Convergence week 8 (the final one!)

Man, I cannot believe I've managed to write about every single issue in this event.  I know some reviews have simply been 'I can't be arsed to write about this', but they are still words, about each and every comic.  Woo, go me, ect, ect.

Now to do the final week's batch.

Convergence: World's Finest 2
Not bad. The cartooning journalist is a high point, again.  Sir Justin is alright, but I prefer Sir Ystin from Paul Cornell's Demon Knights.  At least these guys are all heroes, acting heroically.  There's a couple of panels with Telos' giant hands too, which makes for a fun read,  Probably not a keeper though.
The We are Robin preview was dull.

Convergence: Justice Society of America 2
Also not bad.  The JSA are young again with all their powers, and easily defeat the enemy.  Then they lose their powers and get old again, giving us this panel:

This is not good art, because although the guys look marginally different (if you really look) you cannot tell who is who.

It's a shame, because the comic also has this crowd scene, which is a marvellous piece of comic art:

It was nice to see the old guys up and at it again, but I'm not sure whether this issue is worth keeping/  I def preferred Hawkman in the Convergence: Hawkman issues.

The preview is for Superman/Wonder Woman and it is violent and dull.  Supes looks rather like pre 52 Conner Kent and tells Diana he doesn't love her anymore.  I'm still not interested in this Truth storyline, despite Anj's praises for the first Greg Pak penned issue.  Sorry Anj, I'm just a cynic! Wondy has nice armour though.

Convergence: Action Comics 2
This was good, with a great Amanda Conner cover:

Seriously, how great is that?  Doesn't Peej look angry?  I love it.  Especially the stars around their feet. It's just really, really nicely designed.

The issue itself is also very strong.  Earth 2 (?) Peej (Kara) and Superman are fighting the Red Son universe Wonder Woman.  Lex Luthor is still bitter.  The characterisation for the Red Son characters are accurate and the two worlds are slotted together really nicely.  I really, really enjoyed this.  Keeper, obvs.

The back up preview is for Sinestro.  I flicked through it but didn't read it properly.

Convergence: Infinity Inc 2
The characters and setting for this comic feel so dated, yet I found myself enjoying it.  I'm not sure why, looking at the cover I can't quite recall what happened in it.  On reopening it I enjoy the sense of familiarity at the characters used, but it doesn't fill me with excitement.  Probably not a keeper then.

The backup is for Batgirl, which I'm already getting.  I didn't like the video game conceit of this preview, tho the art and plotting is good enough.

Convergence: Plastic Man and the Freedom Fighters 2
I'm still not understanding why Plas is with the Freedom Fighters.  But it reminds me that I did see this great Plastic Lady cosplay online today.
The Freedom Fighters look ridiculous, but that's not really what this comic is about.  It's about Plas stepping up and being a hero.  That makes this worth keeping, I think.

The backup preview is Harley Quinn.  Every month I enjoy the Harley comic, but I feel no affinity to it and no desire to keep it.  I pass it  on to a friend.  I cannot quite understand why it's so popular.

Convergence: Detective Comics 2
Earth 2 Huntress and Robin are up against Red Son Superman.  Supes doesn't want to fight but Huntress is all fists first, talk later.  Red Son Batman comes to their aid.  Like Action Comics, the characterisation of the Red Son Characters are spot on.  The art (and cover) is partly by Bill Sinkiewicz and it's wonderful. Def a keeper.

The preview is for the Flash, drawn by Brett Booth and it is ugly to look at.

Convergence: Booster Gold 2
I've lost track of which Booster this is.  Nevertheless, it's a fun issue until Booster turns into Waverider, which to my mind makes him far more serious with more gravitas than Booster should ever be given.  And the character design is stupid.  I'm going to keep the issue though.  The back up is for Earth 2: Society, with this terrible piece of Peej art:

I tweeted the picture and Escher Girls picked it up and will post it.  It's awful, in all sorts of ways.

Convergence: Crime Syndicate 2
I liked issue 1 far more than this.  This is mostly fights, coloured in a washed out palette that I can't decide if I like or not.  The Crime Syndicate are fighting Justice League Alpha, a future league from the 853rd century.  The character designs of Alpha WW and Alpha Aquaman are nice.  Alpha WW is the only left standing at the end of the issue.  I don't really care for this, it's uninspired, there's not passion.

The preview is for Cyborg and it's very new 52 ish.  Dull.

Convergence: Shazam 2
This comic is great.  It's homely.  It's like a bit warm hug, with thrills.  If you like Captain Marvel you should read it.

The preview is for Constantine, and although I don't know a lot about Constantine, I don't think the creators got his characters right.  I shan't be picking this up.

Convergence: Blue Beetle 2
I'm still baffled as to why Beetle is teaming up with Cap'n Shinypants and the Question.  They are fighting the Legion and there's misunderstandings galore and it looks like it's all going to pot, until Beetle and a Legionnaire hatch a plan and fool Telos into thinking one side has won.  Unlike the Crime Syndicate issue, this comic, full of costumed folk fighting, had soul in it.  Really good and definitely a keeper.

The preview was for Black Canary with art by Annie Wu.  It looks very nice, but it doesn't feel like 'my' Canary.  I've ordered issue 1 anyway.  I think this series won't last that long and if I don't get it I'll regret it.

Convergence 8
I did have a a lot of thoughts on this, mostly around the what the hell is happening variety, but it's been about 2 weeks since I read it and now I don't think I care.  I do like the choice of characters on the cover - Hal, pre Crisis Kara, Barry Allen, pre 52 Supes, Lois and son.  I think what has happened is that the first crisis may not have panned out the way we knew, Barry and Kara may still be alive, Clark, Lois and son are certainly alive somewhere, and Hal maybe didn't die.  All the earths referenced in Convergence and Multiversity are still around, or most of them anyway, and have continued to exist from when their relative timelines were last referenced in Convergence or Multiversity.  DC have said Convergence opens the doors for any and all stories to be told, continuity be hanged.  I don't think I'm really fussed about what happened. This is a dull story told with very little affection or love, but it did give us some cracking 2 issue minis.

Comic reviews: Convergence week 4 and lots others

So many comics to write about.  I'll try to keep each review brief.

Justice League 40
I bought this one for the boy band cover and obviously now want to watch Magic Mike, the film it is apparently from.  I did rather like the story too.  Metron is about and meets the anti monitor and all the crises are referenced.  At the end the Amazonian birthed anti-God turns up, which feels less stupid than it did in the WW FCBD story.

Multiversity 2
I think this reestablished the pre 52 Multiversity, with new universes, and established a group of protectors for it, including lady Aquaman.  It also has a panel of Vampire Wondy and Vampire Bats craving coffee.  Which is fun.

Superman 40
This is a very strange comic,  The JL are being written like they are all aged about 18 or 19, or younger.  The plot kind of works, but the way in which it's delivered is weird.  John Romita JR writes and pencils, and the pencils are bloody awful.

X-Men 26
The Krakoa storyline ended.  All but Rachel seem a bit bloodthirsty.  It's a reasonable ending, I suppose.

Bitch Planet 4
I adore this comic and the editorials.  Y'all should read it.

Princeless the Pirate Princess 4
Fecking wonderful, as ever, and Raven is confirmed queer. Love this,

FCBD offering from the CBLDF
This is a bit too much issue focused for me to really enjoy it. I'll pass it on.

FCBD offering: DC's Divergence
Ridiculous.  Commissioner Gordon is the new Batman in the Batsuit that looks like a Blue Beetle suit.  Lois has told the word Clark's secret.  An Amazonian fucked Darkseid and the child is the anti-God.  What a load of crap.

FCBD offering from Dark Horse
The Fight Club story was quite good.  I haven't bothered reading the other two.

FCBD offering from Boom studios
I've flicked through this and it looks good, but I haven't had the headspace to read it in totality.

