Finally!

It took an extra day, but it was so worth it. I managed to get my greedy mitts on Blue Beetle, Final Crises: Revelations, Final Crises, Incredible Hercules, Jack of Fables, Justice Society of America, Punisher: War Zone, Trinity and Wonder Woman. It was a very very GOOD week!

Firstly, this issue of Blue Beetle was simply hilarious. SO many good moments, from Paco in tuxedo jack and no pants, to Jaime running out of the school gym in a panic, to the arrival of the Blue Beetle Corps, and their agenda...the elimination of oppresive states, and rogue powers, such as terrorists and the JLA...but MOSTLY the obliteration of the Green Lantern Corps and their Oan Masters! Booyah!

Why oh why are they cancelling this book again?

Final Crises: Revelations was the conclusion, and you'll be relieved to know that it all ends up...well...pretty good, all things considered. Huntress and the Question sort've die, but not really, and Cain/Vandal Savage gets his vastly deserved comeuppance, and the Spectre actually gets a bit of redemption as well.

Final Crises ends, and with a bang! I actually loved this entire series a lot, but I do have to add the caveat that it makes a lot more sense if you read the additional series, such as the Superman two--parter, and Batman RIP and a few others. With all of the delays it was a bit difficult to remember just who was who, and what they were doing, so I imagine that reading it in trade, may make it easier for some people.

This story was about stories...and their power, and there were a lot of layers and layers to it. A LOT of things happen, and it's sometimes easy to miss things, but going back and re-reading it, and looking more closely at some of the panels is quite rewarding. I have to say that Doug Mahnke did a bang-up job on the art, especially considering the time problems. But just about everybody shows up, including some characters that you would NEVER expect, the Green Lanterns make their triumphant appearance, Hawkman and Hawkgirl get singed, Aquaman somehow manages his return, Stargirl manages to remain heroic through the whole thing, the Flashes do their stuff, Darkseid gets his, and...oh and Batman's not really dead, he's just misplaced for a while. He'll be back.

The Incredible Hercules #125 is the conclusion of the story of the Marvel version of Amazons Attack, and I really have to say that they did it better. Artume has managed to remake reality with the Amazons ruling things, and it is a lot of fun. In the end, reality reasserts itself, loved ones are broken apart, and Cho and Hercules decide that pizza may make themselves feel better.

Jack of Fables has the battle just getting crazier and crazier. I'm a little worried about Gary however. Oh and Babe the tiny blue ox has his usual cameo.

Black Adam and Isis are reunited, and Felix Faust gets his. Or actually he possibly loses his. Whatever. Isis seems to be awfully cranky. And speaking of cranky, Hawkman has a hissy fit and stomps out of the Justice Society. Alan is obviously full of piss and vinegar as well, but Jay is fairly philosophical about it all...as well he should be. They are trying to reorganize the JSA and we get to see what some of the characters are doing, and where they will be going.

Oh, and Black Adam and Isis kick Billy out of the Rock of Eternity, which I actually consider to be a good thing. Too bad about the whole "shazam" thing. Maybe he should try yelling "Chocolate Egg Cream!"

Punisher: War Zone draws to its hilarious and bloody conclusion. There really is no intellectual reason whatseover to read this book, it's just violent and rude and very very funny. Ennis and Dillon together are always a dynamite combination.

Trinity continues to be entertaining. We get a bit of background on Enigma in the backstory this week,and it is quite interesting. Lois has her moment to shine as well.

Wonder Woman and Tom finally get to smooch. It's about time. The armor was gorgeous as was the art, and Cheetah shows up. Zeus has created his own bunch of Amazons, complete with their own island and agenda, and it probably isn't going to end well. There was a bit of a problem with the lettering, some letters left off of words, and other words misspelled, which was odd. Was this a rush job and nobody caught it? A little jarring to read. On the other hand, considering how inept I am at editing my own entries, I'm in no position to be casting stones.
But this was very very good.