Here it is.
Interesting 52 issue this week - what with the Batman and all.
Been picking up a lot of bargain-bin back issues of late, as well.
Yesterday, I got the new Jack of Fables, Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Castle Waiting, and the new Ex Machina collection. I’d meant to pick up the first issue of Crossing Midnight, the new Vertigo series, but forgot to mention it to my comics guy. I just emailed him about it and I should have it by next week.
I haven’t been to the Weekly Comics Thread in a while. What’s the local policy on spoilers?
My only pickup of the week has been 52. I’m on the fence about this issue…the story of the issue was a good one, but there are so many hanging storylines that haven’t been touched…the only one that moved along this week was Question’s/Montoya’s/Batwoman’s. It’s been three weeks since we’ve seen Ralph or Skeets, a month since we’ve seen Black Adam, two months since we’ve seen Supernova (although it seems he’ll be in next week’s issue) or Booster’s ancestor, and except for the unexplained appearance of an intact Firestorm in week 24, nothing at all about the returned space heroes since way back in week 5. I think they did a better job of juggling plots the first few months.
52 fairly zipped along this week, what with focusing on only one plotline. Also had to wonder if one of the two others pictured alongside Supernova for next issue might be a candidate for who is Supernova.
Ion continues to be uneven and just all over the place – now its pulpish adventures with alien princesses? I know that’s classic GL fare, but this plotline has just been a mess. Was rather surprised to see what showed up at the end of the issue; I’d been expecting that in maybe JSA.
Spoiler-box them, and give some indication outside of it as to what it is you’re spoiling.
I’ll second Ion’s unevenness.
By contrast, Green Lantern was unusually dense and excellent this week - and next issue promises a major super-smackdown. We also got a few more tidbits about the Sinestro Corps. (It also confirms that Qward and the Anti-Matter Universe remain - not that I had much doubt, but it’s nice to see it in print.)
Flash actually resolves a couple of things this week, including a flashback to Bart’s time in the Speed Force. Unfortunately, it does raise more questions than it answers, and seems to be at odds with everything we learned about that interval so far. The one bright spot is that it does reintroduce :
Earth-2, or an incredible facsimile.
Got it.
Okay, so I’m really enjoying Jack of Fables, even though Jack himself is such a tremendous asshole. And in this issue,
[spoiler]I was glad to learn the story Sam is from, because that had been eating at me. Eating at me as if I were a butter tiger.
But what were those things inside the bagmen?
And it’s funny that just a week or so ago I told my coworker "I don’t want this series to be like The Prisoner, and then after Jack’s escape in this issue he specifically told the reader "this book isn’t going to be like The Prisoner! Bill Willingham, get out of my head![/spoiler]
I’m continuing to love Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes, but I think it’s high time we find out why Supergirl is time-displaced and send her home. I want the Legion book to be about the Legion, thank you very much. Although I do love Kara, and I liked the way they set up her non-powered rescue of the team in this month’s issue.
Teleportation accident in deep space during the Infinite Crisis. Same reason why Alan Scott has one eye and Adam Strange, Animal Man, and Starfire are stuck at the butt-end of the universe.
Superman/Batman #30: This book isn’t thrilling me these days. It’s too much tourism (“and now, for no real reason, here’s Plastic Man”) and not enough enough story. Loeb also had an overabundance of guest-stars and name dropping, but his stories also had a manic energy that pulled it through.
Batman #659: I loves me some Ostrander and Mandrake. So, has Thompkins’ murder been time-punched or not? She doesn’t show up, but they still refer to her clinic as hers. Neat classic story.
Teen Titans #41: Nice conclusion. I’m really liking the new line-up. Hope they all stick around for a while. Or at least long enough to do the Miss Martian/Kid Devil star-crossed romance.
The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #6: Moving along. Finally, some news on where Wally went to. I’m not sure I like this take on the speed force, though, especially regarding Barry.
Aquaman Sword of Atlantis #46: Ugh. It’s stalled again. I like this title, or perhaps I should say I really like it’s tone and premise, but it’s got some major pacing issues.
Batman/The Spirit: Woo. That’s a lotta femme fatales (or is it “femmes fatale”?). There’s a bit of crossoveritis here, where there’s too much “X meets Y” and not enough story. But hey, I can’t turn down Darwyn Cooke art. It’s kinda funny seeing Harley Quinn inserted into a story that takes place in the 1950’s in heart if not in actual plot.
52 Week 30: Wow. First Egg-Fu and now… That guy? It’s true. There’s no such thing as bad characters, just bad writing. I’m really liking this story. Very good work with Batman and the Questions.
