The child safety thing has been addressed at DC quite a bit. It has been an ongoing issue for Arsenal - is Lian safer with or without the Titans/Outsiders around? I seem to recall that several years ago, Tim Drake’s school had Bruce Wayne investigated for abuse because Tim regularly came to school with bruises and injuries. When Donna Troy got divorced, sole custody of her son was awarded to her ex because of the danger her superhero lifestyle posed. These are just off the top of my head.
I’m not sure what my point is. But if Marvel is just now thinking about this, they’re behind the curve (as usual ).
We learn how the new Ragdoll fits in with the earlier ones, and I’m digging it.
Catman kicks serious ass. I am TOTALLY digging that. I’d almost feel sorry for Captain Nazi if it weren’t for the fact he was, you know, Captain Nazi.
More dissention in the ranks of the SSoV. Good, good. Playing out about how I’d expect. I’m pretty much positive Luthor’s lying to Adam. Not neccessarily about what the bomb can do, but about one being planted near Khandaq. If they had planted one, I doubt it would be Luthor telling Adam about it - Mockingbird would have wanted him to know about it.
The Crime Doctor attempting to torture the Paradaemon was priceless.
Obviously, Deadshot’s threat at the end won’t be fulfilled, but…it’ll be interesting when they try.
JSA 75:
A few complaints about the art to start off with.
I’m not loving Ross’s covers lately.
Whoever drew the first non-sepia bit bites. Nobody looked good, and Kendra…I don’t even know where to start.
OK…onto the good parts - the story.
Interesting look into Al’s mind - even if we don’t learn anything new of significance.
Eclipso is taking quite the beating here. The JSA seemed a lot less surprised to see her get up than the gang over in DoV did… Will do… You know what I mean. >_>
Interesting use of the Shazam lightning. More fun than just using it to kick Superman’s ass.
Yeah, I knew about the DC stories, but that wasn’t clear in my post. I was thinking specifically of Marvel and whether they’d covered the topic much. Indeed, they frequently seem behind the curve these days.
It’s funny that when I first started reading comics in the late '90s, I read almost entirely Marvel books and now the vast majority of the books I read (probably 50-60 titles a month; I’ve lost count) are DC books.
Army of Darkness : Shop Till You Drop Dead #4; DC Special : The Return of Donna “Retcon” Troy #2; Exiles #66; Superman #219; Wildguard : Fool’s Gold #1; JSA #75; Villains United #3.
Hmmm. DC Special was wordy and tried to cram too much crap I don’t care about into one book. Exiles was delightful, I like the slight change in premise; JSA was neat, and I liked the Degaton cameo; Villains United was friggin’ awesome.
Metropolopoly. Hee. “How much is it to buy Suicide Slum?”
Villians United was a little too over-the-top violent for my tastes, plus it had a minor continuity glitch that bugged me. (Captain Nazi goes toe-to-toe with the Marvel Family regularly. And he’s hurt by tiny little needles? That was just an excuse to do an “injury to the eye” panel). Also, I assume Cat-Man doesn’t have his luck-based powers any more? When did that happen?
I’m really enjoying the new Superman teams: I like that the writers have finally realized that the supporting cast is a large part of what makes Superman good. I’m hoping this is a renissance.
House of M. I am so bored with this–I’ve heard of stories moving slowly but this is glacial–this issue finally started to get to the plot. Plus if the spoilers I’ve read elsewhere are true, I really, REALLY don’t care.
Rumored “House of M” spoilers
[spoiler]
The “M” doesn’t stand for “Magneto”. What Marvel bad-guy A) has the hots for the Scarlet Witch and B) has the “I’m giving you your heart’s desire…with a twist” gimmik? Yup. It’s supposedly Mephisto behind everything.
One rumor I’ve heard is that Wanda won’t be able to put things back just right when she’s done. One of the casualties will be Spider-Man’s entire life: Aunt May won’t remember/know his ID, he’ll have never been married to MJ, Gwen and Harry will never have been killed. Eyuck. If true, this is worse than the clone saga. But it’ll give me an excuse to drop more Marvel books–there is no recovering from that kind of potential suckage.
