robin's comics log

Young Justice '19

★★★★⯪

Honestly idk why it took me so long to read this. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I even liked most of the new characters. At one point it did feel like there were too many characters, but I get why they did it. I just wish we saw more of Cissie.

The story was fun, and I really loved the moments between Bart and Kon, and the references to YJ '98. I like how they introduced every character with a small story within the comic. And I like how they used different artists for that, and to represent the multi-verse traveling. Nice art overall. It had some really beautiful pannels.

Dark Crisis: Young Justice

★☆☆☆☆

You know all the nice things I said about YJ '19? Yeah none of that applies here. I can understand what the writer was trying to do, but mocking the same fans who are supposed to buy the comics isn't the smartest decision imo. Are you trying to sell nostalgia or not?

Overall plot aside, my biggest issue with it is how it tries so hard to call out sexism (and homophobia, etc etc.) that it goes right back into being sexist towards its characters. Did Cassie and Cissie ever have a conversation that did not involve the guys? Either in a negative or positive way. Reducing Cassie into being boycrazy is just as bad as what sexist writers have done with her character over the years.

And ignoring Cissie's character completely just to make her seem like the voice of reason, like she is a "girls girl" unlike Cassie. While also not caring at all about people who are supposed to be her friends? I think genuine arguments got lost in the way it was presented.

Wonder Woman: Donna Troy #1

★★★★☆

I'm gonna be honest, I'm not very familiar with Donna but I really enjoyed this story. I loved the art and the storytelling. The way it goes back and forth between the fight and the present. Her monologue inside the church. Her feelings.

Technically I read this as part of the Wonder Girl - Adventures of a Teen Titan (2017) TPB but this story was my favorite.

Batman: Under the Red Hood

★★★★☆

I couldn't tell you what was my opinion on this comic the first time I read it (over 10 years ago?), but it was nice to revisit it. Jason is such a dear character to me, yes he is a villian at worst and an anti-hero at best, but he is interesting to me!! The hurt, the resentment, the selfishness, him and Bruce never being able to reconcile, the stubbornness. They'll never be able to change or "fix" each other no matter how hard they try. They're fundamentally different.

Birds of Prey: vol 1

★★★☆☆

BLACK CANARY/ORACLE: BIRDS OF PREY #1, BIRDS OF PREY: REVOLUTION #1, BIRDS OF PREY: MANHUNT #1-4, BIRDS OF PREY: WOLVES #1, BIRDS OF PREY: BATGIRL #1 and SHOWCASE '96 #3

I'm still on the fence if I should read the entire Birds of Prey (1999) series or if I should just pick up from where Gail Simone's run starts. So in case I do the later, I'm posting this as a review of Dixon's writting.

Kinda insane that every single conflict has somehow something to do with a romantic interest. That's all. Maybe I'm too ace for this but how is it incomprehensible to have one storyline where Dinah doesn't have the hots for the bad guy. Just once please.

Heroes in Crisis

★★★☆☆

I'm trying to catch up with the main events of recent years. I did enjoy this as a story. Surprisingly I don't have many negative things to say. I'm intrigued by how this affects the characters involved. Like wtf happened to Wally after. I didn't particularly like the Batgirl/HQ team-up, felt too OOC in my opinion, but what do I know. I did like the ending. I like whenever speedsters are aware of the universe changing around them.

Outsiders

★★★★☆

I really enjoyed this!! Maybe I'm biased because I already like Batwoman and I haven't properly read Gotham War yet (and never read Planetary), but this was one of my favorite reads so far. I liked the mysteriousness around Drummer, and I liked the way the story developed. A few things felt a little rushed. But that's to be expected, I guess, considering how short this series is. I kinda wish it was longer. I wasn't a fan of how the whole Nocturna thing was handled. They could've made her a lot more of an actual Villian and less of "Kate's ex". I really liked Jenny Crisis, and it was nice to see Jinni Hex again.

DC's Lex and the City

★★⯪☆☆

Lex's story was funny. Harley/Ivy's had gorgeous gorgeous art, it's not too interesting as a story but the art more than makes up for it. I liked Mr. Freeze's story! Poor guy just loves his wife and is insane about it.

Titans Together was cute, but it annoyed me so much that the artist didn't even try to differentiate Garth and Dick besides eye color. I'm 50/50 on the Robins story. I can't get over that crazy Steph is too female comment. I still have to read the more recent Tim stuff but why do all of his civilian romantic partners know his secret identity as Robin?? Anyways Riddlebat. The Raven/BB story was cute too but again not too interesting. And no opinion on Hawkman sorry lol.

Overall it has nice art but nothing too engaging plot-wise.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House

★★★★★

Another of my favorites so far! The art is so beautiful, the coloring gives it a 60s vintage look. But it never feels flat or "boring", it's so bold in its color choices and in its compositions. Absolutely loved it. Even the lettering flows super nicely with the art. Reminds me of why I love comic books in the first place. The story was very interesting as well. Loved everything about it.

Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner vol1

★★★⯪☆

I had so much fun reading this. I've read some GL Rebirth era before, but it was years ago and I've never read any post-crisis GL comics. So I appreciate that this TPB includes the necessary context for Parallax.

I really like Kyle. He is a fun guy, and he is very reletable. I am after all, too, a kinda lost early 20s artist. Part of me is glad I didn't read this when I was a teen.

That being said, I fully forgot this contains the infamous scene that named the trope "fridging", or you know putting women in refrigerators. Jumpscare. Classic comic book misogyny what else is there to say. Besides that I really enjoyed this and will continue to read more of Kyle.