Convergence 4
I can't be bothered to flick through this and re-acquaint myself.

Convergence: Shazam 1
One of the best Convergence books so far.  It has that innocence the Marvel family used to have, when they were unashamed at being written for kids.  It's got Sivana and Tawky Tawny but isn't written as a nostalgia trip - it's a genuinely good story and a good addition to Marvel canon.

Convergence: Blue Beetle 1
This is about Captain Shinypants, the Question and Blue Beetle, with a guest appearance by Booster.  Pretty Good, even with Shinypants in it.

Convergence: Crime Syndicate 1
Somehow I liked this.  I normally find the Crime Syndicate really really dull, but this was enjoyable.   Nice art too.

Convergence: Booster Gold 1
Pre 52 Booster meets New 52 Booster and if you like traditional Booster you'll like this issue.  the Legion of Superheroes turn up.  Fights ensue.  This was one of the highlights of this week's comics.

Convergence: Detective Comics 1
Helena Wayne and Dick Grayson from the earth where they are proper adult legacy heroes.  I liked their squabbling an the clear characterisation of all involved.

Convergence: Infinity Inc 1
I'm not clear on the background or history for this, but I quite enjoyed it.

Convergence: Plastic Man 1
I get the Freedom Fighters existing in a world where the Nazis won the war, I don't understand what Plastic Man is doing there.  Was he ever part of that world?  I did enjoy the comic and the Freedom Fighters as a team, so that's a job well done by the creators.

Convergence: World's Finest 1
This I did really enjoy.  It feels like a decent standalone story in it's own right.

Convergence: Action Comics 1
Another good one.  Like World's Finest, it simply works as a story by itself.

Convergence: Justice Society of America 1
This week turned out a bunch of corkers.  This feels like it was created by people with real respect for the JSA era and the main guys in the team.  Good work.

JLA Paradise Lost 1
I got this from the comic shop in Brugges in March, but forgot I'd bought it.  It was pretty good.  It has Zauriel in it trying to stop a fellow angel take over Heaven.

JLA Incarnations 6
Also from the Brugges comic shop.  This is the JLI at it's finest and it much better than the Convergence JLI issue.  The first story is led by Booster and Beetle, and proves why they shouldn't be allowed to roam around unsupervised.  The second story is led by Captain Shinypants when he's on Extreme Justice and just proves that team is rather incompetent.  Worth reading for the JLI story.

Superman Krypton Chronicles 1 and 2
These are really good fun, and a bit batshit.  Plot holes a aplenty but as they aren't meant to be serious, who cares?  Clark is asked by the Daily Planet boss to put together an article on Krypton's history, so Clark has to travel to Kandor with Supergirl, now on the planet Rokyn, to meet with Supergirls parents and learn about Kryptonian history.  It's all a bit unhinged, but it allows the writers to have fun, and so the reader has fun too.  The reasoning for getting Kryptonian's history seems a bit bandwagon jumping though:

Superman Confidential issues

These are a great set of issues, and it's a great run.  Superman stories where he's being heroic from different stages of his life.  It's only 14 issues long and the ones I picked up were written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, who nearly always turn out reliably solid work, with the later issues pencilled by Phil Hester, who I adore.

Superman issues, pre 52 ones

One is a Christmas issue which I recall liking a lot, one is a one year later one that I already had, but forgot about and because it had Supergirl on the cover I bought it again.  She's barely in it.

The Adventures of Superman Annual 1997

I'm always disappointed by these pulp heroes annuals that don't have a pulp themed story.  Upon reading this it occurred to me that perhaps it's just that I don't know what it meant by 'pulp'.  The letters section was intriguing as everyone was complaining about the blue and red Superman.  It reminded me of all our kvetching about Supes' new solar flare power.  Oops.  Perhaps we should just roll with it...

Blue and Gold together for life

I did a google image search for green arrow dcau figure and this picture came up, on this website: http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2012/07/20/feature-fanart-friday-dc-comics-edition.  It's by this person:
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=11749449

This was nearly a super sexy saturday post, but I then decided it's too cute to be sexy.  More affectionate than sexy.

(and yes, I may have more time on my hands now so you may see a whole lot more blogging from me.  or you may not. we'll see.)

Making fun of Batman

SallyP over at Green Lantern Butt's Forever posted this great sketch of Booster and and Beetle:

She has also written a great post on why you shouldn't have to prove your nerd credentials, which just shows how great Sally is.  You all should go over there and take a look.

Wow! I don't think I've ever OMG'ed so much over one book

It's review time.  Spoilers ahead for Green Lantern Corps #42, Booster Gold #26, Action Comics #883, Titans #19, Red Robin #6 and Green Arrow/Black Canary #26.
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Green Lantern Corps #42
Oh my starry nights.  I did not expect that.  Pretty much like everyone else I was somewhat stunned.  I then decided to re-read the GLC Blackest Night issues and now the whole thing makes a lot more sense.  GLC is not an ideal book to just pick up and dive into.  But back to #42..
All the threads from issues 39 to 41 have now converged with horrific results.  Dead children attacking the Corps!  Indigo Lantern Munk joining the Green Lanterns to fiht off the dead!  I particularly like that the Indigo Corps are not sappy and friendly to everyone.  They may be the colour of compassion but they have a solid core to them and are quite capable of being angry.
The panel with the children demanding 'Feed us' made me chuckle.
Poor Kilowog - he's taken the reappearence of his mentor and the death of his recruits rather badly.
Soranik's hand was stuck in dead Lantern Jade's head - Kyle blasting her out was a veyr nice bit of team work.
Then, the double page spread of the Black Lanterns descending on the Green Power Battery!  Oh my.  Oh that is a powerful image.  The cropping of the scene, with the black blocks across the top and bottom reinforces the cinematic aspect of the story, and criminy, it does work well.
The Black Lanterns form a dark construct to lift and break into the power battery..a red lantern is released and goes apeshit on the black lanterns..and this is where I got a bit lost.  Not knowing Green Lantern lore all that well I don't understand why an alpha lantern has a power battery inside them.
At any rate, this uber power battery is compromised and is set to explode..and then..oh Kyle!

What a heroic death.  My favourite kind of death.  Some wonderful panels showing the event itself - these artists are really very good - and no qualms or questions from Kyle.  He knows what he's got to do and he does it with a little knowing grin on his face.  I know he'll be back - and that doens't diminish the quality of his death.

Oh Kyle.  I may not know you very well but I am greatly saddened and shocked by your death.

Booster Gold #26
Bought for the return of (Black Lantern) Ted Kord.  I shall get next issue but this won't be put back on my pull list.  It was good readings, and it was nice to see Ted's funeral and to get an insight into Booster's feelings at the time.  I particularly liked Booster calling out the other heroes for their ill treatment of Ted, even if it was only his head.

Ted is (most) excellent as a Black Lantern.  I feel a little aggrieved that there is no Blue Beetle back up this issue though.  I could have done without the JSA All Stars preview.

I didn;t get a ring this week.  Apparently the rings don't hit the UK till next week.  Does DC think we are the ugly ginger stepchild or something?  I didn't pick up REBELS but i'm really hopeful I'll be given an orange and indigo ring next week.


Action Comics #883
I'm very glad I haven't dropped this.  What an uplifting cover.  Chris and Thara's relationship is lovely to behold.  Chris is so damn proud of Thara, well they are both equally proud of each other.  I'm enjoying seeing the little tricks they are using with their powers - Thara 'kissing' the firey being and putting out his flames with ice breath.  I'm relaly enjoying getting to know Chris an Thara.

Back at the Planet, Jimmy Olsen's sort of girlfriend goes looking for him and admits to Perry that she hasn't seen him for ages and is worried.  Am I correct in thinking that Jimmy is siupposedly dead?

This sleeper agent, Jax-Ur, is an interesting one.  I've no idea if we are supposed to know who he is but he's got my attention.

