Pick of the week 28/09/2016: Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #5

This was another very strong week for DC comics,  and yup I am still just buying the DC books though I am wavering and am sorely tempted to get back in with the Uncanny X-Men...

Anyway my pull  list on Wednesday was;

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #5
Action Comics #964
Titans #3
Suicide Squad #3
Deathstroke #3
Detective Comics #941
Hellblazer #2
Wonder Woman #7
The Flash #7

Tough choice again this week but my pick goes to Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corp #5, man this book is everything the other GL book is not, and I get they are supposed to be different but this is what I want from a GL title high drama in space and big stakes as well as Hal Jordan and Sinestro being front and centre. This issue seems to be setting up the inevitable massive throwdown with the remnants of the GL Corps and Sinestros forces's on war world.

Hals gets brought up to speed by Soranik about what has been happening and what her role has been with Sinestro policing the universe., Hal lets her in on the fact that he is slowly being changed by his powers. John Stewart leads the corps Mogo included, in search of Guy Gardener, who is being typical guy whilst being tortured on War world.  All this builds and ends on the cusp of a major confrontation and its wonderful. Ethan Van Skiver is predictably brilliant on pencils, and Robert Venditti is absolutely knocking it out of the park, he really gets these characters and for once I am not left Jonesing for Geoff Johns to come back.  Really excellent stuff.

4/5

Honourable Menions

Flash is gorgeous to look at a fun to read, I have enjoyed this book so far, Godspeed looks badass and has a great name to boot, he hasnt become irredeamable yet, and whilst he is killing it is mainly villains, August seesm to be losing his sanity and reason though and I expect to see him go full villain very soon.The supporting cast have all added to the story rather than distracting, even young(er) Wally and once again Carmine  Giandomenicos are is just wonderful, a real visual treat!

3.5/5

Action comics continues to tease answers without actually giving any, Jurgens has such a good grasp of Supes and his character though it doesnt really matter. We get answers on the new Clark Kent but to quote Optimus Prime every answer led to a bigger question!
I want to know whats going on, I am invested and I will definetly be continuing with this book.
3/5

What wasnt so great;

Suicide Squad #3

This book just really isnt grabbing me, its certainly not Jim Lee's best work and I fricking LOVE Jim Lee, ( I mean theres a moment here were Zod looks about 11 foot tall! So yup you guessed it the Suicide Squad are battling General Zod, which is just fucking stupid, this team with their power set shouldnt be able to go toe to toe with Zod, I guess its because hes quite discombobulated due to just being freed from the Phantom Zone, still not a fan of this at all.
The issue closes with the tease of the SS going toe to toe with a Russian Task X  esque force,,,yawn. Hopefully something will happen to make care about these shenanigans!

Pick of the week 21/09/2016: Nightwing #5

Ok  so not a massive week in the books I am buying at there were some notable moments such as the 1st issue of DC Trinity and the beggining of the Bat-family crossover night of the Monster men, my pull list this week was;

Green Lanterns #7
JLA #9
Justice League #5
Green Arrow #7
Trinity #1
Superman #7
Aquaman #7
Batman #7
Nightwing #5

My pick this week goes to Nightwing #5, the Nightwing book has been excellent since Rebirth but this is a different animal as this is part 2 of the Night of the Monster Men story which kicked off in Batman #7. I liked the opening salvo of part 1 in the Batman issue, it was ok but not great, I enjoyed this much more. The story is bat-shit (pardon the pun) crazy, giant monsters tearing Gotham apart, the Monstermen appear to have been created byHugo Strange while the Bat family tries to evacuate the city and stop the rampage. I really enjoyed the mayhem and the horror movie feel to this, plus I really dug the creature models, and theres just something about about this story that really appeals to me. The pencils by Roge Antonio are also a big improvment on the dissapointing art from Riley Rossmo in part 1 which I did not like at all, over all I am intrigued to see how this plays out and I really recommend picking this book up.

4/5

Also this week. . .

