Book Review: Worlds' Finest vol #2 (New 52)

Book: Worlds' Finest volume #2: Hunt and Be Hunted (issues #6-12) by Paul Levitz

Cover Art by Ryan Sook

Illustrations and Ink by Kevin Maguire, George Perez, Sandra Hope Cafu, Cliff Richards, Yildiray Cinar, Phil Jimenez, Ken Lashley, Barry Kitson, Robson Rocha, Wayne Faucher, Geraldo Borges and JP Mayer

Color by Rosemary Cheetham, Hi-Fi and Matt Yackey

Letters by Carlos M. Mangual and Dezi Sienty

Edition: Trade Paperback

Currently Reading: Double Vision and Worlds' Finest vol #2 (New 52)

The last time I reviewed a Middle Grade book was back in February. I did start reading a couple since then but I didn't finish them because I was experiencing a bit of a Middle Grade reading slump but I'm totally over that and ready to start reading Double Vision. It's written by actresses and twin sisters Tia and Tamera Mowry, this seems like it will be interesting with twin sisters Cassie and Catlyn having psychic abilities.

I can't believe it's been a year since I read Worlds' Finest vol #1 especially since it was actually a pretty good read. The first volume is one of those rare New 52 books that is worth reading and hopefully this second one will be as well.

Book: Double Vision (Twintuition book #1) by Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry

Cover Art by Annabelle Métayer

Edition: Hardcover

Description:

Cassie and Caitlyn Waters may be identical twins, but everything else about them is completely different. The only thing they can agree on is that neither of them is happy that they have to move to middle-of-nowhere Aura, Texas. Caitlyn tries to put a positive spin on getting a fresh start, but Cassie's busy plotting how to convince their mom they should move back to the big city as quickly as possible.

But being the new kids isn't their only challenge. As the girls' birthday nears, they start experiencing strange visions -- and what they see starts coming true! Caitlyn and Cassie first use this new sight for their own fun, but when they each see something serious, the twins must work together to change the future before it can happen.

Book: Worlds' Finest volume #2: Hunt and Be Hunted (issues #6-12) by Paul Levitz

Cover Art by Ryan Sook

Illustrations and Ink by Kevin Maguire, George Perez, Sandra Hope Cafu, Cliff Richards, Yildiray Cinar, Phil Jimenez, Ken Lashley, Barry Kitson, Robson Rocha, Wayne Faucher, Geraldo Borges and JP Mayer

Color by Rosemary Cheetham, Hi-Fi and Matt Yackey

Letters by Carlos M. Mangual and Dezi Sienty

Edition: Trade Paperback

Description:

Power Girl and Huntress are heroes from another world, stranded in ours and doing their best to make a difference as they search for a way home. But when Huntress suddenly finds herself with a massive price on her head and Power Girl's company finds itself the target of corporate raiders with out-of-this-world weaponry, the Huntress becomes the hunted and Power Girl finds herself overpowered!

Now, Huntress must team up with her not-quite-brother, Damian Wayne -- a.k.a. Robin -- to find out who's been gunning for both her and Batman. Meanwhile, Power Girl must solve the mystery of Michael Holt, her former boyfriend who seemed to disappear and now is suddenly back on the scene, only to try to take her down.

Can the Worlds' Finest team-up survive on a strange Earth when everyone seems to be out to destroy them?

Book Review: Worlds' Finest vol #1 (New 52)

Book: Worlds' Finest volume #1: The Lost Daughters of Earth 2 (issues #0-5) by Paul Levitz

Illustrations by George Perez, Kevin Maguire, Scott Koblish, Jerry Ordway, Wes Craig and Serge Lapointe

Color by Hi-Fi and Rosemary Cheetham and letters by Carlos M. Mangual and Dezi Sienty

Edition: Trade Paperback

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

When Earth 2 was invaded by Apokolips most of the heroes died in the ongoing fight. Left to continue on was Robin (Helena Wayne) and Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) but during one battle they were accidentally transported to our world leaving them trapped here. I'm going to veer off subject for a small moment but it will relate to the review. Okay, at the start of the New 52, there was this five years where things were supposed to have happened. Such as Batman had time in that five year time span to have acquired, trained and partnered individually with four different Robins (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim "Drake" and Damian Wayne). Yeah, like that made any sense. Ultimately, that five years became a faulty plot point that left plot holes all throughout the various series in the New 52.

Currently Reading: Worlds' Finest vol #1 (New 52)

Helena Wayne may not be my favorite Huntress (for the record that's Helena Bertellini) but after avoiding this series for DC Comics' bait and switch with Huntress in the miniseries Huntress: Crossbow at the Crossroads, I decided to finally give this a read.

