Oh Come On!

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time...say a couple of weeks...you will probably come to the conclusion that I am not a huge fan of Marvel's latest Massive Crossover, called Avengers vs X-Men. 

For one thing, they DID that already, quite a while back, and while not perfect, it wasn't a bad little mini-series. 

Secondly, enough with all the In-Fighting already!  Sheesh!  Marvel heroes do NOTHING but fight each other!  Constantly!  We had Civil War, we had the Skrulls, we had the whole Mutant thing with Wanda...do the Marvel people even HAVE any villains?  Other than Doctor Doom and possibly the Green Goblin?  If Super-Powered Hunks are going to be destroying my town, I would at least appreciate it more, if they were saving the world from some Bad Guys...instead of just working off some steam over philosophical differences. 

Whatever.

Anyway, in the latest issue, which I believe was called Avengers vs X-Men Versus...which has to be the most inane title I've run across in quite a while...they had paired up a couple of Avengers, or pseudo Avengers...against a couple of X-Men...or pseudo X-Men.  You had Iron Man vs Magneto, and you had Namor vs the Thing.  The last time I looked, Namor wasn't an X-Man, and the Thing wasn't an Avenger, but what the heck do I know?

Well, you would think that this would be a slam dunk, but of course, you would be wrong.  They had Iron Man channel the Magnetic force of Jupiter or Saturn or something, and use it to defeat Magneto.

Then they had the Thing fight Namor...UNDERWATER...and beat him as well. 

When I first heard about this, I laughed.  Seriously.  Then I sighed.  And then I went back to fanatsizing over Green Lantern butts as any right-thinking woman should. 

What is next?  Does Pixie defeat Hercules?

Reviews

Sorry I'm a day late and a dollar short.

All Star Western #8

Man, I do love this book.  Hex is fighting a rather incongruous young lady with nasty stirrups in a ring, while Nighthawk and Cinnamon do their thing, in New Orleans.  Meanwhile, having nothing better to do, Arkham goes and checks out an Opium Den.  Just for the experience of course.  Naturally, it gets raided, and naturally he gets tossed into jail, where he actually does give some psychological help to another inmate.  Fortunately for him, he gets freed...but not before running off at the mouth to the wrong people about his good ol' buddy Jonah Hex.

I do have to say that Arkham is something of an idiot sometimes, but a...darned entertaining idiot.  So naturally, the jig is up, and Hex's plan to NOT blow up a ship full of immigrants in the harbor is ruined, and he and Arkham are being rowed out to the ship along with a passel of dynamite.  I can hardly wait till next month.


Aquaman #8

Can I just say how much I love Ivan Reis?  In this issue he manages to make young Arthur look...well...young, and a little wet behind the ears.

*snicker*

Ya'wara and her jaguar have come to Arthur for help, since Black Manta has offed rather messily, their former ally from their former little group.  A group that nobody seems to have known about.  Mera certainly isn't too happy about her sweetie running around with another woman, even though their "bond" was only telepathic.  Shin in the meantime has to keep working on figuring out what happened to Atlantis, Mera has to babysit Shin and the Jaguar, while Arthur and Ya'wara go off and try to find their erstwhile buddies and warn them that Manta is on the prowl.  A good issue as usual.


Flash #8

Gosh, I do love this book.  The art is sensational, and Manapul has really been coming up with some interesting plot devices.  Another man has been trapped in the Speed Force all this time, a former Tuskeegee airman, and all the poor fellow wants to do is go home, but in his frantic struggles, he's the one creating the vortexes.  But Barry isn't quite sure how to handle all of this, and is still looking for Iris.  Oh, and he somehow shows up at Gorilla Grodd's land, just as he's about to eat his father's brain or something.

Man, this is good.


Green Lantern: New Guardians #8

Well...somehow, they all got away from  Invictus, and are headed back to take on Larfleeze, but Atrocitus is horrified to learn that Sinestro shut down the Fear Corps, and Fatality is having problems, and I'm not quite sure what Bleez is up to, but it probably is no good, and Munk just flat out abandons them, and nobody can understand how it is that Kyle still has power in his ring.  I don't really understand that myself.

Arkillo shows up just as the Weaponeer is about to be beheaded, and pulls his nuts out of the fire, and the Weaponeer shows him another Fear battery that he fashioned, although it isn't quite as good as the real thing.  There seems to be a fair amount of bogus lanterns floating about lately.

This isn't...bad, per se, but it just isn't grabbing me.  I miss Kyle and Guy quite frankly.