Captain Atom's backup feature was ok.

Titans #19
Bought because the cover intrigued me.  Not a bad read.  Lian is quite adorable - I'm a fan of parent-child relationships in comics.  I don't understand what happened to Lady Vic's trousers.  One page she's fighting Speedy and is clothed, the next page her trews have magically disspeared and she's wearing a thong.  Next page she's dressed again.  WTF?

The teachers at the school are rather rubbish aren't they?  Thankfully Mia arrives to save the day and pick up Lian.  Roy eventually arrives home and starts painting Lian's bedroom, as he promised at the start of the book.

All in all a nice snapshot into Arrow family life but I won't be buying this regularly.

Red Robin #6
I have a feeling that the Red Robin books will read better collected as a trade.  At the moment each issue is a bit slow going.  I am enjoying them , but I am a big Tim Drake fan.  I don't know what the more casual reader would make of this series.  I am intrigued by this Spider faction and I have a feeling that in the long run this will be an aborsbing and engrossing read.
We get some reference to continuity as we learn that the Batman: Blackest Night events took place between RR issues 5 and 6.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #26
Well, that was an odd setup. The back up section came first and we get about 5 pages of Oliver daydreaming he's meeting himself back on the island he was shipwrecked on, then a prompt stating ' Not the end! Turn the page for what goes down next!'
You know, after just 5 or 6 pages of a book that's clearly at least 22 pages long, I hadn't thought I'd got to the end.
The art in this first section is great, with the parts on the island being the best.  The colours really work well in these panels, and really complement the scratchy feel of the pencils.

Back to the main section and the art has changed, but still works.  This time I see it's Renato Guedes doing the pencils, with Jose Wilson Magalhaes.  That would explain why I like it so much!  Guedes is a great penciller.  His gives his characters builds and faces, you can see their personality in their bodies.  He draws Mia very aquiline.  My only complaint is Dinah's costume is unzipped to below her breasts.  Shame on you Guedes.  You did so well at making Supergirl look like a normal humanoid being, without sexualising her, I cannot see why you are involved with this.  On the plus side, her costume does at least cover her arse.

The story itself is fine.  Everyman is somehow back from the dead and he thinks he's Olliver Queen.  Dinah knew, without needing a test, which one is her real husband, which is as it should be.  I'm sure we'll find out in time how Everyman survived Bat's exhaustive autopsy.

DC's editorial said that there would be a Super addition to the Teen Titans.  As much as I expect it will be Superboy I've used it as an excuse to set up a poll (on the right, below the about me box).  Which team do you reckon Kara should join?

Currently listening to: Patti Smith - Gone Again and Morcheeba - Big Calm

No revenants, no super folks, just your everyday heroes

To the last of this week’s reviews. Spoilers head for Booster Gold #23, Green Arrow/Black Canary #23, Red Robin #3. Here’s a hint: Only one of these books was worth reading.
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Booster Gold #23
The only good thing about this was the cover. As of the next time I visit the comic shop this titled will be dropped. Next.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #23
The first of the proper split issues – last month’s issue had GA as the back up. Or maybe they’ll be switching it around every so often?

Like The Adventure Comics stories it seems like the main and second feature will overlap. This makes sense for GA/BC as they are married so you would expect their stories to crossover. We start with GA bitching about Dinah asked him to stop being Green Arrow, thereby spectacularly missing the point of her complaint. She was asking him to stop being so violent, not stop being a hero. He has been very violent over the last few years: instead of pinning some criminal to the ground through their clothes he’ll put an arrow through their arm. That’s not heroic. As much as I love Ollie that’s definitely verging on the side of vengeance, not Justice. At the end of the story Dinah comes to the rescue and knocks out the villain with a boot to the head. Very very cool. Ollie and Dinah act like a team and Dinah leaves with Cupid, taking her to safety.

As for Dinah’s story, we see her by herself beating herself up for the Discord incident. It makes sense that she’s by herself because her and Ollie have just had a pretty big fight. It also make sense that she’s rebuking herself for the Discord incident – it reminded me of when she was getting all guilty about Sin during her solo mini series. As much as I didn’t like her decision there we are seeing continuity in her characterisation.

Anyway, Wildcat turns up and tells Dinah to quit feeling bad. She then gets a call from Ollie where all is awkward due to their fight and she goes to meet him where we cut to 20 minutes later and it seems like Ollie has been blown up. The last 2 panels are of both Cupid and Dinah going Babe? As they seen the exploded building, followed by some not very impressed looks at each other. So this is how we get to Cupid and Dinah being on the run and working together. It makes sense. I wonder if all those nay sayers who were bitching about the solicit a few months back will be retracting their statements?

I must say I do like Cupid. I also liked the panel arrangement for Ollie’s story and the art for Dinah’s. The inker on Ollie’s story had gone a bit over the top I think – too much black, not enough texture.
Overall, this issue gets a big thumbs up.

Red Robin #3
Ahh Timmy. You are an angry little thing aren’t you? Like Booster Gold, this book had a great cover but the issue itself didn’t do a lot for me. Cassie turns up and Tim shuts her out. Last issue he shut out the Spoiler. Next issue I’ll betcha anything he shuts out Connor. What’ll happen when Bart turns up? Couldn't they have done all this in one issue?

I’m a bit confused as to why Tim in civilian clothes and Tim in the Red Robin suit have such different builds. Maybe the suit has 5 extra layers added?

I do appreciate the English girl using British slang, and getting it right. She sounds like me and my mates. Tim doesn’t seem to like her cursing, which is odd cos so far she’s just said knob. Don’t you American guys call it swearing over there?

The art is enjoyable – Cassie looks very fresh faced and cute, as does Tim. I’m betting this penciller would do a cute Kara.

Overall, this issue wasn’t too great. But it remains on my pull list because I liked the first two issues and I’m willing to give Tim quite a long chance.

Reviews part 7: The what makes a good (comic) story edition?

Covering comics from last week, herein lies spoilers for Red Robin #2, Superman World of New Krypton #5, Booster Gold #22, Green Arrow/Black Canary #22 and Buffy #26.

I feel like I’ve been reviewing so much lately it’s getting a bit tiresome. Due to this, I have taken a themed approach to this week’s reviews, apologies if it’s a bit wanky.

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What makes a good story? Everyone has their own tastes and definitions but I reckon that there are also common defining traits. You want engaging characters, you want an interesting plot, you want something to excite you and there’s that age old cliché – you want conflict. Of course, each individual defines this in their own way, which leads to all the differences in opinion.

Take Red Robin #2. nevermore999 didn’t like this issue. She feels that Tim is a complete ass. I agree, he is moody, rude, disrespectful and possibly having a little breakdown. He’s completely isolated from other heroes and this issue shows that he’s doing that on purpose.

Now, nev doesn’t say whether she thinks the issue is good or not, and i’m not going to assume anything, I’m more using her post as a jumping off point. To me, even though Tim is an ass, I think it’s a good issue. It’s illuminating (darkening?) to see how far Tim is pushing those closest to him away, and it also shows how much support he does have, should he choose to utilise said support. We are again shown Tim’s fighting skills, deduction skills and vigilante methods (the voice). With Bruce gone I think we need to see how Tim is growing into a darker identity – the costume was the first indication of this, now we’re getting the other day to day stuff. I think Tim’s anger with Steph spying on him reinforces this.

For once the cover to this book enhances the story inside. We see Tim-as-Robin fighting Spoiler, in the light, we also see Tim-as-Red-Robin fighting ninjas, in the dark. So he’s fighting everyone, in both aspects of his life.

So, this comic shows that you can still have a good story without liking the protagonist.

