Yet ANOTHER Interview with TEEN TITANS artist, Brett Booth!

So a few weeks ago, you posted a picture of Wonder Woman on your blog. Is this a sign that Diana (and maybe some more Leaguers?) will be guest-starring in TT at some point?

Nope, just me blowing off some steam. In the TT annual, the Titans and the Legion all have 'Tron' suits. Which sort of makes doing lighting and rendering... difficult. Originally I was going to draw Power Girl in her new duds. But that wasn't working for me so I decided to do Diana instead:) I'd love to have her in TT for a bit but right now there are no plans.


Also speaking of things you posted on your blog...when you posted about how "creative differences" happened on G.I. Combat for your cover art, and you said something about "enough dinosaurs" showing up in TT soon. And the cover to TT #9 showed Solstice and Kid Flash alongside some dinosaurs. This a sign of just some crazy time-traveling tale, or are we actually gonna see some of your amazing dinosaurs?

I won't compromise on the dinosaurs. Accurate anatomy or I won't draw them. But to get to the meat (hehe!), there are dinosaurs in TT 10, all kinds of them:) It's sort of a one off issue, to give the team a chance to rest before we start up with more craziness! It should be a great character issue along with some cool dinosaur shots!

Is there any chance of us seeing Miss Martian in the series?

Both Scott and I are trying, but she's sort of in the same boat as Wally or Donna... we do have some ideas, hopefully one will sneak through! Funnily enough I just did a new design for her last night. Now's the tough part, getting it approved!

I went back and re-read all of my issues of TT so far and in the first issue Tim mentioned something about this being a new incarnation of the Teen Titans. I was curious if that was something that was meant to be there or are we supposed to be implying that there are former Titan teams out there?

I think this is still an 'up in the air' thing. We were told there were Titans before or at least groups of teen or 'sidekicks'. We know Kory, Dick and a few others used to hang out together. So I'm not really sure if it was anything more than people hanging out and fighting crime together. You'd have to ask Dan for a definitive answer and good luck with that! LOL!


Also in the first issue, we saw many characters in the background on the pages where we first meet Tim, like Miss Martian, Static, and (what seemed to be) Raven. Any chance of the line-up swapping out, or just purely adding in some characters like that?

As I said, we're trying to use more of the old Titans, but we are trying to keep the team number down to 6 for awhile. It's hard to give everyone something to do every issue, you always have a few that are just standing around for most of the issue. We're actually splitting the team up for a bit to cover more ground and give backstory to Cassie. Scott has some cool guest stars we're trying to get... As for swapping out... I think we've only just started with this group, to toss some before they have a chance to be flushed out seems like a bad idea. Who do you toss? Who gets to be brought in?

Static will not be in TT, because DC doesn't own him it makes using him difficult, Raven is going to be appearing in another book... We will see a few familiar names and faces but they won't be joining... at least not this team (Omen, KoffKoff);)

Thanks, Brett. You can check out my other interview with Brett here.

Batman #7 Review-SPOILERS AHEAD!

At the very beginning, Batman is brought back to life by some chick in a van. I should probably know who this is, but I don't. We then see the Court of Owls bring a new Talon to life, stating that he is now "faster, stronger than ever." We see Batman crawling his way to the underground entrance to the Cave,where Alfred grabs him and drags him in. Bruce sees that they have the old Talon who Bruce killed is on a slab in the Cave. Despite Alfred's arguments, Bruce demands he be placed on "the table" for examination. Now, we see the Court showing the new Talon who their "enemy" is (Batman) and putting on his armor. Back in the cave, Dick decides to stroll in and see Bruce. Apparently Talon was able to survive due to some thing about how a tooth made of electrum (click to find out what that is) which can apparently reanimate tissue. He apparently survived the fall off of Wayne Tower and the many other attacks due to the tooth but the freezing cold of the river made the electrum stop working or something. Apparently, this Talon (who looks like he's Dick's age), is Dick's great-grandfather, William Cobb. Dick begins ranting to Bruce about how he is cutting himself off from humanity and emotion and all kinds of other stuff, which leads Bruce to "KRACK"ing Dick in the face. (HA!!) But apparently it was only to get a tooth made of electrum out of his mouth. Well, shit. Think of how deep the control of the Court must go if they can control everyone, EVEN THE DENTISTS!!! Dick was supposed to become the next Talon. Apparently, Haley's Circus has been presenting children to the Court and Dick was chosen but since his parents' deaths and Bruce adopted him, that was blocked. Bruce tells Dick that he feels like the Court owns Gotham, but Dick tells him that neither the Court NOR Batman "are" Gotham. Then, the Court releases a shitload of Talons onto Gotham to take control of the city for the Court.