Justice League Dark #8

Again, I enjoyed the first arc thoroughly, but the second one is dragging a bit.  Xanadu just keeps moaning about possible futures and that they will all hate her if they lose, and will also hate her if they win.  Nobody seems to be doing very well, and it is also a crossover of sorts with I,Vampire, which I haven't been reading.  And Shade the Changing Man decides to leave.  John Constantine is still a jerk, bless his heart.  I guess I'll stay with it for now, but it would be nice if something happened.


 The Shade #7

Now this on the other hand just keeps getting better.  La Sangre is still fighting  the Inquisitor in Barcelone, but the Shade, with a bit of a jog to his memory realizes what is up, and uses his powers to defeat a pretty MAJOR villain.  He's not quite sure what happened, and neither are we, but for now anyway...it all works.

The vial of blood that La Sangre had, that he came to retrieve is unfortunately all dried up,and it really doesn't matter anymore, since his great grandson who needed it, has died in the meantime.  So Shade decides that as much fun as it has been, he should probably go back to London and see if he can figure out what is REALLY going on.

Wonderful.  It has a leisurely pace, but I don't mind that.


Not a bad week at all.

Pre-Watchmen?

There has been quite the brouhaha on the message boards and blogs of our beloved Internet lately, about DC's
idea to come out with Prequels to Watchmen, the hallowed creation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.  Mostly, the attention has been negative.  Make that VERY negative.


Alan Moore doesn't seem to like DC very much.  I understand that he thought certain things would happen that didn't happen, and decided to never darken DC's doorstep again.  He has made no effort through the years to change his mind, which is rather a shame from a purely selfish point of view, because I rather like a lot of his stories.  On the other hand, it HAS been 25 years, and DC has apparently decided to mine that Watchmen Gold, and make these books.


I didn't read Watchmen when it first came out, I was busy getting married and birthing babies at that point in my life, and had drifted away from Comics for a number of years.  I didn't read it until quite a number of years later...and although I liked it...very much...it wasn't quite the touchstone in my life that it apparently was for so many people, who consider other artists and writers touching this story to be akin to blasphemy.  I don't really think that it quite that outrageous.

On the other hand, I am quite fond of any number of the artists involved, such as Darwyn Cooke, Amanda Connor, Adam Hughes, Andy Kubert and Lee Bermejo.  The writers aren't too shabby either, with Len Wein and Brian Azzarello.  Also J.M. Strascinski, but you can't have everything.  I've seen some of the preliminary artwork, and it appears to be pretty darned nice. 


Will they be great stories?  Maybe.  I don't know yet, but I'm certainly willing to give them a try.  Yes, Watchmen was a pretty grand story, but it isn't the end all or be all of my existance.  It's not like they made Hal Jordan go crazy and kill everybody or took away John's legs, or made Guy grow guns out of his arms and sprout tattoos or something!  That's just crazy!

Guy...and Sinestro

As I think we can all deduce from reading the latest Green Lantern Corps issue...and we all HAVE read it...right?  Anyway...we can deduce that Guy really really REALLY hates Sinestro.  More than Hal ever has.  And probably more than Hal ever would.  Hal and Sinestro have historically been enemies, but before that, they were friends, and Sinestro was even his mentor to a certain degree.  And when I say friends, I mean going by the real continuity.


But as for Guy and Sinestro...I can't really think of too many occasions where they have had much of a relationship or even interaction.  Except of course for that little incident when Guy was a spanking new rookie Lantern, and Hal's Battery blew up in his face, and he got blasted into the Phantom Zone and was then kidnapped and tortured by Sinestro...simply to get back at Hal.  That sort of thing tends to make a lasting impression.  Guy was on top of the world...briefly...and then pretty much lost everything, due to Sinestro, and to a lesser degree...Hal.


Sinestro didn't give a crap about Guy.  He didn't even know who Guy was.  He just used him...brutally...as a tool to needle Hal.  It was like picking the wings off of flies to him.  Guy was nothing...less than nothing to him.
But he tortured him so viciously, that he basically lost his mind, went into that nasty little coma for a few years, and woke up a very much changed man.  It took a VERY long time for Guy to work out his problems and heal himself, but he never lost his hatred for Sinestro.


Geoff Johns has touched upon this visceral feeling a couple of times.  He had Kyle comment on it way back in Rebirth...where Guy would call all of Hal's foes pussies, basically, but never Sinestro.  Kyle said that Guy never discusses Sinestro at all.  Which, when you come to think of it, is very unlike Guy.  Guy talks about everything and everyone under the sun.


