Thursday's Reviews

This was...a bit of a confusing week.  There were Convergence books of course, and a few actual books, which was a bit of a relief.

Batman #40

Well!

Batman and his allies are still fighting the Joker, and the poison is spreading, and they can't find an antidote, and all hell is breaking loose.  Or...a typical day in Gotham, as far as I am concerned.  Then Batman manages to get close enough to the Joker to try and suck the antidote from him and...ho ho...there isn't any antidote!  And the Joker gets to gloat for a while, and then he pulls the mask from Batman to gloat a little more personally...and it's Dick!  Not Bruce!

Well, blow me down! 

Bruce, is traipsing through the tunnels, thanks to a hint from the Court of Owls, and his own brilliance, and finds the...stuff, that is the antidote, but time is running out, and there are bombs, and traps, and the Joker figures it out, and they collide in what can only be described as a fight of stunning brutality.  And they rip the masks off of each other, and...and...!

Well!

Is Batman dead?  Or, is Bruce dead?  Is the Joker dead?  I actually rather doubt it...not with the antidote stuff right THERE.  But everyone else seems to doubt it, and Alfred is certainly depressed.  I have to admit that it was one helluva a way to go,and  Scott Snyder has been continually surprising me.  Capullo's art is sublime as always, and I'm gasping, but still a bit skeptical.

On the other hand, I guess this explains why Gordon is running around in the new Moth-suit...er Bat suit.

Not sure what to think of all of this quite yet.

Convergence: Booster Gold

I have really been looking forward to seeing Booster.  Apparently I am seeing two Boosters, but Skeets is back, and so is Rip Hunter.  A whole passel of Time Jumpers are imprisoned, and Rip is trying to free them, but the new Booster gave up the information about Vanishing Point, and old Booster is imprisoned, but dying from all the chronal energy, which actually confuses me, because shouldn't Rip be dying too?  He jumps through Time more than anybody! 

Oh, and Ted shows up . 

Interesting.  Very interesting.

Convergence: Blue Beetle

Ted is still hanging in there, doing his best.  The Question is quizzical.  Captain Shinypants is STILL THE BIGGEST DICK IN THE DC UNIVERSE!!!!

That's all you really need to know.

Justice League #40

This was...a bit confusing really.  It has Maguire doing some of the art, and art by some other people. Metron is sculling around, and runs across the Anti-Monitor and there is a bit of bombast and back and forth, and Darkseid is brought up.  We get a lot of splash pages about past Crises, and it all seems like a whole lot of set-up.

I actually happen to like Metron, and seeing young Orion being a jerk was fun. But this was more or less underwhelming.

Convergence: Justice Society of America

All the old farts in the Justice Society are under one of those goddamned domes, and have lost their powers, blah blah blah, but apparently it made them all even older than they were, and they all have arthritis and bad knees and moan a lot.  The younger generation is being snotty and obnoxious, and should just get off the JSA's lawn already!  Whippersnappers!!

Then Kent (Doctor Fate) who is in a coma opens his eyes, sees the dome come down and says that he can give them all their powers AND their youth back...but it is a one-shot deal, and nobody is really planning on walking away from all of this.  And as one, they all decide that they know they are going out but are going out in a Blaze of Glory!  The final splash page is simply magnificent.

God, I love these guys.


Convergence: Shazam

And speaking of love...I have to say that the recent Shazam books have been pretty darned fabulous.  Billy and Mary and Freddy are under the Dome, without powers, but still doing their darndest by cracky!  Also Uncle Dudley has been acting weird.  Well...more weird than usual. 

So they follow him and are captured by Mr. Atom!  And King Kull!  And Uncle Dudley is actually Dr. Sivana!  Oh, be still my heart.  There are plans most nefarious and yet hilarious, Talky Tawney shows up, the dome comes down, and Shazam! 

Why can't all the books be like this one?

Daredevil #15

Well, thanks to the Shroud, who has betrayed Matt...again...things are going to hell in a handbasket very very quickly.  The Shroud has the Owl hooked up to some weird machine, which enables him to go on every single media device throughout the city, and he uses that to show everyone that Matt had taped confessions, and makes him look like the badguy, and EVERYONE is out to get him and Foggy is outed, and oh...

...it looks bad.  Really really bad.  So Matt has to do the one thing that practically kills him...go to the Kingpin.

God, I do love this book.


So...some hits and misses.  Daredevil, Shazam and Batman were pretty fabulous.  Booster Gold and Blue Beetle weren't bad.  Justice Society was pretty good.  Justice League was more or less a dud.  Not terrible...but certainly not particularly good, at least in my humble opinion. 

Arrgghh!

Today, we began our indoctrination into the arcane new telephone system at work.  It is going to be such an improvement!  To use someone's voicemail, it is going to be five steps instead of two.  To page someone will be four steps instead of two.  You can't put anyone on hold, you put them in "park".  All ten of the other stores will show up on my phone! 

It did dawn on the phone people that perhaps that last thing was not conducive to productivity.  That would be nice, if they could fix that.  I have enough trouble answering the phones at my store, which is the main office, much less every other satellite store.

It kind of makes my gripes about the state of my comic books seem pretty small and petty.  And yet, I am sure that I won't let that stop me in the least.  



