Graphic novels

Catching up on the new DC universe with some trade paperbacks:
DEATHSTROKE: Legacy by Kyle Higgins and Joe Bennett (discussed in part earlier, like the Aquaman below) has mercenary Slade Wilson assassinating a potential rival, then suffering the blowback as the victim’s parents set out to destroy him (“We’ve set up a fund—even if you kill us, the attacks will keep coming.”). I never really bought Wilson as a hero pre-Reboot (Marv Wolfman had to fudge his history a bit to pull that off) and this guy’s utterly loathsome—not in a magnificent bastard kind of way, just a nasty, repellent thug (and not that impressive—taking on the Titans gave the old Deathstroke more cred). The handling of Wilson growing older and weaker is quite good, but not enough to save this.
Much as I’ve grown tired of Geoff John’s work on Green Lantern, Blackest Night and Brighest Day AQUAMAN: The Trench by Johns and Ivan Reis is quite good as Aquaman and his wife Mera struggle to make a home on land (I don’t know why), then get called in when subsea monsters begin showing up to eat people. While I don’t buy that people in the DC Universe would think Aquaman’s as big a joke as the cast here, this was nicely executed.
BIRDS OF PREY: Trouble in Mind by Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz is the best of the lot as Black Canary recruits a team (I’ve no idea what the Birds’ history post-Reboot is) including Poison Ivy, Katana (“She talks to her sword because she thinks it holds her husband’s soul.”) and new character Starling to cope with a sinister mind-controller and his army of mind-controlled assassins/living bombs. Good characters, good action and a solid plot make this one a winner (though I’m still glad I checked it out of the library instead of buying).
IRREDEEMABLE Vol. 5 by Mark Waid and Peter Krause has the the super-genius Quibit reveal there’s a secret to stopping the Plutonian, a last-ditch plan set up by a former teammate (this reminds me a lot of a JLA storyline in which Waid has Batman figuring out how to take down the entire team if he has to), leading to a final showdown between the Paradigm (and its increasingly unhinged leader Charybdis) and the Plutonian. A good installment, including a very bizarre take on Luthor.
30 DAYS OF NIGHT by Steve Niles and Christopher Mitten is the third TPB of the series in which vampire Eben Olemalin continues his ongoing war with both the FBI and older, theoretically more powerful vamps. Perfectly adequate vampire adventures (though I wasn’t impressed with the art) but fairly routine vampire adventures, so I may not read more.