Infinite Frontier #0 Discussion/Spoilers

[Rakzo]

This is what I like to call "Rebirth 2.0"... except that half of the creative team is way less competent this time.

I'm sorry if I'm being overly-negative here but I can't help but feeling a sense of dread with the abundance of James Tynion IV, Brian Bendis and the latest disappointment, Tim Sheridan. Is just something that doesn't give me a lot of confidence considering that I've seen way too much of these authors' work and they follow the same terrible pattern in their own way every single time.

That being said, there are positives to appreciate here like the long-awaited rise of Joshua Williamson, not to mention that Geoff Johns' returns as well and Joelle Jones has shown a lot of talent over the years. These are the creators that you should watch in the future.

But enough about that, let's start digging into the issue.

The Diana segments are written by Williamson, Tynion and Scott Snyder (who thankfully doesn't have as much control this time) and they're handled fairly well despite of mostly being exposition for what's about to come. They deliver insteresting bits about the higher powers in the DCU and this is a build-up for what's about to come in the epilogue. John Timms' art is pretty flexible and detailed.

Then we proceed with Justice League by Bendis and credit where credit is due, I think Bendis does a solid set-up for his upcoming run concerning Black Adam and Superman, if there's something that I always appreciated about Bendis is that at the very least he got Clark's voice and that continues here. The problem with the writer comes in the long run and that's why I don't expect much from what's coming next. David Marquez' pencils are extremely polished and pleasent to look at.

Tynion on Batman might be the opposite of Bendis since his premises are as creatively bankrupt as you can get except with better execution I guess? At least more marketable execution. Although I like that Barbara Gordon is mostly back as Oracle but I feel like Tynion might have something against Tom King's Batman run because of his treatment of Bane (I also have a lot of things against King's run but Tynion has no right to criticize others). Grifter also seems to continue as in Future State. Jorge Jimenez' artwork is vibrant as always.

Wasn't impressed by Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad's Wonder Woman work on Future State but the Nubia segments here are decent enough and I always liked the idea of the character as I always said. Alitha Martinez and Rags Morales' artstyle is safe, not too impressive.

Joelle Jones returns to write about Yara Flor and of course she makes Yara as likable and fun as possible. Thank God Dan Watters was not the one handling her. Jones' artwork is beautiful of course. This is probably what makes me excited the most about what's about to come.

Tynion returns to write about Alan Scott and yeah, this is all about Alan finally coming out of the closet like his New 52 Earth 2 counterpart and you know what? I'm okay with this. My biggest fear was the possible absense of Obsidian and Jade because of it but they're present here in fact and Alan's sexuality doesn't change who he is at his core, not to mention that Alan hiding it makes sense considering the time he was born. Tynion depicts the story in a rather sappy way and I don't trust him to write the character but eh, the story here is not bad. Stephen Byrne's expressive style is fitting for the segment.

Tim Sheridan shares a little prelude for his Teen Titans Academy work and be afraid for the future people because if his Future State work taught me anything, is that the man doesn't know how to handle conclusions. Rafa Sandoval's flexible art is solid at least.

There's a Jon Kent segment written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and is fine I suppose. I wish they dropped the grown Jon angle and made him return as a kid but let's see what the writer does with it. Jamal Igle's artwork is pretty detailed.

Hey, Green Arrow and Black Canary do get a story written by no one else but Joshua Williamson. Not so excited about the heavy emphasis on the relationship that is present here but he gets the voices right most of the time and hey, Roy Harper is back too. Always trust Williamson on fixing mistakes. Alex Maleev's semi-realistic pencils are really appropriate for the Arrow universe.

Geoff Johns actually writes about Stargirl once again and is appropriate considering she's his creation and means a lot to him. He also brings back a lot of old ideas like Stripesy and the Seven Soldiers of Victory and is all in good fun. Todd Nauck's 90s cartoony style is fitting for the character.

Geoffrey Thorne returns to the Green Lanterns universe with a set-up about John Stewart, Simon Baz and Teen Lantern which is cool since I like all of these characters (Well, Teen Lantern not so much) and his Future State work was good (although I wish people who don't know Spanish stopped trying to write it). Dexter Soy's artwork is always vibrant.

