It says 2019, but the idea I have is to go until Year 2 anniversary date. Then to have the next group of challenges go live from that point forward during anniversary week. 
I waited until 2.0 to announce this group of challenges, but no not until December. We have until September 2020 for this, hope that clarifies that. If it was until end of this actual year, I would have to read far too many comics in a day to get these done and I’m not looking to stress any of us out.
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Ah now hat might make the challenge doable. Although fair warning if I get to 16 I am going to have to skip it. Because I read all the tie ins to Convergence… Like all of them, there isn’t one left I haven’t read much less three. lol. But other then that, I am game to try.
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Wow you are tearing through that, as if I needed a reminder I read slow. lol.
I will give you a recommendation, The 2006 Blue Beetle series. The first storyline is issue 1-4 but I recommend issue 1-6 as the first two storylines are kind of one longer story.
If you have read both of those I recommend the first 7 issues of the 1987 Justice League America. (titled Justice League for 1-6 and Justice League International for issue 7… but is under Justice League American 1987 in here).
If you have read those… maybe someone else should recommend something. lol.
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- Deadman (1986) 4 issue mini
- Bane: Conquest (2016) 12 issue mini
- He-man and the Masters of the Universe (2012) 6 issue mini
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Hey, nobody said you couldn’t re-read a comic!
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I’ll be honest, I too assumed the due date on this challenge was January 1st, 2020. I’m gonna shoot for that anyway!
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Ok…
We have until September of 2020.
I’m DOWN!
I just need time though. My weekly pulls of physical books are obnoxious and I can’t even keep up on reading those.
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For this one I elected to revisit DEATHSTROKE (2016) #9-11, which encompasses the “Four Rooms” two parter and the “Creeper” oneshot. (Motivated in part by the fact that most Deathstroke stories tend to run longer than 3 issues.) Of course, if you want to get technical, this entire Priest run is a single long storyline. But 9 & 10 are an intriguing cool down after the heavy action of the previous arc, with Deathstroke in Super Max. Shades of Rorschach in Watchmen, particularly when he’s talking to Dex.
Also, in the flashback sequence, really cool to see the birth of the Deathstroke persona! It’s really great to see Rose- sorry, Xia- connecting with her roots, even if it all turns out to be a mind screw in the end.
But issue #11 is the one that feels really special. This really feels like a personal story, about the all too real gun violence which exists all around us- its tragedies, its realities, and its complexities. It’s clear Priest was trying to make a statement with this one, and years later I’m still thinking about it. The way it refuses to take a moral stance, presenting all sides and allowing you to form your own opinion. Priest is at his best when he’s treading ground that other writers dare not go. Plus, I always gotta give it up for Denys Cowan, the most essential Question artist after Ditko himself. It’s really cool to see him taking on another Ditko original here, too.
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And I just finished the second prompt. Was hard to choose, I am not a huge fan of supernatural characters. I also thought at the time I chose I only had until the end of December to complete this challenge, so I didn’t want something that ran for years.
So since I do like sword and sorcery, I decided to give the 2012 “Sword of Sorcery” series a try. Figured it was fitting since this was PrincessAmethyst challenge.
Will be honest, was not overwhelmed. I thought it must have been a mini-series since it was so short, but found out while reading it was an ongoing. Which meant it was cancelled real soon and frankly… not shocked.
It tried to do something different with the character and Amaya herself was written to be very likable. But way to convoluted of lore to really get into it. And having Eclipso and Constantine appear wasn’t enough to keep it truly interesting. It wasn’t horrible, just kind of… average.
I did like the backup stories, especially Beowulf. The Stalker one had a weird ending but assuming the book getting cancelled was part of that. Obviously they were going to continue as backups had the series not been cancelled.
Was an interesting read, but can’t say it left me wanting more.
Welp… on to prompt three.
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For this challenge I read 2002’s GREEN LANTERN: EVIL’S MIGHT, a three part Elseworlds story focused on the lives of the Green Lanterns as set in New York City of the 19th century. An interesting piece on the power of symbolic imagery and editorial cartooning, and how comics have always been used as a medium for political messaging.
Some thoughts:
- Kyle adopting the pen name of “Rain or Shine” is pretty cute. Rain-or-Shine, Rayner Shine. Get it?
- Love how Faust on the poster in Kyle’s bedroom is dressed in Alan Scott’s colors.
- Speaking of colors, the way it equates the “Green” with the plight of early Irish-Americans is an interesting choice.
- Interesting to see this story building a Kyle/Carol/Hal love triangle, years before GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS would try the same.
- Also interesting is how unkind this series is to Hal’s character, at least at first. He’s clearly a bad guy here, and I suppose that’s because in 2003 we still remember him as Parallax. Alan Scott’s villainy, however, is a choice I can’t quite explain.
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For this challenge I read 1942’s SENSATION COMICS #1-10. The archives condense the early abbreviated issues into a single book, so “Sensation Comics #2”, for instance, is actually both #2 and #3. Sensation Comics #10, unlike the prior issues, had all of the anthology content, but was of poorer upload quality.
These early Wonder Woman stories are WILD, y’all. Diana has a telepathic radio she can transmit her thoughts to directly so that Etta Candy and the Holliday Girls can help her out. Speaking of which, there are WAY more sorority antics than I was expecting- though perhaps not surprisingly a fair amount of it is hazing rituals. It was pretty interesting to see how Wonder Woman’s golden lasso and the chainlike Lasso of Truth were not always one and the same, too. (Though they become such by Sensation #10.) Also, contrary to popular belief, it was not tying Diana up which made her vulnerable, but specifically a male person welding chains to her bracelets — which seems like a rather complicated weakness, but I suppose so is Kryptonite.
