What's your latest read?

[Milk Tray Guy]

I read 1-18. I didn’t read the Annual. 13-18 are really great and it wraps everything up very nicely so you should enjoy vol 3.

I’m actually not sure where Nightwing 49 would land in the continuity, but I’d guess probably around vol 2.

Good to know it ends strongly. Re the annual, you haven't missed much. It's a flashback to when Silencer was working for Leviathan. She's sent by Talia on a mission to Gotham, where she comes up against Batman. Talia's motivation and that of another character seem a bit off, and the inevitable fight between Batman and Silencer isn't as good as her face-off with Deathstroke. It's as though they just wanted to get Batman into the Silencer Annual and didn't care how. Shame, seeing as how the rest of her run is so good.

Thanks again re the Nightwing issue - I'll try to track it down.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Pre(re)reads for Doomsday Clock;

Watchmen ✔
Flashpoint (core series) ✔
DC Universe: Rebirth ✔
Batman/The Flash: The Button ✔

All done. Next stop Doomsday Clock

 

[DoomRulz]

I read Batman: Pennyworth R.I.P. just now. A lovely read that made well up at the end. It's made me hate Tom King that much more for the crap he pulled when he was still on Batman.

 

[Babillygunn]

I’m reading DC: New Frontier. I’ve never read that before. Really enjoying it. I’m through Chapter 3, which has the story of Hal Jordan in Korea. What an emotional story!

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I’m reading DC: New Frontier. I’ve never read that before. Really enjoying it. I’m through Chapter 3, which has the story of Hal Jordan in Korea. What an emotional story!

I've never read it either. The animated movie is supposed to be very good as well.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Finished reading the hardcover Doomsday Clock Part 1, which collects issues 1 - 6 of the 12 issue miniseries.

Watchmen meets the DC Universe.

Seven years after the events of Watchmen, Adrian Veidt has been exposed as the murderer of millions. Now a fugitive, he has come up with a new plan to redeem himself in the eyes of the world. The first step? Finding Dr Manhattan. Alongside a new Rorschach and the never-before-seen Mime and Marionette, he follows Manhattan's trail to the DC Universe, which is on the brink of collapse as international tensions push the 'doomsday clock' ever closer to midnight. Is this all Dr Manhattan's doing?

This was a divisive project from the moment it was announced. You've got Watchmen purists who regard the original as sacred and not to be touched, and DC fans who for years have been itching to see Rorschach meet Batman, or Superman come fact to face with Dr Manhattan. I'm kinda in the middle. Alan Moore is my favourite comics writer, but Watchmen isn't my favourite work of his. Which isn't to say I don't like it. I do. When it first came out it really impressed me. It impressed me even more a few years later when I read it again and realised how much I'd missed/not fully grasped the first time. When you consider what that story says and how it ends there's a strong argument for leaving it alone. However... I've long thought that if there was a further story to be told - one that did the original justice - I'd like to see it. So, is this that story?

I'm not generally a Geoff Johns fan. I see him as a great ideas man, but for me his execution tends to fall short (Infinite Crisis, and - especially - Throne of Atlantis being strong exceptions) and to some extent I find that with Doomsday Clock. There are pages where he's obviously trying to sound like Moore, but it's like a non-English speaker reciting a phrase in English that they've learned without understanding what the individual words mean; it doesn't sound quite right. Johns comes close to Moore's style, but the substance is lacking; when he's content to be himself he does better. And when writing main DCU characters such as Batman and Joker he (understandably) seems much more at home. He also appears more comfortable writing his own creations, Mime and Marionette, content to use his own voice.

Gary Frank's artwork is fantastic, evoking the spirit of Dave Gibbons original without ever copying it. Characters and locations are beautifully rendered. There's a massive thrill of anticipation for seeing Batman and Rorschach or Ozymandias and Luthor share a panel, and Frank certainly delivers on those moments. I'm really looking forward to seeing Superman and Dr Manhattan meet for the first time. (Incidentally, I noticed that in this edition Dr Manhattan's *ahem* modesty is preserved, which seems odd seeing as he's au naturel in the original Watchmen - still freely available and uncensored. Was this also done for Doomsday Clock's monthly publication?)

