Now That's a Butt!

Normally, I only post Green Lantern Behinds.  They ARE the best after all. But once in a while, along comes a truly spectacular set of buns, and I find myself compelled...COMPELLED to make an exception.

And so...



Oh Noh Varr.

Awesome indeed.

Red Lanterns #30

I continue to find this book to be the best amongst all of the Green Lantern menage.   It's well-written, and I'm even coming around to Calafiore's artwork.  Still not my favorite, but it is servicable.

It turns out that Atrocitus had sent out a bunch of rings just before Guy Gardner showed up and took over, a little fact that the rest of them forgot to mention until recently.  One of those rings found Kara Zor-El, who, fortunately for her,was found by the motley crew led by Guy, as opposed to Atrocitus and Dex-Starr...who are Up To No Good.

One of those rings has also found Sheko, a good and honest judge from the planet Primeen, who grew old in service, and has become disgusted with the decline of justice on her planet.  She has finally had enough and rules against a corrupt and evil Prince, but is shot down by her own Bailiff.  Then the Red Ring shows up, and well...it ain't pretty.

Meanwhile, back on Ysmault, poor Bleez has shown up, and she's a mess, after fighting with Atrocitus, and making her escape, while Rankorr held the fort.  She's angry and hurt, and in a very very bad mood.  She wants to go and rescue Rankorr immediately, but Guy, although he wants to do so as well, has other problems, such as the rest of the rings that Atrocitus sent into the void.  He gets Zox to try a scanner sweep from their ship, so that he and his ragtag bunch can find the new Reds, and get some of the blood lake from Ysmault into them before they go nuts.  Or...nuttier.  Guy is trying to nip the problem in the bud, and incidentally defend sector 2814, so he is making the hard decisions, which Bleez doesn't want to face.

Bleez is ready to walk out, hurt as she is and go find Rankorr, but Guy just calls Kara in to block the door.  Oddly enough, Bleez and Kara actually, after a bit of posturing, start to open up to each other, and there is even the beginnings of some rapport, which is a good thing.  And as Zox starts to prepare his scanner, he and Skallox are talking.  Skallox is wondering if they should just cut and run, rather than face Atrocitus, or if they should even rejoin him, which just outrages Zox.  Zox can't believe that he hasn't learned from Ratchet's sacrifice, and that Guy could run, but he hasn't, and tells Skallox to grow up.

God, I love this bunch.

So, off they all go, and end up on  Primeen,where Sheko, now possessed by the ring is wreaking vast amounts of havok.  Serious amounts of havok!  Too bad that Atrocitus and Dex-Starr have also arrived!

Gosh this is good.  So very very good.  I just want to point out that both Hal and Guy are in leadership positions, and quite frankly, Guy is doing a much better job of it than Hal is.  Granted, his group is smaller, but on the other hand,they are a lot more volatile. I'm just assuming this is why Hal got rid of Guy in the first place, whether or not he admits it.

Fabulous!

Slighty Delayed Reviews

Oops.  Just sort've forgot to get around to this yesterday.  Because naturally you are all dying to know what I thought about my books.  We had some hits and we had some misses.  I will say this for the end of the month...a LOT of books come out!


Aquaman #30

This wasn't bad at all.  Nothing particularly spectacular, but a good book nevertheless.  Arthur has to deal with poor Hercules, and manages to fight him off for a bit before sending him back to a labyrinth.  Now he just has to deal with the terrors set loose upon the world. 

Meanwhile, Mera is dealing with the rebels in Atlantis, and receives some rather unexpected aide from Tula.  The counsel is sure that she's going to have them all fired or executed, and are stunned when she doesn't even mention it to Arthur.  Something interesting going on there, I would imagine.  And finally, Arthur is smart and decides to ask Wonder Woman about her crazy relatives, so there is a team-up in the future!  Woohoo!


Flash #30

Well, this is the first issue I think with Robert Venditti and Brett Booth and Van Jensen...and after the delights of writing and art preceeding this...I have to admit that I was left pretty cold.  Barry has to go and see a shrink, to see if he is mentally competent to remain on the police force.  In-between talking to her, he rushes around doing his Good Deeds.

Nothing wrong with that at all.  But the dead teenager lying on the ground in the beginning, and the whole past/future stuff is annoying.  What is really annoying is that the dead teenager is named Wally. 

Oh crap. 