Part of the problem I think, is that Sinestro is just so supremely unconcerned with Guy.  He has NEVER given a rats ass what Guy thinks of him, nor has he ever afforded the least bit of respect to him.  He doesn't like Kyle either, but he does seem to give a grudging amount of respect to John.  And there is his extremely complicated relationship with Hal.  Guy on the other hand barely even registers on Sinestro's attention meter.  He simply does not care a jot.


And that has to be incredibly frustrating for Guy.  To Guy, Sinestro is the one behind all of his problems.   Well, and Hal, but he and Hal seem to have worked things out.  They'll probably always be rivals to a certain extent, but at least it is a friendly rivalry now.  And as Kalinara has pointed out so well, Guy has these weird older brother issues with Hal as well.  But Sinestro is a whole 'nother kettle of fish.  Guy just flat out HATES him...and with perfectly good reason.  But it can't help that Guy also knows that Sinestro doesn't give a crap that Guy hates him.  I also think that Guy is absolutely right about having the Yellow Fear Battery on Oa...it is a terrible idea.  The Guardians should probably be destroying the thing or something...or at least figuring out where Parallax has run off to.  Well..actually I have my own ideas about that...I wouldn't be surprised if ALL of the Guardians are currently being mass-possessed by Parallax. It is about the only thing that explains their recent shenanigans.


What all of this is leading up to, in a round-about way, is that I REALLY hope that they are going to be writing a confrontation between Guy and Sinestro...and that some of the past between these two, comes up.  Because I don't think that anyone other than Hal, and the Guardians have any idea of what Sinestro did to Guy.  Guy never discusses it, and it would never occur to Hal to talk about it because it involves someone else.  Sinestro certainly has never brought it up to anyone, and why would he?  But it would be nice to see the other Lanterns have some idea of what poor Guy went through and exactly WHY he was such a jerk all those years.  And I'd really REALLY like Guy to get a bit of closure, and to have Sinestro finally realize that he's not a joke.

 

Playing Around

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Green Lantern Corps #8

What the hell? My Blogger thingie is all...different. New things confuse me! I'm old and set in my ways! Nevertheless, I will persevere and just hope and pray that this actually works. So...on to Green Lantern Corps.                                                                                                                                             My.                                                                                                                                                         My oh my.                                                                                                                                            There is a heckuva lot of food for thought in the latest issue. Turns out that the Alpha Lanterns are onto John, and his little difference of opinion with Lantern Krrrt, while they were being tortured by the Keepers. Krrrt was about to crack, and give them the codes to the Main Power Battery on Oa, which would possibly have lead to the defeat of the Guardians and the entire Corps. Or maybe not, but John felt that he couldn't take that chance, and promptly broke Krrrt's neck. But the Alphas aren't happy about this, and feel that it is up to THEM to dispense Justice...so they are bound and determined to bring John in for questioning, and presumably a trial.                                                                                                                       Meanwhile, on Oa, John and Guy and most of the rest of the Corps are busy digging a nice big hole for the giant Fear Battery that Sinestro dumped there a little while back. In his usual fashion, Guy is grousing about even having the damned thing on Oa, while John is just trying to get the job done. But Guy has had enough, and decides that the only Battery that should be standing is the GREEN one, and gives it a big smack and dumps it on its side in the hole. Guy is VERY pleased with himself, but the other lanterns,who were sweating trying to get the thing done properly are VERY pissed. As usual. Salaak comes over and he and Guy start yelling at each other. Also as usual. Guy is not happy about Sinestro being a Green Lantern again, and really, who can blame him? I doubt that any of them are particularly ecstatic about it, but Sinestro always does what the Guardians want. Guy also isn't happy about all of the comatose Sinestro Corps members still cooling their jets in the Sciencells, but there isn't anything that he can do about it at the moment, and besides, the Guadians themselves want to see him. Salaak assumes that it is for a reprimand. Heck everyone assumes it is for a reprimand.                                                                                                                               Guy shows up at the Citadel, and says he's ready for whatever punishment they want to meet out, and is quite startled to learn that he's not there to be punished...in fact, they want to REWARD him...for simply being so fabulous. They think that he's been overlooked for too long, and that his service to the Corps demands recognition. There is a moment of stunned silence on Guy's part...and then he bursts into a hearty "Bwhahahahahahaha!" He's still laughing as he tells them to stop screwing with him...what is REALLY going on. They swear that they aren't screwing with him...in exactly those words, and that unlike Hal Jordan, he's only been good for the Corps. Guy is pretty much flabgerghasted. He's always been the bad boy...working his ass off, but never getting any recognition for it. And to be perfectly honest, I have to agree with the Guardians o this point. Guy Gardner IS the Greatest Green Lantern...at least in my humble opinion. And his own.                                                                                                                                                        So anyway, they want to reward him with a new position, even classier than being first in the Honor Guard. A Proactive Command Position, where he would be answerable only to them, and could pretty much do whatever he wants out in the field. In fact, Salaak would be serving UNDER him! Needless to say...Guy is IN! In fact, he's beside himself with glee. And again...who can blame him?                                                                                                                                                                                                                  So next, we find Guy and John chilling out at Warriors, drinking beer, while John makes little bridges and stuff out of toothpicks, because he's an architect, and as Guy notes, he actually likes to build stuff instead of just blowing it up. Guy is pretty happy, but John is his usual morose self, and Guy is wondering if there is anything that he can do to help. John refuses his help, and Guy is just about to tell him what the Guardians have offered him,when a bunch of aliens get cranky because they have to check their weapons at the door, and none of the Lanterns have to, and it's just not fair. I'm a bit bemused to even find out that people other than Lanterns can even get to Oa and walk into a bar...I always thought that Oa was off limits for the most part.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          But apparently, Warriors is open to everyone, and Guy does his best to defuse the situation. It lasts for a minute or two and then the cool Bar Fight Is On! Everyone is enjoying themselves immensely. No rings allowed, just a good old-fashioned brawl, when all of a sudden the Alpha Lanterns show up and decide that this is the perfect time to arrest John. For Murder. Oops. Well, I guess it had to happen sometime. John doesn't even look all that surprised.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I have my suspicions about the Guardians latest move. I approve completely of their recognizing that Guy is one helluva Lantern, but I question their motives. I think they are trying to pit the Lanterns against each other, and have chosen Guy to be their pit bull in the upcoming war, assuming that he'll chose their approval over that of his fellow Lanterns. I think that they will turn out to be mistaken, but the Guardians just are behaving so strangely lately, that their actions cannot be trusted in the least. Good story, good dialogue, good art. And Guy. Lots and lots of Guy. I'm so happy.

