Slightly Delayed Reviews

I hope that you all had a lovely lovely Holiday.  Our annual ;trip to the little Log Cabin, which is indeed over the river and through the woods, was as fabulous as always.  Gosh, I do love Thanksgiving. 

So I am replete and still stuffed, and feeling at peace with the world.  NOT Shopping today however.  But I will say that this was a truly spectacular week for comics.  Any week that has Saga, Hawkeye AND Guy Gardner is a keeper in my book!


Aquaman #25

The epic finale of Death of a King!  I don't know how epic it was, but it wasn't bad at all.  I believe that this is Geoff John's last issue, but at least we had a bit of closure...and dare I say it...a hint of a Happy Ending.  Wait...what is that?  A tiny fraction, a glimmer of hope or joy in a DC Comic Book?  Horrors! 

Vulko has been nursing Arthur back to health for quite some time, after Atlan, the original King of the Seven Seas blew him up.  A great deal of new things have come to light, Atlan was originally a pretty good guy but he was betrayed by his brother, whom it turns out, Arthur is actually descended from.  Oops.  And the Trench were actually part of that kingdom, and others as well.  So Arthur does have his nice trident,which used to belong to Atlan, and he goes to the Trench and gets their help, and boy howdy, he invades Atlantis, which is pretty sad shape.

Nereus in the meantime, is sucking up to Atlan, because he wants Mera.  Mera can't stand him, but he's not the sort of man to let that stand in his way.  Anyhoo, Arthur does get his kingdom back, the Atlanteans are beginning to realize he's not so bad after all, and Mera leaves, because she doesn't like Atlantis, and we get to see Salty the Sea Dog,and then Mera realizes she does love Arthur, and goes back and they hold hands while sitting on their thrones.  It's lovely.

Orm has escaped and is hanging out with a nice surface lady, and is actually pretty much at peace with himself, till Nereus shows up and puts a stop to all of that. 

So it was a nice resolution, while still leaving some plotlines in the works, and not a bad book at all.

Flash #25

We suddenly take leave from all the crap that has been going on in the never-ending "Forever Evil" cross-over to suddenly take part in another cross-over, which ties in with the whole "Zero Year" storyline running in the Batman Books.  There is a giant killer storm bearing down on Gotham, and suddenly it is six years ago and ALL of the heroes are running around Gotham, and doing their thing, while a nascent Batman is lurking in the background. 

Here, Barry is in Gotham to help out, and ends up working alongside none other than Harvey Bullock, and his partner Spencer Thompson.  There is a new drug going around that is killing people, but in Gotham they do things a little...differently from Central City.  Barry rushes around flinging himself into danger as the old Gotham cops hang back and curse a lot.  Oh, and Iris West shows up and they make goo goo eyes at each other a bit. 

Turns out that Spencer is a bad cop, who is in with the people who made the drug, but he only did it to save his kids or something, so when he is klled Harvey covers for him, which shocks Barry,who just wants to get the hell out of Gotham, and who can blame him?  The art is lovely as usual, and it isn't a bad story.

I am just a little confused that DC would interrupt one huge cross-over, to insert yet ANOTHER cross-over!  It seems a little weird.  I welcome it however, because "Forever Evil" is not only interminable, but also quite quite terrible.  Still, it is a bit...strange.

But a good book nevertheless.

Hawkeye #l4

And this time we are hanging out with Kate Bishop in California, where she realizes that she is stuck without any money, due to Madame Masque's machinations, and has to do something, so she decides to become a "hero for Hire", and flings herself into the odd case of the vanishing orchids. 

This Kate is a bit different from the far more "together" version of Kate in Young Avengers, but if you ignore all of that, it is still an excellent book, and a lot of fun.  Pretty art, fun dialogue, and...heck..a bit of fun.  Fun is always good.

Jonah Hex #25

Poor Jonah.  He's actually starting to get a bit used to the Present, but he still really really wants to go back to his own time and who can blame him?  So he and his lady are involved in a giant festival out in the desert, and who should show up but John Constantine, who pulls his usual trickery.  And then Swamp Thing shows up too. 

Any comic that involves Jonah Hex and Swamp Thing...is A-okay in my book.  And I swear those are Black Mercy flowers.  Oh John, what HAVE you been up to?

Also fun.  Whodathunk?

Justice League Dark #25

More Constantine.  More Swamp Thing.  More shenanigans.  At least this book is actually still a part of the whole "Forever Evil" thing, and actually even brings in the Trinity of Sin.  That is not necessarily a plus in my book, but heck, the art is nice, and the story is actually interesting, and the JLD is about the only book that actually has the Good Guys, or semi-Good Guys actually fighting back, which is a...good thing. 

So, not bad.

Red Lanterns #25

More on this anon.  But heck, a tiny sprinkling of humor is a good thing.

Saga #16

God, I do love this book.  A whole lot of things happen in this issue.  Alanna and Marko discuss their future plans for a career and housekeeping.  The two nice reporters get in over their heads.  Gwendolyn discovers all sorts of disconcerting events, and Lying Cat is spectacular.  Gosh, I do love Lying Cat.  Also Oswald and Marko's mum are making goo goo eyes at each other, and finally Prince Robot IV shows up, and oh it is all just so much damned fun.

So...much...fun.

What a spectacular week!