New(-ish) Comics! The DCnU #10 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

By my count, I have 64 issues of comics to read before I'm current.  Um, yeah.  It's going to be a busy few weeks.  Let's start with the remaining issue #10s of the DCnU books then go from there. 

Justice League #10:  OK, I'm going to ask a stupid question.  Do we know why Graves thinks that the Justice League killed his family?  I'm pretty sure, the last time I checked, his family was still alive.  In fact, I thought that he was the one dying, not his family.  I'm obviously going to have to check.  Given that it's been a few months since I read issue #9, it's certainly not Johns' fault if we've seen that story and I just don't remember it.  But, if we haven't, I'm hoping that he's going to show it to us next issue (as he seems ready to do), because I think that it's time to get the show on the road.  Throughout his run, so far, Johns has drawn out some moments too long (particularly the story of getting the team together) and rushed through other ones too quickly (particularly the defeat of Darkseid in a few panels).  Here, since the dramatic tension behind the eventual reveal is obviously false (aka the Justice League didn't kill Graves' family), it makes it a little difficult to feel engaged given the prominence that this fake tension has taken over these last few issues.

However, it's certainly not all bad here.  I'm glad to see that Steve didn't betray the Justice League.  I think that I would've been pretty pissed with Johns had he.  Also, I think Johns is going an interesting place with the revelation that some members of the Justice League know more about each other than the others.  The Justice League always had a power imbalance in favor of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, though it was rarely as explicitly stated as it is here.  Johns puts this imbalance at the center of the issue, showing Batman and Superman apart from the rest, with Cyborg just a step behind them thanks to his technical capabilities.  I'm guessing that Johns is going to use this imbalance over the coming issues to build some (real) dramatic tension and flesh out the various characters' relationships as they exist in the DCnU.  At this point, although I think Johns has been telling some interesting stories, I do think that it's time for us to get to the heart of the characters and their relationships with each other.  After ten issues, this title still feels a little shallow to me (although less shallow than "Red Hood and the Outlaws," at least). 

Conversely, Johns actually does deliver on building those emotional connections in the Shazam story.  We finally see Billy as something more than a terrible brat, learning that his only friend is a tiger at the zoo named Tawny who he feeds pickle-less hamburgers.  It's an effective device for showing how damaged Billy really is, and Johns builds off it by having Freddy share the same insight into Billy as the reader.  We learn that Billy is searching for his birth parents and that his hope of finding them drives his rejection of foster families.  Unlike the main story, Johns times this revelation perfectly.  We'd already seen hints of Billy starting to feel something for his new family, like when he fought off the Bryer boys.  Showing us why extending that trust is difficult for Billy is a logical next step, and Johns plays it perfectly here.  I'm a little worried about the Vasquezes, particularly because I'm guessing the upcoming battle with the Bryers isn't just going to involve a cup of tea with the father to discuss their misbehaving children.  Johns goes even further into building the tension, though, by building the story on a second level with Dr. Sivana's release of Black Adam.  I wasn't a fan of Shazam in the DCU; in fact, the only thing I knew about "him" was from the kids' appearance in "Flashpoint."  But, Johns is writing this story in a way that I don't need to know who they all were to appreciate who they are now.  If only the main story was as good as this one...

Nightwing #10:  OK, so, when I last left "Nightwing," I had come to realize that a lot of the problems that I had had with the series had more to do with Higgins' need to delay the revelation of Dick's connections to the Talons until the "Night of the Owls" than it did with his story-telling abilities.  As such, I was excited about this issue, because I felt like it was going to be a good test of that theory.  I'm glad to say that Higgins passed with flying colors.

Higgins picks up threads of three of the more interesting sub-plots that he was exploring before the "Night of the Owls" took over the book.  (I'm not complaining about Nightwing's role in "Night of the Owls."  I actually think that it was really a brilliant move on Snyder's part to connect Dick to the Talons.  Even if I still have some questions that I feel were left unanswered -- like how the Court never deduced that Dick was Robin and Bruce was Batman if it continued to watch him after he left the circus -- it still set up the emotionally satisfying conversation that Bruce and Dick had in "Batman" #11, with Bruce telling Dick that Dick saved Bruce from a life of darkness and not vice versa.  But, it was pretty clear that Higgins had to vamp a bit, since the Saiko story probably should've reached its denouement two issues or so before it did.  But, I digress.)

First, we start investigating the "escrima murders," with Dick looking into the last two victims of the murders.  The search reveals that a Detective Nie has taken a particular interest in him, and we learn that Nie previously had tried to frame Batman for a murder.  I'm not familiar with Nie, so I'm not sure if we've seen him before and I just don't remember him, or if Higgins is introducing him for the first time.  But, either way, Higgins successfully uses him here as a threat, showing him as either someone looking to make his career by taking down a Bat or someone connected possibly to the murderer.  The search also leads Dick to the tattoo artist who inked the two victims with a distinctive symbol.  That information eventually leads Dick right into the lair of a group calling itself the Republic of Tomorrow and its leader, Paragon.  It seems that Paragon is behind the murders, claiming that Dick, "the false idol of yesterday," must fall to pave the way for the "god of tomorrow."  I'm sure we'll learn more next issue.  All in all, I thought that Higgins did a great job of picking up this thread again and making it feel fresh.

