Busy day for me, hell, busy week,… so I have to be quick. (Spoilers in white text, use cursor to read)
**New Books for 11-23-05 - **
Batgirl #70 - decent follow up to previous issues. Though what Gabrych is doing with Mr. Freeze is pretty interesting, I must admit some impatience. I keep wanting the focus to shift back to Casssandra’s quest for her mother’s identity, which took a bit away from the pleasure of seeing Cassandra cut loose again, and her thoughts as she did so was the best part of the issue for me. It’s been a while.
Captain America Vol 5 #12 - strong and involving, like last issue. I realize Mr. Brubaker might disagree (his sudden use of capitals on the Cap thread in General nearly knocked me off my chair!) but like his Authority Revolution and Sleeper Season 2, this title has been a slow gradual build for me, that earlier on, tried my patience. But I concede, these last two issues have been worth it. The reveal at issues end disappointed me a little. Not that Sam Wilson isn’t welcome, but given that this story involves Cap and Bucky’s wartime exploits coming back to haunt the good Captain, I was kinda’ hoping it would turn out to be Prince Namor, esp. after what Sharon said to Nick about, “if you can reach him”.
Catwoman #48 & #49 DD’s (a friend’s) effusive praise inspired me to give this a try again. I’m glad to say the read was worth it. Selena’s conference with Bruce (what a relief to see him act like his old self), her bait and switch tactics, the cold blooded way Slam’s son is being used by the cops, the parlay between supervillains (which reminds me, in a good way, of Simone’s excellent Villains United) combined to make this a real fun read. Looking forward to what I hope is a serious showdown between Black Mask and Selena soon. (Yeah, this is going back on the pull and hold list). For those who haven’t tried it out yet, check out Woods illustrations. It’s pretty cool stuff.
Daredevil #79. Excellent. (Why do I get the feeling poor Ben Urich ain’t making it through this story arc?) Bendis really outdoes himself here. “The Murdock Papers” is shaping up into a must read, even for those who haven’t been following the storyline.
Local #1 Likewise excellent. I love how Wood ties the personal, that we can all relate to, to the “wind-rewind” storytelling technique in use here. If you liked Demo you should give this a try. It’s like “Run Lola Run” with depth.
Loveless #2 The added depth Azzarello brings to the story this issue is both welcome (I thought this was going to be as simplistic as his “Red Harvest”-revisited Luke Cage story), and intriguing. Can’t ask for much more from a second issue. And cleary Wes is nowhere near as dangerous as his wife.
**Punisher MAX Vol 4 Up Is Down And Black Is White TP ** Damn that was a good read. I want to see more of O’Brien now. Is she still among the living?
Robin #144 a bit of a disappointment given the narrative drive of the Veteran/SpecOps storyline. It’s definitely an editorially mandated digression, and one I find mildly annoying (like the Mr. Freeze subplot in this months Batgirl - something that might be interesting on it’s own, but feels like a unwelcome distraction here. Still it’s good to see that Darla Aquista isn’t going to get deep sixed right away. Like poor Stephanie Brown, the girl deserves better. And this may well be a necessary tactic to maintain the integrity of the main storyline. Still I’ll be glad when this (hopefully) gets back on track.
By the time I got to Seven Soldiers Zatanna #4 I was a bit burnt out, so I didn’t really give this issue the concentrattion that was due. I def. have to re-read it. But I gotta’s say, Sook gives us the sexiest Zatanna I’ve seen since her appearances in Moore’s Swamp Thing, opposite John Constantine. (Whereas her recent appearances in JLA have been the most dramatic. I want to see her join WW’s & Supergirl’s Lesbian Legion of Unrepentant Asskickers in the DCU to come (esp. if Superman and Batman don’t shake off their Crisis mandated doldrums anytime soon).
I keep thinking I forgot something. Well, there’s always tomorrow.