Wally West?  If that is their plan, then I am furious.  If not, it may just be another random kid named Wally, which of course is a totally common name in a Flash comic book.  I don't have any problem with the fact that they have made him a black teenager, because DC rather desperately needs more people of different ethnicities, but did they have to kill him off?  And couldn't they have made him into a NEW character?  Because if this is the new 52 version of Wally West, then I am pissed.  Because I really really like Wally.  Red-haired, love-lorn, obnoxious Wally.  Kid Flash, new Flash, married to Linda Wally. 

Damn. 

But I will withhold my judgement, until I find out what is really going on.  But man, the art just blows.

Jonah Hex #30

Well, poor Jonah buries another girlfriend.  It's a shame, I was starting to like poor Gina.  He does manage to meet up with none other than Tallulah Black shortly thereafter, which is nice, although she is understandably confused about his lack of a scar, and thinks initially that he is his brother or something.

Then there is a short second story about Madame .44, whom, to be frank, I have never even heard of.  I hope this is a new character, because otherwise, I'll feel silly.  It's not a bad little story either.

I must admit that while I enjoyed Jonah running around in our time, I'm glad to have him back where he belongs.


Justice League Dark #30

This is an issue, where they all stand back and more or less catch their breaths.  Deadman is still furious at John for running out on them,  Frankenstein and Black Orchid decide to go off on their own,   Asa, aka Nightmare Nurse makes some moves on Zatanna which rather startles her.  Zatanna is trying to figure out how to deal with things, and she and John finally come to a parting.  And Swamp Thing shows up, which is always nice.

Not bad at all.  It's always nice to take a breath between crises.


Justice League United #0

And so, we have what is apparently going to be the Canadian League.  This is a good thing, Canada deserves a League of their own.  And it has Animal Man, who is a lot less angsty than he has been lately.  It also has Stargirl, which is also nice, and Martian Manhunter, and Green Arrow.  Adam Strange is a professor and Alanna is his student and love interest, which is slightly squicky.  There is a nice Cree young woman who has some sort of cool powers, but not a whole lot happens with her quite yet.

Oh, and aliens have kidnapped Alanna, and nobody believes Adam Strange, until he comes to a signing and gets Animal Man and Courtney to listen to him, and some of the others show up.  Alanna is in a cage with some other people and aliens, and the new young sexy Lobo shows up and so does Hawkman.

It is actually...better than it sound.  Ollie is properly snarky in it, and I love a snarky Ollie.  It looks as though it might actually be...fun!  It's written by Jeff Lemire, who is a good writer, and drawn by Mike McKone who is a decent artist, so I am cautiously optimistic about the potential for this book.

Larfleeze #10

I haven't been reading this of late, it was just a little too weird for me.  I like Larfleeze in small doses, but not as a main character.  But I simply couldn't resist the appearance of G'nort.  I'm so glad that G'nort is back, and not dead, and not all mean, the way he was portrayed in that awful Howard Chaykin two-part story, but he's just dumb old G'nort...and that's the way I like him.

Not the greatest story in the world...but hey...G'nort!


Sinestro #1

This apparently came out last week, but for some reason I missed it completely. 

Sinestro is alone and feeling quite sorry for himself, when who should show up but Lyssa Drak, who is being her usual incredibly creepy self.  Sinestro, by the way is in a cave fighting giant tiger things, and looking extremely buff. 

Sinestro learns from Lyssa that he's not the last Korugarian, and that there are others out there, so he's all hot to go out and rescue them.  He puts his yellow togs back on,and goes up against Arkillo, who has been running the Sinestro Corps in his absence, and isn't too inclined to just hand things back over to him.  Oh, and he also kidnapped Soranik, who isn't all that happy to see dear old Dad.

The art by Dale Eaglesham is very pretty, although I am a bit taken aback by such a muscular version of Sinestro, who has always been on the lean and lanky side, but hey.  It's an interesting premise, and I rather like Sinestro,so we will see where this all goes.

Red Lanterns #30

Guy...has his hands full.

Daredevil #002

Oh God, I do love this book.  Matt is now in San Francisco and trying to adapt to a town that isn't New York City.  He is pretty open about his identity and seems to be doing well,   There is a slight problem with another vigilante, named the Shroud, who has a bit of a Bruce Wayne kind of background, except that his is blind too, and seems to have these darkness powers of some kind. 