Lovely Lovely Reveiws

Now that was a good week!

Batman #8

Bruce is feeling a bit bruised and bent and battered. Alfred is trying to get him to buck up. Then the Owls strike Stately Wayne Manor. ALL the Owls. Man, that's a lot of Owls! Bruce does his thing, and Alfred hi-tails it to the cave, and the Owls are just a little bit surprised that this millionare isn't just rolling over and dying like all the other people in Gotham that have been targeted. And they've targeted a LOT of people! Alfred sends the word out to all the various Bat-People, that the shit has well and truly hit the fan.

Dang it, I love this book.

Batman: Odyssey #7

And so, we come to the end of Neal Adams little Bat Saga...and it has certainly been an interesting ride. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure that I can sit down and actually TELL you what happened throughout all of this. Batman is a heck of a lot younger and a heck of a lot more callow, and certainly a heck of a lot more fun. He wears a Green Lantern T-Shirt for God's sake, while he is telling his tale to none other than Superman, AKA Clark Kent. And Robin is there, being nubile and joyous, and having fun too. And Ra's al Ghul, and the Sensei who is Ra's son, and Talia, and a whole bunch of trolls, gnomes, nijas, and guys that look like Egyptian Gods, and underworld people, and...and...well, lets just say that it makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER! But I don't care because the art was so pretty, and because Adams just seemed to be having the time of his life, and writing this whole thing like an exercise in Stream of Conciousness.

Bizarre. But a heckuva lot of fun.

Birds of Prey#8

All of a sudden, the Feds seem to be after Dinah, who used to be a spy or something, and they are sending in the goons to bring her back, and her buddies, and they are all fighting, and stuff, and Dinah may have killed her husband, but didn't really want to mention it, and whoo boy, it gets a little weird too. But still... I liked it. I'm interesting in where they are going with this. And I would imagine that the whole Owl thing from Batman may be showing up too.

Fables #8

Well, Therese is apparently declared the Queen of the Toys, and they're all quite happy about it, except that she's getting a wee bit hungry and all there is to eat is plastic toy food. Oops. And one of the other cubs...I think it's Darien goes off on the cool clockwork tiger, to try and find her, while Snow White and Rose Red are searching as well. It's nicely done, and there is the second story with Bufkin at the end, that is an absolute hoot. I like the new story a bit better, it seemed to be meandering for a while there.