He achieved something similar with the re-introduction of Sonia Branch (and Dick's potential interest in her and the Catwoman-esque problems that could cause him) and Haly's Circus.  I thought that the idea of Dick setting up the circus on Amusement Mile (a familiar venue to anyone who played "Batman:  Arkham City") was innovative, allowing Dick to have his own distinct enterprise outside Bruce but also keep him grounded in Gotham City.  I thought the prospect of Dick having adventures in different cities as the circus traveled the country, something we were seeing before "Night of the Owls," had legs enough to last a few more issues, but we all knew Dick would eventually find himself in Gotham again, so I'm not sad to see it go.  Higgins just seemed to decide not to drag out the inevitable.

All in all, I'm a lot more hopeful about this series than I was just a few issues ago, and that's an exciting thing.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #10:  The first part of this issue sets us on an intergalatic adventure, with Starfire taking command over a ship, also called Starfire, that she apparently previously commanded.  I'm getting a distinct Starjammer vibe to this story, though it's unclear whether Kori used the ship in the past to wage war against the people who rejected her, as the Starjammers did with the Shi'Aar.  However, regardless of her motivations and relationship with her people in the past, she's now returned to help defend them from a greater threat.  Lobdell does a pretty good job of laying out the cast of characters and setting the tone of the next few issues in a way that makes me interested to see where he goes with it.

He still has some awkward moments, though.  First, I felt that his decision to include Isabel, the stewardess that Jason met in issue #2, on the journey was a fail on several levels.  In the first place, it smacked of plot device, seeming like the overly contrived way of injecting some comedy into the mix that I think it is.  (I'm assuming that we're going to see her at some point show that she's made of sterner stuff and rescue the team when it faces its darkest moment.)  Plus, in terms of the story itself, as presented, Isabel's inclusion doesn't really make all that much sense.  Sure, she accidentally got teleported with Jason and the Outlaws to Starfire because she was standing near them.  Kori claims that she can't return Isabel to Earth because she doesn't have a docking station there, but a lack of a docking station didn't stop "Orn," a shipmate of Kori's, from coming to Earth to find Kori in the first place.  This discrepancy just added to my sense that Lobdell was really trying to force this plot device into the story, rather than taking the time to make it feel like a more natural development.  Moving to another problem, Lobdell still hasn't really crystallized the dynamics of the team yet.  Was Jason really surprised that Kori is a bad-ass?  Has anything she done made him question just how much of a bad-ass she is?  I can't say that I was all that surprised.  Plus, what's happening with Kori and Roy, given that we started this issue with them in bed together?  After her fight with Crux, we seemed to see something happen to her that made her feel emotions more than she had previously.  Lobdell hasn't really returned to that idea since then, but it raises the question whether she's just sleeping with Roy for fun or for some other reason.  At some point, Lobdell really has to start exploring these dynamics more fully.  It's been ten issues.  I'm not saying that the team has to feel as well oiled as the Fantastic Four, but we should have some sort of sense what the members think of each other.  Finally, I just don't know what to say about the secondary story.  Lobdell brings back the Untitled nonsense, and I barely remember what the deal is with Essence and her pursuit of the Untitled.  Although I enjoyed the issue more or less, these off-note moments are still weighing down a series that I want to be better than it is.

Teen Titans #10:  OK, I'd be lying if I said that the best part of this issue was anything other than all the nakedness.  Wowza.  Looking beyond the nakedness (which, again, is really, um, inspiring), Lobdell gives us a decent exploration of the team's emotions after the events in the Crucible.  I'm glad that Bunker smacks some sense into Red Robin, because it shows that Lobdell isn't going to just have him serve as comic relief (even though I felt like Red Robin's assertion that he was going to disband the Titans was totally forced).  Lobdell brings Kid Flash and Solstice's relationship to the next level, a step to which he's been gradually building over the last few issues.  I particularly enjoyed Cassie and Kon's excited embrace of Bunker and Tim (and Bunker's joyful declaration that they switch partners), because it shows that the emotional bonds that we haven't really seen yet are starting to form.  But, it's not all good.  I'm not entirely sure what Tim meant when he told Kon that he would tell him why he rescued him in six months if he couldn't figure out the answer on his own.  Is it because Tim's in love with him?  (I wish.)  It was a weird comment, particularly because I'm pretty sure that it's nothing more complicated than "because we metahuman teens need to stick together."  (Unless he's in love with him.  I mean, it is the DCnU.  Things could be different.  I would happily read about a Bunker/Red Robin/Superboy love triangle!)  But, this odd moment is dwarfed by the completely bizarre ending.  They just leave the island?  Really?  I mean, Lobdell even has Cassie and Kon remind us how strange the island is, but, in the end, we just Danny the Street our way to the States.  No nefarious villain.  No environmental danger.  Just a bunch of friendly dinosaurs and a dip in a tide pool.  Lobdell is really going to have to start doing better than that.