Mime and Marionette are two characters I hope to see more of. I've seen them called the Joker and Harley Quinn of the Watchmen universe, but I suspect they may have also been influenced by the Captain Atom villains Punch and Jewelee (we actually see them encounter Dr Manhattan - a character based on Captain Atom - in a robbery flashback), even to the point of Marionette's and Jewelee's pregnancies. I really liked M&M's backstory too.

The story connects nicely to Watchmen with plenty of nods and references - in both writing and artwork - plus excellent supplementary materials (newspaper/magazine articles, internet pages, official reports) that follow each chapter, something again in keeping with the original Watchmen.

I found the overall pace to be slow. To be honest these six chapters felt like an extended introduction for a main event (Doomsday Clock Part 2 - hardcover is due out in May). I've read that the original periodical publication was beset by delays, disrupting the continuity flow for readers. Having read it now for the first time I can imagine what that was like. This is definitely a story that benefits from being able to be read straight through without having to wait for the next issue.

It's difficult to rate this without having read the second half of the story, but for now the strongest chapter was # 6, Joker coming face to face with Mime and Marionette. That gets 8/10. Chapters 1 - 5 each get 7. With the supplementary stuff, I'd rate the whole volume,


7.5/10.


@Babillygunn As promised, my thoughts on Doomsday Clock. Look forward to hearing yours

 

[CConn]

I've been reading a bunch of stuff concurrently...

The Unwritten - A series that I dropped in like 2012 after it finished it's first big arc at around issue #35 or so. It goes another like 16 issues and then has a 12 issue mini series after that, but even a few issues in and I can see why I dropped it. As much as I like the series overall, it lost a lot of steam after that first big arc and, I dunno, has kind of seemed like it's been meandering ever since. Still, I like it enough to keep reading and - hopefully - the finale is worth it.

Darth Vader (2017) - After being completely underwhelmed and disinterested in most of Marvel's Star Wars titles, for some reason I picked up this one and was surprised how much I like it. Continuing off of ROTS was a great idea as it covers a particularly interesting part of Darth Vader's history, and the arcs - while a little formulaic - have been interesting with a strong mixture of new characters and tie ins to other Star Wars entities like Rebels.

Birthright - A tremendous series I seem to read in bursts every two years. Thankfully, they only release about 4 issues a year so it makes it easy to catch up.

Chip Zdarsky's Daredevil - It's kind of amazing how a 3rd tier character like Daredevil can have phenomenal run after phenomenal run. I don't think I like this one quite as much as Soule's, but it's a good mixture of everything from Bendis' run on.

Middlewest - It's like Wizard of Oz but not at all, which is way better than you would think it would be.

Batman: White Knight - This is very good, but also kind of philosophically weird. Like it seems like it is trying to portray a rather leftist view of Batman, the justice system, etc., but it doesn't (or at least hasn't since I haven't finished it yet) fully commit to it. It's also kind of a hard sell because of how the Joker is the consummate villain. It's as if someone wrote a book about how Hitler has been unfairly treated.

The Dollhouse Family - The newest Carey/Gross colab that made me want to go back and read The Unwritten. So far it's been a really nice example of Victorian horror. Like The Unwritten, they do a phenomenal job of blending intriguing characters with this sense of lore and history that really achieves a strong level of world-building.

Family Tree - I honestly don't get this one. Lemire's usually very solid and I've always loved Phil Hester's art, but it's just a very odd mixture of horror and sci-fi with a storyline that has yet to really establish itself in the 5 issues that have been released so far. I suppose it is/could be good, but I just can't get a grasp on it yet.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Just finished Vamps: The Complete Collection, which collects the mini-series Vamps #1 - 6, along with (for the first time) Vamps: Hollywood & Vein #1 - 6 and Vamps: Pumpkin Time #1 - 3 (all originally published under DC's Vertigo imprint, between 1994 and 1999).

Meet Howler, Screech, Whipsnake, Skeeter, and Mink - five dangerously alluring female vampires thundering down America's highways on Harleys, drunk on freedom and high on octane. After killing their male master, the Vamps set out on the open road in search of a new life. But Howler, their leader, is driven by a demon from her past... one that she must vanquish before she can truly enjoy the pleasure of an undead existence.