Ahhh...that makes me feel better.  No Green Lantern behinds, but gosh, Guy looks so purty.

Wallowing in Back Issues

So...I have been on a Thor/Journey Into Mystery/Loki: Agent of Asgard binge lately.  Being slightly disgusted and bored by the most recent batch of books from DC, and being inspired by the forthcoming new Avengers movie, I went back into my long boxes and pulled some of my old favorites.  It is rather amusing to see the ads in these books for the NEW Thor, Captain America and Green Lantern movies.  Has it really been that long?

Needless to say, these hold up very well, and are a heck of a lot of fun.  And violence and really good art.  Also, Loki on a Cell phone, and being accused of being a troll by some on-line poster, and his disbelief at the accusation.  Because as Thor points out...he's half Giant...not Troll.

Haw! 

And then I got all of my Young Avengers books out too, because it all ties in together, and now I've got my youngest daughter hooked on them too.  She just finished re-reading the Sandman books a while ago.  So yes, Marvel and DC, you can thank me for setting up future customers for you! 

Sheesh!



How can you not like this stuff? 

One of the things that I do like a whole lot about both Marvel and DC, is that they have such wonderful other worlds, in Asgard, and the nine...oops, ten realms, and Oa, and all the great cities in DC, none of which have been showcased much lately, and the way that they all tie together. I actually don't mind a multi-verse at all. So it pains me a bit when they have Secret Wars, that will wipe things out, and Crisis after Crisis that wipes things out, and why the heck are you ashamed of your history?  Embrace it!  We do!

Okay, I'll get off of my soap box, and go back to reading.

Thursday Reviews

Well, we are still deep in the grip of Convergence, and most of the books still are setting the whole storyline up, even though it has been going on for three weeks now, and really DC...we GET it!  Gotham and Metropolis from various universes and time lines have all been under a mysterious dome for a year, the heroes trapped there lost their powers, and they've missed having their powers, but they still try to be heroes...and then a voice announces a big fight and the dome comes down and they all get their powers back...yeehawww!

I do believe that is the plot in a nutshell. 

But onward.

Batman '66 #22

Thank goodness, a non-convergence book! 

Batman and Robin fight the Penguin.  The Penguin is tired of leaving hints about birds and umbrellas so he switches to a Bat theme for his crimes.  I really don't think that the Penguin is all that interested in actually getting the loot, he just really loves sticking it to Batman...and really who can blame him?  It is a romp, and it is fun, and it has nothing to do with alternate universes, so I am happy.

The Flash/Convergence

The Speedforce had Wally, this one has Barry, who is trapped in Gotham City for no good reason, and he's mopey because he doesn't have Iris or his speed. That's about it, really.  Then the dome comes down, and he can run fast again.  Again...that's about it.

The Green Lantern Corps/Convergence

This one actually had a plot.  Be still my heart!

But it is still Gotham City.  Why the heck are all the heroes either in Gotham or Metropolis? They have their OWN cities!  Sheesh!

But this one has Guy Gardner as the main character for a change, and I am delighted of course.  Guy has only recently woken up from his coma, (courtesy of Hal Jordan) and he's stuck under the dome and not feeling particularly charitable towards Hal.  He's doing his best to cope, but it's hard. And quite frankly, I am happy that the writers are actually looking at this from Guy's point of view.  Hal DID deal Guy a tough hand, and then waltzed off with his fiancee and hardly a glance over his shoulder. 

Guy tracks down Carol Ferris, whom Hal was supposed to be marrying, but that only lasted a week before he dumped her.  Oh Hal.  Then he tracks down John Stewart, who is also trying to cope, but is depressed, and really doesn't want to be there. And finally, he finds Hal Jordan who is holed up in a garage desperately sending out emergency broadcasts to the stars because he can't handle not being a Green Lantern.  Plus, he's gone a bit wacky from guilt and stress. 

Haw! 

Guy's not in the mood to put up with Hal's self pity and naturally...being Guy...starts busting stuff, and they fight, and then the dome comes down, and the Lanterns work again!  Naturally Hal hogs it all for himself and whacks Guy over the head...in order to "save" him.  Right.  Guy wakes up, and decides he doesn't need a ring, he's going to bust heads all on his own, and roars off on a motorcycle, a leather jacket, a taser and a baseball bat.  Once again proving that he's a heckuva lot tougher than Hal Jordan.

So there. 

This one was decent because it actually had a plot, it had Hal looking like an idiot, it had Guy doing stuff and...and it had Guy.

Woohoo!

The Justice League of America/Convergence

This one had me in a state of joy and rage and in-between.  The very first page has Ralph and Sue Dibny talking about how long it has been and how much they love each other.  The dome has just come down, and Ralph has his stretching powers again, and off he goes to round up the rest of the Detroit League, which isn't in Detroit, but for some reason was in Gotham.

*sigh*

But hey, there is Vixen, and Vibe, and J'onn, Steel, and Aquaman and even Gypsy.  Dammit, I LIKED the Detroit League!  I think Zatanna shows up too.  No Dale Gunn though. And they are so happy to be back in action and go off to fight...the Secret Six?  Different version, and they blow up the building where Ralph was, and Sue is terrified that he's dead...and GOD DAMN IT DC!  Stop rubbing the Dibny's in my face you jerks! 

