The Good

The Villains Month issues are meant to give us a look at who these villains really are. In some case we see their origins or just what they're currently up to. With this issue...we're not quite sure.

You may have heard some controversy or outcry over the new character design of Lobo. That is a part of the story. What we discover is the Lobo we've seen in the New 52 just might not actually be the true Lobo. Hence the introduction to the proper one. For those concerned with the movement away from the leather jacket and chains look, keep in mind that was a far departure from Lobo's very first appearance in 1983 debut.

Setting aside the change (which does look better here than what we first saw), we get an interesting situation. The question is raised, if we didn't see the real Lobo before, who exactly was that and why was he masquerading as Lobo? It's this shake up and question that makes you wonder, regardless of how you feel about the change.

Maguerite Bennett does a good job introducing this Lobo to us. We don't get a typical flashback origin. It's actually better to not be subjected to that as we are being inundated with several decent and mediocre origins this month. Bennett's task is to show us what makes this Lobo tick and why we should have any interest in him. This is exactly what she does. In some obvious and subtle ways, she makes it clear who he is and how he operates. I didn't think I'd say it but I'm actually really interested in finding out more.

Ben Oliver's art (as briefly mentioned) makes this Lobo look better than the first redesign images. It will still take some getting used to but that isn't something to be placed on Oliver (or Bennett for that matter). The key to keeping my interest in sci-fi comics is depicting interesting-looking aliens. Too often attempts fall flat in comics but Oliver succeeds here.

The Bad

Obviously the verdict is still up in the air for these changes to Lobo. We will have to wait for more on his story to find out what is going on and why one of the higher ups decided to go in this direction. Bennett does a good job in fleshing out this character but being a one-shot, the story feels deeply incomplete. Instead of getting answers about this particular villain, we're left with a doorway to more questions. Not necessarily a completely bad thing but it doesn't seem what these books were supposed to do.

Minor thing, why was this in the JUSTICE LEAGUE title? Are we to assume this Lobo or the battle between the Lobos will take place in future issues. Some of the others have been a little odd but this is pretty far out there.

The Verdict

Welcome to the New 52 Lobo. Just when we thought we knew who the character was, we discover that wasn't the case. With new true Lobo, Marguerite Bennett has the task of introducing him to us and showing us what he's about while telling a compelling story at the same time. Ben Oliver takes the redesigned take on this Lobo and makes it work in a cool sci-fi setting. This may not be the Lobo we knew or the one we asked for but Bennett definitely makes the changes intriguing. We'll have to wait to see where this Lobo, or the other one, will turn up next.

So good

Lobo is on justice League the same reason Dial E is, where else do you put them?

Yeah... That was surprisingly good.

See? This is why we shouldn't judge comics before they come out. (By we, I mean a heck of a lot of people, but NOT myself.) Everyone is complaining about the changes, but the character ended up being written really well.

I skimmed through this on the bus, I am not sure. It looked too monlogue ish

I don't mind the changes, but the writing didn't really grab me. I'll give this Lobo another shot in Bedard's Supergirl and see if a change of writer works out.

Loved this issue.

Terrible. The writing was very fractured and repetitive.

I really liked this. Hopefully new Lobo is here to stay.

I just think this is the young rockabilly Lobo and he will become Lobo we know and love in a few years.

As for the issues I thought it was kind of boring at least he still talks the same so the writer did a good job with dialog but at the end of the issue I just thought what was the point?

Can't believe people like this pile. I'm not even raging over the fact that he is a twilight pretty boy. What upsets me is how BLAND he is! the author wanted to make sure he wasn't a hypermasculine caricature, and she succeeded. Now he is a parody on the entire "badass" character archetype. He has a, terrible, running monologue, smiles inappropriately at the thought of how "badass" he's about to be, is totally unfeeling, and about as intimidating as he looks. I get that he's supposed to be "feared", but cannon fodder character's crapping their pants doesn't make him scary. The authors attempt to make him the cold, aloof loner only succeed in making him an unlikeable prat. He's as wooden as the casket DC is currently nailing themselves into . Boo.

OG Lobo is going to destroy this abomination.

Sorry. Not sorry. I liked this one.

It had it's pros. The art was nice and crisp. The overall story idea is interesting.

The character design was trash. Must everyone in DC comics be sexy sleek and 25? The dialogue was pretty damn bad too. Sorry. Not sorry....no wait I'm sorry....wait...no...not sorry...

Did I mention I was sorry?

J/k, not sorry.....

the art is the major problem for me its to clean i mean Nubo cuts a guy in three and there isnt a single drop of blood and where is the comedy, part of what made lobo funny was physical humor in the art i mean when he found out what hes cargo was it was kind of funny but its bland everywhere else

From the beginning of new 52, we see the wildstorm characters suffer.May be it is the mistake they made at the first place to merge wildstorm universe with DC universe.Books like Voodoo,Grifter,Team 7 got cancelled and then they rebooted Stormwatch again.Then they made another mistake.We get to see Lobo as an integral part of this new stormwatch.This "Stormwatch" book makes barely any effect on other DC titles.So how are they gonna use Lobo in their own corners.Enter the brand new Lobo.Good job DC.Well done

You realize his entire point was originally to be a parody of the 'badass' character type, right? It's just what the cliche badass was in the late 80s/early 90s and what it is now are totally different animals.