Matt and Kirsten are having dinner, and his new pal, Charlotte Hastert who is the Deputy Mayor of San Francisco, and who is making his transition pretty smooth, shows up and they all sit around and talk.  She's worried that one of his old foes is trying to become a new kingpin of crime.  Naturally, Matt thinks she's talking about Wilson Fisk, and cracks up when she says it actually  Leland Owlsey, aka the Owl.. 

Then Max Coleridge, the Shroud shows up to warn Matt off of his turf.  Naturally they fight a bit and are quite evenly matched.  The Shroud says that he's kidnapped a couple of guys and they'll starve to death if Matt doesn't go with him to check them out, as they are capos for the mob. 

So off they go...too bad about that little trap at the end!

Samnee's art is sublime as always and Waid's story is gripping and fun, and well, pretty sublime too.  I love this book to death.

Feeling Crabby

I am not in a particularly good mood, so I am looking to my Comics to save me.  Still feeling blue about losing Adventures of Superman, although I whined about that in my last post.  However, I am not at all adverse to flogging a dead horse. 

Just had to go and mail an important package at the Post Office, and had to wait fifteen minutes while they all had a two-hour lunch.  Then the envelope that I picked was an Express, not a Priority, or possibly the other way around, and all in all, it took me 45 minutes to mail something.  On the other hand, the daffodils are coming up and it isn't snowing at the moment, which I suppose counts for something.

Now I've heard that there is a new weekly book coming out from DC, that will take place in a horrible distopian near-future.  Why are all futures so horrible?  Remember the Legion?  I can't stand those snotty Teenagers, but if I remember correctly, things were actually supposed to be pretty good in the future.  At leasst they had time to stage fake try-outs in order to humiliate the less-cool kids, and you usually can't do that sort of thing when you are scrounging for your next meal.

But I digress. 

I like Weekly Comics.  I loved loved Loved, the original 52, with none other than Booster Gold of all people, saving the entire Universe.  And Ralph Dibny being sexy.  I even read Countdown, which was a lot less interesting, but nevertheless, had its moments.  But this new one sounds...pretty horrible.  I don't really want to see Superman and Wonder Woman and Batman and others made into creepy robot thingies.  So I think that I'll just ignore it this time, and hope that it doesn't show up in the regular books. 

What I'd really like, is for Barry to wake up and realize that the entire thing was a dream.  I'd go for that!

Compelling

If you haven't already, take a gander over at  Comics Alliance, and read the essay from yesterday by Andy Khouri about Sexual Harassment in Comics.  It is a well-written, well-reasoned and powerful message.  Being a woman, it resonates with me...but it should resonate with practicaly everyone who isn't a complete asshole.

Unfortunately, there are way too many of the latter out there, and posting. 

That was my high point of the day.  The low point was finding out that DC is cancelling the Adventures of Superman.  I had only fairly recently discovered this book and LOVED it.  It has the REAL Superman, in his blue and red longjohns, complete with the underwear on the outside, going around being fabulous, and kind and wonderful and all of the things that Superman really is.  It was written and drawn by some pretty great heavyweights in the Conics department. 

Alas, that wasn't enough to save it. The stories were great, the concept was great, the art was great.  But it wasn't about the new Superman from the 52 Universe, so apparently DC has decided to can it.  Which of course leads me to believe that they really ARE a bunch of morons. 

*sigh*

Wednesday's Books

Now this was a pretty good week!

Batman #30

Man, this was good.  Bruce after getting creamed last issue, wakes up in an apartment and at first has no idea where...or even when...he is.  He was fortunately rescued by a very nice family and finds out that the Riddler has taken complete control of Gotham.  He does however offer a way out to anyone who can stump him with a riddle, and the little boy who helped rescue Bruce is trying out crosswords so that he can try.  Unfortunately, people who FAIL to stump the Riddler...get dumped into the sewers...or possibly something even less pleasant.

Alfred is delighted and relieved to hear from Bruce.  Jim Gordon is still out there trying to mount a resistance.  A bunch of armored "rescuers" drop in, but there are actually there to try and negotiate with the Riddler...to pay him off.  Eddie isn't interested. 

Bruce does manage to find his cape and cowl, and jumps back into the action, and this is getting genuinely thrilling, as things all start to lead up to the final confrontation between Batman and the Riddler.  I have to say that Edward Nigma has been a lot more ruthless than I am accustomed to...but cleverer as well.

This is very very good.


