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Post by johncheese on Oct 11, 2018 2:55:33 GMT -5
Quick Fire Thoughts on… All-Star Comics #6The Huntress takes centre stage in this issue, a character I’ve always had fondness for, but DC as a company doesn’t always seem to know what they want to do with. This done in one tale wastes no time in both bringing Huntress into DC2K continuity and establishing what seems to be her status quo going forwards, a great deal of information being conveyed without becoming bogged down in the process. I can genuinely say that the ending caught be by surprise, so much so that I was convinced that it must be a bait and switch, only for it to be confirmed as anything but. Hopefully we will be seeing more of Huntress in the future, as I want to see where these events take her. I’m overly convinced that Stephanie is overly fond to see another Gotham Vigilante in purple and black, those are Batgirl colours! *nod* Thanks Emma! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was a fun little one-and-done. Originally that was how it was designed, to set up a status quo for the character, and then I considered an ongoing and then I left it alone for now. See how people reacted to my take on the Huntress. She'll be appearing in Red Hood and the Outsiders so I had to send it over for approval but it all worked out. It gets straight to the point because it was meant to tell a full story in a rapid way, up the ante for the reader, and I'm glad that came through and you weren't bogged down. I can be a bit wordy now and again (normally) but I also really enjoy being wordy because it's world building and I can take the reader inside my characters heads. It would always be interesting to have her meet Stephanie, since Helena is firmly in Batman's bad books, so that's maybe something that could happen in the future! She's been told to leave Gotham (I was going to relocate her into Bludhaven for a bit) so we'll see how it goes!
Relocate to Bludhaven? That should be interesting
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Post by Gavin McMahon on Oct 11, 2018 9:28:51 GMT -5
It's more of a What if . . .? as I pass the reigns back to Jake and his capable hands.
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Post by Tobias Christopher on Oct 11, 2018 11:29:14 GMT -5
All Star Comics #6: Having only seen the JLU episode with Huntress/Question I kind of expected this story to sort of go the route, which it did... at the start, then took a wild turn towards the end. I kind of like this ending better because it opens up a whole new level of opportunities for the Huntress and her place in the shadows.
Batgirl #10: This one delivered everything a Batgirl/Robin team-up should. The action, the humor, and the flirting between Steph and Tim that makes me love them as a duo. Steph's certainly living up to the mantle, great job.
Girl of Steel #7: Kara getting situated with her Earth family is always nice to see play out. The Family of Steel is nearly all together, so between this title and Action, I have a feeling Kara's going to be one of the biggest stars of DC2K.
Red Hood #3: Jason Todd's always been an interesting character to have in the Bat family and here we see him doing what he does best. At some point we really do need to get the Bat/Super families together to see who DC2K's top family is.
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Post by Gavin McMahon on Oct 11, 2018 12:06:53 GMT -5
All Star Comics #6: Having only seen the JLU episode with Huntress/Question I kind of expected this story to sort of go the route, which it did... at the start, then took a wild turn towards the end. I kind of like this ending better because it opens up a whole new level of opportunities for the Huntress and her place in the shadows. Thanks Tobias! This was Helena's introduction so I wanted it to be hard hitting and position her where she belongs. I'm glad that came across. There was definitely inspiration from JLU and then a divergence, so there's a lot to credit to her original story.
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Post by Gavin McMahon on Oct 15, 2018 16:48:03 GMT -5
Beware these are reviews so obviously there are SPOILERS. Once again, any negatives are just my opinion and are intended to be taken as constructive criticism.
Note: I’d like to point out that this is my first issue of literally all these series so it’s wetting my feet to the interpretations of these characters. If I get anything wrong, I apologise and I’m sure as I read more issues, it’ll all become clarified.
Action Comics #18: I like the family dynamic of this series. As much as it’s based on the mythos of Superman, it’s very clearly about family. One thing I think this series does incredibly well is that it presents a very grounded life for the Kent family outside of capes and tights. It’s very rural and befitting of the Kansan backdrop of Smallville (although, I’m not certain that’s where they are). Jon’s childish fervour is written well and each of the brothers has a distinct personality which comes across. I’m not sure what’s been happening with Jimmy, but I’m interested to find out. I think self-editing is something that might clear up confusion in the prose: Lois can’t feasibly be making coffee whilst she’s typing, she needs her hands for both. She can be doing one of those whilst talking on the phone. Also, it’s Conner Kent not Connor Kent (yes, Karl Kesel spelt it oddly, but it is the spelling).
Sideways back-up: I liked Derek and the urgency of his situation. I had hoped to find out a little more about his powers since DC2K hasn’t had the Dark Metal event. I’m assuming that will be told in time. On that note, I’m still interested to see where you take him in this back-up. One thing I do have to ask though, why did you give him the middle name Apollonia? I understand if you were making his heritage Greek-American but even then, Apollonia is a female name. Either way, good segment.
