Legion Lost #1, Suicide Squad #1, Resurrection Man #1, and Batwoman #1

I thought last night's 3 issue review was bad, tonight's is 4 issues. I'll try to keep them short and sweet. Again, I've broken them down by issue, so you can just skip to the one you want to read if you aren't interested in all of them.

Legion Lost #1
Legion as in the Legion of Superheroes from the 31st century of course. Lost where being the pertinent question here though, and I'm still not really sure because they haven't shown us enough of the place yet. I know it's Earth, I'm just not sure when other than the modern era, and we know they had to go through the Flashpoint boundary (whatever that means). I've liked Fabian Nicieza's style of writing since the nineties when he was at Marvel, but I'm not sure I get this book yet. A group of Legionnaires come back in time to stop somebody I've never heard of (hopefully, long time DC fans know who Alastor is), and we don't even find out if they are in mainstream DC time now or some other era. And the guy they are after, he isn't even the main threat, it's the disease he's carrying, and it's too late to stop it from being airborne already.
I like the Legion, but I didn't much care for this issue. It even had four of my favorite legionnaires in it (Wildfire, Timber Wolf, Dawnstar, and Gates). I'm not sure what the story is really about yet, and I am not sure whether the legionnaires are going to be dealing with how they get "unlost" or the threat unleashed in this time they are in. It would seem that to resolve one they have to resolve both, but the story didn't lead me in any real direction for this.
The pencils by Pete Woods and the rest of the art work is well done. You can see the emotions and frustration in the faces, including the reaction when Dawnstart gets sicks (thankfully, it's not a close up).
All in all, I would say don't pick this book up unless you're a die hard Legion of Superheroes fan. I like the legion enough that I'll pick up the second issue myself, but it better go somewhere that I can understand there or this will end up out of my stack really quick.

Suicide Squad #1
This was a pick up by me just to see what they were going to do. I had no intention of sticking with this book past #1. Currently, my mind is changed though. Adam Glass writes the story of the new Suicide Squad and he has me hooked from beginning to end. The book opens with the Squad already captured and being tortured to find out who is behind the Suicide Squad. The guys doing the torturing aren't playing around and neither is the Suicide Squad for the most part as evidenced by the brutalness of both sides. The ending was a surprise when it happened, but not once you realize who you're dealing with in the story. Adam Glass did an excellent job of setting up what the Suicide Squad is about both now and in the past. I don't think I've ever read anything by Mr. Glass before, but kudos to him on this story, it's hooked me on a title I had planned to not actually pick up.
The artists (there are three actually: Federico Dallocchio, Ransom Getty, and Scott Hanna) did an amazing job with the book. I'm not sure if Jim Lee designed the new looks for Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and King Shark, but the rendition by these artists was awesome whether they did the redesigns or Lee did. The only problem I had with the artwork is I probably wouldn't advise allowing younger children to read this book and DC acknowledged that as well with the Teen + rating for the book. Though, some of the torture is so well depicted and other bits that I'm not even sure I would allow younger teens to read this book. Of course, I'm a little old fashioned. It is cartoon violence, but still the rats burrowing out of Deadshot's abdominal cavity was a little much and will probably give me nightmares. I also have to say it was the artists who got me to pick up #1 to begin with (the cover artist anyway, Ryan Benjamin) because I wanted to see who Deadshot and King Shark were since I didn't recognize their new looks. I knew who Harley was because you can't mistake that crazed Joker'esque look on a woman for anyone else.
I highly recommend the book, but do be aware that it is a violent issue. The flashback scene for Harley Quinn also brings her back to her roots and quickly re-establishes her as the violent femme she is, erasing the more misunderstood sweetheart she had become in Gotham City Sirens with gal pals Catwoman and Poison Ivy. There's no doubt this is a girl with a mad-on love for the Joker in this comic.

Resurrection Man #1
I had planned to pick this one up because I heard the previous series was good and even fun at times if not well accepted. I didn't see anything fun about this series from this issue though. Don't get me wrong, I like the concept of the character and the story that's being built here; I just don't see any fun in it right now.
Resurrection Man is a guy who comes back from the dead every time he's killed (or dies naturally though that looks unlikely to happen with this character), and each time he comes back, he has a new super power (or do we have to call it a meta-human ability for DC).
Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning wrote an interesting foundational issue re-establishing this character for this book. This is part of the edge or dark line of DC titles, and it is definitely that. The adversaries in the issue aren't so much against Resurrection Man as against each other in order to obtain something from Resurrection Man first. I don't want to give a lot away, so I'll leave it at that.
Fernando Dagnino does an excellent job with the artwork, Resurrection Man looks like a guy who's been through the ringer several times from teh first time we see him to the last time we see him in the book, and he should.
If you were a fan of the character in his previous incarnation, I'd say pick it up and see if you still are. I never read the previous series, so all I have to go on is this one issue. I'm not sure it's for everyone though, so I'd say this is one you probably have to check out on your own and make a decision about. It has elements that may offend Christians depending on how you view fiction.

Batwoman #1
J.H. Williams III picks up Batwoman #1 shortly after the end of the last limited series. This character remains kind of an enigma to the DC Universe for me. I get the connection to the old stories and the actual original Bat-Girl, but with the Batgirl that most fans know and love (Barbara Gordon) back I'm just not sure why we need Batwoman or really ever needed her for that matter. I liked Batwoman's appearances in 52 where she was (re) introduced to the DC Universe, and while I liked the story in the limited series I never got into the fully fleshed out character of Batwoman. As I said, this series picks up where that left off pretty much with no changes that I can see so far. Batwoman also seems to be the fringe character for the Bat-family (yes, Batman makes an appearance; it's Gotham after all) and tends to deal with the macabre or downright supernatural villains.
The art work by W. Haden Blackman gives the book that dark and creepy look that Williams seems to be writing for and is excellently done. The ghostly spirit in this issue is truly creepy and the crimes she's committing are definitely heinous and macabre.
Overall though, I'm not invested in Batwoman. I don't like her character still. She's flat and one dimensional. The one scene in this issue where we get a tear from her seems more of an act though I'm not sure it was meant to be from the way it was written and drawn. For me, it's just the character. I think they've made her so pale and gothic that I just don't believe she has any feelings.
If you like the limited series, you 'll like this. If you didn't like the limited series, you will feel the same way about this. If you think Batgirl is the only red head that should be in a bat suit, stick to Batgirl; I will be.

Last Tidbit
Before I go tonight, I have one last tidbit to leave you with after reading through 24 issues of the new 52. The creepy cloaked girl from Flashpoint #6 is in every issue as in the background of one panel in every book except near as I can figure out Resurrection Man #1. She obviously has a part to play somehwere down the line, but we're going to have to wait and see what it is. There's a web-site that claims she's in Resurrection Man #1 as well, but the panel they show for her, I looked at and I'm not sure that's her. That figure looks male and the colors are wrong, but that could be the darkness of the panel that makes the colors look often. The male part, I'm pretty sure about. Still she's there in 23 other issues and may be in the last 3 I have to read this week too for all I know. Look for her, you'll see her if you go back and look for her from Justice League #1 through all of this week's titles.

Thanks for reading.