Superman: World of new Krypton is a different beast. Whereas Red Robin is an ongoing and therefore has more time to build plot and character etc, this book is a maxi series and has to move the plot along to a pre-determined end, within a set number of issues. Whereas Red Robin was reinforcing Tim’s ‘new’ character, brought about because of the recent events in Gotham, this Superman book has a whole new world to show us. We need to get to know, in a short space of time, as many characters as facets of Kryptonian society as possible. This issue brings us a lawyer, insights into dissident factions of Krypton, the trial system, new knowledge of how much Kal-El inspired his fellows, a traitor, the hope of a new planet and an assassination. Each factor listed above is dealt with clearly and concisely, so despite this being a packed issue nothing is confused and everything serves a purpose.

This book is borrowing much from the Superman films – I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to get chills when viewing the trial scene for the first time. The artist and inker have done a fabulous job in reflecting the mood of the text – the trial scenes are so dark and gloomy and the last few pages when the dome is lifted are so colourful and gentle, perfectly in keeping with the mood of events being depicted.

Booster Gold 22 is an exercise in nostalgia. This issue is produced for old school Titans fans and is mostly all fight. There’s not a lot of depth, there’s no insight to the characters and nothing is resolved. It may appeal to the aforementioned Titans fans but it’s not got a lot of substance. Verdict: Interesting characters, bikinis and a couple of fight scenes doth not a good story make.

Wednesday Comics is the new format comic from DC. What Booster Gold failed to do in a normal length book Wednesday Comics does in nearly all 14 of it’s one page stories.

The Supergirl strip introduced us to the action with a father and kid looking at puppies, giving us a human angle to countermand Kara’s Streaky and Krypto chase, and threw in some humour to boot.

The Hawkman strip uses very few words, most of which consist of ‘flap’ but conveys a sense of loyalty and unstoppableness from the Hawks that left me intrigued as to how it will play out.

Metamorpho is an example of an author having a blast writing something. Gaiman has such a feel for the style he’s emulating you can’t help but smile at it.

Wonder Woman is very surreal and stands out amongst the other stories because it’s very ethereal and because it depicts a much younger Diana than we are used to seeing.

I won’t go through any more, but will conclude by saying that this format showcases the variety of comic writing and art styles and gives us 14 examples of how to write comics without pandering to continuity.

Continuity brings us neatly onto Green Arrow/Black Canary #22. Looking to the stars hates this issue. I think this is chiefly because of the retconning of Dinah’s origin and the way she has been written out of character. I do not believe that this makes it a bad story in itself, although I do accept that it may be considered a bad story in view of years of continuity.

It is the concluding story of the deaf arc which has featured a lot of one Dinah Lance. I have previously written about how I thought this book was rubbish because of it’s failure to live up to the shared name, that if it was called Green Arrow it would have been fine, but with a double billing you need to reflect the title in the plotlines. That’s now been fixed, just before they revert to calling it Green Arrow and give Black Canary her back up feature.

I have enjoyed this storyline, despite the retconning of Dinah’s teenage years. I am happy for retcons to occur, believing that what is written at the time is correct for the character and to say otherwise if fan entitlement, which isn’t for me. I’m more concerned about whether the plot is done well, regardless of whether it is a good idea or not. I think the flashbacks to teenage Dinah are done well, the relations between Ted, Di senior and Di junior are believable and what’s more the art fits. Young Dinah looks like adult Dinah.

Discord’s origin was done well, Dinah’s saving of herself and Discord from the roof explosion did her credit and showcased her as a hero. The parallels between her teenage self and her adult self were drawn, although to what purpose I’m not sure. As it is, that particular aspect and one other are the only faults I have with the story.

In order to make a story good you need to have everything in place, it needs to flow and what you don’t want is for something to jump out at the reader and make them go wtf. If that happens is spoils the story. My wtf moment in this issue was the discussion between Discord and his brother about deafness.

Discord: What I do cannot be considered true hearing. The device I am wearing, of my own design, transmits audio information directly into my brain, bypassing my damaged hearing organs. Yes, I hear, but the sound in my mind is gritty and coarse. It has been stripped of tone and poetry. And beauty.
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Brother: This could revolutionise the world for the hearing impaired. Deafness could be cured.

Three problems – firstly, the effect of what Discord is describing sounds very similar to a cochlear implant. Which is quite a small thing, certainly not a great hulking piece of machinery strapped to your arm and head. They’ve been around quite a long time.
Secondly, due to the existence of the cochlear implant this makes the brother’s comment redundant. Thirdly, Deafness doesn’t need to be cured. In fact, ‘curing’ Deafness could be tantamount to linguistic and cultural genocide. It looks to me like the writer has done fuck all research on Ddeafness. This exchange threw me out of the story and will discolour it for me.

The back up story, of Green Arrow this issue, presumably because the main story was about Black Canary, had Dinah confront Ollie about his violence. This has been a long time coming and is one of the nice things about comics – because they are such a long running media you can tie everything together and seemingly innocent words or actions can be shown to have great value at a much later date.

Buffy # 26 is part of season 8 and in a similar manner to DC comics has a lot of back story and universe history to build upon. Sadly, it is not doing such a good job of this as GA/BC. I have lost sense of the overall plot, the art is horrible and I have no idea where this is going. I don’t have a feel for it the way I have a feel for the TV based seasons. The writing isn’t too shit hot and the odd quips that are thrown in can seem rather forced. There are a few humourous moments but these are mainly reminiscent of incidents in previous, not a new action/event/piece of dialogue that occurred due to where the plot is now.

A (very) personal niggle about Buffy season 8 is that every issue I am liking the art less and less. In the comics medium this is going to be a problem. To get something really outstanding, you need to have that match between the dialogue, plot and art, and you need all 3 areas to be good. For me, the art just isn’t very good. This throws me out of the experience (much like the Ddeaf stuff in GA/BC).

So, now I conclude. In my own (highly personal and definitely subjective opinion) I think what makes a comic good is the juxtaposition of good art/dialogue/plot, believable characterisation and relationships and research. Sometimes this believability can exist only for that story arc (GA/BC), sometimes it comes from building on years of character history (Red Robin).

Incorporating a fight or other popular characters is not always a recipe for a good comic. As much as I’m keen on explosions and high kicking ninja shenanigans they don’t mean a lot if there isn’t any substance behind it.

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Thank you for reading this exercise is self importance. Ooh heck, I feel like a bit of a wanker now. Crumbs.

Coming out in comics, or, I take my slash where I can find it: Booster Gold

From the Formerly Known as the Justice League mini. Worth a gander.

We know that Booster is not averse to the male form, at least his own, so it’s not too much to extrapolate him having feelings for Beetle. Especially when you back it up with the bottom 3 panels from Extreme Justice 14:


Although now I think about it it's fairly obvious that the Formerly Known as mini was building on all aspects of the earlier JLA stuff.

It’s the ultimate man-cave!

Featuring spoilers for Spider-Man and the Black Cat trade, Booster Gold #21 (+ Blue Beetle back up), Action Comics #878, the Flash Rebirth #3 and Red Robin #1
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Spider-Man and the Black Cat trade, comprising issues 1 – 6

I think you all know that I don’t usually read Marvel, but I saw this trade in the second hand shop and plumped for it. I’ve always had a soft spot for Spider-man - for years he was my favourite superhero, despite not reading comics or watching any animated shows, and the boyfriend bought me a wall hanging of Spidey vs Venom. I have been aware of the Black Cat for a number of years and have really liked the look of her – white hair and an awesome costume. So when I saw this trade and noticed the writer is Kevin Smith with art and colours by Terry and Rachel Dodson I went with it.

Boy am I glad I did this is a bloody great book. Kevin Smith rocks, I loved his Green Arrow stuff and he has got a pretty good handle on these two. Black Cat is awesome – she’s flirty and glamorous and oh so cool and I am more than a little in love with her. The art is strong on the cheesecake and the low cut wardrobe but that’s part of who she is, it’s not gratutitous.