Batman & Wonderwoman #30

Batman's quest to find Damian's body and thwart Ra's takes him to Paradise Island, in the company of Wonder Woman.  It blends in nicely with what is happening in her own book, as the Amazons have been restored by Hera...all that is, except for Hippolyta, who is still a clay statue.  A lot of the Amazons are still pretty disgruntled, and not particularly inclined to follow Diana as their new queen.  In fact, they are simply outraged that Batman is even there at all.  Bruce manages to...dissuade them in his own inimitable fashion.

Ra's thinks that there is a Lazarus pit on Themyscira, but in actuality, it was sealed off by Zeus, and resides in a kind of limb between worlds, and naturally, there is a big scary monster, that even defeats Ra's.  Batman manages to get a hold of Damian's body...for a minute or two...until Ra's gets him back and makes his escape.

The monster is out of the bag still, and the way that Batman and Diana manage to tame the beast is amazing...and poignant.

Tomasi does an excellent job of portraying Bruce's desperation, and Diana's resolve...and capacity for love.  Gleason does his usual stellar job on the art.  This was also very very good.  And one of the best depictions of Wonder Woman out of her own book that I have seen in quite a while.

Batwoman #30

So many Bats this week! 

Kate is now trapped in Arkham as Wolf Spider makes off with the painting.  She does manage to hold off all of the various villains in a particularly capable fashion, exciting even a bit of admiration from Wolf Spider.  She manages to tag him with a tracer, which leads her right back to...her old family estate!  This has her a bit confused, but she does realize that he's after the final remaining painting, before getting shot from behind by Grantham, the old, but extremely persistant baddie, who has hired Wolf Spider to collect all of the paintings in the first place.

There is a nice bit, where the two groups try and decipher the code, showing them side-by-side, and having Wolf Spider and Kate come to the correct conclusion simultaneously.   Well done, and a good book.


Green Lantern: New Guardians #30

I'm dropping this.  Kyle and Carol and the Guardians fight X'Hal and the God-killers in what seems to be a completely pointless display, except for the fact that Kyle displays NEW FABULOUS POWERS!

For some reason, the writers always seem to feel that Kyle needs to be totally awesome! Better than all the other Lanterns!  The bestest in the Universe!  Kyle is ALREADY pretty awesome, and as a kind, modest and occasionally idiotic young man, I prefer him as a really capable and imaginative Green Lantern. 

I'm not really sure what Carol is doing out here, it's nice that the new new Guardians are actually...doing stuff, but they seem pretty befuddled most of the time, and it's just...a little too over the top for me.

Urgh.


Justice Leabue #30

Finally!  A pretty decent issue!  Actually last issue with the Metal Men was pretty good too!  This has been the lamest and most boring and looooooooong crossover in quite some time, and I've been mostly avoiding it, but it is finally...FINALLY starting to pick up the action and even make a bit of sense. 

Cyborg has teamed up with the Metal Men and they are quite fabulous.  Johns does a good job of portraying them, and Doug Mahnke does his usual lovely job of drawing them, and it is always a joy to see Keith Champagne inking.

Cyborg finally goes mano-a-mano with Grid...and proves that he's more than a man in a robot suit.  Magnus is fabulous doing his thing, and Steve Trevor shows up with Wonder Woman's lasso, and oh, it looks as though things are finally coming to a head, and our long nightmare will soon be over. 

If the entire dreary series had been like these last two issues, I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more.  But there is at least light at the end of the tunnel.


Wonder Woman #30

Hera has restored the Amazons!  Woohoo!  But for some reason, she can't turn Hippolyta back from the clay statue, which has her puzzled.  I really am starting to like Hera.  She's always portrayed as a bit of a nag, a harpy, a whiner, a villainess...it's been fun to see her grow and mature.  The Amazons are glad to be back, but still aren't particularly happy with either Diana OR the Gods.   Also...someone...is stirring things up.  I suspect Strife, because really, who else could it be?

The Firstborn has taken Cassandra captive and for some reason is keeping her alive..by feeding her parts of her erstwhile henchmen.  Man, those Greek Gods are into some weird stuff!    Meanwhile, Zola and Zeke are with Diana and Hera and Artemis, and Diana proclaims herself their Queen, at least until Hippolyta can be restored, and also...that they can all be mothers to Zeke. They are appalled at having to deal with a MALE baby, but hey...maybe it will work.

In Tartarus meanwhile, Hades goes and visits dear old Dad, who has been chained up to a wall for millenia, for some advice.  Should he go up against the First Born, or just wait things out?  Too bad for him that the First Born has decided to be proactive.

