What You Should Have Read #15

It’s been a nice and stress-free week, and I’m looking forward to some good comics. What will the day bring me?

Amazing Spider-Man #622

Avengers: Initiative #33

Blackest Night #7

Deadpool #20

Flash: Rebirth #6

New Avengers #62

Thor #607

Thunderbolts #141

Ultimate Comics Enemy #2

X-Factor #202

X-Force #24

X-Men: Legacy #233

I’m not looking forward to as many books as last week, but this is still a very impressive list.

Two quick questions, though: 1) Didn’t we just get a new issue of Deadpool last week? Not that I’m complaining, ‘cause it’s a Spidey team-up and Hit-Monkey is involved, and Deadpool is hilarious…and 2) When did issue number 5 of Flash: Rebirth hit the stands? I had all but forgotten about that book.

I’m hoping that Thor finally hits the Siege crossover with this issue. I’d probably know if it did or not if I read the solicits, but I don’t. I like to be surprised.

Books Based on Books

I didn’t know what to expect with Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill. But it looks like we’re starting the journey to the Dark Tower that might possibly end with one of the best opening lines I’ve ever read. I won’t spoil it; go read The Gunslinger. This issue quickly reintroduces us to the major players in this game: Roland and his Ka-Tet, Sheemie, John Farson and Marten Broadcloak. Peter David and Robin Furth have really taken to this world that Stephen King created. They have totally built on this mythology. They haven’t stolen it, they haven’t shit on it, they took it and added to it to make it deeper and wonderful.

Is Ender’s Game: Mazer in Prison from a short story, or are we getting some original material in the same vein as Peter David’s foray into the Dark Tower series? If were getting some original stories, then kudos to Marvel. It was great to get a bit of backstory on both Mazer and Graff. It doesn’t make Graff any more relatable, but it shows that he was put in a position where he had to do the unthinkable in order to save the planet. Shades of Ender.

Fall of the Hulks Books

Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk fills in some blanks that have been popping up in the Hulk book over the past year. This one deals with how he recruited Thundra and why the Wizard recruited her daughter for his latest iteration of the Frightful Four. It’s a good issue that puts a more human spin on the Red Hulk, something we haven’t seen yet. I did have the same thought as him, though, after Thundra kissed him. Will we see HIS daughter showing up at some point?

 

Realm of Kings Books

I don’t know much about the history of the Inhumans before the Secret Invasion, so I’m not too up on Maximus’ history of betrayal. So what am I supposed to feel by this in Realm of Kings: Inhumans? Acceptance? Hurt? Betrayed? Nah. I can’t bring myself to care much about royal stories. The characters are just too far removed from reality, and that’s saying a lot about characters in a comic book.

Siege Books

Avengers: The Initiative is dealing with two different fronts of Siege: Asgard and Camp Hammond. On the Asgard side, this issues shows us stuff we’ve already seen, such as the rescue of Thor and the death of Ares, just from different angles. I thought Osborn dismissing Taskmaster was spot-on. Osborn has this thing all scripted out already, so he’s not going to want Taskmaster to be a variable and screw things up. Having Diamondback stay, though, is a head-scratcher. As for the Camp Hammond stuff, we know that Donyell isn’t going to turn on his teammates, so that’s not an issue. And he and Dwayne are pretty much interchangeable for me anyways. No, I’m waiting for Penance to cut loose. And hopefully he’ll be back on the road to becoming Speedball.

I’m putting Dark Wolverine here instead of with the X Books because it relates more to Siege than it does anything that’s going on in the X-Universe. Also, I don’t like him. I want the final battle between him and Wolvie not to end with hugs and reconciliation, but with a little snickity snickt and Daken’s head rolling across the ground. And I can’t get behind Ragnarok in a comic. How many times has that been a storyline in Thor, only to have the universe and the pantheon of Norse gods resurrected. There’s no shock and awe if it’s only a punch on the continuity reset button.

“I went to the living legends store and this is all they had.” A most excellent line by Mr. Cage in a most disappointing issue. Captain America is back and this is the reception he gets? I realize that there’s shit going on, but c’mon! A little emotional resonance? Somebody? And what was the deal with Carol? Did they have a thing I wasn’t aware of? And I’m all for Nick and his team hooking up with Steve and the New Avengers, ‘cause we saw that happening in the Siege series, but he’s still dealing with Hydra stuff in his own book. I wouldn’t say that I’m a continuity freak, but let’s have some stuff line up here. Little things I can let pass, like Spidey dealing with stuff in both his book and New Avengers, but Siege is a big deal. That’s going to carry over into everything, and it’d be less confusing if storylines would have wrapped up before the big event happened. I’m just saying, is all.

