Lovely Thursday Reviews

Oh I do like Thursdays.  I'm basking in the glow of Wednesdays comics, and I don't have to go to work.  It's lovely.  And although this was something of a small week for me, it was also an excellent week!

Daredevil: Dark Nights #7

This is part two of the latest story that has Matt teamed up with none other than Misty Knight, and it is a hoot.  The art is very nice, and it's a rather rollicking story.  Matt was on his way to Miami with a murder witness, and naturally things have gone awry.  The "King", who is based in Cuba is the brother of the alleged murderer, and a very...unpleasant fellow.  He likes to beat people at video games and then threaten to kill them when they lose, and then set them against each other for his own amusement.  Sheesh!

Anyway, Matt and Misty have teamed up,and are on their way to Cuba in a really nice helicopter.  Too bad that it gets blown up. Naturally, they survive, as Misty was smart enough to grab a life raft on the way out the door.  They float around for a while, while Misty makes suggestive remarks to Matt, who promptly falls asleep.  Hey, the poor guy has been on his feet for two days! He's tired!  They do manage to land, and have ditch his outfit, which is a bit...too noteworthy, so he gets to wander around in his undies for a while.  Very nice.

Anyway, naturally they are followed, and there are some fights, and Misty gets kidnapped, and Matt is presumed dead, but natrually he's not.  And it turns out that King is Misty's old boyfriend!  Oh, the plot thickens.

This is fun, and doesn't take itself too seriously, which is always a nice thing.


Fairest #21

We are focusing on Cinderella in the newest storyline, which is always nice, as I happen to really like Cinderella.  First we get a bit of background about Cinderella's first fateful visit to that ball, and her Fairy Godmother's shenanigans with the pumpkin and the mice footmen.  A little bit of foreshadowing.

Then Snow White is putting the cubs to bed, by reading to them about Harry Potter, which I found to be a nice touch, when she is attacke by a number of mouse headed men!  Being Snow White...and therefore awesome, she makes short work of them

Meanwhile at Cinderella's shoe store, her manager Crispin is still taking care of things, while Cinderella is out doing her thing.  Beast wanders in, looking for her, and Crispin makes the mistake of being a little too snotty in some of his remarks.  Then a heavily cloaked figure wanders in, with dynamite attached to his chest, shouts "Death to Cinderella!" and blows himself...and the shop...to smithereens.  Beast tries to protect Crispin, but the latter winds up in the hospital.

All this time, Cinderella herself is  tied up to a chair,after being kidnapped by some trolls, who have decided a female slavery ring is the proper way to occupy their time.  She's rescued by a cute little talking mouse, and naturally mops the floor with the various Trolls...all in her underwear.  She hears about Crispin, and then has a talk with Snow and Beast, and discovers the wierd body of the man-mouse, and makes a few cryptic remarks about their origin.  I wonder who the mysterious "She" will turn out to be?

Fun again.  I probably could have done without Cinderella in her underwear, but it wasn't too sleezy, and to be honest, I had just been savoring Matt Murdock running around in HIS underwear, so I really can't be casting stones.

Green Lantern #26

Oh...Hal.  You Ass.

Young Avengers #13

Oh...My...God!

I have been happily and greedily lapping up this book every month since it debuted, and frankly I am utterly heartbroken that it is going to be ending.  However, if I just look at as a really really fabulous mini-series, I can live with it, because I don't think I could bear to read it with another writer and another artist.  Gillen and McKelvie have been nothing short of sublime.

So, things are pretty much just as bad as they can possibly be.  A passel of young heroes are helping fight off Evil Alternate Universe versions of the Young Avengers while the doughty  group themselves, try to figure out how to save the world.  Billy is fighting Mother, but not really doing all that great a job at it.  Teddy is currently a chair.  Loki is holding off Leah, America vs the Ultimate Nullifier, and Noh and Kate against Noh's ex girlfriends. Things are not...going particularly well.  Noh also picks this particular moment to blurt out to Kate that he likes her and all, but that Oubliette is still the girl of his dreams.  This doesn't go over particularly well, as you can imagine.

Then Nullifier decides that if he can't hit America, he can always hit Loki, and fires, but she manages to jump in front of his blast...thus saving Loki.  He gloats that she doesn't have her powers anymore, and she agrees, and then kicks him hard in the nuts.  Ouch.

Loki is rather stunned that America of all people, saved his bacon, and has something of a realization about himself.  He yells for them all to Stop!  At this point Leah  smiles and says that Loki has something to say, and he...finally confesses what he has done and been doing to them all along.  He killed Little Loki and took his body.  He's been manipulating them all from the start. He made a deal with Mother and then betrayed her.  He wants Billy to become the Demiurge so that he can control this magic.  It's all.. his fault.

And then Leah tells him that confession is good for the soul more or less,and they all...dissolve away.  It was Loki all the time.  And Leah, was actually little Loki, or the remnant of little Loki that was floating around inside of Loki's consciousness.  I'm a little confused, but when I look back, it all makes SENSE!

They turn Teddy back from a chair in to a nice person again, and Loki is lying on the ground wrapping his arms around himself and probably rocking back and forth.  Except, that this new teen Loki isn't the OLD Loki either.  Apparently that old Loki really is dead.  This new Loki wasn't the murderer, but the murder weapon, so although he is a lot trickier than cute little baby Loki, he at least isn't completely evil anymore.  He even begs America to kill him before he can talk his way out of things again, and is surprised when she doesn't.

So what to do with Billy and Mother?  They are still hanging out there doing battle.  Prodigy talks Teddy into going to Billy and showing him what True Love is.  And it works!  Although Loki is embarrased that that they are all going to be saved by True Love, America yells at him and things are back to norml.  Billy does manage to defeat Mother utterly and completely and then wanders around for a while in the most amazing two page spread that I think I may have ever seen, commenting about power and responsibility and realizing at last that he just doesn't have the experience or wisdom to start messing with things and comes back.  Loki tells him it was all for the best anyway, and America beats up the rest of the remaining Alternate Universe group and just tells them to go home...and they do.

And the Grownups are back to normal, Reality has been saved, and it has a Happy Ending!  Except that Loki goes off to sit on a cloud, and probably pout for a while.  I guess this is how he ends up with his own book shortly.

It's not the end of the series, there is another issue for that, but by God, it was a helluva finish.  I love this book.  Twelve Thumbs Up!