Williamson writes about The Flash once again but this is all about Barry passing the mantle to Wally West. Is a shame that Williamson won't write Wally in the main Flash book since I always thought he did the character right but is a solid set-up nonetheless. Howard Porter's kinetic style is just right as well.

And Williamson closes the story by pretty much destroying the initial set-up and bringing back a character that at first I feared it was that over-played mistake known as The Batman who Laughs but thankfully Williamson surprised me here. I guess he wanted to continue his frustrated work on Justice League Odyssey. John Romita Jr.'s art is decent enough.

Overall, a lot of things that I like, some things that I fear but overall, a promising new beginning.

[Denirac]

It was a great debut

Williamson already teased he has a Green Arrow thing in the works, my guess is that's where the Roy Harper story continues
Glad to have Wally back as the main Flash.

Also: WE FINALLY GOT RID OF THE TRUCKER HAT! THE EVIL HAS BEEN DEFEATED!

[sbp1972]

It was a great debut

Williamson already teased he has a Green Arrow thing in the works, my guess is that's where the Roy Harper story continues
Glad to have Wally back as the main Flash.

Also: WE FINALLY GOT RID OF THE TRUCKER HAT! THE EVIL HAS BEEN DEFEATED!

Yes, but unfortunately, it turns out the trucker hat was sentient. And it does not like being abandoned.

[Restingvoice]

Grifter was hired as Lucius Fox's bodyguard post Joker War so he's staying as long as Joker's at large

Laughs got his old body back after his Darkest Knight body is destroyed? (Last time I think Batman used it as one of his Black Lantern corpse)

Oh right I was planning to get this but since I haven't paid that much attention to the later part of Rebirth I decided to wait and studied up the lore a bit.

Did they mention what's the consequences that The Hand told Diana?

[fin5]

I haven't read it yet but does Future state connect to this somehow

[Denirac]

I haven't read it yet but does Future state connect to this somehow

Yara shows up as does Tim Fox

[Avi]

The Gotham sequence was a sight for sore eyes but apart from that, I hope this overachieving narrative stays far away from the two bat titles I actually care about. Please, DC, don't reveal the crossover in your next solicitations.

I honestly expected more from the TT Academy segment. It teases even less than the FS story. My excitement continues to deep dive.

The Themysciran story has me interested in what is to come. It's a good time to be a Wonder Fan. Finally.

I enjoyed most of the stories. I hope the plot points pay off.

I haven't read it yet but does Future state connect to this somehow

Not directly, but Diana has actually seen all the Futures herself, which was already implied at the end of DM, I think. Some of the futures clearly make Spectre incredibly biased, lol. I'd say, it's subtle (or on the nose, see the Bat part) but the connection is there.

[j9ac9k]

I haven't read through this yet, so I'll just make a few comments on the image:
-- Can they please get rid of that big collar on Red X? It ruins the silhouette of the original design from the cartoon
-- I'm glad Huntress lost the hood - that never looked right on her.
-- Interesting that with all the Bat characters, there isn't anyone in a Robin costume - just a bunch of former Robins. (is it just the artist or did Damien get aged up?)
-- Interesting that Roy has arrows (I did flip through and it seemed like he had abandoned his bow) Or maybe they don't want to spoil the end of his journey. If they are looking to do something new with him, I could see him as the new Vigilante.
-- Stargirl and STRIPE - nice to actually see DC try to capitalize on a hit tv show. Conversely, it's nice to see Kate here.

[K. Jones]

Grifter was hired as Lucius Fox's bodyguard post Joker War so he's staying as long as Joker's at large

Laughs got his old body back after his Darkest Knight body is destroyed? (Last time I think Batman used it as one of his Black Lantern corpse)

Oh right I was planning to get this but since I haven't paid that much attention to the later part of Rebirth I decided to wait and studied up the lore a bit.

Did they mention what's the consequences that The Hand told Diana?

Darkseid is back to pre-COIE Jack Kirby power levels, I thought was the gist? That certainly SHOULD be a consequence so big that it scares everybody. Thank god his costume is back to being monolithic. No more "I'm a garish fragmented edgy new shard of the Whole Darkseid". Still I for one adored Darkseid monologuing about how "Look at this new Infinite Frontier of possibility and hope ... know this ... Darkseid IS FINITE" language play. Of course if you see an infinite playground and giant sandbox with no edges to play in Darkseid comes along and is like "I cut all the ropes on the rings, sawed off the monkey bars and crapped in the sandbox. Wallow in your misery, children."

