In an alternative reality, 500 years after the events in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Jean Luc Picard is still Locutus and a member of the Borg. Along with the Queen, he and his Hive have conquered all of the universe and now he ponders what the point of it all was.

Star Trek The Next Generation: The Hive
by Travis Fickett and Joe Corroney
Diamond
March 2013

In the future, Locutus determines that the plan to assimilate was a faulty one as it leads to the untenable end of not having the ability to continue. Once everything is assimilated, what next? Determining that he must stop the Queen he sets his sight on stopping her 500 years earlier – just before her destruction of Starfleet and his assimilation.

What follows amounts to a short what-if? story where Locutus – and a recreated Data, of course – stand up to the Queen and try to get back in time through a convenient temporal displacement chamber to save 500 year prior Jean Luc (and Starfleet) and thus stop the Borg once and for all (this story, anyway). If it sounds like its been done it’s because it has. There are so many Star Trek Borg stories now that it’s simply hard to come up with something new. While I enjoy the canonical TNG, writing a new story in that continuity ultimately leads to a lack of satisfaction as we know that everything will turn out OK. It always does and we know the end of the story. Where is the tension when we already know Starfleet and Jean Luc win?

The artist does an exemplary job of recreating several characters in a non-wooden, believable way. Jean Luc, Data, Seven of Nine, et al. look great. The settings are right for TNG, if a little boring, but that’s the show’s fault more than the artist. Overall, the art is very well done.

In the end, this is an interesting, if trivial, side story for fans of the Next Generation but for science fiction fans looking for a good story this one will disappoint.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

DC’s New 52 reboots have been very hit and miss (look at the great Batman and mediocre Teen Titans and the absolutely terrible Batwoman for examples). But this title benefits from the reboot more than most giving new readers (like me) an easy starting point and (importantly) a character that meshes well with the movie version from the Dark Knight Rises.

Catwoman
Vol. 1: The Game
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Guillem March
DC Comics
May 2012

Selena is very much the same kind of character: a cat burglar who wears a tight black leather suit that is easily entranced by all that glitters and collects expensive prizes. We also get the mostly hinted at relationship with Batman. What changed though is how she is handled. This is a gritty, action packed, violent series now with intense, tearing-their-clothes-(but-not-masks)-off sex scenes. The writer takes Catwoman down a very cinematic road and it works.

This collection includes issues 1-6 and covers an introduction to the character, a very graphic introduction to her sexual relationship with Batman, and a story arch about how Catwoman stole from the wrong mobsters. (Or so they think.) How Catwoman gets out of the situation (no spoiler here, right? Or did you expect her to die in the first 6 issues?) holds your attention, but the real story is in how she interacts with those around her. I’d like to see more of how her personality impacts her and more on consequences of her addictions (instead of the last second salvation offered in so many storylines.)

The one problem I have with this book is the rating (an issue that I have with several DC rated books). It just shouldn’t be rated Teen+ and the ratings should be much clearer for parents. This is not to say that I think the sexual or violent elements should not be in the books. Not at all! I believe that the violence (blood, death, murders) and sex scenes between Batman and Catwoman (doesn’t show nudity, but near nudity plus bra) actually fit well with the story. These can be appropriate tools in storytelling, but the content in this book would be rated closer to R if it were in the theater and should be rated clearer for parents. DC does rate this T+ instead of simply T, which they say means, “Appropriate for readers age 16 and older. May contain moderate violence, mild profanity, graphic imagery and/or suggestive themes.” While I think it is closer to M for Mature, “Appropriate for readers age 18 and older. May contain intense violence, extensive profanity, nudity, sexual themes and other content suitable only for older readers” because there are clear sexual themes and scenes, the problem remains that it is difficult to know what to expect in a book with the hodge-podge ratings systems that each publisher makes up and determines on their own.

Overall, the story is gritty and interesting. The art is fabulous with expressive characters (and an especially well drawn Selena, who has a ton of facial expressions). This is one of my favorites from the DC relaunch.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

The war is over. Or is it? For some it won’t ever be over. One of these is the rabbit Hardin who steals secret information and sets in motion events that could change everything.

Iron: Or, The War After
by Shane-Michael Vidaurri
Archaia
December 2012

Hardin takes the stolen intel to a group of confederates with a plan to destroy a key transportation hub. But when the Regime comes looking for Hardin a stray bullet changes everything leaving the Resistance in disarray. It’s difficult to tell too much more of the story without spoilers, but it is not too much to say that the bullet and what comes next will reverberate from the youngest to the most powerful in both the Regime and the Resistance.

