Demon Knights
The concept - a bunch of DC's immortals, among them the aforementioned Madame, Etrigan the Demon (and his human host with the very un-dark-ages name Jason) and Vandall Savage, fight various medieval threats and magic - doesn't seem like the stuff hits are made of. But Cornell has a real deftness of touch, balancing humour (a great face-palm moment, a brilliant first line for Exoristos) with buckets of gore, including some pretty horrific stuff surrounding a possessed baby.
The characters are all introduced in a hurry but here Cornell and the artisits Neves and Albert show JLA just how an ensemble should be introduced - all have distinctive voices, motives and facial expressions. Shining Knight, for instance, has next to nothing to do, but is conveyed through smirk alone.
It was my most pleasant surprise of the DCnU so far, and also probably the comic I most enjoyed. Possibly because it is a genuine Number 1 with a completely new scenario and some new characters, rather than rehashing old stories from the old continuity.
Batwoman 1
Everyone talks about just how gorgeous the art is, so let's get that out the way now: It is hands-down the most beautiful comic I've ever seen. The shift in art styles to indicate Kate's dreamy nocturnal adventures as Batwoman and her real life (still making her stand-out with her utterly colourless skin) are flawless. The layouts are inspired. Thanks to Williams, Batwoman is one of the most striking and instantly recognisable characters in the DCU.
Elegy already put Batwoman in a world slightly more surreal that Batman, so the watery ghost lady seen here isn't out of place. It just further drums home the fact that the Dark Knight will be chasing psychos across Gotham's rooftops while Kate deals with the... weirder elements.
Williams and Blackman set up a strong cast of characters, adding Maggie Sawyer, Cameron Chase and Bette Kane to the roster, and very little has been changed by the reboot. So little, in fact, that Bette's reference to being a former Teen Titan was either a tantalising hint that the DCnU's team wasn't the first after all, or that the DC editors failed to notice the error. I'm hoping for the former, simply because I am still unspeakably furious at them for undoing The New Teen Titans.
I came into this book with high expectations, and they were met. Which, by my standards, means that this has been the best Bat-book so far in the reboot. Sorry Batgirl.
I also skim-read Superboy, just to make sure I was up-to-speed for Teen Titans, which I plan on picking up in week 4, and to make sure Rose Wilson was still psychotic (spoiler alert: She is) From what I saw, it looked like an enjoyable book. The burning building section was especially good.
But, on the bad side of things, what THE FUCK have they done to Amanda Waller?!?
There's not a DC fan alive (over 18) who wouldn't put this at the top of their TV wishlist. It's The Wire of the DCU, and not just because it's a police procedural, but because it is in a class of its own. Great characters, great stories and villains that range from the outlandish Gotham villains like Two Face and Mr Freeze to real-world bad guys like Corrigan.
Screw a Raven TV show - just do the Teen Titans. You'll end up bringing most of them in as guest stars in Raven anyway, and besides, she works much better as a peripheral character slowly revealed to be far more powerful and screwed-up than anyone realised than as a main character.
She'd make a great TV lead, juggling a showbiz career and a superhero alter ego, wielding a power that she hasn't quite got her head round yet and featuring a supporting cast of DC's magical characters. I'd put her in her mid-20s and take inspiration from Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers interpretation, pegging Zee as a bit of a screw-up who drinks too much, has very inapproriate taste in men (Batman and Constantine? Girl likes a bad boy) and has a very sharp, smart tongue, even when she's speaking words the right way round.
John Constantine, as brought to screen in a British-American co-production would just be heaven. British cast, locations, black humour and grit, with American money. It's about time the Keanu version was wiped from audiences' minds, and this would be the way to do it.
Selina Kyle is a ready-made leading woman. I'd take a heavy influence from Brubaker's run on her book and give it a great gumshoe vibe and a supporting cast including Holly, Karon, Slam Bradley and Leslie Thompkins. The fact that Catwoman is inextricably linked to Batman could cause problems, but she has enough of her own history and stories to carry a good few series' without him: Her training with Wildcat, her background with the Falcone family, her childhood on the streets and rise to wealthy society burglar extraordinaire, with a social conscience. Robin Hood in Louboutins.
Okay, so a show about Booster Gold won't bring in anyone other than DC's usual white male 18-31 audience. But come on, who wouldn't want to see a comedy action show about the world's tackiest superhero? (I have a soft spot for Booster.)
