Comics review: Convergence week 5

Spoilers ahead (probably).

Convergence 5
I really cannot bring myself to care about this main title.  Skataris and dinosaurs are fun, but it's not necessary to read this to understand the tie-ins.  I suspect that I will be selling this mini.

Convergence: Justice League 2
There's some ridiculous bum and boob images in this.  Ignoring that, this isn't too bad,  It's pretty much a big fight between the League and Flashpoint Aquaman, with a bit of Vulko, ending with Mera killing Flashpoint Aquaman.  I can't imagine anyone not invested in pre 52 continuity enjoying this.  Fortunately, I like the pre 52 world a lot.  These 2 issues are keepers, really just for Supergirls' involvement in them.

Convergence: Superman 2
Just lovely.  Lois has been kidnapped by Flashpoint Kal, but he doesn't mean her harm, and he takes her to Flashpoint's Batman's cave.  Lois goes into labour and Flashpoint Batman (Thomas Wayne, a  doctor) says he can't handle delivering the baby so Clark does it.  Surprisingly, they show the labour as being quite drawn out, and not over in half an hour.  And at the end Lois and Clark and a baby boy.  It's delightful.  This is definitely a keeper.

Convergence: Batman and Robin 2
This appears to be one of the few tie-ins that lets it's heroes be heroes - i.e. not willing to go fight the opposing champion.  Of course it is, it's Batman.  Jason Todd and Damian are in this, and it turns into a father-sons piece.  The art is nice.  I couldn't care about the story.  I'll try and sell this.

Convergence: The Atom 2
I think I'd remember this more fondly if I hadn't watched Smallville's Booster episode last night (with the three Blue Beetles in it).  Which means that I'm getting my blue heroes muddled.  The comic was OK.  I find the Deathstroke vs the Atoms storyline strange, probably because I wasn't reading the pre 52 issues where Deathstroke killed Ryan Choi.  I do like that Ryan has been resurrected, that's a good thing about this event.  I am undecided as to whether I should keep this.

Convergence: The Question 2
This might be called the Question but really it's a Two-face/Renee story, with lots of support by Batwoman and Huntress.  Some of the storytelling through just art (no words) is pretty damn fine.  I highly highly recommend this.  Definitely a keeper.

Convergence: The Titans 2
Roy finds a way to save Lian and his friends, and Lian is the real Lian, and she remains alive at the end.  This resonated.  It's a keeper.

Convergence: Speed Force 2
This has a very flat, cartoony, style of art. It's not what I'm used to, but I can't tell if I think if it's bad, or if it's just different.  Reading it, I have trouble accepting this Flashpoint Wonder Woman.  She's too far away from the Diana I am used to.  Irey seems to have some sort of torso muscles, which is strange, given her age.  I think I thought this issue was nice enough, but it's not really got anything memorable in it.  I liked the first issue though, so I'll probably keep this.

Convergence: Harley Quinn 2
This was fun.  Harley tells Cap'n Carrot she has super fists, scorch vision, canary scream, awesome-portation and a magic hammer stolen from the Gods.  He believes her, because who lies about having super powers?  This plan backfires but it all turns out well in the end, and Harley is reunited with ivy and Selina.  But doesn't go back to her fella.

Convergence: Batgirl 2
Steph and Tim seemed out of character in this.  Tim says that he ignored her for the last year because she was no longer Batgirl. Now she is suited up again, he's interested again.  She gets annoyed at this, but then takes him back.  I prefer to think that Steph has more self respect than that, and that Tim isn't such a dick.  Possibly keeping for nostalgia reasons.

Convergence: Nightwing and Oracle: 2
This was good.  I really like the design of the Hawks, and Black Canary shows up.  The Hawks get defeated and are offered the chance to live in this Gotham, curating their culture.  That's how heroism works.  Then Babs and Dick get hitched and we see the second ever good comic book wedding dress.  The first was Canary's when she married Green Arrow, FYI.  These 2 issues are keepers.

One thing that I realised during this week's comics, is that the fights between champions aren't to the death.  I had assumed they were, but I don't think Telos ever stated that.  He just said one champion must be defeated.

I didn't read many of the divergent previews.  I doubt I'll be getting many of them.

LSCC 2014: Cosplay

As promised, here are all the cosplay photos I got:

 

 

 

 

And then there was me.

No wonder no one wanted to take my picture. Sigh.  I'll never be one of the cool kids.

Here are links to other people's photo albums:

401 Photography - on facebook.
Holloh - on flickr.
Poisoned Pirate - on Sta.sh.
A Mystique - on twitter.

This should happen more often

I forget which JLA issue this from.  Possibly from one just after the Obsidian age.  Any help?

No Mans Land - other art part 2

The last of my No Mans Land series, and the rest of the notable art.

From legends of the Dark Knight 125.

Detective Comics 727.  Tim looks more like Connor Hawke here.

More from the Fruits of the Earth storyline.  I'm not sure which issue this is from, apologies.

From Legends of the Dark Knight 125.

From Legends of the Dark Knight 126. Batman is looking for the Joker.

From the issue where Barbara discovers the other Batgirl.

Shadow of the Bat 85.  A more cartoonish penguin.

Shadow of the Bat 77.  A more odl fashioend rendering of Batman.

There you have it.  The end of my No Mans Land series.  Tons of different things were covered in these 80+ issues and there were tons of different art styles.  God knows what it would be like to come into these blank, reading the trades.



