Green Lantern #5: The German demons are freaking me the hell out. Love the revamp of the Shark’s “invisible yellow aura”.
All-Star Superman #1:
“Are you a bird? A plane?”
“Are you dense, Jimmy, retarded? I’m the goddamn Superman.”
No seriously. I expected no less from this team. Great stuff. What would you do if you had the powers of a God, the morals of a saint, and were dying?
Batman and the Monster Men #1: Meh. It’s alright, but too noiry, not enough pulpy. The cover says Monster Men, and I wanted the freaking Monster Men! I shan’t finish this series.
Birds of prey #88: Simone can write characters like nobody’s business. I just really hope Babs doesn’t end up in spandex again.
Y - The Last Man #39 – I was very impressed with Yorick’s solution (such as it was) to the problem and I really liked seeing 355 lose her shit like that. It makes sense given everything her character’s gone through; Yorick’s her friend but he’s also her mission, and that’s easy to forget. I can’t say I’m surprised by Rose, but her ulterior motives remind me that 355 and Allison both have secrets of their own. I was surprised by the cliffhanger, if it really happens the way it seems. And I loved that Yorick has no idea what Paris means.
All-Star Superman #1 – I shouldn’t have been surprised by Superman’s reaction to the bad news; it’s exactly what Morrison’s been telling us he’s going to do. But it still really got to me – that’s why he’s Superman, and not just some dude with invulnerable skin. And I love Quitely’s Clark; all the business on those pages are so much fun.
Runaways #whatever – This sitll isn’t firing consistently as well as it did in volume 1, and this issue is somewhat by-the-numbers, but it could be a good set-up. And the Nico/Chase stuff is subtle, but it’s here. I wonder how that will play out. And I laughed out loud at “Is that a pickle?”
Thing #1 – S’okay so far. I know it will get better because Slott’s a guy you can trust on this stuff and I can see him setting up the dominoes. I think he’s already got Ben’s voice down.
[d]Doom Patrol: Crawling Through the Wreckage (Morrison v. 1)** – I’ve never read this before and now that it looks like Vertigo is serious about finally collecting it, it’s time to start. The first issue is a little dry, but it’s set-up. It picks up considerably after that; the Scissormen are seriously creepy bad guys, and I was late to work this morning because I couldn’t put it down.
I think he’s hit at least 3 separate complications in this issue…
1) He can’t get home - at least, not with Majestic’s help;
2) Several of the WildCATS are after him - although it’s not entirely clear to me what they intend;
3) He’s become a galactic level hazard.
Batman and the Monster Men #1 - Fairly interesting so far. I liked Prof. Strange’s first page. Thought tt was pretty clever. Also yet another book to slap people who claim Batman never has girlfriends with. >_>
Nighthawk #3 - I’m still enjoying this book, but good lord is it moving slow. Good image to end on, though. (I see the release date is 2 weeks ago…was it my bad (or my shop), or was it late?)
Bloodrayn: Lycan Rex - This was about what I expected. A bit of fun, not too substantial.
Tengu - All those are symptoms of the same complication, from my perspective - which technically occurred in issue #1, but wasn’t unveiled as a problem until this issue.
I’ve collected all 39 issues, and I remember the standalone issue where Beth (it’s Beth, right?) goes on the forced dreamwalk (or whatever it is). However, I also do not catch the significance of Paris. Spoilers anyone?
I have no idea what Paris means either. Having been in a rather long term relationship myself (14 years and counting), I think that’s realistic – over time, you tend to remember things differently, or you remember things that never made much of an impression on your partner.
All-Star Superman #1 - Now, this is what the All-Star line was promised to be. This was a lot of fun. Something occured to me part way through the conversation with Dr Quintum, though - it’s not so much like the Silver Age Superman as it is like certain European comics. Quintum’s outfit, the ‘Exploratory Titans’ and ‘Nanonauts’ the look - both from Quitely’s art and the colours. It all gives it that feel for me.
Birds of Prey #88: Typical Simone and that’s a good thing. Babs in a GL shirt. Mmmm. Is it just me or does Gail have a bit of a torture thing going on? I’m just waiting for the combination of Jimmy Olsen and thumb screws in Action Comics.
Supergirl #3: Babs, Starfire, and Supergirl? That Grayson’s a lucky man. Well other than the whole parents getting murdered in front of his eyes thing. Happy to see the Outsiders as rendered by an artist I enjoy.
“Then, I see that ‘S’ that you so brazenly decided to wear on your less than impressive chest.” Calling a teenager flat? That’s low even for you, Lex. I prefer Power Girl too, but still…
In case anyone was wondering the first thing that Dark Kara says is Yes, freed at last! and the second one is exactly what she tells Lex on the last page.
