I like My New Comics

Well, it was the first Wednesday of the month, which is typically fairly light for me, but there were some goodies in the pile. So let's head straight into the reviews.

Final Crises: Resist......You know what? I liked this. I liked it a lot. For one thing, it had Michael Holt, aka Mr. Terrific being one of the last heroes still at large and uninfected...NOT Batman! It makes sense for Mr. Terrific to be out doing terrific things! He is also aided by none other than...Snapper Carr. This is insane of course, but somehow it all works. Snapper is running around in a suit to protect him from the anti-metagene thingie, blowing up stuff so that Darkseid can't use it as weapons...which makes perfect sense from a Resistance point of view. However, being Snapper, he just can't resist making wild whoopie with none other than Cheetah...on the floor of a place just crawling with bad guys, nekkid...so of course when Grodd comes in, he gets his superpowers taken away. On the plus side, he DOES come back and save Cheetah.

Good old Snapper. What a putz! Oh, and it was Tora, who infects Bea and Tommy at the very beginning, so that they can take over Checkmate. My sweet little Tora...who is remarkably good at being badass.

Eventally, it dawns on Mr. Terrific, that he actually HAS a whole crapload of weapons that he can use against Darkseid...OMACS! Oh, the plot is thickening nicely.

Jonah Hex #37........This was a relatively lighthearted romp. Three gorgeous women decide to give up the travelling carnival life, and decide to become bounty hunters. They just decide to swipe Jonah's bounty, which is possibly not the smartest thing they could have done. What is REALLY amazing is that there are so few dead bodies in this issue!

Justice Society of America #20.........Also an excellent issue this month. In the annual, we all saw that Power Girl was zapped back to Earth 2 by Gog, and her wonderful homecoming was actually less than wonderful. Turns out that there is already a Power Girl on Earth 2, and she doesn't want share. She's also a little more than slightly psychotic. Peej, Jay, Alan, Starman, Courtney, Liberty Belle and Hourman, not to mention Kal-El end up getting zapped back to Earth 2 and confront the Justice Society Infinity. Naturally, misunderstandings occur. They could probably just sit down and have a drink and discuss it all like rational people, except that crazy Power Girl just won't listen to reason. She even grabs OUR Power Girl and takes her back to the Batcave in order to torture her into a confession of what she's done with this Earth's Superman. Earth 2 Power Girl is not exactly playing with a full deck.

Meanwhile, Mr. Terrific encounters his counterpart, not to mention sees his dead wife. Naturally this startles him. Alan comes face to face with a live and kicking Jade, and suffers the same reactions. Jade is equally startled to see him, as he's supposed to be dead on her world. Oh, and Obsidian beats up himself. AND has dialogue! Woohoo!

Eventually it all gets straightened out...more or less. Brainwave reads Peej's...er...brain waves, and concludes that she's not a fraud, she is indeed the exact same as crazy Power Girl. Starman shows up and reveals that his costume is actually a map of the Multiverse. This turns out to be fairly handy. Starman is so much more rational, and yet not nearly as endearing as he used to be when he was nuttier than a fruitcake. Ah well.

So then end up coming home, and poor Peej just can't let go of Alan and Jay who are holding her and trying to comfort her. Their old man pants are just perfect. And Alan, gets the idea that perhaps...just maybe...they should ask Gog if he could bring back his and Michael's loved ones.

The artwork is shared by Dale Eaglesham, who does the Earth 1 scenes and by Jerry Ordway who does the Earth 2 scenes, and it is really quite beautifully integrated, with the two of them even sharing the splashpage. Alex Ross of course, does the cover. This was an engrossing and really awfully good book this month.

Secret Six #3........Fabulous. Just fabulous. From the Chang cover, to the gorgeous artwork by Nicola Scott. I also have to have a shout out to the colorist Jason Wright, who does an exceptional job. This is a taut, funny and absorbing book...Gail Simone just happens to be awesome that way.

The Six ( or rather Five) have manage to break Tarantula out of prison, and are taking her to pick up the card that everyone is so very very interested in. Catman continues to be both polite and menacing, Deadshot is rude and menacing, Ragdoll continues to entertain and revolt, Bane is becoming increasingly paternal towards Scandal, and Scandal continues to be increasingly bewildered by Bane's concern. Tarantula fills us in on all the backstory,while Junior's henchmen and women continue to track our heroes. Or Antiheroes. Or whatever. Cheetah shows up again, and I must say that she is used beautifully here, as well as in Final Crises: Resist. Bolt, Cheetah and that Spider guy are the villains who are out to take the card and indulge in a little torture on the side.

Cheetah decides to go off on her own, and makes her pitch to the crew,and she's actually pretty darned persuasive. They turn her down of course, and a lovely fight breaks out. Bolt realizes what is going on, and now he's got a mad-on for Cheetah as well as our intrepid bunch.



Hee!

And, we finally get to learn exactly what is it that makes this card so valuable. It was created by Neron, and it is literally, a "Get out of Hell, Free" card. For a villain, especially villains that have dealt with Neron before, this is insanely valuable. It's also a hell of a concept!


Submariner: The Depths #3.......Whoa, a Marvel book! This has actually been pretty good. The artwork by Esad Ribic is properly dark and ominous. They're down in the trench looking for Namor...or trying NOT to be found by Namor actually. The poor stupid fool in charge is a rationalist and doesn't even believe in Namor, but he's slowly starting to lose his mind. It is the third issue, and Namor hasn't even shown UP yet, except for tantalizing glances here and there. It's moody as all heck, but it's pretty good.

Trinity #23.......Gosh, I'm enjoying this book. Things are really getting crazy without the big Three to hold things together, and all kinds of insane things are happening, and it's just good fun.

Vixen: Return of the Lion #2......Pretty art, and a decent story. Vixen has gone back to Africa to avenge the death of her mother, and she's decided that she doesn't need any help from the Justice League. This turns out to be a small miscalculation on her part.

So...some really good reading this week.