Hell, even the paper this is printed on is really nice, it’s quite thick, not quite card but definitely not thin like, say Dc’s Teen Titans trades.

Parts 1 to 4 are all very lighthearted and fun. Spidey and Felicia are on different cases but bump into each other when their leads take them to the same man. They then team up and there is much flirting and griping about how their previous relationship ended. They continue tracking down the bad guy, Garrison, Felicia decides to go directly for Garrison and leaves Spidey tied up so he can’t stop her. She then gets caught in a trap and arrested. Spidey gets Daredevil on side to help bust Felicia out only to find out that she’s already gone.

This brings us to part 5, Felicia has been teleported away by the brother of the bad guy and this is when it stops being quite so lighthearted. Felicia and the brother, Francis, are talking on a rooftop, I assume they already know each other, and it turns out Francis had been sexually abused by Garrison, his brother, for years, since childhood. Kevin Smith must have had an agenda writing this because there is a discussion on the motives behind abuse, the ‘fault’ of the victim, statistics on rape in America, the feelings after the abuse, how to deal with it and move on from it and the role of the police. It is also revealed that Felicia was raped at University (this had nothing to do with her decision to become the Black Cat).

It’s powerful stuff, it’s upsetting stuff. Not an easy read but really well done. Definitely recommended and if there are any more of these trades I’m gonna be hunting them down.

Booster Gold #21 feat. Blue Beetle back up.
More fun from Mr Jurgens. The title of this post comes from this issue and is spoken by Booster when he gets back to the Batcave. He has a point. I want a giant dinosaur. Good issue and Booster’s next task it to back in time and save Nightwing from the black Beetle who has just killed him. Should be fun.

The BB back up was also good and makes me wish that I’d bought the BB ongoing. Oh well. Jaime gets to fight a giant robot named Thinko. The fight goes on for three hours, much to the chagrin of his friends. Thinko is destroyed but a new threat in the form of an army of Unimate robots arrive declaring the human race imperfect and therefore in need of cleansing from earth. How does the dude who designed Unimate know that he’s not going to be destroyed after everyone else has been killed? Everyone knows robots can easily turn on their masters.

Action Comics #878
Again with the advertising for children’s books. The inside cover features an ad for fluffy children’s book with characters named Tumtum and Nutmeg (mice), Haggy Aggy and a book titled Jurassic Grampa and The Mousehunter. It even has a quiz titled ‘What (book) fits your personality best?’ which indicates to me that they think kids are reading the comic. Yet in the first few pages we see the bad guys land near an old lady’s house, ask about the state of her bed, kill her, destroy the house and have sex on her bed with the lady’s still frozen body next to them.

Not a kid’s comic!

As for the rest of the comic, not bad. Thara looks rather young in this, but that makes sense as her and Chris are revealed to be in relationship, and if she was in her mid 20s, as she’s looked in other books, that would be wrong and weird. As it is they make a lovely couple.

The art is good. Basic, not much detailing, but good. I really like Chris’ golden band round his forehead.

The Flash Rebirth #3
Wow, this was so much better than the previous two issues. No more long flashbacks (arg!), we’re actually dealing with the here and now. The first page featuring the puppets looked great. I really like how they are using representations of the heroes to move the story along.

Bart arrives and asks Barry if he knows anything about Max. Unfortunately he doesn’t. I’m really glad they are bringing that up and not just forgetting about Max Mercury. The power of the Black flash courses through Barry and he has to tell the other Flashes to run in order to save themselves. He then screams for Hal to get him out of the area. I think this is a really great touch – it shows how implicitly they trust each other and how well they work together.

Barry then asks to be let out and decides to run back to the speed force as he doesn’t belong back on earth and he doesn’t want to endanger those he loves. Superman races beside him and tries to talk him out of it. Flash easily outraces Supes. As it should be.

Barry runs to the speed force and meets Max Mercury and Johnny Quick there. Johnny is seemingly destroyed when he touches Barry but then we see it is actually the Reverse Flash who has done this. Obvious villain? Maybe, but it works, it fits. I like it. And I’m really hoping for them to bring Max back.

Red Robin #1
It’s Tiiimmmmmy! Oh yeah, I’m happy :D
My wallet and my shelf space won’t be happy as I see this is an ongoing, but I’m happy.

I hate the costume. It’s awful and doesn’t look like Tim. I can see why they’ve chosen that one, but I think it’s crap. Tim angsts some more, but I think he’s entitled to it. His world just keeps falling apart bit by bit. Family and friends all die, then Bruce his adopted father dies, and then Dick takes away the Robin costume. I mean, he’s only a teenager and we’ve seen his unstable tendancies, caused by grief – futureTim and attempting to clone Connor, so you’d think Dick would be drawing him into the fold and letting him know he’s loved. Or no he just gets pushed out. Dick Grayson, you suck. Tim needs to be with people, not be isolated. He now thinks all he’s got is Bruce Wayne and lord knows that man isn’t a healthy parental figure.
Hopefully Steph will catch up with him properly and he’ll get some support from her. Or Bart and Kon will come find him.

In with the new

Here follows reviews and spoilers for The Flash: Rebirth #2, Action Comics # 877, Robin annual #2, Booster Gold #20, and the Star Trek movie (which will be the last item so hopefully anyone who hasn’t seen it yet can easily avoid that part).

The Oracle mini is going to get it’s own post, once I’ve re-read it and digested everything. I doubt a second reading is going to bring it into a positive light.
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The Flash: Rebirth #2
The wall painting on the first page is lovely! I think that's my favourite bit of art in the book. I am really liking the role of this painting and am very intrigued as to how the gorillas are doing it.
I think the Russian lady speedster is from Wally's run as the Flash. We haven't seen her in aaaages, she's good though. Unfortunately she's now dead. Damn.
The flashback (haw!) to Barry's pre speed life was interesting, especially the origin of the bow tie and Iris's pursuit of him. Does he really say Flash fact? Isn't that incredibly pompous?
Bart was in just one panel (unless you count the wall painting), but the characterisation and art was spot on, for Bart himself and for Bart and Tim's relationship. 'Lil Iris and Jai were pretty cute too.
We finish the issue with Barry becoming the new Black Flash. In-ter-est-ing.

This was also the issue I noticed the speedsters have different eye colours. Sometimes, I'm slow.

All these adverts for blackest night promising a zombie Aquaman has resulted in me caving and I've placed the mini on standing order.

Action Comics # 877
Lovely cover, but I'm at a loss as to what it's got to do with the plot in the book. I'm really not keen on the art in the book. My tastes have changed and I find the pencils, done by Sidney Teles, to be a bit standard. The colouring is nice, done by Rod Reis, but again, a bit standard. Nothing special. It's all very 00s (as opposed to say 80s or 90s). Good issue, plotwise, though. We see some new Kryptonians robbing banks, I guess they are living on earth, because whyn else would they need earth money? Then again, if they are living on earth they are being a bit stupid because they'll get caught pretty soon. They may have murdered all witnesses but I'm fairly sure the DCU has CCTV.

Onto the DC Nation page, and we see a lush picture of Superboy, Connor Kent, flyignt owards us. It seems he'll be starring in Adventure Comics along with the Legion. So that'll be another title to add to my pull list then.

Now, right at the back of this issue was an advert for a kids book titled My Unwilling Witch goes to Ballet School. This strikes me as an odd advert for this comic, as I didn't think the comic was that (little) kids friendly. Am I wrong? It's published by Little, Brown who do 'books for young readers', and they also have a word search at the front of the book. Surely there are better books to advertise in than this one? Maybe, oh I don't know, any of the Johnny DC lines. Do they get any sales from these ads? Why would they advertise if they didn't get any sales?

