While the first post in this series came at the end of the first month of DC Comics’ line-wide relaunch and covered all of the new first issues at once, the rest will post weekly and cover the second issues as well as any new series that launch. This week featured thirteen No. 2s and the launch of two mini-series.

As before, I present my reactions 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 Not Interested to Maybe Interested, and one book dropped from Maybe to Not; and of the two new mini-series launched this week, one debuted in Interested and one in Maybe. See below for what moved and what stayed the same.

Interested

• Action Comics
  The best part of this issue was Superman laughing, and just why he laughed. I also appreciated what a Big Man On Campus type Lex is until the moment Superman is free, at which he point he sort of just freaks out.
• Animal Man
  Did nothing to lessen my interest, and in fact my interest is a little more defined now that the story of Maxine and The Red is moving forward. Open question: is The Red as depicted in this book the same as that mentioned in this month’s Swamp Thing? (See my remarks on that book below.)
• Detective Comics
  Continues to be kind of creepy as shit. The opening Bruce Wayne sequences did absolutely nothing for me, but once it switched to Batman and Commissioner Gordon, this just seems like the sort of completely mucked world in which Batman would exist. I’m still confused, hover, how the Arkham Asylum chronology fits together with the other titles in the Batman line.
• Huntress (new)
  The first issue of a 6-issue mini-series, this debuted today rather than with the start of the relaunch. While last month had a Catwoman defined by her boobs, an amnesiac nymphomanic Starfire, and a Voodoo who stripped the entire issue, this month brings us Huntress going up against a human trafficking ring. I’m sad only that this series is meant to be six-issues long. More, please.
• Men of War
  I’m loving that this book isn’t merely about soldiering. It’s not simply a war genre book. Rather, it is about soldiering in a world of superheroes and, potentially, gods. I honestly have no idea where this book is headed, and I kind of love that.
• O.M.A.C.
  Still awesome watching Keith Giffen going all Kirby-crazy. It’s sort of a weird DC spin on The Hulk, in a way, although I’m waiting for O.M.A.C.’s speech pattern to get him into some sort of trouble at some point. Also, the last-page reveal made me practically cackle with glee.

Maybe Interested

• Batwing
  I want to like this book, and I’m keeping it on the Maybe list because I do think it can be something interesting. But for this second issue, they basically had the title character incapacitated, which seems a strange thing to do when you’re still introducing him to the reader.
• Penguin: Pain and Prejudice (new)
  Honestly, it’s not like there’s anything especially surprising here. But now that they’ve set up Penguin and his world, I do want to see how it clashes with, you know, Batman’s. But, for whatever reason, I was expecting to be surprised here. I wasn’t, but I’ll see what they do next.
• Red Lanterns (was: Not Interested)
  I couldn’t quite grasp what the first issue of this book was going for, tonally. But this issue’s discussion of what creates rage, whether or not rage begets rage, and what does and does not deserve rage was enough to bump this one up. However, this book I’d consider month-to-month.
• Stormwatch
  I’m still not convinced this will work in the long run, and the presence of Martian Manhunter continues, honestly, to somehow irk me. He just doesn’t fit. But, somewhat like Batwing, I think this could be something interesting and deserves a bit more of my time before I decide. I do wonder why, for example, Stormwatch is nowhere to be seen when giant alien robots arise in Justice League International.
• Swamp Thing (was: Not Interested)
  One of the two books this week to graduate from Not Interested to Maybe Interested, and a good example of why I’m reading all the books for the first two or three months before making final determinations. In part, this book got bumped up because I’m intrigued by the glimpses at what is and is not a true Swamp Thing, and also curious whether or not The Red referenced here is the same one we see in this week’s Animal Man.

Not Interested

• Green Arrow
  I’ll say the same thing here that I said about the first issue: It was spectacularly un-engaging and I didn’t care about anything that was happening, or anyone involved in it. It’s entirely unclear why this title exists beyond DC feeling the character should have his own book.
• Hawk and Dove (was: Maybe Interested)
  Last time around, I said this book had the most likelihood of dropping to the Not Interested list unless it showed me something. It didn’t (show me something). I do feel like there are pieces with potential here, but the way they’re being put together is doing nothing for me.
• Justice League International
  More absolutely horrible dialogue, and the looming threat makes no sense. Or, rather, it makes no sense that if there are giant alien robots appearing all around the world, there aren’t already a bunch of superheroes responding. Maybe that’s part of some weird global legal structure, but frankly nothing in this book makes me want to figure that out.
• Static Shock
  Even more so than last month, I was completely uninvolved in anything that was going on. In fact, this is the one book that I actually didn’t even bother to finish reading.