It's polling time!

Reviews!

Spoilers ahead for Adventure Comics #7, GA/BC #29, Batgirl #7, Action Comics #886.  I know a month ago I said that I'd cancel Action and Adventure Comics,  and I did, but my shop orders books 2 months in advance so anything I do cancel takeas a little while to actually finish.  Having said that, it worked out quite well this month, as you shall see.
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Adventure Comics #7
I really really liked this.  The storytelling devices worked really well, Krypto was brilliant ( I never thought I'd like Krypto but how he's been used in the last few years has really impressed me), the use of Connor's two bodies was good and the discovery that Connor now has all Superman's powers was satisfying.  Definitely worth getting.

GA/BC #29
Meh.  Cupid's restoration back to her normal self was boring and far too easily done.  I like mad Cupid but Carrie is dull as anything.  If we're lucky her 'babe' comment indictaes that ther eis still something of the old Cupid in her.  We now have a new villain - Hilt - who has a knife permanently stuck in his head.  Great idea, but to get rid of one villain and immediately create another seems sloppy. 

There's a completely unneccessary shot of Dinah's arse as she prepares to seduce Oliver - i'm happy with them being a sexual couple but there has to be other, non sexist, ways to frame sex scenes.  Well there are - Mike Grell's GA run did it perfectly.

Batgirl #7
I've got Batgirl #6 on order but still haven't decided whether to add this to my pull list or not.  There's some great bits in it but overall it doesn't truly delight me.  That might be because I read it during the world's crappest weekend leading to me being in a bloody awful mood and not reallt receptive to fuin light hearted stuff.  We'll see.

Action Comics #886
Now this surprised me!  This title is so up and down, but #886 was great.  We got to see Krypton's creation myth and learnt more about the Flamebird and Nightwing entities.  Plus there was a reveal about Jax-Ur.  Things have just got interesting.  But I'll still drop it after the next issue.

Comic review party time

Yes dear readers, it is that time of the week again where I wax lyrical about ther stuff I bought.  Sadly this will not include Batgirl #6 as I forgot to pick it up.  What a dunce.  Anyhow, there will be spoilers ahead for Adventure Comics #6, Action Comics # 885, GA/BC #28, Catwoman: Blackest Night # 83 (resurrected title), The Power of Shazam: Blackest Night #48 (resurrected title) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer #31.
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Adventure Comics #6
OK, the cover has a dinosaur on it.  I knew I was gonna like this issue.  Lex Luthor is a really manipulative, power obsessed bastard.  Superboy finally realises he can stop fretting about his genetic makeup and resolves to just be himself.  The art continues to be gorgeous and when Conner met up with Cassie, Tim and Bart at the end I probably gave a little gasp.  Manapul draws a beautiful Tim, not such a great Bart, but a great Tim.  (Image nicked from James Ashelford's blog)

Nect month is a Blackest NIght tie in, so I'll get that, but from March it's focusing on the Legion of Superheroes, who i don't give a stuff about, so I shall be dropping it.  Thsi may cause problems when folloing this years Super family event, but I'll have to cope.


Action Comics # 885
The art in this is sometimes wildly off key and it took several minutes of hard thinking to remember what had happened in this issue.  Maybe I should drop it.  But then I think that with the Superman crossover coming up, will I understand the main plot is I'm not reading Adventure Comics, Superman and Action Comics?

And then the odd issue of Action really impresses me and I'm sucked back in again.
But then I get an issue like this week's one, where I don't really care about the main story and I certainly coudln't give a stuff about Captain bleeding Atom.  I'm pretty certain that I won't be going back and re-reading these issues.  Maybe I should drop it.


GA/BC #28
Bad, bad characterisation of Dinah here - her dialogue seemed very strange.  We find out more about Cupid's background and see Mia get to be awesome again.  But honestly, when isn't she awesome?

Looking back at Cupid's background - the evil government have made her crazy by injecting stuff into her brain via her nose cavity (yes really) and this compound has induced memory loss, given her super strength and increased the levels of the chemical that people feel when they are in love.  So essentially they've made a super strong lady who's driven by her hormones.  Driven by her hormones to obssess/love/lust after men who she will then attack, fight, kill, rape, abuse or generally take advantage of.

Yeah, that's not trading in sexist steroetypes at all.

DC you suck.


Catwoman: Blackest Night # 83 (resurrected title)
Now this on the other hand, this did not suck at all.  This was awesome.  Selina has to rescue her sister from the crazy Black Lantern guy who tortured her before, and who Selina susequently killed.  Harley and Ivy turned up and came up with a pretty inventive way to dispose of the Black Lantern - a venus fly trap endlessly digesting him.  Yum.

Well, I say awesome. It was awesome up till the end when her her sister was turned into Selina's next nemesis.  That was a crap outcome.  Boring, old and tired.


The Power of Shazam: Blackest Night #48 (resurrected title)
This also rocked.  Osiris and his friendly Crocodile mate (last seen in 52) are given Black Lantern rings.  Osiris manages to fight off the urges of the Black Lantern (far more effectively than Wonder Woman did, let's be honest), and succeeds in destroying both himself and his crocodile friend.


Buffy the Vampire Slayer #31
Again, a good issue.  And for once a cover that isn't all about the sexy nakedness.  Buffy learns to fly, fins out about Xander and Dawn, is a jekr about it then gets better and combines forces with Willow to defeat the goddesses.