The story is interesting however the reader is thrust into the action without enough background to fully understand the story and I found myself floundering trying to figure out who was who and even who was the good guy. By default I tend to consider resistance fighters as the oppressed morally right side, but here, without details about the war that already happened, it’s very difficult to come to that conclusion. Sure there are some in the Regime that are clearly evil. But is Harden’s act even remotely less evil?

The art is stylish and moody for the subject matter, but the characters are wooden and mostly inexpresive. I was disappointed not because the art is bad, but because it’s so dispassionate that I couldn’t muster up enough emotion to care about any of the characters or really how things turned out. That constitutes failure in my book.

As a fan on Archaia, a publisher that is known for high quality graphic novels, I come into each new book with fairly high expectations. In the case of this book, my expectations may have proven too high. This is a bland and often confusion story with artwork that fails to inspire.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

This is not your T-E-E-N T-I-T-A-N-S, Teen Titans. In fact, it isn’t even the Teen Titans from pre- New 52. Of the New 52 books, this is one of the most changed. And it’s not all for the good.

Teen Titans
Vol. 1: It’s Our Right to Fight
written by Scott Lobdel
art by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund
DC Comics
September 2012

This iteration of the Titans is lead by Tim Drake, Batman’s former sidekick, as Red Robin. Starting with issue 1 we find Red Robin immediately and without explanation fighting against an international organization called Project N.O.W.H.E.R.E. that seems to be seeking out super-powered young people to capture and turn to their side or to kill them.

Red Robin is joined by Wonder Girl, a thief with powers derived from stolen artifacts, Kid Flash, a young Flash with an unclear history, and a couple others as the story goes on (and who I don’t want to spoil the story arch) working towards finding other super-powered teens and saving them from N.O.W.H.E.R.E.. And one major obstacle stands in their way: Superboy.

For fans of the Teen Titans going all the way back to the late 1980s, like myself, I find the switch to new characters tough to swallow. I’m especially troubled by where some of the characters went (see Starfire in Red Hood and the Outlaws, for instance). Cyborg as a member of Justice League is a good fit, but the move leaves very little to work with here. But as jarring as the switch is, Lobdel does a serviceable job bring a compelling story even though not historically an actual Teen Titans story.

The artwork is on par with the other New 52 titles, which means frankly that it looks like all the others. In fact, I am hard pressed to see a big difference between most of the artists at DC who all seem to have graduated from the Jim Lee school of art – top heavy, gravity defying women and strong fisted, glaring men on huge full panel or two page spreads – although there are less random lines. It’s well done and colored well, but it doesn’t stand out.

Teen Titans volume 1 is just another book in DCs 52 that doesn’t do much to stand out.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

Aquaman is one of those superheroes that I’ve never understood. How has he hung around for so long with almost nothing going for him? Isn’t he just a water based version of Superman, just not as cool? He used to be. But this relaunch has done something I never considered possible: made Aquaman interesting.

Aquaman
Vol. 1: The Trench
written by Geoff Johns
art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado
DC Comics
September 2012

In this volume collecting the first issues of the New 52 Aquaman, we find our hero dealing with a population that doesn’t understand our even want him. Unlike similar situations, like Spiderman, for instance, Aquaman doesn’t hide behind a mask. He also had a girlfriend and openly lives in the community. While he works through his desire to go back to the sea and his feelings of responsibility towards the humans in his community a new species arises – literally – from the deep. These new creatures have one need: to feed.

Watching Aquaman work through his issues lens a complexity to him that I just didn’t think he had. He wasn’t interesting as the boy scout in orange. He wasn’t kinda evil like Marvel’s Namor. But with this relaunch he becomes so much more interesting. I credit acclaimed writer Geoff Johns. Midway through issue one of completely lost track of my surprise and was fully absorbed by the story.

The art looks great as well. Reis and Prado put together sharp, precise work that excels at showing action and emotion. Top notch. Check out the sample page. Everything works together very well.

This is one of the better launch titles and one of the biggest surprises. Give Aquaman a shot.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

Going through the histories, Dejah Thoris realizes that she doesn’t have enough information to teach her son about an ancient battle that took place at what we call the Face on Mars. So she decides to take an archaeological field trip to find out more information. Along the way she almost gets eaten by huge four armed White Apes.

