Wheeeee.
Civil War : The Confession makes a valiant attempt to redeem Tony in its first half and fails; then it makes a valiant attempt to redeem Captain America in its second half and succeeds.
More later.
New Avengers #28 Depending on who Ronin turns out to be, I just noticed that the current lineup has no “classic” Avengers in it. Bendis writes some terrific dialogue, but my God, all the action this issue could have been shoehorned into about four pages without my noticing the difference. I’m not loving Leinil Yu’s artwork for much longer.
Ever since John Byrne was given the big Superman titles in the 80s, Big Name creators have “marked their territory” by getting to renumber a popular title with #1. I think Bendis is the first creator to get to do that twice with the same book. Let’s hurry up and show me why it’s a good idea to do this.
52 #45: This is going to get worse before it gets better. In terms of what’s happening that is. I’m enjoying it muchly.
Teen Titans #44: That splash page with Ravager and Batgirl–that’s why I’m going to miss Tony Daniel.
Is it just me, or did the Horsemen all go down like chumps in 52? I know that Black Adam is supposed to be the ne plus ultra of badass, but come on. They’ve spent 80% of a year building up to their appearance – only to have them all taken out one week after they finally show up.
And as villainous threats, they weren’t, so much. Hunger had all of one victim to his credit. Death had a few more. The others pretty much just squirted stuff or monologued.
Intergang would’ve been better off just hiring Black Adam in the first place, back before they annoyed him enough to get married. He took out a whole country by himself. Even the insects. (which led to an odd visualization of a very angry Black Adam stepping on roaches and holding magnifying glasses up to anthills. over and over. across an entire country.)
Martian Manhunter #8: Okay. I will say that this book picked up substantially in its last two issues. This may jhave been halfway decent if it were only four issues long, as that’s all the plot really justified. So what have we gained from all this? Well, we’ve got a new villain (who is not as interesting as Malefic, and btw, that’s an awfully obscure reference to just drop in our laps as the main villain’s motivation), and a new hero. Who is neither as interesting as Miss Martian, was beaten to the punch by her, and the one rather dilutes the concept of the other. Y’know what I would have liked to see? An exploration of White Martian culture. Anyway, the most redeeming value of the book is that it did no permanent damage to J’onn.
Superman #660: The Prankster has to me always epitomized the lame villain. Silly motivation, used a gimmick another villain did better, seemed hopelessly out of his league with his nemesis. Comparisons to the Joker (and the Trickster) were inevitable, and never to the Prankster’s favor. But this works. Sure, he’s theatrical and amoral, but unlike the Joker, he’s not outright insane and homicidal. His business setup makes him smart, not just a goofball with exploding pies. He’ll never be a bigshot like Lex, but this gives him a plausible role in the modern Superman canon.
Green Lantern Corps #10: What’s up on Mogo? I’m actually finding this title a fair bit more compelling than Hal’s, although that may be largley due to it having a more consistent publication schedule.
Teen Titans #44: Don’t go breaking out the champaign just yet, folks. I think there’s more too it than just what we’ve seen. I like Kid Crusader, and I think the Daughter’s are really playing with fire here. What are they gonna do for an encore, tease Bruce Banner?
52 Week 45: Even the insects? That’s hard core, dude.
Ahhh, New Avengers. I have nothing good to say about this issue. People are out of character, I don’t like the art, premise, or execution - I suppose the bit with Cage at the gorcery store was amusing.
- Keep in mind these four horsemen fellas are in shells built by very smart but very non-divine scientists. And the way Sivana talks at the end, maybe they were planning for the Horsemen to lose? Though the interlude with the Great Ten suggests otherwise. It seems like the key turning point was Isis’s last minute attack that got Death away from Adam - had she failed, things might’ve gone a little differently.
Teen Titans - Batgirl’s back! Woohoo. What I want to know is : Is Sun Girl the heroine formerly known as Inferno, formerly of Leland McCauley’s Workforce, left stranded in the 21st century during one of the Legion’s time adventures between Zero Hour and the latest Legion reboot?