We know you killed them off, we know that everyone loved them and now you are just taunting me, and frankly, I don't appreciate it. If you bring the Dibny's back just to horribly kill them off again...I'll...I'll be REALLY PISSED!!!!!!!

Seriously, they're just being dicks now.

I had a much better time on the Marvel side of the aisle.  I'm not going to be reading the whole Secret Wars crap, because I had enough of that the first two times.  But still, there are some fun books out there.


Ms. Marvel#14

For some reason, we are always a week late on getting Ms. Marvel at my comic book store, but we do get it eventually, and as usual, it is delightful.  Kamala is besotted with Kamran, much to Bruno's dismay.  Her brother Aamir, who up to now has been a bit of a tool, is actually a pretty decent fellow. 

At first sight, Kamran seemed too good to be true, and of course...he is.  He cons Kamala into sneaking out of the house with him, and shows her his powers as another Inhuman. She of course is quite enthralled, being able to hold hands with a boy, and not even get in (much) trouble for it. She's feeling a bit guilty about beating up the other Inhuman girl from the previous issue, but is still too starry-eyed at the moment. 

Until, Kamran shows up in his car and takes her to school...except they don't go to her school, they go off to the docks, and she's starting to get suspicious and angry, that he is ignoring her wishes. Then he tells her that as Inhumans they are better than the other people and lo and behold, he is in with the renegade Inhumans and zaps her unconcious and she's locked up.  It doesn't hold her of course, and she busts out, but then runs into the evil Inhumans.

Well, so much for that romance!

Delightful as usual.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #4

This was, hands down, my favorite book of the week. Possibly the month.  Maybe even the year. 

After a good bit of trial and tribulation, Squirrel Girl and Tippy Toe have managed to get to the Moon in order to intercept Galactus, who is on his way to eat the Earth, but nobody noticed except the squirrels.  And the first page shows her sitting on his recumbant form taking a selfie and saying it wasn't so hard...the End!

Haw!

It isnt' the end of course, and she and Tippy Toe are upset with Galactus, who, quite frankly, is a hoot. He's not particularly impressed by her tough talk, and they also discuss the limits of English when it comes to having a universally accepted gender neutral third person singular pronoun.  Makes sense to me.  She asks him where his herald is, and he says that giving everyone warning that he is coming so that they can beat him up finally struck him as being a stupid thing to do, and Tippy Toe agrees.  They do agree that Thanos is a tool.  Heck, they even bond a bit, Galactus likes her, and she likes him, because everyone loves Squirrel Girl!

But hey, he's still hungry, so off he goes.  She finds his computer and tries to figure out why it is that he keeps coming back to earth.  And finally figures out, that he KNOWS they are going to fight him, and offer him another nice planet to eat instead.  Going to Earth is the equivalent of Take-Out for Galactus!  It's True!  He finally admits it more or less, and they find a delightful little planet full of nuts, and they gorge themselves on acorns, and that is why they are are sacked out on the moon afterwards, because it's a bit like after Thanksgiving dinner.

So, crisis averted, and back to School, where she runs into Nancy her roomie, who has of course figured out that she is Squirrel Girl, but is cool with that. So Doreen shows her how to wear a suit of squirrels and they have themselves a fine old time.

Meanwhile Whiplash is still covered in squirrels and he has to go potty.  Really bad.

There wasn't a single thing about this book that wasn't a joy. 

So...an interesting week to say the least.

Tuesday Teasings

Oh Tuesdays...always so tedious.  And what a better day for a Green Lantern Butt?



A head injury AND a glimpse of Hal's behind. What more can you ask for?

Converging Reviews

Well!  More Convergence books than you can shake a stick at!  Let us dive right into the pool, as it were.

Aquaman#1

For rather obscure reasons, Aquaman was trapped in Metropolis when the "dome" went up, and has been having a hard time adjusting.  Dane Dorrance from the Sea Devils is now at S.T.A.R. labs, and is apparently about the only friend that Arthur has, since he's gone a bit buggy over being cut off from his telepathy and Mera and sea water and such.

But he is trying to do his heroic duty, when the Dome comes down and Deathblow of all people shows up and starts killing off people willy nilly.  I wasn't aware that Deathblow was such a tool, but apparently so.

It's the same schtick, the various cities from various universes all have to fight each other for some reason or another.  It still doesn't make much sense.  All the cities seem to be either Gotham or Metropolis, the heroes get "domed" and lose their powers, the dome comes down and they fight.

To be perfectly honest it is rather pointless of me to go through each of the Convergence books and talk about them, because the plot is exactly the same in each and every one of them.

Green Arrow, has Ollie run into Connor Hawke and be flabberghasted that he has a son.  And the Dome comes down and they fight.

Green Lantern has Kyle, which is nice, who was a Green Lantern for about a week before the Dome came down, and Hal is sitting in jail in Metropolis, wracked with guilt for destroying the Corps and the Guardians when he was Parallax.  Then the Dome comes down, Hal is Parallax again and fighting some wing nuts from Electropolis.  They are real jerks, so I assume they lose too.

