Here it is.
Trinity #2 continues to interest me; We finally get Invincible #50; and Booster Gold continues to be my favorite book on the stands.
Can’t let this one die lonely with the one from two weeks ago going on!
Trinity - I’m very nervous about where they’re going with Enigma. There’s definite hints that he’s Riddler, and a) on the one hand, I don’t want Riddler’s current characterization ruined, but b) on the other, if it’s NOT Riddler - or, hopefully, an alternate universe/potential future version - that’d, at this point, feel like a ripoff.
Wonder Woman - Stalker, Claw, Beowulf…really doing the rounds of DC’s Sword-and-Sorcery characters, huh? Wonder if we’ll see Starfire, Tor, or the Warrior. Also, the Oracle…Gail really pulled out the sledge to drive that one home. Cute, though. I suspect the whole ‘Amazons’ situation is going to bite Diana, Etta, Nemesis AND Steel. Not sure in what proportions the biting is going to be meted out, though. Hopefully Steel takes the biggest hit - he’s the only unsympathetic one in the lot, and Etta’s entirely innocent.
Action - Art…well, it’s better - or better inked - than he did on the Legion arc, anyway - no crazy eyes. Story - Not much to talk about so far. Interesting set-up. Characters…now we’re talkin’. Cat’s…well, I just hope Clark’s right about her. Steve Lombard - on the one hand - so freakin’ obnoxious. On the other, Clark handing out the whupping subtly like that? I can dig it. Clark teasing Lois was priceless, too.
Trinity #2 - I think that Enigma has a really stupid looking mask. Otherwise, liked it fine. Anybody else think that the aliens from the GL story looked like they were from Dr. Seuss?
Wonder Woman #21 - Good characterization, although I found the cut to Hippolyta to be more compelling than either the A- or B-stories.
Action Comics #866 - I feel spoiled by the portrayal of Cat and Steve in All-Star Superman, making them seem somewhat off here, but the Braniac storyline looks to be good. As for the art, I’d noticed it had improved, but moreover I noticed how much Clark is looking like Christopher Reeves in it.
GL Corps #25 - Nice way to tie another color of the spectrum into the DCverse backstory.
Booster Gold #10 - Ha! Perfect reveal as to what is going on. And, unrelated to that reveal: Wonder if the LSH cameo here will be sorted out by Johns in the Legion of Three Worlds storyline – since the LSH that Supergirl went to and Brave & Bold featured is the current continuity, whereas this and the Lightning Saga LSH wasn’t…
I don’t think that needs any more explanation now than it did before. If they can be reinserted into Superman’s history, they can certainly be reinserted into Booster’s, using the same mechanism.
Black Beetle is interesting me. Part of me went ‘Paco?’ when he explained why he hated Jaime, but I doubt that’s the case.
GLC - I’m not sure I like the change in the Black Mercy’s nature - not the one Mongul jr is inducing, the retconned origin. I liked them as simple plants that evolved an interesting way to get food. Guy and Yat surprised me - I would have expected them to be with Iolande, Isomot, and…the Rannian whose name I can’t remember, not Kyle and Natu. It worked that it fell in the way it did, though.
Salvation Run - Not a good book to be a Titans villain in. Brain, Mallah, Psimon, Warp, Plasmus, Thunder and Lightning, all dead. Phobia…well, I try to avoid thinking too hard on what went on in Savage’s camp, but I doubt it was good. Speaking of Warp, Plasmus, Thunder and Lightning…I don’t recognize the other two characters trapped with them…any help? (Image here, for reference - the woman with the robotic arms and the dude in the containment suit, of course.) I also have no idea what Plasmus and the chick with the arms provided.
Luthor’s rant when Thunder called him a monster was positively brilliant - perfectly Luthor, and so very close to accurate (just aimed a little too broadly, so it encompassed characters not involved).
Final thought: A little rushed, I felt, but all in all pretty cool. Too bad most people gave up on the book before it found its feet.
Incidentally, is anyone else as super-excited as I am that the next issue of Booster Gold is a #1000000 issue?
Thunder and Lightning are being treated as villians now? The last time I looked, they were considered to be Titans allies.
They were, most of the time.
They spent some time evil, however (about 3 issues), which is apparently enough to get shipped to Salvation, which is very much in line with them shipping off members of the Suicide Squad, and Catwoman - although a little more extreme because they never were proper villains.