I loved the concept of this. Five badass vampire biker chicks on a road trip across the US, leaving death, destruction and broken hearts in their wake! The series was created by writer Elaine Lee and artist William Simpson, and they worked on it from start to finish across all three series. The synopsis above is actually for the first arc (Howler's problem involves trying to find the child that was taken from her years before by social services, due to her drunken, drug-fuelled lifestyle). The second deals with Mink's desire to have the success in the movie industry that she feels was denied her by becoming a vampire, and the third (my own favourite) centres on the vampire high council's decision to have Skeeter destroyed, as they feel she's become a liability. All three premises are interesting and allow for some great character moments. The girls have very distinct personalities and come from very different pre-vamp backgrounds, which leads to some amusing scenes, but also to some friction as well. They don't always get along, but underneath they do care for each other. As enjoyable as the character interplay is though, it doesn't come at the expense of what you'd want from a series about vampires - bloody, violent, and very entertaining action. These girls my be unbelievably hot, but when they vamp out they are seriously scary!

Plot(s) aside though, Elaine Lee's writing is a mixed bag. The character development is great, and she gives the Vamps some nice, snappy dialogue. The supporting characters for each story are well-defined too. But the narration is seriously overwritten at times and can be a real struggle to plod through. The male vampire that the girls flee at the beginning is a bit of a pantomime villain too, and oddly out of place when compared to the tone of the rest of the work. And there's one small but really annoying inconsistency regarding the whole vampire/no reflection thing. Lee gets full marks though for some of the situations she comes up with, which are inspired.

William Simpson's art is also a mixed bag. His work on the five girls is beautiful. They're gorgeous, and stylish (whether in bike leathers and jeans, or little black (or red) dresses). And when it's fang-time the transformations are pretty jaw-dropping. The beautiful faces become animalistic, their bodies more sinewy, and their movements and body postures downright creepy! Unfortunately, his work on supporting characters - even those who feature prominently - is far more sketchy, and looks almost hurried. Scenery, (whether open roads, woodland, or inner-cities), interiors, and - of course - motor bikes are good though. Original cover art for the first series was by Brian Bolland and is of course great.

I picked this up on a whim. I hadn't even heard of it, but I enjoyed it. The girls had real personalities, and by the end of the book I felt that I knew them - and that I already missed them. It's just a shame the whole thing ran for only three series.

7.5/10

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Just finished Tales From the Dark Multiverse (hardcover), containing the five recent one-shots Batman: Knightfall, The Death of Superman, Blackest Night, Infinite Crisis, and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract*

The most memorable moments from DC's celebrated history - reimagined for a dark new world!

The Dark Multiverse - where everything you fear, every dire possibility, lives as its own reality. Here, the pivotal events that shaped the DC Universe play out along different, more sinister lines - and follow darker and more twisted paths.

As witnessed by Tempus Fuginaut, the immortal sentry who stands watch at the barrier between universes, these eerily evocative tales reveal the final destinations of the roads not taken - and the grim fates of those who choose to follow them.

Tales From the Dark Multiverse is an offshoot from 2017's Dark Nights: Metal event (following the New Age of Heroes launch in 2018), and it isn't about happy endings (as the cover synopsis makes clear). The set-ups for each tale are (no spoilers);

Batman: Knightfall: Bruce Wayne returns to reclaim his mantle from Jean-Paul Valley... and fails
The Death of Superman: Lois Lane's grief has devastating consequences
Blackest Night: Sinestro makes a really bad decision
Infinite Crisis: Ted Kord survives his encounter with Maxwell Lord
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract: Dick Grayson's compassion towards Tara Markov has anything but the outcome he intended

And each tale has its own team of creators;

Batman: Knightfall: writing by Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins, art by Javier Fernandez
The Death of Superman: writing by Jeff Loveness, art by Brad Walker
Blackest Night: writing by Tim Seeley, art by Kyle Hotz
Infinite Crisis: writing by James Tynion IV, art by Aaron Lopresti
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract: writing by Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom, art by Tom Raney

I love the concept for this. Some have called it 'Elseworlds, by another name', but the difference here is that we know the dark multiverse can spill over into DC's prime universe with massive consequences. We know there's a sequel to Dark Nights: Metal coming (Dark Nights: Death Metal). And it's entirely possible that some of the TFtDM characters will crossover in the future (these one-shots could easily be try-outs with that in mind, to see which characters resonate with readers).