I’m all for letting supporting characters shine, but it seems that Thor has been more about the supporting characters lately than the God of Thunder himself. He didn’t even appear in this book. And Clor has never been an adequate substitute for Thor. I guess since he’s taken Heimdall out of the picture, it’ll be difficult for Loki pass off much of the blame for the invasion of Asgard. Unless of course Heimdall is killed. And maybe it’s the romantic in me, but I’ve been enjoying the love story between Kelda and Bill. I’m wondering if something was done to her when Loki resurrected her. I hope not, and I hope she becomes something of a regular character.

I think Thunderbolts missed an opportunity for laugh and/or uncomfortableness by not directly addressing the end of last issue. C’mon! Scourge killed the Headsman after attempting to assassinate a holographic image of Norman Osborn. How does that not get addressed? Everybody just accepts it? Nah, that’s not what I was expecting. Other than that letdown, though, the book ended up being pretty good. I love that one Asgardian arrow was enough to destroy the Zeus. Mr. X’s reaction to the weapons and killing a good was great. I try not to read future spoilers, so I usually stay away from interviews about upcoming storylines and such, but I read about the new take on the Thunderbolts after Siege is finished up. I’m wondering what’s going to happen to this crew. It’s not that I care about the characters, I just wonder if we’ll get to see some awesome deaths.

Spider-Man Books

Ha ha! I called it last week, didn’t I? Spider-Man and Black Cat are friends with benefits! Good for him, he deserves it. Other than that little tidbit, both stories from Amazing Spider-Man just felt like filler. I was left wanting more from the Morbius story, and I would almost rather have Flash be a cybernetic worker monkey for Reabilify, but seeing Sha Shan brought back some fond memories. One of the oldest back issues in my collection deals with Flash and Sha Shan and their relationship woes. The Vulture shows up next issue, though, so I’m hoping for a more engaging story then.

 

Ultimate Books

There’s not much to say about Ultimate Enemy. It’s everything you’d expect from a Brian Michael Bendis-penned book, but not much more. Spidey gets the best lines, of course. There’s a smidge of emotional resonance when Johnny goes after Sue and when Spidey somewhat realizes what’s going on. But there’s nothing spectacular about the issue. I’m worried that this mini may end up as mostly questions with quick answers at the end that don’t satisfy.

 

X Books

Spidey and Deadpool team-up, how do I love thee. Let me count the ways. 1) Deadpool almost constantly breaking the fourth wall. It’s one of the things I loved about Boston Legal. 2) Hit-Monkey. He’s such a tragic character. 3) Deadpool in a French maid outfit, and the fact that it’s about five pages or so before the topic is even brought up by ‘Pool or Spidey. 4) Spidey’s original idea for getting rid of Hit-Monkey, complete with photo ops. 5) I didn’t really get the Terminator X-It gag but realized it was a bit of wordplay. 6) Deadpool’s bullet-time.

I was hoping for SOME sort of a fight against Doom in X-Factor, so I’m a bit disappointed that there was none. Layla continues to confuse me, so I kind of just ignore her. I enjoyed Guido’s unintentional dispatching of the faux Mr. Fantastic, but the art was a bit muddied and I misunderstood it at the time. When Jamie said his head was in Latveria, I assumed he was exaggerating. It took the explanation of the next panel for me to understand what actually happened. There were also a few panels on the last couple of pages where I was confusing Monet with Layla. Again, it took the text to set things straight. Let’s hope that doesn’t become a regular thing.

I am both in awe of and disappointed in X-Force. The story was great. Vanisher and Josh and Rhane each having their moments. The team going up against impossible odds. The ascent of Selene. Great stuff. And really the art is spectacular…I just wish the wasn’t so dark and murky. Crain is doing some excellent work, but it all seems to be in shades of black and indigo. I don’t know if this is Crain’s fault or…well, a look at the credits show ALL of the artwork is his, including the color, so yeah, I guess it’s his fault. Maybe things would be better if X-Force ever had a mission during the daytime.