The JLI is stuck in Metropolis for some reason, and it has Blue Beetle, J'onn, Fire, Ice, Red Tornado and Captain Shinypants.  No Guy for some reason.  Bummer.  Nobody has powers except Reddy, which doesn't really matter since he is such a loser.  Ted is running the team, and using his brains and technology to fight Metallo and stuff.

J'onn thinks they should be trying harder to get out of the Dome, while Ted wearily explains that they have tried, and sometimes all you can do is hold on and do the best you can.  Then of course, the dome comes down, they all get their powers back and now have to fight the Justice League from Kingdom Come.

I love these guys, but I think they are toast.

In Suicide Squad, I only bought it because I wanted to see fat old Amanda Waller.  And she is lovely as ever.  And blah blah blah...the same plot.  With Oracle and Lex Luthor thrown into the mix.

You obviously don't have to buy all of the books in this crossover, because really...there is the exact same thing happening in all of them.  There is the pleasure of seeing characters that haven't been used, or have been killed off by DC, but really, that is about the only reason that I have even bought these.  It's pretty damned dull, actually.  Could we...maybe...try something a little less hackneyed next time DC?

Sheesh!

Sensation Comics/Wonder Woman #9

This is fabulous of course.  We have two stories, with the first starring Diana, going up against Cheeta , Circe AND Medusa!   Batman has been turned to stone by Medusa, and Superman was turned into a pig by Circe and keeps running around squealing. It's...adorable.

And then you realize that the whole story is a game being played by a young girl with her sister's dolls.  Her big sister doesn't play with dolls anymore, but she is still not happy that  the younger girl painted dots all over one of her barbies to make a Cheeta.  So Mom grounds the younger girl, and says she has to clean them up and can't go to the movies.  Naturally, she starts to play another game, involving the bucket of soap and water, which becomes the invisible jet, a cat, and a dog, and she somehow saves her big sister from the dog by throwing the bucket/invisible jet at the dog.

So they decide to play together.   And it is simply lovely.

The second story is fun too, with Wonder Woman being interviewed by Lois Lane.  Neither is particularly happy about it, because Lois has a list of inane questions  given to her by her editor, and Diana is resentful that nobody asks Superman what type of shampoo he uses or what he wears to bed. 

Fortunately, a giant robot crashes into the room, so Diana can do her thing, and Lois is thrilled that she has a real story, and tries to help out.  Diana is a little annoyed that she has to look out for Lois as well, but Lois as is her wont, is trying to get the story and actually does manage to help.  But to save her, Diana has to toss her up to the fire escapes and uses her lariat to do so, which causes Lois to blurt out all sorts of truths that she would prefer to keep secret, such as dying her hair, and that she thinks Clark is cute. 

The day is saved, and they go out for drinks later.  The art is lovey, and it is a fun story, with each of the characters being written very well indeed.

Lovely again.

Loki: Agent of Asgard #13

Oh, things are at a sorry pass for poor Loki.  He's been beaten up by Thor, cast out of Asgard, shunned and betrayed, and even Verity has stomped off in a huff.  He's been captured and tied up by evil Old Loki, and told that his attempts to change worked...for a whole ten years, and that he finally snapped and decided to go back to being bad, because no matter what, nobody every really trusted him.

Of course Odin still loves him, and Verity calls and deep down, you know that Thor loves him too.

But evil old Loki sets him on fire and sends him to that weird metaphorical space where the original Loki and Kid Loki are hanging out, along with a couple of ravens.  Each of them is dead. Original Loki confesses that he tried every trick in the book, but he is actually really dead, and he's not happy about it.  And Kid Loki is cranky too, because he tried so hard to do good, and died anyway...but he did manage to eke out a win, by not dying as a worthless copy but by writing his own story.

So presumably, this is where the new Loki has come to die as well  He is the echo of Loki, he is the God of Lies, and he can't win against evil Old Loki, who has been manipulating everyone including time.  Either he takes the crown and becomes evil Loki, or he dies, and evil Loki still wins.  It's a no-win situation, and fortunately, his cell phone rings, and it is Verity. 

That's good coverage incidentally!  Verity is apologetic and worried about him.  He's feeling pretty defeated and depressed, for good reason. She tries to convince him not to give up and what does the God of Lies even mean?

What does it mean anyway?  Well, Loki is still smart and he starts thinking and realizes that a lie is just a story.  He has a friend who believes in him, and his father and his brother  and he's not going to be defined by anyone, least of all himself. 

This is not the outcome that evil old Loki was planning for, and things explode and suddenly he is eight months in the future, and  another earth is hanging outside the window.  Oops.  And a beaten battered version of Loki shows up at Verity's door.

Man, I do love this book.

Thor #7

Roz Solomon is still fighting Roxxon, , but this takes place some weeks in the past.  She finds out from Coulson that Thor has lost his Hammer and is sulking on the moon, so she flies up to see him, and he's not there, but the Hammer is...and...

Hmmmm.

Back in the present, she is fighting the Destroyer, which was sent by Odin, who is a much bigger jerk here than he is in Loki's book.  He has put Cul, his evil brother into the Destroyer, and manages to get hold of Mjolnir for a minute or two. Meanwhile Malekith and Agger are still plotting and smirking,and I have to admit that these two are a hoot.  Deadly, but a hoot.  They decide to invade  Alfheim, simply because they want to kill some pixies apparently.