As for the stories themselves, Batman: Knightfall was very good (towards the end it put me in mind of one of the Dark Knights Rising one-shots - I won't say which one!), and I really enjoyed Infinite Crisis. The Judas Contract was a cool idea - although I found the execution pretty underwhelming. Blackest Night is the one I found least interesting; I'm not generally a fan of Lantern-related stuff. My favourite - by far - was The Death of Superman. Great story, great writing, great artwork. Of all the tales I think this is the biggest 'cert' for a character we'll see again.

All the stories are guilty of feeling a little rushed in places - but that's understandable, given they had just one issue in which to tell their tale (by the way, none of them are connected with each other; they all take place on their own Earths).

I know I haven't said much about the content of each story, but they're short and I really don't want to spoil anything.

Batman: Knightfall: plot 8/10; writing 8/10; art 7/10
The Death of Superman: plot 10/10; writing 9/10; art 9/10
Blackest Night: plot 7/10; writing 8/10; art 7/10
Infinite Crisis: plot 7/10; writing 8/10; art 8/10
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract: plot 7/10; writing 7/10; art 7/10


Overall, 8/10



*Also includes chapters from the original versions of these stories; Batman #497, Superman #75, Blackest Night #1, Infinite Crisis #1, and Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3. Useful for a quick revision (or as a primer for those who've never read them).

 

[Babillygunn]

Thank you for the reviews @Milk Tray Guy as always they are a delight.

I have wondered about the Dark Multiverse retelling of these stories and have even had them in hand to pick up a few times but never have pulled the trigger. I didn’t like Metal very much, mostly due to not being a huge Scott Snyder fan. But I’ve thought these looked interesting. Maybe once I finish my pile I will check these out.

I’m reading the Michael Uslan Detective No 27 book. I’m through Act One and it’s marginally interesting. I’m having a sneaking suspicion that I won’t like what they do with Alfred, but when I finish, I will give my review.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Thanks @Babillygunn

I know exactly what you mean about Metal - and about Scott Snyder. I have very mixed feelings about them both. There's no doubt now that the Dark Multiverse is a 'thing' they're really pushing. The concept has so much potential. But... Snyder. Must admit though that I'm cautiously looking forward to Dark Nights: Death Metal...

When the Earth is enveloped by the Dark Multiverse, the Justice League is at the mercy of the Batman Who Laughs. Humanity struggles to survive in a hellish landscape twisted beyond recognition, while Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman have all been separated and fight to survive. Unleash the beast and let the head banging begin!


DARK NIGHTS DEATH METAL #1 (OF 6) (MAR200477)

... which is (was?? ) due to kick-off next month.

I look forward to your review of Detective No 27 (it does look interesting - and I Iove the title). I finally picked up the trade for the third and final volume of The Silencer. Having just a quick flip through it looks like it might end up being my favourite of the three! Anyway, I'll post about about it when I've read it.

Hope you're keeping well with all that's going on.

 

[Babillygunn]

I finished Detective No. 27. This has a brilliant premise. Bruce is a part of a long line of a secret society of ace detectives who are known only by sequential numbers, tracing their lineage back to Alan Pinkerton, who founded the Secret Service. I would’ve enjoyed seeing more of the Detectives who preceded Bruce (or No. 27 as he is referred to repeatedly in the book). We only get a glimpse of the 2 before him (one of them being the Crimson Avenger and the other being a surprise) and the original four: Pinkerton, his son, a girl, and Teddy Rosevelt. The book spent the first act setting up an epic premise only to spend the rest of the story settling in on a cheesy doomsday scenario run by a shadowy kingpin, whose reveal is supposed to shock, but doesn’t really have the intended effect, or at least didn’t with me, and carried out by Hugo Strange and Jonathan Crane.

