Why Me?

!@@##%^&&%

Apparently I have once again offended the Computer Gods, because my almost new computer has gone kaflooey.

*sob*

So, posting will be...sporadic at best for a few days.

Dammit!

My Entitlement is Overflowing

Yes, it's all about me. As I explained in my posts about loving AND hating comics so much, I can forgive quite a bit in the pursuit of my weekly fix. As much as bad and lazy writing and miserable artwork can infuriate me, I am addicted...and will go to ridiculous lengths to feed that addiction. I also tend to follow my favorite characters, which is why I bought that Gawdawful Howard Chaykin two-parter because it was about Guy Gardner. Heck, if Rob Liefeld wrote and drew a six-part mini-series about the Green Lanterns, I'd buy it. I'd undoubtedly hate it...but I'd buy it.

But nevertheless, I was thinking about some of the things that I would REALLY like to see in my comics.

I'd LOVE to see a Fire and Ice mini-series. They are two of my favorite characters, and they just don't get enough attention. Fortunately, they are going to be in the upcoming Justice League revival, but still. And I would love to have a story written from Tora's viewpoint. I don't think that I've EVER read a story that was presented from her point of view, and I want to. Same thing with Beatriz.

I would love to have Bruce Wayne and Guy Gardner compare childhoods. Yes, Bruce's parents ARE DEAD! But he also had the advantage of being a much beloved and pampered only child, he had Alfred devoted to him, and he had bucketloads of money to help indulge his every whim. I'd love to see Guy tell him how spoiled he was, and to grow up already. Haw!

I want Ted Kord back. He doesn't even have to be Blue Beetle, because Jaime is doing that quite well. But it would be awfully nice for him to be able to hang out with Oracle and to build things for the Birds of Prey, or the Justice League or the Justice Society, and to keep poor Booster company.

For that matter I want Max Lord back. NOT crazy. The REAL Max. It would be awfully easy to do really. Just have him wander in from Kooey Kooey Kooey, or explain that the bad Max was really a robot or something. Superboy punched reality. Final Crisis did it. I don't CARE, I just want Max.

Figure out a way to revive the Dibny's while we are at it. Hell, ALL the dead Leaguers. You can't tell stories about dead people...at least not easily.

A Shade mini-series would be nice. It would give Robinson something to do, and he's awfully good with Opal and the Shade.

Another mini-series with the Rogues would also be nice. I like the Rogues. I like a good villain it seems,since Secret Six is also one of my favorite books.

Have the Green Lanterns sitting around drinking beer at the new bar instead of going around getting blown up all of the time. A little downtime would be appreciated. Tell us what their favorite drinks are. I 'll bet that Sodam Yat likes the Daxam equivalent of Cosmopolitans.

What stories would YOU all like to have?

Emotional Entities

There seems to be a whole lot of controversy stirred up amongst the various blogs and message boards about the foundations of the various entities that form the seven Color Corps for Blackest Night. Some are declaring that Geoff Johns has pillaged Judeo-Christian imagery for some of the avatars, such as the snake from the Garden of Eden for Avarice, and Cain and Abel for the first murder that created Rage.

This is a possibility of course. Certainly the claim that ALL life in the Universe first arose on Earth is a tad on the farfetched side, when you consider that the age of the Universe is vastly longer than the age of the Earth, and that a whole lot of alien societies seem to be a whole lot more advanced than we are. Nevertheless, I can understand an Earth-centric bias, since WE are from Earth...as are our favorite Green Lanterns. Besides, when it comes to the suspension of disbelief, I am a Master. Like Alice, I can believe all kinds of unlikely things before breakfast.

There are some other possibilities however. It is just as likely that the Avarice Snake is drawing on Norse mythology as opposed to Christian, with the Midgard Serpent, for example. And wasn't there a giant snake that Mongul used to surround Daxam a while back?

In addition, is it not possible, that we are seeing the entities in forms that are familiar to US, as natives of Earth. It is quite possible, that Kilowog sees them differently, as does Arisia, and Sinestro, reflecting the creation myths of THEIR planets. Or something.

Whatever the solution may be, I've decided not to let it bother me. I actually have a lot more interesting things to worry about. Although it WOULD be interesting to see if there was a way to reconcile the Emotional Corps with Gaiman's Endless, and how that all works out in the DC Universe. Not to mention the Spectre, the Phantom Stranger, New Gods, and stuff like that.

God, I love Comics.

Thank God It's Saturday

For some reason, the week just flew by until we got to Friday, which ws probably one of the most hellish days that I've ever had at work. Then a thingie on my daughter's car AKA the Saab-from-Hell broke, and we have to remove the entire engine to fix a ten dollar part. And my autistic son is handing his allowance over to his hoodlum friend for gas money.

*sigh*

Oh Comics, sweet sweet comics, what can you do for me? Well, I did finish reading Sea of Green's book, check out her site, the Hoosier Journal of Inanity for the details, 'cause it's FABULOUS!! If you like Greek mythology, and I DO!

It's not snowing, and that's a plus. It was also payday, which doesn't hurt. And...just to put me in a much better mood...!



Guy punching Hal in the face ALWAYS cheers me up!

Green Lantern #52

And Blackest Night just keeps cruising along, drawing closer, ever closer to the final climax.

We pick up, more or less, where Green Lantern Corps left off last week, with ALL the corps battling the Black Lanterns in the sky above Coast City, when suddenly, like an ominous black cloud, they all take off. The Black Lanterns that is, much to the puzzlement of John Stewart, Kilowog and Fatality, not to mention the rest of the Lanterns.