We thankfully saw the end of the 1st post rebirth Justice League arc, this story just has not done it for me at all, that being said I did find the ending interesting so maybe down the line this story will ending up meaning something more.Green Arrow also didnt really float my boat either the last 2 issues havent been great and I really have not enjoyed the art for the Sins of the mother story, that being said the 1st 5 issues were so good I am definetly still on board. Aquaman 7 was brilliant and was a close choice for my pick of the week, I love Dan Abnett and this story has been great so far Trinity issue one started nicely with the Trinity meeting for dinner at the Clarke....sorry Smith residence, Green Lanterns was ok a more grounded issue taking place with Simon freaking out about his mother visiting and Jessica having to pull him back, this was ok but I still don't care about either Lantern. The closest to stealing the pick from Nighwing was Superman #7 I just loved this issue it's such fun and a really simple concept of Clark trying to hang up the tights for the day to spend some quality time with the family, he manages to sneak in some heroics and gets busted by Lois in a nice scene at the end of the book. I really love storys that make Supes more relateable.

So thats it thats my opinion this week will be back next week when I may or may not be adding some Marvel to my pull list.

The List

My current pull list and the reason my family can't have nice things

Superman
Batman
All Star Batman
Dark Knight III: The Master Race
Wonder Woman
Action  Comics
Detective Comics
Aquaman
Flash
Justice League
Titans
Teen Titans
Nightwing
Green Lanterns
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps
Green Arrow
Tean Titans
Superwoman
Red Hood and the Outlaws
Super Sons
The New Super-Man
Deathstroke
Hellblazer
Suicide Squad
Trinity
JLA
Earth 2
The Doom Patrol
DK III: The Master Race
Uncanny X-Men
Death of X

A couple of these have yet to drop but we are more or less between 4-6 issues in with most of them,  and I have to say that its been an overwhelmingly positive experience so far, frustratingly so for my bank balance.

The Re-Launch with Rebirth brought me kicking and screming back into buying modern comics again, the one shot was perfect I found myself bawling unashamedly with the reunion with Barry and Wally and doing massive double take with the Watchmen reveal, I loved this book it was a fitting love letter from the always brilliant Geoff  Johns as he departs for movie land and the issue left me with a huge grin on my face and the sobering knowledge that I would be soon be spending a great deal of money on new comics.

Highlights.

Aquaman and Green Arrow so far simpy because I had no real expectations at all, especially with Aquaman as I have never followed the book before, and both have really taken me by surpris. Aquaman in particular has really grabbed me, I have enjoyed where they have gone with it, Dan Abnetts writing has been predictably great and the art has been really so strong, now that the 1st mini arc is resolved the substory with Black Manta is keping me intrigued. With GA there is no re-inventing the wheel here, but I have enjoyed the art and the story and found myself rooting for Ollie as he loses everything and fights his way back from near death, and again the conclusion of the 1st arc has really left me looking forward to what comes next.

Honourable Mentions

Another two titles that have really grabbed me are Detective comics and Action Comics, neither has given me what I was necessarily expecting but both have been really good, DC has been SO strong I am enjoying the writing for Batwoman and the last issue actually really choked me up with a false finish ending which really hit home for me, and a tear may have been shed. As for Action Comics the return of Dan Jurgens was enough to have me intrigued and the story has just been mental, totally over the top, just batshit crazy no explanations so far but plenty of reasons to keep coming back, the 1st arc gives you Doomsday as he should be and builds on Super Luthor which for the record I am a massive fan of, I enjoyed his gradual turn during the new 52 Justice League and  I hope it doesnt end too soon, I personally think the character is more intersting in this kind of role, finally the Clark  Kent thing is weird as hell but again its keeping me coming back.

Weak links

So far there is nothing I am annoyed enough about to drop but Green Lanterns just is not clicking with me, I don't care about either of these new Lanterns and the 1st arc really hasn't done it for me, compared to the rather excellent Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps this book really comes off as the weak relation., I am going to give it a bit longer though.