It’s supposed to be a vehicle for showing off Bruce’s detective skills, but I never really felt it pulled it off very well. It reminded me of the 60s show with Bruce making an impossible leap of logic then running out to save the day. There are Easter eggs galore, both from the comics and from history. In fact, Pinkerton, Teddy Roosevelt, Gregor Mendel, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Sigmund Freud, FDR, John Wilkes Booth and Babe Ruth all show up. The Babe Ruth cameo is especially worthy of an eye roll. Likewise there are references to Batman 89, Year One, Batman #1, and even Strange Appartitions. And while I can’t put my finger on it, I certainly got a Gotham by Gaslight vibe in more than a few places.

I liked the writing well enough, but it always felt like it was holding itself back from reaching its own ambitions. The evil Doomsday society clearly is meant to be made up of white supremacists, but they never clearly state as much. And while this is obviously a Bruce Wayne story, I feel it would have benefitted from actually having the Batman show up, which he never does, despite being teased throughout.

There were parts that were great. I especially loved a part where Bruce puts his training that he received from Harry Houdini to good use in order to escape from an asylum. But as a sum of its own parts it could’ve been so much more. Worth reading if you find it on a discount, if nothing else because it’s so different, but I didn’t find it to be anything worth breaking the bank for.

I’d give it 6.5/10

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Thanks for a very interesting and informative review @Babillygunn. It sounds like a frustrating read - which is bad enough any time, but so much worse when it has a really promising start! (Funnily enough, going back to what we were saying earlier, that's a problem I have with Scott Snyder.)

The Easter Eggs and cameos sound cool. And I'm all for stories that highlight different aspects of familiar characters, and play around with expectations to deliver something different... but the key word is 'deliver'!

I'm grateful to you - I might have been tempted to give this a go, but I suspect that like you I'd end up a little disappointed. Like many, I only have so much money to go round for these things. Maybe, as you say, I'll find it reduced at some point.

Interesting that you mention Strange Apparitions by the way - that's one of my favourites.

 

[Babillygunn]

Interesting that you mention Strange Apparitions by the way - that's one of my favourites.

My son and I are planning to have a father/son book club reading of Strange Apparitions later this month once he finishes Long Halloween. I’m looking forward to it!

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

My son and I are planning to have a father/son book club reading of Strange Apparitions later this month once he finishes Long Halloween. I’m looking forward to it!

Sounds like fun! Sadly, my son isn't really into comics. He likes some, but he's not really into them. And my daughter's not into them at all. They both like some of the films. Obviously, we spent far too much time on homework and things when they were younger, and nowhere near enough time on the important stuff!

 

[CLARKY]

My last read was Alan Moore's The Tempest. What a read ! ! ! And the novel "Things fall apart". That was beautiful. Somehow it brings a new depth to the last Black Panther comic serie.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Finally got around to reading The Silencer: Vol 3 - Up in Smoke. This collects the final six issues of her 18 issue run. (Reviews of Vols 1 and 2 here -- What's your latest read? -- and here -- What's your latest read?).

Honor Guest thought she'd escaped from her life as Leviathan's deadliest assassin, the Silencer. She'd married a good man, started a family,... and then Talia al Ghul came back to claim what was hers...

But now that the Silencer is once again Talia's personal assassin, she's about to embark on the most dangerous mission of her career. There's one more loose end from the Leviathan War that needs to be tied up... and it has shocking ties to the secret origin that the Silencer never even knew about herself!

Dan Abnett's writing is again bang on point. He's done a seriously great job throughout, producing one of the best written and plotted new comics series I've read in a long while. V Ken Marion takes over on art (yes, for this volume we actually get one artist throughout!) and does a superb job. Without spoiling the end of the previous volume, Honor starts out here pretty much where I (and I'm sure a lot of others) guessed she would - but there the predictability ends. As Silencer she embarks on a set of assignments for Talia, whilst at the same time trying to reason a way to keep her family safe, and - if possible - get back to them. Several characters return, plus we meet some interesting new players - including the metahuman, Smoke. Smoke is... awesome. Honestly, she's one of the best new 'bad guys' I've seen in a long time, and I really hope we haven't seen the last of her. The action is pretty much non-stop, with Silencer showing again why she is not to be messed with; but we get some nice character moments too, and a plot with depth and emotion.