Meanwhile Odinson has decided to show up with some backup, mainly Freya, Sif, Brunnhilde, Wanda, Captain Marvel and a host of women warriors to help out. It's going to be...epic.

I enjoyed the Wonder Woman book and the two Marvel Asgardian books a whole heck of a lot more than the Convergence books, which as I pointed out...are simply the same thing over and over and over.  But it was nice to see Ted Kord.

Who IS the Biggest Asshole in DC Comics?

This is a question that was posed to me a couple of days ago by Calvin Pitt, and it is a really good one.  I am speaking of course, of the OLD continuity, since there are too many assholes to count in the new 52 version of DC. 

Of course, there are Assholes and there are Assholes.  Even some of the "nice" characters have their Assholish moments.  There are countless occasions where Silver Age Superman was a complete Asshole, but I think that we would all agree, that for the most part, Superman is a pretty good guy.

I think that we can all also agree that Batman has his moments as well.  So...so many moments.  Seriously, Batman is a major Asshole!  Unfortunately, he is usually, if not practically always right, and actually IS the smartest man in the room at any given moment, so a great deal of his Assholishness can be forgiven.  Or at least understood.

But there are some other characters who just really ARE Assholes.



I give you Hawkman.

I know that there are numerous versions of Hawkman, but seriously, he's been a bit of a pill in ALL of his incarnations.  He's truculent, opinionated, and completely convinced that he's the only one who can save the day.  He is also incredibly violent.  He doesn't just punch you, he punches you with a mace!  That hurts! 

He was a complete jackass when the JLI was trying to recruit him, all he did was bloviate about how much better the old Justice League was.  When even J'onn is getting fed up, you know you have crossed the line.  He got a little better when he was with the Justice Society, but I think that's just because Alan and Jay don't put up with any shenanigans.  And all he ever did was fight with Ollie, which granted...is pretty easy to do, because Green Arrow is also an Asshole.



And then there was Captain Atom.  Or, as I like to call him, Captain Shinypants. 

What a jerk!

Seriously, who likes Captain Shinypants?  Scipio just had a whole blog about how nobody can stand him, and I don't think there was a single person who stood up for him.  His history is convoluted (although not as much as Hawkman's), he is rude, and over-bearing, and a corporate or government stooge.  He is also not very bright...but he IS very very shiny.

Bleh.

And speaking of Green Arrow...



Nothing like smacking your side-kick around because you find out that the poor kid has a problem.  A problem that you probably contributed to!  It was Hal and Dinah who stepped up and took care of poor Roy, not Ollie.  And then there were all the fights with Hawkman.  And Hal.  Hal may have been his best friend, but he sure did get a kick out of calling him a Nazi everytime they disagreed on something.  I also don't like the way that Ollie treated Dinah particularly.

I like Ollie, I really do, but there is no denying that he is a self-righteous jerk most of the time.  He has good intentions, and he may actually be right some of the time...but he's just so...so obnoxious about it!  What an Asshole!

And then there is Hal.



Oh Hal.

Handsome, brave, daring...and a complete Asshole a whole lot of the time. He never plans, he never prepares, he just flies in by the seat of his pants, and fakes it.  Drives Batman crazy.  He is SO completely convinced that he is fabulous that it really gets annoying.  He treats his girlfriends like dirt, he mouths off to the Guardians, he pouts when nobody loves him, he sulks, he whines, and he does terrible terrible things to Guy Gardner.

There is no denying that he is a huge Asshole.  But he is so damned charming that he manages to get away with it.  Most of the time.

But there is my favorite Asshole of course.


Oh Guy, you are SUCH an Asshole! 

Particularly in his JLI days of course, but he has his moments even now.  He was rude to everyone, he was crude, lewd and just childish in his antics.  He mocked Batman, he pulled Superman's cape, he gave J'onn migraines, he insulted Ice's thighs, he fought with Hal constantly...he was just...just dreadful! 

On the other hand, unlike the rest of this illustrious bunch, he really didn't have a whole lot of control over how he was behaving thanks to Hal and his little three-year coma, and the resultant brain damage.  He has his brains back now, and yes...he's still an Asshole, but he's an Asshole because, quite frankly, it's a lot of fun.

But as big an Asshole as all of these wonderful characters are...I think that the one that really stands out to me is...



Geoforce.

Holy moley, how I hate Geoforce.  I cannot think of a single redeeming feature about him. He's obnoxious, arrogant, pushy, stupid, and he wears a dumb costume. 


Arrrgghh!

Those are my nominees.  Can any of you come up with bigger and better Assholes? 

Thursday's Reviews

First off, I would like to congratulate the University of Connecticut Women's Basketball Team for winning their 10th National Championship, and their third in a row.  As a UConn alumnus, I feel a deep happiness when my Alma Mater does well.   Incidentally, I understand that there was some sort of Men's Championship going on around the same time. Anyone know how that turned out? 

This was basically the first week of DC's Convergence stunt...I mean New Story Line That Will Change Comics Forever Event!  I wasn't all that impressed with the first book last week, that had an unshaven and very cranky Superman arguing with some Brainiac knockoff.