Turns out that Sinestro's little stunt with the white ring is getting their attention. Sinestro is babbling on about his destiny,while Hal, in relaying all of this to John sounds just the tiniest bit miffed, that HE doesn't get to play with the White Light. Oh Hal.

In a rather gorgeous sequence of events, Doug Mahnke and Geoff Johns show the rise of life, and the beginnings of the various entities that fuel the Corps of light Willpower was the first of course,



And



Holy Moley!

Too bad that while he was having his epiphany, Sinestro wasn't looking behind him, and Nekron sneaks up and slices him in twain. Nekron is seriously pissed.

While all of this is going on, john is still trying to figure out a way to get Xanshi out of Earth's orbit, where it is creating serious havok. It also creates a nice ol' tidal wave, which isn't nice at all. Thanks to Driq, the Lanterns manage to find a way inside of Xanshi, and use their combined powers to sever the connection. Heck, Fatality even helps!

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the rest of the Lanterns are trying to help Sinestro,except that he doesn't even appear to be dead. In fact they can't quite figure out WHAT is going on. The destruction of Xanshi does not go unnoticed by Nekron however, and he's even crabbier than he was formerly. Then all of a sudden, Black Lanterns are being destroyed right and left, and the White Light of Sinestro is burning brigher than ever. Sinestro is REBORN, and declares himself the TRUE Guardian of the Universe!

And now that you are all breathlessly on the edge of your seats, we leave you to wait until the finale next week!

Whew! There is a LOT going on in this issue! Rather interestingly, Hal isn't really in it all that much, he's mostly reacting instead of instigating. It is nice to see John step up and take charge as he's been mostly missing in action. But I'm dying to see how this all finishes up, and to see how Sinestro copes with all of this.

Darned good stuff.

Reviews

Is it because it is a five-week month, or was this past week a bit on the sparse side? In fact it seems as though ALL the weeks of March have been a bit thin. It will probably be brutal next Wednesday.

Not a whole lot out there, but still...a decent week.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #10 was pretty good. Damian is in over his head, which I tend to think is actually good for him. Just hope he doesn't actually lose it...permanently. Manhunter continues to be pure enjoyment.

Green Lantern #52...Oh, you know the drill. I'll get to this tomorrow. But man, it was Amazing!

Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #1

Well! They are still ladleing out the pain and angst for poor Roy by the bucketsfull in this issue. Through the power of flashbacks, we are able to see him get his arm ripped off all over again, not to mention seeing little Lian's last agonizing moments. Ollie is acting shifty, Hal and Dinah are sympathetic, and Roy is losing his mind, quite possibly literally. And just so that we don't think getting one's arm ripped off is simply, it turns out that Prometheus ALSO injected Roy with nano-thingies...just to make getting a cybernetic arm that much more difficult.

Prometheus was a real jerk.

Next month, watch as the writers go back and kick puppies.

Power Girl on the other hand, was hilarious AND exciting. The cover has to be one of the best I've seen...and it ACTUALLY IS IN THE BOOK! Terra helps Peej get free of Satanna's little trap, and then Kara gets blackmaile by the kid into going with him to the Comic Book Shop, teaching some bullies a lesson, and helping him to pick up a girl that he likes. Actually only the first of those things actually happens, but she's working on the rest. AFTER she figures out just what has gotten into Terra.

I am going to miss Amanda Conner, Gray and Palmiotti SO MUCH! I'm going to give Winick a chance...but he'd better not blow it.

All Tuckered Out

I spent all my energy on loving and hating comics. So today, I'll just give you one of the best reasons to get them.



Oh yeah.

Why I Love Comics

This is the flip side to my rant of yesturday. Because when it comes right down to it, I really do love my comics more than I hate them. In fact it is BECAUSE I love my comics that I wish they could work a little harder and make them better. Tough Love and all of that.

Top of the list then:

Good Writing.

This is the flip side to poor writing. Because when they get it right, it is simply wonderful. Good writing can make you ignore mediocre artwork. Good writing can make you remember a story and go back and read it again and again and again. Good writing becomes part of the lore and continuity of a particular character, and REALLY good writing can provide future writers with a wealth of opportunities. Good writing can create new and wonderful characters. It can restore the reputations of old or obscure characters, or redeem a villain and cast a hero in a whole new light. And there are some simply spectacular writers out there, producing comics for our enjoyment.

Good Art

While good writing can redeem artwork, sometimes really amazing artwork can lift up a so-so story to heights it couldn't otherwise aspire to. Again, art is subjective, I think more so than writing, but some artists are pretty universally recognized as being masters of their craft.

The Whole Idea of Sequential Art and Words

Simply the actual FORM of comics is rather amazing when you come to think of it. I'm an insatiable reader and have been since I was old enough to figure out the alphabet, but the idea of putting pictures in with the words is pretty damned brilliant. It's also pretty damned old, if you want to go back to the cave paintings, hieroglyphs, illuminated manuscripts and political cartoons. I think it was Boss Tweed, who lamented that people couldn't necessarily read, but they could sure understand those pictures by Thomas Nast.

We start with the funnies in the newspaper, graduate to comic books and even animated cartoons. It's been labelled childish of course, but there is an astonishing amount of sophistication in a great deal of sequential art.

Silver Age Madness.

There's nothing quite like the insanity of older comics, when they were still a fairly new medium, at least Super Hero comics. Some of those old Superman and Batman and Green Lanterns stories are INSANE! And that's part of the fun of course. Where else but comics can you have invisible women, people who can fly and wear their underwear on the outside, mythical gods come to life, magic rings, wirepoon guns, flying bathtubs and Spider Senses? Need a particular trick to defeat the villain? Come up with Freeze breath, or the ability to get gold out of sea water. It may never be used again, but on the other hand...it might just stick.