I must take issue with the blurb for next month's issue that states 'Buffy has fucking superpowers'.  We know she's got superpowers. She's a damn slayer.

3 sentence reviews

Of comics a week old..I'm giving myself a little bit of a break from blogging as I need to recharge and think of topics for posts (!).  I will be back in about a week.  Meanwhile, happy holidays everyone!


Spoilers ahead for Red Robin #7, Batgirl #5, Green Arrow/Black Canary #27, Action Comics #19, Adventure Comics: Blackest Night # 5.
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Red Robin #7
I'm really liking this addition of Tam Fox, she is really very good.  There's a big spider beasty, Alfred and Lucius Fox having a quiet afternoon cup of tea, and then Ra's Al Ghul is killed!  There's something about this title that keeps drawing me back, even though I when I do read it I feel it isn't really an obvious book for me.


Batgirl #5
Laugh out loud comic of the week with some very clever digs at Damian - one made through the choice of art style and one an off panel gag.  There's also a shock ending which contrasted strongly with the humour of the book.  I'm eagerly anticipating the next issue!

Green Arrow/Black Canary #27
This issue is very much focused on Cupid.  She gets her Dark Arrow and we discover more about her past.  The regular artist is far too fixated on giving Dinah an unzipped costume, but other that that, a cracking issue.

Action Comics #19
When you consider how I was debating whether to drop this title a few months back, I think it has really improved in the last few months.  I won't debate the content, if you're not reading it it won't make sense, if you are you don't need my description.  A solid issue.


Adventure Comics: Blackest Night # 5
I am sick and tired of covers paying tribute to the dead Supergirl crisis cover.  It's lazy, boring and reduces the impact of the original.  Having said that I thought the comic was lots of fun - I like books that break the 4th wall and this had plenty of that.

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

Superheroes at Halloween (mostly)

Herein lies spoilers for Supergirl #46, Power Girl #6, Superman/Batman #65, Blackest Night: Superman #3 and the DCU Halloween Special.  In my efforts to improve my writing (and my discipline) I shall try to keep them succinct and not ramble too much.
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Supergirl #46
The finale to The Hunt for Reactron crossover.  This issue was an outstanding end to a crossover I did not initially care for.  Chris’ tactile telekinesis is not affected by Red sunlight, Reactron is defeated by the Flamebird entity, Lois gets her story, Kara and Thara make up and Kara finds out about Lana’s illness (and is singularly unimpressed with her deceit).  The only quibble I have is about Chris’ power – he didn’t seem to have to be touching things to affect them, so why is it called tactile telekinesis?  Aside from that the artist’s depiction of his power (flat looking purple discs) worked really well.

I have now read this twice and each time it brought me to tears, specifically, at the scene where Kara and Thara discuss their father.  Excellent, excellent end to this arc.

Power Girl #6
I feel somewhat similar to Sam at Retconning My Brain about the Power Girl title.  I feel that my feminist sensibilities should be offended by the overt cheesecakeyness of it all, but I just can’t seem to let it bother me too much!  Amanda Connor gives her characters facial expressions and body language, they aren’t just lifeless dolls, unlike say, Michael Turner’s art.  Because of this, and because Power Girl’s physique is acknowledged in text, and we see her interactions with the drooling menfolk, I don’t really care about the needless cheesecake.  Even with the 3 spacegirls gone wild.  Exclamation mark.  All 3 of whom get more fleshed out and less 2D in this issue.

I particularly enjoyed Terra’s dislike of Chinese food, and Peej’s kitty stealing some prawns.  There is another femme slashy moment when 2 of the spacegirls hug Peej, and of course the Hollywood joke was funny. Terra remains adorable.

Superman/Batman #65
A Halloween themed issue.  The scarecrow has captured Superman, Batman, the Joker and Lex Luthor.  He subjects them each to his far gas and each dreams their own worst fear.  For Superman it’s that he can’t save his loved ones.  For Lex Luthor it’s that he has no power.  The Joker becomes the joke and Batman kills his parents.  There is a different artist for each story and I would say that they have been selected particularly well as the art conveys the mood and themes and associated with each hero and villain, as well as the feelings within each story.

Batman saves the day by pulling himself out of his trance.  I’m getting a bit sick of Batman always being able to do this.  He’s not superhuman and it would be nice to see him fallible more often.  Having said that, it is a team effort to defeat the Scarecrow, who is then placed into his own nightmare.  He becomes the scarecrow in Dorothy, but without a brain in his head, Dorothy declares him not very scary and decides to leave him where he is.  She then gives permission for Toto to pee on him.  Nope, that’s not what I’d expected either!

Why don't more people buy this title?  It is consistently good, yet out of all the comic blogs I read, I'm the only one reviews this.

Blackest Night: Superman #3
The final of the miniseries.  We see Kal, Connor and Krypto defeat the Black Lanterns in a manner I had not expected, and on New Krypton Kara, Alura and the Krptonians put on a joint effort to repel Black Lantern Zor El.
I love the inclusion of Krypto.  I had previously thought him a cheap gimmick, something cheesey, crap and a relic of the corny silver age of comics.  My opinion of him has now changed and now I think he’s earned the right to be included as a character in his own right next to the humanoid Kryptonians.  He certainly does well in this issue, flying to the rescue of Ma Kent.  Not that she needed much rescuing, she’s a tough old cookie.  Course she is – she’s a farmer’s wife.
Krypto takes the hand with the ring from Black Lantern Lois and the ring reconstitutes Lois around him.  He then blasts the revenant body with heat vision.  I’m surprised the Black Lanterns aren’t going for Krypto’s heart – he’s all emotion and feeling, mostly rage and love I’d wager, and he’s not too far from being a person.  A dog shaped person, yes, but a person.

