Slightly Late Reviews

Oh...it was an interesting week, to say the least.  Naturally, I shall not SAY the least...I do have a tendency to just drone on and on and on...well...you know.  So let us begin.

Batman #0

I'm not really sure exactly what to expect from the "0" books this month, but they all seem to be retconning the various origins or at least portions of those origins.  Batman is a tale of a young Bruce Wayne, who has just come home and set up shop in Gotham City.  He's running about doing his vigilante thing, but hasn't quite settled on the whole "Bat" Schtick, from what I can gather, or at least the whole "Bat" Schtick is still quite new.  Gordon reveals himself as no fool, Alfred is fabulous as usual.

The back-up story also looks at three of the Robins, with Tim being insufferable, but really really smart, Jason actually having a few morals, and Dick...well Dick is just as cute as can be. 

Not bad at all.

But I haven't read a bad story from Snyder yet, and the art is nice as always.


Batman & Robin #0

And in this book, we get a story about baby Damian!  He's just the most adorable little assassin ever!  Man oh man, does Talia have Motherhood issues though!  She won't tell him about his father, until he can beat her in battle, on his birthday.  Sheesh!  It takes him until he's ten.  Damian must be a late bloomer. 

I have to admit that the little psycho has grown on me.  And I love Pat Gleason, so I'm just happy as can be.


Demon Knights #0

Herein, we get a tale of Etrigan, and how he worked his way up...and down the ladder of success in Hell.  Also a bit of more backstory on Jason Blood, who had a pretty rotten time of it, and a bit of background on Merlin, who is a real jerk.  Nice story, nice art, and actually, rather nice coloring as well.  I do like this series.


Green Lantern Corps 0

What the Hell?

I...I'll have to read this a few more times I think.


Resurrection Man 0

So, Mitch has been captured, and we finally...FINALLY get to find out who is behind all of it, and how everything happened.  It turns out that the Big Bad Guy is Mitch Shelley!  He's been cold-bloodedly experimenting, and had these nanothingies injected into himself and other people, and lost his arm, but it didn't grow back, so he had it removed, and it...GREW IN MITCH # 2!

That...that is just so awesome, that I can hardly stand it.  The others in the organization all gained powers of various kinds, but not exactly what they were bargaining for, and the original Mitch is desperate for Mitch part deux, to harvest his lovely lovely organs or something. 

Then the Angel and the Devil-guy show up, and Good Mitch offers the Angel Bad Mitch's soul, and everything ends up happily!  Well...sort of, when you have maybe made a deal with the devil, but we can worry about that another day.

Damn, I'm going to miss this book.


Shade #12

This is finally it...the origin of the Shade, and drawn by none other than Gene Ha, who did such an amazing job in the other mini-series with the Shade.  He can draw a man in a top hat like nobody's business. 

We learn that Richard Swift was a happily married young man, with a wife and two small sons, who was doing well at business, loved his wife, and was good friends with none other than Charles Dickens.  He had a pretty good life!  Then Culp shows up and asks him to acquire a...lion for him.  Swift is a bit bemused, but happy to be of service, and hangs on his lips, as Culp tells him all kinds of exotic tales. 

Alas, it is all a ruse, and Dickie and Charles end up prisoners in an old church, about to be fed to the lion and a spell worked, to give Culp unspeakable powers.  Naturally it doesn't quite work out that way, and Dickie is the one who ends up with the powers, although Culp gets some as well, and everybody dies, except Charles Dickens, which is actually a good thing, and Richard Swift becomes the Shade, and it is all just lovely as hell. 

This has been one heck of a mini-series.  It makes me really really long for the old days with Opal City and Starman and the O'Dare's and all that really fabulous stuff that James Robinson can do.\


Journey Into Mystery #643

This is part of the "Everything Burns" storyline that is playing out in JIM and also in Thor, as Surtur is wreaking havoc across the nine worlds, the All-Mothers are hostages, the Vanir are revolting, and Hela is sitting on the sidelines, and presumably Mephisto is also up to no good.  But Thor still trusts his little brother.

Loki sneaks into Muspelheim and is contronted by  the evil Leah, that we saw on the last page of the last issue.  It's not the REAL Leah of course, but the Leah that he wrote into the story with the Serpent.  She's not particularly happy with Loki, who manages to talk his way out things as usual, because...well because he's Loki!  He also seems to have a whole lot of things brewing.

Thor shows up, and they discuss the fable of the Scorpion and the Frog, and then...well, then Loki shows that he is...Loki after all.

Bad Loki! 

But I am hoping that it is all a ruse of some kind, because if there is one thing that Loki is good at...it is running a con.

Man I love this book.

One heck of a week!