Super Hero Universes.

Marvel and Dc each have their own unique worlds, and after years and years of storytelling, they have their own quirks and characteristics. There are multiple universes, or at least dimensions, lots of friendly and not-so-friendly aliena, and truly bizarre laws of physics. Normally exposure to radiation will kill you, or at least make you deathly ill. Not in the Marvel Universe, where it will give you all kinds of really really cool powers. Which you will then use for good. And the ability to angst unendingly is looked upon as a handy talent to have.

Super Hero Locations

The idea of individual Universes rather flows into this idea. DC in particular has such wonderful locales. There is Opal City, Gotham City, Metropolis, Star City, Central City, Coast City...and on and on. And each city has their own particular super hero...their own mascot as it where. They can go and visit each other, but they are really pretty much associated with their own places. Batman is in Gotham, Superman in Metropolis, Green Lantern in Coast City and so forth. Marvel for the most part only has New York City, which is a bit of a shame, as you can't swing a dead cat without hitting either Spider-Man or Daredevil or Power Man. No wonder they fight each other all of the time, they are trying to protect their tiny bits of turf!

Then there are places like Oa, or Krypton, or Thanagar or Rann or Titan. And there are wonderful alien races to go with those alien places. Skrulls, Badoon, Kree, Qwardians, Korugarians, New Gods, Bolovax Vickians.
Aliens with four arms, aliens with no arms, or flippers, or fins or beaks or gills or androids...it's all just so rich and wonderful, an enormous toy box for us to dip our hands into and stay young.

Really Fabulous Characters.

The actual characters of course are my real love. I still believe that the Green Lantern Corps is simply one of the best ideas that DC ever had. I love the Justice League and the Justice Society and the Avengers and the Defenders and the Champions and the Legion and the Detroit League and the Great Lakes Avengers and the Inferior Five and the Fantastic Four. There aren't a whole lot of characters that I DON'T like, although there are a few of course. But that goes back to good writing, a good writer can make an otherwise mediocre or obscure character come to life. Just look at Catman. There is a hero or heroine for everybody's taste, with an astonishing array of powers and personalities.

Villains

There's nothing like a good villain. You just can't have a proper Super Hero without a good villain, which is probably a truism by now, but still...there you have it. Sometimes I like the villains BETTER than the heroes. There are a lot of crappy villains of course, but heck, even those can be a whole lot of fun in the proper hands. My personal favorite completely obscure villain was Carface, who showed up in about three panels in a Birds of Prey issue, and was never seen again. But...but he had little teensy windshield wipers for eyebrows! My heart just melted.

There are some simply grand villains. Darkseid, Sinestro, Doctor Doom, Lex Luthor, the Joker, the Rogues, Thanos, Brainiac, Mr. Mind...yeah, I love Mr. Mind. There are villains that aren't really so bad deep down, like Catwoman and the Riddler, and the Secret Six, and even the Kingpin wsa just being a good business man half of the time.

Violence.

Man, there's nothing like Comic Book violence. I can't go out and kick someone in the face, but there is a certain visceral thrill to watching Batman do it. There is the insane joy I get from seeing Hal Jordan get whacked in the head for the millionth time, or having Spider-Man web up some hapless criminal and leave him hanging from a lamp post. New York City gets blown up every other Tuesday, and life just goes on. Sometimes it's just so...so satisfying.

Sound Effects.

Let's face it, sound effects are just fun. They are also something that really can't be done in any other medium except comics...although the old Batman television show certainly tried. But a good thwaack, or Klunch or Kraakkaadoooooooom are just sensational. The Incredible Hercules book has had some of the best sound effects that I've ever read and they contribute so much to the general tone of the story.

Weird Science.

There is regular Science and then there is Comic Book Science, and let's all just face, it, Comic Book Science is a heck of a lot more interesting. Origins are happening all over the place, just by the simple mixing together of odd chemicals, rampaging gamma rays, genes run amock and certain magical properties just lying around. Weird Science allows us to have intelligent Smallpox viruses and sentient planets. Spaceships that can span galaxies in a matter of hours. Flight rings and force fields, and repulsor rays and dissolving webs. If you want to be a villain, and need to have some sort of schtick, there is a handy mad scientist who is more than happy to service you. There are a lot of mad scientists out there anyway, with their malfunctioning cricketrons and emotional robots and time machines.

Green Lantern Butts

Come on, you knew I was going to mention this one. Yes, I'm twisted, and I just don't care. There is nothing quite like a really well-drawn Green Lantern behind.

I just love my comics. And I love them a whole lot more than I hate them. Which is the way that it is supposed to be.

Why I Hate Comics

Let us for one moment forget that I am a mild-mannered mild-aged Mother of Four, and let me don my secret disguise of wild-eyed Fangirl. Oh, and let me dip my feather quill in acid, and list the things about comics that just drive me into a frenzy sometimes.

DC/Marvel Rivalry

For years, the two companies coexisted in relative harmony. Lately, their rivalry has been taken up a notch, and I'm getting a bit tired of it. Marvel, you're beating DC practically every month. Stop letting your old insecurities keep showing and lighten up a bit. Sheesh! Enough of the idiotic offers to rip off covers and the tit-for-tat sniping. It's juvenile, and I'm sick of it.