Batwoman: Elegy

★★★★⯪

One of my favorite comic books ever alongside New52 Batwoman. I first read it when I was 13-14 and I recently got a physical copy for my birthday. I finished re-reading it in doctors' waiting rooms.

The art is simply stunning. I love the coloring, I love the unusual compositions. I love how it uses a very different graphic language for scences where she is Kate Kane vs scenes where she is Batwoman. I love the shading on her suit, she looks like she was painted on with watercolors.

On the not so great part, I read this as a young teen, when I was dealing with a lot of external homophobia all around me. I found a lot of comfort in looking up to this openly lesbian character, there weren't that many in DC at the time. But there it was this cool batman-esque lesbian character. I loved her.

Now as an adult with critical thinking skills I have more conflicted feelings about it due to the whole USA-army involment. It deeply shapes who she is as a character. I can understand why some people don't like her or this comic. But I think I'll always have some emotional attachment to it. Me reading this in public, shaking my head so people know I don't support the military.

Batman: Second Chances

★★★★☆

BATMAN #402, 403, 408-416 and ANNUAL #11, I read #421-425 as well

II feel like people often misunderstand Jason's time as Robin. It is very clear, at least post-crisis, that he has always been depicted as "the angry Robin". Going as far as having Bruce saying that if he didn't take him in he'd end up dead. Oh the irony.

I find Bruce to be very hypocritical. In one issue he is yelling at Jason because he lost control of himself, got too emotional during a case, and Two-Face escaped. The next issue Bruce himself gets too emotional during a case because he knew the victim personally, and he never manages to catch the bad guy.

Batman: Three Jokers

★★⯪☆☆

I'm not gonna lie I read this because I saw someone complaining about the Jason/Barbara ship. After skimming on tumblr it was brought to my attention that JayBabs was also a thing back in Batman Eternal. Which I had read back when it was still ongoing. And uh I fully forgot that even happened. I certainly didn't care for it back then lol.

I do, conceptually like the juxtaposition of Jason's and Barbara's stories. And how they each react differently. They're very different people. I do think an actual /srs relationship between them would only fruther contribute to Barbara's character assassination, but I didn't dislike how it was handled in this comic for the most part.

Jason really is that annoying guy who mistakes any girl being nice to him as romantic interest. The letter is insane. He is such a loser. I love him. Barbara should never have to be the one to "fix" him. Okay enough yapping.

Plot wise, I really don't care enough about the joker to care for what this story proposes. Does it even matter if he is three guys playing one role? What even was the point of all of this? The Joker is more of an idea than a person. However it would make Batman a horrible detective if he never figured it out by himself.

TLDR. Not the worst Joker comic ever but I wouldn't have read it if it wasn't for Red Hood and Batgirl.

Batman and Robin '23

★★★☆☆

I want to catch up with this eventually. But the first issues are kinda meh. I have some problems with the art. The artist for the first issues is Simone Di Meo, and he makes beautiful stunning covers. But in a full story his art can be overwhelming. There's so much dramatic lighting and motion and everything is eye-catching, there's never a moment to take a break. It looks very cool for a page or two, but after a while its too much.

Can't say much about the story without reading more. So for now I'm leaving it at this. If I keep reading it, I'll log it in the next months.

Robin & Batman: Jason Todd #1

★★★⯪☆

I'm gonna preface this by saying that Dustin Nguyen is one of my favorite comic artists, particularly when it comes to his full watercolor work. So I cannot hate this comic even if the story ends up being bad, Jaybin is too cute, I love the art.

I do think its realistic that Jason is little bit more of a troubled kid, compared to Dick. Jason loved his mom, sure, but he did not grow up with the same loving community Dick had. I think its unrealistic to expect him to behave like a perfectly normal child. I don't think its necessarily bad if comics want to explore that aspect of pre-death Jason further.

What does piss me off is the way the adults around him acted here. Why the fuck would Alfred say *spoilers* that Jason is deeply trobuled, something is inherently wrong with him and they should look for other living arrengements for him. There is this scene where Alfred literally tries to talk Bruce into giving up on Jason. It feels like he wants to take him out of their house like a foster dog that won't behave so the family sents it back to the shelter. Treating a foster kid like that is insane.

Not gonna go over the morals of Jason in here. This is already long enough and I wanna see how the whole mini-series plays out. But the scene at the end really had me in a rollercoaster of emotions.

Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular

★★★⯪☆

Clearly I was in a Robin reading mood this month. I don't have anything too remarkable to say tbh.

If you're very very new to reading Batfam comics I think this would be a nice starting point. You get at least one story per Robin (and per era). So you can decide which seems more interesting to you and pick up your reading from there.

That being said, as an "old" fan it still was nice to see certain writers coming back to their characters for new snippet stories.

I could complain about Dick getting so many stories while everyone else got max 2, if anything i'd cut the Grayson story out. Jason's was my favorite but I'm very biased.

Gotham Academy: Maps of Mystery

★★★★⯪

Gotham Academy back-up stories from Batman #119-#121, and Batman Black and White #4

Gotham Academy is one of my favorite things to come out of the new52. And I was happy to learn that there's been some stuff featuring Maps after GA. Maps is really cute and I liked her dynamic with Batman. She has this whimsy that Robin needs imo.

I liked the moments where she realizes how serious it all is, that its not just fun and games. In my ideal world she becomes Robin after Damian, and this gets explored further. Her excitement contrasted by the Bats' stoicism. I haven't read Batgirls (2021) yet but I saw that some GA characters make an appearance. It would be fun if she could be a Robin to Steph & Cass's batgirls.

