Here it is - technically, I got two weeks worth of books today, so there will be some from last week coming up as well. Just getting started on reading them…
I had been forgetting to check for this thread lately. tsk.
Countdown #22 - Ah, yes, starts off with a panty-shot of Black Mary. Then goes to directly contradict continuity with Death of the New Gods on what happens on Apokalips, ending with the Trickster/Piper caper that seemed like it would never end. At least the Catwoman is MIA.
Death of the New Gods #3 - For all the geniuses running around, the New Gods are rather dumb. And I do not consider having characters shout “Of course! I should have known!” to the villain depicted juuuust off-panel to be good writing. If you can’t shore up interest in your story without such cheap stunts, you don’t have a good story.
Countdown to Adventure #4 - Liking the Adam Strange part, Kory/Buddy part seemed a bit off this time, and they still have given me utterly no reason to be interested in Forerunner as a character. It’s like the poo of Countdown has stuck to her character, 'cause it all stinks.
Supergirl and the LSH #36 - That seemed… anticlimatic. And sudden. I know, new writing team, but still… So. Is that yet another LSH reboot hinted in the cover preview for next ish? 'Cause those costumes harken back to those of the continuity before this, and the one before that, but not so much to the current continuity.
Teen Titans #53 - I think I like how Supergirl was written in this better than in her own book. The rest is pretty engaging, although I suspect we’ll learn nothing of the others in the Titans Army before the storyline ends.
GL Corps #18 - All Sodam Yat as Ion, and it’s a good slugfest against Prime, but I kinda wanted him to actually use the Ion-power as something other than lead-protection. Any other GL with the Ion-power would’ve – his being a Daxamite turned into a writing crutch.
Superman Annual - I’ve said before that this storyline did nothing for me. At least Supes was smart in this fight (he’s too easily dumbed-down to make writing him easier). The pages on Subjekt-17 and Khyber just really see how lackluster they are to the mythos – they need more than “Doomsday mkII” and “Ra’s Al-Ghul for Kryptonians”. However, the back-up feature was fun, just the type of thing they need to develop the Superman family.
Is it possible that the Miracle in Countdown is Shilo Norman instead of Scott Free? He seemed kind of…uncommital when Jimmy brought up Barda.
[spoiler]Didn’t read the Seven Soldiers series with Shilo, but let’s see…
Jimmy “just knows” that Mr. Miracle is “hollow inside, his spirit crushed.”
Mr. Miracle says that Barda’s soul never crossed over to the Source, and that he used Mother Box to try to track her – and got led to the Pits of Apokolips.
Art for Mother Box doesn’t look normal – but the art for everything in Countdown is just off.[/spoiler]
Everything that deals with the death of the New Gods is ignoring Death of the New Gods. Barda’s memorial in Birds of Prey doesn’t fit, either. At least Countdown puts Scott on Apokalips.
Anyhow…several weeks at once…
BoP - I love Zinda so, and that is so very Zinda. Also…best chase scene ever.
Countdown 23 and 22 - 23 is my favourite issue so far…24, Prime officially crossed from ‘petty villain’ (which is notr a bad thing…a lot f villains are intensely petty) to simply petty and annoying. Mxyzptlk verbally pwning him, on the other hand was delightful. 22, my main thought was…I think Jimmy’s going to become one of the gods of the Fifth World.
Search For Ray Palmer - I haven’t read Gotham by Gaslight, yet, but we’re batting .500 on the others, which isn’t too bad. Red Rain - lousy. Crime Society - rock. Wildstorm - is just there. Lord Havok and the Extremists - very good, so far, even if it’s a bit sledgehammery with the Civil War analogy. It amuses me that they’re ‘President Tin Man’ ‘(Vice-)President Americommando’, and ‘Vice-President Blue Jay’. (Minor continuity quibble…last mention of BJ was his wife saying AC had sent him to Siberia. 1) How’s he back in the US? and 2) Why is he VP? … And 3) What does this mean for the other Blue Jay?)
Batman and the Outsiders - Not nearly as bad as I’d feared, but not nearly as good as Bedard’s promised to be. They couldn’t have had Bedard give Dixon some notes, though? Batman’s conversation with Thunder contradicted one he had with Grace in Five of a Kind.
More thoughts after I’ve read more.
Yikes, I kinda hope not, since Superman needs a strong supporting cast in his own books, without losing Jimmy to what is looking like a reboot that will probably show up as often as the Fourth World did (i.e., hardly ever, outside the occasional special event miniseries). But I could see them doing that, even so.
Certainly, he’s behaving just about as erratically as the other New Gods over in Death of.