I do have to note that if you’re interested in checking out this run, be prepared for some brief but deeply unsettling racist imagery.
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For this challenge, I read LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT (2012) #38-47. Why those? Because I read a bunch of these in the past, and these were some stories I hadn’t which added up to exactly 10 issues.
First: 38-40, “I Hate It When He Does That.” A story I’d never thought I’d see: the origin of Bruce’s trick where he vanished mid-conversation, the moment you turn your head. Whether you like stories of young Bruce learning to be Batman or the dynamics between young Bruce and Alfred, this is a must-read.
Then, 41, a oneshot: “Tap Tap.” Very well drawn home invasion story as Batman tails Selina on a burglary in progress. Action is heavy, art is stunning. Stephane Roux.
Finally, a six parter: “Without Sin.” A genu-ine detective story, which begins when a priest in Gotham City turns up dead. Everyone is a suspect, from Two-Face to the archbishop. Tom Mandrake’s art evokes the Batman detective stories of Tim Sale, at times. A cool enough story if you like a little religion in your Gothic Batman tales.
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For this challenge, I read SUPERMAN (2016) #40-45 and SUPERMAN SPECIAL #1 (2018), finally finishing Peter J. Tomasi‘s run — a task I’ve been long putting off.
The James Robinson story of #40-41 wasn’t so bad. A nice father/son bonding adventure.
I… wish I could say I liked the Bizarro arc. But all the backwards talk is really just tedious to me. It was all pretty difficult to get through, and the tone of the story clashed pretty uncomfortably with itself. It wanted to be a joke and to be taken seriously all at the same time, but none of it really worked. I’m somewhat loath to say it but Scott Lobdell’s take on Bizarro in RHATO has been much more interesting.
The quiet family life scenes are always great, though. I always love seeing Clark and Lois get to just spend some time together.
Superman #45 was very sweet. It seems like it was written for everybody who’s going to miss those very family dynamics, and to lend us the courage to embrace change even if we’re sad to see it go. I wonder if Tomasi had an idea of what Bendis would have in store for Jon.
It is kind of weird how this book keeps circling back to the time Jon killed his cat. There’s this weird theme of gruesome animal death throughout a LOT of Tomasi’s work that I don’t think gets talked about enough?
Not much to say about the Superman Special. I loved Mark Russell’s short about Superman holding all life sacred. And Tomasi’s main story was pretty in character as a wrap-up to the patriotic themes of his Rebirth run.
That’s only 7 issues, though… so for good measure, I threw in SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #12-14, B. Clay Moore’s origin story for Jimmy Olsen’s Signal Watch — and Winslow Schott, the original Toyman. While pretty modern by 2007 standards, you can see there’s a real influence here from the Fleischer serials and the George Reeves show. You get that a lot with guest writers: they want to cram in all the allusions they can to their personal relationship with the character.
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For this challenge, I read the two-part miniseries JLA/THE SPECTRE: SOUL WAR. I’ve never really read much from Hal Jordan’s tenure as The Spectre, apart from Kevin Smith’s Green Arrow run, so I thought I’d give this a shot. In this story, The Spectre helps the JLA battle a metaphysical menace known as The Trans… an unfortunate choice of name, by today’s standards. The premise, that they all have to combine forms with Spectre to battle these weird aliens and then delve together into the collective subconscious, feels a little flimsy, but it seems mostly like an excuse for Darryl Banks to draw huge fight scenes, in a very Bryan Hitch sort of fashion. The end, though, was very sweet. And it does make me kind of wish Hal stayed on as The Spectre. We have enough GLs.
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Wonder Woman ( 86 ) 1-10
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Gotham Knights ( 2000) 1-10
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Superman ( 2011 ) 32-41
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For this challenge, I read the first five issue story arc of DOC SAVAGE (2010), from DC’s oft-forgotten “First Wave” initiative. “First Wave” was an attempt to give new life to a number of pulp era heroes in their own shared universe, including The Spirit, Rima the Jungle Girl, and The Avenger. I never had a connection to the original Doc Savage stories, so I feel like I’m sort of divine the wrong end in, but here I am anyway. Definitely a title I never would have checked out without this challenge. Despite being little more than human, his demeanor reminds me quite a lot of Superman — which I imagine is intentional, as Doc Savage was one of Superman’s inspirations to begin with. It’s a strange choice to set this story in the modern day, but then I suppose it was never intended to be a period piece. There is a blimp based action scene in issue 3, which you know, is always a plus. And I really enjoyed the “Justice, Inc.” backup about a smalltime vigilante organization, headed by a tightwad millionaire who will happily go out and fight crime as long as he doesn’t have to fork over a cent. I’d keep reading just to see more of them.
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For this challenge, I read the first three issues of GOTHAM ACADEMY, which focus on GA student Olive Silverlock. I know there are some particularly big fans of this series, but I never quite got around to it. Immediately, I understand the fan base. The art, for one, is absolutely gorgeous, luxuriating in its detail. Gotham Academy as a place really feels lived in. And Olive and Maps are pretty darn likable in their own right. I may have to return to this series at some point.
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For this challenge, I read the first four issues of AZRAEL: AGENT OF THE BAT. (It would have been three, but the third ended on a cliffhanger I couldn’t leave unresolved.) Fun fact: AZRAEL is DC’s last solo character title to go on for over 100 issues. It’s also really the last big run by Dennis O’Neil. It’s… certainly a 90s comic. If you really want to know what happened to Jean Paul Valley after Knightfall, then this is the place to go.
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I love this idea! I have found myself purchasing more graphic novels after perusing the extensive collections and strange boojs on here: I just purchased the both of the New Gotham trades and the rerelease of Bruce Wayne: Murderer. I have to try this!
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