Fabulous!


Meanwhile over at Marvel...

Thor: God of Thunder #21

We have old cranky Thor fighting old crabby Galactus over the dried out remnants of the Earth.  Galactus tossed Thor through the MOON...which really ticks him off.  In the present, Roxxon has basically bought Broxton, in revenge for the way that Thor dismantled some of their operations, and with the full approval of the government. 

Thor tries to buy Broxton, but they won't take his gold.  They ARE suing the pants off of him however.  Thor...is not happy.  This isn't something that you can swing a hammer at and make go away.  He has help from the nice woman from SHIELD, and could probably ask the Avengers for some help, but he is in a rough spot here.

Quite frankly, now is the time to call in his own baby brother.  I'd back Loki against Roxxon anyday.

Also pretty fabulous.

And finally, I managed to get my hands on a bunch of the back issues of the Mighty Avengers.  I had been hearing some good things about this book, and was trying to find it,but it was shelved in a rather remote spot at my beloved comic book store, and I was too blind...or too stupid to notice it until yesterday.  But still...it's darned good!  And amusing.  Greg Land's grasp of anatomy seems a bit off, but I'm trying to ignore that.  The writing is fun, and I've always liked Luke Cage and Jessica, and it's good to seem some of these characters.  The Falcon has been great.

So, I can understand what all the excitement is about.  I'm not reading any of the other Avengers books, but this one is much more down to earth, and has all of that great behind-the-scenes stuff going on, that I love so much.

So....a fabulous week.  Except for GL: New Guardians.  And you don't know how much that depresses me.

I'm On A Roll

Oh JLI, how I miss you.  Remember how incredibly awesome J'onn was in the JLI?  I do.  He was basically the only adult in a super-powered kindergarden, but hey...it worked.  Well, Batman had moments of sanity, but still. 

This remains one of my favorite stories.



Written by John Ostrander ( I think...I'm doing this from memory) and drawn by the incomparable Doug Mahnke.  It had J'onn losing his cookies, Max Lord being magnificent, Beetle and Booster being scamps, and so so much more.

More JLI

One of the reasons that I think the JLI worked so well...in addition to the scribblings of Giffen and DeMatteis...is that the artwork was simply stellar.  Kevin Maguire of course, always comes to mind, but there were plenty of other fabulous artists, including Hughes and Templeton, and more.

This always makes me smile though.



That's a lot of expression packed in four little panels.

Justice League International

I make no bones about missing the old JLI something fierce.  That was MY Justice League, and as a matter of fact, it was that very book that first began to lure me away from the strictly Marvel side of the comic book aisle.

It was...fun.

I miss fun too. 

But one of the reasons that I loved it so much, was that it starred all those magnificently wonderful second and third string characters.  I could always read about Superman or Wonder Woman or Batman in their own books, but where else could I find Martian Manhunter, or Fire and Ice, or Blue Beetle?  In the JLI, that's where! 

They had wacky adventures of course, but they also had some serious heavyweights to go up against.  Despero was no walk in the park, and neither was Queen Bee.  But one of the things that I enjoyed the most, was the down time, the little moments when they weren't fighting the Crime Of The Century, but just hanging around their headquarters, and letting their hair down.  There isn't nearly enough of that anymore, which is actually one of the reasons that I think that Hawkeye, and She-Hulk and Young Avengers were so appealing to me. 

So anyway...


Just J'onn, Guy and Wally being awesome.  Because they're like that.

Green Lantern Corps #30

Well, in this issue, things are more or less put on hold, while we learn more about the Durlans.  My Goodness, they are not very nice people!   And they have been sowing distrust and mayhem across the Universe for eons.  Of course, the Guardians didn't help either.  The renegade Durlans who had gone amok, were dumped back on their relatively peaceful planet by the old Guardians, and mayhem naturally ensued. 

Naturally.

And naturally, the surviving Durlans blamed the Guardians.  And the Green Lantern Corps. 

Plus there are more Durlans on Mogo than originally thought.

Oh, and John does eventually find out that Earth is off limits, since Guy and his bunch are in control of Sector 2814 now.  He actually takes it better than might have been thought. 

Not a bad issue.  We find out some much-needed information about their foes, and there is a bit of action, when the Lanterns basically herd the Durlans on Mogo into the open where they can be captured.  Naturally, that's not all of them, and things are still going on with the Khunds and such.  John and Fatality make eyes at each other, and Von Daggle seems like a nice fellow...for a Durlan anyway.  Arisia is wearing her outfit that has the neckline which plunges to her waist again, which I found to be unnecessary. 