Batgirl #10 – “Where Gotham Froze Over”: I’m just gonna start with saying that I’m glad it’s Stephanie rather than Barbara. I like both, but Stephanie is my favourite in this role, so the series is off to a great start in my opinion. I think this might be the first work of Emma’s that I’ve read and the first thing I noticed was the prose. There’s a charming quality to it that almost blends with the charming persona that’s being applied to Stephanie. It was a quick reminder that this series was wholly her story, her personality was even part of the prose when observing other characters. Action scenes are fluid and well-written. Bette and Gage’s scenes carried all of the tension I would have expected from them, once I realised what had happened to her. Also, I ship Stephanie and Tim. I’m here for it. I didn’t find any major faults with this story that pulled me out of it. Great job, I’ll be reading from now on.
If there weren’t so many similarities between Stephanie and Helena, I’d say you were the perfect person to bring Huntress to life in her own, solo series.
Girl of Steel #7 – “To Hear a Pin Drop”: Seven issues of her solo and I actually got my first experience with Kara in Action Comics #10, so I was eager to see how she was presented here. The opening was harrowing, like the start of a ghost story, and I think that worked exceptionally well. This issue, set before Action Comics recent release, also serves greatly in terms of family dynamic. Kara’s uncertainty at the world she’s now inhabiting, and the claustrophobia associated with fitting in are clearly presented. I think the series was great at capturing Kara and I’m excited to see where she goes from here. I think it does a good job of focusing the narrative on Kara, even when it spreads to other characters. There are some examples were things were missed in the editing, “brother” is randomly capitalised in the middle of a sentence, and Conner is also spelt with an ‘o’ here as it was in Action Comics.
Red Hood – American Nightmare #3: One thing I think this issue does well is the scene setting. It builds a believable environment, with nice description, for the characters to move through. Much the same as I said in my Batgirl review, I love Red Hood as a character and so this series (and Red Hood and the Outsiders) are both winning for me. I think Red Hood is well-written here, he’s the right side of gritty and the issue never seems to dark and overwhelming. He’s still a vigilante with heroic tendencies, those tendencies are just a bit more noir than other heroes he’s associated with traditionally. Shiva and Red Hood’s tentative alliance also works for me, the narrative never lets you forget how precarious it actually is. I really enjoyed this issue. There was a great handling on the characters and the story. At times I got brought out of the opening scenes in Compton by the speech, since it wasn’t always grammatically correct, but then I realised it was an affectation of the setting so I can’t fault that.
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Post by Tobias Christopher on Oct 15, 2018 17:07:16 GMT -5
Beware these are reviews so obviously there are SPOILERS. Once again, any negatives are just my opinion and are intended to be taken as constructive criticism.
Note: I’d like to point out that this is my first issue of literally all these series so it’s wetting my feet to the interpretations of these characters. If I get anything wrong, I apologise and I’m sure as I read more issues, it’ll all become clarified.
Action Comics #18: I like the family dynamic of this series. As much as it’s based on the mythos of Superman, it’s very clearly about family. One thing I think this series does incredibly well is that it presents a very grounded life for the Kent family outside of capes and tights. It’s very rural and befitting of the Kansan backdrop of Smallville (although, I’m not certain that’s where they are). Jon’s childish fervour is written well and each of the brothers has a distinct personality which comes across. I’m not sure what’s been happening with Jimmy, but I’m interested to find out. I think self-editing is something that might clear up confusion in the prose: Lois can’t feasibly be making coffee whilst she’s typing, she needs her hands for both. She can be doing one of those whilst talking on the phone. Also, it’s Conner Kent not Connor Kent (yes, Karl Kesel spelt it oddly, but it is the spelling).
Sideways back-up: I liked Derek and the urgency of his situation. I had hoped to find out a little more about his powers since DC2K hasn’t had the Dark Metal event. I’m assuming that will be told in time. On that note, I’m still interested to see where you take him in this back-up. One thing I do have to ask though, why did you give him the middle name Apollonia? I understand if you were making his heritage Greek-American but even then, Apollonia is a female name. Either way, good segment.
I always thought it was Connor, but that's mostly because of the character on Angel whose name I've seen spelled more than Conner Kent's. As for Jimmy, the set-up for that begins in the Darkseid villains special, and we'll see what Granny Goodness has in store for him in the arc I'm writing currently. We'll see Sideways' origin soon, it'll be a bit different than the Dark Metal event. The bit with Appolonia was more of a silly moment for me when I just wanted to give him a goofy middle name. Thanks for the review.
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Post by Gavin McMahon on Oct 15, 2018 17:16:07 GMT -5
To be fair, Connor is a more traditional spelling. Sort of. It should actually be Conor since it's the anglicisation of Conchobhar. However, somewhere in translation, Kesel spelt it Conner so that's what we're stuck with now when it comes to the character. It was actually part of a whole debate not long ago on CBR which is why it stuck out to me. Damian's name is often spelt wrong by fans too (as Damien). It's a pet peeve, really, rather than a major issue but it's also an easy fix going forward. That's good, I like Jimmy and he's normally not got much to do so I look forward to seeing those plans come to fruition! Yeah, I imagined there'd be some changes made to Sideways - since he doesn't have the Dark Metal even to spring off - so I look forward to seeing where this series takes him.
