Big week for me - lots of new books. Still amidst reading them. Haven’t gotten to 52 yet.
It’s my DC Heroes RPG night, so I never get through many comics very quick…
Teen Titans 36 - Some interresting information about the Doom Patrol. I wonder how much is accurate, how much is just The Chief being a manipulative bastard. FTR, I think Steve’s been totally mislead. I’m not so sure what’s going on with Rita. The final page rather squelched the fun, creepy atmosphere it had going (though it shouldn’t have).
D’oh…forgot part of my comment.
Also…
I totally called the phonecalls not being from Blue Devil. Woot.
And it looks like Rose and Eddie will be this portion of the series’ Gar and Raven. But maybe that’s just in my mind.
The Battle for Bludhaven -
The limited series continues, and the Titans express some puzzlement as to how the members of Freedom’s Ring are still alive. Father Time’s background is hinted at. Phantom Lady hits on Robin. Best thing about the issue : The Nuclear Family shows up, dispatched by the Society to help the radiological team.
Exiles -
We get to revisit Counter-Earth, home of the Heroes Reborn, and by the end of the issue it looks like Counter-Earth’s days are numbered.
New Avengers -
Spidey and Vision get punked by SHIELD. Mystery-Man heads to Genosha.
Fantastic Four : A Death in the Family (One-Shot) -
An interesting, if fluffy, Johnny Storm lead item, a reprint of a classic Invisible Girl starrer, and another installment of Franklin Richards : Son of a Genius. This item, I suspect, was published because of the rumors that :
Sue Richards is killed in Civil War.
It also contains a nice detailed recap of the FF’s history.
Green Lantern #11: In good to see that, grumbling to the contrary, Johns isn’t sweeping Hal’s rampage under the carpet, nor is he letting him off the hook entirely. Hal went crazy thanks to a fear demon, true, but Parallax got his claws in thanks to a defect in Hal’s own personality.
Batman #653: Like the man himself, I’m of two minds about this: On the one hand, Two-Face is too good a character to waste. Crazy and dangerous, but also a chance to show Batman’s compassionate side.
Blue Beetle #3: Okay, I’m back on the trolley. Good stuff here. The armor is just a visual smorgasboard.
52 #3: Black Adam likee the violence. Smart guy, that Lex, although we already know the people don’t buy it even if the courts do.
Birds of Prey #94: I think a lot of people had the same train of thought as the Crime Doctor. Glad to see Prometheus is back to being scary.
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #18: Something’s off here. Maybe it’s the art (the facial expressions are way overwrought), or maybe it’s Supergirl. I’m still not terribly fond of this version. At least elements of the Legion don’t like her either. But I’m sure she’ll win them over. Mary Sues always do.
Checkmate #2: Moral ambiguity and geopolitical intrigue. Shiny. I wouldn’t mind Sasha visiting Dr. Exposition at some point, to find out what the deal is with the armor. Is it just cosmetic, or does she have some residual OMAC powers.
Teen Titans #36: The Chief is still a dick. I’m begininng to understand why everyone’s so down on this version of the Titans. Twenty new members in a year? Not a great record.
Secret Six #1: I have some issues here. Ragdoll’s too silly-crazy, Knockout’s not sultry-sassy enough, and I really hope that person didn’t die. Also, the art’s just awful.
Oops, forgot the end of my Batman review:
[spoiler]But obviously, Batman’s compassion is undermined somewhat if he just goes crazy again.
It’s well-written enough to go down smoothly, even if you don’t think Harvey should have gone for the acid treatment again.
Interesting that even Harvey thinks he did it. [/spoiler]
X-Statix Presents : Deadgirl - wraps with this ish, more amusement aplenty.
She-Hulk - Shulkie’s Civil War tie-in takes place after Civil War #1. It has the surviving New Warriors coming to her for legal assistance. Slapstick makes a cameo. Captain America makes a cameo. It confirms that every member of the team at the disaster is publically thought to be dead. Did I mention Slapstick?
Hawkgirl - It’s losing me fast. Chaykin needs an inker, stat.
Catwoman - Wildcat guest-stars. Selina’s back in the costume.
Batman - Pretty strong issue, I think.
Blue Beetle - Love the armor, love the special abilities. Peacemaker cameo? Hmmm.
Green Lantern - Love the Brawl. Hal takes a page out of James T. Kirk’s book. Great final page.
JSA Classified - Vandal Savage may just get his man…
Secret Six - I’m fascinated.
Checkmate - Solid. I think this may become one of my favorites, if handled right.
Birds of Prey - Heh. Bumper Sticker. Prometheus unbound.
