Battling Boy by Paul Pope

Arcopolis is overrun with monsters of all kinds.  Only Haggard West can stand against them.  Too bad Haggard West has just been killed.  Meanwhile, in another galaxy, a 12 year-old boy on the eve of his 13th birthday is being sent out on his Ramble.  His father, a great hero and monster fighter, sends him to Arcopolis to save it.  Battling Boy has his work cut out for him.  And he might not be able to do it alone.

This was a good start to a series.  Several main characters are introduced, including Battling Boy himself, and Haggard West's daughter, Aurora, who was quite surprised to see another superhero show up on her turf.  We get a general idea of the world, but no specifics.  We don't know where the monsters are coming from, and we don't really understand where Battling Boy comes from, or who his people are.  Why do they send their 13 year-olds on life-threatening quests?  Do they all have superpowers?  Do they all get sent out to try and save other planets?

I am confused about Battling Boy's powers.  I hope it will become clearer with time.  His father seems to be a very power being called a Warlord.  He can shoot lighting from his fingers and has a number of other powers as well.  Battling Boy seems to mainly get his power through the 12 t-shirts he's been given.  Each has a different animal totem, and when he puts them on he gets some of that animal's strength.  What I'm not sure about is if Battling Boy has any powers just on his own.  It seems like he should.  But it's not clear.  Perhaps he's supposed to have powers, but doesn't.

Battling Boy gets himself into trouble pretty much as soon as he gets there.  He struggles against the first monster he goes up against, and calls his father for help.  His father, in the middle of fighting his own monster, doesn't have time to talk Battling Boy through the whole thing, and zaps the monster with his lightning powers.  Of course, the people of the city think it was Battling Boy who has lightning power, and he doesn't correct them.

The end of the first book leaves us with Battling Boy admitting that he doesn't have lightning powers, and is going to need Aurora's help.  The monsters of the city are teaming up to kill Battling Boy, and probably Aurora as well.

Art is in a traditional superhero style, with lots of action and fight scenes.  I found that other than the main characters, everyone else kind of looked alike, especially the members of the military.  Perhaps that was intentional?  Or maybe not.

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by K.G. Campbell

Flora is a cynic with a romance writer mother who has no time for her.  But after rescuing a squirrel from death by vacuum cleaner and the squirrel (who Fiona names Ulysses) develops superpowers and a love of poetry, Fiona knows nothing will ever be the same.

What an odd little book!  I kind of loved it.  But what an odd little book!  When I first started reading it I thought it was just weird, but then began to really like it.  I think kids will think it's fun too, superhero squirrel and all, but it's one of those books that adults will connect with on a deeper level, because it's about Life.

Flora's parents are divorced and she lives with her mother, who spends most of her time writing her romance novels on her annoyingly loud typewriter.  Flora tells herself she doesn't care that her parents are divorced or that her mother seems to like her shepherdess lamp more than her.  She's a cynic after all!  Despite her cynic status, Flora loves to read superhero comics, in particular one called The Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto!  After Ulysses is vacuumed up by Flora's neighbor, Mrs. Tickham, and Flora rescues him, she sees he has developed super strength when he lifts up the vacuum cleaner and shakes it for cracker crumbs.  Even though she's a cynic, Flora recognizes Ulysses' potential superheroness.

Ulysses himself has an awakening after being vacuumed.  He understands people, and realizes he can read and write (as well as other things) and after being read a poem by Mrs. Tickham wants to write poems himself.  Mostly, he wants to learn new things, be near Flora, write poems and eat.  He is also curious about this whole superhero business.

Flora's mother is concerned about Flora's devotion to the squirrel and tries to get Flora's father to "take care of him."  Flora meets a strange boy, William Spiver, who is staying with his aunt Mrs. Tickham.  William Spiver wears dark glasses and claims to be blind due to a traumatic experience he doesn't want to talk about.  Despite the fact Flora finds him annoying, she starts to kind of like him.

As Ulysses develops more superpowers, Flora begins to realize that she really does need (and want) people in her life who love and care about her.  When her mother kidnaps Ulysses, all these strange characters are brought together.

The story was primary told through prose, but it was interspersed with comic strip sections that moved the story along, as well as illustrations accompanying the words.  It was an interesting mix that worked well and played into the whole superhero theme.

The story doesn't have a neatly tied up ending, even though some things are made right.  Not everything is though, which seemed a proper ending for this kind of story.

Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction, art by David Aja and Javier Pulido

Clint Barton is Hawkeye, a self-made hero with no superpowers, but with his incredible skills with a bow and arrow, he was once an Avenger.  But not anymore.  Now Clint wants a little downtime from the superhero life.  But of course the superhero life won't leave him alone.

This was the trade paperback which collected issues 1-5.  It was awesome.  The two series I kept hearing people rave about were Saga and Hawkeye, and after waiting on a wait list at the library FOREVER, I finally was able to read Hawkeye.  It was just as good as everyone said it was.

First off, Hawkeye is a totally fascinating superhero in the fact there is nothing super about him.  He has no superpowers whatsoever.  He's an amazing sharp shooter with a bow and arrow.  And he's pretty good at punching people in the face.  But he's also a regular guy, and living the life he does often ends up in the hospital.  In traction.  I kind of loved that.  I mean, Batman supposedly doesn't have superpowers, but does he ever end up in the hospital like a regular person?  Surely not.  Well Hawkeye does.  And when he gets out, he does it all again.  His tag line seems to be, "This looks bad."

Second: Kate Bishop.  Kate Bishop is freaking fantastic and I love her and she is my new favorite.  Kate Bishop was ALSO Hawkeye for a time, with the New Avengers when Clint had retired.  Then he came back.  Now he and Kate are working together and it's excellent.  Don't worry if you don't know all the Avenger/New Avenger backstory stuff.  I did not either, and there was enough to understand what was happening that it makes a great jumping on point, but also won't bore those who are very familiar with the stories.  Kate is incredibly smart, confident and kickass.  She is just as competent with a bow and arrow as Clint is.  She's young, and kind of has a crush on him, but also doesn't put up with any of his crap.  Kate and Clint make a good team.  Also, she always wears purple.  I like that.  I wear a lot of purple too.

The story lines were a little hard to follow for me, as there's a lot of jumping back and forth in time, but once I figured out that's what was happening it wasn't a problem.  Often a story will open with Clint in some unfortunate situation, like falling out a window, and then we jump back and see how he got there.

The art style is gritty.  There is no bright happiness in this world.  Colors are dark and muted, and everyone looks a little rough.  There isn't a whole lot of detail, especially in the backgrounds.  Things are pretty flat and one-dimensional.  It has a 50s vibe to it, and it all works very well.

I will definitely be following this one as it continues.

X-Men: Season One by Dennis Hopeless, art by Jamie McKelvie

Professor Charles Xavier has recruited five extraordinary teen mutants for his "high school" - a place where they will learn to fight together to protect the world from other, dangerous mutants.  Jean Gray has her doubts about Professor Xavier, and his seeming willingness to put she and her friends in harms way.  After all, they're just kids, trying to deal with major self revelations and crushes!

It's another X-Men reboot, but this time, the story is being told by Jean, which is cool.  Professor Xavier is not being portrayed as infallible, and the kids question him and struggle with his ideals, which they don't really share.  It's hard protecting people who hate you!

We have the five original X-Men - Jean, Angel, Beast, Iceman and Cyclops.  We get to see all their angsty teen interactions, which is lots of fun.  Jean at first has a crush on pretty-boy Warren (Angel), and it nothing but annoyed with Scott (Cyclops) who's super intense and does nothing but train.

Hank (Beast) and Bobby (Iceman) are best friends.  I enjoyed seeing how Beast is the smartest and most thoughtful of them all.  He's a science genius and an inventor and becomes incredibly frustrated that it's only his fighting skills that are looked for, not his intellect.  He actually leaves the X-Men for a time, much to Bobby's distress, and it's Jean who's able to bring him back.

By the end of this first volume, the X-Men are beginning to act more like a team, and they've also all emerged alive from their first serious encounter with Magneto.  They also have to struggle with the fact and Professor Xavier and Magneto are friends.  Who, like, play chess together sometimes.  That's a very difficult thing for the teenagers to accept.  Isn't Magneto evil?  Aren't they trying to defeat him?

I thought this was a great start to the series.  I love that we're seeing everything through Jean, and I really like the fact that the X-Men act like the teenagers they are, with all the usual teen problems on top of the fact that they're trying to save the world, and are clearly not ready for it.  It will be fun to see them learn to control their powers.  Especially Jean, who's already starting to see she's far more powerful than she though.

Wonder Woman: Blood by Brian Azzarello, art by Clif Chiang and Tony Akins

Zeus has disappeared.  The Greek gods are fighting amongst themselves for control of Olympus.  Hera is after a woman who is supposedly pregnant with Zeus' child, and Wonder Woman has learned the shocking truth about her own birth, that throws her right in the middle of the warring gods.