So...okay.  Not fabulous, but not bad.

Books I Bought

Well...that was something of a small week.  And I have to say...not the greatest week ever in Comics.

Batman Eternal #1

This was...ok I guess.  I was expecting a lot more.  Batman is hardly in it, it is mostly about Jim Gordon, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except that he apparently shoots an unarmed fugitive and sets off a massive metro car accident, and ends up in handcuffs.  Batman just chases Professor Pyg.  And it is pretty obvious, that the whole thing is a set-up. 

Oh, and it begins with Batman all tied up and being taunted, so the whole thing is flashback.

Not really my cup of tea.  I think I'll bail on this one.

Green Lantern Corps #30

Well!  Durlans really aren't very nice are they?


Daredevil #1.5

I'm not sure what to make of this #l.5 business.  Is this in continuity?  We get a story about Matt in the future, with a kid, and a wife, and Foggy, alive and well, and fighting the daughter of the Owl, who makes everyone blind. 

It's not a bad story, it's a clever twist, and it is fairly interesting, but it sure took me out of the zone.  It's not what I was expecting.  It reminds me in a way of Geoff John's last issue, where he tied everything up so nicely and neatly, and we got to see everyone live happily ever after.  Except...this is comics, and it never works out that way.

Okay I guess.

Nightcrawler #1

I was really looking forward to this.  And it was lovely to see Nightcrawler back amongst the living, because I love Kurt.  It was by Chris Claremont, and it was a perfect Chris Claremont book.  In fact, it could have been set ten years ago, it was so Claremonty.  And there is nothing wrong with that at all. 

It was nice to see Kurt trying to adapt to the new status quo at the School, dealing with the new young Mutants, and their reactions to him.  He goes to see Amanda, which was nice, I haven't seen hide nor hair of her in quite a while, and of course some Bad Guy is busting up her apartment.

But it was a bit...I don't know...old-fashioned.  Not that that is a bad thing.  But it did surprise me a little.

And that was that.

Ditto!

Heh heh.  Now the Girls have gone and done it too.  Congratulations to the UConn Husky Women, who have had a perfect season, repeated as Champions and are celebrating their Ninth Championship.

I'm sorry if it looks as though I am gloating a little bit.   Well... I AM gloating a little bit.  But heck, I live in Connecticut.  This is all we have!  We are stuck between the sports juggernauts of New York City and Boston, and they even took our beloved Whalers away, so College Basketball is our sole claim to fame. 

Incidentally, I HAVE been hugged and kissed by Geno Auriemma at a Charity Ball several years ago.  My single claim to fame as well. 

Go Huskies!

Congratulations UConn!

As a graduate of the University of Connecticut, and as a Connecticut resident, I am simply thrilled beyond belief that the Boys won the Championship in Basketball.  We all usually expect the girls to win...they're playing tomorrow for their ninth Championship...but the Boys had an up and down year. 

Sorry Kentucky.

But...Woooohoooooo!

Go Huskies!

Computerish-sort of Question

I have a bit of a puzzler, that I thought I would throw out to all of you.  Most of you are FAR more "tech" saavy than I am.  At the recent NETSA Trade show, we were at the post-dinner auction, raising money for our Scholarship programs, where I wound up bidding for...and winning...a Microsoft Surface Tablet thingie. 

It...it's kind've cool, but I'm not exactly sure what to do with it.  I guess it's a computer too, can I go on-line and do blogging with it?  Keep in mind that I do not possess a Smartphone, and have barely mastered the art of finger-swiping.  I do have a cellphone, but it is the flip kind with the little pull-out keyboard which is probably considered hopelessly antique by now. 

Computers are Not My Thing.

However, since Windows keeps making ominous noises about stopping all the updates, and insinuating that my trusty old PC will probably explode in a week or so, would this  new Tablet thingie be the way to go? 

I...have no clue.  I did manage to get it to work though, which is quite the feat...at least for me.

More Favorites

Aaaaand, I'm back, for the wilds of southern Connecticut, where we had our annual New England Tire Dealers...uh...thingie tradeshow and stuff.  Three and  half days of mayhem, assembly, schmoozing, wining, dining, disassembly, and packing up, I am officially exhausted.  Happy, stuffed with far too much to eat and drink, but happy to see my friends, and happy to be home.  I've missed you!