I can't say that I am particularly impressed this week either.  While it has been quite a treat to see characters that have been mothballed, or worse...killed off gratuitously, Brainiac Junior seems to have put a dome over each of the various multiversal Cities, and demanded that they all fight each other. Only One can win, and presumably all the others will be wiped out. 

Now, it isn't complete Universes, that will be destroyed, just those cities.  Or is my understanding faulty?  I don't know.  I DO know that DC tried this stunt a few years back with that giant Arena disaster, where all the various characters fought each other in contrived Death Matches.  While this may appeal to fifteen year old boys, I can't see putting the future of your company on the line in order to satisfy that sort of theory. 

In this case, I think that perhaps Marvel had the best idea.  When they wanted to start over and tell new stories about their characters, they kept them, and started the Ultimate Line, wherein we had new versions of the old characters and could tell stories a new way.  It didn't really work out all that well in the end, and sort of collapsed, since they only wanted to tell the OLD stories in a different way instead of coming up with actual...NEW tales, but hey.  At least we got to still read about our favorites.

DC decided to throw out the proverbial baby with the proverbial bathwater, and started over completely, thereby pissing off a lot of people.  I have been partially soothed to learn that the REAL continuity is still out there...somewhere, but now they are bringing it all together in DEATH MATCH 2015!!!!!

Bleh.

Convergence #1

Um...well, a bunch of people die, and their cities are destroyed, including egotistical Superman. But some of the heroes live, and are transported to Brainiac Jr's Funkytown...except they don't have  city, which makes him very very pissy.  They yell at each other for a while, and Brainiac Jr. shows them all the various worlds and cities, and says that he's going to make them fight each other...because there can only be one.

The art by Ivan Reis is nice though.  Alan Scott has a nice butt shot on the cover.  That's about it.

The Atom

Well, Ray Palmer's city has been under the Dome for a year, and he has gone nuttier than a fruitcake.  Also his hand keeps growing, but not the rest of him, which is weird. The thing with the Domes, is that the Super Heroes trapped under them, lose their powers.  Ray isn't coping very well. 

Then of course Brainiac Jr sends in some other poor schmoes to fight him, namely  Barracuda from Angor.  I must confess to being totally unfamiliar with Barracuda from Angor, but it is my belief that they will be using up the unsympathetic characters first, kill them off, and get all the GOOD Heroes together to save the day or the Multiverse, but I could of course be mistaken.

Oh, and apparently Ryan Choi is alive! 

That's nice.

Batgirl

Stephanie, Cass and Tim are hanging out on the barren wastes of Brainiac's Funkytown, and all Stephanie really wants to do is go find a bush and pee.  I can understand that. She also misses zippers.  I can understand that too.  Their version of Gotham has been Domed, and for some reason, Stephanie was picked to be the Savior, while Tim and Cass are merely along for the ride. They are a bit grumpy, while she agonizes over her lack of experience, and skills and so on and so forth. 

Then she gets to fight Catman.  Ordinarily this would thrill me.  And Cass ends up fighting Gorilla Grodd, except she doesn't even know who he is.  Seriously? 

I liked this one a bit better.  It's still a ridiculous premise, but the writing is much more snappy, and I am actually intrigued a bit.

Batman and Robin

This version of Gotham is under a Dome as well.  Poison Ivy has been growing food for the denizens so that they don't starve to death, when the Penguin, Killer Croc, Mister Freeze, Man Bat and some other guy start stomping on her plants and saying they are taking over.  Naturally she's not happy, Batman isn't happy and Damian isn't happy either, although he does get to ride Man Bat around.  Oh, and Jason shows up, and Damian gets jealous. 

So very very jealous.

Damian has a tantrum and runs off to confront Jason, and some person named Scarlet. Then of course Brainiac Jr. shows up and goes into his usual spiel, and the Extremists show up to fight.  Somehow I doubt that this bunch of losers will make it to round two.

Meh.

Justice League

I had such high hopes for this one.  Love the cover with all the DC women in the snow globe. 

But oh...the story.  A gorgeous blonde is flying through the air bearing her very very pregnant friend to the hospital.  It turns out to be Supergirl, but I got to end of the book before I realized that the Pregnant woman was actually Jessie Quick.  Then Vixen, Jade and Zatanna show up.  Then the Dome comes down, and they lose all their super powers.

They manage to survive  however, by wearing tiny tight clothing, and pouting their lips a lot.  And beating people up.  And being fabulous and Kardashianesque as far as I can tell.  But poor Mera is still wearing her green scaled leotard and is sad because she can't snuggle Arthur.

Then they get the obligatory speech from Brainiac Jr, who also goes and tells the same thing to the Evil Aquaman, who is busy torturing some guy, and sees Mera.  It isn't HIS world's Mera, but he's Evil and he doesn't care, so he kidnaps her, while the rest of the girls get their powers back and fight a squid.

Good God, this was terrible.

Speed Force

Oh my, it's Wally.  And Jai and Iris!  Be still my heart.  They've been trapped under the Dome, blah blah blah, and poor Wally alternately reproaches himself for not leaving the kids at home, and trying to run around town at normal speed. Then FOOM...the Dome comes down, and they get their powers back, and he runs through all the various worlds, towing the kids behind him in his wake, which I didn't actually realize was a thing.  The Justice Rider's world crumbles, which is a shame.  They zip through Bizzarro world,   Qward, Krypton, and a place with lots of Plastic Men.  The kids absolutely adore the Zoo Crew, and they end up being chased by a small blue turtle, who is that city's version of a speedster.

