Mitch Shelly (Resurrection Man) has a certain talent. As his namesake suggests he comes back from the dead and gains powers based on how he dies. Resurrection Man #1 starts with Mitch doing exactly that, finding out he can control electromagnetic fields. He then leaves the building and heads to the airport. He feels that a certain plane that is flying to Portland feels just right. After getting on the plane it isn’t long before someone tries to kill him. The fight that breaks out kills everyone in the plane and Mitch is sucked into the plane’s turbine. We later see him back to life again and he quickly runs away. Someone comes along trying to find him and after a talk the reader discovers that both the Attic and the Basement want Mitch’s Soul.

I have to say I’m impressed with this comic. They explain pretty much nothing of his back story but introduce the fact that both Heaven and Hell want him, that he is over due for his death. I enjoy the story and the character and how his powers can change with his death; I see a lot of potential for variety in the future. The art is great. It looks dark and seems to reflect on Mitch who came back twice in one comic. I love it; they kill Super Heroes and bring them back a lot these days, at least this guy has an excuse. I think Resurrection Man has a bright future, the promise of variety and an interesting storyline will keep this book on my pull list.Chance Petersen aka Chance 900 picked a few books as well. Here are his reviews:

Deathstroke #1 begins with Slade showing off his skills by assassinating a man along with his many armed bodyguards. Deathstroke then receives his next assignment which involves working with a group of young “up and coming” assassins.  As Slade takes lead, the team gets to work on their assignment.  Deathstroke proceeds to kick some more asses and receives a mysterious package. While the mission was a success and everyone is celebrating, Slade decides working with a team just does not suit him.  The issue ends with Slade deciding he needs to rework his image and get to work on jobs that are more serious.

The best way for me to explain my reaction to this first issue comes at the first line :“Deathstroke the terminator – the scariest badass on the planet.” Slade Wilson may be greying but is far from slowing down.  There is a real seriousness to this book while having a bit of sarcastic humor at just the right times. Joe Benett’s art worked well for the story. This was a great read and I will definitely continue this series.

With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead, together with our hellish hate, we’ll burn you all–That is your fate!  Based off the Red Lanterns’ oath I was expecting a good amount of blood, violence and gore.  Red Lanterns #1 starts with a group of aliens torturing someone.  They are interrupted when hits their ship.  They go to investigate and run into Dex-Starr who proceeds to maul the aliens viciously. They capture the rage kitty but are quickly interrupted again.  This time by the leader of the Red Lanterns, Atrocitus, who goes on to unleash a murderous wrath on said aliens. The story then heads to the home of the Red Lanterns and introduces us to the more of that corps.  The issue then provides a back-story on what drives Atrocitus’ rage.

Red Lanterns seemed like a good change of pace from the normal superhero story.  Based off this issue I would say that it did just what I expected.  There was a good amount of violence while still telling a good story.  I liked the fact that a background was given for Atrocitus but I felt a little lost with the team overall. The one thing that really annoyed me about this issue was that there was no explanation for the blood coming out of everyone’s mouths. After I checked up on it made sense and helped me enjoyed the stories more. The art was all right but there was an excessive use of lines in my opinion.  Overall, I enjoyed this issue and am really looking forward to getting issue #2.

Andrew Volker aka Reklov read Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. and is a cooler person because of it:

The first issue of Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. opens with an unexplained assault of nightmarish creatures on the lazy backwoods town of Bone Lake, Washington. The titular Frankenstein is called out of retirement to lead an investigation and search for survivors. The first half of the book introduces S.H.A.D.E.’s unique hi-tech headquarters, the Ant Farm. Frank is brought up to speed over several pages of exposition that manage to set the stage without being overwhelming or boring. From there, the action moves to the quarantined Bone Lake where the rest of the team are introduced: Nina Mazursky the brilliant but naive fish girl, Khalis the unsettling millenia-old mummy medic, Warren Griffith the werewolf foot soldier as loyal as any canine could be expected to be, and Vincent Velcoro the leathery man-bat with a penchant for bitchy sarcasm. The newly formed Creature Commandos charge into battle before the issue comes to an all-too-sudden close.

I loved almost everything about this book. It establishes the setting, characters, and tone of the series without being too heavy-handed. The dialogue is snappy and the characters all feel like unique individuals. Frankenstein’s wariness of the super-science which S.H.A.D.E. whole-heartedly embraces leads to several humorous retorts from Father Time, and the banter between Griffith and Velcoro quickly fleshes out the team dynamic. The artwork has a slightly amorphous quality. The colors are washed-out and subdued while details and features fade in and out from one panel to the next. I think it’s very well-suited for a book that deals with a lot of supernatural elements, which might look a bit more ridiculous if drawn in a more realistic style. I especially enjoyed the 3-panel sequence of the town gates slowly opening to reveal the warzone within, and the 2-page splash of the battle that follows. My only complaint is the abrupt ending, which comes just as the action is getting started. I will definitely be keeping this one on my pull list!