So, to finish out my favorites week for Green Lanterns, I give you...



Aren't they adorable?

Wednesday's Booty

So, the beginning of the month is always a bit of a small week for me.  But not a bad week by any means.  Of course, to be honest, in the years that I have been writing on this blog, I don't think that I have EVER said it was a completely bad week.  'Cuz I just love me some comics.  Most of the time, anyway.


Aquaman and the Others#1

For one thing, that is a pretty cover.  For another, the title just cracks me up.  It reminds me of the Gilligan's Island theme song for the first year, when they listed everyone, but just said..."and the rest" because it was apparently too hard to say..."the Professor and Mary Ann"!  So...we have Aquaman, and those other people that he used to hang out with, but doesn't much anymore, who all have some artifacts, and don't really seem to like each other all that much, but are forced to join forces because of...stuff.

But that would be an awfully long title, now wouldn't it?

But it is Dan Jurgens, and I like Dan Jurgens.  The art by Ian Medina is perfectly nice.  I have forgotten who most of these people are, incidentally, but the book does a decent job of telling us who they are, and what the whole setup is.  They all used to hang around with Arthur in his younger days, and there is some  sexual tension between him and one of the women, who hangs out in the Amazon, and a couple of the originals died, but hey...these guys are still around.  They all have some sort of artifacts that do cool things, but for some reason, they aren't working too well.

Turns out that the ousted old King of Atlantis, Atlan, stole the gold that made up the artifacts.  Since Arthur is related to him, his stuff still works, but the Others...not so well.  And there is this Sinister Group that of course is trying to steal those artifacts and probably use them for nefarious purposes.  Fortunately, the groups sent out to do the stealing are all pretty incompetent, and the Others are able to vanquish them even without their super powers, which tells you all you need to know about the Sinister Group.  Obviously they cheaped out on hiring henchmen!

Then on the last page, Omacs show up!  So I guess I'll be reading this for a while, because it isn't a bad book.

Fairest #25

To be perfectly honest, although I like Cinderella, I have been a bit put off by this latest  tale in Fairest.  It has dragged on for far too long, I keep getting half of the characters mixed up, and it really is a bit muddled.  But finally there is some forward progress. 

Cinderella's Evil Stepsister gets eaten by a large Tiiger-Fish-Shark, who has his charming side.  I wouldn't mind seeing him again.  The Three Blind Mice find out that they have been infiltrted, the evil Mice Men are doing...stuff, and Snow White is mad at Rose Red, which hints at the turmoil going on  in the Fables book.

Not terrible, but not really that great.  I'll be glad when this wraps up.  So far the best parts have been the covers, which have been pretty gorgeous.


Green Lantern #30

I have to say that I rather liked the art, by Martin Coccolo, and the colors by Tony Avina and Alex Sinclair.  There is a washed-out slightly faded look to it, almost like watercolors, that is rathe rnice. 

Hal has been screwing up right and left but apparently has finally come to realize that he's being a total idiot. and actually has asked...for help!  Hal of all people!  Fortunately, Salaak and Kilowog are right there to bail his butt out of trouble, along with some other Lanterns. 

We begin with a lovely shot of Mogo, and Morro, who has rebuilt the crypt honoring all the past Lanterns, and they all have a rather nice ceremony honoring Kyle, whom they all believe to be dead.  He isn't of course, but the idiot new new Guardians seem to think that making everyone think that he is dead, is some sort of brilliant idea.  Which only goes to prove that the new new Guardians are just as stupid as the old Guardians. 

But then they all go off for some reason to some neutral port, where they meet with the Khunds, and agree to a duel, and then they all bond over brews, which frankly seems more like the sort of thing that Guy would do, not Hal, but anyhoo, there they are.  Naturally Hal manages to defeat the Khund, which makes him sad, since they had sort've bonded in a warriorish kind of way.  But that's not how Khunds do things. 

Oh, and that little fishy Green Lantern flat out kills the Durlan, who was hiding on Mogo, but he's obviously up to no good, so it is probably another Durlan.  Maybe it's Von Daggle, who the heck knows? 

But not a bad issue. Hal is actually competent for a change.  That's a nice thing.


Loki: Agent of Asgard #3

New Loki isn't even in this issue, but you don't really miss him all that much.  Well, actually I did, but still, it's a great story about the shenanigans that OLD Loki is up to.  You may recall that the All-Mother, for reasons that I don't understand thought that it was a good idea to bring back the shade of evil old Loki, who naturally thinks that young Loki is a bit of a wuss. 