I liked the way Magneto dealt with Proteus in X-Men: Legacy. As opposed to characters like Venom or Sabertooth, I’ve always enjoyed Magneto more when he’s been on the side of the angels, or at least more about protecting the mutant race rather than just killing or enslaving all the humans. Destiny had two great moments with both Rogue and Blindfold. With the events of the past few issues and what Destiny told Blindfold in this issue, should we assume that Moira MacTaggart was Blindfold’s mother? That should make for an interesting origin story at some point in the future.

Well the free X-Men: Second Coming – Prepare book was a surprise. There’s only about four or five pages of story, but it teases the next X-event pretty well. A few of the X-Men are interviewed after-the-fact about where they were when everything went down. We get responses from Iceman, Magneto, Cable, Cannonball, Wolverine and Cyclops (so maybe it’s six pages), and we learn that someone has died. Magneto was in the room with the body, and Wolverine was pretty pissed off about it. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Rogue’s going to buy it. That’s the only person I can think of who would have close ties to both of those men.

Other Marvel Books

This issue of Fantastic Four suffers from the faults of the previous issue. We’re introduced extremely quickly to the brand new world under the surface of the Earth, but all the ideas just fly right as us with not much follow-up. I’m assuming we’re going to revisit these places as the plot of some big storyline and Hickman is just quickly getting their introductions out of the way so he can get right to the aforementioned big storyline. And he can’t even show us everything he wants to, so he has to give us a bit of a text endcap. Good and fascinating idea, poor execution.

The fighting between characters who will eventually become allies and teammates in Marvels Project is just kind of tedious. There’s a little bit of interest in Toro’s appearance and Red Skull’s partnership with Meranno. I don’t know anything about Golden Age history, so I don’t know if this is a retcon or not, but I find it somewhat difficult to imagine the Red Skull of that era teaming up with someone who is so far removed from Hitler’s Aryan master-race. Now, tell me later that he was just using Meranno for his own gain and is going to betray him once that gain has been achieved, then it makes sense.

Well, it’s good that Nick is finally making the Secret Warriors a little pro-active, but damn, what they did to Sebastian was cold. I’m assuming that that won’t be the last we see of him, and I’m guessing it was just a way to throw everybody off. Hell, he’s on the cover. He’s probably the most important member of the team (but for the life of me I can’t remember what his powers are).

 

Blackest Night Books

Shocks abound in Blackest Night, and not all of them are good. Luthor with a ring was a great surprise, but what was better was him taking Scarecrow’s yellow ring and then going after the others. Guy and Hal showing up with an army of multi-colored Lanterns was a beautiful shot. The Entity was a shock, but I didn’t much care for it. Earth is now where life began in the universe? Mmm, that’s a pretty major retcon from Oa being the beginning of everything. And the SINESTRO being the White Lantern? I’m sure it won’t last, but, even for a second it doesn’t seem right.

Well, Blackest Night: JSA seemed a bit trite. A difficult time was had by all JSAers, but the solution to the super-zombie problem, when finally achieved, of course cannot be duplicated in Coast City. So Mr. Terrific made light? I’ve got some pretty bright light bulbs at home. Could that save me from super-zombies?

 

Justice Books

I didn’t get the good feelings at the end of Flash: Rebirth that I did with Green Lantern: Rebirth. I enjoyed Johns’ turn at Wally West, but I never had the connection with him that I did with Hal Jordan. And Barry was dead a gone years before I started reading comics. So Barry is back, whoopity doo. I’m more interested in what the Rogues are going to be up to now that their original foe has returned from beyond.

A LOT of stuff happened in Justice Society of America, almost too much. We’re quickly introduced to a future run by Nazis, Green Lantern is killed, and we’re introduced to a whole host of Nazi-themed villains. I think I recognize Captain Nazi and Baroness Blitzkrieg as WW II era villains, or in Baronesses case a variation on Baron Blitzkrieg, but I’m assuming all of the others are new creations. Either that or Willingham really mined the DC Golden Age vaults for these characters. I’m making two statements regarding this storyline: 1) the JSA will stop whatever events result in a Nazi-run America, and 2) Alan Scott is not dead. Sigh, I think we’re in for a bit of time travel.

 

Superman Books

I can’t get behind this month’s Superman. We finally have the line-up and identities of the Legion’s espionage squad, but they just ran off with a promise of a later conversation. Then we get almost a full issue of filler. All for Conner to show up and have Mon-El meet the squad in the next issue of Adventure Comics? That’s kind of lame. I’m ready for this storyline to finish so we can start on something new.