The scene of the Smallville folks looking up to Connor in the sky is lovely.  He defeats the Black Lantern Kal-L with the use of the Psycho Pirate’s mask – it overloads the rings.  Then it breaks, so it’s kind of a one off solution, but it did the trick.  I assume that he Psycho Pirate is still down in Smallville but without his mask he’s powerless and he can’t control anyone.

I can’t wait to see how this all plays out in the next issue of Blackest Night!  ( I say that at every Blackest night review don't I?)

DCU Halloween Special 2009
Not as good as last year, but a few enjoyable stories.  I didn’t much care for Guy’s party on Oa, Bizzaro’s commentary, the Creeper or the Outsiders.  Is that the current Outsiders team?  How D list.  Both the Batman and the Robin stories left me cold.  Red Robin was interesting with good art, if a little heavy on the inks.  The Ravager story tickled me, she’s so wicked!  The Kid Flash story was reasonable with special kudos going to the kids dressed up as the zombie trinity.  I loved the Wonder Woman/Teen Titans one.  I don’t think Di is too out of character and I don’t think it’s weird she was at the tower.  She’d probably popped in to visit Cassie, or was dropping Cassie off.  Superman vs the Flash was adorable, as always with little kids involved, but the main Superman story was also neither here nor there.

Super reviews

Told ya I bought a lot this week. After this post there's one more to come, which will cover GA/BC, Booster Gold and Red Robin. this post features spoilers for Adventure Comics #1/504, Action Comics #890, Superman Secret Files 2009 and Wednesday Comics #6.
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Adventure Comics #1/504 Pretty pretty pretty. Oh the skies. All pinks and golds and blues and greens. Oh I haven't seen art this pretty in quite a while. The colourist is named Brian Buccellato. Give the man an award. is this what the skies are really in (the west of?) America? I live in a pretty pretty county, which I name the flatlands, and if I ever got out into the countryside for a sunset I think we'd have skies like this. But not as expansive. One day I'm gonna get to America for a couple of months and do a road trip across the South and the West.

In this issue we see Connor re adjusting to Smallville life. He's grown up so much in the past few years and is now trying to reconcile the Superman part of him with the Luthor part of him. Krypto steals his thunder and rescues the girl, eliciting cries of the cuteness of the cape. Ugh, I know women like that, I am not one of them. Bart is incredibly hyperactive. More so than usual I thought - he seems rather young in this, but maybe he's just very happy to all his friends to be back.

The Legion of Superheroes backup caught my attention. I maintain they've all got stupid names but this was interesting. This Starman character seems a bit mad, or at the very least clueless about 12st century life. I read somewhere that he's meant to have schizophrenia. Well i'm pretty certain that that my friends, is not an accurate depiction of someone with schizophrenia.

It looks like the main and the backup stories will interlink, which is good. I'll stick with Adventure Comics for as long as they have Superboy as the lead and they stick with this art team.

Action Comics #890
Oh my, right back in the action. After last months poor performance this issue is back on form and completely action packed (pardon the pun).
We get to see a lot of what the average joe in the DCU thinks of Kryptonians, Kal and Kara come to earth chasing Ral-Dar and along with Mon-El save a bunch of pilots. Nightwing and Flamebird get treated like celebrities and Thara gets jealous. Christopher acts rather young in this, which is fitting seeing as he has physically if not mentally or emotionally grown in a pretty short space of time. Lois and Clark have a gorgeous reunion and there are some further reveals about the rogue Kryptonians who Thara and Chris have been after (so did not see that coming!), and also about who is working with who.
Overall the art is good, some places it seems average, other places, like with Lois and Clark's reunion and Chris and Thara's fight it is very effective.

I still don't care about Captain Atom but I am definitely gonna keep this book on the pull list.

Superman Secret Files 2009
I ummed and ahhed about whether it was worth getting this book and in the end i'm glad I did. It's got a lot of character backstory which was helpful for finding out about Non, what Kara's current history is and how Argo City/Kandor/Brainiac and the destruction of Kryption fit in. I am not so fussed about the maps of New Krypton or Kandor, but I know that will please a lot of other people.

As for the stories, Ursa's one was vaguely interesting, I suspect i'm not overwhelmed because I don't care much either way for the character. There is certainly nothing wrong with the story. Mon-El's story was delightful - it followed him and his partner on an average day/week in the SP. I like Mon but I don't like his short haircut. I don't like him enough to follow him into the pages of the new JLA but I am tickled by the idea of SuperMon.

The Kara/Thara story was fantastic. I loved young Kara's clothes! Very Linda Danvers (my avatar) esque:


She also has little blue shorts and calf high red boots on. (Picture stolen from Anj).
In the funeral scene Kara was wearing a black version of her uniform - harking back to one of the Kelly (?) issues where she's wearing Connor's shirt, saves a kid from a bus and the kid mentions that Supergirl shouldn't wear black, it's too dark. Well, black is certainly appropriate for the funeral. Interesting that Alura was in red and white though.