I think that the storyline is heating up, and that both Snyder and Capullo are bringing interesting twists to the Dark Knight and his supporting cast in this story. I'm enjoying it up and down, but this issue was certainly a strong set-up for things to come. Can't wait for the actual event. 8/10 Nightwing: "Yes, you made a mistake and underestimated them...but they're not Gotham City, Bruce. And neither are you." Alright, people. There you have my review of Batman #7. I was going to try and review Green Lantern & Red Lanterns #7 (even though I already did a "quickie" for them) but I'm just too tired, so I'll just skip that. I will hopefully be getting Justice League #7 soon and I'll review that, but I don't have high-hopes...so yeah, don't expect much of a review. See you soon!

Round-Up of My Reviews (So Far)

I figured that (since I've got nothing better to do) I would round up all of my reviews posts in one convenient spot. Sure, I've been kind of off-and-on with my reviews, but it's better than nothing, right? So here we go starting with...

Flashpoint #5-Geoff Johns & Andy Kubert
Justice League #1-Geoff Johns & Jim Lee
My "Quickies" for Sept. 2011 Comics
"Quickies" for the first 2-Weeks of October 2011
Justice League #2-Geoff Johns & Jim Lee
Batman #2-Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
Green Lantern #1-Geoff Johns & Doug Mahnke
My "Quickies" to Catch Up the Rest of October 2011
My next batch of "Quickies"
Justice League #3-Geoff Johns & Jim Lee
Batman #3-Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
X-Men Regenesis One-Shot
Legion of Super-Heroes #3-Paul Levitz & Francis Portela
Justice League #5-Geoff Johns & Jim Lee (No, I didn't review #4. Yeah, I don't even remember why.)
Aquaman #5-Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis
Justice League International #6
Justice League International #7-Dan Jurgens & Aaron Lopresti
Most Recent "Quickies"

Update!

Hey sorry about not getting out my JL #6 and GL & RL #7 quick reviews out, but I'll just give the scores here:

Justice League #6: 7/10-It was okay. Nothing super special. Did like the Pandora back-up.

Green Lantern #7: 9/10-Good story, good art, quick pace. I liked it all around.

Red Lanterns #7: 6/10-This series was my favorite New 52 series the first couple months, now its just starting to fall behind. Honestly, it's the lowest-scoring series that I get right now. Hopefully it'll pick up soon.

And there you have it! Haha. I got Batman #7 in the mail today and I should be getting JL #7 soon, too. So expect reviews for those before next Wednesday. See you!

Justice League International #7 Review

So. I know I haven't really been around lately...BUT I'm working on it. Personal issues. Whatever. ANYWAY... I just got a set of four new comics through the mail (well...they actually came in the last week but..."personal issues") so I'm gonna try and pop out reviews tonight. I read all four of them already but none of them really stood out besides JLI #7. Shocking shit, people. Let it be known that there WILL be spoilers to the fullest extent. And with that out of the way...here we go.

Summary
At the end of the last issue, the JLI was bombed right as the U.N. officially announced them to the world. The first page opens with Booster Gold holding Fire's unconscious body in the middle of rubble and destruction that was once a stage. We see Booster, Batman, and Guy Gardner carting off both civilians and JLI teammates alike to the local hospital for treatment. Apparently, there are some energy creatures running around causing more problems at the scene of the explosion. It seems to be that Godiva is okay (although a little roughed up), but Fire was knocked out. Bats and Booster run back in to find more survivors, while Guy handles the energy beings. Bats and Booster come across Vixen who potentially has a spinal injury. We then see a new villain named "Lightweaver" on a rooftop across the street from the destruction, watching Guy and the rest handle the situation. He wants to jump in an take the rest of the JLI down, but whoever his boss(es) is tells him not to. Guy gets increasingly worried about Ice, Booster gets worried about Rocket Red, and Batman...he just seems to be handling civilians. Booster find Ice and takes her back to the hospital in time for August General In Iron to carry Rocket Red out...dead. (Ranting to come. I promise you that.) Godiva begins freaking out, questioning how a mere bomb could do this to a bunch of super-heroes. Batman runs off to find "whoever did this," leaving Guy, the General, (a beat-up) Godiva, and Booster to be the remaining healthy members of the J.L.I. Booster goes back to the scene and finds Andre Briggs and Emerson Esposito (the ambassador's for the team to the U.N.) dead. We see Lightweaver land across from the hospital when Booster, the General, and Godiva all return where Guy is. We learn that Vixen may never walk again and that Ice broke both her legs and has "serious" internal injuries. Oh, and Fire's in a coma. There go the strong female leads. Then Chairwoman Bao (a member of the Security Council who agreed to form this team) announce that the team is officially disbanded, or else they will all be sued. Booster storms off to the roof of the hospital, where he meets Lightweaver who has been allowed to attack the rest of the J.L.I. Lightweaver quickly knocks down an angry and unfocused Booster, leading to Batwing's first appearance in the series.