Good as usual.

Green Lantern Corps #8

Good Gosharootie!

Justice League #8

I don't quite know why, but I sat and snickered my way through this issue. The League seems to be pretty tight with each other, and they aren't particularly interested in taking on new members even though the Powers That Be would certainly like them too...mainly so that they could get a mole in, and maybe control them better, which is what Steve Trevor sardonically points out.

And Oliver Queen, also the Green Arrow wants EVER so much to be a part of their little superhero club. He keeps showing up at their battles, and keeps asking and imploring and basically begging to join. And Hal...well Hal isn't being very nice. In fact he and Batman are united in thinking that Ollie is a loser. So much for THAT old friendship. And I don't know what Ollie did to tick off Aquaman but he pretty much hates the very sight of him. Barry of course, is the nicest.

The art is ok, except for the one splash page towards the end when they are all fighting Martian Manhunter of all people. This apparently is the reason that they don't want any new members. It is quite gorgeous. But man...I do miss having J'onn. The League NEEDS him.

There is also the back story with our charming young Billy Batson, who isn't really a very nice little boy, but that's ok, because the rest of the foster kids in his new family aren't wrapped too tight either. Love that Gary Frank artwork however, and I must say that I am interested in how both of these stories are going to be going.

Wonder Woman #8

I can't help it. I know it isn't OUR Wonder Woman, but I'm enjoying the heck out of this book. And God help me, I even like her new outfit, as she suits up and prepares to go off and invade Hades realm. It...looks Greek! She's got a nice sword and dagger and shield, and Hepaestus gives her Eros's guns, which makes him a little cranky, but she promises to bring them back. And off she goes with Hermes. They did remember that he can travel to the Underworld, which was nice.

Naturally the Underworld isn't anything like what she was expecting, and naturally she is attacked, and the grace and fluidity of her battle, is gorgeous. And Hermes seems to be enjoying himself as well. They do find Zola, and she's awfully glad to be found, although time seems to have run a bit different for her, than for them.

Then Hades shows up and strikes a bargain with Diana, which doesn't go exactly the way that she planned.

Damn, this was good. And the art was spectacular.

I enjoyed the heck out of my books this week.

Back in the Saddle

Well, that was quite the enjoyable weekend. I had gone to the Mohegan Sun casino and resort in Connecticut for the annual NETSA trade show and bacchanal, and had a LOVELY time. Somehow we also ended up with a suite instead of just a room, and I have now been spoiled forever.

But anyway...comics.

I managed to miss both Green Lantern and Young Justice over the weekend, so thank goodness for the "On Demand" feature on my cable when I returned. The two shows were nice enough...but what REALLY caught my eye, was the little DC Short, that had Hal Jordan as a Green...Care Bear.

I laughed so hard, my son thought I was going to choke.

Oh...Hal!

The Week in Reviews

Well now this was certainly a nice week. I thought that the Shade was going to be coming out too, but no such luck. Darn it!

Batgirl #8

You know something? I liked this. Batgirl has been fighting this guy in a mask, who just shot a man for a bottle of wine. That's a tad hardcore! On the other hand, it was REALLY good wine! But as she's fighting, in the sewer no less, she recognizes one of the henchmen as one of the goons who stood there next to the Joker when he shot her. She's stunned and intrigued,and in the melee lets him...go. This confuses Mister Grotesque, the guy in the mask, the one with the taste for the best, and a newly awakened interest in Batgirl.

Barbara does a bit of soul-searching once she gets home. She still can't quite bring herself to forgive her mother for walking out on them, but she at least gets to the point where she feels she can talk to her, and they visit, and her mom says she left because Barbara's little brother was a psychopath, and she feared for their lives if she stayed.

Really? I'm not a huge Bat-Fan, but this is the first that I have heard of this. Is this accepted canon, or a new story?

So...she tracks down Danny the goon, Grotesque shoots him after Danny the goon tried to save Batgirl,and they have a lovely moment together, because it turns out that Danny the goon was the one who called the cops after the Joker left, and that's why she's alive. Or something. Oh, and her evil little brother is now stalking her roomie.

There is a LOT going on in the book this month. I'm not quite sure how this is all going to tie together, but it is interesting to say the least.