 

Other DC Books

I am officially done with Teen Titans until the next shake-up or creator change comes along. It’s just so boring, and as much as I like Blue Beetle, I’m not going to read a team book on the off chance of seeing him for a bit.

I think I’m enjoying The Web the most out of these Impact/Archie/Red Circle reinventions because it’s the most straight-forward superhero book. The cockiness of the main character also doesn’t hurt. This was a good issue; nothing crazy-spectacular happened, it was just a good issue. Hero takes on a mission, meets a new villain, fights said villain, and accidentally…well, I can’t tell you EVERYTHING. I like the new villain, whom I’m guessing is some sort of vampire. She and the Web had some good banter going, and I like her upfrontitude (Like that? I just made that up. You can use it.). Also, I like Andrew Robinson as the new artist, but I like him more as a cover painter. Maybe it’s nostalgia for the work he did on the Starman series, but it’s good stuff.

G.I. Joe Books

Okay, Chuckles is awesome. We all thought he was captured in G.I. Joe: Cobra II, right? Turns out he’s even more badass than his undercover work in the previous series implied. I think I need to do a quick re-read of the series, though, because I didn’t realize that Chameleon was still trying to pass as Jinx. I thought she was just supposed to bear a passing familiarity in order to shake up Chuckles.

I’ve been enjoying the IDW G.I. Joe revamp, so when Operation Hiss came out, I thought I’d give it a try. As soon as I realized it was part of the movie continuity and not the comic book continuity, I closed it. No thank you.

 

Other Books

How can Warren Ellis’ stuff seem so new and old at the same time? I guess Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island deals with steampunk. It’s surprising technology in an untechnological time. The most interesting parts of this book are the text pieces by Captain Swing. The alternative history does more for me than the mystery of a flying boat.

I don’t think I can take Garth Ennis seriously anymore. What is he doing anymore, war books and torture porn? Sure, the story Wormwood told in Chronicles of Wormwood: The Last Battle about how he and his rabbit hooked up was touching, but the rest was just shock for shock’s sake. Right now, I just don’t see the point of it besides riling people up.

With his military background, I would guess that Gravel is not just tapping people for a new Minor Seven, but he’s also drafting an army of magicians. And the people he recruits this issue are pretty hard-core. One kills people who lust after her, and the other eats pieces of corpses and takes drugs. With the power he’s amassing, it’ll be interesting to see what he’s up to.

Okay, a way to beat Tony has been revealed in Irredeemable. Let’s find that piece of wax and get this over with. The series seems to be dragging a bit. Why doesn’t Tony pick off these heroes one by one? I somewhat understand his need to visit his past, but if his goal is to show Sam his good side, I think it’s backfiring. This guy was apparently messed in the head as a kid.

Hmm, might Walking Dead be somewhat good again? You
root for these characters and hope that they find peace and safety, but at the same time, that makes for an extremely boring book. So yea, they found peace a safety. Now I hope that that is just an illusion and this ends up being a nightmare community for our gang. There’s obviously something going on there, and Kirkman is doing his best to keep all the characters at ease and possibly off their guard, so I’m hoping for some big-time shake-ups to happen. Maybe not next issue or the next, but relatively soon.

What You Should Have Read #11

Here’s what I’m looking forward to this week:

Amazing Spider-Man #619

Avengers: Initiative #32

Blackest Night: JSA #2

Captain America: Reborn #6

Daredevil #504

Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk #1

Green Lantern #50

Guardians of the Galaxy #22

Irredeemable #10

Justice League: Cry for Justice #6

Kick Ass #8

New Avengers #61

Thor #606

Ultimate Comics Enemy #1

X-Factor #201

X-Force #23

X-Men: Legacy #232

First of all, this is a very daunting list. But it’s a very promising one. There are a bunch of titles on here (Amazing Spider-Man, Green Lantern, New Avengers, X-Factor) that never disappoint, and I can always expect some nice sarcastic humor in X-Factor.

We’ve also got probably the biggest “FINALLY!!!” of the past few months with the final issue of Captain America: Reborn. Oh, I wonder how it’ll end? Will Steve be brought back in his body in the present? Sigh. Spoiler (and it’s only a spoiler if you haven’t read just about any Marvel title this month), he will be.