It's time for a new origin story!  Again!  As far as I can tell, this is a completely new origin story, correct me if I'm wrong.  Originally, Diana had been created by her mother, Hippolyta, out of clay, and then is given life.  During a revamp, she was given even more power by being blessed by various gods.  Now her origin is completely different, and it's is the basis of the story.  That was kind of cool.  They didn't just change it and leave it at that, the entire story is about Diana's "true" origin.

Gotham City Sirens: Strange Fruit by Peter Calloway, Tony Bedard and Andres Guinaldo

A couple of story lines that tell of the new female team of Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy.

I like the fact that this is a very female-oriented and yet not overly sexual. You get to see three strong women who really support and care for each other really kicking ass of those who would try and hold them back. I would like to see more of that done.

Here's what I didn't like: all of the stories pivoted around their romantic relationships with men. The impetus for all the action had to do with either past love or using a woman's emotions against her. Sad. These are three strong famous super villains, they have fantastically complex back stories, and yet they can't seem to step out of the men's shadows. Why? Why can't they go off to take down someone or steal from the mob because they just want to? Does it have to be because Batman's past relationship with Catwoman makes her weak? I just wish it could've allowed for stronger female protagonists. Perhaps in the upcoming comics?

I'll read the next one, give it a chance, but I can't seem to be optimistic that it'll change all that much.

Takio by Brian Bendis and Michael Oeming

Taki cannot stand her annoying little sister Olivia, who follows her and her friend Kelly around everywhere.  One night, Taki and Olivia go to visit Kelly, and end up in the middle of an explosion caused by Kelly's scientist father.  Now Taki and Olivia have unusual powers, and Kelly's father is after them!  Will the girls fight back and use their powers for good?

Such fun!  I'm really looking forward to seeing where this series goes.  There's lots of mysterious stuff going on beside the main plot.  Taki is adopted, and her mother is incredibly overprotective of Olivia, blaming Taki for anything bad that might happen to her, down to a skinned knee.  Olivia says it's because of their dad.  Where is their dad?  What happened to him?  There are no clues so far.

Kelly's mother has also recently left, seemingly right after her father loses his job again.  It's not clear exactly what Kelly's father was working on before it exploded, or the full reason Kelly's mom left when she did.

Olivia is adorable.  I loved that she was totally in character as the second grader she is.  She's all, "We have superpowers?  Cool!  Let's make costumes!  Can we fight bad guys?"  Taki, on the other hand, is torn up about what to do.  Should she tell their mother?  Do they need to go to a doctor?  As annoying as she finds Olivia, she's pretty protective of her too and doesn't want anything bad to happen.  It isn't until Taki realizes that bad stuff is going to happen anyway (what with a crazy guy after them) that she agrees to embrace her powers and fight against the bad guys!  And let her little sister make costumes.

I don't like the art style that much.  It's very angular and sharp.  At times regardless of whether a character is evil or not, everyone can look warped and creepy.  The color is flat and dingy.

Despite that, I thought this was a great start to the series.

Batwoman Elegy by Greg Rucka art by J.H Williams III

Discharged from the army for violating article 125 (homosexual conduct), Kate Kane has found a new way to serve.  With the help of her father, a retired army colonel, Kate becomes Batwoman.  Batwoman is currently after the new leader of a cult who previously tried to have her killed.  As she goes after the leader, who goes by Alice, Batwoman is forced to face her past.

This Batwoman is pretty kick ass.  And practical.  While she's still wearing a catsuit kind of thing, it covers her completely and she isn't wearing spike heels, or heels at all.  She also isn't a skinny little waif with a gigantic chest.  She looks like a real person.  She looks like a solider, which she was until she got kicked out for being a lesbian.  So Batwoman is a Jewish lesbian, and she is awesome.

In Elegy, we have the action of Batwoman fighting against the villain, Alice, who is the new leader of a group that previously tried to kill her.  We also learn about Batwoman's history.  We get to see her experience in the army and what happened, and how she decided to become Batwoman.  We also get to see some of her childhood, and why she and her father are so close.  Kate grew up in the army, with both of her parents as members.  She also had a sister.

Another thing I liked is that it showed all the work Kate had to do to become Batwoman.  It's not like she just threw on a cape and went out to save the world.  It took years of study and training and preparation.

The illustrative style is traditional comic book action hero style, which I liked.  I don't do a ton of comic book reading, so sometimes it was a little hard for me to follow, it's very stylized, but I got the hang of it as it went along.

I liked this a lot, a good action/adventure for high school students.