Reviews!

A little bit late this week, but I risk my beautiful silver fenders for NO man! It seems as though my pull list is getting smaller, because I just don't seem to have as many books anymore. Oh well...easier on my pocketbook I suppose.

Let us begin with Neal Adam's Batman: Odyssey #6. I will say this from the start, that this book is a mess. A ridiculous and absurd mess, and yet, so help me God, I love it so. Perhaps it is the absurdity of it all. It is turning into the campiness that I was originally looking for in Cry for Justice before it got all bloody on us.
I couldn't really tell you exactly what is going on here, but it is all so pretty that I just don't care. Batman ends up fighting everybody in Arkham, and Deadman is inhabiting the Joker's body, and Ra's Al Ghul shows up with a bunch of other people and Man bat, and Robin, and some other kid dressed up like Robin, and Talia, except that it isn't REALLY Talia, and one of Rah's kids except that he looks older than his Dad, and it is simply wonderfully horribly bad.

The best part is that Batman runs around screaming and waving his hands and in general sounding and behaving like Hal Jordan. They've even colored his hair dark brown instead of his customary black locks, so he even LOOKS like Hal, which makes it all the more enjoyable. This is a lot of fun in a completely stupid sort of way.

Brightest Day #19

Oh my Goodness! I did not see that coming. And probably neither did poor Aquaman. Black Manta and Siren show up and they aren't pulling any punches. Aquaman and the new kid show up and are doing pretty well, but oh Lordy, that last page!

Bummer, man.

And the Life Entity is proving itself to be a real dick as well. Still, I'm breathlessly hanging in there, because we're getting to the nitty gritty finally. And did I mention how pretty the art is?

Gotham City Sirens #19

I can't really explain exactly why I like this book, but I do. I'm not a Bat fan, although I do seem to be getting drawn into reading more Bat books for some reason. But I've always liked Selina, and Harley has her charms, and hell, even Poison Ivy can be interesting. I really like the Broker, the guy who finds all the Gotham City Baddies, their cool hideouts. Because only in Gotham City, would this guy have put together such a great career. I really hope that nothing too terrible happens to him.

Zatanna confronts Talia about wiping Selina's memories, and that all ends fairly well, all things considered. But while trying to help Selina talk through her troubles, Harley realizes that SHE is feeling just a tad ambivalent as well. So, pretty decent all things considered.

Jonah Hex #64

I...I am not quite sure what the heck happened this month. I love Jonah Hex, but this was one weird story. He does his usual, ride into town looking for a bath and a drink routine, and this really weird woman named Rosa takes him off to her place, and keeps making odd suggestions. He keeps telling her to keep her distance, but does end up accepting a bath and a drink, but he draws the line at letting her anywhere his throat with a razor. Then he goes to the saloon and has to fight off the usual over-eager local looking to make a name for himself. Then Rosa attacks him at night because he had rejected her before, and after he fights her off, and rides off, she runs around declaring that she loves him, but the other townspeople decide to beat her up...or something.

What the hell? The art was ok. I could have done without the EXTREMELY graphic portrayal of Hex shooting two idiots in the saloon through their heads, with the exploding eyeballs and such. I really can't see what it contributed to the story, it was just icky for ickiness sake. And I don't consider myself to be very squeamish, but still...!

I didn't understand Rosa's motivation in the least. She is just apparently...crazy. No underrlying reason for her blowing hot and cold. Hex at least seemed to find her a bit unbalanced, and got the hell out of Dodge, which was probably the most sensible thing for him to do. But it has to be one of my least favorite Hex stories so far.

Bleh.

Secret Six #30

Now THIS on the other hand, was wonderful. We begin with Bane all dressed up, and going on a blind date with one of Lianna's friends at the club. Bane doesn't have a CLUE how to behave on a date, but he DOES decide that the young lady is worthy of being mated with, and hands her some flowers. I could have just stayed with this part of the story for the whole book!

We do jump to the incredibly slacker teenager, who does nothing buy lie around and play video games all day. His mother has had it, and so has his stepfather, and they basically toss him out on his ear. But before she hands him his suitcase, his mother gives him a little something that his grandfather left him in his will. Dear old Granddad leaves him his story, his wisdom...oh and a particle cannon, his four mistresses and about three billion dollars. Naturally, young Eric decides to father in his grandfather's shoes, and...disposes of his family before hooking up with his slacker buddies and recreating a gangster version of the ratpack.

He wants a volcano hideout...as any self-respecting young villain would. I would like a volcano hangout too, all things considered. Except the one that he wants belongs to someone else. So he hires the Six to go get it. And they end up going against the Doom Patrol. This will of course be continue in the Doom Patrol book, but it is a whole lot of fun.

Oh, and Ambush Bug shows up for some reason.

I am in heaven.

Time Masters #6.

Finally! Alas, this is the final issue. It really didn't end up having that much to do with finding Batman while he was lost in time, and you know what? I am perfectly fine with that, because we got to see baby Rip hanging out with Daddy Booster, which is always fun. Professor Zoom shows up for some reason, and spanks our heroes before zipping off, but at least he gets to make fools out of Superman and Hal Jordan. Zoom also spills the beans about Booster's little run-in with the law back in the 25th century and Hal gets all self-righteous about it. Quite frankly, I don't see where Hal has any right to be indignant. It's not like Booster went CRAZY and killed a bunch of people while trying to restart the Universe or anything!

Ahem.

But they end up crossing paths with the Black Beetle who acually looks red now, and Supernova shows up, and Liri Lee takes Waverider's powers and Vanishing Point is restored and...and stuff. Oh, and Supernova isn't Daniel at all, but actually an older version of Booster...which I had actually guessed...and we got to see and talk with Rip's Mom, which was fun.

And they all end up back at Rip's lab, after Michelle chased off the Time Stealers, and no harm done, except that somebody decided to write on Rip's magic black board.

Jurgens obviously loves these characters, and he does a beautiful job drawing them, and dang it, I miss him on Booster Gold as well. So I enjoyed this a lot. It didn't make a whole lot of sense if you sit down and pick at it, but I don't care. And I just wanted to SLAP both Superman and Hal for being jerks through the whole thing. They should have brought Guy instead.

I hope that eveyone was able to brave the snow and claw their way to the Comic Book store!