Vixen (CW Seed) review

So, with the Flash and Arrow successes for the CW, they decided to take on another DC property, Vixen. Now Vixen isn’t really all that active in comics as of the New 52. She had a brief stint in the Justice League International where she was rendered comatose and her most recent mention was as potential recruit for the main Justice League. I’ve been reading the league since the DCYou and I can tell you she’s not currently a member as they’re more interested in other elements such as the dynamic with Lex Luthor as a member, the ongoing war between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor and the various players assembled for that, not to mention the new Power Ring.

But I’m going off track. What I’m saying is, Vixen is not a high profile character among the likes of Green Arrow and the Flash. So this may be an odd choice but her power-set is largely magic based, a portion that has not really been explored before, so there’s opportunity for it. This is done is animation as opposed to live action and it’s honestly not something I have a problem with. Given Vixens power-set of calling upon powers of the animal kingdom it would take a lot of special effects to put this into motion in live action, and whilst they have managed to do a lot with the special effects in the Flash, Vixen is a different game entirely.

But of course animation isn’t cheap and the CW knows that Vixen doesn’t have the fan-base of Green Arrow or the Flash. So these animated shorts provide a sort of test run for the character, giving the basics of the character, adding some cameos from Arrow and the Flash whilst also providing a decent flowing narrative.

Because of the shorts only being 5-7 minutes long, I didn’t see the point in reviewing them individually. So let’s dig into Vixen and see whether the CW really has something here.

4 issue Test #9 - Black Canary

Black Canary is a title I picked up because it looked like a fun read, I have little if any affection for the character of Black Canary. outside of her being a Justice League member and her being Laurel on Arrow (oh boy…). Not that I dislike the character and I can't deny her bad-assness, she just didn't grab my attention, especially as I'm fairly recent into comics, while before I only purchased the odd trade. But with the DCYou launching, let’s take a look at Black Canary and see what we’ve got with this one

Doctor Who Series 9 episode 2 review - The Witch's Familiar

Not really got any introductory blurb for this one so... Let's take a look

Editorial: 5 things I want to see in Batman and Robin Eternal

Batman Eternal; I did a 4 issue test on the series in January (despite the fact the 4th issue came out in April the year before, before I even started this blog) it was a good story but it's focus on the plot and big reveals whilst character work was limited to only Batman, Julia Pennyworth, Spoiler and Jim Gordon (with a few sprinkles for Batgirl and the Red Hood) preventing me from calling it a great story. Next month, a new series of Batman Eternal is coming out, titled Batman and Robin: Eternal focusing more on the family of Batman than Batman (who is now Jim Gordon in a stupid robot bat-suit)

So, what needs to happen in this 6-month weekly series to improve upon it's predecessor, here are my 5 suggestions

4 issue test #8 - Starfire

After DC’s half-assed event Convergence (which was really only there as DC was moving to a new office, although some of the tie ins were good) DC brought us the DCYou, a launch of several new titles with intent of adding diversity to the range. Also as part of this there’s a new semi-existent continuity where some books would exist as part of a wider universe and some would exist in a continuity bubble of their own. I do get why continuity can be a creative problem, especially given DCs line of editorial interferences of late. I don’t see why it’s good for a reader. A good comic should not need you to know masses of information to understand it, removing continuity entirely is only a big FU to the fans of the original continuity as a lot of books are rendered pointless.

OK, I’m going off track a bit. I don’t like the idea of the New52, sure some decent books came out of it, but most wouldn’t have been entirely impossible if it were in the old continuity. Plus continuity became an absolute mess with writers not sure what has and hasn’t happened and as a reader that made me more confused. If you’re gonna reboot, do it with full heart and start over entirely, don’t try and fit events that are convenient into the mix for the sake of it.

But I have tried a few issues of the DCYou, and over the next few weeks they will undergo the 4 issue test. Starting up, we have Starfire

Starfire had been badly treated as part of the reboot. Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 is a disgrace and is a sign of a writer who didn’t care about her character and just made her a sex object. I heard they tried to backtrack on this in later issues but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was in response to the fan outrage rather than pre-planned. So, when the DCYou came around, she ditched Red Hood and Arsenal and migrated to her own book.

Before I start I should mention DC’s Divergence line. It’s basically a set of prequel issues that were released online and contained within several Convergence tie-in issue. It’s my opinion that these should not count as part of this review. A #1 issue shouldn’t require supplementary material so that you understand it. With that said, let’s dig into Starfire #1-4 and we’ll see what we have.

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 1 review - The Magician's Apprentice

Doctor Who is back on the telly with a 9^th season. With Peter Capaldi in the chair as the Doctor, Jenna Coleman playing Clara and Missy being back as well, we’re in for a wild ride.

TV Retrospective: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Season 2 Episodes 21-26