Here it is - won’t get to read mine for a bit though.
Adventures of Superman #643: Wow. I heard they were breaking up the holy DC trinity, and I squirmed a bit. But… But… They actually seem to be pulling it off! And everyone seems reasonable! It’ll be interesting to see how the other herpes fall in behind them. Superman just seemed so sad.
Legion of Superheroes #9: The main story didn’t do much for me, although I did like Invisible Kid here, but I loved the letter column. “It’s a retcon. I rebooted the continuity. Uhh… There was a… a Crisis.”
The OMAC Project #5: Kicking into high gear (finally! What with Sacrifice, there were too many pages for this story). Black Knight I is nifty. The multiple OMACs are nifty. Over a million? Damn. How will they pull this off?
Day of Vengeance #5: Also shifting into high gear, and very enjoyable. I like that every issue has been from a different Shadowpact member’s PoV so far. Also, we get the promised connection to DC Countdown. The Beetle’s legacy lives!
Superman #220: Soul Vision? Who knew? Seemed like a a lesser cousin to this week’s AoS.
Batman #644: I ended up liking this despite myself (and the fact that I skipped two parts of it). Batman was tough, but not overboard (and in fact, cearly lays out his opposition to killing). That ending tough, harsh…
**Teen Titans #27: ** I had a very hard time following this one. I blame Liefield.
Waitaminute…you mean Supes really can see souls? So when he said he could see Luthor’s soul at the end of Lex Luthor, Man of Steel last week, he was being literal???
I just wanted to point and giggle at this typo, because I’m immature. Tee-hee!
You can never go wrong blaming Liefield for anything. If he lost both arms in an accident, perhaps involving a gun that looked more like an ironing board, I bet nobody would notice the difference if he started drawing with his feet. When DC announced they’d hired him for this 2-issue run, they immediately got a lot of complaints from retailers and orders for this issue were lowered by a lot of them.
I don’t suppose you could spoil this one, please? I haven’t been following Day of Vengeance, but I’m probably the biggest Blue Beetle fan around!
It’s not much: Captan Marvel returns to the Rock of Eternity, where the wizard Shazam says that he’s prepared to battle the Spectre and that Billy can end his holding action against him. Meanwhile, Dan Garret’s scarab (which Ted left on the rock back in Countdown) glitters meaningfully in the background. I expect it’ll play a role in the upcoming finale, or failing that, Infinite Crisis itself.
Invincible #25.
There was only one thing that could happen in Issue 25. It happened. And I don’t mean Science Dog, either.
Nice Wildguard touches, though. Nice place to put the secret orgins.
Ultimate X-Men Annual: Looks like the Spidey-foes are kicking X-tush.
Is it wrong of me to cheer when Remy dies?
Legion. It’s getting better and better all along.
Legion of Superheroes: I freakin’ love this series. “There was a… Crisis.” : snort :
JSA: Classified #2: Superman isn’t a dick here and we learn why Power Girl’s uniform is the way it is. Not as many sleight gags as the last issue, but a few goodies such as PG’s reaction to Jimmy glancing down and Jimmy’s reaction to hearing his future.
Psycho Pirate? Last time I heard of him he was in a looney bin rambling aout multiple worlds. Considering how PG is on the cover of Inf Cri #2 and how Johns is a major force behind it I have a feeling this series will be important to Inf Cri. Why PG and Donna Troy are so important, well I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Not a Marvel guy, but Gambit’s dead? The hell?
Lot’s more on payday. For some reason I thought this would be a light week for me. Teen Titans scares me. On one hand its written by Simmone who I absolutely love. On the other its an interlude that I can skip without losing the plot and the art looks atroicus. Any other opinions on it before I make my decision?
Only because it’s the Ultimate version, and not the main one.
Nothing for me this week…on vacation in a place that doesn’t seem able to support a comic shop…and newsstand sales? Hah!
