The fourth post in this series covers the third week of the second month of DC Comics’ line-wide relaunch. In part one I looked at all of the new first issues at once, while in part two the coverage schedule went weekly, which continued with part three. This week featured thirteen second issues.

My reactions are presented via three lists: Interested, Maybe Interested, and Not Interested, along with notes and comments on each title. Each week, I’ll note if any books have switched from one list to another, and at month’s end I will post a wrap-up on where all the books stand.

The summary: two books moved up from Maybe Interested to Interested. See below for what moved and what stayed the same. Note: There are spoilers in here for Catwoman because I needed to react to something very specific.

Interested

• Batman
  There’s all sorts of good stuff here, and the voice just seems authentically Batman to me. The choicest bit in the entire issue is Batman’s conversation with Commissioner Gordon about The Council of Owls.
• Birds of Prey (was: Maybe Interested)
  This one is still coming together, but the strongest selling point for me this time, and much of why it’s been bumped up on my list, is the pretty clear mission sense on the part of Black Canary. “I want to find the people who did this very, very badly.”
• Captain Atom
  Still very much in setup mode, and I’m curious to see if they come to address why he can’t, or doesn’t, do what he does in this issue for everyone. The exposition giving his origin was a little clunky.
• Nightwing
  Doing a very good job establishing Nightwing as part of the Bat family yet not defined by Batman. Relaunching the character by reintroducing the circus into his life to this degree is interesting, but I’m curious to see how well it works outside of Gotham.
• Supergirl (was: Maybe Interested)
  Last time, I suggested they maybe brought Superman in too quickly. I forgot about that critique here. Where the first issue was basically just one giant confused-girl fight, here we start learning some of the real setup, and it’s intrigued me enough to bump this up, for now.
• Wonder Woman
  Crazy and awesome, again. I’m not sure how I feel about the sledgehammer of making the Amazons such vocal man-haters, but I freely admit their spooky whisper hate speech about it is sort of hilariously descriptive. (Spooky whispers in the forest? Is this Lost?) Meanwhile, Diana speaks like she’s on Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and I mean that as a compliment. Also, Hermes cracks me the hell up.

Maybe Interested

• DC Universe Presents
  I’m more interested in what this book is doing with Deadman in this issue than I was last issue, but I’m still not entirely sold. Also, I’m confused at the fact that his personality seems completely different than how he was depicted in the most recent issue of Hawk & Dove.
• Justice League
  Look, the reality is this will probably eventually graduate to Interested because, well, it’s the freaking Justice League. But it just all seems so forced, especially when it comes to the clashing personalities. There’s no subtlety here at all on that count, and while I get that we’re pretty much just having them beat on each other for the time being, I’d like something more.
• Legion of Super-Heroes
  Much tighter and more coherent than the kind of sloppy first issue. I still don’t understand why the Legion can refer to “Flashpoint” the way they do here and in Legion Lost, but given Brainiac 5′s remarks about Glorith, I’m beginning to wonder if the theories that she is the mysterious hooded woman in all the New 52 first issues isn’t correct after all.

Not Interested

• Blue Beetle
  While stronger than the first issue, and a clearer demonstration of how the book will work initially, I’m still not feeling a connection to this one.
• Catwoman
  Opens with still more boobs, and (because it’s what we all wanted?) Batman after sex. Then proceeds to a fairly pedestrian “let’s set two mobs against each other” story. Generally pointless, all the more so because of the end. Is it still an example of “women in refrigerators” if the protagonist meant to be agonized by it is also a woman? “Let’s kill the average-weight woman friend we only just introduced last issue so we can use it to make Boobwoman mad.”
• Green Lantern Corps
  I wanted to come out of this one bumping it up to the Maybe list, but I while I can see how the setup regarding the antagonists could be interesting, I’m not feeling it.
• Red Hood and the Outlaws
  I really do think that the underlying plot here could be pretty interesting. And I like the rebooted mystery surrounding Jason Todd’s return to the land of the living. But apparently this book really is written for morons, as there’s more women bending at nonsensical angles in public to coo over our heroes, and the dialogue between Jason and Roy, and Roy and Kory, is just completely pathetic. I feel like this is the Jersey Shore of the New 52.