GeekMom: Comic Book Corner — May 22nd, 2013

Happy Comic Release Day! Welcome to another installment of GeekMom Comic Book Corner, where we recap our adventures in comics for the week. This week, we look at a new twist on Little Red Riding Hood, give a sendoff to Geoff Johns, take a look at what’s up with the Batgirl family drama and explain why an Archie comics crossover is drawing in readers at GeekMom Corrina’s house.

Dakster Sullivan–Akaneiro: The Path of Cloak and Wolf #1 of 3
Akaneiro: The Path of Cloak and Wolf by Justin Aclin and art by Vasilis Lolos is a three-part mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics. I’ve enjoyed Justin’s other work in the Star Wars universe and I was excited to read this story. The cover gives it away that it’s a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood in a more Asian setting.

Our main heroine is Kani, a young and stubborn Ainu girl who feels less like one of her own people than anything else. I can tell she’s a very strong-minded character and she shows it when she saves her father from a fierce yokai (demon with fur). The Red Hunters arrive and save the day, much to the despair of the Ainu people. In an effort to keep the peace, Kani makes a request of the councilors that changes her world forever.

Along her journey we see that not everyone is happy at the prospect of peace between the Ainu and the Red Hunters. This is where the real story begins.

In my opinion, there’s enough of the classic tale for the fans to be interested and enough of it left out that anyone who doesn’t care for the tale to still want to pick it up.

The violence is pretty mild, so I would feel comfortable letting anyone 13 years old and up read this first issue.

Akaneiro: The Path of Cloak and Wolf #1 debuts in comic book stores as well as Dark Horse’s comic book app and ComiXology today.

Curious to know what I’m pulling this week? Check out my pull list on Comixology.

Geoff Johns says goodbye to The Green Lantern

This week, Geoff Johns‘ last issue writing The Green Lantern is released into stores. I’m especially sad to see this, because Geoff Johns is one of the first names in comics I learned. I started reading the The Green Lantern with the New 52 and I’m really enjoying the series. While I’m excited to see where Johns concentrates his talents next, for now I’m sad to see him leaving one of my favorite DC Comics storylines.

To commemorate it being his last issue, The Green Lantern #20 ties up all the previous story threads and comes in at a whopping 64 pages. It will be interesting to see how the last issue of his nine-year run comes to an end.

I’m going to miss him writing Hal Jordan and Sinestro in their own title series, but on the upside, he will be continuing his role as writer for Green Lantern Simone Baz in Justice League America and Hal Jordan in Justice League.

Corrina–Batgirl #19 by Gail Simone, art by Daniel Sampere and Vincente Cifuentes and the Archie Comics Sonic/Mega Man Worlds Collide crossover

Batgirl #19 has Gail Simone returning as the writer after a two-issue hiatus from being temporarily pulled, then reinstated from the book. She returns at a critical time, as Babs confronts her sociopathic younger brother, James Gordon Jr., to save the life of their mother.

The issue garnered a great deal of publicity for the revelation that Babs’ roommate, Alysia Yeoh, is transgender. It wasn’t much of a revelation for regular readers of the series, as there were clues all along, but it’s great to see comics with a more diverse cast and I like Alysia a great deal. Story-wise, secrets were shared both ways between roommates as Babs revealed that the nice young man Alysia’s been dating is actually James Jr., and he had nothing good in mind for his sister’s friend.

All along, the series has been taking Babs from an isolated, traumatized woman to a more secure, outgoing hero, and trusting Alysia with this secret is part of that. It was a great step for the new 52 Babs, though she still withhold the secret of her cowled identity.

At the end of the issue, Babs confronts her brother and saves her mother but in doing so, seemingly kills James Jr. Their father, Police Commissioner James Gordon, arrives just in time to see his son fall to his supposed death after a confrontation with Batgirl and immediately orders her arrest for murder. (It seems, as yet, that the Commissioner doesn’t know his daughter is Batgirl.) I’m curious to see that play out but hopefully not too long as Jim Gordon is too smart not to realize his daughter is Batgirl or that she was defending his ex-wife. Not to mention, it’s already been shown in another comic that James Jr. survived the fall and the batarang to his eye. Warning: this comic, like most of the Bat-Family, has a strong horror vibe. Might want to read it before handing it off to younger readers.

Meanwhile, while the Batman family was busy confronting the Joker these past few months, my youngest daughter has been obsessed with a very different crossover: Sonic & Mega Man: Worlds Collide.

These two series from Archie Comics are part of an eventual 12-part crossover as the villains from their respective worlds team-up to defeat the heroes.

I asked my daughter what she liked about it and her answer was that it was really cool seeing Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man fight each other, to learn how their worlds were alike and different, and to anticipate how they’ll become friends and beat the bad guys. Her eyes went wide when she read the chapter that explained how the villains met.

And I had a small mom-fail on this one as Mega Man #25, part 4 of the crossover, sold out before I could grab it off the shelves. Thankfully, it’s available digitally as well.

Looking for something else, readers? Check out this week’s listed books:

All Star Western #20 Aquaman #20 Arrow #7 Batman Beyond Unlimited #16 Batman Incorporated #11 CP Batman Lil Gotham #2 Batman The Dark Knight #20 Constantine #1 2nd Ptg Demon Knights TP Vol. 02 The Avalon Trap Flash #20 Fury Of Firestorm The Nuclear Man #20 Green Lantern #20 CP Green Lantern New Guardians #20 Green Team #1 Grifter TP Vol. 02 New Found Power Justice League #20 CP Justice League Dark #20 Red Lanterns #20 Savage Hawkman #20 Superman #20 Talon #8 Teen Titans #20 Unwritten #49

A Plus X #8 A Plus X TP Vol. 01 Equals Awesome Avengers #12 Cars Magazine #14 Daredevil #26 Deadpool #10 Fantastic Four #8 Fearless Defenders #4 Ff By Jonathan Hickman TP Vol. 04 Iron Man #258.3 Jim Featuring Sif TP Vol. 01 Stronger Than Journey Into Mystery #652 Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man #14 Mmw Fantastic Four TP Vol. 09 Powers Bureau #4 Scarlet Spider #17 Scarlet Spider #17 Dellotto Vc Secret Avengers By Rick Remender TP V02 Superior Spider-Man #10 Ultimate Comics Wolverine #4 (4) Uncanny Avengers #8 Uncanny X-Men #6 Uncanny X-Men By Kieron Gillen TP Vol. 04 Wolverine Best There Is TP Complete X-Men Legacy #11 Young Avengers #5

Acronym Key:  VC = Variant Cover  / HC = Hard Cover / TP = Trade Paperback  / CP = Combo Pack  / PE = Premier Edition

Liked it? Take a second to support GeekMom and GeekDad on Patreon!