I picked up an extra copy of the last issue of Wonder Woman - because it was reprinted with a new cover and I mistook it for a new issue. sigh.
I, too, enjoyed Adventures of Superman - pretty solidly sets up the conflict.
The new issue of Fantastic Four was the weakest of Straz’s run so far, but sets up the necessary plot point for the next bit, I suppose.
OMAC Project - yes! We address what the OMACs are, how they came to be, and everything. The old-school JLI gets a little action, but gets torn up when the other two OMACs join in. Lots of interesting material though - Mary Marvel being with them suggests at least one of the recent throwback series with them is canon; I hope Fire’s not hurt too bad; Boy, those OMACs can summon simulated Shazam lightning?; Poor Dmitri.
Day of Vengeance - Ahh, now we know why the Chimp knows what to do. It’s the Phantom Stranger’s guiding hand… er, paw. Great idea using Black Alice that way, but I hope they figure out something nifty for her to do while she has that power. (Like, say, smite Eclipso?)
Teen Titans - Liefeld’s art I can sometimes tolerate, but here, it’s an eyesore, and really detracts from the story. Couple that with the focus on Hawk and Dove, and even Simone can’t save it.
JSA : Classified - having just read Garth Ennis’s ‘The Pro’, I have a great appreciation for Amanda Connor’s art. Regarding the Crisis connection? Yes. Duh. 
It was set up in the recent JSA time-travelling arc, as I pointed out then - looks like it’s all coming to a head. Hopefully, Johns will pick up on some of Psycho Pirate’s stuff from Animal Man, but I won’t hold my breath.
Legion - Good, solid issue. All around. But the Letters Column - Hee. Perfection.
And is that a Jimi Hendrix t-shirt?
The only new acquisition I’ve gotten recently is the *X-Force: Famous, Mutant, and Mortal * oversized hardcover, collecting one of my favorite Marvel runs of all time, X-Force #116-129. I have all the singles, but now I’ll be listing them on eBay in the weeks to come. The hardcover is outstanding, with big pages on nice glossy paper, and it’s great to see Allred’s dynamic pop art blown up so huge.
I also got a bunch of comics back from various long-distance friends who had been borrowing them for a long time. I never doubted I would get everything back eventually, but in the last week, I got packages in the mail with my copies of the Box Office Poison TPB, Ex Machina TPB, Point Blank TPB, the first two Sleeper TPBs, the last three Wildcats TPBs, Wildcats 3.0 #13-24, the first three Sin City series in TPBs and singles (which I never got to sell when the movie came out), and Sandman #41-75. If I didn’t own all those already and had never read them before, it would have been the best comic week ever for me.
Don’t recall…
Yeah, that bugged me. I know things like it have been done before, usually using ulta-high quality recordings of them saying “Shazam!”, which is well within Brother I’s capabilities, but just zapping them? That takes some serious sorcerous mojo. Even the Spectre couldn’t shut down Billy that easily.
New Books for August 24, 2005:
Authority: Revolution Book 1: Nguyen’s work definitely gets better as Ed Brubaker’s story progresses (it takes a while tho’). At first it looks as though he’s trying to channel Mignola. By issue #8 (of a twelve issue story) Nguyen starts putting more detail in the facial expressions get more detailed, which helps a lot. The last third of the story (issue #8-on, out in single issues) has been great fun over all, if not quite matching the excitement of the first two years of this title.
Batman #644 Boy, a very bad cap to a very bad story arc. Too many pointless, distracting red herrings, a too tidy ending, that undoes 30+ years of positive continuity in a very unsatisfactory way (thoguh for once I liked Camuncoli’s art on this title). I can’t believe Gabrych and Willingham collaborated on this. (They’ve been doing great work on, respectively, Batgirl and Robin.) Am I the only one who often finds the peripheral batbooks (Catwoman, Birds of Prey, Robin, Batgirl) better written that then main bat-books, on crossovers like War Games or War Crimes?
