But the civilians berate He-Man for liberating them, because under Faker, they felt safer.  He-Man tells them that he fights for their freedom; Faker was a dictator who tortures people and strips the civilians of their voice.  Zatanna and Swamp Thing overhear this, and decide that He-Man is the perfect man to recruit in their war against Superman back home.  After the Joker tricked Superman into killing Lois and their unborn child, Superman established a totalitarian regime to stop such tragedy from happening again.  Unfortunately, many suffered under his tyranny.  He was overthrown once, but after Brainiac attacked, he was released.  Afterwards, Superman reestablished his regime.  With the Sorceress's blessing, He-Man, along with Teela and Orko, accompany the Justice League to Earth.  Swamp Thing, Starfire, and Cyborg remain on Eternia to help out in He-Man's absence.  Unfortunately, not long after He-Man leaves, Darkseid arrives with the intention of wresting the Anti-Life Equation from the spirit who resides within Castle Grayskull!

Injustice vs Masters of the Universe was such a fun romp.  I absolutely loved it and would love to read more (which the book clearly lends itself to - Hordak running Apokolips, anyone?)

Bombshells Vol 1: Enlisted

A friend of mine at work really recommended DC's Bombshells to me. The premise is that the DC superheroines and villainesses are recast into WWII era people. The men are off to war so it's up to the women to hold down the fort back home. Well, and to also go to war to stop the Nazis' mad scheme. Many of these women have new backstories (and nationalities), making for a very interesting take on the DC universe.

I think of all the new backstories, my favourite was Supergirl. In this world, Supergirl grew up in Russia with her human sister. The two enlisted in the army to eventually become Supergirl and Stargirl (the latter being a superheroine I am unfamiliar with). They're used for propaganda purposes by the Russians.

This was also my first encounter with Mera. I thought the was a lot of fun and was hoping she'd have her own comic (but it looks like she doesn't). :(

Unfortunately, I felt like this first volume of Bombshells was a little too all-over the place for me. Right when I was getting interested in something we'd shift to another character. I doubt that will happen as much in Volume 2 because most of the characters are together now. So maybe I'll keep an eye out for it in the future.

Library Book: 52

I found Greg Cox's 52 at work one day. It sounded rather interesting, so I brought it home. Now that I have finished it, I have to say that I am extremely surprised that I managed to actually get through it. 52 was just a really slow read. I kept reading, but at the same time I kept asking myself "why am I reading this again?" I felt that I never really cared about what was happening.

52 is a book written about a comic book series of the same name. I discovered this only after I started reading it. But anyway, it takes place after some crisis that I don't know anything about, and just assumes that the reader knows what is going on. There are 52 chapters in the book, one for every week of the year following the crisis. 52 follows a few new superheros: Booster Gold, ex-football player from the future turned 21st Century superhero, his robot sidekick, Skeets, The Question, a guy with no face, Batwoman, Black Adam, the evil Captain Marvel, and Renee Montoya, an ex-cop who doesn't have any special powers to speak of other than getting drunk and having one night stands. In the aftermath of this crisis, the big three superheros, Superman, Batman and Wonderwoman, are missing in action. So we have these other people we're following in lieu of our favourite heroes. Can you tell I'm a bit bitter? I was thinking Batman might make a bit more of an appearance in this book. But instead I spent a good chunk of the story following Black Adam and being confused that Captain Marvel is a DC superhero.

Anyway, Booster Gold's career goes quickly down the tubes as things go extremely wrong for him; Skeets seems to have inaccurate records of the 21st Century. To make matters worst, Booster gets upstaged by a new hero, Supernova. Black Adam finds love again after 3 thousand years alone. His new love, Isis, brings out the gentler side of him, getting Black Adam to help the people of his country rather than killing and planning war against the Western Superheroes. Batwoman barely makes any appearances. And the Question and Renee are looking into some weird crime syndicate, breaking into warehouses, and just generally globetrotting. The crime syndicate, Intergang, had thugs who could mutate into were-beasts of every variety. I take it that this was just because it was cool; this is never really explained in the book.

So things carry on like this for a couple hundred pages. A whole lot of nothing seems to happen through most of the book. And then suddenly, these scientists unveil the Four Horsemen of Apokolips, these weird robot/cyborg/I don't know what monstrosities, to go after Black Adam and his family. They were really cool, providing one of the most exciting scenes in the novel to that point. Here's a picture I found of them from the DC Wiki. They are Yurrd the Unknown (the werewolf in the picture, personifying Famine), Roggra of the Seven Atrocities (the man-tank, War), Zorrm the Desolate (the thing in the front right. Pestilence), and Azraeuz the Silent King (the awesome thing in the back, Death).

A lot more action happens in the latter part of the book, but even here it seems ponderous. 52 always seemed hard to keep reading. It was only pure stubbornness that kept me reading it. I'm not sure how the comic series would be, but whether it is better or worse, having read this novel does not make me want to find out.