Teen Titans - Yup, the chief’s a jerk allright. We get more data on what happened to the space team in the Crisis. And, apparently, the New Earth reboot resurrected Steve Dayton. Go, Steve.
Legion - I thought it was solid.
Powers - Awesome as usual.
That leaves… 52.
Avengers/Power Pack Assemble #2: Very cute. Iron Man designed the interface on his proptype armour badly. No security measures at all. (I’ll give the simple interface a pass because it’s a prototype.) But I love this series so much. Katie is the cutest superhero, ever.
Blue Beetle #3: I’m loving this series, and it’s getting better. ‘You’re thinking drugs, aren’t you?’ ‘Got it in one.’ And I’m totally ending all my stories with ‘and then the redneck trucker gave me free pants’ from now on. This is the funniest ‘heart attack’ I’ve ever read.
52 #3: Terra-Man is such a dumbass. He couldn’t see this coming?
Battle for Bludhaven #4: The art makes my eyes burn. It’s so awful. But! Now we’ve got the Nuclear Family, too! I love the 80s.
Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes #18: I’m really liking the story. And Brainie’s…I think his mind has completely snapped. Either that, or he’s developed a hell of a force field. But…Oh, my bloody lord. Why, WHY does the Legion always - ALWAYS get saddled with artists I don’t like? They’ve only 3 times had artists I’ve actively liked - Swan, Giffen, and Kitson. Now we’re back to ‘OMG, it burns!’
52 #2-3: I read them back to back, so events run together. I love how Black Adam is going for a proactive, violent, zero-tolerance approach, much like Ellis and Millar’s Authority. Frankly, I’m all for superheroes killing very bad people, but I wonder who will take a stand against him first. I think something had better happen quickly to jazz up Booster’s storyline, and I’m just itching for some badass Question moments soon.
Secret Six #1: I prefer not to buy singles, but I enjoyed Villains United so much, I had to come back for more. However, I don’t care for the art so far, or the introduction of the new team member. I know everyone makes a big deal about Gail Simone making Catman cool, but Catman just seemed generic before this, rather than flat-out LAME like the new guy here. It’s going to take a lot for Gail to make this guy interesting. Then again, at least it wasn’t the Joker, like I had feared. Anyway, this had some creepy-funny Ragdoll bits, and more Deadshot and Catman is always a good thing.
I also treated myself to the Alex Ross-style Black Canary action figure from DC Direct, one I had missed when it came out last year. I buy so few figures anymore, but this is the most iconic BC yet, and she’s an important enough character to add to my small DCD collection.
I also picked up The Atheist #3 for Selkie, but I’ll probably read it before sending it her way.
They need to replace Chaykin entirely.
The story’s enjoyable, and picking up, but the art makes me cry. I’m not sure what’s worse - the layouts, the faces, or Kendra’s permanently erect, absurdly defined nipples.
Secret Six #1: Love. Interresting look at the new order among the villains. I really like the new member (then again…I’m weird…I’ve ALWAYS liked him). Art’s terribly uneven, but not too bad - certainly not Hawkgirl, or Legion bad.
Checkmate #2: Well. Well! I’m liking this, all around, story and art. My main thought: Given their desire to balance the leadership, wouldn’t White King’s Bishop fucking the Black Queen be a less than optimal situation?
Nextwave #5: Widdle cuddly bears…of death! That is all.
Actually, no it isn’t. It’s also rather ****.
I like Chaykin’s work, sometimes. But Hawkgirl looks godawful. I think a change in inker would help.
I like Chaykin’s work on Blackhawk - the only other book I’ve seen him do.
But the problems I have with Hawkgirl’s art are more fundimental than can be fixed by an inker. At least not an inker who doesn’t completely redraw the image.
I might need to Byrne-borrow that…
Huge week for me:
Supergirl + Legion #18: Something seemed off to me and it wasn’t just the art. I did enjoy Kara playing with the ring (Ring goes on. Ring goes off. Ring goes on. Ring goes off. Ring goes on…)
Damnit, Brainy, didn’t you watch the 20th century series dealing with this? Sigh, when Nura impails you with finger-lances don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Teen Titans #36: You’d think the boy wonder trained by the Dark Knight would know about vibrate mode :smack:. That was creepy, but in a good way. Just what the hell happened in space?
52 #1: Basque Gran’d!!! (Ow, my brains!) Still awesome. One gripe:
I’m guessing that the corpse is Alexander Luthor. Didn’t he die three weeks ago? Even if he didn’t or was somehow preserved wasn’t he disfigured and riddled with bullets?
Secret Six #1: Not bad. There’s no way that that character is gone. I hope.
I also picked up GL and JSA: Classified and it looks like I have to go back and pick up Birds of Prey and She-Hulk.