Stuff That I Bought

Well, this wasn't a bad week at all!

Batman"66...The Lost Episode

This is a rewrite of the apparent lost episode originally penned by Harlan Ellison for the wonderful original television show that was so much a part of my misspent youth.  Len Wein does a bang up job of course, and the cover is simply amazing, as is the interior artwork. 

Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face is doing his usual thing, which is running about committing crimes, although his are more of the artful robbery sort, and less of the poisoning of the city water supply kind.  Two-Face may be a crazed criminal, but he's not a jerk.  Then he does his coin flip, and depending upon how it lands, he either keeps the swag, or returns it. 

He's managing to stay one step...or should I say TWO steps ahead of the Dynamic Duo, but eventually Batman does catch up with him, and is naturally taken captive.  Harvey does his coin flip...and it lands ON EDGE!  Naturally, he is a bit freaked out.  Batman escapes but so does Harvey. 

When Batman inevitably catches up with him again...and is inevitably captured, Harvey swears that this time he's going to kill him and get him out of his hair once and for all.  Batman bargains that if the coin lands on edge, he'll give himself up.  Hah!  That could never happen twice in a row...but of course it does.  Poor Harvey is beside himself, but he does the honorable thing, and gives himself up.  It turns out that Batman switched his original coin with a loaded one that would only land on edge!  Batman cheated!

This was simply wonderful.


Batman '66 vs The Green Hornet #6

And so we come to the conclusion of this delightful little romp.  Our intrepid quartet has pursued the Joker and Gumm, only to have them escape after raining down Italian stamps upon them.  Also they have kidnapped Signore Bollo, and have him sitting on a bomb, but fortunately Batman and Green Hornet use the  leftover glue guns to defuse the bomb. 

In gratitude, Signore Bollo, who is the art collector who had his collection stolen in the first place, decides NOT to sue the City of Gotham, but will instead settle for a mere six millon, and they all agree to it!  The twist of course, is that Gumm is in disguise as Bollo, and he and the Joker still get millions of dollars in addition to the collection!  This is actually...a pretty clever idea!  Too bad that it backfires, because Gumm doesn't know enough Italian to fool Batman and the Green Hornet, who naturally show up and apprehend the two villains.

It's fun, it's clever, and the art by Ty Templeton is a treat.

Lovely.


Batman & Robin #36

Well, Batman is in his super duper Batsuit, and tearing things up on Apokolips, looking for the body of Damian.  Batgirl, Red Robin, Red Hood and Cyborg have managed to follow him, and offer him their aid.  He's a bit cranky at first, but eventually managed to grunt out a thank you.  There is a lovely moment when Jason points out that he's been going all Red Lanterny on the hapless inhabitants of Apokolips that I found to be highly amusing.  Oh, and Titus is also along...that's one heck of a dog. 

They have managed to beat up the extremely hungry inhabitants, defeat Glorious Godfrey and make a fool out of Kalibak, which to be frank, isn't all that hard.  It's been a lot of fun actually watching Bruce go so totall bonkers.

The art by Pat Gleason is...as usual...quite quite fabulous.  He and Tomasi always make one of my favorite combinations.  It's a great story, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat, and I can hardly wait to see what happens when Batman goes up against Darkseid.

Great!

Fables #146

Well, Bigby is running amok, since he's still been missing a tiny piece of himself, that same self piece of crystal that is being worn rather ostentatiously by Miss Duglas.  The Council doesn't know what to do, but feel that they have to do something.  Also, a certain Bluebird is on his way to some new realms, and turns out to be a troll.  I missed you Grimsby! 

Duglas, who is been slowly turning into a version of the Dark Man, finally shows her true colors, and is extremely cruel to poor old King Cole.  Unfortunately for her, Rose Red is onto her tricks, and that's the end of Duglas.  Rose also puts on the ring, and FEELS the power of Bigby, so this could be a good thing or a very very bad thing.  Also, her beautiful golden armor turns crimson, and she gets a vision and a visit, which she finds very disconcerting.  And she finally gets to go home again and find out just what it is that makes her and Snow White so powerful. 

Pretty good, although it has taken a very long time to reach this point.



Justice League #36

Well, Lex Luthor managed to have his Amazo virus be stolen, and it is killing people throughout the city and has even affected the Justice League although only Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are left.  Naturally.  So they are trying to find the original person infected, also known as Patient Zero.  This will probably cause a lot of problems.

It didn't take very long for Lex to screw up, did it?

The art is nice, and it is an interesting story, so I'm sticking with it.


Sensation Comics/Wonder Woman $4

Well we have the obligatory sexy cover, with Diana showing off her boobs AND butt in the same pose.  Seriously, have any of you ever tried that?  It hurts like crazy!  Fortunately the art inside is simply fabulous.

