Thursday Reviews

An interesting bunch this week to say the least.  But of course, you know me...I NEVER say the least, when I can pad it all out with a fair amount of bombast.  And a little bit of snark.  I also never thought that I would be happy to see the temperature get UP to 32 degrees!


Batman & Robin #38

I actually am happy that the little squirt is back.  I started out hating Damian, and now I...reluctantly...like him.  A Lot.  And having Pat Gleason draw this book also helps, as well as Pete Tomasi writing it.

Batman is having to figure out how to deal with a super-powered pre-teen partner, and it is...challenging.  Damian wasn't much for restraints before he got powers, and it's even more interesting now that he's raring to go and full of moxie.  Fuller of moxie! 

But it's not all beer and skittles for Damian either, as he's dealing with nightmares, and the stress of having somehow survived when Talia didn't, so he's dealing with a lot for a kid.  Alfred wisely counsels Bruce to let his son have a little bit of space in order to deal with his own demons.  Also, Damian goes to Atlantis, simply by swimming there, which actually impresses Aquaman.

This was...a really good book.

Fables #148

We learn a bit more about Snow White and Rose Red's mother's legacy.  Man, those sisters don't fool around!  Yeesh!  Also Snow apparently figures out that Bigby is supposedly out to eat their children or something. 

I love this book and I love these characters, but I have to admit that this all seems to be dragging a bit.  Also Brandish is fighting Lancelot and has been for quite some time.  I really wish that Brandish would get his comeuppance, Bigby would be back to normal and there would be a...dare I say this...a Happy Ending.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #38

I had more or less dropped this book quiet a while back, because it was getting to be tedious beyond belief.  I'm still not all that enthralled with it, but I did want to see what was going on with Kyle after the big showdown with the New Gods. 

After Hal and Carol met up in Green Lantern, it seemed that there was a certain ambiguity about Carol's feelings, and that is only reinforced here. Carol and Kyle dance around their attraction and feelings quite a bit, with Kyle basically accusing Carol of using him as her Love Battery.  She's...not flattered, but in a way, I don't think that he is wrong. They were thrown together, and their feelings were...and remain...complicated.  Apparently Kyle is still hung up on Alex, which makes sense as she was really the only girlfriend that he's ever had that I could stand, with the possible exception of Soranik, and he managed to screw THAT up royally! 

I also get the feeling that Hal and Carol are still in love, but that she's having some conflicts as well.  There may be a bit of a feeling of getting back at Hal for all those years of deceit, and hot and cold.  She's treating him the way that he had always treated HER...and he doesn't like it.  But on the other hand, she's also using Kyle in a fairly cold-blooded way.  I think that they like each other,  and maybe even love each other, but that they aren't IN love with each other.

Or something.

Oh, and a big monster that Black Hand freed from the Source wall threatens a planet,and ends up dead on Zamaron, so they fly off, and it turns out to be Oblivion, who is the  Evil version of...Kyle?

Meh. 

I love Kyle, but I am still not loving this book.  Kyle seems to be so incidental to everything. This is more about Carol's feelings, and her newly professed love of being a Star Sapphire which seems much more sincere than her feelings about Kyle.  Kyle seems oddly passive throughout this run, nothing is from his point of view, we have no idea of his emotions or strategy or ideas, he's just...there...having stuff happen to him.

So I doubt that I'll be picking this up any time soon.


Justice League #38

Well, Batman has been infected by the Amazo virus, and things are continuing to deteriorate. Wonder Woman and Superman capture the first mutant, in the hope that his blood can be used to make an antidote, but it turns out that only Superman's blood can do that, since Lex had exposed HIM to the virus three years ago, and somehow his alien physiology fought off the infection.

Lex just happened to forget to tell anyone that, or to have made an antidote before people started dropping dead.  So basically, Lex is up to his old tricks. 

Also Captain Cold remains awesome.

This was...ok.  It also seems to be spinning its wheels a bit, not a heck of a lot has happened since last month.


Sensation Comics: Wonder Woman #6

Well, I may have given up on the other Wonder Woman book,. but by gum, this one is fantastic...nay...sensational! 

It's Hippolyta's birthday,and she's sitting through a lot of pageants and feasts and stuff, and feeling a tad on the jaded side.  Meanwhile, Diana is out, stalking a Phoenix, in order to retrieve the leftover bits after the death and rebirth, as a Phoenix egg as a present for her dear old mumsie.  Unfortunately for Diana, she wasn't paying attention and Cheetah has been stalking her as well. We have some nice flashbacks of advice from Hippolyta and there is a lot of fighting and such.  Naturally, Diana remembers her mom's advice and eventually prevails, and Hippolyta really likes her present. 

I do have to say that the coloring in particular is simply spectacular, with the warm golden tones and the fires reflected in their eyes, the art is lovely, but the coloring really makes it stand out.  An excellent story.

And finally, there is a story about Diana and  Big Barda teaming up against Mallah and the Brain.  It is...delightful.  Of course it's delightful, it has Big Barda, Mallah and the Brain!  Barda is just happy to be fighting apes, they keep telling her that they are gorillas, and a wonderful time is had by all. Including the reader.

Loki: Agent of Asgard #10

Oh, the brown trout hits the fan in this one. The inversion has come and gone, and Loki is back to his own self, although with...a bit more awareness left over.  He's gone to Verity and apologized for being a douche, and she's fine with it, and they are even telling a few jokes about how one is actually worthy of Mjollnir, when Thor Odinson shows up.  Fortunately for Loki, he's back to normal too, and he wants to apologize for being a bigger douche.

Thor is sad, because he just can't understand what went wrong, and he misses having his brother, and then it all comes out, Loki can't stop himself, and he confesses what happened, that evil old Loki used him to kill sweet young Loki.  Thor naturally is gobsmacked...and really really pissed.  He starts beating the everloving crap out of Loki, although he does stop short of actually killing him, and hauls him off to Asgard where he dumps him and tells everyone what he did. 

Oh...crap.  Loki can't even lie his way out of this one.

I'm on the edge of my seat. 

So only one real clunker in the bunch, which isn't too bad I guess.  I'm happy because my cabinets and countertops have been installed in my everlasting kitchen renovation and the lighting fixtures are supposed to go in today!  Woohoo!