Batwoman: Hydrology

★★★★⯪

Another of my new52 favorites, I mentioned this during my review of Elegy, but this is one of my favorite comics ever. I love the art, I love the unusual compositions, I love how they contrast the scenes where she is Kate Kane versus when she is Batwoman with different art styles.

The villian in this book is based off La Llorona. If I felt like being nitpicky I could probably Tumblr-speak into saying that its problematic. But I'm not gonna. Not today at least lol.

Robin & Batman: Jason Todd #2

★★★⯪☆

Another rollercoaster of emotions this month. I was very angry there for a bit but I'm glad at least Bruce decides he won't give up on Jason. I don't love some of the interal dialogs. This book sometimes makes it seem like Jason is inherently bad and too broken and has no morals, and Bruce tried to save him but Jason didn't want to be saved. I think Jason became Red Hood and "the man he is today" because of the tragedy of his own death. Not because he was a disobedient child.

I did enjoy the moments between him and Nightwing. Overall I don't hate this, nor is this the worst Jaybin depiction in recent years. But I'm still unsure what the final narrative will be. My final thoughts really depend on the next issue.

Supergirl #1 - #3

★★★★☆

So obviously I watched Superman (2025) twice this month, and I was left craving for more so I decided to go through the Super-adjecent comics on my reading list. Starting with the new Supergirl ongoing. I'm still out of the loop of current timelines and stuff but this has been very straightfoward and easy to understand. Besides the .... inflation... thing this has been very cute. I really like the art. I want to see it eventually dive into more serious topics, and not just be fun dress up. Although there's nothing wrong with this so far.

I really liked Lena in here. I had to look it up and seems like Sophie Campbell is a fan of the cw show, so I am expecting their relationship to be influenced by it. Idc if it's queerbaiting I have been successfully baited.

Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow

★★★★★

Next on the super-reading list was Superboy. I was initially gonna read this after I read all the YJ'19 stuff but I put it off lol and now I'm very glad I waited until I was in the mood for it. I really liked this story. It's one of my favorites so far.

I liked the space setting, felt almost Star Treky at some points. One thing about me is that I will enjoy a positive sci-fi story thats hopeful. And that's exactly what this is. It's also about Conner finding his own purpose, by himself. I really liked it and would recommend it, if you ever wanna read more about Conner Kent without diving head-first into his 100 issues 90s run.

DC's Kal-El-Fornia Love

★★★★☆

Okay so this wasn't originally on my reading list. It snuck up there because I saw on twitter something about the Conner and Jon story and I wanted to read it so here we are. Last read of July, fitting for theme of this month being Super-family.

Secret Six

★★★★⯪

I began reading this monthly after issue #3 because I saw someone on TikTok talk about it. I wanted to wait until all six issues were out before logging it here. I became soooo obsessed with Jay, and his relationship with Jon. Call me Jay Nakamura's #1 apologist idc he was right. I'm gonna keep this vague and spoiler free but idk if you look up anything about this you'll see the ending.

I started reading this with zero context. I knew Jon was Superman and Lois' son, I knew Jay was his boyfriend and I knew Nia was from the CW shows. That's all. You do need to read at least the Suicide Squad Dream Team, and Absolute Power before this if you want to understand whats going on. However I am not that kind of reader. Don't be like me.

I'm writting this review after reading Son of Kal-el but before Suicide Squad and Absolute Power. So my thoughts might change?? But I absolutely loved this. Nicole Maines I apologize I was not familiar with your game. At one point I was afraid Jay and Jon would breakup just to pair Nia and Jon together, but that wasn't the case at all. I love how their relationship conflict was handled. I also found Catman and Deadshot's relationship very compelling, and it makes me wanna read Gail Simone's Secret Six. After I'm done with all the Jay reading I'm doing rn.

Superman: Son of Kal-el

★★★★★

I'm gonna preface this by saying that I never found Jon's Superboy stories compelling. There is nothing wrong with it per se but he was a kid when I was a teen and back then my favorite stories were about other teens and young adults. So I never read Super Sons and have no attachment whatsoever to pre-aged-up Jon. I will probably go back and read at least the aging-up arc at some point.

But anyways, I loved this. Dare I say one of my favorite comics ever. I am still a little bit influenced by the Superman (2025) movie. And I think this is not just a good Jon Kent story but a good Superman story. I love the slight parallels between Jay and Lois, with him being a reporter as well.

In the grand scheme of things, is Jay the most compatible or best fitting love interest for Jon? Maybe not. But I think that's what makes them interesting. I really don't understand how some people can say that Jay is boring. Maybe I'm very biased. Maybe Jay's story hits a little too close to home, given the current political climate in my own country. Maybe I find Gossamer a lot more relatable than the all-american Superman.

I might have cried a little when Jon came out to Clark. I could never be mad about characters becoming canonically queer. I think this comic does an excellent job at modernizing the Superman mythos.

Supergirl #4

★★★★☆

I did notice in the previous issue that Lena had a very alt/emo/goth look. In this issue they all go to an actual goth club in the middle of small town midvalle?? Good for them honestly. Wish that were me.

I think at this point is very clear that this comic is very female-gaze oriented. Exhibit A-The guy Kara considers very attractive. Exhibit B-dressing your cast as goths for no real reason. I too would make my characters go to a goth club if I was writing a comic for DC. I'm genuinely not being snarky, its something i'd 100% do myself. Fun read. Luna seems cool and I want to see more of her.

Suicide Squad: Dream Team

★★★☆☆

I don't have many opinions on this comic to be quite honest. My only reason for reading it was to get the context needed for Secret Six.

