I was weak, I did buy Marvel Zombies 2 #1 today - which is fortunate, as reading it will prevent my having any inclination to buy the subsequent issues.
Death of the New Gods (and countdown, but it was only a one-panel mention there) - I totally did NOT see that coming. I figured if there was one person to survive the Death of the New Gods event other than Darkseid, it’d be that one. And yet, the latest of the New Gods to end up with their heart gone was Barda. Totally didn’t see that coming. I half expected Scott to get it, since they’ve been playing up Shilo so much, lately, and that would have covered the Free’s entire angst limit. I’m going to give up on my oddsmaking for this event, now. Although I still think the smart money’s Darkseid making it through it - albeit, less several flunkies, and probably at least one more son.
Birds of Prey - Still love this book. So much. I adore Misfit more than words can describe. Loved Calculator actually getting his hands dirty. The scene with him and Babs was…well, cute, actually.
On the subject of Bedard, in ‘solicited but not out’ - the change in the creative team on Batman and the Outsiders ticks me off. I love Bedard, and I was, despite my distaste for the Bat, psyched for this book.
Chuck Dixon, I am, of late, less enamoured with. Sometimes he’s on (Birds of Prey, Transformers: Hearts of Steel), but other times…less so. Rush City and Grifter/Midnighter were entertaining, but highly flawed books, and the Connor Hawke mini fell apart completely, half way through.
Plus, in his description of the characters when being interviewed about the book, he gets Rex’s history wrong (especially worrying with the Metamorpho Year One book out, currently), and describes Thunder (who’s been with the Outsiders for at least 3 years, in continuity, at this point) as ‘inexperienced’, which, while she’s lacking Batman’s decade plus, is certainly enough experience to get taken out of the rookie pile. Which just doesn’t bode well for his ability to write them.
I’m also not happy with the apparent loss of every aspect that made Bedard’s version of the book look interesting.
Just Countdown for me this week. Liked Brother Eye’s “I’m ronery…so ronery…” act. Otherwise, meh.
For the first time since about 1998 I’ve found a comic title that I have faith will stay good and won’t require following 3 or more other titles to keep track of, so I can finally get involved in one of these. 
Anyone else read the first issue of the new independent comic Atomic Robo? It’s really awesome. It’s by Brian Clevinger, the guy who writes the satire webcomic 8-Bit Theater, and it’s really fun. It’s a blend of pulp-action, little bits of humor, and historical science-fiction. It’s got a robot who isn’t all torn-up and angsty about what it means to be alive! The artwork is really great too. The only complaints I have are that the story in the first issue jumps around a little quickly, and in one scene there’s a bunch of nazi soldiers who are supposed to be struggling and gritting their teeth, but to me they almost look jovial, as though they were grinning and happy.
It’s the first of a 6-issue miniseries that’s intended to set-up a framework within which they can write any number of other miniseries (each of which is a self-contained story) over the course of 80 years in a robot’s life. It’s set in a world not too distant from our own, and there either aren’t any other super heroes, or very very few.
Whew. First time in a while when everything was pretty good. Except Countdown of course, but that’s only to be expected at this point.
Checkmate #19: Finally! Deadshot gets some respect! Guy’s so lethal he usually just misses and then goes down like a chump, but he’s respectably badass here. I think I know what Khalib and J’onn are up to, and it’s cool, and this really makes me want to read Salvation Run, and also a Great Ten miniseries.
Birds of Prey #111: Overall, great fun. But I do wish Calculator was more of a threat to Oracle. I know, I know, he’s the villain and his lot in life is to go down over and over again. But the poor guy just gets humiliated. Maybe it’s because we get to see how much he’s tormented by his defeats, and not just shaking his fist saying cursing Oracle.
Aquaman Sword of Atlantis #57: Poor little book. Busiek knew what to do with Aquaman, he just couldn’t quite pull it off. Aquaman *does *work better when he’s more Conan than Superman, but the pieces never quite clicked. Williams likewise did a pretty good job (I really like Clownfish), but his run was too abbreviated to really get anything done.
Countdown #28: Meh. New Gods did Jimmy better.
Justice League of America #14: I love Luthor here: “I’m gloating. I’m gloating to piss you off so you make a mistake. And my saying that will only piss you off more.” Yeah. McDuffie does good Justice League. So refreshing after Meltzer’s mess.
The Brave and The Bold #7: I like this one, but is PG always this impetuous? I’ll miss the way the story branched out, bringing in more and more heroes. It was fun and really gave a both a sense of mounting tension and cohesion to the DC universe. But still, an incredibly fun ride.
The Search for Ray Palmer Crime Society #1: Really? You make an anti-villain this cool and then just unceremoniously kill him off a week or so later? That’s a pretty big waste.
The Death of the New Gods #1: Two big deaths here, and I feel that they were both errors. One of them deserved a better sendoff, and they both could have played a better role in the story (Hell, I would have made the first death the PoV character and narrator, but I suppose that’s cribbing from Morrison). Still, I don’t feel that these were fatal errors and I find the tone and the overall plot to this point quite promising. One question, when did Darkseid get part of the Anti-Life Equation?
Countdown #28 - If they were not going to make it a big plot point, why drop that spoiler from the very last page of “Death of the New Gods” into this issue? For the rest, I found myself hoping that the Suicide Squad would get Trickster/Piper, that the mystics would all take out Black Mary, and that they’d all just go away. At least the dull Catwoman II/Harley Quinn/“Athena” storyline wasn’t in this issue.
Death of the New Gods #1 - Fortunately, Comic Book Store Guy warned me to read this first, since “Countdown” spoils it pretty bad. It seems I’ve missed some New Gods stuff, somewhere, 'cause I don’t remember either of those two with parts of the Anti-Life Equation. And for a moment, I’d forgotten that Highfather had croaked and wondered why Waverider had his staff… Was that the old Kirby art in Highfather’s narrated flashback?
Brave & the Bold #7 - They definately had PG’s character wrong. This is not the woman who is leading the JSA now. They did the same thing to Supergirl a few issues back (although that was an improvement; this? not so much). Still a fun story.
Not much this week.
The Boys #11: Still love the comic, but the art work is getting less clean with every issue.
New Excalibur #24: The title finally stops spinning its wheels and ends the run. Kind of sad to see such an interesting cast go to such a waste.
Mighty Avengers #5: It’s funny. In the Ares limited series that came out not so long ago. Ares seemed relatively normal, everyday, blue collar god of war. Now that he’s an avenger, WolverThor speaks like he’s suffered some form of brain damage. Speaking of brain damage, the Sentry actually manages to punch something. It’s not much, but at least he’s off the couch.
Regarding the New Gods death:
Of course. She was in the Giffen Justice League.
Death of the New Gods - regarding the Anti-Life equation, I believe Darkseid acquired a piece in the Morrison-written Mister Miracle miniseries.
As to the other character’s mastery of Anti-Life, that dates back years.
Captain America- This series may go down as the finest run of Captain America in the character’s history. It just gets better and better.