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.