Comic Book Rants & Raves: 09/05/13

To say comic book fans are "passionate" would be a ginormous understatement. Surely you saw the reaction to Ben Affleck being cast as Batman, right? A somewhat similar response happens every now and then when we all read through our piles of new comics. Sometimes we'll have an overwhelming amount of praise and sometimes something will make us take a step back and say, "Wait... what?!" Here's just a few of those from this week. Assuming there's a positive response, you can expect to see this feature pop up from time to time. Also, don't forget to chime in with your own selection of rants & raves from this week's new comics!

Rave: FOREVER EVIL rocks

Sure, it's kind of disappointing Trinity War was pretty much reduced to serve as a preface for Forever Evil, but after reading issue #1 of the latest big event, it's easily overlooked! Many of us do indeed suffer from big event fatigue, but this issue was well worth the $3.99 cover price and has a thoroughly effective hook. This feels like the start of something huge, making it more than worthy of the "big event" label. Its scope is grand, there's some epic stakes on the table, and it's truly impressive how many characters writer Geoff Johns was able to balance in just the first issue. Yeah, it would have been nice to see a tad more from the Crime Syndicate, but things are just kicking off and it was great to see how the world of villains was reacting to this turn of events... especially the story's "hero," Lex Luthor (who was awesomely written, by the way). Oh, and it's totally new reader friendly, too. If you've been considering dipping your toes in the DC pool, this is a great place to start.

Rant: Shocker isn't Shocker... again.

Look, Herman Schultz isn't the most popular or respected villain around. His name is silly, he looks even sillier at times and he's never really aspired to much more than "GIMME THAT MONEY, HONEY!" Him being a coward in THE SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN is totally overlookable because that book's a much needed dose of levity. But, can we at least get the basic power he uses correct? Just because his name is "Shocker" doesn't mean his attacks are electric and this is at least the second time I've seen this misconception. His vibro gauntlets produce blasts of powerful vibrations -- so powerful that he claims it could potentially turn someone's bones to jelly. Yet in the latest issue of DAREDEVIL: DARK NIGHTS, he shocks Daredevil and is using electricity. Due to the general opinion, it's understandable he's treated like a jobber and his vibrational shield is ignored (that's what protects him from Spider-Man's superhuman punches, after all), but can we please just get this one basic thing about him correct?

Rave: Deadshot's origin

If you haven't read Deadshot's pre-52 origin story and consider yourself somewhat interested in him, you should do yourself a favor and go read it. Now, writer Matt Kindt was tasked with creating a new tale for Floyd Lawyton, and immediately we're hit with some big changes. Deadshot has a sister instead of a brother -- a brother who played a significant role in his story? He's poor instead of rich? IMMEDIATELY DON'T LIKE THIS BECAUSE CHANGE IS BAD. Without a brother and what happens with him, we're basically being treated to a whole new direction and, let's face it, matching up to the old one is no easy feat (purposely vague here because there's no need to ruin the classic story). But, the book said, "Shut up, you narrow-minded fool, and keep reading!" So, the issue was read, and surprisingly enough, it was fantastic. Yes, it's a massive change and it brings into question if he still has the same relationship with Batman (if so, that needs elaboration), but dammit, it was shockingly emotional and unexpectedly dark towards the end. Despite large alterations, it still does a more than thorough job turning Floyd into the man we've come to know and that's an impressive accomplishment. Bravo, Kindt.

Rant: Nightwing brought Zsasz all the way from Chicago?

FOREVER EVIL #1 was certainly good, but what was going on with Nightwing and Zsasz? Grayson seriously brought Zsasz all the way to Gotham just to personally drop him off at Arkham Asylum? Are authorities in the Windy City so ineffective that they couldn't be trusted with transporting this guy or even holding them on their own? If so, how's Nightwing solving problems with bad guys in Chicago if they can't be locally incarcerated? Chicago to Gotham seems like quite a trip just for Zsasz. Yeah, he's dangerous compared to regular humans, but compared to other villains? There's no strong reason why he'd deserve this special treatment. We know Nightwing needed to be in the city for this issue, but the reasoning just doesn't seem practical to me.

Bonus Rave: Glorious GREEN ARROW

Month after month, Andrea Sorrentino and Marcelo Maiolo turn the pages of GREEN ARROW into a masterpiece. Instead of rambling on and on about why their work is so stunning, here's two pages from their latest issue with writer Jeff Lemire. Enjoy.

This article of course represents the opinions of Gregg Katzman and not the entire staff.

Ah so this was the mysterious article to return. Cool, I'm down.

Surprised that Forever Evil is looking so good, I might be pulled off the fence at this point.

The Shocker thing is just...wow. I don't understand that. I mean do people think he's just Electro's brother or somethin'? Seriously I don't get why he of all characters is just being messed up right now.

I agree with you on almost all of those. The rest I haven't yet encountered.

Shocker used electricity? Ugh can writers not get things right about the characters they write?

Great feature, I'd love to see this regularly.

Looking forward to Forever Evil, wish we knew what state Gotham was in but dang Nightwing that's a long way to travel? and Green Arrow looks awesome. I'm glad that book is doing much better.

Yeah these are all good...or bad...depending on which they are....

You should add a bonus honorable mention rave to DC's 3d covers. I was really looking to hate those things and they turned out alright.

I think you hit some of them spot on. I would love to read more of these!

Bonus rant please,another thing regarding Night wing,after I heard about it,I'm upset,very upset, how's that not here?In place of the other rant you have for him? Just a question.

Awesome new segment Gregg!