Superman/Batman: Supergirl: (Supes/Bats #7-13 [?]) I glanced through for reference for the current issue of Supergirl and remembered how much I love every bit of it. Love the art. Love the writing. (-Go play with your dog. -Don’t bring the dog into this. Every time you get annoyed, you bring up the dog./ If a nuke went off right now, Plastic Man would be the most powerful guy on Earth.) I really hope this series in some form after Inf-Cri.
Quantum seemed oddly familiar to me. Then it hit me. He’s Willy Wonka, if Wonka worked in space exploration and genetics instead of chocolate. And the Oompa Loompas were mutant monstrosities. I mean… More so than usual.
Polly and the Pirates #2 – Frikkin’ hilarious. Polly is a wonderful character – she’s just as silly this issue, but she’s also incredibly decisive. If I ever get diplomatic immunity, I think I’ll have Ted Naifeh kidnapped so I can chain him up in my basement and make him spend all his time drawing funny comics just for me. And while I shouldn’t have been, he got me with the last=page reveal.
Cap’n Atom : Armageddon #2 – Continues to be interesting. I like the re-exposure to all the Wildstorm characters that I haven’t been paying attention to since DC cancelled Stormwatch: Team Achilles. Interesting to see where this goes.
Oh, and Crawling From the Wreckage gets even better as it goes along.
I just dug up Beth’s dreamtime issue. Near the end of her dream, she and Yorick are playing with waterpistols. After she shoots him, they kiss, and then there’s this dialogue:
B: Let’s run away together.
Y: Queens or the Bronx?
B: Paris.
Y: You go first. I’ll, uh… I’ll meet you there.
They then argue about where to rendevous – the Eiffel Tower (which Beth says is “too hokey and… phallic”) or the Arc de Triomphe (which Yorick thinks is the opposite of phallic.) Beth then tells Yorick that she got the grant to go on her anthropology study for three months (the reason she was in Australia when the book opened). Yorick tried to put on a brave face but is clearly going to miss her. Then a giant monkey grabs him, Beth turns into a superhero, saves him, and then wakes up.
Clearly the five-story monkey indicates this isn’t a completely faithful recollection, and maybe the Paris conversation is completely in her head, but the style of Beth’s dream throughout the issue seems to be that she replays scenes that actually happened, but then after a while some weird dream logic horns in. If that’s so, then probably she and Yorick really did talk about Paris during their watergun fight, but he doesn’t remember.
All Star Superman #1 By far the best book in the week, a great return to an almost fifties-style Superman, with an edge those stories never had. There is a lot to complement this time around, from Quitely’s superb panel compositions, Morrison’s comic take on Kal-el’s Clark Kent persona, and a truly dangerous looking Lex Luthor. Hoping for a battle between Supes and Dr. Technicolor Labcoats proto-bizarros. Excellent all around. 9/10
Birds of Prey #? the second issue in the third “hunt for Oracle” type story involving torture (the first time Nightwing was on the rack, last time it was the Canary, this time it’s Savant). Enjoyed Helena’s continuing campaign to takeover the Gotham mob, though I had hopes that this would lead to some kind of genuine, if short term conflict with the other Birds. (I felt her rejoining the Birds of Prey so soon after her break with Barb, was a bit premature in general.) Gail’s dialogue between Oliver Queen and Dinah this issue really shined, and clearly outclasses another recetn pairing up between the two in Johns and Heiberg’s recent JLA arc. Also the inker seems to have modified his approach a bit: his finishes def. Look better this time around. Good issue overall. 7/10
Ed Brubaker selects just the right “voice” to begin his elaboration on Victor Von Doom’s origin story in ** Books of Doom #1**. Features nice art by Raimondi, whose work graced PAD’s Madrox miniseries. Good start. 7/10.
Supergirl #3 Kara is far, far less annoying this issue, which begins with a slap-down practice match between Thunder and Grace (of the Outsiders) and the Girl of Steel. Here John’s dialogue includes some chiding from Grace about Supergirl’s anorexic looks which struck me as Johns’ way of acknowledging peoples comments about the penciller’s rendition of maid of might. He also humanizes her, by giving her a school girl crush she has on Nightwing, something I hope he revisits in future stories. Somehow it has the effect of making her far less annoying and grating as usual. Nice showdown with Lex, (as others pointed out on MW) who descends to low blows about the size of her breasts (his revenge for bald guy jokes?) at issues end, with a decent enough suspense building ending. Decent. Best issue so far, really. 6/10.