I will say that I find it very difficult to empathize with Nia. I might have to go back and read her Bad Dream story or something because I really don't get her character at all unfortunetly.

Robin & Batman: Jason Todd #3

★★★⯪☆

Some of my previous concerns were addressed, looking at you Alfred. I still don't like how Jason's only reasoning for not killing is being scared of Batman. However it does add an interesting dynamic to their relationship, pre-death.

Quote: "Why does he still scare me? Because I know he sees me. Not just what I am... but what I could still be". I don't like how it implies this child would've grown up to become a criminal either way if Batman didn't step in. Make it about social inequity and addiction, and how those things impacted him, and maybe he grows up to repeat the cycle, maybe not. But this book is so insistent on Jason being inherently bad, having this darkness inside him that Batman accidentaly broke free the moment he made him Robin. That there never really was another path for him, besides becoming the Red Hood.

Poison Ivy

★★★★★

Best comic I've read in a very long time. Love almost everything about it. I will say at the begining I was very apprehensive about it. There were certain plot decisions that left me confused, like taking Ivy's backstory out of Gotham, but every single complain or concern that I had got addressed in the book at some point or another. I highly recommend reading this comic if you're even vaguely interested in Poison Ivy.

I don't necessarily like DC's decision of making Harley and by extention Ivy less of a villian and more of a deadpool-esque antihero. And I think there's a bigger conversation to be had about that. As well as Harley and Ivy's relationship. I used to really like Harley/Ivy years ago, long before they were canonically a couple. I'll always have a soft spot for them. Harley is surprisingly absent for the most part, and I'll hold my thoughts on Janet from HR for future logs, whenever the current arc is over.

I do really like how her backstory was handled in here. I honestly haven't done enough back-reading to know how many times Pamela has died inbetween Heroes in Crisis until now, and what changes each rebirth imply on her character and her motivations. To be fair this feels like a fresh start, and is very self contained. Not too much overlap with other comics.

I think the storytelling is great, extremely engaging story. I love the art, every single artist is fantastic. From the covers I was expecting a little more blood and "gore", the body horror was different from what I expected. It's all plant and fungi based lol. It's great and fits her so well. I like the scenes where she has to cut off the fungi growing from her skin.

TLDR: I loved this comic, go and read it if you haven't already.

Red Hood #1

★★★★☆

It deeply upsets me that I'm doing this review with the knowledge this comic got immediately cancelled. I read it late at night, my favorite time to read, anxious about it, given the bad reviews I've seen so far. Thought I'd write down my thoughts the next morning. Then I went to sleep, only to wake up to the news DC had fired Gretchen Felker-Martin, the author of this book. And not only that, but they refunded all orders for issues #2 and #3, which previously were up for pre-order.

I think I'll just make an actual blog(?) section in my neocities where I'll properly talk about this whole situation in depth. And my feelings about it. But the long story short is that GFM, a white trans woman, made a post on bluesky joking about Charlie Kirk's death, and got fired for it. GFM has been surrounded in controversy, at least in the DC fandom, ever since she got announced as the writer for this book. So it doesn't come off as a surprise, but it's still upsetting and disappointing.

I will never forgive DC for letting Scott Lodbell write 100+ issues of misogyinistic RHatO comics, but cutting a trans woman off after one issue. Female writers in this industry have always been held to higher standards compared to their male peers, but this is a whole new level. I wish they could've at least let her do the first 3-6 issues.

With all of that out of the way, the review. I don't think this is nearly as bad as people were making it out to be. He barely has one conversation with Helena. I wasn't a fan of this potential relationship, on the bright side we'll never have to see it again. He is depressed, he is killing people, he isn't near Bruce. What more can you ask for in a Red Hood comic.

Batman #1

★★★★⯪

Last time I read a brand new Batman #1 was in 2016, during the Rebirth era. I fell out of the comics loop after maybe a year or so, and I haven't properly tackled any ongoing Batman comics since then (only the Robins, as you can see from my other logs).

I'm very excited about this, I really liked Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run. And a Batman #1 is not something that happens everyday. I don't have much to say right now as it just started and I want to see how the story develops as it goes.

Supergirl #5

★★★★☆

This was a cute and lighthearted super-pets issue. Nothing too crazy to report over here.

Robin

★★★☆☆

I started reading this because I saw someone seriously say on TikTok that this was a good comic for understanding Damian's character. After reading it, I do not think thats the case here. Its been years since I read it, but I find anything about Damian from the new52 to be ten times more interesting than anything in here.

Like I did with Batman & Robin (2023), I find Joshua Williamson's writting incredibly boring. The Lazarus Island contest thing is fine, but there's nothing remarkable about it.

Things I did like: Damian reading shoujo manga. Very cute detail, and I think there's layers to him liking it. Obviously he is well educated in fine-arts, but I like that he likes something that can even be considered "childish". I like that we get to see panels of it, and its parallels with Damian's own life. Art-wise I always appreciate when they draw (and color) Damian to look more like Talia. Bruce already has 3 non-biological sons that look just like him, please let him look different.

Flatline, I don't hate her, I wish I could like her but there's nothing to her personality. She looks like she escaped from someone's deviantart OC sketchbook. She looks like she could be a Monster High doll. Which is cool, but in context, she looks so out of place next to Damian. I kinda get it but it feels so empty when her entire character is "i kill people *winky face*". Again, maybe its just my general issues with the writing, but their romance felt very random and kinda forced to me. This is not me hating on her character, if anything I would love to see another writer have a go at her and damian's relationship. situationship. whatever.

