By Charly SHELTON

For the last two weeks, CV Weekly reporter Charly Shelton has been reviewing the New 52 comics, all new number one issues from DC, as they are released. Take a look at a sample of this week’s breakdown, which can be found in full online at CVWeekly.com, or by scanning the QR code. And be sure to check back throughout the rest of September to see more issues reviewed as they are released.

Releases- Week of Sept. 14


Batman and Robin – With all the Robins who have come before, this Batman and Robin is a disappointment. Dick Grayson, the original Robin, had a heart that kept Batman from going bad, and Jason Todd was a troubled youth with amazing skill for the job who eventually became the villain Red Hood. Great legacies. This Robin, Damien Wayne, Bruce’s son, is just a jerk. He complains, he is disrespectful and the reader gets tired of dealing with him after a while. He is just so bratty, and I don’t know why Batman puts up with him. But it is worth reading if only for Batman’s side of the story.

Batwoman – I think she might be clinically insane. The book is about her backstory and she is training a new recruit while in pursuit of a kidnapper who appears as La Llorona, the Weeping Woman. It is a legend about a woman who drowns her children, and now she is back as a ghost to kidnap other children and drown them.      The comic is really weird. The art is strange and set apart from all the other comics, and the main character is almost out of her mind. And she, along with her protégé, is almost completely naked numerous times in the first issue alone. The one shining star is that it is insinuated that Batwoman is a lesbian, in which case it is nice to finally see the homosexual community represented in a super hero other than Saturday Night Live’s joke sketch, The Ambiguously Gay Duo. Comics have always pushed boundaries of race and sex, but we still have yet to see a lesbian or gay super hero come to the forefront and become popular. It’s about time we did.


Deathstroke – Deathstroke is an angry old mercenary who is a cross between Marvel’s Nick Fury and Deadpool. He is a super soldier gone private industry and he is the best at what he does. When he is paired up with a team of Wunderkinds, he is out of his element but he gets the job done. Definitely buy this one. He is awesome and, if nothing else, you will love to see how adults think young people act and speak.


Demon Knights – Not sure about this one yet. The set up is cool, but the plot from there on is odd. Not enough time to explain it all in one issue I guess. But read this one because next month when they get into the swing of things, it’s going to be great.

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. – The Frankenstein monster, the classic monster from Mary Shelley’s book, leads a team of similar monsters to be super soldiers for S.H.A.D.E. It is good if you are into monster movies, but other than that, skip it. It’s nothing to write home about.


Green Lantern – One of the few new 52 comics that doesn’t start from the beginning. When the comic opens, Sinestro, the main bad guy and arch nemesis of hero Hal Jordan, is reciting the Green Lantern oath in chains. He is given the ring back. Meanwhile, his Sinestro Corps, which he has already created apparently, has enslaved his homeworld that they were charged to protect. And Hal Jordan is now a former Green Lantern, the Guardians having taken his ring away for recklessness.      But Carol has her star sapphire ring in this new one, so it must be after the war of light stuff because the Red Lantern comic is about a Corps made during that saga and the Sapphires are too.

The reboot doesn’t start from page one like so many of the others do, it just allows them to update the period of the comic to exclusively modern day instead of a timeless whenever day. But as I finished the last page, I found myself wanting to read the next issue right away. October seems so far away now.

  Charly Shelton