Green Lantern #15: Yeah, this is going to end up as a really cool throw down.
Incidentally. I believe Booster lives, and I’ll tell you why.
One of the many tidbits in Rip Hunter’s lab (amongst the scattered references to prior DC miniseries) was the cryptic question : “What Is Spanner’s Galaxy?”
This refers to the miniseries, Spanner’s Galaxy. I happened to be lucky enough to snag an issue of that from a bargain bin recently.
Seems the protagonist employs an unusual means of travel, which he calls ‘castling’. It allows him to teleport - but in doing so, he switches places with a subject at the other end.
I think the Spanner’s Galaxy reference gives Booster a convincing out.
Teen Titans - Wrapping up the storyline. Rose gets to meet Joe. Tim sets himself up for some heartbreak. I’m worried by the ‘Eddie’s soul is in peril’ stuff. I like him, a lot. Miss Martian I like, a lot, and I’m so glad she’s staying on the team.
52 - You know, I’d like to say the guy who Batman was fighting was a surprise - and it would have been, but someone in some forum I read (I can’t remember where) speculated that he was going to be showing up in the issue, based on, of all things, the eye in the sky on the cover! Still, it was a cool reimagining of him. I like the Metal Men’s new designs.
I don’t read any other DC super-hero books except Catwoman and the recent Seven Soldiers mini. Are they ever going to tell us about this accident in the Legion book? Even in a parenthetical caption?
On a bit of a unrelated note, does anyone know how to stop my boss from reading my comics? I go out on lunch on wensday to the comic shop down the street, come back put them on my desk and then they disapear for a few hours while he sits in his office reading my damn comics!
I realize there are worse things in the world, but damn it this is getting annoying! He gets to read some of them before I do!
:mad:
Leave them in your car? Keep them on your person? Lock them in a desk drawer?
This is not one of life’s great problems.
- No car
- I think I’m just bragging I get to read comics at my desk and get away with it
That seems unlikely, given how thus far they haven’t really said anything about the past at all in this version of the Legion. Other than the overly romanticized regard they have for superheroes, of course. So I’d doubt any big explanation, other than maybe a sly shout-out like when Braniac showed up in an old L.E.G.I.O.N. cruiser.
Even if I’m wrong, it won’t be until after it’s explained a little better in 52. One of the points of 52 is to get DC readers reading other DC titles, after all.
… which is why the 52 mention in Green Lanter this issue was so vexing – enough with the teasing, already! sheesh.
Lessee…
Exiles… very good. Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters was awesome as usual, but I really hate the art. Blue Beetle was solid - interesting that it’s apparently the original Peacemaker. Hawkgirl - Bleh.
Action - me no like new Bizarro. Him talk forward. Me no like hack Richard Donner. Him do same story twice. Powers was awesome as usual…
Batman - Not loving the art. Rather hating it, in fact. The story’s OK, though not great.
JSA Classified - Nice start to the story. The body parts being swiped are an interesting set. Poor Icemaiden and Loose Cannon. I’m surprisingly fond of the art, given that it’s Rags Moralis, inked by Bair.
I’m done with comic books for the time being (although I’ll probably continue to follow All-Star Superman, which at the rate it’s coming out will probably involve occasional visits to the comic book store through 2009), but I picked up this week’s 52 because I’m a Metal Men fan (the only other issue I’ve read was the one where Doc Magnus reanimated Mercury). I wasn’t too crazy about the art in the MM origin story, especially after the excellent art in the body of the book. Lead looks just plain goofy. What is he, the Metal Muppet? Tin looks…disturbing. Platinum isn’t even recognizably the same character, apart from being a female robot, but she looks OK. Now Iron looks cool, actually quite similar to how Robotman looked for a while during Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol run. And dammit, I want Nameless back. Think of it–modern comics could really do a number on the psychological (responsometrical?) and symbolic ramifications of Tin emulating his creator by becoming a creator himself, and then mating with his creation…
Okay, so this means that you like the new Bizarro, right? And that you like Richard Donner, who does not duplicate his stories, right?
Dang. I’m never going to get the hang of Bizarro-speak.
Superman/Batman - This story’s been a continuity nightmare from the start, but one thing that stands out is Batman’s interaction with Plastic Man. Did something happen between the two of them after the Burning Martian storyline? Because the hostility and open distrust between the two of them is rather difficult to reconcile with Bats bringing Plas into the JLA, and treating him as a ‘secret weapon’ when J’onn went nuts and the like.