Batman & Robin #8

Whew! After the stunning ending to last issue, with Damian killing Nobody, we actually have an issue that has a little bit of downtime in it...a chance for Bruce and Damian to catch their breath, heal a little bit, and perhaps come to a greater understanding of each other. Alfred is on hand, to sew up and bandage their wounds, and to hand out good advice. They even play a little bit of catch with the new Bat Hound.

It is a rather lovely issue, to be frank. I like action as much as the next person, but I also like it when they take a step back and calm things down for just a little while...before jumping right back into the action again. Too much action all of the time, has a tendency to exhaust me as a reader, and I can't imagine that it does much for the protagonists either!

I really am getting to like Damian, the little bugger!

Batwoman #8

Beautiful as usual, although I have to confess to being slightly confused by all that is going on. And there is a LOT that is going on! Chase is riding Kate to get more information, and it turns out that both Kate and Maggie are working the same case, and are actually at odds, and the bad guys just keep escalating things, and there is this girl that ends up helping...and like I said, I'm still trying to keep all the actors straight here. But it certainly is exciting.

And pretty. So so pretty.

Demon Knights #8

Well, they won. Sort've. Vandal Savage is trying to convince them that deserting them was his plan all along, and they aren't really believing him. And Madame Xanadu turns out to be Nimue, which rather surprised me. She ends up telling the story of how she's the girlfriend of both Etrigan and Jason, which turns out to be quite intriguing...although, as Etrigan himself points out...you can't really trust any of them to tell the truth.

And there are multiple Camelots? And Merlin gets a bit of a surprise. Darn it, I like this book.

Green Lantern #8

Normally, I would wait and review this tomorrow, but I am going to be gone all weekend, on my yearly jaunt to the Mohegan Sun Casino for the NETSA Trade Show and Bachannal, so I won't have time.

Anyhoo...

Wow! The Indigo Tribe has captured both Sinestro and Hal, and are trying to convert Sinestro. Indigo was nice to Hal, but still stuck him in a jail cell, something that he's getting a bit tired of at this point. The Indigos have decided that Sinestro really needs to learn some Compassion and begin the induction process...whether he wants to go through it or not. Sinestro being the magnificent bastard that he is, decides that he does NOT want to become compassionate, and does a bang up job of resisting. Too bad that it's just not enough.

Meanwhile, who should show up to talk to Hal, but Black Hand! Hal is a bit surprised to see him of course, and they get to talking, and Black Hand is eager to show that they can access ALL of the various emotions, including Willpower. This is what Hal wants, so he grabs Black Hand by the collar, and shoves his ring into the Green Lantern emblem on Black Hand's forehead...and recites his oath! And it works!

To a degree it works. It isn't a full charge, and it isn't pure willpower and he can't fly and his constructs are a bit iffy, but what the hell...Hal will take what he can get. He decides to get the heck out of Dodge, and tries to find sinestro only to discover that the place is HUGE. He also stumbles upon an enormous statue of none other than Abin Sur, which confuses him a bit. Then the rest of the Indigos show up.

Including Sinestro.

Nok.

Woo! This was great! This shows Hal being resourceful, and determined, and not a jackass. It shows Sinstro being ruthless and desperate and fabulous. It also shows the Indigo tribe as being a little less than the Good Guys. I'm dying to find out more!

Gorgeous art my Doug Mahnke as usual.

Resurrection Man #8

Poor Mitch continues to try and find out who he was. He knows now that he was apparently a real sonuva bitch, and he has some of the pieces of the puzzle, but he can't find out anything about himself by the usual means. In the meantime, a crackerjack detective has been hired to find him, along with a Necromancer, who is NOT a pleasant kind of fellow, but they've actually been hired by two different parties.

Kim Rebecki uses psychometry to find people and she's good at it and she finds Mitch at the library first. The Butcher uses the life force of people to do his thing, and he also shows up at the library. Naturally, Mitch ends up saving her life, and she realizes that he's actually nothing like the jerk that she thought she was tracing, and naturally she tries to help him. And the Butcher is just there to kill him for good.

And then the Suicide Squad shows up. I'm always happy to see Deadshot of course, and this is the exactly the sort of thing that Amanda Waller would be involved in, but I can't help but miss the Six. And Deadshot doesn't have his banging mustache anymore!

Still, very good.

Journey Into Mystery #636

God, I do love this book so much. Loki is my favorite character at Marvel right now. Nightmare has been trying to fashion a crown from the fear left over from the Serpent, and Loki ends up helping him. Or does he? Meanwhile Leah and Daimon Hellstrom are also on Loki's side, trying to save the rest of the children that Nightmare has been harvesting the fear from.

