The DC Experiment, Part IV

Man,I'm feeling really fucking crabby today.Maybe it's the fact that I couldn't sleep last night and was still lying awake at 4:30 AM.Hopefully that doesn't interfere with this and make me get get nasty.I've already walked away from the piano in total disgust after trying to practice.Ok, here goes nothing...

So I've been picking through DC comics trying to see if I can get into them in spite of the forbidding continuity issues.The results have been mixed so far.None of the problems I've had so far are continuity-related.Instead, they've usually had to do with me being underwhelmed by the characters themselves.Luckily,this week I grabbed some stuff I really liked.

1)All Star Batman And Robin The Boy Wonder#7:I think I actually like this book.I've read many reviews online which are less than flattering,but I don't really care what they think.This book is just big, dumb fun.After three issues, it still has yet to fail to entertain me.Batman hands Dick Grayson the opportunity for revenge and he also gets a make-out session(a little juvenille in my description, but that's what it was) with Black Canary.I really think I'm going to add this to my pull list.(Wow.I think that's the first time in comic blog/forum history that someone has mentioned ADDING something to a pull list.I guess I'm really not in the club.)The art here is more than competent and Miller's characters are so over-the-top that I can't really can't see how anyone can get upset over them.

2)Action Comics #856:This continues the Bizarro storyline from the last issue.This issue gives out some history of Bizarro and Bizarro world(much appreciated info) and even references Mary Shelly's novel Frankenstein.The Bizarro speak here is one million times easier to read than it was in All Star Superman.I love how even the JLA have Bizarro equivalents:Happy Batman,Green Lantern shooting himself in the face with his power ring, and a big, fat, hot dog eating Flash.I love the sense of humor involved and I also like seeing how Superman interacts with the everyday people of New Yo...I mean Metropolis.(Why can't Metropolis just be Manhattan and Gotham be the Bronx/Brooklyn?It's so obvious that is what they are supposed to be.)Bizarro is an almost sympathetic villain in that he's so childlike in his demeanor.I think even Superman realizes this as he seems to want to help him as much as he wants to protect everyone from him.I'll finish reading this arc and I'll try the first issue of the next one before I decide if this is something I want to keep reading.

3)Tales Of The Sinestro Corps:Cyborg Superman:I picked up the Sinestro War one-shot about a month or so ago,and was impressed enough to want to follow the story.I ordered everything I needed to get caught up from Midtown Comics (even the Parallax issue).This issue tells the origin and history of the Cyborg Superman.My only exposure to Hank Henshaw was in the fourth Marvel/DC crossover,where he dealt with Silver Surfer and Thanos along with Kyle Raynor as Green Lantern and Hal Jordan as Parallax.Coming into this issue, I really had no opinion of Cyborg Superman(now to be referred to as CS).I figured him to be another Superman knock-off, who just happenned to be part robot.Seeing how he came to be, which really is quite tragic, kinda turned me around on him.He really is/was a good man driven mad by the unfortunate turns that his life took and the losses he has suffered.It gets me thinking that so far I like DC's super powered villains more than their heroes.CS,Sinestro, and Bizarro have all surprised me by being something a little more than just the mirror image of their heroic counterparts.

Overall, I'd have to say that I don't think I'll be adding a bunch of DC books to my list.I doubt I'll read Final Crisis, but there's still time.I might change my mind there.I also got another Birds Of Prey trade(Blood And Circuits) since I liked the other one so much.I'll be reading that today during my lunch break.For now though, I'm quite happy getting an issue or two here and there.I still prefer the Marvel Universe.The characters, and just the whole MU in general, seem more believeable to me.