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Post by emmawoods on Nov 10, 2018 6:09:12 GMT -5
Batgirl #10: This one delivered everything a Batgirl/Robin team-up should. The action, the humor, and the flirting between Steph and Tim that makes me love them as a duo. Steph's certainly living up to the mantle, great job. Thanking you kindly sir, and I’m certainly glad that you agree that Stephanie is growing into a worthy carrier of the Batgirl mantle. I’m also super happy that you’re enjoying the Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake dynamic as it begins to unfold in the Batgirl Title. Tim was actually bit of a last-minute addition to the end of ‘Issue 8: Last Stop, All Change Please’, but when I saw the opportunity to bring him into Stephanie’s new continuity, I couldn’t resist the chance in taking it. I feel like I’m still finding my voice for both Tim, and for the two of them as a burgeoning duo, so we’ll have to see where things go from here, but I remain optimistic. XD Girl of Steel #7: Kara getting situated with her Earth family is always nice to see play out. The Family of Steel is nearly all together, so between this title and Action, I have a feeling Kara's going to be one of the biggest stars of DC2K. This issue was a lot of fun to write, in particular the scene around the dinner table, so I’m super glad to have such an awesome group of characters for Kara to bounce off going forwards. Watching Kara grow and evolve has been incredibly rewarding on my end, so hopefully it remains to be the case from the perspective of the readers.
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Post by emmawoods on Nov 10, 2018 6:32:05 GMT -5
Batgirl #10 – “Where Gotham Froze Over”: I’m just gonna start with saying that I’m glad it’s Stephanie rather than Barbara. I like both, but Stephanie is my favourite in this role, so the series is off to a great start in my opinion. I think this might be the first work of Emma’s that I’ve read and the first thing I noticed was the prose. There’s a charming quality to it that almost blends with the charming persona that’s being applied to Stephanie. It was a quick reminder that this series was wholly her story, her personality was even part of the prose when observing other characters. Action scenes are fluid and well-written. Bette and Gage’s scenes carried all of the tension I would have expected from them, once I realised what had happened to her. Also, I ship Stephanie and Tim. I’m here for it. I didn’t find any major faults with this story that pulled me out of it. Great job, I’ll be reading from now on.
If there weren’t so many similarities between Stephanie and Helena, I’d say you were the perfect person to bring Huntress to life in her own, solo series.
While I have nothing against Barbara, Stephanie is clearly the better Batgirl. I have spoken, and thus, it is the truth. *nod* Oddly enough, it was sheer coincidence that, when I stumbled (gracefully) across the emerging DC2K, that both Stephanie and Batgirl were both free, with neither one currently being established in continuity. Still feeling somewhat vexed concerning her treatment following New 52, I saw an opportunity to do something about it in at least one corner of the interwebs and, in a spur of the moment decision, I jumped on board!! Now granted, I ended up taking even more liberties with her continuity than I originally planned (and by liberties, I mean I completely rebooted it), I was able to bring Stephanie back to where I feel like she belongs, and hopefully others will enjoy the repercussions as much as I do. That being said, while rebooting her continuity from day one did allow me to remove great swathes of things, I didn’t like concerning her treatment over at DC Official, it did inadvertently remove a great deal of history that I certainly did enjoy, chief among them being her friendship with Cassandra, and her relationship with Tim Drake, a pairing that I adore. As for the former, clearly the opportunity emerged for me to bring Tim Drake to the table in Batgirl, and while I don’t like to force things, I feel like I’m really beginning to find my own voice for them, and we’ll have to see where matters go from here. I make no promises, but I’m finding them entertaining none the less. The scenes between Bette and Gage were also a lot of fun to write (albeit, not as much fun to be in I imagine), so I’m glad to hear that they have resonated with other peeps as well. I’m super glad that you’ve jumped on board, and hopefully you will remain so for the duration. Girl of Steel #7 – “To Hear a Pin Drop”: Seven issues of her solo and I actually got my first experience with Kara in Action Comics #10, so I was eager to see how she was presented here. The opening was harrowing, like the start of a ghost story, and I think that worked exceptionally well. This issue, set before Action Comics recent release, also serves greatly in terms of family dynamic. Kara’s uncertainty at the world she’s now inhabiting, and the claustrophobia associated with fitting in are clearly presented. I think the series was great at capturing Kara and I’m excited to see where she goes from here. I think it does a good job of focusing the narrative on Kara, even when it spreads to other characters. There are some examples were things were missed in the editing, “brother” is randomly capitalised in the middle of a sentence, and Conner is also spelt with an ‘o’ here as it was in Action Comics.
Welcome aboard (at a convenient jumping on point no less), and, much like Batgirl, hopefully I will be able to entice you into remaining so for the duration. After the events of the first arc, and given her new surroundings, Kara needed bit of a breather before matters for her ramp up once again. This issue was designed to provide that (in conjunction with Action Comics), and I wanted her integration into her new family to feel earned. Adapting to new customs is never easy, so I can only imagine that adapting to a new planet would be even harder, so while the ‘anvil’ might be behind her, that isn’t to say that Kara’s journey will be plain sailing from now on. Thanking you kindly for the kind words sir, and hopefully future issues will be equally worthy of them. XD
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