Dejah Thoris and the White Apes of Mars
Mark Rahner and Lui Antonio
Dynamite Entertainment
December 2012

The setup is so lame that you have to wonder why those at Dynamite Entertainment didn’t simply put together a pinup / porn magazine and quit pretending that they are writing a graphic “novel”. Story? Nope. So what happened? The ship has to land. Everyone gets out. Who is everyone? The princess, a bunch of rich, naked girls and serving girls and some soldiers (who, of course, wear more clothing than the women.) They happened to land right next to an abandoned complex (in the middle of nowhere). When they get inside, it takes just a few minutes to set up some chairs and make some beverages for the Princess so that they can be served when the attack happens.

The huge White Apes attack and start eating the soldiers while the women run away (showing off their pink naked butts or ridiculously huge pink bosoms, with only a little gold nipple sized covering.) Naked girls run away, jiggling. Apes catch and eat them. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

The ending, which is supposed to lead us to some deeper conspiracy merely comes off as paying the pizza man at the end of the proverbial porno: an empty attempt to say this was a story all along. Total crap.

The kicker to this horrendously told “story” is that the art is also terrible. About as amateurish as you’d expect out of a teenager. The women shouldn’t even be able to stand up they are so top heavy. The people all look alike. The coloring is terrible as the people come out pinkish in most scenes.

Overall this is a terrible graphic novel and is exactly what is wrong with the comic book industry as a whole. Good stories with good art sell and they don’t make buyers feel ripped off and they don’t get Congressmen up in arms. (Or Edgar Rice Burroughs rolling over in his grave.)

For much, much better graphic novels try some of the DC Comics New 52 trade paperbacks or almost anything from Archaia.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

When Bob Kane and Sheldon Madoff created Bat-Woman back in 1956, I doubt that they would have expected DC, almost exactly 50 years later, to take a character specifically created to be a love interest for Batman – to fight charges of a homosexual relationship between Batman and Robin, no less! – and turn her into the very thing she was created to disprove. Now she is not only not the love interest of Batman, but a skin tight, glossy leather wearing bright red lipstick lesbian. Welcome to the new diversity of the DC universe.

Batwoman Vol. 1: Hydrology
Collecting: Batwoman #1-5
Writers: J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman
Artist: J.H. Williams III
DC Comics
June 2012

I admit that I’ve been out of the DC Comics loop for some time, reading only a select few graphic novels from that publisher, so I was unprepared for the sexual orientation of Batwoman. And though I did realize the sexuality inherent in the pulp comic book market – I was a teenager who wanted to buy Marvel Illustrated Swimsuit Edition back in the day – but I didn’t recognize the extent to which graphic sexuality had insinuated itself into the mainstream. Let me be clear here: there are parts of Batwoman that should be considered porn and should have a ban on under 18 purchasers.

Issue 4 for instance has several two paged splash panels where a lone character is fighting for her life all the while inserts show Batwoman, as Kate Kane, undressed to her bra on a bed with another female who then goes down on Batwoman, until she graphically achieves orgasm. (All the while the poor other character in the fight is beaten nearly to death.) Ironically, this issue embodies exactly the concern that Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent – a book and movement that nearly brought down American comics for good, and that is credited with the creation of this character in an effort to disprove such allegations – warned of.

This brings me to another point: the comics code authority was used to voluntarily clean up comic books (read: censor them, something I am against), but that so-called authority is no longer in place. Instead a rating system similar to TV’s is now used that aims to give retailers, parents and purchasers an idea of what to expect. This issue received a “Teen+” rating, which is a joke. If DC wants to have a lesbian character and even if they want to produce a comic with graphic sexuality, including sex acts, they have a legal right to do so, but it shouldn’t be under the banner of a Teen+ book and it shouldn’t be marketed through mainstream DC characters off the shelf next to Superman and Batman giving the false impression that this book is like those.

Diversity is great. Make new characters that show the racial mix that modern America exhibits. Give us characters that embody heroism while fighting disabilities (like the one DC took away from Barbara Gordan’s Batgirl). But forcing diversity to include actions that people take, like homosexuality, opens the door to other activities that likewise should not be glamorized in graphic novels or comics, like for instance bestiality (Beast Boy would be a natural candidate here). Just because a segment of the population exists doesn’t mean that the segment should have a character that popularizes their pastimes.

The worst part? All this overt sexuality and appealing to so-called diversity is distracting for a title that is superbly drawn by J.H. Williams III with a creepy, deep storyline from Williams and W. Haden Blackman that crosses over several other titles and characters, including Batman and the Teen Titans. That DC felt the need to muddy the waters of a great story with these sad side shows mystifies.

There is no way that I would recommend this trade paperback or the ongoing comic series. It is a cheap attempt to sell comics to hormonal male readers by showcasing nudity, overt sexuality and borderline porn. Shame on DC for publishing this as a Teen+ title.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he cartoons and writes on Christianity, Zombies, and anything else he wants to.

