Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "new-52"

Superman Unchained by Scott Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There are several elements to Superman: Unchained, but the two big ones are that it's an epic action adventure story and it's a story about the character of Superman.

Superman always has to be a bit restrained in how he fights evil. He could kill most of his opponents easily. As the title implies, Superman gets to cut loose in this book as he battles a genetically engineered opponent who is every bit his equal along with other world threatening menaces. If you want to see what Superman can do when he doesn't have to worry about hurting his opponent, this book shows you. At the same time, it's not a stupid action story. There's a solid plot filled with surprises and nuances.

The book is also a look at Superman, the character. In many ways, it's almost a counterpoint to the classic "All-Star Superman" book. While that book imagines Superman as a demigod or a replacement for gods with a mythic epic feel, this book paints Superman as a bit more human and humble. This book does focus on the New 52 and How much of his characterization still holds up in light of the recent changes to the DC Universe is a fair question. Still, this is a very fun and enjoyable Superman story that comes to a fairly satisfying conclusion.



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Batgirl, Volume 1: The Batgirl of Burnside by Cameron Stewart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 35-40 of the New 52 version of Batgirl and represented a radical change in direction for the character after Gale Simone's run on Batgirl.

The book finds Batgirl settling into college life at Burnside, a sort of Silicon Valley area filled with high tech jobs. I like the underlying idea of Gotham City not being this strange monolithic zone, but having various suburbs and surrounding communities with their own distinct personality.

The story finds Batgirl becoming a celebrity driven by others claiming to be the Batgirl of Burnside. Eventually, she figures the only way to have any control over this social media driven insanity is to actually take her own part. This puts her on the outs with Black Canary.

The book raises a lot of issues including the nature of celebrity and reality TV culture in the real world as well as the undercurrent of narcissism present in so much of it. At the same time, it also wonders in-world whether superheroes are good and what you can gather from the book is that there's a narrow line that can easily be crossed (and Babs does it in this book.)

The book is not without problems. It has a few moments where you wonder if this is really a superhero book with all of its focus on social media and online dating profiles. Babs has some out of character moments. The big one that stands out is when she gets totally wasted at a party and actually puts a lot at risk.

Perhaps, the out of character stuff can be explained by Barbara's justification for her decision to enjoy the glow of social popularity: She's had so much hardship that she's owed it. In some ways, It's understandable. It's comparable to the lightening of Daredevil under Mark Waid. There are differences, mainly that Babs' change seems to have negative consequences and we end the book not entirely sure who she's going to be at the end of it. In addition, the confrontation of her darker time is more sudden. While I'm not entirely sure, I like Cameron's approach to Barbara I do have to respect it.



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Batman, Volume 1: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects issues 1-7 of the New 52 Batman series. Batman has heard of the Court of Owls but views them as mere bedtime stories and his attempts to investigate them have always borne that out., But when as Bruce Wayne, he decides to make radical changes to Gotham City, Batman learns they're a deadly reality.

Overall, this book builds a great sense of mystery and danger around the Court of Owls Batman is broken down a bit. At the beginning of the book, he's arrogant about how much he knows about Gotham and how because of that, the Owls couldn't possibly exist. The biggest challenge the book has in many ways is getting us to believe something as big and dangerous as the Court exists with Batman never having discovered it and it pulls that off nicely.

The book also sees the introduction of a nice supporting character in Lincoln, a Gotham Mayoral candidate. The art is good, occasionally going surreal or over the top in the scenes where the court has Batman. Overall, this is a great beginning for one of the most praised series in the New 52.



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