Heh.

Fastback...that's his name is looking for help against the Evil Amazons.  The same Evil Amazons with Evil Aquaman.

I actually liked this one. 

Titans

Well, we go through the history of Roy Harper, and all his trauma. Poor Roy.  He's been Domed too.  The rest of the Titans lost their powers, such as Starfire and Donna Troy, but old Roy is actually handling things pretty darned well, which is certainly a change.

Then the Dome comes down, and they get their powers back, and Roy goes to suit up, while Donna and Kory are fighting the Extremists.  I thought the Extremists were fighting Batman?  There must be a lot of Extremists, who look as though they have all escaped from a '90's era book and forgot to change their looks.  Kory and Donna are getting their butts handed to them, when Roy saves the day, and then is handing the conundrum, of saving his friends and his city...or getting Lian back. 

Yeesh!

Frankly, I think the Bad Guy is lying, and that's not really Lian, but Roy is supposed to kill Kory and Donna in order to get her back.  I am actually intrigued by this one as well.

But as a whole, I am not thrilled with this little experiment so far.  Convergence may improve...although I remain a tad on the skeptical side.  We shall see.

Fables: the Wolf Among Us #4

This was pretty good as usual.  Bigby goes to a dive bar to interview the Woodsman who at the moment is his only real lead.  He runs into Grendel, as in Grendel and Beowulf, and they have a fight...naturally.  But it gives us a chance to see the various stories as told from different protagonists, and what really happend, and what was in the story.  Same thing with the story of Red Riding Hood.

As Bigby and the Woodsman amble off fairly amicably, we learn that the Woodsman wasn't really much of a hero, as he was a petty thief, and scoundrel, and his motives about going to Granny's house, were less than honorable.  It's an interesting take on the story, and they seem to bury the hatchet as it were...then there is a brouhaha back at the castle, and Bigby is horrified to find Snow White's head lying on the ground, cut off perfectly just like Faith's.

Oh my!

Ant Man # 4

God, I do love this book. 

Cassie has been kidnapped by the deranged son of Darren Cross, a major Bad Guy, who wants that nice Doctor to use Cassie's heart to revive the mostly dead body of his dear old evil Dad.  Or else he'll kill her family.  I see the rotten apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Scott is desperately trying to figure out a way to get into the lab, which has been Ant-proofed, and Grizzly tells him about this support group for former villains, so he picks up Machinesmith, who has been reduced to working for kid's birthday parties. 

There is a whole lot of fun, and fighting, and stuff.  Grizzly is finding out that wearing a bear suit in Florida may not have been the smartest thing he could have done.  But they do end up breaking in, and then Scott seems to be squished by the rejuvinated Cross.

Oh My!  Again!

I also love the art in this book.



Hawkeye #2

This is the new Hawkeye book, not to be confused with the old Hawkeye book, which hasn't even finished up yet, but heck, it's still as good.  The two Hawkeyes are running about a Hydra installation, and free some really messed up kids, who have obviously been experimented on, by the Hydra doctors. But something is obviously wrong, since the Hydra people are terrified at the release of the kids.

Also Clint can't hear what is going on half of the time, and keeps having flashbacks to the Circus where he and Barney ended up,and we even get to see the Swordsman, so that's cool.

I do like this book a lot.


Howard the Duck #2

And speaking of liking a book!  Howard has been collected by the Gatherer, who gathers people and stuff for the Collector.  He's...not happy about it.  Rocket Racoon has also been gathered, and keeps trying to figure out a way to escape, if only Howard would shut up long enough to let him. Howard however is filled with righteous indignation, so the two of them get hauled in to see the Gatherer, who explains that he's going to just take a little DNA sample from the two of them, and make mates for them, and they can live the rest of their lives in luxurious confinement. 

Rocket offers him some DNA and spits at him, except it turns out to be an Azalian Acid Capsule, and they escape and talk to the ship's computers, and go looking for the Heart of the Celestial, whose location has been shaved into Rocket's chest by Drax. 

Poor Howard just wants a normal life, but Rocket is having the time of his life, and causing maximum amounts of mayhem, when the rest of the Guardians show up, and proceed to blow stuff up. The Collector is still at Cosmocon, looking for more stuff for his collection, and I do admit to laughing out loud at that scene.

They grab the stuff, they grab Howard and a few of the prisoners, and beat feet out of there, but Howard is outraged that they left so many behind.  They didn't have room in their ship, but Rocket promises that they will go back and free the rest.

So Howard is home, and says hi to Spider-man who is snoring on his rooftop, and then goes to see his friend at the Tattoo parlor, which is being held up by...Aunt May?

Oh God, I do love this book.


Saga #27

Saving the best for last. 

Marco is tripping on the bad acid that Yuma gave him, and having visions of his past, and his proclivities towards violence that he has been so desperately trying to suppress.  Prince Robot is disgusted by the two of them, and at a loss for what to do. Oswald, who just keeps getting more adorable, persuades him not to dump them out the airlock,and he calls...reluctantly...for help on how to revive them.