The launch title for DC Comic’s New 52, Justice League is set before (time-wise) the other relaunches, bringing together Batman, the Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Unlike Marvel’s popular Avengers movie team, this one isn’t as captivating.

Justice League Vol. 1
Collects: JUSTICE LEAGUE #1-6
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artists: Jim Lee and Scott Williams
DC Comics
May 2012

We meet our heroes one at a time as they meet each other in this origins storyline. The question that plagues many of the relaunched New 52 blares loudly here as well: why?

How many times do we need to see Batman and Green Lantern annoy each other for the first time? How about a slightly oblivious Superman or an unfriendly Aquaman joining up only out of need? We’ve seen this before so many times and this version doesn’t do much to set it apart.

That said, fans of the title and the characters will enjoy the retelling. Johns does an adequate job of driving the action, while Lee and Williams (or Leewiams, as it were since these two have been joined at the hip for decades now) does a good job providing clean, slightly stiff and overly crosshatched artwork as their fans would expect. (In case you’re wondering, I am a fan. But let’s be honest, the stylization is a bit stiff sometimes and it shows here. Every page looks like a splash page.)

Fans of the series will enjoy this title, but for those of us who enjoy excellent graphic novels there are other, better titles that delve into uncharted areas of the DC universe, like Batman’s and Aquaman’s individual titles. Or, even better, go check out some stand alone graphic novels like the excellent Batman Death by Design.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he cartoons and writes on Christianity, Zombies, and anything else he wants to.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

When DC decided to scrap its eighty-plus years of sequential numbering (and quite a bit of their storyline continuity) many people rejoiced at the so-called do-over. Not so much me. But then I started reading some of these “new” comics and was captivated, even against my better judgment. One of the better relaunches is Batman.

Batman Vol. 1: the Court of Owls
Collects: Batman #1-7
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artists: Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion
DC Comics
May 2012

Batman re-imagining has been done so well (like Frank Miller’s Year One) and so poorly (like Frank Miller’s incomplete All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder) that a little continuity clean up is definitely in order. While it is early in this series, the first 7 issues collected in this volume show definite promise.
There is a new enemy in Gotham. One that Batman isn’t even sure exists, but one that threatens the hold he has on the city and causes doubt about exactly who Gotham belongs to. The “Court of Owls” is an old story used to spook children into behaving, but until now there hasn’t been any reason to take the stories seriously. But it is real, and Batman is caught up in a new rivalry that adds depth to the relationship between Gotham and Batman.

[SPOILER]: Another launch title, All-Star Western, featuring Jonah Hex also features a sinister secret society in Gotham City during the late 1800s. Several of the visuals include Owls. I bring this up to show that DC is doing a fantastic job of tying some of the launch titles together to build this new continuity. [END SPOILER]

Capullo and Glapoin’s art is as squarish and gritty and their fans won’t be disappointed. Snyder’s story is tight, taunt and pulls the reader in.

Of the launch titles, this is clearly one of the better ones. It features higher quality artwork, deeper and more foundational writing and is a must read for those looking to jump into a DC New 52 Title. Highly recommended.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he cartoons and writes on Christianity, Zombies, and anything else he wants to.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

James Bond was never this sexy, but he was always proportionally able to stand up without falling over, which is something that J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell’s Danger Girl should physically never have been able to do.

Danger Girl: Revolver #1
written by Andy Hartnell
art by Chris Madden
IDW
January 2012

The team is once again called together to solve a … whatever. Really. Whatever. There is no story so why try explaining it?

While some may call this camp, I would replace the letter “m” there with an “r” and move it up one. Comic books have been striving for respectability for almost a hundred years in the United States and books like this one, which panders to nothing more than teen (and apparently all-aged adult) wet dreams, does nothing for the cause. I’m not against sexy women (not in the least!) but I am for content and at the very least pretense for the sexiness.

Revolver has very little going for it. It has juvenile art, a rehashed storyline, and zero sophistication. As far as the spy genre and comparisons to James Bond consider that the Bond franchise has been resurrected due to the realism and grittiness of the current movies. (And the females are just as sexy as ever.)

There are so many comics that are much better than this one available. And at $3.99 an issue, this is a waste of your money. Go with DC’s New 52, Dark Horse’s graphic novels (like the excellent Eerie Presents: Hunter), or even IDW, which offers several better options.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he cartoons and writes on Christianity, Zombies, and anything else he wants to.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.