Thursday's Reviews

Not a bad week, all around.  Not superb of course, but those sorts of weeks only come rarely, in my experience.  But not bad.

Robin; Son of Batman#2

I was curious to see if Pat Gleason could write as well as he draws, and...he's doing pretty good!  We go from flashbacks, that have Damian dueling with Talia, and the kind of tests he has to undergo in his "Year of Blood", which is no doubt as ominous as it sounds, to the present, where he is trying to make up for the damage he caused during that year. 

Thanksgiving at the Al Ghul's must be incredibly awkward.  These are not fun people.

But we have Damian trying to restore an ancient temple, flying dragons, a sentient head, and help (or is it?) from Nobody's daughter, and it is quite the ride.  The art is spectacular of course, and the story is fun, and oh what the heck.

I like this book.

Doctor Fate #2

This has Khalid, a young man going to Med school, who has been talked into wearing the helmet by a talking cat, who, it turns out is actually the goddess Bastet, and being opposed by a really creepy version of Anubis.  Khalid is completely freaked out by all the wierdness of course, and mayhem ensues, and it's all pretty entertaining.  He's still in the stage of utter disbelief, which can get old pretty quickly, so I'm hoping that he actually starts to step up soon, but the art is quirky and fun, and I hope that he gets a cape soon.

Doctor Fate needs a cape.

Not bad at all.

Green Lantern: Lost Army #2

This continues to entertain me.  Our doughty little band of lost Lanterns happen to find a cool red pyrmid thingie floating in space, and after a bit of experimenting use it to charge their dwindling charges up to 200%!  That's good squishy!  They fight off another version of Rage Lanterns, although they aren't Lanterns, per se, and Guy saves John...naturally.  When they do use the pyramid to charge their rings, it changes from red to green, which is cool.

And then, they suddenly aren't being attacked by the "Cleaners" from the first issue, which considered them to be foreign, and invaders. They theorize that using the power from the pyramid has made them more in tune with their surroundings.  Then, they run into Relic of all people.  But not the Relic that they know, but the original Relic.

Which means...that they have somehow been transported not just in space, but in time?  Freaky!

Hey, it beats fighting Darkseid.

The art is gorgeous, and it has Guy in it, and Kilowog, so I'm happy as a clam.

Justice League  #42

Well, everyone is fighting the minions of Darkseid, and there is a whole lot of pontificating going on.  So...so much pontificating.  And Metron shows up, and Diana gets beat up, and Batman jumps in Metron's chair and becomes a God.

I kid you not.

I liked Geoff John's work on Green Lantern, where I think that he had an amazing run. But this...this I'm not really feeling so much.  In the good old days, the Justice League, in almost all of its versions, you had a sense that these people liked each other and worked together for the most part. Now, it seems as though they really don't even care for each other all that much.  There is no cameraderie, no witty banter, and frankly, I don't like this version of Darkseid all that much.

Meh.


Ant-Man Annual #1

Scott tries to bond with his henchmen, which doesn't really go as well as he hoped.  But it is highly amusing.  And then he teams up with Hank Pym  to fight Egghead, which is a hoot.  Also a nice young man who studied Pym's theories but can't get a job shows up as tech support, and I'm pretty sure he'll become a new supporting character. 

It's all very light-hearted and fun, and dammit, I am enjoying the crap out of the recent spate of fun books from Marvel.  Really, they are slowly winning me back after the whole Civil War debacle.  Although I don't like Secret Wars at all. 

But this is good. Very very good.

Hawkeye #22

And we finally come to the final issue of a ground-breaking series.  I have loved this run, and I'm sorry to see it end, although I do have to say that it did tend to peter out at the end. Having the new Hawkeye series come out before the end of the old one, was just...odd.

So, the Bros have taken over, and Barry is supposedly dead, and Clint is a mess, and the guy in the mime make-up is being mean, when Clint comes roaring back, and shoots arrows, and Kate shows up and shoots arrows, and Pizza dog bites a bad guy, but then gets shot, and Noooooo!  Not Pizza Dog!  And more mayhem and fighting,and shooting, and Clint gets shot, but it's only a flesh wound.

And they win!  The bad guys lose, the Avengers show up, the mysterious woman in red takes off, and an evil cabal of bad guys gets together with the Kingpin and they all vote to kill the Hawkeyes...including Kate's own father! 

That's harsh. 

Oh, and Barry isn't dead, he just stole all Clint's money. But Pizza Dog is okay, so that's good. And I will forever, picture Hawkeye with a bandaid on his nose, simply because of this book.

Pretty damn fabulous.

Where Monsters Dwell #3

This is silly. Oh so silly, but so much fun.  Phantom Eagle is trapped in an Amazon village, and they really really don't like him much, but Clemmie is up to the challenge.  It has dinosaurs and time-lost groups, and the art is great, and the dialogue is a hoot, because it is Ennis, after all, and oh heck...it's pretty ridiculous, and that is its charm.

Absolutely a hoot. 

Archie #1

I never in my wildest dreams figured I'd be picking up an Archie comic, but hey, it's Mark Waid and Fiona Staples, so how can I NOT pick it up? And it has Reggie in it, and I love Reggie. 

Archie and Betty have broken up, but we don't really know why, and all their friends are trying to manipulate them into getting back together, with the exception of Jughead, who actually may be the brains around this neck of the woods.  It's...pretty fabulous. 

Get it and read it! 

So...a pretty good week after all.  But man, DC had better start to step up to the plate.