Turns out his blood has some interesting properties. Also Oswald convinces him that Marko isn't the pushover that he seems, and while he's not afraid of Prince Robot, Marko scares the crap out of him.  Yuma is apologetic about the bad trip, but Marko thanks her and says he sees things clearer now, and doesn't need the drug anymore...but that he's going to find the guy who took his family and terminate him with extreme prejudice.

The art, as usual, is simply spectacular, the story is equally so.  I LOVE this book!

So...it was quite a Wednesday. Some really off-beat and fun books from Marvel, Saga, which is spectacular, and a couple of the Convergence books weren't too bad...but I'm not impressed so far.

Oh What the Heck

I do hope that everyone had a nice Easter or Passover.  I had a lovely time, hosting this year for the family although it was a bit chaotic with four children under the age of four running about.  Fortunately I did remember to put the sharp and delicate things higher up than usual. 
I have absolutely nothing important to say about Comics, except that they are a source of never-ending joy to me.

And this sort of thing is why.



Tripped by the Atom, and showing off his butt.

Oh Guy.

Reviews

Well, this week was a bit of a mixed bag.  It was pretty light for one thing, but the first week of the month usually is.  And we are now officially into the whole Convergence thingie over at DC.


Batman & Robin #3

We don't have Pat Tomasi's wonderful art, but we do have him making his debut as a writer, and for his first story, I don't think he did badly at all.  The art is by Jose Ryp, who also does a fine job.

We begin with Batman doing monitor duty on the Satellite of Love, while Damian lurks at the Mansion, trying to figure out how to reactivate the old League Transponder that Bruce locked away in a safe after being issued a new one. Alfred is skeptical, but gosh darn it, Damian manages to do it, and shows up on the Satellite complete with a motorcycle and Titus his dog.

The kid is obnoxious, but you have to admit that he has style. 

When Batman is less than enthusiastic, Damian says that "Supes" said he could visit any time, to which Batman replies that "Supes" didn't mean it.  Titus also eats their steak. I also get the feeling that although he is trying to present a stern fatherly front, Bruce is secretly impressed.  He does give Damian the grand tour, and they spot one of the old Apollo lems still sitting on the surface of the moon, while Tomasi gives a brief lesson in what happened to all of them, which is fun, and shows that he did his homework.  What is odd, is that the power is still on, which is peculiar to say the least.  So they decide to go down and investigate, and end up driving around in the Moon Buggy.

Be still my heart.

Well the lights are indeed on, and there are even people inside?  Actually not people, but aliens who have commandeered the old flight suits and used the left-over DNA inside to replicate the original Astronauts.  Not very well, but heck, they're trying.  They also want to combine all the LEMs, and make a super Spacecraft and invade the Earth!  Naturally Batman and Robin do not wish this to happen. Supes could handle this with one hand tied behind his back, but these two have to improvise and they do it very well. 

After a lot of fighting and bravery and sacrifice, Damian more or less saves Batman's bacon, and along with Titus they get back in their ship, and manipulate the cobbled up LEMS with the cobbled up Aliens, so that they land inside of the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii.  And that takes care of THAT! 

This was fun.  For a Space adventure, it involved the Earth and the Moon, and stuff that we are familiar with. I know that Damian and Batman have been to other planets and stuff, but it was nice to have an adventure in our own backyard, and see Damian's joy in bouncing around in a Moon Buggy.  With his Dog and his Dad.

Nice.

Convergence #0

Well...that was a bit on the confusing side.  Superman is imprisoned by Brainiac, and wants to save his home.  Different homes, different Supermen, and different Brainiacs.  And all the various multi-verses combining.  I guess that sums it up, but it was still a whole lot of...confusion.  But I guess this is the just the opening chapter, but still...I was a bit underwhelmed.

Superman needs a shave.

Gotham Academy: Endgame #1

I guess this is the Annual.  With all the Joker Venom infested people rioting, the School heads have locked down the school and are trying to keep the students safe.  So naturally, they sit around and exchange the scariest Joker stories that they know. 

And you know what? They're pretty scary!  Evil masks, evil performers, evil mirrors...there's a lot of evil, but it is fun, and well told, and well drawn, and that's all I really want. 

So very good.

Sinestro #1 Annual

So, Sinestro took over Mongul's old hangout to make a new home for the refugees from Korugar.  There is dissension in the ranks, Arkillo is feeling cranky, the Korugarians are feeling cranky, and Sinestro decides to take Lyssa, Bekka and Soranik and go wander around for a while, while telling origin stories for the two former, which is actually pretty interesting.  Oh, and we get a few more origin stories for some of the other members, such as Arkillo, Rigen Kale and Dez Trevius. 

While these are all pretty interesting, Soranik is worried that there is a traitor in their midst.  Also, someone has triggered a meltdown in the reactor core of their new headquarters ,which isn't a good thing.  Sinestro says he knows who it is, but naturally we won't find that little bit of information out until June. 

Dang it! 

Not a bad issue, and we got to see a little more history about the Sinestro Corps members, while Sinestro himself gets to wander around and be arrogant, which is what he does best.  So not bad at all.

The Convergence book was iffy, but actually the other three weren't bad, so I guess it was a better week than I thought!