Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Just when I thought I was out...

Today's newly-released solicitation for Stormwatch #2:
STORMWATCH #2
Written by PAUL CORNELL
Art by MIGUEL SEPULVEDA and AL BARRIONUEVO
Art and cover by MIGUEL SEPULVEDA
On sale OCTOBER 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
The moon is alive! Following the events of SUPERMAN #1 where [TEXT REDACTED], the covert team of sci-fi Super Heroes known as Stormwatch must not only battle the Earth’s moon, but find a way to hide its monstrous metamorphosis from the rest of the Earth! How? Uh, they’re working on it. Meanwhile, the recruitment of Midnighter goes poorly, and we learn why the Martian Manhunter is a member of the team. Written by Paul Cornell (Doctor Who)!
Superheroes battling the moon because it's going through a monstrous metamorphosis? That is crazy. Like, precisely the kind of crazy that I want to read about.

Okay DC, you got me on this one. "Stormwatch" it is.



In other news, the second issue of the Red Hood book shows that it was possible to design a costume skimpier than Star Sapphire's. Meanwhile, Jason Todd joins Citizen Steel and that guy from "All-New Atom" in having his spandex-clad junk apparently displayed on a cover. Somehow I imagine this image will change before October. Because obviously that, and not Starfire's impossible costume, is the offensive and unacceptably sexual part of the image.



The announcements of miniseries for Huntress and the Penguin, and a maxi-series for the Shade, demonstrates that DC's going beyond the New 52 in coming months, which gives me hope for some characters (and perhaps more importantly, creators) that we haven't seen yet. Still no more women in the writing or art credits, though.

I want to spend another minute on that "Penguin: Pain and Prejudice" miniseries. It purports to be an origin story for the Penguin, which seems kind of odd. Why would they be releasing this now? I can't help but see parallels to the Scarecrow, Ra's al-Ghul, Joker, and Two-Face miniseries and trades and specials that cropped up before "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" respectively, and the timing (the fifth issue of the mini, if on-time, would ship in February, meaning a trade could be out by May, easily in time for "The Dark Knight Rises") seems right. Is the Penguin an as-yet-unannounced villain (or just supporting character) in the next Batman film? I'll be interested to find out.

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