Robin annual #2
I found this in a second hand shop the other day. It's a good read, a little dated in places - it features a group of hackers called the psyba-rats who are apparently also elite athletes, although they don't look remotely athletic. The group are of course led by a girl, and there's a spotty red headed geeky guy, and a fat black kid with glasses and it all reeks of tokenism. But, if you get past that, it's a good read. Especially if you're a fan of Tim Drake, because, y'know, the book is about him. Ahem.

Booster Gold #20
Written by Keith Giffen, him of the excellent Justice League run. Giffen would account for the Bwa ha ha ha from Booster and the enjoyable sniping between Booster and Rip. Good stuff.
In the story, the chronosphere has stalled and Rip is fixing it, Booster is bored and so shoots off to the 1950s to meet the Fonz. Instead he lands near an army base and gets involved with the Suicide Squad. He assists in the infiltration of the lab of a Russian scientist who also happens to be a Soviet spy, and prevents a space flight that would have screwed up the space-time continuum had it been successful. And it is as that point that I love this issue because it turns out the four pilots in the space rocket are the Fantastic 4, before they became fantastic!

Ok so it doesn't call them by name but that's definitely the Fantastic 4. Johnny Storm even makes a fire pun.

Lastly the other great thing about this is once Rip's got the time sphere fixed he brings Booster to the 1950s that Booster wanted and he gets to walk into a diner, hit the jukebox and go Eyyyy! With the thumbs and everything. And the girls in the diner think he's a jerk. Ha. good stuff.

And for my final piece..the Star Trek movie.
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It was fun! Fun fun fun! I'm not a big Trekkie, although I have seen all the movies and lots of The Next Generation and Voyager, I don't remember all the continuity details and I can't discuss it in depth. I mostly find Star Trek do to be fun easy entertainment. It's not groundbreaking but it's a pretty enjoyable way to pass the time.

This movie is really about Kirk and Spock, which was to be expected I guess, that's who everyone is interested in. Having said that all the other (main) cast members got their chance to shine and excel in their respective fields - doctoring, engineering, languages etc. They all had something to do that was important to the plot, no one was extraneous.

Now, onto Uhura. She is of course wearing the minidress. I have not got such a problem with that but it appears that Starfleet uniform for women is all miniskirts. Fuck. Off. How about giving them the options of a longer skirt or trousers instead of forcing them to look teh sex-ay.
Mini skirts are physically restricting - in order not to flash your nether regions to the world you have to be careful how you sit. You don't get that with trousers. *gnashes teeth*

They also put Uhura and Spock into a romantic relationship, and I didn't mind, in fact I thought it gave more depth to the story. Usually in movies women are just the love interests and not a lot else (hello there Watchmen), but in Star Trek the love storyline didn't restrict Uhura and actually added more to Spock. So yeah, it was great.

I remember a documentary on Star Trek on the telly, probably about 15 years ago. A black actress was talking about how when she was a kid in the 60s Star Trek was the only tv show that her folks would let her watch, because it was the only one that featured a black person not as a maid. I imagine they may also have been impressed that the universe of Star Trek they had black folks in the future.
Anyway, after the lady had spoke about this the show cut to a white bloke talking about Uura. He disparaged her as a glorified telephone operator and therefore not really important and said he didn't understand why people make such a fuss or thought it was such a great achievement that there was a black woman on the show. Yeah, I know, idiot.
Finally and moving on to my point, I thought it was really good that the film was explicit about Uhura's exceptional language skills. Glorified telephone operator my ass.

Easter comics DC edition - Supergirl Cosmic Adventures/Supes New Krypton/Booster Gold

(Fuck, I'm so behind. This post was written Monday I think....)

Due to busyness at work and Good Friday being a bank holiday I didn’t get my comics until Saturday and didn’t get a chance to read them until Sunday, after my sister had left for the weekend. Turned out there as a lot of spoilers to avoid on the internet so it’s a good thing I was too busy entertaining to be online. Onwards..

Booster Gold #19
As mentioned in an earlier post this has a very suggestive cover. Check out the eyes. It reminds me of the Buffy episode with 2 Xanders when Anya suggests keeping them both around for a threesome. Booster Gold: Now with 100% more innuendo.
I enjoyed the juxtaposition of younger Booster with older Booster. I also liked Rip Hunter’s blackboard with comments re current DC events (Vigilante, Oracle, Batman and Robin). Those are fun.

I am not enjoying Michelle’s breakdown. She hasn’t been brought back to life from the dead, she was plucked out from the time stream just before she died. She didn’t die. Why is she going a bit insane? I appreciate it could be a headfuck but I thought she’d got the hang of time travel by this point?

Genuine question: Have I missed something to explain her freakouts? Did she, in her own personal timeline, actually die? Also, to show my ignoramity, how long has she had magnetism powers for and where did they come from?

This issue had another Power Girl #1 preview. I really hope these previews get the series lots of readers. Now if they’d done a similar push for Manhunter, or even something like a smaller scale version of the Flash: Rebirth splashes then maybe Manhunter would have had more readers. Having said that, the back ups have probably been in the bag quite a while which would explain why they let the series die a death.

Superman: World of New Krypton #2
Of 15? FIFTEEN? Where was I when the observance skills were handed out? I thought this was a 12 issue run.
Kal is looking rather fetching in this series, it’s the new black and grey suit. Nice, very nice. The Guardians of Oa discuss the new planet, thereby sowing the seeds for Hal and Kal’s face off, and reminding me that they don’t all look the same. Until I bought the GL Corps book the other week I was convinced the little blue dudes were identikit, like multiple triplets or something.

Kal meets his army squad people, (or Red Sharp tactical Response Unit if you want to be accurate) including his second in command, Asha Del-Nar. I like her. We’d better get to know her as there’s something incredibly…resonant? captivating? there. Anyway, upon Kal meeting his squad they are performing an initiation ceremony on Non, involving some kind of porcupine/lion cross. Non looks quite frankly terrified. I’d always thought of Non as evil, this issue leads me to believe he’s not, just mentally retarded (apologies if that’s the wrong term). Kal calms the cat animal down and bollocks his squad.

We next see Kal with Alura, who’s looking far more serene, albeit with a weird head ornament. Lovely white dress and black/gold cloak though. She is definitely not mad or vicious this issue, thankfully. Kara also arrives, sporting a new way of wearing her cape. Instead of tucking it in around the neckline of her top, she’s brought each edge in to meet in the centre of her collarbones. It looks good. Kara also seems less stressed this issue and is reveling in the family being together again.

Next there is an issue with escaped crazed animals which Kal solves bloodlessly, and then a hostage situation involving the Labour Guild and privileged folks, which looks like it could be solved with the very bloody deaths of 30 people.

It strikes me that this issue was very good at bringing new readers in and building up the personalities of the main characters. Kal’s method of resolving the bullying of Non and the crazed animals shows his fair and compassionate side. Zod’s handling of the new Kryptonian weapon and his reaction to the animal incident and the hostage situation shows his malevolence. I’ve already said how Non’s depiction surprised me. This pleases me, and as someone who has loved Superman all her life but has only started reading the books recently I think it has been done really well.

There wasn’t much of Kara or Alura in this issue, but we did see a bit of their positions on the new planet. Alura’s portrayal changes issue to issue, dependent on who’s book you are reading. But, maybe this will get resolved later on. Or maybe she’s that insane/depressed and always shifting into different personality types.

It struck me whilst writing this that the Super titles feature a hell of a lot of women at the moment, and not just on the sidelines. Each woman is central to each book. Supergirl – Kara, Alura, Cat Grant and Lana. Superman – Ma Kent, Lois. Action Comics – Thara Ak-Var and Ursa. Superman: World of New Krypton, Alura, Kara and now Asha. That’s pretty well rounded. I like.