Recommeded - Brubaker & Stewart’s Catwoman: Wild Ride TP. Good stuff, requires familiarity with the contents of the previous trade, however.
City Of Tomorrow #5 (Of 6) More violence, and sexy dialogue from Chaykin (the bitching and banter between Floyd and Ash make the book). Fun stuff.
Daredevil #76 Good start to the new arc. I’d’ve loved this if it wasn’t the 16th time someone’s played on the Kingpin’s knowledge of Matt’s dual life, now totally blown any way. (I wonder why it still has any value as a bargaining chip). Perhaps it’s time for Bru and Lark to take Matt on the road, like Cap’s “Nomad” phase in the seventies. Good to see Milla again, and to see Matt smile (a spot of happiness?) and I loved the throwaway gags about the Kingpin’s former partners in crime.
Jack Cross #1 Opps. Thought I forgot something. (I was planning on picking this up in response to the positive reviews it garnered at Millarworld.Net, but had to rush in, and out of my LCS last night. I was expecting company at home.)
JSA Classified #2 I do hope this Andromeda bit is another red herring. I’m betting on something more interesting (and hopefully more than just confusing) as hinted by the last page, and the preview image of next issues cover, which shows Powergirl and Huntress, another Earth-2 continuity casualty of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. I’d like to see Connor illustrated a “neurotic chick arc” in Birds of Prey sometime. The bit about the hole in her outfit WAS a reach, but it worked for me.
I was ready to drop Legion Of Super Heroes after last issue (which just didn’t work for me for some reason) but #9 did, so I am back on board. And as expected I loved Cosmic Boy’s speech at issues end, and Chameleon and Invisible Kid’s desperate attempts to manipulate events. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this substitute artist’s work before, but I for one, like it. And as ever, the letters column is one of the best things about this book. I wouldn’t mind seeing a whole issue of humorous bits revolving around Light Lass, Star Boy and other Legionnaires reactions to fan mail.
What’s the delay with Robin #142? Anybody know?
Teen Titans #27 I don’t begrudge Mr. Liefield his success over the years, but the art here just doesn’t work for me, not at all. I couldn’t read it.
Anyone Else?
I didn’t get a chance to read much last night, but I did read *Batman * #644 and the ending just pissed me off to no end. I didn’t think I’d hate a book more than Teen Titans this week, but there it was. And what the hell was the point of that? What did it accomplish? It’s not just a lame ending to what I thought was a mildly interesting story, it’s completely and irreconcilably out of character for the person in question to do what they did. Horseshit, I say.
Feel like spoiling it for me?
Er, I was referring to Teen Titans, but it looks like you were pissed off at Batman. Could you spoil both?
Yeah, I shouldn’t rage and type at the same time.
Batman:
Dr. Leslie Thompkins is the person who purposely withheld treatment from Stephanie Brown, leading to her death. Her reasoning, apparently, was that she thought it might put an end to all the vigilantism and violence in Gotham. This from a person who has always been depicted as willing to treat anyone. She’s a pacifist who would save the Joker’s life if he landed on her operating table, but she’d murder a teenaged girl? Not bloody likely. I’ve always loved that character and thought she added an interesting and important element to the Bat-world, and now she’s hiding out in Africa, working anonymously with the Peace Corps. Batman says if she ever comes home, he’ll turn her in.
Teen Titans:
It seems to be an utterly inconsequential story about the Titans fighting a group of teenaged supervillains. Oh, and they go bowling. Robin and Cyborg commiserate over both being fatherless on Father’s Day. The art is atrocious, and the writing is way below Simone’s usual standard. It’s possible that the story was written in the Marvel style, where Liefield did his “artwork” first and left Simone to fill in the dialogue. The transitions between scenes are practically non-existent and it just feels weird and off. You miss nothing if you don’t read it.
I also picked up my monthly issue of KODT, and the new Conan, which was interesting.