Slightly Delayed Reviews

Sorry about that.  I have been hellaciously busy this week, and simply forgot.  Which is ridiculous, because it was a pretty darned good week!  The end of the month is always the biggest week for me anyway.

Onward!

Aquaman #32

Not bad.  That...thing that the mad scientists have been working on in their underwater lab has turned out...badly, as perhaps we could all have guessed.  Arthur is having  a heck of a time trying to communicate with his finny friends, who suddenly aren't listening to him, but instead to the new critter who is apparently known as Chimera.  This puts Arthur in a bit of a pickle.

Meanwhile, Mera, is kicking Atlantean butt rather nicely.  She more or less beats up the whole gang of rebels with a little bit of help, and then threatens to feed them to Topo, which certainly makes them sing like a pod of whales.  Nice art, and really nice coloring.


Batman #32

Getting to the finale of Zero Year, and I have to say that it has been a superb ride so far.  The Riddler is still in control of Gotham, although Batman and Gordon and Lucius are doing their darndest to figure things out.  They track his broadcasts to the center of the city and think that they have finally outsmarted him...but the Riddler is no fool, and remains one step ahead of everyone...including Batman.

Bruce also comes to his senses and sends a message of regret and love to Alfred...as well he should.  Seriously, you can't fail with Alfred on your side. 

Eventually Batman figures things out, and Nigma is suitable impressed.  But not impressed enough, as once again, he catches Batman more or less flat-footed. 

Gosh, the art and the story and the colors...all fabulous.  I'm on the edge of my seat with this one.


Batman '66, #12

God, I do love this book. 

This time out we have Marcia, Queen of Diamonds, who has a Witch on her side this time.  A real Witch, with a cauldron and pointy hat, and a broomstick for all that I know.  She wants the Biggest Diamond in the World, and figures out how to break into the Batcave to steal the Bat-Diamond!    She also has this underground boring machine that she probably got second hand from the Mole-Man.

She and her goons are quite impressed with the Bat-Cave and she even considers climbing up the Bat-Poles to find out what is above, but is dissuaded by the idea that it might come out in the middle of Police Headquarters. 

Heh.

Batman figures this all out eventually, and gets back, and does his thing, but naturally they escape so he sends a Bat-Drone after them. The Dynamic Duo trails the Baddies to their lair, and fight a bit and release some chemicals that makes everyone work in slow motion,which goes back to the first scene, and it all ends happily.  Well, happily for Batman.

The scene where Robin is chomping on a burger in the Bat-Cave also made me smile.

So...fun.  I like fun.

All-Star Western #32

Dagnabit...I'm going to miss this book when it ends. 

Jonah and Tallulah take in their quarry, once Blackthorne, and end up in a town, where they are drugged by the saloon-keeper, who promptly tie them to their horses, and run them out of town, while taking charge of their bounty.  They eventually wake up. madder than hell,and Tallulah is particularly peeved at the loss of her lucky Shotgun, so we have a nice flashback about that tale. 

A preacher and his wife in a wagon come upon them, but rather than help them, gets snarky about sin and drinking and drive off.  Too bad for them, because some bandits find them, and beat them up.  Hex and Tallulah ride up at this point, and get shot at, and it is all just pretty great. 


Justice League #31

At this point Forever Evil is finally finished.  Thank God!  So Lex decides to go to Wayne Manor and tell Bruce Wayne that he KNOWS he is Batman, which naturally Bruce denies, and there is a bit of  back and forth, and Lex pulls a gun on Bruce, and Alfred pulls a gun on Lex and there is more fighting, and lo...the door to the Bat-cave is exposed!

Perhaps Bruce should have shown Lex into one of the fifty rooms in the house that DOESN'T house a secret passage?  Maybe Alfred is behind on the cleaning or something? 

Meanwhile in their fabulous new headquarters, Cyborg and Shazam are on monitor duty, and naturally Billy is bored.  He wants to play and Cyborg is all business, and wants to know if Billy can use his magic to find the location of Power Ring's Ring.  So Billy tries, and ends up getting a ping pong table.  Which apparently is what he really wanted.  It's silly, but it is the only light moment in the issue, so I liked it.

Also, Captain Cold has arrived at Lexcorp, and is being given the VIP treatment, which surprises him considerably.  The guards, once they realize who he is, all want to have their picture taken with him.  Len is impressed despite himself and is therefore, more or less putty in Lex's hands, or to be precise, his assistants hands, and they take poor Len off to do some...tests. This probably won't end well.  I hope Len is all right, because he is one of my favorite villains. 

Oh, and the evil Green Lantern ring finds this woman named Jessica Cruz who had something horrible happen to her, and has been holed up in her house for years. Knowing Comics, I am pretty sure that she was raped, and her family was raped, and probably her cat was raped for good measure.  She doesn't want the ring, but the ring is pretty obnoxious, and she gets it anyway.   And yes, that is the most gawdawful costume that I have seen in a very long time.  Doug Mahnke is the artist, and I love Doug Mahnke so this rather surprises me.  There is something that looks like a giant shamrock on her chest and on her right eye, so she looks a bit like a giant leprechan. 

And then the Doom Patrol shows up.

This is not a particularly good book, but there is a fascinating Crash-On-The-Side-Of-The-Highway aura about it.  You don't want to look...but somehow you do.  So I guess I'll be reading this for a bit anyway.


Red Lanterns #32

Oh Guy.

God, I love this book. 


Ms Marvel #5

I also love this book,and I completely understand what all of the hoopla was about.  Amala is definitely in over her head, but she is also smart enough to realize this.  She realizes that she can shrink as well as grow, and manages to beat feet and get home, where she is ravenous.  All that stuff she has been doing makes her incredibly hungry and she raids to fridge

Oh boy does she raid the fridge.  Her mom...ain't happy.  Being a mom, I completely understand this.  Her dad comes down and tells her to sit down and tells her why they called her Kamal, which means Perfection.  They didn't think they could have another child, and were thrilled when she showed up.  They have a hug and a lovely moment...and he tells her that she is still grounded. 

So...she thinks and thinks, and decides to get a costume that doens't shred, so Bruno manages to come up with something, and then she starts training and practicing and figuring out what exactly it is that she can do, which is a smart thing to do. And then, and only then, does she go back and beat up the Bad Guy and get Bruno's brother Vick out of the Evil Lair. And everything ends happily.

Of course...there are repercussions.

A wonderful book


Saga #20

And speaking of wonderful books! 

Prince  IV is on Sextillion doing what he loves to do best.   Alana is off working on her television show, in order to feed her family and succumbs to the lure of drugs, which rather surprised me.  Marco is taking care of Hazel and getting friendly with her Day Care provider.

And Prince IV's wife and new baby are interrupted by a lowly janitor, who has a story to tell, and some revenge to reap.

A lovely lovely week.