Hawk and Dove DCnU Review: #1 - #3

I didn’t want Hawk and Dove to be so far down on my list. But it just wasn't that good. Every time I went to rate it against one of the other titles I had to pause, but ultimately it lost a lot of the comparisons. Don't get me wrong, there are things about Hawk and Dove that are praise worthy. Some of the art is pretty smart and the coloring is excellent. Where Hawk and Dove falls flat are the characters and the story.

In this first story arc we see that Hawk and Dove are the embodiment of war and peace, touting such powers as strength and compassion, respectively. The enemies that we set up for them are the infamous Condor and Swan. Okay, I would like to think that I can get past these names, but the story telling is still scattered and inconsistent, promising enough just to be disappointing.

Here’s my reason for disliking Hawk and Dove so much. It has so much potential that it could live up to, but it fails. A great scene in the second issue is the creation of Swan, who achieves this status by sacrificially killing another avatar. But despite some great hints of story, I don’t know what is up with these characters. It doesn’t help when Deadman shows up, bringing up his past relationship with Dove. In the third issue, the presence of Deadman shows us that there is something dark and sinister lurking within Condor and Swan, but I feel that this could have been portrayed with the two title characters. I mean, what else are super powers of compassion and intelligence useful for. In addition to these gripes, I've been spoiled with characterization in some of the other New 52. Although we get to see both characters outside of their uniforms, the ingredients of their social life are off and its not yet interesting.


This incarnation of Hawk and Dove is brought to us by Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld. Overall, Liefeld's art is okay, though some of the scenes are downright awesome. Unfortunately, those just highlight the inconsistencies. Sadly, the writing follows this same pattern. Turning to Gates, he is a relative new comic writer and, according to Wikipedia, was hired by Johns. I wish I had read some of his other work, and I would love to know what he is/was thinking with this book. Did he choose the title or was it offered to him? Again, parts of the story are intriguing, and I'll keep reading it, but there were so many other titles that DC could have released.

Review of Static Shock #1 to Static Shock #3

Static Shock is one of the New 52 that provides an extraordinary adventure story. Three issues in and the action and story telling are still coming strong. Number 1 does a great job of introducing the character and the setting. Virgil Hawkins just moved with his mother and sisters from ‘Dakota’ to New York City. His move just happens to correspond with the disappearance of Zoom and the appearance of the new Static Shock!


I knew I was enjoying this story through #1 and #2, and was actually wishing I felt this much excitement for some of the other new titles. I wasn’t, however, expecting it beat 37 other New 52 titles. The target of corporate sponsored villainy, Static not only has to stay alive but also contend with both cantankerous New Yorkers and a family pushed to uncomfortable limitations.  All of this gives Static Shock a strong atmosphere and pulse pounding sense of adventure.

Mostly, Static Shock is adventure and action. To issue three it has maintained its adrenaline rush, with Static Shock the target of unwelcome attention. While this is exciting, I think it is the underlying family story that actually makes Static so memorable. So far there have been great fights and action sequences in the new series of books (e.g., Batman, Resurrection Man, Green Arrow). However, the story of Static's mother, his sister, and his sister’s clone is present just enough to hook us, and Scott McDaniel and John Rozum reel us in.

I sadly admit that I'm still learning the authors of all these books. There are a few that stand out to me, both from times of yore and from my recent re-emergence into the DC world, but I haven't given these fine writers the attention that they are due. However, both McDaniel and Rozum have some excellent websites that fans should check out.

Rank Order of the New 52

Having read the first two issues of all the New 52, I decided that it would be a good idea to rank order them. Using a pairwise comparison method and my wife's iPad to review issues, I made the 1,326 comparisons necessary for this process. I must admit, I was a little surprised by the results. I knew I liked Animal Man and Blue Beetle, but I wouldn't have guessed they were at the top. Also, just a couple reviews ago, I was commenting that Superboy was probably in my top 10, but this title actually falls at 16. I guess, what I really learned is that there are a lot of new DCnU titles out there. Here's looking forward to the #3's!

Below are the rankings (along with how many other titles a particular title was rated better than in parentheses).

1 Animal Man (50)
1 Blue Beetle (50)
3 Batgirl (47)
3 DC Universe Presents (47)
5 All Star Western (46)
6 Frankenstein (45)
7 Demon Knights (44)
7 Green Lantern Corps (44)
9 Justice League (43)
10 Teen Titans (10)
11 Supergirl (41)
12 The Flash (39)
13 Nightwing (37)
13 Static Shock (37)
13 Superman (37)
16 Superboy (35)
17 Batman The Dark Knight (34)
18 Detective Comics (32)
19 O.M.A.C. (31)
19 Suicide Squad (31)
21 Aquaman (30)
21 Catwoman (30)
23 Birds of Prey (29)
23 Red Lanterns (29)
23 The Fury of Firestorm (29)
23 Wonder Woman (29)
27 Swamp Thing (24)
28 Batman (23)
29 Resurrection Man (22)
30 Action Comics (20)
30 Batman and Robin (20)
30 Batwing (20)
30 Justice League Dark (20)
30 Stormwatch (20)
35 Deathstroke (19)
36 Justice League International (17)
37 Voodoo (16)
38 Men of War (15)
39 Mister Terrific (14)
39 The Savage Hawkman (14)
41 Red Hood and the Outlaws (14)
42 Green Lantern: New Guardians (12)
43 Green Lantern (9)
44 Blackhawks (8)
45 Legion Lost (7)
46 Captain Atom (5)
46 Green Arrow (5)
46 Legion of Super-Heroes (5)
49 Batwoman (4)
50 Grifter (3)
50 Hawk and Dove (3)
52 I, Vampire (0)