Batman vs Robin

★★★★☆

Although this is a direct continuation of Robin (2021), it's tonally very different and involves a larger DC universe event; Lazarus Planet, which I did have to go out of my way to read through. At least it was interesting. I really liked the role magic users had in this story.

I do wanna go and read a good Talia (maybe Ra's) story after this. I don't think I've ever properly understood her character. I also should look for a Black Alice reading list or something.

Batman and Robin

★★★☆☆

Most of my previous complaints from my Batman and Robin #1 - #5 (2023), and Robin (2021) reviews apply here as well. I am not a fan of Victor Zsasz's "kid" and Bane's daughter. There's an emphasis on parental relationships, I didn't mind it as much in Robin (2021) with Rose Wilson and Conner Hawke although I did dislike the weird half-sibling plot that didn't last.

But anyways, in here I just genuinely don't see any reason why Zsasz "son" or Bane's daughter are there besides to contrast Batman and Robin's father-son relationship, which could maybe be interesting but the story never quite goes there. Never goes anywhere meaningful.

I didn't know that they changed the creative team after issue 14, so that will be logged separately whenever I finish reading it.

Posion Ivy #37

★★★★⯪

Okay so the one part I'm not completely sold on, about this book, has been Janet from HR. Her presence feels comedic, her existence is solely to contrast these big "villians" like Ivy, Harley, and Croc, with the most "normal" regular citizen from Gotham. She is painfully boring and that's the joke. If I'm being honest, if I was in her situation I too would've followed Ivy around like a puppy and would've try to kiss Harley. Sue me.

I enjoy seeing her character get more depth during this current arc. Spoilers ahead: We get to see Janet betraying Ivy, and it's finally coming to a head. Pamela sometimes treats Janet as if she is subhuman. She does that to almost every single human she interacts with, the exception *sometimes* being Harley. She is incredibly selfish and self-centered, so much so that she never imagined Janet was capable of betraying her. She never cared enough about taking Janet to a doctor, until it was too late. She does care about Janet, but again, it feels almost like a kid with a toy. She does not for a second consider Janet as her equal. On second thought she sometimes treats Bella as a human, whom is still is a victim of Pamela's selfishness, not to say Bella can't be selfish as well.

This got too rambley, I'm just excited to see what happens next with all of them.

Gotham Academy: First Year #1

★★★★⯪

As I've mentioned previously, Gotham Academy was one of my favortie New52 comics. Ironically for how much I disliked Batgirl of Burnside, I did enjoy Gotham Academy. I think there should always be a place for comics targeted towards young girls (instead of young boys).

I'm very excited about First Year. It's quite easy to understand if you've never read GA before! It's very 'teen drama set in Gotham', which I personally enjoy. I like stories about civilians in these crazy fictional worlds. How Batman (and Arkham Asylum, and the culture of throwing every mentally unstable person in there) affects a teenage girl. How then Bruce Wayne tries to help her, in his rich out-of-touch way. How she doesn't fit in with the rich snobby kids. How Kyle goes to help her. Gotham Academy my beloved ♥

Batman #2

★★★★☆

Seeing Bruce teaching Tim how to drive, 10/10 no comments. Only Batman would have 13 fucking gears on his Batmobile. Why the hell is he driving a manual transmission car in the first place. Let the kid learn how to drive on an automatic car first. I digress.

I'm excited to see where the police brutality plot goes.

Absolute Batman

★★★★★

This is peak. Absolute fucking peak.

I have had most of the Absolute titles on my TBR list for quite a while now, but I'm gonna be honest I decided to finally start reading Absolute Batman because a guy (more like a grown ass man, pushing 40, trying to hit on me) at a bar/club, told me not to read this because it was awful. I read it. I could not disagree more with him.

Maybe I'm biased because Scott Snyder's Batman was one of my firsts. But this is sooooo good. I love all the changes that were made to the Batman mythos, Martha still being alive, Bruce being working-class, some particular rogues being childhood friends with Bruce. That friendship detail so important to me. How they tried to help Bruce with Batman at the begining. And how Bane broke them. I'm so excited to see how that unravels. It's insane, it's cruel, it's grotesque. Their origin stories feel 10x worse than whatever main canon could ever do.

I will say I like the Abomination arc a lot more than The Zoo. I am glad I waited to read it, my opinion might have been a little different if I only read the first arc. A hero is only as interesting as his villians.

Batman Year One

★★★☆☆

Dare I say this is overrated?? I came across a Batman reading guide on tiktok, and decided to follow it since I have never read Batman in any proper logical order. People always recommend this as the starting point for Batman, and I guess I understand why. But I personally would not recommend this as a starting point to someone who has never even touched a comic book in their life. This is something you read when you're already familiar with the characters and want to understand why they're the way that they are.

Also why the fuck is Gordon cheating on his pregnant wife. Girl, kill him.

DC's Zatannic Panic

★★★⯪☆

Did I believe this was gonna be a little creepier due to the cover art and the title? Yes, I did. This is obviously DC's Halloween special. And it carries some of the same issues most DC Holiday Specials have.

Zatanna's story was cute, but nothing particularly new for her character. I did really like Batman's story, the art was stunning, although I don't feel it was necessary for Batman to be here. Plastic Man's story is about him spiking candy on Halloween, so take that as you will. Don't know much about the next characters to really comment on it. I liked the art for the Constantine and Swamp Thing story, I would read a full comic in that style. Raven's stoy was nice, felt the most Halloween-y out of the bunch. But I wish her stories didn't always end up being about her dad. And I hated the last story, what the hell was that.