Bad Writing

Man oh man, there has been a crapload of really awful writing lately, and it's starting to wear on my nerves. I really can't single out any one company for this, when it comes to making terrible editorial decisions and just plain dreadful ideas, there is plenty of blame to go around. From Civil War, to One More Day, to infinite Skrullery, not to mention Justice League Cry for Justice, there has been some really abysmal stuff put out there.

Death

Enough is enough already. Stop killing off good and viable characters for nothing more than shock value. It's Old and it's Tired, and none of us are shocked anymore, just disgusted. When you kill off a good established character you are taking away all kinds of future stories. It is unbelievably short-sighted, and it has been done so very very often, that when the character is resurrected, it too has lost any impact. If you are killing someone for shock value, and nobody is shocked then what is the point? This goes right back to bad writing. It's LAZY writing, and I despise lazy writing.

Refridgeraters

And while we are at it, could we please stop shoving little girls into the fridge? I'm getting sick and tired of women characters being tortured, killed and otherwise messed with, just to give the doughty hero some angst. It's boring and trite and again...lazy writing.

Bad Art

That's pretty obvious. I realize that art is very subjective. Some people just love an artist, while other people hate the very same, it is all a matter of taste. But there are some things that really should be universal. A mild grasp of anatomy would be much appreciated. Depicting women in a slighly less graphically sexy manner would also be appreciated. It is actually very hard to fight someone while wearing stiletto heels and a thong. Or, if you insist on showing women this way, then make it fair, and show the men running around half-naked as well. Tit for Tat, if you'll pardon a pun.

And while I'm ranting, how about some backgrounds? I understand that it takes a longer amount of time to do more detailed drawings, but something other than a bland orange background would be appreciated once in a while. A consistant lighting source is always nice. Pornface is not.

Trolling

I realize that this is the height of hypocrisy on my part, but boy am I sick of reading all the bitching and moaning that goes on every message board and blog. A little bit of criticism is perfectly fine, we all do it. I'm doing it right now, and it feels GREAT! But there are some people who seem to be incapable of ever enjoying their comics, and that's rather sad. Why on earth would you read something you hate so much? What would posess someone to go on someone else's blog and make mean-spirited comments about something that that blogger enjoyed? That is an aspect of the Internet that continues to baffle me. I don't understand the appeal of trolling, but there must BE some sort of thrill to it, or there wouldn't be so many people doing it. It's rude, and uncalled for, and quite frankly, I think your mothers would be ashamed of you, so grow up.

Cancellations

It seems that every time I really like a book, it gets cancelled. Either I have really rotten taste, or I'm a jinx, I not sure which. But Blue Beetle, Manhunter, Aquaman, Birds of Prey, Nextwave, and countless others, there are a lot of books that I wish were still being published. Again, this is a purely personal beef on my part, but I'm sure that you have all had a favorite book that was suddenly and tragically cancelled. It's just sad.

Musical Artists and Writers

Just when you get used to a certain combination on one of your favorite books, they start switching everybody around again. In the OLD days, it used to be that the same writer stayed with a book for years, not months. Same thing with an artist. Now it seems as though every six months or so, everyone plays musical chairs. It's annoying.

Huge Crossovers

Enough already. How about letting the writers tell their own stories on their own books without having to worry about how to fit into some OTHER writer's giant crossover? A few done-in-one issues would be a nice palate cleanser as well.

Editing

How about trying it once in a while? I believe in letting the writer do their job, but sometimes, that writer hasn't got a clue about the past history of a certain hero which leads to hideously out-of-character portrayals. An Editor needs to know when to step up and say to the writer, that no, So-and-So would NEVER behave in that particular way, no matter HOW edgy it would make your tale. Stuff like that just drives me nuts sometimes.

Retcons

When used judiciously, they can work very well, but years and years of continuity shouldn't be thrown out of the window for the sake of telling ONE story. Again, this goes back to lazy writing. If you're going to do a retcon, then do your research and make it plausible...not jarring or improbable.

Pricing

I realize that comics don't cost 25 cents anymore, but the recent price hikes have just been ridiculous. Most items don't suddenly jump in price by more than 30 percent, and when you have an ever-dwindling audience for your wares, you shouldn't go and stick it to them. They may find less-expensive ways of entertaining themselves.

Whew! I was crankier than I thought.

We're Going To Try This Again

With Springlike and positively balmy weather here in lovely New England, we are going to be marching AGAIN this weekend in the biggest St. Patrick's Day parade in practically the whole country...the Holyoke, Massachusetts parade. It's two and a half miles long, and takes several hours because there are just so many participants. People are staking out their places on the sidewalks by Friday, and the parade isn't until Sunday.

Sheesh!

Posting will continue by Monday, depending upon what sort of condition I'm in.

Green Lantern Corps #46

Well, I'll be dipped.



We're in the home stretch now, and there is a lot going on...a LOT! Pat Gleason does his usual stellar job on the artwork, while Peter Tomasi gives us all kinds of interesting moments. At the end of the last issue, all of the Green Lanterns on Oa, were gathered together by the Indigo Corps so that they could go to Earth. If you have been reading Blackest Night, you will see them all arrive...with all of the OTHER corps in tow.

And here they all are, in the skies over Coast City. Fighting Black Lanterns, but there is also a certain amount of in-fighting going on, as some of the various Lanterns, predictably the Red and Yellow Corps are finding it difficult to put aside their differences. Guy has a rather clever idea for battling the Black Lanterns, but it's going to take cooperation, and in his usual inimitable fashion, he manages to get the rest of the Corps to play nice...at least for a while. Oh, and apparently Guy is a Star Trek fan. Who knew? Not John Stewart, but that's not surprising.