I’d like to ask a favor of DC (‘cause they read this…sure they do.): please stagger your Justice [insert League or Society here] titles please. Three in the same week? That seems a bit counter productive in a struggling economy.

It’s been awhile since Kick Ass has hit the stands, and I’d like for the series to finish up before the movie comes out, so seeing another issue is nice. Also, seeing some John Romita, Jr. artwork is nice.

We’ve got two new Necrosha-X (or is it X-Necrosha?) issues, and that’s good because it’s been a couple of weeks since that particular crossover has been visited and I’ve forgotten what’s been going on.

Necrosha-X Books

As stated earlier (hmm, last paragraph, I guess), I had pretty much forgotten what had happened previously in the Necrosha-X saga. It didn’t take long after beginning the current issue of X-Men: Legacy to remember the emergence of Proteus, but I felt like I missed an issue. I usually don’t mind the literary trick of starting something toward the middle of the story (it worked extremely well with this latest episode of Supernatural [Swap Meet]), but I was actually taken out of the story, not drawn into it. I caught up quickly, though, and ended up enjoying the issue. I’ll be very interested to see how the fight between Magneto and Proteus ends next issue.

I’m starting to feel that X-Force is just too dark of a book. I don’t mean in tone; the book works as the wetworks arm of the X-Men. I mean visually, it’s just a dark book and it’s often hard to follow what’s going on. I couldn’t tell who was fighting who. And when did Diamond Lil show up? Has she always been on Utopia? I’m pretty sure this is the first I’ve seen of her since I picked the X-books back up.

Other X-Books

What did I like about X-Factor? I liked the completely random-but-it’s-working team-up with the Fantastic Four (or ¼ of the FF), the cute Peter Pan moment that PAD threw in there, the constant comparison of Layla and Valeria, and Monet. I didn’t like her in the little bit of Generation X that I read, but PAD writes her wonderfully in this book.

Siege Books

The Storming Asgard: Heroes and Villains one-shot was pretty much just a scorecard of the major players in the crossover. Invaluable if you’re unsure of who’s fighting who, and fun if you just like handbook-type comics.

The Spider-Man/Spider-Woman scene in New Avengers was priceless. Brian Michael Bendis’ gets Spider-Man so perfectly, which is evidenced by his tenure on the Ultimate book. I’d love it if he were given a turn on Amazing Spider-Man for a storyline or two. And it was great to see Spider-Woman’s day job with S.W.O.R.D. referenced. I also think that Bendis did a great job showcasing the Norn Stones’ abilities by sending so EXTREMELY lame villains up against these four Avengers.

Avengers: The Initiative was all about the Taskmaster, his origin, his rise to power, and what he’s willing to do to play with the big boys. In essence, Taskmaster SHOULD be a major player. He just lacks ambition. His photographic reflexes should put him on top of any fight, but I guess that’s pretty useless if you don’t really have the smarts plan and pull off grand schemes. I guess that makes him a dumber version of Prometheus (or vice versa since Taskmaster was on the scene first). He really stepped up when fighting the Asgardians, though, so let’s see how far he’ll be able to ride this horse.

Avengers Books

The fight between Thor and Doom was pretty awesome, and I’m glad that the Asgardians are back in Okalahoma…y’know, so they can be invaded by Osborn and his goons, what, two weeks ago? MARVEL!! WORK ON THE TIMING OF YOUR RELEASES!! (‘cause they read this…sure they do.) I feel sorry for Balder, because WE know he’s being manipulated, and it’s by Loki, so HE should also know that he’s being manipulated.

I hate misleading covers, and the scene depicted on the cover (of which I have no .jpg of) of Ms. Marvel doesn’t even come close to happening. Captain and Ms. Marvel don’t even cross paths. Also, the story is bad and the art is ugly.

Reading Captain America: Reborn was a waste of time. The art was pretty, and I’m sure the story would have had an impact about a month or so ago, before it was revealed in a bunch of other Marvel books that Steve Rogers was back. The one consistent thing about this series was the awesomeness of Bryan Hitch’s artwork. I’ll buy anything that guy draws.

Realm of Kings Books

I guess Guardians of the Galaxy was okay. If one of your teammates is handcuffed to a member of another team, I guess it’s only natural to bring that team to help out, but I like it when the Guardians can handle problems on their own. I did, however, like the revelation on the last page.

