Slightly Belated Reviews

Sorry I didn't get to this yesturday. It was my ovaries.

Yes...that's it.


Anyhoo...

Batman #25

Man, I have been liking this book...and as a non-Bat fan, that is saying something.  The art by Greg Capullo has something to do with it...he draws such a pretty young Bruce Wayne, but Scott Snyder's story has been superb.  And my I just say that the all-black cover was pretty spectacular as well.

So, in Zero Year, young Bruce is just finding his way around being Batman, testing all of his cool toys, and figuring out what he is actually doing.  Alfred sighs a lot, but he goes along with it.  A younger Gordon shows up as they are crawling out of the nascent Bat Cave, which I thought was a pretty keen moment.  And the villain, Doctor Death scared the crap out of me.

Really really good.


Batman: Li'l Gotham #8

I treasure this book, because it is fun, it is light-hearted, and it is the only place that I can see Damian and some of my favorite characters.  Naturally this means that DC will find a way to kill it. 

Bruce and Selina go on vacation and run into pirates, because that is naturally the sort of thing that they would do.  Damian, thwarted from stowing away with them, then recruits all of the rest of the Bat Family and they have a rather good time on their own.

Adorable as always.

Constantine #8

I'm not still all that sure what was going on  in this book.  John being a bastard, but a heroic bastard, is pretty standard, but I always enjoy it.  Somehow he is attacked by Mister E, while Sargon, who was his foe, but who he is suddenly shacking up with, is cheering him on from the sidelines, and when Mister E is defeated with John's Moon sword or whatever, he is imprisoned inside the sword while the rest of the Cold Flame bunch devours E's power.

Um...ok.  The art at the beginning where E and John are fighting was confusing as hell.  I couldn't tell who was who or what they were doing.  Presumably this will all tie in with Forever Evil...as if I care.

It was...okay.  Didn't knock my socks off or anything, but I have a soft spot for Constantine, so I continue to hang in there.  For a while at least.


Green Lantern Corps #25

This supposedly ties into Zero Hour for some reason.  Apparently most of the books are going to be tying into Zero Hour.  Part of that Five Year Time Line for the the new DC 52 Universe I guess. 

With an impending storm, rather similar to Sandy or Katrina, John's Marine unit is sent in to help people evacuate, but  run into a charismatic but slightly nutsy figure called Anarky who says that it is all a plot by The Man, to trample everyone, and so the Marines are captured, but John is the only smart one among them, and figures a way out.  The rest of the Marines are portrayed as a bit too quick on the trigger finger, but naturally John is the hero. 

I can accept that, John IS a hero, and he's the smart Green Lantern.  It also has flashbacks to his mother and a riot when she was a child, and I'm not sure that it worked all that well.  In the end, the people are saved, but John's superior isn't happy that he was insubordinate, so John is musing on the fact that he's probably washed up in the Marines, but being right is more important, as Batman lurks in the background.

This was also okay.  Not great certainly.  It's nice to see John doing his thing, but he wasn't all that compelling for some reason...maybe he just seemed to divorced from the action, too cold.  I don't really inow.

Justice League of America #9

J'onn continues to explore the prison for the captured Justice League, and finally runs across his own problems...himself!  Woooo!  We still don't know who is doing this exactly,but Courtney disobeys him in order to try and save him, and her sweetness and purity  or something like that, seems to protect her, as she descends through the various levels.

At any rate, she grabs J'onn and together they escape, from the frying pan right into the fire, as it were.  Or maybe they don't, who the heck knows?  It is slightly better than the Forever Evil stuff that is going on, but it does seem to be...dragging on and on and on and on....


Superman/Wonder Woman #2

I really can't stand these two together, but I got it because Charles Soule has been doing a pretty good job lately.  It isn't terrible actually,  it is Diana getting beaten up by Doomsday, but somehow, Superman saves her, and they end  up with her family. 

Since I absolutely love what Azzarello is doing with Diana in her own book, I sat up a little straighter. 

Apollo and Strife are sneering at Clark, saying that although Steve was just a stupid human, at least he WAS a human, and this creature is an alien, and therefore beneath her.  Sheesh!  So Clark gets in Apollo's face, and Apollo flicks him with his finger and sends him flying.  Diana is upset, but Clark bounces back up and gets hit by a blast of...Sunlight!  And since he is a solar battery, this naturally makes him stronger and he punches the daylights out of Apollo, which makes Strife all googally eyed, and even gets a smile out of Diana.

Then Zod shows up for some reason in a desert.

I am still not in love with this whole concept, and I think that these two have the sexual appeal of span together, but it was nice to see Apollo and Strife.

Thor: God of Thunder #15

Malekith the evil dark elf has shown up again and is busy just killing off as many as possible throughout the Nine Realms, mainly because that is his schtick.  Thor has teamed up with one member each of the various Realms, and they are busy fighting amongst themselves as much as amongst the dark Elves.  Then they end up in Jotunheim.

They also get drunk, and start laying bets, and there is smooching.  The art is lovely, and heck, the story is rather fun,which I always enjoy.  There is a wry humor to the plot, which is nice.

Very good.  Very good indeed.

So, rather a mixed bag this week.  Nothing out and out terrible, but only two that I really liked.