Here 'tis. Still reading my selections for the week.
Gen13 improved a bit, but I still don’t know if I’ll stick with it.
Nothin, yet?
Civil War : Young Avengers / Runaways wraps up fairly unremarkably this week.
The Batman and Son plot wraps up in Batman, which feels a lot like early 80’s Batman stuff to me. I like.
JLA Classified - Meh. These 6-part JLA:C stories seem to run out of steam after about four issues.
Superman - An apocalyptic vision of the future with some intriguing details. I love Arion’s exasperation as he relates the vision.
52 for me this week…I like it. I’m guessing Skeets’s hint is that he’s made from
Alexander Luthor’s armor.
More subplots converging. Pretty much the only one that’s standing alone now is the Steel-Luthor one. Anyone want to bet Natasha ends up dying in the final battle royale against Intergang?
Oh yeah, and Supernova. Been quite a while since anyone tugged at that loose thread.
Eh? I thought Skeets was implying that
He’s armored in Waverider’s skin. Since the corpse found in 500 years will be Waverider’s – once Skeets has finished butchering him.
After reading 52 this week, I find myself suddenly thinking that Rip Hunter will end up being Daniel Jon Carter. It just seems like the kind of vibe that 52 is going for, that the time-traveler would end up having created his own arch-enemy. However, I don’t think there’s any textual support for this (which is why I’m not spoilering it).
You know what, Lightray, you could be right.
At first I read Skeets’s comment to mean that he was made from armor that was worn by someone, but on re-read, it could definitely be what you’re saying…I never thought of Waverider’s skin as being solid or metallic, I thought he was some sort of solidified energy, but I guess that hasn’t been firmly established one way or another.
What I got out of it was that he’s made from Waverider’s hide. Alex would explain the golden colour, but so would Waverider. And Waverider, IMO, better explains the protecting him in the timestream, although Alex can work for that, too, I suppose, although, IIRC, he’s never actually displayed time-travel abilities, just between universes/non-space. The kicker me me, though is the fact that he’s talking about burning it off someone’s corpse while he’s torturing Waverider. Seems strange to be talking about Alex while he’s trying to torture information about Rip Hunter out of Waverider.
Superman - I really enjoyed this. I want to see more of this destroyed world - Clarkisite, the new Green Lantern (who has a great costume), the Bizarro Swamps. Give Buseik an Elseworld project to play with it.
That’s a popular theory. It was brought up in the Newsarama 5.2 about 52 for the issue that introduced Daniel. Wacker and Waid’s response was to jokingly avoid the question entirely. (Actually, Waid joked about stealing the idea, Wacker said they shouldn’t give him ideas.)
Forgot about the other stuff:
Superman - Didn’t live up to the promise of Arion’s entrance, IMO. Not terribly interested in the future storyline, and Khyber really reminded me of one of those Marvel-style major villains who’ve always been around but we somehow have never heard of before. It was interesting seeing some of the people who showed up in the flashfoward scenes (e.g., Eclipso, Black Adam*). Interesting that the GL seems to be Hal’s daughter.
Teen Titans - Suddenly, we’re at the reveal? Weren’t there quite a few more interim-Titans to go see? Osiris, Hawk & Dove, etc.?
Green Lantern - Okay, interesting villain reveal. I feel like the story jumps around a bit too much between issues, though – the plots for the bounty hunters and the Global Guardians needed a bit more development, and they skipped over that.
- so much for the main characters in 52 not showing up until after 52 finished.
Yeah. I just don’t understand what suddenly convinced me that it’s a good theory. There’s really nothing textual that supports it (yet).
I wasn’t certain that they were all flash-forwards. I’ll have to re-check.
I don’t think the intention was to let us meet ALL of them. Heck, they can’t touch on Osiris until 52 is done. How about that last page? I noticed that the next issue box shows the full version of the partly-obscured cover we’ve been seeing in solicits. One “new” Titan, two returning Titans.
I think we’re going to have a crashing revelation next issue that will tie things together tightly. Johns does that once in a while. We’ve seen the villain of the piece before, though… unless he has a brother or something.
The only part that could be a flash-back was the first bit after Arion starts explaining how the world gets destroyed - all the others are explicitly ‘in years to come’
It’s possible, of course, Arion’s confused as to the time-line, but that seems unlikely.
(And there are characters in the first bit that I don’t recognise (that’s not to say that they’re not pre-existing characters I just don’t know, but…), and events that can’t have already happened in the background explicitly mentioned.)
The guy in the Kryptonian bodysuit with the El-shield, and what looks like Mr. Terrific’s facemask – I don’t recall seeing him before (unless its a redesign of someone obscure), but it looked like an interesting character design.
Yeah, that’s pretty much my thoughts on him.
