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randomfandomisuppose · 4 days ago

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Reading DC comics in a random order just based on what the library has.

Part 3

[Part 1]

[Part 2]

Before I start this I just wanted to say that the library is genuinely becoming one of my favourite places ever. It’s just, SO chill. There’s nothing I look forward to more than going through the comic book section at this point. I am slowly running out of comics I’m excited to read. Although I’ve definitely still got some I’m hyped for.

There’s, however, some comics that, while they are published by DC, I’m not going to read them as of yet, mostly longer series like the sandman cause I’m aiming for more variety in my “comic book diet” and I want to prioritise reading as many different comics and series as possible from preferably different writers and artists and points in time before coming back to longer series.

It’s highly dependent on my motivation and how hard college is kicking my ass during a certain period of time, but if I come back to the longer series I’d prefer to make one big looooong post or a few big loooong posts on it rather than the four books per visit I’ve been doing. I don’t think I’d have the motivation to stick out a longer series if I started reading it and didn’t like it right now lol.

Plus, I’m looking forward to also going to the other nearby libraries cause I’ve only been to one so far.

Superman/Batman by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness part 1/2 (Dutch)

This one actually has a different name in Dutch; “Superman/Batman: Staat van Beleg.” It basically translates to “State of Siege” or “State of emergency”, as in “In a state of emergency the government can pass policy that it normally would not be allowed to in order to protect its citizens.” Just a fun fact, I thought the name was cool. It’s also written by the same person who wrote Batman the long Halloween.

Anyways, it’s soooo good. The comic starts split between the perspectives of Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent as children and explores the ways they contrast each other. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I LOVE a good character comparison.

They know each other VERY VERY well and it’s fun to see one character being like “I know what the other is thinking”, only for the other to be thinking exactly that. Something I very much enjoyed was acknowledging that Superman is just, genuinely really smart. I’ll let this panel speak for itself.

Batman: “Which one of us was the detective?”

Superman: “I’m an investigative journalist…Batman.”

The story flows really well, I just don’t know how to explain it. It just feels really good to read. I also don’t know how to explain it but occasionally I just get the feeling that both Superman and Batman are actually kinda similar in the way they act sometimes. Like at times it feels like Superman’s just got some Batman-ness to him that I can’t do justice to trying to explain it. It’s an essence. Batsence.

Just, look. This is the back cover. Tell me I’m wrong. These are two besties who would sit on a bench together and ruthlessly shit talk anyone they didn’t like together. (if you ship them based on this comic I get it and have indulged in some shipping of them in the past, however I just very much enjoy them just being the BIGGEST of besties here. It’s important to me.)

Look at them.

Judging you.

I love them a lot.

Anyways, just in general, the whole story is just really cool. I’m enjoying reading it. Would rant to my friends about it in the dead of night.

Damn they just go THROUGH it in this one. Both of them do, but especially Batman. The amount of near death experiences and possible head trauma and back injuries in this thing is truly astounding. Like, almost drowning twice in one comic type shit.

It ends on a cliffhanger, but I have the second comic right here so it’s literally the next one I’m gonna write about lol. It’s a cool cliffhanger though. Was really looking forward to reading the next one when I finished the first one on the bus.

Superman/Batman by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness part 2/2 (Dutch)

Nothing like seeing Lex Luthor going from looking like both a babygirl and a fuckboy (don’t read too much into that description please) to looking absolutely deranged. I’ve never read any comics with Lex Luthor in them and here I’m just like: “Damn the dude is straight up insane. Lost his marbles. Looks like he’d fist fight raccoons in the dumpster.”

He’s the president of the US in this and he reminds me in uncomfortable ways of the current, *ahem*, president/dictator/king of the US. Not the same but bro’s trying to make it so he has no limit to his re-election and is fuelled by power hungry insanity and hates aliens and uh, yeahhhh.

Truly the face of sanity, and this is near the beginning. He hasn’t completely crashed out yet.

He’s a good villian. He’s terrifying because you know he’s manipulative but you also don’t know how sane he is. The longer it goes on the further he gets from normal, calculating villian and the closer he gets to highly emotionally volatile, will fight boars in the forest insane person. This comic was just watching Lex Luthor progressively get worse and eventually crash out. It was fun I have to admit. Like superman is just fucking DONE with this guy.

There were a lot of characters in this and the previous comic that I didn’t know at all, some of them were pretty fun. Some of them annoyed me. If I have to hear ONE more joke about power girl’s boobs I will strangle a man.

Overall though, pretty good. Kinda liked the first part a teeny tiny bit more than the second part but I was invested and that’s always a good sign. Superman was kinda intimidating at points and you know what, I like that. He could snap me in half like a piece of dried grass with no effort, just knowing that should be enough to make him kinda intimidating.