Excellent Read i look forward to see more of this iteration of Lobo! Especially with Lobo Vs Lobo! I can totally see the new Lobo taking on the Justice League for sport. He honestly comes off as much more dangerous than the original!

I still don't see twilight when I see him. He has a heft to him, he isn't a Rob Liefeld hulking character but he looks like he could punch your face in. I am curious to see where they could go with this character.

I liked the writing and wasn't expecting that to be bad, trusted the writer and she delivered, but I just couldn't stomach that redesign. Red eye Edward Cullen with blue lines on his face and Elvis hair!! He even had pointy fangs....Oh God!!! I hated that. If I could close my eyes and have this read to me I would've enjoyed it a lot more but sadly it's a comic book, a visual medium, so I couldn't even do that! The dialogue was just sadistic enough and filled with the right amount of profanity, not much humor though which was a let down ,still i can't handle this new lobo's look (to me it's not Lobo, they should've made this a different character IMO or lobo's brother or something, this guy doesn't even have a Hog! Or a dog) maybe ill warm up to it later maybe not, time will tell.

Didn't really like it.

the redesign doesn't really bug me overall, it's just that it's not quite right. If they took the jump suit and split the top into a vest, then had it open, he would still feel mostly like Lobo... And get rid of the katanas. Why does he have those when he has the hooks? What do they really offer?

Art wise my only real complaints are the blue lights on his skin are REALLY distracting right under his eyes, and his ship thing... I couldn't really tell what I was looking at in the brief space battles. I think it's important to show people getting into these things first, because the construction/scale of the ships confused me for a bit.

Writing was overall fine, except his monologue which was TERRIBLE. Sorry, not sorry, sorry, not sorry. It was just annoying, and I don't understand what it was trying to tell me. Also he doesn't really act like Lobo either (which is easier to write when your character has a fraggin iconic vocabulary)

Maybe it'll get better, and I've read worse stuff out of the New 52, but overall the Lobo identity isn't there. I see some potential, and didn't regret buying the issue... Just not super thrilled about it either

I have no qualms with this guy as a character. That doesn't make him a good LOBO. Stop just going along with what DC is trying to force on us; we ALL know the TRUE Lobo is the original. This is the 'new' Lobo, regardless of what his story is trying to be or not. He's not the 'real' Lobo no matter how many times he says it.

Good issue overall... just... not Lobo.

this felt like a testing the waters type of book to me i wouldnt be surprised if we see this creative team and this lobo in a ongoing series in the 4? wave next year

what!???????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????????????????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????dc sspits in the face of lobo fans and you give it a 4?!?!!! the lobo on the cover isnt even in this!!! HE IS THE FFAKE ONE!! THE NEW SLEEK ONE IS THE PRESENT DAY REAL LOBO!!!!! THE ONE ON THE COVER IS LIEFELD LOBO THAT GONNA DIE!!!!!!

I don't care what anyone tries to convince me, ya don't mess with the MAIN MAN. Someone's gonna get fragged for this.

My big problem with all of this is that it is a very lazy retcon to something that was rather recent. For me, the more recent the material you want changed is, the more effort you have to make to validate it.

This was just an etch-a-sketch retcon. Remember all that Lobo you've been seeing? Nope, it was just an imposter. Remember Helena Bertanelli as Huntress? Nope, she actually died and it was Helena Wayne pretending to be her. Remember Fairchild? Well you never actually met her you just met one of her clones that was allowed to believe she was Fairchild...

If any of these plot points were meant to happen from the get go, then I couldn't complain much, but in all of these cases (except MAYBE Fairchild) it was clear that DC was letting their writers go in once direction and then deciding they didn't like it so the contrived plot lines to change it, but it doesn't make sense in the original writings.

Read the Huntress mini series. She doesn't act like a person from another dimension pretending to be a murdered mob daughter. Same with everything we've seen Lobo do. Know one on Earth knew who "Lobo" was so why would he even bother pretending to be Lobo?

The only way this new Lobo can work out for me is if we find out the first Lobo is the real Lobo and this one is Slobo who thinks he's Lobo. Lobo was in a big fight and a piece of him was left behind, that piece regenerated to a complete form thinking he was actually Lobo (which I guess he kinda would be but you know what I mean)

Looks he like wants to say,"I'm Lobo......sorry I'm not Lobo....wait...no...not ...sorry

@manwithoutshame said:

This. Now and Forever. I don't care how 'good' the book is, you do not change Lobo like this and get away with it. I will not sit down and be spoonfed this drivel.