Book: Worlds' Finest volume #1: The Lost Daughters of Earth 2 (issues #0-5) by Paul Levitz

Illustrations and Ink by George Perez, Kevin Maguire, Scott Koblish, Jerry Ordway, Wes Craig and Serge Lapointe

Color by Hi-Fi and Rosemary Cheetham and letters by Carlos M. Mangual and Dezi Sienty

Edition: Trade Paperback

Description:

The Best of Both Worlds

On the parallel world of Earth 2, humanity's greatest heroes fell to the invading hordes of the planet Apokolips. During the battle, Batman's daughter and Superman's cousin -- Robin and Supergirl -- were flung to our world.

They discover our Earth is eerily similar to the one they left, but at the same time unfamiliar, dangerous and different.

After five long years, the duo is still marooned in a strange land, but under new identities. As the urban vigilante Huntress, Helena travels the world doling out nocturnal justice under a series of changing secret identities, while Karen Starr takes to the skies as the high-flying Power Girl.

The two friends may protect this world like it's their own, but it will never their home. Will the Worlds' Finest ever find their way back to Earth 2?

Throwback Thursday: Birds of Prey TV Series

The Birds of Prey TV series was short lived and never quite lived up to the comic book series that it was unfortunately loosely based on. Birds of Prey premiered October 2002 with the show focusing on Oracle a.k.a. Barbara Gordon (played by Dina Meyer), Huntress a.k.a. Helena Kyle (played by Ashley Scott) and Dinah Redmond (played by Rachel Skarsten) as they go after villains in New Gotham City.

In an older post, I gave 10 reasons why the show didn't work for me but there are a few things I did like about this show which are:


1) It featured Oracle in a prominent role, even though in the episodes near the end of this 13 episode series you can tell that the production team (or perhaps interference from Warner Bros./DC Comics) was doing their best to have Barbara out of her wheelchair and walking around. Side note, Dina Meyer did an awesome job as Oracle.

2) The scenes with Alfred Pennyworth (played by the late Ian Abercrombie) were good.

3) The teamwork and friendship, despite the initial hiccups the Birds eventually became a well meshed team.

Book Review: The Huntress: Darknight Daughter

Book: The Huntress: Darknight Daughter written by Paul Levitz with illustrations by Joe Staton

Rating: 4 stars

My Review:

I'm not sure how she became feared by criminals because Helena Wayne was not always the best at being a superhero. She's smart (Helena's a lawyer by day) and knows the techniques she learned from her father but they don't seem to connect when she's out in the field. I would say Wayne is more book smarts instead of crime fighting smarts. I don't know how many times she got knocked out by criminals and not to mention her secret identity was figured out by two people: her friend and possible love interest District Attorney Harry Sims and the other was a crime boss. She had her moments as being a competent crime fighter but they got over shadowed by her too many mistakes. She did get better as the stories progressed but not enough to be as legendary as Batman.

I think some of Wayne's appeal (for some of the male fans) may have been from Staton's art work, throughout this book, whenever Helena was at home she was either draped in nothing but a towel or a robe, working out in a leotard or taking a shower. I didn't think the artwork was sleazy or pinup quality but mainly sultry. I did like the 70's fashion that Helena wore. I think it's interesting when an artist actually draws fashionable clothing for female characters that's stylish instead of being skanky.

Overall, I thought the stories were good, they were simple yet very entertaining. I think my favorite was the second story that had The Huntress trying to find out who was committing arson in South Gotham. She wasn't at her best detective wise but she eventually figured everything out and set about trying stop the villain. I also like the story that featured The Joker which had a surprising guest, Dick Grayson.

Dick Grayson's appearance continued on into the following story where he and Helena tried to figure out who was trying to ruin the reputation of the company they are partners in, Cranston, Grayson and Wayne with claims the company released false consumer reports. There was only one thing I didn't like about that story was the subtle beginnings of a romance between Dick and Helena. Although they weren't really brother and sister, they were raised as being so, and a relationship between them would have been weird. I am glad the writer continued the attraction between Helena and Harry, I thought Harry was a nice guy.

There was another guest appearance I enjoyed seeing, Alfred who was featured in the last story. He had been kidnapped by goons hired by the crime boss (the one who figured out The Huntress' secret identity). Since both Bruce and Selina were both dead and Dick was not really working in Gotham, seeing Alfred in the last story was a nice touch.

Although Helena Wayne is not my favorite Huntress, I did enjoy reading these stories.

My Bout of Books, Day 5 Book: Huntress: The Darknight Daughter

This is the Helena Wayne version of Huntress instead of my favorite Huntress Helena Bertinelli, I had bought this book before the DC Comics reboot. Despite Wayne not being my favorite I will read this without any bias.

Book: The Huntress: Darknight Daughter written by Paul Levitz and illustrations by Joe Staton

Description:

The Huntress is on the Prowl...

She is unique in comics...the daughter of a hero and a villain: The Earth-Two Batman and Catwoman. Helena Wayne was trained by her parents to become a superb athlete, and studied law with the hope of bringing criminals to justice. But after Catwoman is blackmailed to resume her life of crime, leading to her death, Helena dons a costume and crossbow to become the Huntress to avenge her mother!

