Friday, February 20, 2009

This Week's Haul: These Birds Have Flown

Just a quick one this week. Focusing on getting new site up. Talking like Rorschach.

Hey, here's something neat! My old post on Batman: Year Two has been translated into Spanish for a Peruvian comics blog! Check it out. Thanks to blog author Giancarlo Roman for doing that! I have no idea what it says! I am especially happy about it because that has always been one of my favourite posts.

Robin #183/ Birds of Prey #127

This was the last issue of Robin, one of several DC titles to come to an end this month. It's bittersweet to be losing all these titles because, while I enjoy them and have been reading them for a long time, it's been awhile since an issue has done anything for me. Which is probably why they are being canceled. Of Nightwing, Robin and Birds of Prey, Robin was the strongest title, I think, at least at the time of cancellation. Tim Drake is a great character, and can almost carry his own title. Almost. I actually would have liked to see a Robins title (um, maybe not called that) featuring Dick, Tim and Jason, especially now that Batman is out of the picture for awhile. Why battle for the cowl when you could have three perfectly capable guys (well, two) holding down the fort?

Anyway, as I was saying, this was the last issue of Robin. And, unlike the final issues of Nightwing and Birds of Prey, this was actually a pretty good ending. As far as I'm concerned, Will Pfeifer set the bar pretty high for ending a Gotham-based comic with Catwoman #82. That was a great comic. Robin wasn't that good, but it tied up some things, opened up new possibilities, and kept the soul-searching and personal reflection on a career in crimefighting to a reasonable level. There was a running interior monologue throughout the issue, but it wasn't way over the top like, say, last week's issue of Nightwing.

Birds of Prey, on the other hand, went out with a whimper. Man, I like Tony Bedard, but this really felt like the comic had been punched in the gut and was trying desperately to crawl out of the room unnoticed. A completely unmemorable ending to a fairly significant, and at one time beloved, comic series.

Next week: the final issue of Blue Beetle (sob!). Of all the titles getting canned this month, I am the most disappointed about this one. The rest come as a bit of a relief because I can really reduce my pull list. I actually expect to make a lot of cuts over the next few months, but hopefully I'll be able to replace some of them with exciting new series. Like Jeff Parker's highly entertaining Mysterius, which was also out this week (#2), and Jersey Gods, the first issue of which hit stores a couple of weeks ago. It will definitely satisfy your New Gods cravings.

Holy crap guys! The Watchmen movie is, like, soon!

6 comments:

SallyP said...

Yeah, Birds of Prey was a bit of a dud, which was certainly disappointing. I am still crushed about Blue Beetle. He at least is going to be appearing in Teen Titans, but where am I going to be able to see his awesome supporting cast?

MetFanMac said...

Ugh, poor Jaime. I really really really hope that none of the supporting cast gets killed or maimed....

rachelle said...

Yeah, I know that Jaime is in Teen Titans, but I am really not feeling that comic. I think DC needs a new teen superhero team-up comic. Or Teen Titans needs a new line-up. I would like to see a real rag-tag bunch of kids thrown together, like Blue Beetle, Traci Thirteen, Misfit, maybe a couple of the teens from JSA, and a crazy wildcard like Batman's son Damian.

Anonymous said...

"actually would have liked to see a Robins title (um, maybe not called that) featuring Dick, Tim and Jason, especially now that Batman is out of the picture for awhile. Why battle for the cowl when you could have three perfectly capable guys (well, two) holding down the fort?"

Yeah its a pitty Dick is so useless, but maybe now that Jason's alive again he'll be forced to lift his game.

Raius said...

Aw, poor Tim. Well, maybe soon they'll let him grow up enough to take his rightful place on your hunks list.

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