Ok I'll admit that like most people I was a bit sour when I first heard about the new Lobo, I have since accepted the change. However I can't get over the fact that this book is lying to us. The cover showed us Lobo the Last Czarnian like we've know him in the past, it shows us the Lobo that mainstream audiences are more accustomed too its trying to entice new readers to pick up the book by telling them the muscle bound behemoth from the JL TV show will be in it but he's not. New people who picked up this book will get a completely new character an regardless of how good the book might be (I haven't been able to get a copy yet) some people will probably be confused and alienated, no matter what way I look at it I can't help but think that they should have puthe redesign on the cover if they are actually throwing out the classic Lobo design.

YEAH! BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL DESIGN

........... I take that back.

The point is, what the image of bad-ass then, is completely different of what bad-ass is now.

Bad-Ass then meant Rob Liefield characters.

Bad-Ass now means semi-hollow pretty boys with muscles.

I love how they have old Lobo on the cover of the book, so any fan who doesn't follow comics news would see it on the rack and be super excited, only to have the rug pulled out from under them. I beleive Tony when he says the issue is good, and although I'm not a fan of this decision I understand where DC is coming from with the change. But I just can't forgive the misleading cover.

I'm very open minded when it comes to change, I embrace it. So I don't care if Lobo looks different, as long as he's written well, I'm happy.

I liked this issue,.

The major draw to the old Lobo, for me, was the satire the character represented and the absolute ridiculousness that ensued. If that's still around, I can get behind some artistic changes, though the old look just reinforced the satire.

I'll pick this up because of the positive review, I just hope it's worth it.

Easily the worst Villains Month book so far (maybe tied with the Creeper)

First you have the WRITER FLAT OUT LYING TO THE FANS, when she said that the Lobo in her book looked different when the redesign leaked.

Good one.

Then you have a distinct absence of humor in the book.

And then some of the worst and most cringe inducing dialogue (or monologue) ever put to a Lobo comic (and that says a lot).

A spectacularly failed attempt by the writer to coin a catchphrase for the new Twilobo ("Sorry. Not sorry.") which feels extremely misplaced and forced. Our new Twilobo is a conflicted emotional little gothic prince.

And then the writer trying sooooooooo hard to get the audience on her side, while taking a massive dump on the readers with the awkward and far below average wordplay.

"Nya nya nya, you think you know me? You don't know me, You haven't even met me. Nya nya nya."

The new Lobo is just a mix between Boba Fett (complete with his own Jabba the Hut and Spacecraft) and every generic "sensitive" and "gothic smooth looking" waste of ink that plagues popular medium like Twilight, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Red Riding Hood, etc (And that would be OK to make fun of that, but the writer clearly misses the point and instead of satirizing that, she makes Lobo part of it all)

The art was good though, even if Lobo looked like a Lady Gaga dancer that was fired for being to cute.

RIP Lobo,

@the_stegman:

My thoughts exactly.

Great villain month

Because Comicvine totally a place that knows quality books, amrite?

This just isn't Lobo. I didn't like the comic myself, but I also didn't dislike the character. I don't want him to be Lobo, but he could be someone else. Lobo is Lobo. It would be to drastic a change. He's been around to long to completely change him this much. Not this way. Looking at the other character, I didn't dislike his design either, but he didn't look like a Lobo. After the crap Liefeild pulled with Lobo, maybe DC just wants to erase that part. The laser weapons worked. They made sense, but still. IT'S LOBO!!!!! This isn't the Ultimate DC. Could have worked there. Might have worked from the start of the New 52, but this? What ever. He's here. He's gonna kill Lobo and become Lobo and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Oh well. Thanks DC.

The comic was well written, average dialogue, good art. The character redesign, though. Urgh! They simply exchanged the Lobo we grew up reading for a more serious and dark character. It's like changing Deadpool for a serious version of Wade Wilson, it cannot happen!

Hopefully, OG Lobo slays this abomination.

I wouldn't have much of a problem with all this "darker" stuff with Lobo if I felt it was interesting or done well. It just plain wasn't. The redesign itself while not very good in my opinion wasn't really the biggest problem with the issue itself. It just fails to pull me in or really do anything interesting with this new character it shoves in our face.

I found the writing was the weakest part of this book. The delivery felt erratic. The art was a little thin as well. I enjoyed Oliver's work on Bats/Supes, but he lost a step here.

I liked the attitude Bennett was bringing across as it's close to the old Lobo, but coming from a guy who looks like a reject from an Asian bike gang just didn't work for me.

I hope the REAL Main Man levels this pompadour haircut wearing lamo!

I recommend anyone who read this to go and read the Lobo Portrait of a Bastich trade and see what a great Lobo story is.

4.5 out of 10

Wait is this the real Lobo because the one in the cover with Supergirl looks like sh*t and the face with Deathstroke is a fail but this one is the Lobo looks badass in the cover.

Terrible.

I actually really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the story, the writing, and the art. I wonder if the disconnect for some people is that they are fans of the old Lobo as it is and so they receive any changes to the character a little harshly. As a fresh reader to the New 52 brand of characters, I have to say that I really liked this book.