Villains Month Issues

[packerbacker180]

There's no way I could afford or want to read most of these. In fact, I've cut back on one's I thought I would be also. Just curious what everyone's opinion's are on these. Read a really good one? A $4 roll of toilet paper? Most of the one's I've read haven't been anything special, or even felt relevant. I don't know. The whole idea just seems flimsily done. I haven't even read through all the ones I picked up but I can't say anything was amazing. Darkseid was kind of dull and soulless. Zod was ok, was nice to see the reason he and his crew were banished. I thought the Relic issue was pretty good. The writing did a good job of presenting an origin that felt interesting.

I missed out on the Joker issue but the reviews I saw made it sound like I didn't miss anything. Haven't read Grundy, Riddler, or Black Manta. Everything else I passed on either because it wasn't a character I cared about or it wasn't a writer I particularly felt would do a good job.

So what did everyone else think? Personally, these big, company wide September 'specials' are tiresome and gimmicky. Whatever gets them money, I guess, but they're almost a turnoff for me.

[O.G.Trilogy]

I kept forgetting to tell the folks at my LCS that I didn't want most of these and by the time I remembered it was too late and I didn't want them to get stuck with a bunch of comics that may or may not sell. I have been extemely disappointed in most of the villains titles I've read.

A lot of them depict tramatic events from the characters' childhoods. This works for some characters, but it's being done to death. Joker was physically abused as a kid, Mr. Freeze's was abandoned by his father, Harley Quinn was verbally abused and neglected by her family, Penguin got picked on in boarding school, The new Ventriloquist was neglected as a child, Poison Ivy's dad beat her mother to death and buried her in the garden, Scarecrow's dad locked him in a cellar, ect. If the heroes of the DC Universe could travel back through time and take care of all these crappy parents, then there wouldn't be any villains for them to fight in the present.

I'm not reading Forever Evil but from what I can tell, all of the heroes are out of commission and the Crime Syndicate takes over and is recruiting certain villains. Last week most of the books I read were tie ins to that story rather than origins or character studies.

I haven't read this weeks releases yet and I get mostly Batman titles, but Black Manta and the Penguin have been the only two that I actually liked. The worst one was the Solomon Gundy book. It didn't really explain anything and it's so short you can breeze through it while stopped at a traffic light.

[packerbacker180]

Riddler was pretty good. It didn't rewrite the characters history or try to explain why he is the way he is. But it was just a darn well-written story, which so far, the few of these I've read haven't been.

[packerbacker180]

I gotta say, I finished reading the few of these I actually bought, and my least favorite was the Solomon Gooey(not a typo, lol) book. What a waste of paper.

[HectorHall]

It was almost like they had a germ of an idea for a new origin............and then half-assed it. That was not a Grundy who started dispicable, nor was it a Grundy that wound up sympathetic. The story did not give motivationn at all.

[packerbacker180]

It was almost like they had a germ of an idea for a new origin............and then half-assed it. That was not a Grundy who started dispicable, nor was it a Grundy that wound up sympathetic. The story did not give motivationn at all.

I know, right? And what happened to the baby? Or the centuries long feud with the green? But oooooooh, 3D cover. Why even call Gooey Man Solomon Grundy?

Solomon Grundy, ruined on a Wednesday.

[secondwhiteline]

A lot of them depict tramatic events from the characters' childhoods. This works for some characters, but it's being done to death. Joker was physically abused as a kid, Mr. Freeze's was abandoned by his father, Harley Quinn was verbally abused and neglected by her family, Penguin got picked on in boarding school, The new Ventriloquist was neglected as a child, Poison Ivy's dad beat her mother to death and buried her in the garden, Scarecrow's dad locked him in a cellar, ect. If the heroes of the DC Universe could travel back through time and take care of all these crappy parents, then there wouldn't be any villains for them to fight in the present.

Hah! That's how everything in the DCnU is, though. Everyone's got some kind of motivating trauma. It's so boring. It's inaccurate, too. Look at any high-pressure, competitive, often physical profession - sports, acting, whatever - and you'll see a multitude of reasons why they do what they do. Is the NFL stocked with players who became halfbacks because their fathers were killed by a defensive line? There's plenty of interesting, complex motivations in people that aren't necessary a straight line of consequence. It's really hacky writing, and it never fails to bother me. (Granted, without trying to diminish anything the man's been though, I think having a main writer who actually went through a horrible, massive tragedy in his life has skewed things heavily in this direction.)

[O.G.Trilogy]

A lot of them depict tramatic events from the characters' childhoods. This works for some characters, but it's being done to death. Joker was physically abused as a kid, Mr. Freeze's was abandoned by his father, Harley Quinn was verbally abused and neglected by her family, Penguin got picked on in boarding school, The new Ventriloquist was neglected as a child, Poison Ivy's dad beat her mother to death and buried her in the garden, Scarecrow's dad locked him in a cellar, ect. If the heroes of the DC Universe could travel back through time and take care of all these crappy parents, then there wouldn't be any villains for them to fight in the present.

Hah! That's how everything in the DCnU is, though. Everyone's got some kind of motivating trauma. It's so boring. It's inaccurate, too. Look at any high-pressure, competitive, often physical profession - sports, acting, whatever - and you'll see a multitude of reasons why they do what they do. Is the NFL stocked with players who became halfbacks because their fathers were killed by a defensive line? There's plenty of interesting, complex motivations in people that aren't necessary a straight line of consequence. It's really hacky writing, and it never fails to bother me. (Granted, without trying to diminish anything the man's been though, I think having a main writer who actually went through a horrible, massive tragedy in his life has skewed things heavily in this direction.)

I thought it was pretty lame that Geoff Johns went back and messed with Barry Allen's origin story. Can't we have ONE person who becomes a hero because they feel a moral obligation to use their abilities to help others? I love Batman, but I don't love him so much that I want everyone else to be a carbon copy of him.

[packerbacker180]

I can't say I totally disagree with you guys, but as a DC reader, I just wonder what your motivation for feeling this way is? What happened in your pasts to make you feel this way? Has to have been something.

[AcidDragon]

Looks like we may need a psych's couch in here. But seriously, I really enjoyed The Riddler #1. I thought it was a fun presentation and the story was the best I've read as far as Villain Month went (which have only been two, so... yeah.). The other one was Grundy. I guess it's technically an Earth Two book and I've heard a lot of positive things about it so far (I haven't read any of the books yet myself) so I thought I'd go with Grundy. To me, it was a bit of a mess. I thought his origin was typical of the New 52 writing style of a bit of shock and tragedy which I'm cool with so long as it leads somewhere but I have a bad feeling about this... and didn't give me much insight to his present state. Also, this probably sounds stale by now but I'm just not a fan of his new look at all.

I also couldn't help but feel like they pretty much gave me what I was expecting to get out of the issue (in a bad way). On the other hand, Riddler surprised me in a very positive way so I'll probably pick up Poison Ivy, Darkseid and Bizarro just to see what they're all about. If anyone has any other good recommendations, let me know. I know the thoughts on Darkseid were somewhat polarized but I'll still read it to give it my own fair shake.