Supergirl #6

★★★★☆

I think I'm gonna start logging this every 6 issues or so instead of every month. I have been enjoying it so far! But I'm not well-versed enough with Kara or Supergirl in general, to really have meaningful comments for every single issue. Anyways this was a nice Halloween issue. I liked Nightflame and the conflict her character introduces.

Gotham City: Year One

★★★★☆

I read this after Batman Year One, as the next comic on that tiktok reading list. I did like this! As I said with Gotham Academy, I like stories about Gotham. This was entertaining, and I didn't expect all the twists and turns it took.

I think it does a decent job at explaining how the more "poor" areas in Gotham began. That being said this was written by Tom King, and I'm not the most qualified person to say if any of the racial issues on this book were handled sensitively or not. Take everything with a grain of salt, I suppose.

Batman & the Monster Men

★★★★★

This was the next book on the reading list. I absolutely loved it. Highly recommend if you haven't read it yet. Very lovely art. This is meant to take place somewhere after Year One and before Year Two/The Long Halloween. It's nice to see an early Batman who doesn't have everything figured out just yet. I found Hugo Strange to be quite interesting in here. And I liked seeing how Batman breaks free from the Monster Men, without any fancy tools, all by himself.

Batman & the Mad Monk

★★★⯪☆

This is the direct continuation of Batman & the Monster Men. It gets slightly less stars than the Monster Men did because I found this villian a little boring, even moreso compared to Strange in the last book. This time it's sort-of vampire cult leader. I was gonna say I didn't particularly care for Julie before this, it took me a while to realize Bruce actually loved her, or at the very least cared about her and she wasn't just Brucie Wayne's girlfriend. But this second half does dive deeper into Julie and her life. How Batman inadvertently negatively affected her life.

Batman: The Long Halloween

★★★★★

Now this is a classic for good reason. I wanted to read this around Halloween, so I might have skipped a few recs from that Batman tiktok reading list. Details details. I really loved this.

The art is so cool, I like how it exaggerates every "unique" feature about a character's design. Selina's wiskers, Batman's spikey droopy cape and the long ears on his cowl, Joker's grin, etc. Regarding the story, I prefer how Jim's relationship with his wife was portrayed in here over Year One. Gilda and Harvey's relationship. Loved that twist. This is peak Batman.

Absolute Batman Annual #1 2025

★★★★★

Batman beating up white supremasists/nazis as he should be!! That's all thank you.

Batman: Dark Victory

★★★★☆

Is a sequel ever as good as the original? There is some sort of predictability when reading this right after The Long Halloween. Still good though. Not gonna praise Tim Sale's artwork this time due to recent events, Magik related events. Glad I waited till the end of the month to write my review I guess.

Robin: Year One

★★★☆☆

Uhhhm fun fact I don't like Chuck Dixon's writting. I tried to read Batgirl Year One a few months ago and dropped it halfway because I got bored. Robin Year One is fine if you wanna read about Dick as Robin without diving in too deep. Nothing ground-breaking.

I read this because it was on that tiktok Batman reading list I've mentioned. And logically it goes right after Dark Victory. If it were up to me I'd replace it with Batman & Robin Year One.

Batman & Robin: Year One

★★★★★

I've recommend this before in the chatbox on my homepage, it's only fair that I log it now that the series is over and I'm doing all of this Year One reading.

This is lovely, absolutely lovely. I love the art. It has that good vintage-but-modern look that works really well with early Batman stories. Dick has this swoopy haircut thats just such a classic Robin look. They fixed some of the issues of the og Robin costume, by making the upper part of the costume more of a tunic rather than a shirt/bodysuit. I love the R on the back of his belt. Great stuff.

And the story doesn't fall behind. It has a nice balance of their Batman & Robin identities and what it means for Batman to take this young child under his wing, as well as them as Bruce and Dick (and Alfred). Their own struggles. I really enjoyed reading this. Oh and the hummor is very funny. To me, at least. Anyhow, this is a new classic Batman story as far as I am concerned.

Batman #3

★★★⯪☆

I swear I am trying to not be a hater but why does Bernard look like he is 12 years old. This is supposed to be a college age kid??? Jorge Jiménez clearly draws Tim with love and care, but I can't say the same for Bernard, what the hell is that. Listen I can like many many bare minimum queer characters and relationships but I gotta draw a line somewhere. The line is here and its Meghan Fitzmartin's fault /hj. Actually nevermind why am I even complaining about Bernard looking young when Damian is like 14 and going to college early and he still looks like he is 9. Is he ever gonna be allowed to grow up. Comic book ageing is driving me insane today apparently.

Onto the positives: I do like Batman's/Bruce characterization. And I'm excited to see where the Arkham plot goes. Am I even reading a Batman ongoing comic if I'm not complaining about everything? If you aren't, then you aren't doing it right.

Poison Ivy #38

★★★★☆

It's kinda crazy how long Janet survives while also being deadly ill and looking like she is actively dying and decomposing. I still don't know how to feel about her. Ivy is so incredibly selfish, in a way she is otherwordly, bigger than life, but at the same time she is so human at her core. Her flaws are what make her human, separates her from the Grey and the Green. As cruel as it sounds, I adore the pages where she says that maybe she isn't capable of love, maybe she's never loved anyone, not even Harley.

Poison Ivy Annual #1

★★★⯪☆

I don't know what I was expecting but medieval Harley and Ivy wasn't it lol. It does relate very nicely to this month's Poison Ivy regular issue. Stories about betrayal and whatnot.