Robbie Coltrane was famously one of the only actors that JK Rowling had in mind for the films, and there was never anyone else who could have played the friendly dragon-loving half-giant. He's utterly loveable as Harry's substitute uncle-figure, and although his role has been minimal in the more recent films he's always a solid presence.
Thank goodness Helen McCrory's pregnancy robbed David Yates of his first choice for Bellatrix, because I can't imagine anyone else as the shrieking, wild-haired loon that is Voldemort's right-hand-woman. In Bellatrix, the wonderful Bonham-Carter might just have found her iconic role.
The first two films tend to be forgotten in favour of the superior subsequent ones, but one thing that deserves to be remembered is Kenneth Branagh's gloriously pompous portrayal of the five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. I had my heart set on Hugh Grant for the role, but Branagh won me over, and then some.
Brendan Gleeson isn't exactly one of the most famous thesps to be signed up to the Harry Potter franchise, but he was the perfect match for the gruff, paranoid Mad-Eye Moody, working equally well as the evil Barty Crouch Jnr and as the just-as-barking real Mad-Eye. Shame he had to be killed off.
Need I even explain this choice? I can't wait to see Rickman get his teeth into That Scene in Deathly Hallows Part 2. No-one swishes a cloak quite like him.
This was the role that put Jason Isaacs and his steely blue eyes on the map. He was a revelation in his first appearence in Chamber of Secrets, and has just got better as Lucius becomes increasingly frayed around the edges.
Evanna Lynch managed to be completely eccentric and 14 at the same time. Quite a feat. Her lilting tones and look of mild interest at all times is spot-on Luna. I'm not sure if she's actually doing any acting or just playing herself, but it's perfect casting.
Nothing against Michael Gambon's also-pretty-damn-good version of Dumbledore, but Richard Harris was the first and best, giving Dumbledore a benign playfulness wrapped around a steel core. It's a shame we never got to see him as the hard-as-nails sorceror he is revealed as in later films - I suspect that you wouldn't have wanted to mess with Richard Harris' Dumbledore.
Who would have thought that a cat lover with a fetish for pink and torturing school children could be far scarier than Voldemort? Staunton brings the Potterverse's nastiest and most realistic villain to horrible life and sends chills down your spine with merely a child-like giggle.
Daniel Radcliffe has improved immeasurably as the series has gone on (and with it become someone I'd happily go for a pint with) and Emma Watson maturing into a confident, beautiful woman has fed nicely into Hermione's character development, but Rupert Grint was always the most talented, and the one who nailed his part just right. From comedy relief to unlikely brooding hero, chances are in a scene with all three lead kids in it, it'll be Grint you're watching.
The Secret Six formed in 2005 in Villains United, a mini-series during Infinite Crisis, and led to a Secret Six limited series in 2006, before finally getting an ongoing in 2008. There have been changes to the team over that time (Knockout, Mad Hatter, Harlequin) but they soon settled on the dream team of Scandal Savage, Catman, Deadshot, Ragdoll, Bane and Jeanette. Like the team themselves, Secret Six was the outsider at DC, out of place alongside black-and-white heroes and villains, but always managing to scrape through and triumph when, by all rights, it should have been cancelled a long time ago. It's hardly family friendly, it repaid the long-term rather than casual reader, and never sold huge numbers. But it was critically acclaimed by anyone who ever picked it up and many comics creators named it as a favourite. It survived beyond its natural shelf-life by sheer talent. It was one of the best books DC was putting out with as passionate a fanbase as any title could ask for.
But it seems wrong to praise the series for its political agenda, because I don't think it had one. It's not populated with LGBT characters - it's populated with good ones. Deadshot was the only character with any real credibility when the series first started. Catman was a joke and Bane was a fairly one-note villain. Simone made them better than they'd ever been. Ever. Which, admittedly, in Catman's case wasn't hard. But who would have guessed that he'd work so well with Deadshot, or that by the time of the Cats in the Cradle arc he'd be an utterly believable bad-ass, someone who, had it not been for defining events in childhood, could have actually been the hero he always wanted to be. His dying line in the brilliantly bonkers Western one-shot was just so perfect, coming as it did directly after the conclusion to Cats in the Cradle.
He seems to have both his arms now, which I hope means he also has a daughter in tow. Being a single father was his superhero USP and I liked it. You can keep the drug addict history - I like that too. Kind of excited about seeing him, Red Hood and Starfire in a book together (although I don't like the idea of them turning the gloriously happy Starfire into a 'dark' character) If Cass Cain no longer has a home in the Batfamily, she could do worse than popping up in this book with the fellow screw-ups. Renee Montoya could have a home here too.