I was hoping we'd finally get a hard connection/tie-in to Dark Nights Metal, but annoyingly nothing. We do though get an origin for Honor and her abilities, one which I never saw coming. And there's a nice reappearance by Deathstroke. As for the ending, like most good ones it provides closure for everything. But leaves the door teasingly open...

This whole run has been fantastic, and easily my #1 New Age of Heroes title that I've read (although, like Vol 2, they've left the NAoH rosette off the cover).

My favourite volume of the three. A great ending to a great run.

8.5/10

 

[Babillygunn]

@Milk Tray Guy, glad you read vol 3 of Silencer. I really enjoyed her comic and I have to say that your review was spot on! I especially agree on Smoke, who was equal parts terrifying and sympathetic. I also loved that they showed Honor’s backstory the way that they did and when they did. Also, I’m not sure if it was in volume 3 or volume 2, but the Superman themed amusement park was the stuff of genius.

I think the strength of this run was twofold: first, the stakes felt real and there was no predictability as to how it would end. Because all of these characters were secondary in the DC universe (with the exceptions of Deathstroke and Talia) everyone felt expendable and I got the sense that the writers were playing with house money and could kill off whoever they saw fit. Second, the story excelled in taking minor characters and making them shine. Case in point would be Aftermarket, a character who should, in any world, be a one note background character, but here is fleshed out, written in such a way that we have to care about him even though he only shows up episodically in the run. That’s just good writing.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

@Babillygunn I was looking forward to this volume as soon as I finished Vol 2, but your post a little while back about the final arc had me especially keen to get into it - and it didn't disappoint. Smoke is just too good to be a 'one and done' character. I hope she had a positive reception all-round - and that DC realise that. Oh yes, the Superman theme park was great!

Completely agree with the way you summed up the strengths there. Knowing that the NAoH initiative wasn't exactly a huge success definitely gave that horrible feeling that any of the players (except Slade and Talia, as you say) might not make it to the end - which would have been a real kick in the ****s, because they made us care so much about them! A real achievement with brand new characters in such a relatively short run! Aftermarket definitely managed to be awesome in his own way. When Silencer returns he'd better be there too (pretty sure he will ).

The only NAoH titles I haven't read are Sideways and Curse of Brimstone, but of the others this is my favourite by far. Honestly, I think that handled right Honor/Silencer has the potential to be a Slade/Deathstroke-tier mainstay of the DCU.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

A while back Zenescope published a mini-series, E.V.I.L. Heroes. It's basically a 'What if the Justice League were bad and just wanted to rule the planet?' kind of thing. I've reviewed it here, The Zenescope Lounge. Thought I'd post the link for any DC readers who might be interested in another company's take on a JL parody.

 

[Babillygunn]

I just read Superman: For Tomorrow.
I am really having trouble figuring out what I think about it. There were definitely some pacing issues with it. Father Leone’s arc was very much a case in point of this. I found Superman’s confessions to him to be the highlights of the story, but his climax was clumsy and rushed and ultimately served absolutely no purpose.
The dialogue seemed very hard to follow. It was like everyone in the story was in on a secret that they kept teasing you with, but never fully revealing it to you.
I may be dense, but the story left too many unanswered questions for me. Was General Nox actually Zod? And if so, what was that all about? Who was Equus? Who was Orr? Mechanically, how did all of the events play out? There just seemed to be a lot of points where the story forced you to go with it, while not providing explicit explanation. I’m usually not one who requires blatant exposition in a narrative, but I spent a lot of this story just lost as to what was going on. Again, the dialogue has a lot to do with that as often characters would stop mid sentence, purposely leaving important information unsaid. It may be that I’m not bright enough to “get it.” But I think it could’ve been a bit more explicit.
The sad part is, I think it was probably a very good story, if I’d have just known what was going on. I think I will probably like it a lot if I re-read it or think on it some more. Being kept in the dark in the narrative can be effective if you experience the story from a character’s point of view, with a mystery unfolding around you, but it is frustrating when the characters know more what’s going on and keep it from you.
And then there’s the art. Two words: Jim Lee. It’s beautiful, as is to be expected. my one criticism would be that I don’t love how he draws Lois. She seems to lack a kindness to her. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something missing to her here. I think he drew her better in Hush.
in all, I loved the quiet moments of the story best. Superman and his interactions with Father Leone were the highlight, along with a great battle between Superman and Wonder Woman that was awesome, if not totally superfluous. I think that I need to process this more, but I’d give it a 6.75/10 but recognize it could end up more 8.5 in time, with more reflection.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Nice review @Babillygunn. Nox possibly being Zod... that's interesting. I read For Tomorrow about five years ago, and I think once since. I loved the art, and I thought the storyline was very good. I agree the pacing around Father Leone was an issue. I also seem to remember there was some conversation amongst the League that didn't make sense once it was shown that they actually knew what had happened? I can't check that - I gave my copy to someone. I liked the mysterious Mr Orr, and I thought Equus was really cool (he put me a little in mind of Venom). I loved the premise and the buildup. It really had me impatient to see where it was headed. But I found the solution a bit of a letdown. Overall, parts were really good, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Finally finished my first-time read of the ten-volume original run of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman;