Supergirl; Cosmic Adventures in the 8th grade # 5
Penultimate issue. Booo. Want more please DC.
Belinda Zee is on this week’s cover, looking pretty snappy, and titled Evil in a skirt! Great byline. She takes on a Bizzarro type of role in this issue, complete with a #1 pendent round her neck and everything.
We first see Kara talking to her mum via the communicator, that’s nice to see. I’d forgotten about that. Then the plot starts going mad…

Past Kara turns up after having spent time in the future. She has a new legion belt and cape buckling action. Lena remembers she knows Supergirl’s identity (See DC, mindwipes never equal kittens and joy), except…Streaky returns a bit later and gets turned into a kitten, but I’m racing ahead.

Lena gets her memories back. Belinda Zee is given a #1 medallion by the head teacher. Comet turns up. Past Kara introduces herself as Supragirl. Supergirl loses her powers, due to 2 of them being in the same place, same time. Belinda Zee is turning the schoolkids into Bizzarro minions.

She jokes about Supergirl lording it round the sky on a flying horse..and sees Supergirl (not) lording it round the sky on a flying horse..Streaky turns up and gets turned into savage giant sabre tooth cat, Lena starts subjugating the entire student body to do her will, Supragirl flies off on giant Streaky, Lena turns up in battle armour, along with the subjugated students (where did all the armour come from??), Streaky gets turned into the cutest kitten, Lena rescues Lex from prison and zaps Superman into collapsing, Mr Mxy climbs out of the headteachers mouth, Belinda steal the communicator and talks to Kara’s mum (heartbreaking), Supergirl goes after battle armour Lena, Supragirl goes after Superman (bound in kryptonite and hanging from Lex’s ship) and Belinda Zee disappears in a flash of blue light while we see Mr Mxy cackling with 3 other imp type creatures.

And I haven’t even included all the references to silver age adventures, that I discovered through the Supergirl Comic Box Commentary post.

Whew. This issue was nuts. It was great. Dense but easy to follow.

I've still got a few trades to review - Hawkman and a couple of Batman ones, plus last week's purchases and some manga that I've been meaning to comment on. All this and a stag weekend and a wedding (not mine) to prepare for. Help.

My contribution to out of context week

I thought of posting silver age silliness, but looking through scans of silver age stuff makes my head hurt. I thought of posting a panel from the story of the Joker's boner for Batman but decided that was too obvious. Same thing for the Captain America wank sound effect.

So I've gone for something recent. Namely the cover to Booster Gold no. 19.

If you can see, I ask you to check out his eyes. And the ripped suit. That's a very suggestive Michael Carter. I like it.

Comics Reviews part 1: The March 2009 edition

Spoilers ahead for:
Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th grade # 4
Action Comics # 875
Superman: World of New Krypton #1
Superman/Batman #56
Booster Gold # 18
Terror Titans #6
Green Arrow/Black Canary #18
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23
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Here we go, in no particular order…

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th grade # 4
This issue was written by a cat lover J - Streaky arrives! A somewhat demonic Streaky, judging by the first shadowy glimpse we get. This incarnation reminds me of Power Girl’s cat from Justice League America and Justice League Europe. This is a good thing.
In this issue Kara shows her scientific prowess, we get to see more of Moon Supergirl, her best mate Lena finds out her secret then conveniently gets her mind wiped (how Smallville esque), but that’s OK because it turns out the cat did it, we get this universe’s version of Lex’s battle armour, and Streaky attacks Kara’s arch nemesis, on the face.
See? I told you it’s similar to Power Girl’s cat. Down to planning and manipulating events in a sly and unobtrusive manner. Kara is Streaky’s pet after all.

Great issue. Only 2 more to go though. :(

Action Comics # 875
We find out Nightwing and Flamebird’s identities! And it’s not Linda Danvers and Kon-El :(
But first, a ramble. I first came across Nightwing and Flamebird proper in the pages of Supergirl, when Kara and Power Girl were transported to Kandor after Infinite Crisis.

Say, what happened to that version of Kandor? Because the new enlarged Kandor bears no resemblance to that city. Honest question - does anyone have an answer?

Anyway, I loved those two as Kandor’s protectors and I loved their suits – I’ve even got the action figures and I think they’re beautiful, wonderful designs. These 2 new heroes have different designs, and to be honest, the suits do nothing for me. This issue reveals that the two heroes are Kryptonians, and they have to have the suits to disguise this fact, because of the embargo against Kryptonians. But still, these are not visually appealing costumes. They look like robots, or normal humans dressed up in fancy tech gear. Yes yes I know that is the point. I still don't like it.

Anyway, it turns out that Thara is Flamebird and Christopher Kent is Nightwing! Although I’m pleased that Thara is not Superwoman and so not evil, and that this means we are gonna get to see lots of her, I’m not so fussed about Christopher Kent. I think I was just really hoping to get Linda and Kon back. :(

Zod, Ursa and the big dumb lump are set up as direct enemies, which should be interesting. I particularly liked the panel demonstrating Zod’s dickishness – the one where he walks away from Ursa’s intimate moment. Her facial expression and her body language is portrayed brilliantly.

Alura shows a surprising amount of naivety and by extension, humanity, as regards her conversation with Zod about Thara. I’d like to see this mirrored in the other Super titles, please.

I’m not too convinced about the inside art in this – Thara looks like a teenager. The cover is beautiful though.

Chris Kent is experiencing inexplicable growth spurts - how convenient - he now looks about 17. I’m sure they’ll find some contrived way to stop his growing older and dying though.

This comic, especially Zod and Ursa’s behaviour, ties in well with…
Superman: World of New Krypton #1
Superman moves to New Krypton, finds out more about his home planet’s culture and gets conscripted into the military guild, where he is to work under Zod. Ooh-err. He does look rather fetching in that black and grey uniform though.

God Alura is arrogant. Knowing what she knows, knowing Kal and seeing his previous actions, she accepts his defection to New Krypton and his breaking of all earth ties rather too easily for my tastes.

I adored the panels showing the Kryptonians getting used to their powers – mostly their inability to fly. Tyr falling off the building was ve-ry funny.

All in all I’m now very much looking forward to this mini. Only one criticism of the book….

…These Flash Re-birth splash ads are really getting to me and ruining the momentum of the stories. Although it looks like they’ll work as I’m sure not to forget to order the books. *sigh*

Superman/Batman #56
Last super title of the week. It admits that Bruce’s megalomaniac tendencies were there all along, and that his desire to save the world was what he truly wanted. Hah, I feel vindicated. Of course, I don’t think Bruce’s obsessiveness is a surprise to anyone.

Creating illusions of Bruce’s dead parents is a mean, dirty, rotten trick. Had Bruce not already been driven half nuts by the amulet I doubt that the trick would have worked, and I doubt that Bruce would have reacted the way he did – which was to basically have a mini breakdown.

I don’t like Rags Morales art, he draws a lousy Zatanna.

Booster Gold # 18
Ack, this all got a bit emo. Michelle found out she was meant to have died and is now having a melt down. I can’t quite work out why – the timeline has obviously been changed so that in this reality, although a year ago she was dead, Rip Hunter plucked her out of the timestream and now she’s alive. This means that the reality in which she died is now an alternate reality. You’d think that with her dancing about the timestream with Booster, Rip and Skeets she’d have got the hang of this by now.
Michelle was fun and lovely and now she’s going to angst. I do not approve.

Terror Titans #6
I do not see the point of this mini, at all. It hasn’t helped any character development or greater plotline outside of the series and we haven’t learned anything new. The only thing to come out of it is that Clock King is (probably) dead. Miss Martian turned up in the middle, so I guess now we know why she left the Teen Titans, but she could easily have been elsewhere doing something useful.
Well we got to see lots of my beloved Rose I guess. Hey, she’s gonna have her own back up story in the pages of Teen Titans soon! Hurrah!

Green Arrow/Black Canary #18
A return to the days of the arrow signal! Dinah calls Ollie out on his methods, at last. Shooting arrows in every criminal’s leg or arm is an ethically dubious way to carry on. I would have liked to see how Ollie managed to pin Vertigo upside down, halfway up a wall, with arrows. Did he glue him up there first?