Loki naturally Has A Plan. Loki may be a kid, but he's still Loki, and of course he has a plan. They get all the OTHER Fear Lords together, and naturally they all start bickering over who gets the crown,and they end up fighting over it in perpetuity...or at least for a little while anyway. And the page where the giant Squid Head of the Dweller-In-Darkness gives a recap is simply hilarious.

I wish this book came out every single week.

Oh Hal

Whatever are we to think of Hal Jordan? At least, as of late. He's actually doing fairly well, over in his own book, although he does seem to be pretty much Sinestro's puppet at the moment, albeit unwillingly. But he'd been doing better than I expected him to be doing, without the ring, after a bumpy start, he seemed to be coming to terms with real life.

However.

Over in Justice League, he's been portrayed a bit...differently. What really confuses the heck out of me, is that he's still being written by Geoff Johns. So, how to explain the complete difference in his personality?

In Justice League, he's brash, obnoxious, over-eager, headstrong and a bit full of himself. Which is more or less how he has always been, but with a double helping of charm. What does concern me, is that when he touched Wonder Woman's lasso, he was revealed as being full of self-doubt and eager to impress everyone else. This is a little strange. Hal is many things, but having any doubts about his own magnificence is not one of them. Nor have I ever seen him as trying to impress other people. Hal never seemed to care that much if people were impressed or not. Hal never seemed to NOTICE if people were impressed...being Hal, he just ASSUMED that they were impressed by him. He was Hal Jordan after all, and being impressive was just something that he did. Like breathe.

Hal may be cocky, he may be arrogant, he may be headstrong. Heck, there is no "May" about it. Hal IS all of these things. But in the past at least, Hal was shown to be able to back up his claims. He didn't worry or plan, he just did stuff by the seat of his pants, and by Golly, more often than not, he got away with it. One of the things that I have always liked about Hal, was his supreme self-confidence. He knew he'd succeed, because...well because he just DID.

And as for the Hal being portrayed in Green Lantern, I can still see that confidence. As for the Hal being portrayed in Justice League...I am not so sure.

The whole Justice League thing is confusing me anyway. It WAS set five years in the past, but now it is in the present apparently, but they still seem to be acting more or less exactly the way that they did at their original formation, which seems odd. You would have thought that they would be a bit more comfortable with each other by now. Or am I just misreading things completely?

It's almost as though they are trying to shoehorn Hal into Guy's old role. And lord knows, Hal can be obnoxious. But he doesn't really fit into Guy's old position, he's a bit too suave for that. Hal has also always been portrayed as having a certain amount of charm and likeability, which hasn't been so much in evidence lately, which also rather confuses me.

So, obviously, the new 52 really IS an alternate Universe, and I find that I'm not all that enamoured of alternate Universes. Or, I may just be over-reaching. But I'm not sure.

What do YOU think?

Oh Monday

Well, we're back. Not that we actually went anywhere, but I did have to cook and clean and have the family over for Easter which went quite well, and now we get all the leftovers. Woohoo! Leftovers! Delicious leftovers.

Did you all watch the Green Lantern animated show on Saturday? Last week was Iolande, and this week was Mogo! It was lovely. I don't think that they actually came out and called the villains Bolphunga the Unrelenting and Fatality...but I knew who it was. Also, the short cartoon bit with Animal Man had me in crying tears of laughter.

Not a whole lot else to talk about concerning comics...except that...well...Comics are still Great.



So...so very very great.

A Day Late...

...but hopefully, not a dollar short. And happy Good Friday and Passover to all of you who celebrate! I'm having the whole clan over on Sunday, and have to start baking right about now. I would have posted reviews yesturday, but I was feeling awfully cruddy, and just didn't feel like it.

So pooh.

But here I am, rarin' to go!

Action Comics #8

Well, gosh darn it, this was great. Back to the story and everything, and Superman doing what it is that he does best, and Lex whining, and Lois being awesome, and Jimmy looking a helluva lot like a young Guy Gardner, which rather threw me. And oh my...but the art was so very very pretty.

Although...I'm also pretty sure that those last couple of pages were by someone other than Rags Morales, because that close-up of Superman flying away from the cemetary...scared the BEJEEZUS out of me! Gah!