Guy puts his knowledge of Star Trek, the Original Series, Season 3, Episode 64 to good use, and all of the corps make a net out of the light rom their rings, in order to entrap the Black Lanterns. It works pretty darned well too, except that there are just so MANY Black Lanterns that they are eventually overwhelmed. All manner of Lanterns begin to fall towards Earth, but Guy at least is rescued by...someone.

Oh crap, it's Ice. Black LANTERN Ice. Naturally enough Guy is nonplussed, as Black Ice begins, in the usual Black Lantern fashion to lay on the guilt. Like Guy doesn't have enough to deal with. At the same time, Kyle is being confronted by a...Black Refridgerator. Oh Kyle.

Is it wrong of me, that my first reaction to this was a tiny snicker? Yes, Alex is inside, and she's not happy. Kyle gets to replay what her death was like, which can't be very pleasant. Fortunately, for our boys, they aren't novices in fighting Black Lanterns, and quickly realize that these aren't REALLY Alex and Ice. That doesn't necesarily make any easier on them however.

Ice is really laying on the guilt, of how Guy doesn't REALLY love her, and he spends all of his time on Oa instead of with her, and would it kill him to send her a letter or bring her flowers once in a while, and while he's at it, take the trash out...and so on and so forth. Interestingly enough, Ice even begs him to put her out of her misery, and Guy is overcome with Compassion. She's encased the two of them in a cocoon of ice that is plummeting towards the ground, when she lets slip that she REALLY wants a pice of his heart, and he busts out, as she shatters into pieces.

Not to worry, as she can pull herself together, but still...!

Kyle meanwhile is reliving Alex's death and Major Force's villainy, and he's not too happy either. But Kyle's been through all of this with a dead Jade already, so he's not about to crumble, and with the help of Munk, he severs the connection. I don't think that Alex is going to be coming back.

You'd think that would be enough excitement, but that's only the warm-up! Remember that figure that was trying to bust out of the Black Battery? Yep, they've found the Anti-Monitor and boy is HE pissed! So, they've all got to fight HIM now. It's not working however, since he's not actually a Black Lantern, so they have to come up with something else. Dove is there, and her light is doing a bang-up job of taking out Black Lanterns, so they decide to see if she can help out. In the meantime however, Vath rushes in to save Iolande from a blast from the Anti-Monitor, and gets both of his legs blown off! They try to carry him off the field, but he just yells that they are cauterized, and he's fine, he'll just rub some dirt in it,and keeps firing! Vath is Hard Core.

So they load Dove into a Giant Bullet, and fire it at the Anti-Monitor, while Guy gets all of the Red Lanterns to pour it on...literally. Bedovian fires the Dove Bullet...and it works! Except that it doesn't, not completely, and the Battery sucks him right back in, severing their energy light tethers.

And that's where it ends, with all of them rushing in, to be continued next week in the final issue of Blackest Night!

Man, I'm just having the time of my life with all of this!

And What A Lovely Wednesday it Was!

Gosh, but it was a good week! Not a ton of books, but some really really GOOD books!

First off, we have Booster Gold. He's got to let Mongul and Cyborg Superman blow up Coast City...but he's not particularly happy about it. He does manage to rescue whatshername, the other time traveler AND a little girl. Wow. DC let a little girl LIVE!

Yeah, I'm bitter.

There is a mysterious figure who keeps showing up at opportune moments and giving Booster a "nudge". It's quite interesting to eventually find out who HE is! Hah! Anyway, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Brave & the Bold is by J. Michael Straczynski, with art by Jesus Saiz, and by cracky, I liked it. It has a team-up with Aquaman and the Demon, and yes...it DOES make perfect sense. It's Aquaman in all of his short-haired green and orange glory, and the Demon is far more poetic than usual. I liked it a lot.

Fables finally showed up. Is it me, or was this late? It's the conclusion to what to do with the little goblin who had that...um...eating problem. Flycatcher manages to finagle things to everyone's dissatisfaction, which is the best that he can hope for. It was nice to take a little break from the shenanigans going on in Fabletown and the Farm and just have a nice story from Haven for a change.

The Fall of Green Arrow. Oh Good Grief. Ollie continues on his quest for revenge. The other heroes are trying to stop him, but I get the distinct impression that they really aren't trying all that hard. Ollie runs and hides in the sewers, but do you really think that Hal and Barry couldn't locate him if they really really wanted to? Black Canary yells at him, and puts up a token fight, but oddly enough doesn't use her canary cry. Connor shows up and yells at him too, and is quite unBoodhist in his attitude. Oh, and we find out that Ollie has a partner in his quest to take out the Electrocutioner. Egad!

There's a bit of a horrified fascination to all of this, rather like slowing down to gawk at a wreck on the highway. You tell yourself you're not going to do it, but still you just can't help yourself.

Green Lantern Corps #46........FUCK YEAH!!!!!!

Hercules: Fall Of An Avenger. Yes, apparently they really killed off Hercules. I'm not sure that it will stick, but some interesting people show up with Amadeus in order to honor his memory, and yes, I laughed. A lot.

Heh.

Superman: 80-page Giant. An anthology of short stories, and dammit, I liked it. Some interesting looks from different people's points of view, a little bit of whimsey, and some decent art and ideas. Worthy of purchase.

I'm also slowly getting the trades of Geoff Johns tenure on the Justice Society, and I'm enjoying the crap out of them.

Green Lantern Movie?