Thoughts
Well, first let me say that I'm sorry for it being so long-winded on the summary. Its just that SO much happened in this issue that I couldn't help but leave NOTHING out. Now. Onto the injuries.
Fire: She seems to be relatively okay, just in a coma. I know that sounds cruel and uncaring, but considering the other injuries...she should feel lucky. When she wakes up, that is.
Ice: Okay. She's getting a little worse. Two broken legs and "serious" internal injuries are pretty bad. But she was the only one who talked in the issue out of all those who were injured (besides Godiva), so I have a feeling she'll be okay in the long run.
Vixen: She may never. Walk. Again. You want to see how cruel DC Comics can get, here you go. Potentially (so far) three heroes may be going into a very. Early. Retirement.
Rocket Red: I...honestly, I don't know what to say or think. I know he was a relatively new character to the comics (hell, he was created...what? A year and a half ago?) but he quickly became one of my favorites. Not only did he fit well on the team, he was the comedic relief. For him to just die? I'm appalled. Dan Jurgens, you're a cruel, cruel man. And it wasn't like they really cared, either. The heroes just kept on moving. The next issue (or soon after) better feature a funeral for Gavril...he deserves it. Forget it about Vixen's thing being cruel...this is cruelty. Killing a character before he even got the chance to shine.
All in all, this was a great issue. Not surprised that Batwing was featured near the end and that he seems to be joining on full-time, it fits better for the "International" part. Good art, interesting new villain, and now we get to see the newly-formed team begin to rebuild after tragedy. "Yippeee..."

It would have been a 9.5/10 without Rocket Red's death. Now I'd say it's a 7/10 even though I loved everything else. Here's to hoping he is not easily forgotten.

Booster Gold: "But the J.L.I. needs--"
Batman: "Wake up, Booster. With everything that's happened today, the J.L.I. we knew--" (looks over at Rocket Red's body being put in a body bag) "--is done for."

Red Lanterns #7 Preview!

Red Lanterns #7
Peter Milligan, Ed Benes, & Rob Hunter

Justice League International #7 Preview!

Justice League International #7
Dan Jurgens, Aaron Lopresti, & Matt Ryan

Check in later for more previews of tomorrow's DC Comics releases!

Action Comics #7 Preview!

Action Comics #7
Grant Morrison & Rags Morales

Check in later for more previews of this weeks releases from DC!

Newsarama Interview with James Robinson on EARTH 2

So... today Newsarama posted an interview with the writer of the upcoming EARTH 2 series, James Robinson. Since I already linked to it in this article, I'll just post the basic summary that Newsarama put at the top of the article, and the cover to #2, which shows the Earth-2 version of Jay Garrick!

In our interview, Robinson revealed that:

- This is a complete reboot of the Earth 2 concept.

- Earth 2 has a "five-year jumping on point like the main DCU Earth" for its superhero story.

- The story of issue #1 begins with a few characters (including Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman) who are "gripped" in a dire situation. But then an "event" happens, and "out of that conflict," some familiar faces begin to "take the mantles of superheroes in the future."

- Jay Garrick is the "everyman" through which readers are introduced to the world of Earth 2. While the name Jay Garrick may be familiar to older DC readers as the elderly Golden Age Flash, in this comic, he's younger, as seen in our exclusive art for the cover of Earth 2 #2.

- Alan Scott and Al Pratt are also key characters in the story of Earth 2.

- Robinson said: "It isn't the Justice Society. It's Earth 2. So it's going to be a whole world of different characters."

- The comic also introduces different versions of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, but Robinson said Earth 2 is an "ensemble" book, and doesn't just focus on the Trinity. (For previously released information on those three Earth 2 characters, see our summary here.)

- The first issue also includes Helena Wayne as Robin, and Karen Starr as Supergirl, before they somehow end up on the main DCU Earth as Huntress and Power Girl (as seen in the current Huntress mini-series and May's World's Finest).

- The differences between the main DCU Earth and Earth 2 are not traceable to one easy explanation (such as, "they lost the war").

- Fans of Wally West and Donna Troy should not expect to see them on Earth 2, because Robinson said he doesn't know what the plans are for those characters.

- Although Parademons show up on the first variant cover to Earth 2, don't expect to see Darkseid (keep reading for Robinson's cryptic explanation of that).

- DC and its writers have a tough time figuring out what to call the main DCU Earth. Robinson originally used terms like "Earth One" and "Earth Prime," but Newsarama inquired with DC editorial and was told that Robinson should have used "main DCU Earth." This is the second time a DC writer accidentally used the wrong name for the main DCU Earth in an interview with Newsarama.


(Check in later for my speculations on Earth-2!)