Harley Quinn & the Gotham City Sirens - Review - DC Compact Comics

When I started to read this, I was a little confused because there was mention of the character Hush and I had not read that yet. I thought it was going to cause more confusion down the line so I held off on reading it, then I got sick and next thing you know it had been over a month since I started reading it again. I thought this was going to be a Harley Quinn book where the “gotham city sirens” were just going to be some goons and not actually her and Poison Ivy teaming up with Catwoman. 

For once I was glad that someone brought up how toxic the relationship between Harley and Joker was and it was awesome that Poison Ivy and Catwoman decided to do something about it. This was another great little mystery of trying to find out who is killing people and finding out some fun lore about characters. The unorthodox team ends up working out and seeing how they make it work was a fun journey. The artwork is moody, explosive and chaotic all in the best ways. I particularly liked the character style of Joker being more outlandish and freaky. 

I wish this hadn’t taken me so long to read but it was fun with all the different mysteries and stories each character had and how they all met up to one thing. 

Overall 4 / 5

Harley Quinn & the Gotham City Sirens Paul Dini-Writer, Guillem March-Artist

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Batman: Hush - Review - DC Compact Comics

It wasn’t until I finished this book and spoke to a buddy of mine that I realized Batman:Hush ran from 2002-2003. Almost 25 years ago, and here I was reading it for the first time at the age of 35. While I was reading Harley Quinn & the Gotham City Sirens, the character Hush was mentioned a couple times and I was a little confused for a bit so I made sure to read it next.

Jim Lee’s art was spectacular and I was super excited each time a new character was introduced and got to see their design. Right at the start we get looks at a monster Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Catwoman and The Huntress, one of whom I’m not very familiar with, the other being Lady Shiva. I am just starting to read all the main storylines in the DC Batman and Batman adjacent so there were a few things I didn’t really know about but have just come across from other material. For instance I have not read A Death in the Family, but know that Joker killed Robin, and that plays somewhat an important part in the plot. This book is full of villains, heroes, twists and turns and makes me wish I had read this years ago. I was kept guessing who Hush was throughout the entire read and was surprised at the reveal. Such a fun and pretty intense read with all the action and drama.

Overall I was able to follow the storyline and knew almost every character. I think from now on when people ask me what my favorite Batman story is, the answer will be Hush. 

Overall 5 / 5

Batman: Hush Jeph Loeb-Writer, Jim Lee-Penciller

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Far Sector - Review - DC Compact Comics

I’ve read a few of these DC Compact Comics and I swear each one just keeps getting better. This is my first entry into the Green Lantern universe and understanding a bit about what they do. If you want to get deep into the lore of it all, I don’t think this is the comic to do that for you. If you’re reading this and you DO HAVE a recommendation for a good Green Lantern story, please let me know in the comments. I’d say this story touched very little on what and/or who the Green Lanterns are. I don’t think it really affected my overall understanding of what was happening, so it didn’t really bother me. Ok now let’s talk about Far Sector.

There are 3 basic reasons why I liked Far Sector so much, one of them being the actual story and plot throughout. We are thrust into a world very different from our own and are introduced to our protagonist, Sojourner “Jo” Mullein, a rookie Green Lantern being assigned to a brutal murder. Sounds like the normal cop stuff, but in a world where emotions don’t exist and is the first murder in generations, it’s very far from normal. We get to learn of different races that co-exist, their origins and the start of this emotionless living. It was an intriguing and dramatic story with various twists that made me curious to learn more of.

Next were the colors! The use of monochromatic pages plus a wide range of colors overall was such a unique creative style I was not used to. There were also many pages that contained cool colors mixed in with warm that just worked so well together instead of sloppy. Lots of uses of pinks, purples and teals that I have not seen in other books yet. The art is great but combined with this color palette just makes it jump off the page.

Finally the last reason I really liked this comic book were the dynamic layouts. I saw a bit of this in Batwoman: Elegy but this just took it to another level. Being a pretty novice comic book reader, sometimes if there are non-traditional panels I struggle with following the correct way to read it. Far Sector does a fantastic job of this, crazy layouts, different variations, explosive panels, it’s got it all and without hurting the overall story. I do hope I come across more stories that are done like this because I really enjoy seeing how the art can be expressed in different ways.

Overall 4 / 5

Far Sector N.K. Jemisin-Writer, Jamal Campbell-Cover Artist/Artist/Colorist, Deron Bennett-Letterer.