We begin with the second half of the story from the last issue with none other than the sublime Senor Hernandez.  It had Wonder Woman being hypnotized or whatever by Kanjar Ro, and now she's fighting Super Girl!  And then somehow Mary Marvel gets into the act as well! 

It's magnificent and hilarious all at the same time, and I loved loved loved it.

Next we have Wonder Woman inflated to giant size, by the Atom, so that she can go up against Byth, that villain from Thanagar who takes out  Hawkman and Hawkwoman in a very amusing way.   She ends up wrapping him in the cables from the bridge, which magically turns into her lasso, and giving him what he wants, which is solitude and a place of his own.  So, she sets him down on one of the outlying islands of Themyscira, which should be interesting, since he is a shape-shifter, and they are all women.

Finally, we have Diana and Etta Candy fighting Ra's al Ghul, with Deadman showing up and inhabiting poor Etta.  Diana has a little bit of trouble figuring out what is going on at first, and accepting that Deadman is a ghost,since when people die in her culture, the stay in Hades.  Again, the art is a hoot and the story is a whole lot of fun.

This is a great take on Wonder Woman, and I am loving this book....So Much!


Wonder Woman  #36

And so...we begin the era of the Finches.  I bought this book because I wanted to give them a chance to wow me.

I...am not  wowed. 

At all.

We begin with a bunch of narration boxes, babbling about how water is both beneficial and dangerous...basically just so that we can see Diana taking a shower. 

Meanwhile on Themyscira, some of the Amazons aren't too happy about how Diana brought back the Amazon sons to live with them.  Dessa points out that these men are their own children, but Clyemne is awfully cranky about it.  Amazons are pretty cranky in general apparently. 

But Diana is off with the Justice League, looking at a bunch of environmental disasters, and while the rest of the guys in the League are all standing around looking stalwart, she looks about...fourteen.   Yeesh.  A fourteen year old with big boobs and birthing hips, but still.  The environmental problems have brought none other than Swamp Thing to the area, who is checking out what could have possibly happened, when she shows up and immediately starts beating the crap out of him. Diana of all people!    Hell, Aquaman has to come and try and talk her down, and apologize to Swamp Thing.  Arthur can't understand why she's so angry, so she starts going off on him too.

Then she goes home and finds out that the statue of her mother, which they left standing outside has...melted or something, so once again Hippolyta is dead.

Yeesh.  Again? 

God...this is terrible. 

I just dropped this book. 


Daredevil #10

Matt is still reeling from the terrible emotional whammy he received from Kilgrave's little band of offspring, and there is a brilliant explanation of Depression and its effects on a person.  And speaking of Kilgrave, he's back, although he's in pretty bad condition, and he's not happy with his adorable moppets.  And,he's trying to kill Daredevil who is too much of an existential funk to fight back.

He does get it together eventually however, and manages to escape, while trying to figure out where the kids would go.  Kirsten naturally has the right idea, they have taken over a fun Arcade!  And are having themselve a fine old time.  Too bad for them that dear old Dad shows up...and he's in a very very bad mood, and doing his best to kill his own children.  Fortunately Daredevil shows up, although he's having a terrible time of it as well.

The key apparently is keeping them apart from one another.  He's  able to save one of the kids and get him out of there, the cops show up and he is able to defeat Kilgrave.  They take the kids, who once they are separated revert to their normal skin hue, but is is sad that they will always have to live apart from. 

So...Matt seems fine, and back to his old self, although Kirsten is still worried.  He goes home, and huddles on the bed, and it's a sad and rather spooky ending.

Chris Samnee's art as usual is spectacular.  Mark Waid's story is equally so.  I do adore this book. 


Loki, Agent of Axis #8

I haven't really been reading Axis, but as far as I can tell, due to the machinations of the Red Skull, the heroes are now jerks, and the villains are now heroes.  Loki has teamed up with the Enchantress to go out and be fabulous, so they call Lorelei, Sigurd and Verity to Loki's apartment to tell them how very very heroic they all are now.  Lorelei isn't buying it, and Verity is pretty broken up when Loki tells her that now that he's so good, he doesn' t need her around anymore.

Yeesh! 

But first Loki has gone to Las Vegas and ends up saving a casino from the assault of The Death Throws!  A more modern version of the classic Circus of Crime!  It's completely over the time, and very old school, and quite hilarious, as Loki mops the floor with these losers.  He's actually there to try and find Thor, and turns into a unicorn to gallop away and find him. 

Thor is at a craps table, winning with every throw...even the bad ones.  Thor, has now of course, turned evil.

Loki is so smug as a hero.  Well, Loki is always a little smug, that's one of his charms, but this is just ridiculous. But the art is lovely, and the story is fun, and dammit, I'm enjoying the crap out of this book.



One helluva a week.  All good books, with the abysmal exception of Wonder Woman.  Which is a darned shame.