Reviews!

It does seem as though it has been a long time since I enthralled you all with my scintillating musings over the funnybooks that I bought.  Well...not FUNNY...but you know what I mean.  And there were some pretty decent ones this week, I must say.


Aquaman #26

Although his Atlantean subjects are still sitting on the fence about their acceptance of both Arthur and Mera, at least things are happening now, and the two of them are doing their best to make life better. The Atlanteans, frankly are a bunch of whiners.  However, that really cranky counselor does have a point, there ARE people who are supposed to do what Arthur keeps insisting on doing. 

But anyway, some surface world idiots have found something, poking around in the Atlantic, that they should probably have left alone, and naturally things go badly, and Arthur has to rush off to the rescue.  There is the usual bravery, backstabbing and various plot developments.  It was a nice Aquaman book, nothing too great, nothing too terrible.  Heck of a cliffhanger however.


Batwoman #26

Well...it's not the OLD Batwoman, but this new tale by Mark Andreyko and Jeremy Haun is a perfectly decent story.  We begin with an odd little flashback, that no doubt will make sense eventually.  We flash forward to a robbery by the new villain Wolf Spider, who shoots poisoned darts and is young and cocky apparently.  Then to a ritzy soiree, attended by Kate and Maggie and hosted by a young Peter O'Toole...oops, Evan.  Even Bette shows up, and there is a fair amount of witty banter. 

Then Bette and Kate get bored and decide to go out and hunt for crime, because heck, this is Gotham.  There is ALWAYS crime. Naturally, Evans penthouse is being robbed by the Wolf Spider, and naturally, they interrupt his shenanigans, and naturally things don't go too well.

Not bad at all.  Nothing spectacular, but not bad.


Dead Boy Detectives #1

I've always rather liked these two, but I'm not sure that they can carry a book by themselves.  Nevertheless, I am on board for the meantime, anyway.  The young daughter of a pair of exhibitionist artistes, is hurt during one of her idiot parent's "performances" and is in a com, and is being watched over for some reason by our nice young dead boys.  She wakes up saying she has to go to St. Hilarion's, which incidentally is the name of the godforsaken school where young Charles and Edwin had been murdered.  So, they decide that they had better tag along to see what is going on, even though Edwin especially doesn't want to go back.  And who can blame him?

The Headmaster welcomes young Crystal to the school, and oddly enough looks exactly the same as he did from years ago, so obviously, something is afoot.  I am modestly intrigued.


Fables #136

I enjoyed this issue, they have been a bit slow lately.  Rose has successfully for the most part succeeded in reestablishing Camelot.  Wayland is rebuilding the castle, Brandish is being worked and is no doubt scheming, and Rose is confused about these weird new powers that she has. This green fairy or something keeps being enigmatic and teasing her about her heritage, which is not doubt really really annoying to poor Rose.  And the green chick goes around with none other than Morgan LeFay to point out that even though Rose is trying to have Camelot without all the...bad stuff...that may be impossible, as new people will move into those old roles. 

Lancelot shows up, and Snow White may turn out to be the new Morgan, and little Ambrose scares the crap out of the two woman, and Mrs. Spratt is trying to sex up King Cole, and turns out to be holding the last piece of Bigby's crystal body.  So a lot of stuff is going on.

I am hooked, I admit it.

Flash #26

This was a nice little done-in-one tale, with Barry chasing a nasty villainess named Spitfire, who goes around stealing extremely dangerous toxins and poisons, with no regard whatsoever for the danger. She's in it for the kicks and the money, and since she does it all in the air, it is very difficult for the Flash to chase her. 

Naturally, being the Flash, he doesn't let this stop him, and manages to overcome the problems of flight and running, in some really clever and innovative ways. 

This..was actually rather nice.  A fun and clever story, that uses his powers and his brains, and an interesting villain and a decent threat, without having to haul every other character in the pantheon into it, nor a huge drawn out crossover for the next 12 months.  A good old-fashioned Comic Book!  And I am all in favor of that.

Jonah Hex #26

We begin with a pregnant Tallulah Black, showing up to marry Jonah and the mayhem that ensues, and it turns out to all be just a vision, inspired by what are apparently the Black Mercy flowers, that have fallen to earth and taken root on Swamp Thing.  John Constantine is sleezing around, and Jonah manages to break free, and bully him into freeing Swamp Thing as well.  Jonah and John really don't like each other very much.  But Jonah thinks that Swamp Thing can help him get back to his own time, and Swamp Thing tells him to go to Metropolis.  Oh won't THAT be fun?

You can guess who shows up. 

Again, a nice little romp.

Justice League #26

Mostly, this is all about the back stories of the Crime Syndicate, Hal Jordan is a nasty little weasel, and the rest of them are pretty horrid as well.  The art is by Ivan Reis, so it is gorgeous.  Cyborg is back with his dad who is despairing, but Cyborg is full of optimism or something. 

It is a pretty book, and it was nice to see evil Hal, but it really doesn't DO a whole lot, other than to take up another month in the neverending Forever Evil storyline.  Man, this has been going on for what seems like an eternity. 

Justice League Dark #26

This has Deadman, and John and stuff, and for some reason, they all end up with the evil version of Aquaman, and the Phantom Stranger bails on them, and some crazy stuff goes down, but at least some things actually happened, which isn't bad.  The art is pretty.   John is a bastard, but we all knew that. 

Not bad really.

Red Lanterns #26

Man...like this was so Groovy!