Weekly Comic Book Discussion 12/18/2008

I really enjoyed the DCU Holiday Special.

What did everyone get?

I didn’t get the Holiday Special; I somewhat liked the last one, but not the Halloween one.

Trinity was somewhat more interesting this time around, although the story really didn’t move ahead appreciably. It may be the lesser focus on Tarot influencing me, though.

Birds of Prey was a nice caper, although it seems like Bedard is trying to wrap up his storylines before the title ends, and so felt a bit rushed.

If Tangent Superman’s new team-up doesn’t end up biting him in his robes, I shall be severely disappointed. Although some of those guys don’t quite fit into current continuity very well Felix Faust? Lex in his armor? When is this supposed to have happened?

Supergirl New Krypton, not sure if I liked where they went here. I think the more distinction between Kal and Kara, the better, and this issue’s events are pushing them back to backstory similarity. Superwoman showing up, and more of Flamebird and Nightwing were good.

Although, really: Batman, Batgirl, Batwoman : Superman, Supergirl, Superwoman. Seriously?

Still wish that Trinity would hurry the heck up with its storyline.

As for the Terra mini-series, it was an okay read. Nothing spectacular, but it was at least worthwhile, and I think that the art really worked for these characters.

Terra reads like it lost at least one issue between #3 and #4, and more likely 2.

Terra #4 came out? Must have been a shipping snafu at my shop…

I also think it was a mistake to kill you-know-who so quickly.

I dunno…I feel weird saying this after griping how glacially Trinity seems to me, but this arc is almost moving too fast. I get that (I think) they’re going for a Silver-Age “events happen so fast that your head spins” feel, but sheesh–I’m almost ready to say “Give us a chance to breathe!” :slight_smile:

Gah, of all things, Trinity doesn’t need to move any slower. They could certainly have spent more time dwelling on the differences between mainline and alternateline personalities. But we’ve had issue after issue of “the world is fracked up; the heroes don’t know what’s going on; the villains angst and quibble a bit”.

When the action actually moves forward, it is generally only a page or two of the entire issue that moves it forward. And the last few issues have seemed particularly bad for being a collection of cutscenes to various crises developing.

Enough, already. Time to move on.

My two favourite acquisitions this week are Courtney Crumrin and the Prince of Nowhere and Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse - Down the Pub.

Prince of Nowhere is a new Courtney Crumrin story, and a VERY pleasant surprise. I hadn’t known it was coming out, but I HAD to grab it when I saw it. Not disappointing at all. The look into the Crumrin family history was intriguing, though not really surprising.

Down the Pub was a reprinting of some early early (if I’m reading right, the first) Wormwood stories, and, like all Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse is highly entertaining. It’s interesting reading Allo Chaps between the framing sequence (where Wormwood gives an update on what’s happening now in his life, then introduces the old stories) and A Pint With Sparky, since Templesmith’s art style was more different in it than the difference between Pint and the framing story.