But if that was the "Cost" it's probably too early in the Line Revamp and will be more of "Consequence # 1: The Red Herring One".

I'm fond of Super-Dad but not all that fond of post-Bendis Teenager-Jon so I'm giving Superman's new writer a shot (liked the tone at least) but not ultra hyped. Following Batman semi-regularly out of curiosity but not ultra hyped. I am ultra hyped on Nightwing and Batgirls but more on that later. Skeptical but want to be optimistic about Titans Academy because I've been literally mentioning Justice University pitches here and there on the internet for ages and someone is finally making a book. Wait-and-see approach to Bendis JLA. Excited about Flash maybe though.

But what I'm really curious about is this long overdue expansion of the Wonder Woman corner of the DCU into a line. Yara looks really interesting. Nubia has always been interesting and is finally getting a real push. Hippolyta reentering the world stage and being Wonder Woman on the Justice (Insert Team) once more? Count me in as down for it, she's been a fun substitute Wonder Woman before. Diana being like "nah, you can keep God-Hood ... fetch me my Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery Costume and YES I am going to wear BRAIDS!" was lovely. If we can see Diana and the sort of 'society of Amazons and related' carve out a really interesting universe, get some good boosting for Donna and Cassie and Artemis as well, some good Steve Trevor adventures? Count me in. Equal parts classic villains, new villains and meeting gods of various pantheons? Maybe get Steve Orlando back involved? Come on, count me in and take my money.

My high-level hype is for what was probably the lowest key preview; Williamson/Maleev on the Arrowverse. I don't think Green Arrow has been underserved in the recent long run. Lemire/Sorrention/Cowan run was fantastic even saddled with New 52 restraints and I'm a serious Percy run apologist - I think his Divergence endrun started a little iffy but once they got Ferreyra and Schmitt and were able to do the holistic full on Rebirth treatment I loved that run and think it's an underrated gem.

The trouble is that between these solid runs Green Arrow always has these like extended time-waster runs where they tread water and aren't great (kind of like Nightwing's books) and then they're invariably cancelled (unlike Nightwing's which live that purgatory until line-wide revamps). Too many lackluster issues in between decent runs, so the balance of quality is outweighed in a way that's less than flattering. This looks lovely. It's such a big corner of the DCU he gets to own and since he's running Damian's story and keystoning the Al Ghul Lazarus side of things ... man it looks like Williamson/Maleev/Melnikov is going to be doing the full O'Neil & Adams side of the DCU and I expect (get those up there) to see Richard Dragon, The Question, Bronze Tiger and several others. Deadman. The Sensei. Merlyn. Ra's al Ghul. Roy. Cheshire. Hell, give me Sportsmaster, Cheshire and the Tigresses finally.

[Restingvoice]

Darkseid is back to pre-COIE Jack Kirby power levels, I thought was the gist? That certainly SHOULD be a consequence so big that it scares everybody. Thank god his costume is back to being monolithic. No more "I'm a garish fragmented edgy new shard of the Whole Darkseid". Still I for one adored Darkseid monologuing about how "Look at this new Infinite Frontier of possibility and hope ... know this ... Darkseid IS FINITE" language play. Of course if you see an infinite playground and giant sandbox with no edges to play in Darkseid comes along and is like "I cut all the ropes on the rings, sawed off the monkey bars and crapped in the sandbox. Wallow in your misery, children."

I haven't read it myself, and since it's now gonna be a 6 issues on top of this, I think I'm gonna Trade it. I'm okay with spoilers to keep tab of the lore change.
So he's stronger than Spectre and Highfather in silver age?

[BooCoo]

Darkseid is back to pre-COIE Jack Kirby power levels, I thought was the gist? That certainly SHOULD be a consequence so big that it scares everybody. Thank god his costume is back to being monolithic. No more "I'm a garish fragmented edgy new shard of the Whole Darkseid". Still I for one adored Darkseid monologuing about how "Look at this new Infinite Frontier of possibility and hope ... know this ... Darkseid IS FINITE" language play. Of course if you see an infinite playground and giant sandbox with no edges to play in Darkseid comes along and is like "I cut all the ropes on the rings, sawed off the monkey bars and crapped in the sandbox. Wallow in your misery, children."

