Bouquets and Brickbats

Once again, it is Review time. NOT a very big week for me, so I shall be brief.

Birds of Prey #3. I'm a little bit bemused by this book. There was some fun stuff as usual, but it seemed to bounce around a lot, and I'm not sure if that is because of the writing, or if it is more because of the art. There were a lot of different artists, and I think it suffered a little in the translation.

We begin with the Penquin having to fight off the lascivious advances of all the Birds, which is a little peculiar to begin with, but fortunately it turns out to only be the private fantasy of Mr. Cobblepot, apparently due to bloodloss. He does manage to babble just enough to gross everyone out, however. They are all hiding out at the Iceberg Lounge, which is as good a place as any, to ditch the cops, while they contemplate the rather dismal turn their lives have taken.

Meanwhile, Barbara and the Calculator continue to spar in each other's minds, while Wendy and Batgirl are doing...something. Frankly, I found it to be a little confusing. And somehow, in the middle of it all, Babs is kidnapped by...Savant and Creote? And Dinah finally figures out whom the mysterious white-clad female figure is, and why she's so very very pissy.
My guess is that somehow it's Sin, but what to I know?

So a Bouquet, but a small one, because it was a bit on the jumbled side.

The Brave & the Bold #35.

Now this teams up the Inferior Five with the Legion of Substitute Heroes, and it is a delight from start to finish. Seriously, this is a hoot. And the art is quite nice as well. I have my reservations sometimes about JMS, but when he's on...he's ON! And in this particular case, I enjoyed the heck out of it.

It involves time travel, the Doom Patrol from a previous issue, and the Legion's desire to best the regular Legion at something. Like saving the world from a Black Hole. Too bad they really don't know how to operate a time sphere all that well. And the Inferior Five end up trapped in 2010, which I HOPE will lead to more appearances, because...why the heck not?

A LARGE Bouquet.

Booster Gold #34

I loved this. Really really a lot. It was a nice trip into the past for Booster, who while looking for Max Lord, just can't resist being sucked into an adventure with Blue Beetle. Not to mention Scott Free and Big Barda. It was a little bit bittersweet to me, because amongst all the Bwhahaha's, there is this sense of Booster's loss and new maturity.

A copy of Destiny's book...a pale copy, has been swiped from the Vatican,a nd Booster and Beetle, with a bit of help from Mister Miracle and Barda, are somehow transported to another planet, via boomtube, and attacked by a dragon, and various bad guys. Oh, and Michelle shows up and bonds with little Rani, which is also...interesting.

An even larger Bouquet.

Justice League #5.

I'm torn. I'm actually starting to...like this. I still think that Winick's version of Ice is not very good, but at least he's finding his voice with the rest of them. And I blush to admit this...but I find the new Rocket Red to be quite wonderful. Heck, even Captain Shinypants isn't as annoying to me as he used to be. But I still wish that Ice wasn't so...obnoxious.

The team is back together, assembled through the machinations of Max...well except for a Green Lantern. As Max explains, he's not feeling all that kindly towards Lanterns of ANY color lately. Ingrate. He then tells the crew NOT to bother looking for him. But guess what, they don't feel like taking that advice. Good ol' Max boobytrapped the armor of one of the other Rocket Reds as a precaution, and in attempting to save him, he winds up doomed, which puts them all into a terrible mood.

But Max didn't count on the scarab, and Blue Beetle is able figure out his location, which turns out to Checkmate headquarters. Max certainly does have a huge pair of brass ones.

I'm REALLy looking forward to the next issue. Just wish that Ice sounded like herself, but I'm being seduced despite myself.

A small bouquet.

I hope that you all enjoyed your books!