Marty Gelidiom aka Chemist52 read quite a few books but doesn’t seem sold on most of them.

Batman and Robin #1 starts out with a fight between “an ally of the bat” and an unnamed – presumably villainous – man. The fight is broken up as both men are subdued by an assailant who identifies himself as “no one.” The book then switches to Bruce and Damian who are heading out on patrol early. Bruce wants to stop by Crime Alley in memory of his parents but states that it will be the last time he’ll do so. Instead, he says he wants to remember how they lived and from now on will celebrate the anniversary of their marriage. Damian makes snarky comments the whole time. They then get called away to deal with a robbery at a nuclear plant. While Bruce is busy dealing with a possible meltdown Damian disobeys orders and pursues the thieves, accidentally causing an explosion in their vehicle. Switch back to “no one” who is lowering “ally of the bat” into a vat of glowing green liquid, telling him it will “erase” him. The last page has the villain, masked, revealing his plan to “end this new global circus act” and pay Bruce Wayne a visit.

My favorite thing about this book is the dialogue. It’s witty without seeming forced or out of character. The characterization is also spot on. Damian is tactless and insensitive, but only in so far as he’s speaking his mind and trying to make his own point understood. Bruce is utterly unfazed by it, responding in a calm and firm manner. He’s melancholy but without the depression or obsession usually shown in the character. It’s nice to see Batman depicted with more equilibrium than the villains he fights. The villain hasn’t caught my attention yet, but with so little “screen time,” I wouldn’t expect him to. It’s referenced in the issue that Dick and Damian’s run as Batman and Robin is still in continuity; this is nice as it opens up the possibility of seeing those two teaming up again at some point. My main interest with this book was to see how the character interactions play out, and I think it does a wonderful job with them. I’ll definitely be buying the next issue.

The opening scene of Superboy #1 shows a bald Superboy in vat of liquid, where he’s apparently spent his whole life. About three months, by his estimate. The scientists monitoring him have detected no brain activity, and are preparing to terminate their “failed” experiment. As they do so, Superboy breaks free, causing an explosion that kills all but one of the scientists called Red. She puts him in a Virtual Reality system meant to study his reactions, specifically his apparent lack of morality. In the VR, Superboy ignores the screams of a woman in a burning building a he speaks with a “classmate.” He reveals he knows none of it is real and that he wasn’t fooled because his brain matter is spread throughout his body. Rose Wilson makes an appearance, having been hired to intervene should Superboy escape again. He doesn’t get the chance, as someone usurps Red’s authority and decided to “activate” Superboy to take care of a problem…the Teen Titans.

Eh. Not thrilled with this. The art is okay, but there’s something off about the anatomy, especially in the close up, full body shots. Red makes a huge deal about Superboy’s lack of empathy, implying that it is some sort of genetic or biological defect. This isn’t the first time that card’s been played with this character, and it was stupid then too. I do like that Superboy seems to be lacking morality, more than being outright evil. I think it could make for some interesting plot points. The whole “brain matter throughout my whole body” thing also makes no sense, though I do like that they seem to be playing up his tactile-telekinesis. The last several writers seemed to have forgotten it completely. I was hoping this book would be about Kon-el, the over-the-top, over confident, boy who lived in Hawaii and fought his truancy office as often as super villains. No such luck. Not only is Kon nowhere to be seen, this Superboy doesn’t have much of a past at all. Which means most of my favorite characters and story-lines don’t either. The first issue didn’t do much of anything to interest me, but I’ll give it another couple issues, out of character loyalty if nothing else.

Mister Terrific #1 starts out with the Mister himself fighting a corporate leader in battle armor in London. After winning, he makes some strange racial comments to the onlookers and launches into a flashback. His back story is fairly similar. His wife dies in a car accident, telling him not to “stop educating the world” and revealing that she’s pregnant. He verses himself in science, but his experiments don’t pan out and he decides to commit suicide. Before he can, his failed inter-dimensional machine activates, and a teenage version of his unborn son tells him not to give up. Flash back to the present, where Michael is talking to Karen Starr, who’s in town on business . She agrees to accompany him to a company party. Switch to a man in a diner, who hears a loud, painful noise before insulting everyone who speaks to him and murdering a homeless man. He leaves complex equations after committing more crimes, and the police call in Mr. Terrific to consult. Later, at the party, Karen gets into a weird argument with another woman who she accuses of being racist. Michael then hears a loud, painful noise and attempts to kill the senator the party is honoring.