10 Reasons Why The Birds of Prey TV Series Didn't Work For Me

I bought the DVD (a few years ago) because I remember watching a few episodes on TV. I liked the show but I don't think it should have been called Birds of Prey because if they couldn't make it like or similar to the comic books then they shouldn't have tried to produce this show.

Some reasons the show didn't work:

1. No Helena Bertinelli. I didn't understand why they didn't use the then current Huntress from the comics. There was no need for a blood connection to Batman for BoP to work - the comic already had a pretty good fan base and good amount of success - without that connection. By using the Helena Kyle version, they made her a surrogate daughter to Barbara and they missed out on showing how much Barbara and Helena didn't quite get along at first because Huntress hooked up with Nightwing. Also, why did they give Huntress powers? Even the Helena Wayne version in the comics didn't have powers. What was the point of that?

2. The whole Black Canary situation was confusing. In the BoP comic book, the three main members are: Oracle, Huntress and Black Canary but on this show they didn't have Black Canary as a member. What they had was a teenage Dinah Redmond (Lance) who didn't have the canary cry but various psychic abilities. She was the daughter of Black Canary who was named Carolyn Lance who had the canary cry but was not a member of the team. It was unclear if Dinah was also going to go by the Black Canary code name as well. I also found Dinah to be really annoying. I guess they thought they needed a teenager on the show to bring in the teen viewers.

In the comics the first Black Canary (Dinah Drake Lance) didn't have the canary cry, she was just a non-powered superhero. However, her daughter the second Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance) did acquire the ability and was a member of the Birds of Prey.

3. They didn't use enough of the Birds' villains. The episode with Shiva doesn't even count, they did a horrible job with that character. Harley should not have been the main villain and if they were going to use Harley they may as well have brought in Poison Ivy (for a guest appearance at least). They also didn't need the metahuman of the week for each episode.

4. No costumes. This was one of the main complaints from fans. I think the show would have been better if Helena and Dinah had worn costumes. Helena would complain about her secret identity but how can she keep her identity a secret when she doesn't wear a mask. Plus she worked in a popular bar. What's to stop a villain from recognizing her while she's working? Absolutely nothing.

5. No recurring characters from the comic books. It would have been nice to see: Batman, Nightwing, Commissioner Jim Gordon, Wonder Woman, Robin (Tim Drake), Catwoman (she could have been used if they had not gone with the Helena Kyle Huntress), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), Vixen, Savant, and more.

6. Barbara's boyfriend Wade was not needed. Wade was pretty much useless for this show. They could have just brought in Nightwing every now and then since Barbara and Dick were suppose to have an on-again-off-again type of relationship anyway.

7. Batman leaving Gotham. It made no sense at all and showed that the producers of the show not only didn't read any BoP Comics but also didn't read any Batman comics as well. Batman would never leave Gotham or give up being Batman. Also, it's hard to believe that no one ever heard of Batman on the police force in Gotham City. How can that be?

8. Why didn't Barbara know who Dr. Harleen Quinzel was? Since Barbara was once Batgirl she would have spent plenty of time fighting Harley. It's public knowledge in Gotham that Harley used to be a psychologist and not to mention all her time getting arrested and being locked up in Arkham Asylum.

9. Too many Metahumans. Why were there so many people with powers? Gotham isn't known for having that many metahumans.

10. Poorly written. Each episode didn't seem to have a lot going on other than the Birds need to stop the metahuman of the week. There was no intricate plot or anything to really engage the viewer.

All in all the show would have been good if it were just a random superhero show. However, it felt nothing like the Birds of Prey.

Book Review: Huntress Crossbow at the Crossroads

Book: Huntress: Crossbow at the Crossroads by Paul Levitz

Rating: 4 stars

I had started reading this earlier in the year (I bought the individual six issues of this mini series) but put it aside because Huntress didn't feel quite like Helena Bertinelli's Huntress. My suspensions were confirmed when DC Comics had released the spoiler that Helena Bertinelli was just another alias for Helena Wayne. This mini-series was just a way to promote the comic that would be featuring this particular Huntress.

I felt like DC blatantly did a bait and switch because the solicits for the Huntress mini stated that it was Helena Bertinelli. I even wrote about this on my other blog with the post "Bad News for Helena Bertinelli Fans" back in February.

I recently picked it up again so I could finish reading it so now for my review.

My Review:

I thought the story was good but I thought the artwork by Marcus To was the real star of the book. It's amazing but his work is always great (check out the Red Robin series to see more of his work).

As I stated above, it just didn't feel like Bertinelli's Huntress. The mini-series focused on the Huntress going after the men responsible for young women being trafficked. She tracked them down in Italy and goes on the hunt for her prey.

Again, I thought the story was very good but there were a few things I didn't understand and brought up a few questions, such as: Why was she working with the Italian reporters? and Why would the Daily Planet vouch for her?

I enjoyed this but I still wish it really was Bertinelli's Huntress who was in the DC Comics new 52.