But if that was the "Cost" it's probably too early in the Line Revamp and will be more of "Consequence # 1: The Red Herring One".

I'm fond of Super-Dad but not all that fond of post-Bendis Teenager-Jon so I'm giving Superman's new writer a shot (liked the tone at least) but not ultra hyped. Following Batman semi-regularly out of curiosity but not ultra hyped. I am ultra hyped on Nightwing and Batgirls but more on that later. Skeptical but want to be optimistic about Titans Academy because I've been literally mentioning Justice University pitches here and there on the internet for ages and someone is finally making a book. Wait-and-see approach to Bendis JLA. Excited about Flash maybe though.

But what I'm really curious about is this long overdue expansion of the Wonder Woman corner of the DCU into a line. Yara looks really interesting. Nubia has always been interesting and is finally getting a real push. Hippolyta reentering the world stage and being Wonder Woman on the Justice (Insert Team) once more? Count me in as down for it, she's been a fun substitute Wonder Woman before. Diana being like "nah, you can keep God-Hood ... fetch me my Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery Costume and YES I am going to wear BRAIDS!" was lovely. If we can see Diana and the sort of 'society of Amazons and related' carve out a really interesting universe, get some good boosting for Donna and Cassie and Artemis as well, some good Steve Trevor adventures? Count me in. Equal parts classic villains, new villains and meeting gods of various pantheons? Maybe get Steve Orlando back involved? Come on, count me in and take my money.

My high-level hype is for what was probably the lowest key preview; Williamson/Maleev on the Arrowverse. I don't think Green Arrow has been underserved in the recent long run. Lemire/Sorrention/Cowan run was fantastic even saddled with New 52 restraints and I'm a serious Percy run apologist - I think his Divergence endrun started a little iffy but once they got Ferreyra and Schmitt and were able to do the holistic full on Rebirth treatment I loved that run and think it's an underrated gem.

The trouble is that between these solid runs Green Arrow always has these like extended time-waster runs where they tread water and aren't great (kind of like Nightwing's books) and then they're invariably cancelled (unlike Nightwing's which live that purgatory until line-wide revamps). Too many lackluster issues in between decent runs, so the balance of quality is outweighed in a way that's less than flattering. This looks lovely. It's such a big corner of the DCU he gets to own and since he's running Damian's story and keystoning the Al Ghul Lazarus side of things ... man it looks like Williamson/Maleev/Melnikov is going to be doing the full O'Neil & Adams side of the DCU and I expect (get those up there) to see Richard Dragon, The Question, Bronze Tiger and several others. Deadman. The Sensei. Merlyn. Ra's al Ghul. Roy. Cheshire. Hell, give me Sportsmaster, Cheshire and the Tigresses finally.

Meh sick of the Darkseid hype. He always does the same things, has the same motivations. Boring. Even his personality is dull.

[Multiverse]

So far, I'm curious to see where they're going.

The Batman section was the most interesting. Seeing Barbara slip back into Oracle to give her spine a rest; Joker's major attack (doubt that's the last of Bane). Still on and off about Grifter being involved.
Nubia taking the mantle of Queen of the Amazons is curious to see.
Always fun to see the Scott Family; hoping to see more of them in the JSA.
Not fussed with Titans Academym nor that of Superboy's fate; I'm with others to have Jon back to his younger self.
John Stewart, Simon Baz and Keli Quintela; interesting combo.
Having Barry join the Justice Incarnate and giving Wally the mantle of Earth's Flash is FANTASTIC; everything I ever wanted.

[Morgoth]

To be honest, it was incredibly lazy and disrespectful way to spoilers:

kill Bane, if he's really dead of course. One of the biggest Gotham villains just easy killed by the Joker off-screen, lol.

end of spoilers

[Johnny]

To be honest, it was incredibly lazy and disrespectful way to spoilers:

kill Bane, if he's really dead of course. One of the biggest Gotham villains just easy killed by the Joker off-screen, lol.

end of spoilers

Comic writers wiping their ass with characters they don't care for. What else is new.

[DragonPiece]

To be honest, it was incredibly lazy and disrespectful way to spoilers:

kill Bane, if he's really dead of course. One of the biggest Gotham villains just easy killed by the Joker off-screen, lol.

end of spoilers

Tynion clarifies the scene https://twitter.com/jamesthefourth/s...746147328?s=21