Green Lantern Corps - Yes, there are odd shenanigans on Mogo, but did you notice the title in the next issue blurb? I’ve been telling you, the old Alan Moore-inspired prophecy about the end of the Corps is in play…
Superman - Agreed that this was an excellent one-off. If filler is required, this is how to do it.
Martian Manhunter - Yeah, I’m glad I stuck it out to issue #8 on this one - of course, that was dumb luck, because all the signals were pointing to a typical darkening of the character - and frankly, I don’t trust DC enough at this point that they should be playing that kind of game with me.
And how do we know Miss Martian isn’t the white Martian survivor?
The horsemen go after whole populations. They ravaged Adam’s country and then got Adam to do their dirty work. Every kill he made counted as a score for Death. I think they fulfilled their mission as far as Intergang is concerned.
52 # 45 - I didn’t really feel like much happened here. Yes, Black Adam destroyed a country and killed the last horseman, but it’s mostly set-up: anti-BA forces being marshalled, Montoya pointed back toward Gotham (and Batwoman, who we haven’t seen in 12 weeks). We need to touch base on the Skeets/Booster/Rip Hunter storyline, too, it’s been 8 weeks since we’ve seen any sign of them.
Some pretty dark stuff in Teen Titans.
Ravager vs. Batgirl should be no contest. Doesn’t the serum give Ravager enhanced strength/speed/agility like her father? Combine that with her combat expertise, and Batgirl’s toast. Also, Jericho wouldn’t stand a chance against his father in hand-to-hand.
Robin developed a counter-serum? Now he’s a chemistry/pharmacology genius too? :rolleyes: He’s getting to be like the Silver Age Superman: he can do whatever the writer wants him to do, with more and more powers being added all the time.
It still ticks me off that Cyborg can come apart. Am I the only one who remembers he no longer has cybernetic body parts? His body is fully human, with a casing made from the Omegadrome. He just got “stuck” that way when the Thinker severed his mental interface with the Omegadrome. Am I a total dork for knowing that?
Am I also the only one who liked Jericho’s old costume? 
This one is kinda blah.
I’m inclined to think that Sun Girl is not Inferno, if only because her look wouldn’t seem to fit Inferno’s character. Inferno is not a glamor girl; I kinda thought she was borderline androgynous.
Intergang wasted their money. They could have gone after the whole population by buying some cheap biowarfare weapons. They wouldn’t have had the expense of all the Mads on Oolong Island, and Black Adam wouldn’t have had any targets to make his bitch and thereby completely end Intergang’s attack on Khadanq.
Intergang is teh stupid.
Superboy Prime. Punch.
I’m guessing that everything that Black Adam is doing is part of their plan. Although I don’t know how they could have predicted (or somehow influenced) Isis asking for revenge.
Gen13 - Well, the action’s starting to pick up. It’s at least as readable as the previous incarnation. Still, it doesn’t hum the way Gail’s other series do.
JLA : Classified - And so ends the 4th Parallel - my favorite JLA Classified Arc since the first two. Easily.
Robin - I love to see highly trained types fighting hulking metahumans. Fun story.
Wonder Woman - a lovely little piece of filler before we jump into the next arc, with the first arc to be finished pff later in an off-schedule special.
Fables - Eh. Kind of a Meh resolution to the mini-arc. I don’t care for Allred’s art, anyway…
Tales of the Unexpected - My second favorite book of the week. The Phantom Stranger shows up to nudge Crispus Allen along as the Spectre, and Dr. 13 brings the insanity.
Pick of the Week : Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Ah, Xander - how I’ve missed your sarcasm and geek references! Ah, how I love the casual dismissal of one of Angel Season Five’s episodes! And Dawn is well-used!
About Wonder Woman…who was that bad guy guy supposed to be? He said he was a Rogue…I did like the implications of her influence, though.
**
Teen Titans**: Dude, you’re sending a guy with one arm in as one of your handpicked? Yeah, good idea.
Green Lantern: Very Body Snatchers, and creepy. Hot alien chicks are a bonus, though.
Robin: He does need some archenemies. Perhaps Batman could give him one as a birthday present?