I don’t mind this one so much–apparently Claremont is still pissed that Morrison’s X-Men sold tons better than his, and this next rumor is part of his (Claremont’s) battle to undo everything Morrison did. Remember that “In 25 years, humans will be the minority” stat. that was given? Rumor says “Nope. There’ll only be a few hundred mutants left in the world.” The good part is that it makes it easier to imagine them persecuted successfully. The bad part is that the imminent threat made the persecution believeable.[/spoiler]
Hulk–I’ve dropped all the House of M crossover titles as of today, but I ended up with this one. It didn’t make me reconsider my decision.
Spider-Man Unlimited: Great book. And I love Bagley’s art. But Silvermane and Hammerhead? Snerk. Why not the Kangaroo or the Texas Twister while yer at it.
Firestorm: I’m not hating this book any more. Firestorm isn’t eating people to become Firestorm (although I miss the partner aspect–I wish they’d kept Ronnie around in the Professor’s role), and the kid is beginning to grow on me. On the other hand…“Stay black”?? Tell me that’s not really a slang term now. Is it?
I am thrilled you took a chance based on my advice, and liked it. Hey, if you’re interested, I have the second She-Hulk TPB on order, so I will have extra copies of #7, 8, 9, and 12. Drop me an e-mail if I could interest you in those!
Slow week for me: I only picked up Villains United #3 and haven’t read it yet.
Villains United #3: More character development on Ragdoll and (to a lesser extent) Parademon. Very cool. More Catman badassery, which is very cool per se, but I hate to see my man Deadshot get pushed aside.
Oh, and Luthor is so Mockingbird. He can use the six to be an immediate threat to consolidate his society and warm up for the heroes, tie up the loose ends among the villains, or use them as a weapon to take out the society if they turn on him.
Y The Last Man #35: Well, it wouldn’t by Y if Yorick wasn’t acting like an utter doofus. And Alter’s back… I don’t know, it’s still good, but I’m worried it’s falling into a bit of a slump.
Batman Dark Detective #5: Engelhart and Rogers continue to kick it old school. Love their take on the Joker.
Aquaman #32: I feel like I’m missing an issue here. The relationships, especially Koryak seem to be coming out of nowhere and I’m not quite seeing what they’re trng to say about race here.
Villains United #3, which came out today, is the first comic in months to fill me with adrenaline, make me pump my fist and go “Yea yea!” As big a letdown as OMAC Project has been, Gail Simone’s VU really hit a peak with this latest issue. You saw the Secret Six at the end of #2, captured by a giant team of villains despite Catman’s valiant efforts in battle, and how the cliffhanger left them about to be tortured by the Crime Doctor. Well, they get tortured pretty badly in #3, all six of them. But the ending, which should be obvious enough, is extremely cathartic and satisfying, to say nothing of action-packed. I loved it, and I’m really looking forward to the next three issues. Deadshot is cool, but Catman is The Man. He should win an award for “breakout character of 2005.” Normally Blue Beetle would deserve that award, but he died in the very issue that should have made him the breakout star. !Viva el Hombe de Gatos!
Wow. I find this one somewhat hard to believe. I can’t imagine JMS thinking this up or agreeing to it, especially considered his finely wrought story dealing with the first point, and I could imagine him walking if this happened.
(Stiffly) Oh, Fenris left? Oh. I hadn’t noticed. (Long pause.) Isn’t this awkward. (Longer pause.) Well, good-bye.
One month until our Biannual Comic Book Geek Battlethon!! Superman versus Thor? Captain America versus Batman? Spider-Man versus Plastic Man? Wonder Woman versus Storm? Another? Pick your losing pony, dude.
No. Wrong. Bad. Big Bad. The new spider man stories are some of the best comic books that I’ve read in quite some time. I don’t want to stop reading spider man comics, but I will if I have to. :mad:
Allegedly, JMS is off the book in a few issues-he and Mark Waid swapped FF for Spidey but due to scheduling stuff, JMS is still on.
And I’ve read of a bunch of Marvel writers (Peter David included) bitching that Peter should never have gotten married, 'cause once he’s married, he can be married, divorced, seperated, widowered, remarred, or 'now single’d, but he can never be “never been married” again. David used this as a point to discuss his theory that fans don’t really want change, they just want the illusion of change. I strongly disagree with him on this point, but it illustrates a mentality that exists at least at Marvel and probably at a bunch of other comic companies as well.
The entire Legion of Super-Heroes (even Tyroc!) vs The Terrible Two (Walrus and The White Rabbit)–I’ll even allow you any two of the Inferior Five as well.
The Defenders/Avengers Alliance vs Willie Lumpkin and his wagging Earlobe power?