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Batwoman: Elegy - Review - DC Compact Comics

Going into this one I wasn’t really sure what to expect. For instance I didn’t even know who Batwoman actually was and did a quick Google search to see who she even was before reading. Kate Kane, that’s who I found out is Batwoman AND she is Bruce Wayne’s cousin? Not sure, but this is something I was looking forward to, which is reading something that I really don’t have any background info on it. Honestly I grabbed this DC Compact Comic because it obviously is somehow related to Batman and the cover/illustration of Batwoman is pretty badass. 

I enjoyed this one quite a bit and was surprisingly more interested in how Kate’s father dealt with a lot of “parenting” situations. Being a father of two young boys, I’m always looking for examples of supportive parents so I can learn how to and not to parent. Batwoman’s father is a military man who believes in honor and integrity. Seeing how he would support Kate throughout her journey as Batwoman AND as a queer woman was refreshing to see.

Then add in the supernatural like werewolves and you’ll have me locked in. I will say one of the main villains in the story has quite a frightening face, it reminded me of the clown Pennywise from IT. Towards the end of the book we encounter someone called the ‘Cutter’ which was quite an interesting more “detective” like story that I was enjoying. I might have to get the other volumes of that. 

The art was very stylish and I loved how Batwoman's red hair was so vibrant on the page. There were pages where it’s pretty dark and I wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not. Being a graphic designer in the print business it got me wondering if the print was over saturated on this paper and now has got me wanting to compare them to the digital reading of it. 

Overall 4 / 5

Being a Batman fan, I was going into this hoping I’d like it and did, but not for the reasons I thought. Of course the action and suit was awesome, but when stories integrate personal struggles like this it offers a whole other perspective. Again this is another DC Compact Comic that I felt was totally worth the $10 price. 

Batwoman: Elegy Greg Rucka-Writer, J.H. Williams III-Cover Artist/Artist, Todd Klein-Letterer, Dave Stewart-Colorist, Jock-Artist/Penciller, David Baron-Colorist, Scott Kolins-Inker

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DCEASED - Review - DC Compact Comics

To start off, I love these Compact Comics by DC. I think they are the perfect size to carry around and not worry about misplacing or taking up too much space. I bring it with me in my bag to wherever I go and if I can get 10 mins of reading in, then that’s a win in my book. Since my boys have returned to school I now get a solid 20 mins or more of reading. 

DCEASED is the third DC Compact Comic that I have read but it’s definitely the fastest one I read. Now I should also mention this is my first REAL dive into DC Comics. Being fairly new, I haven’t read that many full on stories. I’ve been collecting single issues here and there that I like. So these Compact Comics I felt were the best place for me to start reading what everyone talks about in the DC world. Isn’t that the struggle for so many of us? We just don’t know where to start.

Back to the comic, I had no idea what to expect other than “something” happens to cause the superheroes to all turn into zombies. That something turns out to be a digital virus that pretty much spreads and infects everyone. The primary vessel for the spread of this virus so quickly is social media. DCEASED was released in 2019 but how it connects with today’s world really put into perspective the virality of it. The artwork is fantastic and it was wild to see how the virus would infect heroes and in turn need to be taken down by their friends. 

There were some crazy deaths and I really liked that the heroes that were left had to come up with ideas on how to stop them. There were moments of surprise, sadness, worry and straight up no words to describe some panels. At one point I gasped so loud as I was reading my wife who was sitting next to me jumped and asked if I was ok. I did have to google some heroes because I was unfamiliar with quite a few of them like Barda, Booster Gold, someone named Teddy but it was great to see my favorite DC character Poison Ivy play a significant role in the story.

Overall 5/5

When I completed the book, I was left feeling like I robbed DC because that story was amazing for just $10. I think at some point once I’m at least 75% thru reading my collection, I will get a comic book subscription and read the other 3 volumes of the DCEASED storyline. Though if I can find these at a good price, I will definitely be scooping them up. 

DCEASED - Tom Taylor/Writer, Rain Beredo/Colorist, Saida Temofonte/Letterer, Stefano Gaudiano/Inker, Trevor Hairsine/Cover Artist + Penciller, James Harren/Artist, Darick Robertson/Penciller + Inker, Laura Braga/Penciller, Marie Javins/Editor-in-Chief

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