It was nice to see Ollie pointing out that he’s not Batman, the growing relationship with the cop, and Brick back in the picture. I can’t believe that Ollie just electrocuted Dinah. You don’t do that to your other half. Maybe it’s because I’ve just read a domestic violence themed comic, but that plot development makes me nervy.

Crazy lady is still crazy, and thanks to her Ollie appears to be ready to murder. Who thinks he’s gonna do it? I don‘t. Apart from the whole morals aspect of Ollie's character, Dinah will have his guts for garters if he does.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23
In this issue, Buffy fights Pink. The depiction of Buffy on the cover is accurate, yet different. It looks like exactly like Buffy, had Sarah Michelle Gellar had a different life path. It’s got aspects of maturity, which Gellar is lacking, and that inner poise visible on the faces of women like Sarah Connor in the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

I do have a soft spot for Andrew so it was nice to see him being formally accepted as part of the family. I am somewhat ashamed to say I don’t get all the geek references. What do the following relate to:
Vanity Smurf
Dualla/Billy/Fat Lee
A story written on toilet paper from a prison cell (this seems really familiar but I just can’t quite place it)
Don Draper

??? Can anyone tell me?

Buffy should have taken lessons from Kara – don’t make promises to children you can’t keep. It will all end in tears.

Share the reading love

And oh, what love this week! (And last week’s too, as I’m late)

What follows is talk of:
Supergirl 38, Superman/Batman 55, Action Comics 874
Green Arrow and Black Canary 17
Booster Gold 17
Showcase 95 #5 (featuring Spoiler!)
A few lines about other old DC books (Fanboy GL, LoSH and New Gods)
Some delight over George R R Martin’s Dreamsongs, a RRetrospective volume 1
Me bemoaning my lack of attention to reading orders, maybe. Possibly also some Buffy thoughts.

That’s a lot to get through. I’ll bolden up each heading, read whichever parts you like.

So, onwards and, of course, spoilers ahead.
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Supergirl #38
Oh my how I love the cover of this. Not so much for Kara, but for Superwoman. The eyes, the eyes. She’s mesmerising. I could look at that cover all day.
About the inside of the book. It seems like a lot of issues have opened with Kara announcing ‘This is my life’ and her getting decked by a supposed friend. A reference back to the earlier issues perhaps? Kara does talk like a teenager in this, which is good for getting the character right, but might be annoying if you don’t use teenage slang yourself. I do take umbrage at the use of the word ‘psyche’. Has anyone ever said that, past about 1994? Honestly.
The fight scene was fun and the colouring lovely – the blues of the ice, the sea and the sky were a pleasure to see. It’s good to see that Superwoman’s gold discs have a use – that of communicating with her bosses.
Focusing on the art once more, the panels with Cat Grant were a treat and really showed her ugly personality. The doll scares me, and I feel trepidation regarding who sent it, I’m certain Kara didn’t, not her style.
The Superwoman mystery depends. Forget what I said last month, now I’m hooked and excited as to who she is. It is revealed (or is that a red herring?) that she’s not Kryptonian, despite Kara guessing at Thara being under the mask.
Now, in a planet full of Kryptonians, how could Kara be given a secret mission? And could Superwoman truly hide her identity? Surely all Kara would have to do is listen hard to everyone on the planet (far less a number than earth’s population) and focus on the familiar voice, then go find her. But I guess Kara isn’t that curious (or creepy).

Re: Origins and omens. Looks like there’s interesting stuff coming up. I’m glad to see that Lana is looking after Streaky (love the origin of the name) and I’m looking forward to the future love interest.

Best line in the book? ‘I’m so going to kick you in the face!’

Superman/Batman #55
I KNEW it. Batman is insane. This proves what I’ve been saying (thinking?) all along. Power hungry messed up in the head idiot. He beat up on Selina! And Dick! I reckon Kal’s powers brought out the urges he’s been burying.

Kara as Linda Lang comes to see Clark at the hospital, and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t recognise her immediately. I’m a bad fan. The scene was wonderful though. In fact, this whole story arc is great.

Favourite panel? Where Bruce is laying into Clark and GL, Flash, Zatanna and Lois are all holding Clark back.

Action Comics 874
Good opening page. Very good. The Zod, Ursa and Non problem is coming along nicely and we are promised more of Nightwing and Flamebird next month, which is a plus. The destruction of the phantom zone is very intriguing, as is the question of how Mon-El will survive on earth.

Booster Gold 17
Booster ensures Barry has his accident and then Booster interrupts a younger version of himself. Not as good as last issue, but good enough.

Green Arrow/Black Canary 17
I love this cover – it’s the shades of green they’ve used and the detailing on the shadows I think.
This is a vast improvement on previous issues. For one, the deliciously evil bad guy attacks a building with a truck. By driving into the top floor from another high storey building. That, is ace.
Secondly, Dinah gets to fight. She helps herself, she doesn’t get rescued by Ollie and they work as an effective team. We also get to see more of the action from Dinah’s point of view. Now that means that the issue lives up to it’s title, for once.

Re the origins and omens segment, we see Dinah’s discovery of her powers and the aftermath of the guy she injured last issue – he’s been deafened and he’s not happy about it. Speedy has been given a black costume, but doesn’t look evil and I think that one of the pictures shows Ollie pointing an arrow at Dinah, but the positioning is off. And it looks like the future is going to centre around Ollie, as usual. Which would be fine, if the book was named Green Arrow.

Showcase 95, #5
A Spoiler story! Steph finds out her coach is dealing drugs to schoolkids, in her school. One of them dies in a car accident the inference is that it’s because they were high. This incident teaches Steph that yet again, shit happens and she loses a little more faith in adults. Poor kid.
This issue also features a Thorn story, and a Firehawk story. It’s worth getting for the Thorn and Spoiler sections.

Assorted DC books
Legion of Superheroes #43 – the intruder to their HQ calls Drura ‘Infectious Lass’. This may have been a joke but is an entirely plausible name for a member of the LoSH. Good issue, I’d kinda like to read more of this run now.
New Gods #1 – I should have read this before Final Crisis.
Fanboy – GL of the lunch room sector# 2. Odd. I hadn’t come across the fanboy mini before. Features half of Hal Jordan’s ass.

Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective book one
Well I finally finished reading it, and I can definitely say it’s the most enjoyable and gripping collection of short stories I have stumbled across. You won’t find a huge amount of diversity in the stories, but they are so well crafted and so powerful I don’t really care. To be fair, in Martin’s future worlds sexuality doesn’t seem to be an issue although all his couples are heterosexual. Anyway, onto specific stories:
If you pick this volume up I wouldn’t bother with the 4 colour fanboy section. Instead, head straight to the filthy pro, sci fi, fantasy or horror sections. With Morning Comes Mistfall is beautiful, The Ice Dragon is about a small child discovering her humanity and empathy, Bitterblooms uses Arthurian legends and In the Lost Lands deals with how it is sometimes unwise to get what you most desire. I found the horror section the most powerful though. Meathouse Man displays deep misogyny, yet also condemns it, and The Monkey Treatment is a story of how the fat man gets his revenge on diets.

After finishing reading this volume I felt at a loss for what to do next. I ended up going to Waterstones and spending £31 on 4 more books, including the 2nd volume of Dreamsongs and an Ursula le Guin book which I discovered was the 3rd in a series. I've read number 1, not number 2, and have been waiting to read Powers for months and months, and now have to get book number 2 first. Arggh. I could have been getting more reading action done months ago if I’d known. I’m a dumbass.

I found this post about the Buffy comics (via WFA). The writer has a very good point. Where are the normal sized ladies in Buffy? Where’s the variation we saw in the last episode of season 7? ‘Tis a crying shame that hasn’t been carried through.