Betty vs Veronica wearing tight tee-shirts while rolling around in a pit of lime jello…excuse me. I have to go take a cold shower.
JSA #75: Yeah, the covers are sucking lately and won’t be getting any better anytime soon. I didn’t need to know that the Spectre had gray nipples. JJ and the Thunderbolt all still AWOL and Power Girl’s issues will be resolved in JSA: Classified. Apparently being eclisped turns you immortal . That stuff aside good issue.
Fathom #2: I’m new to this world so I’m having fun piecing the story together. The costumes are a bit gratious though. Not complaining, just stating an opinion.
Villains United #3: Simone, welcome to my list of favorite comic book writers. I feel almost bad for Fatality getting the Evander Hollifield treatment. Is Scandal a new character? If not is going ass-sh*t on her enemies a pre-established power?
Justice League Unlimited #11: I only pick this one up when I enjoy the featured character. So far I’ve read a Blue Beetle story (on the recommendation of a Doper), a John Stewart story, a story featuring the Question a few months back (amazing issue! Drop everything and go read it right now.), and the Creeper last month and I have yet to be let down. The awesome streak continues with this issue featuring Stargirl in which she lays the verbal smackdown on Aquaman:
Aqua: Children do not speak until they are proven worthy of an adult voice.
Star: Oh yeah?! And what would make me worthy? Being able to talk to fish!?!
Owned. The rest of the issue is fun too.
Still left: Superman, Donna Troy, and probably some more back issues I pick up tomorrow.
There are several letters on that site complaining about spyware/malware/viruses/trojan horses that download from the rotating ads there.
When I visted there 3 weeks ago, I got antivirus/spyware warning popups, then my work computer crashed. Took 3 weeks to get it fixed.
Gotham Central: Ok, the guy writing Batman (the one with Red Hood) is pretty good, but other than him, why does DC allow anyone other than Greg Rucka to write Bat-books? Rucka is so! damned! good!
The Donna Troy Thing: Another info-dump issue. I’d have been happier if they’d simply done it in a single, stand-alone book and said “The magic “Undo Bad Stories” pixie brought her back from the dead. The end.”. The art’s kinda cluttered too.
The Loeb/Sale Catwoman thing–it’s ok (with gorgeous art) but that’s typical of my experience with Loeb/Sale books–I don’t like them individually all that much. When the whole set is out, I’ll reread it in one lump and probably really enjoy it.
The Engelhart/Rodgers Batman–some of the very first Batman comics (Detective, actually) that I ever read were the original Rodger/Englelhart run. I dunno–this doesn’t have the same mojo that the originals did for me. I love Engelhart’s stuff-I’d argue he was the single best comic writer of the '70s, but his stuff since then has ranged from utterly ghastly (the “Hellcat” mini from Marvel) to just…bleh (Millenium). This is a step back in the right direction, but it’s still only competent. Plus it’s bloated. It could easily have been cut down by two issues.
Villains United #3 – Excellent issue. Good action, development of the characters, plus we see the plot starting to really get moving. I think the bomb is a ruse by Luthor (otherwise, why wouldn’t he just use telepaths?), but the Six are bad guys so maybe it’s real. Oh, and don’t piss Scandal off.
Y - The Last Man #34 – Meh. This issue ties up the loose ends, but it seemed not to have the crackling energy that the title usually possesses. I liked the idea that Kalina was unrepentent, while still acting to save Yorick and as many others as she could. (Although the “supporting character” bit was a little meta – it’s certainly something I can understand women in male-dominated industries feeling, but it’s hard to take it seriously when it’s a speech by an actual supporting character.) But it looks like we’re finally getting another member of our merry band, something I’m been hoping for for quite a while. They can’t all be home runs.
Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere #1 – It’s not bad. The writing is a little stodgy and Fabry’s sequentials aren’t as good as his covers. But I trust Carey and the world painted in the first issue is engrossing. I’ll continue with the series, but what this really made me want to do is go buy the novel on my lunch hour.
GL Legacy: The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan: I bought this like a month ago and just got around to reading it. All around awesomeness!
Donna Troy #2: I enjoyed the parts with the Titans and the Outsiders (except for Jade. Stop whining.), but not the Gods and Goddesses parts. Fortunately this issue featured a lot more of the former.
Superman #219: I complained about having to buy another mini-series to keep up with one. If they are all this good I’ll complain on principle, but I’ll love it.
).
. That stuff aside good issue.