Gotham Academy: First Year #2

★★★★☆

Olive and Kyle and very cute. Some tiny details are so heaartbreaking. Olive doesn't even have clothes of her own besides her uniform. She is wearing a borrowed dress to meet Kyle's family, with sneakers that clash with the dress. She meets and plays d&d with Maps. Very cute.

Scarecrow plays an interesting role on this story. On one hand he is a doctor who is helping Olive's mom with the medication she needs. On the other hand, he is still a villian and he is in Arkham for a reason. But then again, so is Olive's mom. What do you do when you're in Olive's position? Who is the bad guy and who is the good guy?

Supergirl #7

★★★★☆

I know I know, I just said I wasn't gonna log Supergirl '25 every month anymore. But I do have opinions about this issue. First off I don't really care about Thanksgiving, weird colonizer holiday, Lesla is rightfully confused by it. Anyways, here's a few random comments: I think Superman looks funny in Sophie Campbell's artstyle, you can clearly tell she is more comfortable drawing women and what I called "female-gaze" men on a past log. I am not saying this as a critique or a complain, if anything it is something I struggle with as well whenever I try to draw masculine characters in a stylized form.

I also realized I had the exact same fuck-ass haircut Lena Luthor has. She looks just like I did at 17 lmfao. 2 tone hair and all. Please Sophie Campbell, please give her a girlfriend. If she isn't gonna be with Kara because DC isn't woke enough for it please at least let her date Luna. Please I have been successfully queerbaited. Oh and it was cute to see Conner and Cassie at the family dinner.

Rogue & Gambit (2018)

★★★★★

I might have started playing Marvel Rivals recently and I might have gotten influenced by Gambit's addition to the game to read some Marvel comics. For context, I've never watched the X-Men animated series and have no prior attachment to these characters. Whatever few Marvel comics I've read was mostly Young Avengers and Runaways like 10 years ago.

Anyways. I feel like this was a good place to start with Rogue and Gambit. I appreciate how the therapy sessions provide context, how they got to where they are now, in a way that's easy to understand for new readers while also acknowledging their past history. I gotta say I always find it a little funny? Ironic? Whenever a tropical island is seen as a "Paradise". I'm so desensitized to places like it. But I did like the whole premise of it.

I really enjoyed their relationship dynamic. Between this and Mr and Mrs X I really fell in love with Rogue's character. Rogue's memory at Jean and Scott's wedding, her inner monologue about falling for this handsome guy "that no one can pin down", how she can't touch him and how she doesn't think love is enough to keep him around. How she thinks she is just setting herself up for heartbreak. It hits a little too close to home and my own relationships. I love the way he loves her. How love is not the problem for him, but her lack of trust in him and in their relationship is.

Who would've known I'd like a straight ship this much?

Mr. & Mrs. X

★★★★⯪

I'm rawdogging my way through X-men comics, no reading guides no context no nothing, so you know, take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Their wedding was very sweet. And it was very cute to see their friends and family helping with the last minute wedding preparations. Relationship-wise it's written by Kelly Thompson too, so most of my thoughts on Rogue & Gambit '18 apply here as well. It's just sweeter now that they're married to each other, having the reassurance that they aren't leaving each other. Where can I find something like that?

I don't know enough about these characters history to really comment on Rogue losing and gaining control of her powers. I did really like the scene when she realizes everything she has been doing out fear, pushing him away in order to protect herself because she is so afraid of him doing the same thing to her. Again, it hits a little too close to home. Maybe I did need to hear that "conquering your fears" monologue.

Art-wise, I wasn't a huge fan of the artsyle. I feel like all of the female adult characters have this baby face that feels out of place. But the cover art was beautiful, I loved it.

Rogue & Gambit (2023)

★★★⯪☆

Sooo once again, I don't really know these characters well enough to comment on their characterization. But I will say that I wanted to hit Gambit with a rock for at least the first 3 issues. I did like the art style. The cliffhanger with Destiny pissed me off. Where does that story even continue?? Idk this is annoying.

Road to Empyre: The Kree / Skrull War

★★★★☆

Okay so after reading Rogue and Gambit, I decided I might as well pick up my Wiccan and Hulkling reading, as they were one of my favorite Marvel couples. As I said previously, the first Marvel books I've ever read were Young Avengers (and Runaways). I was a young queer kid dealing with a lot of external homophobia, and I could always find comfort in queer characters. All that to say Billy and Teddy have a special place in my heart, and they're the only reason why I'm even trying to read a big event like this.

This issue has beautiful art, I love how finely detailed the Skrull family is drawn. They feel so real. And of course Javier Rodríguez ate as always.

I don't have much to say about this honestly. But it is one of my favorite issues from the entire Empyre event (that I read, at least).

Empyre: Avengers #0

★★⯪☆☆

Tony Stark they could never make me like you. On a more serious note, it is clear that they're being manipulated, and thats the horror of it all. How easily a hero can side with the "bad guys" during a war. Even moreso when you throw religion and spirituality into it

Lords of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling

★★★★⯪

Uh I fucked up and read this when I was already halfway through Empyre, instead of reading it before Empyre. Whatever. Really enjoyed the two pages Tommy was in. BillyTeddy were very cute, my favorite codependent couple. I like how we get to see Teddy struggling with comming into this position of power that he never asked for. But was literally born to do.