Well this is interesting. One of my co-workers came up to me this afternoon, and asked me if they were making a Green Lantern movie. For SOME reason, I have this...reputation around the office as a comicbook nerd. I don't have the FOGGIEST idea how that happened! Well, it turns out that her sister just went down to New Orleans for vacation, and they are actually filming the movie right in front of her hotel! We all agreed that Ryan Reynolds is going to look fabulous in that suit.

*sigh*

Nothing like spreading a little green light and happiness amongst the normal people.

Oh, and Green Lantern Corps is coming out today...so I must make that lovely trek over to that most hallowed of halls...my beloved local comic book store. I can hardly wait.



And speaking of green...Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Into The Home Stretch

It's March and Blackest Night is drawing to its ultimate climax. It's been an interesting few months, and I've been as caught up in all of the excitement as anyone. Green Lantern Corps comes out tomorrow, and I would think that Green Lantern and Blackest Night will be out next week or so.

It's been a heck of a ride, but I'm trying to take a step back right before we get to the nitty gritty and take a look at all that has been going on. It has been revealed that "Life" with a capital "L" started on Earth. Considering the actual age of the Universe vs. the relatively short span of the existance of Earth, I find myself slightly skeptical, but there may be caveats that I am not aware of. Perhaps they mean higher forms of life, as opposed to simply microbial. Or the "Life" entity was around before the Earth was actually formed, but just really really liked it here. Or maybe Ganthet is just pulling our collective legs.

I can't help but wonder however about how the Manhunters fit into all of this drama. They seem to have been rather conspicuous by their absence, and I find that...odd. It was the Manhunters after all, who after serving the Guardians for countless ages, suddenly out of the blue went berserk and started slaughtering everything in Sector 666, which is where Atrocitus hails from. The Cyborg Superman, who finds the entire concept of life to be antithetical is also strangely absent from the fray. You would think that he'd be the perfect lieutenant for Nekron.

Could Nekron be responsible for the corruption of the Manhunters, and was the destruction of 666 his first foray into wiping out Life? If that were the case, how did the Guardians beat him back that time? I wonder if this will even come up, or if it is a subject that will be visited AFER Blackest Night?

Time is also fast running out for my necrotic cat-fight between Ice and Kari Limbo. And Guy would have enjoyed it so. I've also rather been expecting Martin Jordan to show up and harass Hal a bit. It's still possible of course.

Are there any confrontations, fights, or guest appearances that YOU would all like to see before it's all over?

Bleh

It's raining AND it's Monday. I do not feel inspired. So, it's time to fall back upon the old tried and true formula...ROMANCE COMICS! I adore old Romance Comics, especially when taken completely out of context.



This would have to be Guy, back when he was brain-damaged and obnoxious. As opposed to NOW, when he's NOT brain-damaged, and only occasionally obnoxious. I like to think that he's yelling at Kari Limbo, and serve her right.

Raining on My Parade

Drat. It is the Hartford St. Patrick's Day parade today, and we were supposed to march in it...the first parade of the season for the Warehouse Point Ancient Fife & Drum Corps. Rain and high winds were forecast, and all the drummers got sick, so we had to cancel.

*sigh*

Now we have to wait till the Holyoke parade.

But now I can sit in the comfort of my family room and sneer at the coverage on television, so it's not a complete washout.

Lighten Up, Val

I don't know why I do this to myself. But every once in a while I still wander over to Valerie D'Orazio's blog, Occasional Superheroine, and take a peek. I'm not much of a fan of Valerie's, so if you happen to be, you should probably not continue reading this.

Anyhoo. On Thursday, March 11ths entry, this is what she had posted.

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YOUR SUPERHEROINE FAIL OF THE DAY



Whose responsible this?

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Well... I don't know Who Is Responsible For This, Val. I'm not a professional writer for one thing, but I do occasionally have a grasp of grammar. (Watch, now I'll misspell everything else I write)

It seems to me, to be a very lovely picture of Superman kissing Lois Lane, as porrayed by the magnificent pencil of Frank Quitely. It is also part of an ad for toothpaste apparently. This week's books had Maxima being smooched by Mr. Awesome or something. Silly perhaps, but not the end of the world.

The gist of her displeasure seems to be that the copy in the ad, says that the hero "gets" the girl. Considering the lengths to which Lois habitually went to land her dream guy, I'd have to say that SHE'S the one who "got" the guy,and that perhaps the both of them are very happy with each other. But what the hell do I know?

I DO know, that it was a bit hard for me to be outraged by this, since THIS picture was RIGHT NEXT TO THE Superman/Lois one!



And frankly, I find that a whole lot less appealing. But then, I didn't write it.

Just some Random Thinking

Do you suppose that somewhere there is a REAL Colonel Sanders in the Army or the Navy or the Marines? Do you suppose people keep going up to him or her and asking about chicken? These are the sorts of things that I wonder about as I'm driving home from work.

So...how about those comics from yesturday! I only picked four, which is pretty pathetic for me, and I must say that I enjoyed three of them. Secret Six was fabulous as usual, the back-and-forth banter between Deadshot and Catman was a hoot. Apparently Jeanette DOESN'T scream when they are "doing it" which disappoints Thomas, so Lawton calls HIS girlfriends Psycho Killer and Batman's Pet She-Loon. And I knew exactly who he was talking about. And then there was Ragdoll's attraction for Black Alice which has everyone slightly squicked. Another successful issue!

Batman & Robin was pretty darned fabulous as well. Damien looks just so cute in a suit, as he lectures his father's employees. He's apparently a little bit worried about what is going to happen to him, if Bruce actually makes it back. The clues they were all following were fun and I guess that Talia is up to no good.