This comic….was bad. The race issue comes up a couple times and it isn’t dealt with well either time. Both times were really forced and out of character. The comic does get a few points for making fun of the “third smartest person on Earth” line. The art is okay. Not good, but not terrible. Michael has a cool inter-dimensional secret headquarters, which is a pretty neat idea. There’s an implication that he’s sleeping with Karen, if her apparent lack of pants in his apartment is any indication. Wouldn’t have guessed it, but okay. And just in case anyone thinks this Karen from Starrware is a different Karen than Power Girl, her party dress has a boob window to clear up any confusion. In short, this comic takes two characters I really like and has them both act like creeps. The plot could have been interesting, but not the way it’s written. I will probably buy another issue or two, but no more than that if it doesn’t get a lot better.

Legion Lost #1 opens with a guy going nuts in a med clinic, then switches to the Legion (or part of it) crash landing a time sphere in the present. They’re in pursuit of someone called Alastor. On the ground, ‘Dawnstar’ and ‘Yera’ both become ill effecting their powers. Timber Wolf takes off in search of Alastor, tracking him by scent. While the others stay to repair the time sphere. Wolf comes back with Alastor, who has just destroyed a small town. The Legionnaires realize a plague has been set loose in the 21^st century, and hope to minimize it by taking the infected Alastor back to the future. They take off in the time sphere, but Alastor starts transforming, then explodes. The time sphere is destroyed, the prisoner escapes, two Legionnaires are apparently killed and the rest are stranded in the past with a plague they don’t know how to stop.

It sounds interesting, but it didn’t keep my attention. Maybe it’s just that none of the Legionnaires in the book are ones I tend to like, but I think the writing was just a bit dull. There isn’t much in the way of characterization, except to point out that Timber Wolf doesn’t do what he’s told and acts impulsively. I think the general idea is great, and could make for a wonderful story, but I just don’t see that here. If I had read this without buying it, I wouldn’t have spent the $3. I’ll give it another issue, maybe two, to get better, mostly because I really don’t want to have just ONE issue of something sitting around.

Micheal Meador aka threeshotwonder polishes off our capsules for the week:

After last weeks lukewarm stormwatch launch I was a little aprehensive to pick up Demon Knights #1 from the same writer. My fears couldn’t have been more misplaced. After a brief prologue which helps setup the origins of the main characters we start meeting some of the secondary characters from this book. Etrigan of course makes an appearance in all his glory and we are treated to an interesting look at the relationship between Madame Xanadu, Jason Blood and Etrigan. The only negative is that the book leaves off before any action can actually take place but we are given a great cliffhanger as our heros prepare to face an incoming dragon. For me this book was over too fast and I wish there had been a little more action but over all it’s great read that set us up for a fantastic new series. I would definetly recommend this title to anyone who is a fan of fantasy titles.

There has been alot that has changed in the Green Lantern universe and with the re-launch those changes come full circle to lead us in a different direction for the protector of sector 2814. The new Green Lantern #1 story starts off with a bang as we witness Sinestro uttering the oath of the corps he despises the most. We then get to follow Hal as he tries to live his life without the ring for the first time in a very long time. He has no money, no car, a shabby apartment, and a very bad relationship with Carol Ferris. We also get to see some insight into Sinestro’s feelings towards the treatment of his territory by his fellow Sinestro Corps members and it ends with a all too typical interaction between Sinestro and Hal.

While the second week of the new 52 contained some heavy hitters I was very intrigued by a new Grifter #1 and I wasn’t dissapointed a bit. I have read quite a bit of Grifter’s story arcs from Wildcats and his solo series up to Point Blank and I can confidently state that this story is a high octane new and intriguing chapter in the grifter library. The story is told in such a way that the reader is immediatly pulled in on page one and left demanding more by the end. The action sequences are vicious and gritty. We are left with several questions in mind like: Are the things Grifter see’s Daemonites from the Wildcats days or are they something more sinister or has Grifter finally begun the spiral into madness fans have watched him flirt with for years. I for one was blown away by this title and would rate it in the top 3 i’ve read so far from the new 52.

There you have it folks! Two weeks in the bag and halfway to reviewing all of DC’s New 52 relaunch. Check back at the blog often for more reviews, previews and articles!