I'm always interested in religious stories in comics so seeing young Thara was a delight. Mischievous young Kara resetting the nanny bot was fun.

All in all a pretty excellent issue.

Wednesday Comics #6
Kara takes the super pets to a yuppie Aquaman and Streaky plants sea urchins on her. :D One thing I haven't mention about Connnor's art is that I really admire the way Krypto is recognisabley the same dog breed as the Krypto in the main Super titles. I know jack all about drawing, but it seems to me Connor have quite a simple style, yet it's very very effective.
The Superman stip was all of 5 panels and didn't really do much. I haven't read any of the others and right now am not particularly bothered about the rest, with the exception of the Wondy strip.

Reviews part 8: Zombies! Swooning! Cheesecake! Angst! Zombies!

[Edited to give the post a title]

Spoilers ahead for Empowered volume 3, Action Comics # 879, Wednesday Comics #2, Superman/Batman # 62, Titans #15 (Zombie preparation), Blackest Night #1 (Zombie attack)
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Empowered volume 3
This was a re-read, chosen for it’s quickness and lightheartedness. I’d left Justina Robson’s Selling Out someplace else and didn’t want anything to disturb that story.

Empowered did the trick. This is a story about a superheroine (superchica) whose powers are in her suit. She’s a rather inept crimefighter so her suit gets ripped quite often, which leads to her losing her powers. Emp then gets tied up, kidnapped and held for ransom as the plot demands it. It’s all in black and white which I find disappointing – it’s easier for me to read colour art, but having said that the art is very clear so that’s not really a problem.

Emp has a boyfriend, Thugboy, ex Witless Minion, and a best friend named Ninjette. There is also the Caged Demonwolf (who speaks in alliteration and is an eldritch starspawn imprisoned inside power-draining alien bondage gear), and the superhomeys, who are rather mean to Emp. The idea came about after Adam Warren was sick of being asked to draw sexy damsels in distress at conventions.

It is amusing and does succeed in poking fun at the superhero genre - see the sexy librarian episode and the A.R.R story. There are some genuinely touching bits - such as when Thugboy is talking about how Emp sleeps and his origin memoir.

Adam Warren draws very well but I’m not convinced about his writing skills. Some parts are very good, others seem more forced. Maybe that is down to the style though – the language of this annoys me, ‘superchica’, ‘witless minions 4eva yo’ etc. I realise that is part of the joke but it still grates. I think I take things too seriously somrtimes...

The last story features a captured Ninjette beign rescued by Emp and Thugboy. It’s good to see Emp be useful, but also notable to Linda Danvers fans that she gets wings during the confrontation. I have no real evidence that this is in any way linked to the earthborn angel story, but I like to draw parallels.

On the whole it’s worth checking out. Probaby best to start from volume 1 though – I think my reading of it suffers from coming in halfway through.

Action Comics # 879
First thoughts are that nearly a week after reading this I can’t recall much of it, that’s probably not a good sign..[swiftly opens comic and flicks through]..oh yes, the 2 crazy Kryptonians, Nightwing and Flamebird are due for a fight with some orcs.. Flamebird gets caught and the orc leader takes a peek inside her mind. We see Chris, a crystal rose, an angry Kara, Ursa, robots and some other Kryptonian folk.

Then it does get interesting, the Flamebird aspect of Thara bursts through and burns the orc folk to a crisp. She also get wings….curioser and curioser.

We also see Lois get confirmation from Mon-El that her father’s bones aren’t in his grave, proving to Lois that he’s not dead. The art shows her reaction beautifully (it’s a happy one).

Mysterious lady with the blue face reveals more of her powers – teleportation I am assuming, although as we don’t actually see it occur it could be something else (an ability to step out of time for instance).

The Super titles are gearing up for the Codename: Patriot crossover and I am not remotely interested. The back up is Captain Atom, and again I don’t care one iota. I could easily drop this title, but I won’t because I’m a completist.

Wednesday Comics #2
The format is wonderful, the art is so varied and I love the fact it’s out of continuity. Two weeks in and I have more of a handle on the stories. I do not care for Strange Adventures, Metal Men, Sgt Rock, The Demon and Catwoman or Green Lantern.

I think the strongest stories are Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Supergirl –
Superman because of the art and the way range of emotions they’ve packed in already.
Wonder Woman because of the density of it, the unusual lettering and setting of the story.
The Flash for the split panel aspect and the recent cliffhanger. Supergirl is just all out fun – nothing too serious is going to happen here.

I am pleased to see Teen Titans including all aspects of the team and a well balanced Tim. Neil Gaiman is having a lot of fun writing Metamorpho, going for an old time feel, but the strip itself isn’t outstanding. Batman has made me like Batman. Kamandi I have never come across before but am very much enjoying. Deadman has good art and layout. Hawkman is Hawkman-y - I liked issue #1s Flap Flap Flap narration and was disappointed to see this strip being told from Hawkman’s POV.

Overall, a winner.

Superman/Batman # 62
If it weren’t for the advent of the zombies this would have been hands down my favourite book of the week, nay, month. The basic premise is the junior sidekicks - Tim and Kara - hanging out for lunch, talking about their mentors and remembering their first team up.

Tim is not angsty, he’s happy, friendly and well balanced. There is such a marked difference between him in this issue and Tim in Red Robin. Nevermore999, if you’re reading this post, you’d love this issue.