All-Star Western #8

I don't think that this actually came out this week, but I must have missed it by mistake last week, so here it is anyway. Jonah Hex and Doctor Arkham trailing behind, mosey on over to New Orleans where they just happen to meet up with Nighthawk and Cinnamon, which is nice. Jonah saves a bunch of people, and then, being contrary, decides NOT to help save a bunch of people. Then there are gladiator fights, which we must all agree are the BEST kind of fights. So...stuff happens, and it's fun, and that's all that I ask.

Fairest #2

I...am not quite sure what to think about this. I love Fables of course, and I have to admit that the art is simply exquisite. But I really don't give much of a hoot about Ali Baba, although I do like his little efreet, and Sleeping Beauty is awake, which is nice, but she seems a lot crankier than the last time that we saw her, and they are being chased by Lumi, the Snow Queen who was awakened at the same time...and I'm still wondering what the hook is.

It's not BAD per se...but it doesn't latch right onto you the way that Fables did either.

Justice Intenational #8

Boy howdy, this was a rather exciting issue. After they all got blowed up last month, a whole bunch of our intrepid group are in the hospital, and the short mean lady from the U.N. is having a hissy fit, and revoking their charter, and the administrator of the Hospital is also having a hissy fit over their continued proximity to the hospital, and Batman shows up and introduces Batwing as their new Bat Proxy apparently. Booster is somewhat confused, but rolling with it. This has left only Booster, Guy, Fang, aka August-General-In-Iron, and Godiva walking around. Guy does have a touching moment with Tora as she is lying in a hospital bed with broken legs, and Batwing seems to know Vixen. Fire is ignored completely.

The Bad Guys are still running around being BAD and then OMAC shows up with his mohawk, and presumably, a misunderstanding will ensue.

It is all a little ridiculous I suppose, but God Help Me, I love these characters so.

Swamp Thing #8

Egad, but this was good! Intense. Very very intense. Alec is Swampie again, and it's about time. Unfortunately for him, he's just about alone, and he's trying to save Abby, but the Rot has taken over, and it...well, it ain't pretty. But it sure is drawn pretty.

Good stuff!

I did not buy Avengers Vs X-Men. I don't care.

And So It Begins

Apparently the Avengers vs the X-Men crossover has begun. Presumably the Avengers will be fighting the X-Men for some reason. This will go on for the next seven or twelve or thirty months or so.

Can anyone tell me when the Avengers and the X-Men will fight BAD GUYS again?

Just wondering.

Spring Has Sprung

The sun is shining, the forsythia is blooming, the grass suddenly turned green overnight...we are actually having an EARLY Spring in New England. Unheard of! Which probably means that we'll get a foot of snow next week or something. New England likes to do things like that.

Nevertheless, and even though it is a Monday, I am in a fairly decent mood. My taxes are all finished, the house is clean, and although I need to make dinner for fourteen people or so, on Easter, I am still calm. These sorts of moods do not strike often.

Which leads me to ponder the state of Super Heroes and Super Heroines homes. I would think that they probably live in squalor. With all of those late-night emergencies, or the possibility that they are going to be kidnapped to another galaxy for a month or two...Their fridges are probably full of sour milk and moldy cheese. They can't keep pets, because who would feed them? With the exception of Superman and Krypto, and Power Girl and her cat, I can't think of any other super types that have pets. Well...maybe Kitty over in the X-Men, but she's in a school,and there is probably someone around to help feed Lochheed.

When do they have time to do laundry, change the sheets, do the dishes, heck go grocery shopping? I noticed in the last issue of Justice League that Hal is bumming groceries off of the government, because, as he says, who has the time? In fact, the Flash is probably the only one who has a decent standard of living.

Well, and Batman. But he's got Alfred to pick up after him.

I wish I had a butler.

Yahoooo!

Wow! I just read this on the internet...so it MUST be true! DC is bringing back all of their dead but beloved characters! The former continuity will be restored soon! It was all Pandora's fault! The Guardians will once again become benevolent and wise! Stephanie and Cass will show up in the Bat books, Barbara will be Oracle again, and Zinda will rejoin the Birds of Prey, along with Big Barda. Scott Free will be at home making cookies with Oberon! Max Lord will turn out to be a cyborg, and the REAL Max Lord will return.

What is that you say? It can't possibly be true? It's only a prank?

Dammit!

On the other hand, I do believe that it is Guy Gardner's birthday, or at least the one that I have chosen for him, since Kalinara is firm in her belief that he's an Aries,and frankly, it is the only day that actually makes sense for poor Guy.



It's true, Guy. It's true.