So, he goes into the past, and sets up all sorts of things with a very young Odin, who isn't at this stage of his life any smarter than Thor.  They kill a nice Otter-man, and run across some Vanir, and we see the beginnings of the Fafnir dragon, and gold, and what happened to Sigurd's sword, and all kinds of twists and turns, and it is quite delightful.  Delightful indeed! 

Man, I love this book.


She-Hulk #3

Another winner! 

So, Doctor Doom's heir Kristoff has come to Jen, because he wants asylum in America.  But since he has already been here for exactly a year, he only has half a day to see a judge.  The story is how Jen tries to get him to the courthouse, while...naturally...being chased by Doom Bots across the city.  Kristoff, is actually pretty amusing.  Blase' and aloof, but also rather dryly witty, nothing much fazes him.  Jen keeps beating up Doombots, and rather cleverly uses Patsy as a decoy, as they get the real Kristoff to the Judge. 

Of course, Doctor Doom shows up at the end, and snatches Kristoff away, and Jen vows to go after him,which is going to be loads of fun, I would imagine. I am also loving this book. 

Not a bad week at all!

And finally, since I am going to the NETSA trade show this weekend, and will be away from my computer, a final showing of some of my favorite Green Lanterns.



Katma Tui! Salaak!   Arisia, Ch'p and Kilowog, whom I have already shown.  John! 

Oh, and Hal.

More Lanterns

Well, I've done Ch'p, Kilowog and Guy...sort've.  Time for the distaff side of the aisle.



I don't care if she used to be jailbait, I love Arisia.  She's cute, she's spunky, and young though she may be, she's a crackerjack Green Lantern.  Yes, apparently the way that her world revolves makes her 280 years old of something, so technically Hal wasn't into underage nooky, but still...please. 

Nevertheless, Arisia, managed to survive her teenaged crush on Hal, and to grow and mature,and realize that she was FAR too good for him.  She lost her ring like most of the other Lanterns, ended up powerless on Earth, and was taken under Guy's wing, and lived at the Warrior's Bar, along with Lady Blackhawk, Veronna, Buck, and the rest of the Monster Hunters, Guy, occasionally Fire, and even Guy's mother for a little while.  It was quite the place. 

Then she was killed by Major Force, and given a lovely funeral by a grief-striken Guy, and then, it turned out, was snatched away by Cyborg Superman, and found years later by Guy and Hal on Biot, alive and well, and hooked up to a big machine supplying power along with quite a number of other Green Lanterns.

I was SO glad that they brought Arisia back.  She should never have left.  And now she's one of the mainstays of the Corps.  I know that Kilowog had a crush on her, although nothing much seems to have come of that.  She was interested possibly in Sodam Yat for a while, but who the heck knows where he even is?  She and Guy have a brother/sister relationship, although I think it is odd she hasn't even noticed that he's gone.  She seems perfectly cheerful around Hal, which only goes to prove how completely and totally she is over him. 

She is great!

Kilowog!

Man, I just love Kilowog.  He's big, he's smart, he's a fantastic friend, compatriot, and Lantern.  He's also sadly, the last survivor of his race, from Bolovax Vix, which is something that he has in common with Superman, and also now apparently Sinestro and Soranik.  And probably a few other people.



But Kilowog has such a great look to him.  And he's the drill sargeant, or at least he was, until having all of his recuits get killed rather sucked all of the fun out of it.  But at least he is still there, trying to give Hal some help...and lord knows Hal needs some help.

He's also one of Guy's best friends, at least after a rather explosive beginning.  Of course, that was pretty much par for the course when it came to Guy, at least in the old days.  I'm a little bemused that he has barely even said a word about the fact that Hal shipped Guy off to become a Red Lantern, you would have thought that the subject might come up once in a while. In fact I'm bemused that practically nobody in the Corps has noticed.

Oh well.

Geoff Johns established that Kilowog's ring is the only one that makes a sound, which I find rather interesting.  And he does such wonderful wonderful thing with it.

Kilowog rocks.

And speaking of rocking...

I almost forgot, that it IS April lst, and therefore, according to my own beliefs...it is Guy Gardner's Birthday.
 

Kalinara thinks he's an Aries, and only the Universe could be so cruel.  So Happy Birthday Guy!