Preludes & Nocturnes
The Doll's House
Dream Country
Season of Mists
A Game of You
Fables & Reflections
Brief Lives
Worlds' End
The Kindly Ones
The Wake

It was a series I'd heard much about, but which I'd always put off reading. Its sheer volume and depth were pretty daunting. But I'm glad I finally did it. The Sandman is packed with literary, mystical, mythological, religious and historical characters, references and imagery, which combine to create its own unique mythology. Some early chapters have a strong horror vibe, but before long it drifts towards fantasy, where it pretty much stays.

Gaiman gives each character a truly distinctive voice, and presents a very different world view. I'd find myself thinking 'Wow, I hope it's really like this!' Only to be saying a few pages later, 'Jeeez, I hope it's nothing like this!' I wouldn't call it exciting, but it's compelling. And at times it's very touching (some of Death's interactions with those she's come to collect are heartbreaking).

There are times when Sandman's world touches the larger DCU, but as the series goes on these become fewer, and it feels more as though it's its own thing.*

As for the art, there were a lot of artists over ten volumes. Most are very good. Some are great. A few are okay. Dave McKean's covers are pretty cool.

I'm sure this series benefits from rereadings, but right now my favourite volume is Brief Lives (Dream and Delirium take an entertaining road-trip across the US), and my favourite characters are (easily) Death and Delirium.

Gaiman later expanded on this original run (I have his follow-ups Endless Nights and Overture waiting, as well as Death's solo volume). More recently there have been Sandman Universe titles by by other writers. I'm not sure I'll delve into those - although I could possibly be tempted by further Death solos...

I'd be lying if I said The Sandman grabbed me as much as it has some people, but I did enjoy it (and I will read it again). The little negativity I feel is down to subject matter not always engaging me; certainly not any perceived fault in the storytelling.

7.5/10


* Dream certainly exists in the post New 52/Rebirth DCU. His most recent main-continuity appearance (that I've seen) is in Dark Nights Metal.

 

[Babillygunn]

@Milk Tray Guy, thanks for the review. I’ve never actually finished The Sandman. I have started it and made it through the first volume. It is just very overwhelming and I haven’t been committed enough to finish it. I still have it on my list.

I finished Tomasi’s Nightwing run. I so enjoyed it. (#140-153). Absolutely near perfection. It falls right in the midst of Batman RIP and the fallout of that story factors in a big way to the last few issues. If you are a Nightwing fan, I strongly recommend the run, and I recommend #152 in particular. It’s a one off that shows Dick processing the loss of Bruce and then a run in with Ras Al Ghul, complete with a desert showdown that is a throwback to The Demon Lives Again. It also is a showcase of everything that make Grayson a great character and more than just Batman lite.

 

[flickchick85]

I love Tomasi and I love Nightwing, but somehow I was shamefully unaware he had a Nightwing run, so I am VERY grateful to @Babillygunn for bringing this to my attention.