I’m wondering if it’s the Eradicator with a bit of an upgrade - yeah, he’s more an anti-hero than a villain, but he always struck me as the kind who wouldn’t take much to drop him on the other side of that line.
It appears to be the Eradicator, as he appeared in the Majestic miniseries and the Action issues during/proceeding OMAC Project. (He got thumped badly by some OMACs, in the arctic, as I recall.)
Excellent. I do hope they bring Raddy back. As a villain. Even without bringing about the post-apocaliptic Metropolis, that would be fun.
Teen Titans - No surprises, at all, but I wasn’t reading for surprises.
Did anyone really think Miss Martian or Ravager was actually the traitor? With Miss Martian’s reveal at the end of last issue it pretty clearly wasn’t her, and with Bombshell making the accusation, the real traitor seemed pretty obvious to me.
I’m also unsurprised about the Titan who was to be brought back. Even before the reveal of the item that was stolen Jericho was one of the better bets, IMO. Mostly because he’s the only one I can think of, offhand, who wouldn’t be a violation of the whole ‘bringing back the dead is a dangerous and stupid thing to do’ lesson they presumably learned from the last pre-gap arc. Wally, maybe, but his fate’s not entirely clear, yet.
Checked the Superman thing, and yeah, looks like somebody goofed on Black Adam.
I picked up Martian Manhunter - the saving grace of this series appears to be its 8 issue time limit. Green Arrow wraps up his training sequence with style.
Tales of the Unexpected - So much goodness! Especially the backup.
Picked up the new Marvel Max ‘Wisdom’ series, and it looks amusing.
Ahh, 52. Nice to see certain persons again, even if the issue looks grim for them. Didn’t know it was metal, either. Sadly, though I felt this was one of the best covers we’ve seen so far on 52, the interior art was lacking.
No, they telegraphed the people we were supposed to think were the potential traitors way too much for me to believe they were the ones.
Of course, they also telegraphed the actual traitor, which threw me off. Plus, I was hoping to see the other temp-Titans (particularly the ones seemingly from the Diniverse), and so expected the reveal to come later.
I didn’t think the 52 art was poor. Except for on the Black Canary origin. Yeesh.
Cripes. Chaykin. I loved his Blackhawk, but lord, on Hawkgirl and here, he’s…not exactly on the top of his game.
I fear for his Guy Gardner series.
And, yeah, the fact that those two supposed traitors were so blatantly obvious was what made them so obviously NOT the traitor.
Back from vacation. Let’s see if I can’t do a marathon round up of what I found in my box upon my return:
52: Still chugging along quite nicely. Still very often the highlight of the week’s take. Let’s just pause for a moment to consider who much of a minor miracle this is. And hey, didn’t a crocodile eat a very sensitive part of the mythical Osiris’ anatomy?
**Teen Titans #40: ** Yeah, I saw it coming. Well, I saw the traitor coming. The twist of what Raven was up to was entertaining. Like the new lineup revealed on the next cover.
The Trials of Shazam #3: Yes, it’s a major shakeup, and I feel almost guilty for liking it, but I do. I love the art and the take on magic is an entertaining one. Besides, while Batman and Superman did change a bit with the years Captain Marvel was held in statsis (literally). He was overdue for an update.
The All-New Atom #5: Still crazy, still awesome. I’m just waiting for the inevitable Bizarro/Waiting war. Guest starring Zatanna! And hey, a former Doper is quoted.
Martian Manhunter #4: Still riding just this side of the keep it/cancel divide. I really hope the next guy to tackle J’onn doesn’t feel paticularly like referencing this series.
Superman Confidential #1: I love Cooke’s Superman and Lois.
Action Comics #844: Meh. A pale shadow of what Busiek is doing with teh character. And between this and Batman, I don’t really have that much patience for disappearing sons. Still has some potential, depending on what the kid really turns out to be.
Jonah Hex #13: A good start.
Tales of teh Unexpected #2: Good creepy Fun
Superman #657: Now here’s the good stuff. I do like the occasional dystopian possible future now and then.
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes: Didn’t see that coming. And they’re finally ending the delusions. Good.
Seven Soldiers #1: Worth the wait.
Justice #8: When this is over, I’ll read it all at once, and I think I’ll like it. Until then, I’m finding it hard to follow.
Justice League of America #3: Good, not great.
Green Lantern #14: Hal just can’t catch a break, can he?
Y: The Last Man #51: While I dig the character, I’m hoping this hypothesis of the plague turns out incorrect or at least unconfirmed. It’s just goony.
Detective Comics #852: Nifty.
**Batman #658: ** Had it’s moments, but I’m not quite satisfied with the ending. I do like the transition of Talia from “Star-Crossed Lovers” to “Psycho Ex”.
Secet Six #5: More badwrongfun.
Blue Beetle #8: More fun.