Superman's Last Stand of New Krypton was entertaining. Zod is still a jerk, and Kal El finally...FINALLY decided that this was a job for...Superman. I've been waiting for that moment for quite some time.

And then there was the Justice League: Rise & Fall Special, by J.T. Krul, who was stuck trying to clean up the mess left by the ending of Cry for Justice.

Not content with shooting an arrow into Prometheus's head, Ollie is running around the ruins of Star City looking for a little more payback. The rest of his buddies know that something is odd, but can't quite put their finger on it. Dick and Wally compare notes and wonder if what happened to Roy could happen to them. Barry and Hal go off to Opal City to look up the Shade, who is more than happy to show them the way to Prometheus's lair. There IS one heck of a butt shot of Hal along the way, I must admit. Actually several, which shows that the artists at least understand what to do with a Green Lantern. Barry and Hal are a tad nonplussed when they discover the corpse. Way to jump to conclusions there, Barry! Granted, Ollie DID kill him in cold blood, but they don't necessarily know that yet. And you call yourself a forensic scientist!

Ollie and Dinah are fighting some guy named the Electrocutioner, and Ollie is about to do for him, what he did for Prometheus, when Dinah stops him, saying that they'll never find the information they need, if Ollie kills him. It begins to dawn on Dinah that Ollie doesn't NEED that information. Just then Hal and Barry show up with a nice glowing green coffin, and the proverbial shit hits the proverbial fan. Ollie points out that Barry killed someone, and Barry of course replies that it "was different!" Hal's just confused and trying to understand Ollie's motivations. Then Ollie reaches into the casket and grabs some sort of amulet thingie around Prometheus's dead neck, and disapears.

You know, for the avatar of Hope, you're being a little on the judgemental side there, Barry. It's probably because you want HAL ALL TO YOURSELF!!BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!!!

So I guess this sets things up for the next Justice League stuff. Eh. Could have been worse I suppose. Ollie really should learn to control this...impulsive side.

Now I think I need chicken.

It's WARM Out!

Great Googally Moogally! It's 64 degrees out here in lovely southern New England! Of course since this IS New England, there is the distinct possibility that it may snow tomorrow. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful feeling to venture out sans coat, scarf and gloves to work, and thence in pursuit of comics.

Not a whole lot this week unfortunately, but Secret Six is coming out, so that alone makes it worthwhile to visit the comic book shoppe. I'm also in the process of picking up trades for those oler Justice Society stories, written by Geoff Johns before Magog showed up, when Sandy actually had things to DO! Good stuff.

Speaking of Secret Six, did I mention that Gail Simone is going to be leaving Wonder Woman to write for Birds of Prey? I'm saddened that she's going to be gone from Wonder Woman, where I think she's done an excellent job...but thrilled to pieces that the Birds are coming back. I can even put up with Ed Benes artwork...for a while. I'm hoping that Nicola Scott will come in eventually. But she's staying on Secret Six, which is a very very GOOD thing indeed.

So please, enjoy your Wednesday.

I Am...Stunned!

Nay, I am shocked...SHOCKED by what I found over at Scans Daily this week. Apparently, they are having a "Butt" week. You would think that this would be right up my alley...and you would be right. However, I was simply flabberghasted to discover that as of yesturday, they had only shown TWO Green Lantern Behinds. One of Kyle, and the infamous Mooning shot of Guy.

How on earth can you have a "Butt" week without showing HAL'S ass? It...it's inconceivable! They kept showing Nightwing of all people! I will agree that Dick has a very nice behind, but it isn't any better than Kyle's. Or Guy's. Or John's. Or Hal's. Or Alan's for God's sake. You can't even BE in the Green Lantern Corps unless you have a taut pair of buttocks! The Guardians may have given up on emotion, but they appreciate a solid pair of buns as much as anyone.

I am therefore, going to remedy this blatant and insulting oversight.



Oh Hal. You do things with style.



You also have this habit of flying with your legs apart.



Alan may be old, but man is he built.



This was after John had been sitting on his ass in a wheelchair for months. And it's STILL fabulous!



Oh Kyle. Even falling you are stupendous.



Guy's tucchus is as hard as his head.

THOSE are Green Lantern butts!

As opposed to...well...this sort of thing.



Gah! Put it away Wally!

It's International Woman's Day!

Who knew? I certainly didn't. Apparently some countries even celebrate the day by closing down. We can't do things like that in America...because if they gave all the women the day off...things would come to a complete standstill!

Hah!

Case in point. One of the owners of my company, was making copies at the copier, when it ran out of paper. He stood there in a dither, even though the machine told him exactly what the problem was, and there was clean packages of paper RIGHT NEXT TO THE COPIER! In the proverbial words of my mother, if it had been a snake it would have bit him. So of course I had to stop what I was doing and go over and add paper to the machine.

*sigh*

But anyway, in tribute to International Women's Day, I give you some pretty fabulous International Women.



I just love this picture, so I'm happy to have an excuse to show it.

I Got Nuthin'

Arrrgghh! Can't...blog...doing...taxes...!

My OTHER Love

It is no secret that I am a Green Lantern Fan. I just really really like Green Lanterns. Heck, I like ALL Superheroes. But I have to admit that there is another genre that holds a special little place in my heart...and that is Westerns.

I love Jonah Hex. I like Zorro and the Lone Ranger. I like practically ALL Westerns. I grew up watching Westerns on television.