There’s a truly wonderful depiction of Batman (and his teeth) fighting crime in Gotham, and Kara is in secret identity mode, meeting Tim as Linda Lang. Rafael Albuquerque is a damn fine artist. Colours are done by Rob Leigh – he’s got a really important job in this issue as he shows the different moods of both the protagonists and the rooms/places they occupy.

I think this version of Kara is the one most people wanted to see when the Supergirl was first launched. She’s not snarky or messed up, she’s heroic, honourable and pure - so pure the horrors of Arkham Aslyum drive her to a black rage. As much as I love this issue I prefer immature snarky Kara to immature peppy Kara. What can I say – pep and innocence irk me.

Robin and Kara have each other backs throughout the issue and by the end their friendship is cemented, both preventing the other from crossing the line.

They should definitely do this again or at the very least give Robin and Supergirl their own mini series. Either set it out of continuity or place it back before the crises started, before Tim went angsty and lost everyone he loves and when the Titans were still fun.

Titans #15 (Zombie preparation)
Purchased as the internet gave me a heads up about it – this issue is centred around Tempest. In it we learn that Dolphin (wife) and Cerdian (kid) have died. This right royally pisses me off because I loved Dolphin. The issue is mostly about Tempest angsting over how he brings doom to all he knows, probably linked to his purple eyes. Slizzath, Tempest’s brother, reveals himself as being on the side of the Blackest Night, Garth goes to Gotham to chat with Dick, (it’s mighty bizarre to see someone else under the cowl) and decides that he will take up the post of King of Atlantis.

The last page is a glorious image of Garth sitting on the throne, mirroring the opening page of Arthur sitting on the throne.

The story will be continued in the Blackest Night mini and in the Blackest Night: Titans mini. Which means another one to add to my pull list because, lets face it, the main reason I was interested in this was the prospect of a zombie Aquaman. Now zombie Dolphin will be added to the mix I’m delighted.

The actual issue was ok. Not great, but not bad.


Blackest Night #1
Run for the hills the zombies are coming!

I’m not sure what else I can add to anyone else’s comments and reviews. I loved the issue. I’m a massive zombie fan, a big horror movie fan actually. My favourites seem to be from the 80s (Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, the Ash movies, Poltergiest), with a few more recent ones thrown in (Cabin Fever, 28 days later, Dog Soldiers). In amongst these The Night of the Living Dead films are a favourite. Zombies are a bloody awesome concept. Anyone seen the X-Files zombie episode? At the end they all get up and dance.

So, the promise of the entire dead DCU returning to (undead) life tickles me immensely and has left me smiling whenever I have thought about it.

There’s some lovely moments in the book – in particular the Rogues graveyard and Alfred. Zombie Ralph and Sue are horrifically delicious.

I really really like the Flash’s Rogues - they seem to be a group of folks who are really just trying to get by, they’re happy to thieve and pillage but they look after their own and they’ve got some morals. They’re not out to take over the world, they aren’t out to murder needlessly and they’re not evil. They’ve got a lot going for them and I find them really interesting. Since you ask, Captain Cold is particularly interesting.

If folks are interested, The Aquaman Shrine has a post up giving info on all the dead heroes that Hal shows Barry.

[Just a minor gripe – when will we see the Caped communities first reactions to Bart and Kon coming back? I would like to see FC Legion of 3 Worlds #5 pretty sharpish please]

Now, I know I’ll end up buying the Titans, Batman and Superman tie ins, how important do you reckon it will be to get the Green Lantern and Tales of the Corps tie ins too? Pretty important I reckon. I’m just starting to read Green Lantern, starting from v2 (Hal’s first series), so by the time I’ve finished that I reckon I’ll want to read all the tie ins. Plus, it will be nice to read an event and actually understand what’s going on for once.

*sigh* This will be expensive. But Zombie mayhem will make up for a lighter wallet.

Bring on the brain (heart) eating! Zombiezombieombiezombiezombiezombiezombie!

Part 3:The batch of stuff that is 3 (?) weeks old

Because I've been so busy I'm a little delayed in posting up reviews, bear with me I'll get through them all slowly. Please excuse any typos or grammatical irregularities, I'm bloody bushed.

Action Comics annual #12
All backstory for Nightwing and Flamebird. Theirs is a love that stretches across time and space. It must be all the weddings I’m going to but I’m a sucker for this stuff. There is mention of Kryptonian religion and some pretty nice art of the mythical Flamebird. We get to see Ursa’s role in Thara’s folks’ death and the early years of Chris Kent.
I liked it.

Power Girl #2
OK I get it, they’re writing about bodies and how we view them (within the story) and therefore creating a discussion about how we (the readers) view Peej's body. How topical.
Or am I reading too much into because I'm feeling gnarly, cos the comic was ok and the art was lovely?
I preferred Liberty Belle as Jesse Quick. Just can't get enough of those Flashes. Amanda Connor draws a lovely Liberty Belle, she looks mature and adult.
I enjoyed Monkey Man's origin story. I rather like Satanna.

Green Arrow/Black Canary 21
Dear God these covers are awful. The detailing in the hair and skin is quite nice but then they go and ruin it with drawing the clothes on with what looks like a marker pen. Yeuch.