Empyre

★★★★☆

At the risk of sounding like I'm #toowoke or whatever, I want to complain about Sequoia's character design. The first issue I thought he looked cool, I liked his emo haircut lol. Then as the story progresses and it becomes clear that he is the bad guy, I became hyperaware of the fact that his design is based off or at the very least heavily inspired by indigenous / native attire. And idk I don't love that the "nature-based savage" culture thats trying to kill everyone to be visually associated with (and therefor reforcing sterotypes about) indigenous cultures. I think you can make plant aliens without having to take inspiration from earth, just a thought.

Okay back to the main topic, BillyTeddy wedding!!!! I knew they had gotten married, and I knew about the space wedding, but I didn't know about the last-minute wedding in Las Vegas prior to reading this! I was nicely surprised by it. I know its a bigger universe event and blah blah blah but I wish we got to see at least some interactions with the rest of the YA team and their reaction to the wedding, apart from one panel.

It is nice to see the Kree/Skrull war resolved but idk the villian really doesn't do it for me. Whatever rating I give it is only because I liked that Teddy got an event arc for himself. But the story itself is like a 3/5 for me.

Empyre Aftermath: Avengers

★★★★⯪

Okay at least we got more than one YA panel this time. It was one page! There even is one AmeriKate panel! /sarcasm. Okay okay, on a serious note, I'm very happy that they got to have their gay jewish space wedding. One of my biggest gripes with DC will forever be how Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer weren't allowed to get married, due to DC's no wedding policy at the time. I'm glad at least one queer couple gets a happy ending. Or as happy as comic books can be. I'm getting tired of these fucking cliffhangers what the fuck is that end scene.

King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling #1

★★★★☆

Another Honeymoon comic, heck yeah. I have been enjoying the space emperor thing so far, Teddy trying his best to be a good leader. This was just a fluff issue, extra stuff that didn't fit in the Empyre event. The art style was cute. I don't have much to say about it.

The Last Annihilation: Wiccan and Hulkling #1

★★★⯪☆

Their first meeting!! They really were dating for like 5 minutes before the start of YA lmao. They did match each others freaks. Okay okay. Seriously, somehow Billy has always been very relatable to me (he is just like me fr fr except I'm a latina lesbian and not a gay jewish man, details.) But being bullied in high school for being queer is an universal experience.

Also some of the Kree being controlled by this AI superintelligence thing is so dystopian in a way that feels a little too real right now and I don't like it.

On further thought, they really are that couple that got married right out of high school. And I am self-aware enough to admit that at this point I like them more out of nostalgia than anything else.

(And I hate to say this but I hated the art for this issue).

Captain Marvel: Assault on Eden

★★★☆☆

At this point I feel like Teddy should have a different name that's more unique to him. Something that is maybe more Kree/Skrull, that isn't just because he vaguely resembles Hulk. I digress.

As far as Billy and Teddy go I really don't have much to add, it goes in line with every other recent comic they've been in. Not gonna lie, it gets kinda repetitive. And for Carol I really can't comment much. I did like the artstyle this time.

Captain Marvel #6 - #8

★★★⯪☆

YURIIII. DOOMED YURIIII!! Cuando buscas cobre y encuentras oro. I only read the issues with Billy and Teddy, but Yuna and Leonore's relationship (?) did caught my eye, I can't lie. I skimmed through the ending of the series because I wanted to see what happened with them. I might go back and read the rest of it.

Hulkling & Wiccan

★★⯪☆☆

When I was trying to find a reading guide or something for post-YA Wiccan and Hulkling appearances I kept seeing bad reviews about this story, with some people recommending to skip it entirely. I don't think it is as bad as people made it out to be. However, the art style, and particularly the first few pages, reads a little too much like a korean BL webtoon comic. I'm not sure if these mostly digital Infinity comics are meant to be canon? To me it just seems like Wayne Family Adventures level of canon.

X-Men: The Trial of Magneto

★★★★⯪

When I was doing my original YA reading 10ish years ago, I particularly loved The Children's Crusade, and House of M, and Wanda and her convoluted family story. All that Wiccan reading served as an excuse for me to get back into Wanda and the rest of the family. I really liked the premise of this comic so I started here.

Spoilers ahead:
Wanda really just went through the most elaborated assisted suicide ever. I rolled my eyes when the old version of the Scarlet Witch showed up, but it ended up going in a different direction thankfully. I like how it was presented as a detective story, trying to solve her murder with new clues being revealed every so often. I really liked it in the begining, I went ??? halfway through and liked it again by the end.

I wanna read more Krakoa era X-Men. New hyperfixation yay.

Absolute Batman #14

★★★★★

Peak. Absolute peak. Bane's fight was so so so good. It makes you really question how the fuck is Batman supposed to beat the absolute monster that is this Bane. It's great. Bruce and Waylon's friendship makes me wanna cry. Bruce has good friends, a support system and he still needs to become Batman. And the way that Batman unintentionally causes harm to the people closest to him. Aughhhh

Harley and Ivy: Life and Crimes

★★★★☆

I'm gonna be honest I completely forgot about this. I didn't like the cover art and thought it was gonna be something different idk. I was pleasantly surprised by it. It seems to be more of a classic Harley, mixed with the more modern portrayal of her relationships. The very clearly abusive Joker, Harley being sort of trapped in the cycle of it, and Ivy who doesn't have any reason to but still cares about Harley. I would've eaten this up when I was 14.

It's a good thing its meant to restablish their canon history, because the way that I rember it Harley and Ivy were paired together in a "best friends who live together and sleep on the same bed and also make out sometimes because men think its hot", but they're not lesbians why would you ever think that? /sarcasm. I'm not exactly sure when it changed to them being a serious romantic relationship, I know it happened when I wasn't reading comics but I'm too lazy to read any more Harley stuff.