If you read this one, you’ll have fun I think. My only real gripe was the running joke about power girl’s boobs. Like imagine you’re getting introduced to a character for the first time and all anyone is talking about is her honkers. Yeah. No. No thank you. Cut it out.

Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross (1/4)

This comic is genuinely incredible and I cannot believe I haven’t heard it talked about more.

Also.

Before you read further I’m going to stop you right here. If you don’t mind spoilers or need to be convinced to read this, you can keep reading.

If you want to read it at some point, I would HIGHLY recommend reading it before you read further.

Now that that’s out of the way.

The art is fantastic. Every single panel is a masterpiece onto itself, I cannot even BEGIN to imagine how long it must have taken Alex Ross to illustrate the whole series. Wow. I am in awe. His art literally GLOWS. I have never seen anyone use light and shadow in exactly the same way as this man. This man has MASTERED lighting. I mean.

Look at this.

My shitty phone camera cannot do it justice as to how GOOD this looks in real life.

Are you kidding me with this.

Look at this panelling are you KIDDING me- It just sells the chaos of what’s happening-

Anyways, on to the story: It’s REALLY COMPELLING. I have to divide this up into plot and themes otherwise I’m just going to ramble on.

Plot: The story starts off with the original Sandman, Wesley Dodds, as he confides in a pastor about his visions of an apocalypse on his deathbed. After he dies the pastor starts seeing visions of a dark, mysterious and yet glowing caped and hooded mystical figure. We get to learn more of the state of the world through the eyes of the elderly pastor, a new generation of superheroes wreaking havoc on the world, fighting recklessly amongst themselves with no consideration for the civilians around them. In all this chaos the aging justice league, and superman in particular, are seemingly nowhere to be found…

Themes (well, one in particular…):

Religion. OH MY GOD it’s so interesting. Superheroes are compared to gods multiple times throughout this and I find that line of thought so interesting. Religion is a huge theme throughout this comic. What’s more interesting than a god gone rogue? A whole generation of gods gone rogue under one leader. An imperfect god. A whole generation of gods as a destructive, unstoppable almost force of nature that no longer worry about civilians or damage to infrastructure.

Now I’m not 100% sure on this one and there are times when I hate certain superheroes being tied to religious themes, but I’m a fan of viewing superhero stories as a sort of “modern mythology”. (I desperately want to read “super heroes a modern mythology by Richard Reynolds, but I haven’t been able to scrounge up the money from my allowance for a book this month.)

I enjoy Superman as being THE symbol of hope. There seemingly not being any hope with him gone. The fact that Superman is such a Godlike figure that his absense pushes the world into chaos, and yet the story makes it very clear that he is NOT a god. I love stories showcasing the fact that he isn’t this completely invulnerable, infallible all powerful being. Despite him being back it’s not a fix all. Our narrator ends off the issue saying that our troubles are only starting. You end on a cliffhanger. And it’s so fucking good.

Wesley’s visions at the beginning also draws parallels to the idea of the rapture. Or maybe just, hell itself. Everything is drawn in vague shadows and this hellish red. It looks like complete destruction. I love it.

I have no idea where this series is going to go but I’m so excited to find out.

Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross (2/4)

Just assume everything I said about Alex Ross applies to both this book and the next one. He’s a genius and it just, works so well.

Every single justice league member is old, in some cases, REALLY old. There’s just, so much going on in terms of team ups too. Like you’ve got at least three seperate movements and everything feels like it’s building up to this huge conflict. There’s no singular big bad villian to try to kill, I myself have no idea who or what I’m rooting for and it just makes it so interesting.

It’s not clear who the “heroes” are either. At least to me. Each group of people have their own flaws and drawbacks. Meanwhile you’re just watching everything from this outside perspective as you’re following the priest narrating everything. The biggest conflict on this whole thing feels to be socio-political, and that’s my jam.

It really feels like stuff is just going sideways, tensions between different groups are rising. I’m not very sure who I should be rooting for because all manners of characters are making decisions where I can kind of see the argument but where at the same time I’m just thinking. “Is this really ethical? Or in any way effective?”

I have no idea what’s going to happen next, but I’m really looking forward to it. This took a long ass time to upload cause the exams and college assignments started kicking my ass before I could finish the whole series, I might only be able to finish kingdom come in the next publication of this silly little review thing I do. Until then though, stay safe and have a nice day!

[Next part soon-ish]

#jeph loeb #superman batman #ed mcguinness #batman #superman #bruce wayne #clark kent #lex luthor #mark waid #Alex Ross

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