I have decided I like the art inside. Dinah looks great - she has personality in her face and looks adult, in her late 30s. For a story where everyone goes deaf, it wasn't all I'd hoped for. The depiction of widespread panic was interesting (anyone read Jose Saramago's book Blindness? I wholeheartedly recommend it)m but I'd have liked to see more actual Deafness in it if you see what I mean. I understand that America is pretty advanced when it comes to being Deaf aware, so I would have thought that maybe Ollie would have known some sign, he strikes me as that sort of guy.

Politics aside, I'm getting to like Cupid. She's so exuberant. The Ollie/Cupid scenes were pretty funny. Dinah gets to initiate the activities that will save the day, which is a nice turn up for this book. We get to see more of her back history and so the book does live up to it's name for once - being a joint story about GA an BC. So it looks like Dinah has been blown up at the end, I say yeah right, she'll get herself out of this fix, no probs. I just don't know how yet.

I'd also like to know why Wildcat is talking the young Di, I'd best tune in for the next issue.

Superman/Batman 61
The art is *so* damn pretty in this. I was surprised to see Zatanna crushing on Bruce, is this a widely known fact? Now it seems that the villain has an inkling of Supes' and Bats' real identities. Ooo err missus.

Batman 687
Bought on the basis of another blogger's reviews. It was OK. Alfred's scenes were quite touching, Dick's hair is very pretty and moody, Clark and Diana are rather dumb, Damian is brattish and Dick will have his hands full with that young fella. A good (and cheaper) summary of the Battle for the Cowl. Apart from why Tim can't be Robin.

Supergirl 42
Kara tells Lois that she killed her sister, Kara shows that she's still an immature teenager with little empathy for others. But that's fine, she is only 17 after all and it makes sense for her to still have rage in her, considering the early parts of this book. Poor Lois.
I liked Kara's outfit - bang on current teenager trend. Kara asks for Lana to call her Linda, which is good and talks about her cat, which is even better.

Not the best issue but I rather enjoyed it.

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.

My joy surrounding this week’s haul!

And full of joy it was. Spoilers ahead for Green Arrow Yr 1, Green Arrow/Black Canary #20, Supergirl #27 and #41, Superman/Batman #60 and Battle for the Cowl #3. I have reviewed them in that order so if you don’t want the identity of the new Batman spoiled, just don’t read the last review.

Included as this week’s back up promo stories was a teaser for Batwoman, appearing in Detective comics from June (?). It’s looking interesting. I like Greg Rucka a lot and I trust that he’ll do well with the character. The art is…vampiric, but I’m sure it will grow on me.
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Green Arrow Year 1
The reason for this review is that I finally got around to ordering GA yr 1 #4, which I couldn’t get when it came out – that week my comic shop had a box missing in it’s delivery, or something. Anyway, I got this issue and read it, then read the arc in it’s entirety. One of the first things I noticed was it was originally billed as a 4 issue story, then changed to a 6 issue story on # 3. I don’t know the reasons behind this, but it’s a good thing it was extended by 2 issues as the story could well have suffered for being shortened.

The second thing to highlight is the glorious cover art done by Jock, colours by David Baron )I can't find a picture of the cover for number 3, sorry). These covers make it well worth getting the individual issues rather than the trade. Cover #s 2, 4 and 6 are my favourites. Number 2 in particular is breathtaking. I know I rave on and on about anything I like, maybe my gushings seem like platitudes, maybe because I like so much stuff it reduces the import of what I have to say. But, these covers are really really good!
The inside art is done by the same team, and while not as detailed as the covers, it is also well worth referring to it. There is a sense of depth to the art, of layers, yet there is nothing extraneous included. It’s very well put together.

As for the story, well there’s character growth, there’s referrals to future events in Ollie’s life (“I’d rather die than lose an arm” why hello Zero hour!), there’s the creation of the costume and there’s the development of his defining qualities – determination, recklessness, stubbornness, showiness. He starts off as a useless, empty playboy and ends up a hero. In terms of a year 1 story, this does the trick.

With a different art team this may have been an average story. As it is I think it’s a must for any Green Arrow fan. Now, where’s the Black Canary year 1 story huh?

Green Arrow/Black Canary #20
Betcha bottom dollar this issue is gonna be criticised online. Betcha.

Obviously not by me though, I liked it. A lot. In fact I think this is a bloody massive turnaround, considering the rubbish that’s been produced for earlier issues. The cover art is still foul, but does make a bit of sense considering the arguments inside.

The issue starts with Dinah and Ollie in relationship therapy. The idea of them two being in therapy together is a giggle. Ollie has been dragged there by Dinah and is not really cooperating. Well, with an ego like his he was never gonna think it’s a great idea, right? Y’know, this issue actually has them in character. Which is nigh on a miracle. I can see there being an uproar over Dinah having mother issues, but I don’t get the beef. Ok, I’m not very knowledgeable about her history, but I seem to remember reading something, somewhere, about her going into costume just to piss her mother off, and having Ted (Wildcat) train her in secret because her mother wouldn’t approve. I recall another story from when she was a teenager and she found out who her Dad really was. So, there’s a precedent for mother issues. In addition, Ollie has dead parents, so it’s not like he’s getting away with a trauma free backstory. Lastly, in my ammunition for why this is a good sub-plot, is we are seeing Dinah as Dinah, individual person, not Dinah-wife of Green Arrow.