Gotham is in New Jersey or at least last I knew it was. Not sure if that was changed in the New 52. But yeah, he clearly took a vehicle to Gotham and then swung Zsasz to Arkham. Still, seems like a long way just for Zsasz!

why do so many people have a problem with Trinity War being a prequel type story, if it was good its good.

Poor Shocker

Glad to see this segment back up!

I love the Shocker, he has the personality and motivation of a flash villain but unlike them he has a cool costume and cool power. I could understand someone who has never read a comic before thinking Shocker had electricity powers but Lee or an editor at Marvel should know.

nobody seeing the 'dark reign' off and the most cliche way of the bad guys coming to power? okay.

maybe the shocker upgraded his tech ...a taser in his gauntlet?

No, it was literally just him with electric weaponry from what I've heard. No hint of his vibration tech.

@sasquatch888: stop covering for the writer. He was lazy and so were the editors.

As to Forever Evil it looks a thousand times better than Dark Reign. Now if only Marvel can treat their villains with that level of respect instead of shoving Heroes vs Heroes events down our throat.

I like this feature, hope to see more of it in the future.

I've always liked Shocker, so when I found out about this it did annoy me.

Cool article!

the triumphant return

Hope this feature stays around by the way. Maybe let the other staff members get in their opinions as well to spice things up.

Agreed. Although I like Greg's opinions too.

i like these too

that was a fun article. also, Nightwing would totally drop Zsasz carrying him like that.

i'm a desperate Shocker fan, i'll take what i can get. I gave up hoping for a better writing for this guy a long time ago

Well I meant K4tz opinion along with the other staff members. Like all of them bringing in a few rants and raves for every article. That said it's still good as it is.

I liked this article. Hopefully will stick around. As for the Nightwing thing, yeah I found that a bit odd too.

Well that's exactly how I would have reacted, too, if you had taken my teddy away and...

Nice new feature article.

@decoyelite: I know what you meant. I said I agree with what you said. I like Greg's opinion, I would simply like to hear from other staff if this kind of article becomes a mainstay.

Ah, alright.

Nice article. Man, I wish they would have had Green Arrow at my LCS yesterday. They only had the 3D cover and they hiked the price up to $6 which I wasn't willing to spend and the regular cover didn't get shipped to them. I haven't read any of the books out this week yet. I was catching up on some previous ones. Really excited about Forever Evil and to see what's going on with Infinity this week.

I like this.

My favorite part about the Count Vertigo book was it was still done by the same creative team. It both served as the next chapter to Green Arrow and as a stand alone story.

Felt more stand alone to me, but then again I wasn't reading Green Arrow beforehand.

HMMMM Green Arrow art!!

Awesome article Katzman!!!

You guys should do BEST PANELS of the week!!!

Since IFanboy scaled back, you guys should do it!! I loved it when they did it.

So glad this article is back :)

RANT: Batwoman.

@decoyelite: The last two or three issues have dealt with Count Vertigo.

As the main character? Huh, I'll have to get those ones because I like him as a villain.

Whoa. Had no idea so many people missed this one.

Yeah, I agree with the rant concerning Trinity War. I don't like it when its clear the event becomes nothing more than a springboard to an upcoming miniseries or something or other. Whatever happened to self-contained events? Ah well, my ranting is done.

I haven't been reading Nightwing but where exactly does it say that he caught Zsasz in Chicago? I took it as Dick was on his way back to Chi-town after Batman And Nightwing, caught Zsasz doing something nefarious, and then headed to Arkham to drop him off for old time's sale. It's still hard to swallow that he's even in Gotham but there's no indication that I know of that Zsasz was in Chicago. Otherwise a pretty cool article. Some stuff is worth raving about.

Totally agree on the Nightwing Rant. I've always loved Nightwing ... ok I loved pre-new 52 Nightwing, the current one is eh ... but this was just silly. Have they moved where Gotham City is in the New 52, because if not then this is just plain dumb. Not to mention impossible. They haven't given Dick super powers right? He's not a teleporter ... since he no longer really know Cyborg he hasn't been given Boom Tube Tech. So how does he go from Illnios to South New Jersey (unless it's moved again) carrying a Villain (who at one point was dangerous, but obviously now not so much).

Long Live the Crime Syndicate!

The Nightwing thing doesn't bother me that much. Zsasz has shown himself to be enough of a threat to "ordinary" police officers, and the Chicago PD may not be experience like police departments in other cities to deal with such an individual.

I could see Nightwing taking him out and then riding on top of a truck or something heading to Gotham. It's about a 12 hour drive so it doesn't seem that far fetched to me.

It's from Forever Evil, not Nightwing. At any rate, the scan I provided in the article has all of the context you'd need. (Nightwing was "tracked coming in" as in into the city. States he's only there to drop off Zsasz. Nightwing is asked "what was he <Zsasz> doing there?" Seems more than logical to assume there is Chicago and not the city they're in).

Green Arrow: month after month is awesome. More people need to read it. Also, loved this column, you need to keep posting it Gregg!

@k4tzm4n: Oh I know the panel is from Forever Evil, I did read it. I just thought Zsasz might have been appearing in Nightwing which is making people think he caught him in Chicago. I went back to read the issue and I have to admit now that the phrasing for being "tracked coming in" by Barbara was a really bizarre choice of words. I haven't been reading Batgirl either so I don't know if her Bat network is city-wide like Bruce's or just the same as Bruce's. Barbara does ask why Zsasz was even there so I guess this matter is cleared up on my end. Sorry for the confusion.

@mezmero: Not a problem at all, man.

To all the compliments: I'm too lazy to quote individually at the moment, but thanks for all of the positive feedback.