Honestly, there’s little rhyme or reason to who got transported - Catwoman - no powers, and almost completely reformed - Chemo, Deadshot and Bane - members of the Squad; mindless, mostly loyal, and too smart to step wrong, respectively - Thunder and Lightning - never actually evil, uncontrolled power and mind-controlled eviltude aside… All sent. Yet the General’s still in the Squad, despite being powerful enough to take on the League singlehandedly, and trusted about half as far as Waller can throw him. They gave up on Piper and Trickster, despite the amount of effort they’d originally put into getting them. Body Doubles…sent…Deathstroke…ignored. It goes on and on.
Salvation Run itself may have found its feet, but the Salvation Run project remains a massive fustercluck. One which has blown up rather spectacularly…and inevitably.
Speaking of…
Gotham Underground - Well, the last issue MOSTLY redeemed the series. It’s still primarily pointless, but Penguin’s monologue, the bit with him and Riddler, Batman coming to his rescue, and Gordon’s sign…well, it made it mostly worthwhile.
I’m still pissed that the most interesting idea from the series was the early Masks, which didn’t even really tie into things.
Green Arrow/Black Canary - Judd’s finally getting Dinah right. The Plas stuff was gold - better than the use of him in JLA, for sure. The Plas tissue samples have confused me some…when they just had Connor, I thought I knew what they were planning, but I don’t see how Plas’s ‘Kibbles ‘n’ Bits’ play into that.
Hack/Slash - Something about Vlad’s dialogue seems really, really off. On the other hand… Whoo-hoo, face-eating monster puppets, and most bizarrely random cameo EVER. Is a new Milk & Cheese series coming out or something? 'Cuz…massively random, that.
Chuck - Ah, Chuck…I wish I’d not missed the last few episodes of the TV series. I’m not entirely sure who some of the mentioned baddies are. But…veeerry good reading. Artwise, the likenesses are very good, for the most part, and strikingly consistent. Adam Baldwin being in both series really makes the difference in Chuck and Serenity’s art in that way obvious to me. Jayne doesn’t look the same from panel to panel, despite mostly looking like Baldwin. Casey looks a little less like him (rather simplified), but looks consistently like himself, which is better.
Booster Gold # 10 - Great issue, love the (ahem) Mind games. Totally didn’t see that coming.
Rann/Thanagar Holy War # 2 - Still seems to be in setup mode, would like to see some movement.
JSA # 16 - Awesome. I really wonder if this is going to end like that Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode where Lisa was “too smart for her own good.” After all, we have no indication of ill-will on Gog’s behalf. But given the conventions of the genre, we’re led to wonder what he has up his sleeve.
I hope not… I’d like to see Gog turn out to be what he seems AND the JSA not fuck it up. A REAL twist, in the face of the tendency you mention.
Huntress Year One - Heh. Mandragora makes the canon immigration. The fact Helena’s inheritance was in Euroes gives one of those ‘Oh, right, unfixed time’ moments, like Robin using a computer with a flat panel monitor in Teen Titans: Year One…Hmm… I’m kind of shocked I didn’t have a moment like that in Green Arrow: Year One - even with Young Ollie’s look.
Eternals - I miss JRjr’s art (and I say this as someone who LIKES Acuna), but I’m liking the story enough not to miss Gaiman.
Simon Dark - Still not sold on the art, but I love the story, though the villains are starting to verge on Card Carrying Villain territory…it’s still done well enough that I’m loving it. The soap-zombie plan was strikingly awesome, though.
Finishing my stack:
newuniversal - The 616 namedropping is starting to get a little annoying. General Ross was amusing, detectives DeWolff and Knight were, too, and pinned down that Ross was intentional. MJ was OK…until the 8-eyed mutant baby, which just…yeah. As to the other stuff…Poor Jack. And the lady with the wall-scribblings intrigues me.
The Twelve - Picking up again, but still some cringy moments. How old is Claire supposed to be? I guessed late 20s-mid 30s, which puts her about the same as most of the gothy types I know. She might stand out a bit, but ‘too old for the scene’? :dubious: Dynamic Man and the general have both gone exactly where I thought they would, which is itself not unexpected. Rockman’s pathos is starting to slip over the edge into simply ridiculous territory. This twist would have been more effective if he’d been more actively optimistic about rejoining his people before this.