Fall of the Hulks Books

Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk was pretty much just an origin story for the Cosmic Hulk creature that was used in last week’s Incredible Hulk issue. Red Hulk and A-Bomb were patsies used by the Intelligencia (I’m getting the name right, right?) to active the Cosmic Hulk so they could use it against Doom. It also set up the next issue by letting Banner know he’s got a daughter running around out there.

Ultimate Books

I still don’t know what Ultimate Enemy is all about, but it was a good book. I thought the Fantastic Four moments were incredible in their mundanity, and Grimm’s revelation was awesome and heartbreaking. After seeing Johnny in Ultimate Spider-Man for the past few months, it’s good to finally know what’s going on with the rest of the team. The Spider-Woman and Nick Fury scenes were just too short to comment on. We need more of both.

Random Marvel Books

Secret Warriors lately has been too much espionage and not enough action. Sure, there was the bit with Gorgon, but there’s nothing going on with the heroes. And it’s about as bad as the most recent New Warriors series because I’m not attached enough to the characters to remember who any of them are. I know that the armless girl is Yo-Yo because the other guy said her name, but who’s the other guy (besides Absorbing Man’s son, that is)?

I remember when Punisher was a good book. It wasn’t that long ago. Now it’s beyond ridiculous. Let me know when he’s either dead or somehow not this stupid Frankencastle thing.

I feel a bit conflicted. While everything I’ve seen about the movie looks incredibly awesome, I was thoroughly unimpressed with the Kick-Ass comic book. Now, if you would have told me that a high-school freshman wrote this and got John Romita, Jr. to draw it, I’d be suitably impressed. Because this reads like nothing more than a geeky teenager’s masturbatory comic book fetish fantasy. Knowing that it’s written by an adult puts it in somewhat of an embarrassing light.

Fantastic Four seemed to have a lot of story crammed into such a tiny space. You’ve got Subterranea, evolved Moloids with their own subterranean city, the corpse of an alternate universe Galactus, and a devolved Ben Grimm. There was so much that happened that the book needed an endcap page, just to let us know what happened afterward. That didn’t sit well with me.

I wish we would have been shown the Hand vs. H.A.M.M.E.R. fight in Daredevil. I would have loved to have seen those ninjas mowing through those soldiers. Matt just can’t make up his mind about what kind of hero he wants to be, or if he actually WANTS to be a hero. A while back he declared himself the new Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen, now he’s the leader of the Hand, which has now claimed jurisdiction over Hell’s Kitchen. Okay, we get that he likes the area, but I kinda think he’s going about its protection all wrong.

Mysterio in charge of the Maggia? Mmm, maybe, but I think he might be overstepping his bounds a bit. I think our friendly neighborhood Amazing Spider-Man might also think that. There are just some things about Spidey that you don’t mess around with, one of which is the good name of the Stacy family. I expect that Mr. Beck might be getting a beat down next issue.

Justice League/Society

I love the way Bill Willingham writes. Fables is consistently one of my favorite reads each month. But I don’t think his writing style suits the Justice Society of America all that well. I felt that just about every character talked WAAAY too much. I’m okay with that in Fables; it didn’t sit well with me in this book. I liked just about everything else, though. From Dr. Fate coming up with a plan to stop Mordru (who seemed to be much more of a threat when James Robinson and David Goyer started up this latest incarnation of the JSA, what, a decade or so ago?), to the different worlds that the JSAers were banished to (I especially loved how Mr. Terrific dealt with the Sphinx), the story itself was great. I think it’ll just take a bit of time for Willingham to get comfortable with the characters.

Is Prometheus really that much of a badass? Well, I guess he wasn’t taking down the cream of the Justice League crop in Justice League: Cry for Justice, but everything did seem a bit too easy. And I’m slightly disappointed that he took the Shade down so easily. The artwork for this series has been nothing short of stellar. I hope this guy doesn’t fall off the grid like Gabrielle Dell’Otto did. Where is that guy?

I don’t like the new Justice League of America line-up. With four of the seven (so far) members being Titans, this is looking more like another Titans team than the Justice League. I realize that Superman and Batman are otherwise occupied at the moment, but you’ve got replacement heroes for them AND Wonder Woman. Those are the Big Three right there, the cornerstones of the JLA…and we’re getting stand-ins. Of course, I’m putting a lot of trust into James Robinson, because I want to see where he takes this team of lesser JLAers. I want to see if he can pull it off, and I hope he can. He’s already intrigued me with throwing Tomahawk into the mix. I also want to say that Mark Bagley’s work is still incredible. The new character looks incredibly cool, even if he does look like a bit of a reject for a late-‘90s Wildstorm comic.

