Nightwing #1

Cover by Eddy Barrows, JP Mayer, Rod Reis

Nightwing #1 (September 21, 2011)

Writer: Kyle Higgins

Penciller: Eddy Barrows, JP Mayer

Colorist: Rod Reis

Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual

Even though I am a fully converted Marvel fan, I still hold a special place in my heart for Nightwing.

And by “hold a special place in my heart”, I mean I have a stupid crush on him.

So I was very excited to get a hold of Nightwing #1 because I will read literally anything with Nightwing in the title. After being disappointed by the majority of the New 52 that I have encountered, however, I didn’t have high hopes. While Nightwing #1 was not spectacular, it was a fun time and ended with a thoroughly interesting cliffhanger. I know I’ll read in the next issue.

Red Skull: Incarnate #3

Cover by David Aja

Red Skull: Incarnate #3 (September 5, 2011)

Writer: Greg Pak

Penciller: Mirko Colak

Colorist: Matthew Wilson

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

So far, the Red Skull: Incarnate series has been one of my favorite discoveries and just one of my favorite comic book runs in general. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with Pak’s work in crafting a compelling, disturbing and fresh storyline starring a decidedly awful person. He’s definitely one of my favorite writers and I’m looking forward to reading more of his work.

That being said, I found Red Skull: Incarnate #3 rather lackluster. After loving the first two, I just assumed this issue would be just as strong and gripping. Instead, it seemed more like filler in between the deeply influential events of the last issue and, based on the implications of #3’s ending, the steps towards Red Skull’s emergence.

Daredevil #3

Cover by Paolo Rivera, Joe Rivera, Javier Rodriguez

Daredevil #3 (September 14, 2011)

Writer: Mark Waid

Penciller: Paolo Rivera

Inker: Joe Rivera

Colorist: Javier Rodriguez

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

That’s it. Daredevil is officially my favorite character Marvel character. I kind of love him.

That is rather surprising as Matt Murdock walks a very fine line between being a genuinely good guy and also playing the cad. I guess that’s part of his role as man-about-town lawyer to distract people from realizing he is also, in fact, the vigilante, Daredevil; or at least to get people to stop accusing him of being Daredevil.

After the cliffhanger in the last issue, it can be argued that this issue was rather lackluster. Daredevil’s escape and subsequent fight scene was not altogether exciting and felt rather rushed. Also, the villain was silly.

Catwoman #1

Cover by Guillem March

Catwoman #1 (September 21, 2011)

Writer: Judd Winick

Penciller: Guillem March

Colorist: Tomeu Morey

Letterer: Sal Cipriano

Yikes.

At this point, I’m not even sure what I can say about this comic without A) echoing what others have said before me or B) ranting and ranting until I pull out all my hair in frustration and collapse in a fit of well-placed anger.

Before I got a hold of Catwoman #1, I had already heard negative things about it from co-workers, friends and Laura Hudson’s fabulous article over at Comics Alliance. Even Comic Book Resources, which I have clashed with in the past, gave it a scathing review.

But, I knew that it was unfair of me to simply take the word of other people without reading Catwoman #1 myself. I knew I had to give it a shot and try not to let the opinions of others color my reaction to it. Now, you can probably argue that this was an impossible feat and I walked into Catwoman #1 totally biased. As a feminist and a Catwoman fan, however, I know my reaction to this comic would have been exceedingly similar even if I had read it blindly.

Regardless, it would always be:

Swamp Thing #1

Cover by Yanick Paquette, Nathan Fairbairn

Swamp Thing #1 (September 7, 2011)

Writer: Scott Snyder

Penciller: Yanick Paquette

Colorist: Nathan Fairbairn

Letterer: John J. Hill

For some reason, I have foggy memories of my dad talking about Swamp Thing a lot when I was a very young child. I don’t know why, because he never read the comics and if he saw the 1982 film, it never made an impression of him because he hasn’t mentioned it in recent memory.

I think we used to watch the 1990s television series together. At the very least, I recall seeing the commercials for it on the Sci Fi Channel and being intrigued by it, probably because I had managed, based only on my dad and the commercials, to equate Swamp Thing as a sort of Frankenstein’s monster and therefore felt incredibly sorry for poor Swamp Thing. When I heard this character was going to be included in the DC re-launch, the little part of me that is still a six-year-old Frankenstein and SciFi Channel fan woke up and got excited.