Hell Arisen: Lobo Vs. Supergirl

Welcome to day one of a brief tour of negativity.

I knew that at the back of the books was a preview of Amy Reeder's Amethyst book and I was excited to see what that book was going to look like. I have been calling for Reeder to do an Amethyst book since 2015.

Unfortunately, before I got to that preview, I was faced with this.

It turns out that the there is going to be an issue of Hell Arisen at the end of the month where the infected Supergirl will take on Lobo in 'the brawl for it all'. I like what James Tynion has done at Justice League Dark. I like Steve Epting's realistic art so I wonder how that will work here with these two garish characters.

Now I admit I am not enjoying Year of the Villain. I am not enjoying this infected Supergirl. I am not enjoying anything with the Batman Who Laughs. So I know this book isn't being written for me.

But I can't help but be a bit bummed that the only time DC seems to be promoting Supergirl is when she is somehow going down a dark path.

The last full ad was when Marc Andreyko took over. It showed Supergirl wielding Rogol Zaar's axe. Now we have the pro wrestler look of the Infected Kara blazing fire from her eyes.

Will I get this issue to help be follow Kara's story? Probably.

I can only hope that when this infected phase of the story ends that DC does Supergirl a solid and promotes her solo book.

And I can only hope that all this darkness goes away.

Review: Year of the Villain

It seems like every other year since Dan Didio took over DC has been labeled (or at the very least feels like) The Year of the Villain. From the overall tone of the DCU to an event like 'Forever Evil' to 'Future's End', we seem to have had a darkening and a coarsening of the heroes of the DC Universe for about a decade. And just when you think things were getting better, just when Rebirth sort of reset things in a brighter and more classic way, the pendulum swings back.

So I wasn't too surprised, given these last years, to find that we literally have a Year of the Villain event in the DC books coming up. Scott Snyder is bring in Perpetua, the Anti-Monitor's mother, to rewrite reality. Brian Michael Bendis is ripping apart the political landscape in Event Leviathan. And the Batman who Laughs is lurking around every corner it seems.

This week a teaser of all those events came out for the small price of two bits. DC's Year of the Villain Special #1 hit the stands with stories from each of those writers whetting our appetite for the major plotlines around the corner. Add luscious art by Jim Cheung, Alex Maleev, and Francis Manapul and you have a great bargain for comic readers. Throw in a few articles and process art in the back and you basically have a steal.

For me, this already feels a little different than those prior peeks into the minds of the bad guys. The Leviathan story feels very fresh and looks like it is going to impact everyone. The Perpetua story is a Crisis-level event which probably will have the grandest of scopes. I just don't think I am going to see a ton of hands being chopped off here, a sort of marker I have for what mess I am in for. This seems better.

Too be honest, the Leviathan arc is the one I am most interested in. I have theories. So I will be covering that mini-story the most here. On to the book and a reiteration of my theory.