But my all-time, absolute favorite Western has to be Lt. Blueberry. If you haven't heard of it, you are not alone. It IS French, and was written for years before his death, by Jean Michel Charlier, and drawn by Jean Giraud, AKA Moebius. You may have heard of HIM!

Here's a little peek at some of the artwork.



Stunning. Simply stunning.

The various stories have been collected over the years. Epic, from Marvel put out a bunch that are very nice, and actually in English, which makes it a whole lot easier to read. The really early ones are a bit tougher to find, but I remain hopeful. It is nice to see Moebius' artwork progress from fairly rough and amateur to the masterpieces that he eventually evolved. And while they take a slightly cavalier attitude towards history, they DO oddly enough stay fairly true to reality and even use actual historical characters pretty faithfully.

I think I'll go read some right now.

Still Cranky, But Improving

Well, I'm still pissed about Lian, but it IS Friday, and the sun is out, and it isn't snowing...and I guess my mood is actually improving, so I suppose I should stop sulking.

For those of you who are also still cranky, I have something to put you into a better frame of mind.



The Flash with an enormous head.

They always show Hal getting whacked, but for some reason, the Silver Age was equally fond of showing Barry either as enormously fat, or with a huge head. They don't seem to do these things to Batman for some reason. But this at least, always makes me smile.

Son Of A Bitch!

I...I apologize for the profanity. No wait, I take that back. What I mean to say is GODDAMN Son of a Bitch!

Well, needless to say, I bought and read the final issue of Justice League: Cry for Justice. Needless to say, I am...wroth. AND pissed. And confused.
I mean...what the HELL? What did poor old Roy ever do to James Robinson anyway?

When this whole thing started, I was actually enjoying it a bit. Yes, it was QUITE ridiculous, and way over the top, and the characterization of some people was hideously off-base, but still...there were some amusing moments. It was so completely, unrelentingly terrible, that it was fun.

However.

I think that we crossed the line between campy and fun-to-hate a ways back. For me, it was when Robinson had Prometheus rip Roy's arm off. It went to bloody, serious and NOT funny in a nano-second. Talk about killing the momentum!

And speaking of killing...here be spoilers for those of you who haven't read it...what is up with offing a little girl? Shock value? We've been shocked and shocked and shocked over the years, and I'm getting just a little tired of it. I can only assume that the writers were having trouble dealing with the fact that Roy had a young daughter, and how to write her.

That's easy, you write her being adorable. I LIKED Lian. I wanted her and Sin and Milagro to get together in kindergarten and form their own Justice League. Guess that's not going to happen now. In addition to Lian's crumpled little body being found in the wreckage of her house, they also appaently blew up Star City. And some OTHER cities. I hate it when fictional real estate gets destroyed. I go into a tizzy every time they wreck Opal City or the JSA Brownstone, and I'm still in a snit over Warriors.

And then Oliver shows up at Prometheus's lair and shoots him in the head with an arrow. This was after he spent most of the issue taunting all the helpless heroes. Every skill, every plan, every talent they had, he was able to thwart. I hate that. I don't like seeing the Justice League run around like chickens with their collective heads cut off. And Prometheus isn't even worthy of being able to sneer at them. Doctor Doom can sneer. The Joker can sneer. So can Sinestro. Prometheus? Please. He's a lightweight, no matter HOW smart the writer keeps telling me he is.

Starman is one of my favorite books of all time. I can't reconcile the care that James Robinson took in setting the mood, and writing that book with the bathos and chaos of this mini-series. I can only assume that it was actually his evil twin.

As for the rest of my books...Jonah Hex was pretty good. JSA: All-Stars didn't have Magog getting punched in the face, but it DID have Sand...and he had dialogue! Woohoo! Detective Comics was good, Nemesis was weird, but interesting, and Cinderella and Jack of Fables were charming as usual.

But man, I'm still in a pissy mood.

Off To Church

Or, as I like to call it, the Comic Book Store. The beginning of the month can't even begin to compare with all of the goodies we got LAST week, but still, I never turn up my nose at nice new comics.

We will be coming to the end of Justice League, Cry for Justice. It made very little sense, but what the hell. How on earth Robinson is going to end it, has me all a-twitter. There is also Jonah Hex coming out, which is always nice, Batwoman, both Cinderella and Jack of Fables, and JSA: All Stars. I'm not that enthralled with the All-Stars book, but heck, it's got Sandy on the cover this month! AND a tentacle monster, which can be lots of fun depending upon what you are up for. And that new Nemesis book looks intriguing as well.

So, I'll make some lunch, put on some music, and hide from the kids. And read my comics.

Sorry About the Underwear thingie

I had such a lovely time yesturday, posting a picture of Kyle in his underpants. Then it occured to me, that perhaps there were other people that might not appreciate Kyle running around in his unmentionables. Sorry guys.

This if for Poops, and his brethren.



A hot librarian and a fake blonde martial artist. What's not to love?

It's Monday

It's Monday, and I need a little bit of cheering up. The Olympics are over now, am I'm going to miss them. I'm going to miss hearing "O Canada" every five minutes, and the other musical themes, including the one from Brisco County Jr. I have to say, that the Canadians have a really really NICE national anthem.

On the other hand, my regularly scheduled programs will now be on again. Still, the Winter Olympics are my favorite. The Summer ones are much too dull. There isn't nearly as much risk of decapitation, stab wounds, falling off of a mountain, or whatever.

Oh well.

I thought that this might cheer me up. It might cheer YOU up too...if you are in the mood and like Kyle in his underwear.



I like Kyle in his underwear, but I have very special tastes. Oh, and look there's John too. From the back. It's as though this panel was MADE for me.