Blackest Night

As a Blackest Night issue, Green Lantern wasn’t bad. As a 50^th issue, I was somewhat let down. You expect big things from anniversary issues, and I didn’t think this brought anything exceptional to the table. I liked the new Lanterns battling it out with the Black Lanterns and the Spectre. But Hal’s plan was to bring back Parralax? Really? Meh. Not all that impressed or awed. What did impress and awe me was Doug Mahnke’s art. It was detailed and expressive without sacrificing any of the story. Everything was clear and readable and easy to follow, and still looked pretty.

A couple things about Blackest Night: JSA. First, are all of the young heroes so stupid as to trust zombies with black power rings? Really? I can understand Jessie wanting her dad to be back, but Atom Smasher should have known better. He’s been around the block a bit. Second, were Superman and Lois not destroyed in the Blackest Night: Superman mini? I thought so, but I guess I could be wrong.

Next to last week’s Starman, Atom and Hawkman is the next best of the resurrected titles appearing through the Blackest Night. Ray’s origin was handled quickly and well, and I love his look as an Indigo Lantern. Very reminiscent of the Sword of the Atom days. I liked the comparison of his and Jean’s love with Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s. I kind of wish that these new ring slingers would be able to keep the rings once Blackest Night is over, but I know that won’t happen.

Superman

Superman: Secret Origin is giving us great stories that feel like the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies. I guess that makes sense; writer Geoff Johns was assistant to Superman director Richard Donner for a bit. Superman and Batman are funny creatures. Writers can get away with severely tweaking their origins every 15 to 20 years, and I guess no one really cares. I guess it’s got to be done, though. Superman was introduced in 1938, and he’s still, what, in his early 30s? His origin has to make sense to today’s audience.

Superman went by extremely quickly. We got to the revelation at the end and I was expecting a couple of more pages, but nothing. I like that the Legion sleeper agents are slowly being revealed; now I’d just like to know what they’re doing. Issue #700 of this series is coming up in a few months, so I expect that to be answered soon, as well as this whole deal with Superman not appearing in his own book taken care of.

I can’t seem to bring myself to care about Supergirl unless she’s involved in a bigger Superman story. I’m slightly intrigued about what’s going on with Lana, though. It looks like Adam Warlock is about to find his way into the DCU through her.

Random DC Books

Teen Titans has not been readable since Geoff Johns left. I don’t have a problem with the line-up (I love Beetle and Static together), I just don’t care for the writing at all.

Random Books

I remember really liking Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman, but I’m not liking this Del Rey series as much as I’m liking Marvel’s Stand and Gunslinger books. It’s too choppy.

I used to think that Robert Kirkman was the next Brian Michael Bendis. Not quite as good, but his output is impressive, and he’s pretty consistent with his quality. Now I’m thinking he’s spread himself too thin. Pilot Season: Demonic was not gripping enough for me to buy another issue should one hit the stands. The ending was incredibly telegraphed, and there’s no way I can feel sympathy for somebody who sacrifices countless people just to save two. Spock would not be proud.

Irredeemable is still a decent book, but it’s lost some of the wow factor that it had when it started. I think trying to do more than just show a Superman-type character that goes crazy is where it’s going wrong. I don’t need to know about inter-group relationship problems. It doesn’t really help the story. And now there’s this new character that was thrown in last issue, and we have no clue who he is or what he can do. I did like the little glimpse of the Plutonian’s childhood that we saw. It showed us that he’s kind of always been a little crazy and scary.

The best thing to come out of IDW’s purchase of the G.I. Joe license was the Cobra mini from last year. That was an excellent bit of double agent, undercover story. And now we’ve got a follow up to it with G.I. Joe: Cobra II. The art is simple but effective. The story, though, is anything but simple. Chuckles is MIA and so the Joes send in someone to find him and extract him. Along the way we’re reintroduced to Xamot and Tomax, have a run-in with the Baroness, and we meet Croc Master, whose physique is pretty different from his original look, but that’s explained very quickly and it makes sense. This is a re-imagining of a childhood love that I can get behind, because it’s making the Joes into something badass, not cartoony.