Regarding the secret identity thing, Ollie lost the mask during the Kevin Smith (?) run but somewhere regained it, so I’m assuming he is no operating under a secret identity again. As for Dinah, I was going to come up with an explanation for why she doesn’t need a mask or secret identity. It was going to go along the lines of only ninja assassins know who she is and she doesn’t move in civilian circles. A bit like Lady Shado doesn’t need a secret identity but she still manages to do ordinary everyday things. Then I remembered Dinah is the chair of the JLA and probably most bad guys and civilians do know her name is Dinah Lance.
Anyone else got an idea as to how her hero/civilian identity works?

Onto the action part, everyone has gone deaf. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I learn British Sign Language and so am interested in dDeaf issues. Hence, this plotline holds a lot of interest to me. The last thing to mention is Cupid meeting Ollie. He is correct, Dinah is gonna have a fit.

Supergirl #27
Great cover, shame it’s got fuck all to do with the story. This is another one I missed when it came out, I don’t know why. Like the GA issue, I decided it was about time I ordered meself a copy from Ebay. Only beef with this cover, and a couple of panels inside is that Kara’s skirt is wrong – she’s wearing what looks like a tight lycra esque skirt – think like Linda DanversSupergirl costume . Kara’s skirt is free flowing and hangs loosely.

That snit over, this is a good story. It takes place in the middle of the saving Thomas arc. Within the book Kara is nearly assassinated and then transported to the future. Apparently in this future timeline she has saved Thomas but then goes about changing humanity to improve us, resulting in humans not being human anymore. She is later transported back to our time with a request that she not save Thomas, in order that future humanity be saved from her good intentions.

There is a wonderful statue of adult Kara in the future, it’s very Grecian in style, I think. I will try and scan a picture and post some images later this week.

Supergirl #41
Well fuck me sideways I didn’t see that coming. Superwoman is dead. Kara killed her, seemingly by ripping the suit to shreds. Obviously Kara didn’t mean to kill her, she was trying to reduce her powers by ripping the discs off, then she ripped the S off declaring that Lucy doesn’t deserve to wear the emblem. Lucy then melts, into a bubbly pile of goo. Next panel is a distraught Kara on her knees wondering if she’s just killed Lois’s sister. We’ve gone from some very colourful scenes, all purple and bright primary colours to a darkened scene which suits the mood exceedingly well. There are talented colourists on this title.

I figure this can go a few ways. The dead Lucy is not the real Lucy and we find this out over the next few months. The dead Lucy is the real Lucy and this has ramifications for Kara and her reception within the Kent/Lane family. I mean, Lois is rather alone at the moment. Clark is off planet and can’t visit with her, she doesn’t really speak to her Dad, and her niece (great niece?) has just murdered her sister. This isn’t going to go well. Regardless of whether Lois likes Lucy or not, whether she approves of her actions as Superwoman or not, she is going to be pretty devastated. She’s got Chris Kent back but he’s got to hide from the authorities – headed by Lois’s father. This is going to be a complicated 6 months.

The last thing I want to note is the way in which Superwoman is legitimately part of the House of El – as Lois married Clark, she became the sister-in-law of Kal-El, and therefore related to Kara and Alura. This is not something I had registered before, and now I’m thinking what would General Lane do if he knew he was firing on his family?

Superman/Batman #60
Fabulous cover. Real moody and detailed, and relates to the story inside. Amazing. The inside art is done by the same team – Francis Manapul and Brian Bucellato.

Kal and Bruce have found themselves in a parallel earth. Metropolis and Gotham have been combined, as have the superheroes. We now have the Justice Titans, (battle cry: Justice Together) and the heroes have been amalgamated too. Starfire/Black Canary (this works surprisingly well), Aquaman/Cyborg, Hawkman/Beastboy, Nightwing/Green Lantern (Hal), the Flash (Wally Allen, blonde hair), Donna Wonder (she has sparkles in her hair!). the bad guys are Deathstroke/Doomsday, Brainac/Catwoman, Penguello (Penguin and who?), Jimmy Two-Face (they can’t mean Jimmy Olsen surely?), and Lex Joker.

I’m really really loving this title. It’s not following any other continuity, it could be set at any time in DC history and it’s just downright fun. As it doesn’t have to relate to the other Bat/Super titles they can send the characters to any time, space, dimension they want. It’s great.

Battle for the Cowl #3
I haven’t read the previous two issues in this mini and I picked this up purely to find out who the new Batman is. As such, I was rather excited by it all and enjoyed most of the story,, but it was self induced excitement, not necessarily story induced excitement. Still, I liked it. You want my reactions you say?

Well, what on earth was Tim doing in the Bat suit? After the incident with the evil future Titans I’d have thought he’d never have gone near the Bat suit. He’s had a lot of shit thrown at him over the years, but he remains optimistic. He’s a gentle soul and being Batman would destroy him.

Dick on the other hand, he’s got the hardness in him, a bitter angry edge that could be put to good use as Batman. But it will probably fuck him up. When Bruce comes back there’ll be one hell of a power struggle between them – I’m thinking back to the time when him and Bruce weren’t speaking and Dick created the Nightwing identity.

Damian is the new Robin. I have no feelings either way except that Damian seems rather ridiculous and petulant. I’d be very surprised if Dick likes him.

Now that Damian is Robin, the cover of Red Robin #2 makes more sense. That would be Damian fighting Steph, and hopefully Tim as Red Robin. Red Robin’s costume looks like a golden age creation, I do not like it. But, as this looks to be Tim’s own title and as Steph appears in it I expect I’ll be adding it to my pull list.

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.