Comic reviews!

These have been a long time coming.  Minor spoilers for Gotham City Sirens 24 only.
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Supergirl 65 was absolutely great.  Really imaginative, inspired writing.  I am really looking forward to the rest of this arc, at which point I shall re-read it and bask in it's loveliness again.


Young Justice 5 - This is really good fun.  It's a smart, well put together comic for younger folk, but also easily enjoyable by us older folk.  This was Wally's issue, and it seems that Art Baltazar and Franco really get him.

Flashpoint: Green Arrow Industries 1 - Why oh why is Ollie so much fun and enjoyable in this than in his own ongoing?  If you're a Green Arrow fan I recommend you get this.  He's cocky, arrogant, sleeping around, and a bit rubbish as a fighter.  He's not that bright, but it's just perfect.  Oh, and there are trick arrows.  Just buy it already!

Wonder Woman 612:  Better than some of the earlier issues.  Although Aphrodite now appears to be a redhead.  Either this is a colouring mistake by or the team have decided to ignore centuries of tradition.  Gaaah.  Anyway, in my recent clear out of comics, I elected to keep this Wonder Woman run.  I think I do like it and it's definitely a keeper.  But I am getting seriously fucked off with this comic within a comic shenanigans that DC is pulling.

Gotham City Sirens 24: Harley gets back with Joker and Ivy is pretty much unambiguously outed as queer.  Awesomesauce!


Flashpoint Lois lane and the Resistance 1 - Stylised art that kinda reminded me of old Young Justice/Impulse comics.  This series will be a cracker I reckon.

JLA 58 - Every time I look at the cover I wonder why I'm still getting this series. Inside it's better, but it's not going to be a groundbreaking memorable run.

Flashpoint Kid Flash Lost 1 - Yeah, this was also good.  It was a 'setting stuff up' issue, with things happening.  I know, right?   Hey it's a Bart Allen mini, written by Sterling Gates.  I'm gonna love it.

Action Comics 902 - More enjoyable than JLA, but still mostly just ok.  The art is nice.  But I'm mostly hanging onto this for the relaunch.  There seems no point in cancelling now when it will all be shiny and new in two months.

Superman 712:  A story told from the point of view of Krypto.  Interrupting Grounded, this was much more enjoyable than Grounded.  Rather sentimental, but in a good way.

Green Arrow 13 - Ah, now we are out of Brightest Day the artist changes and the story gets interesting!  And of course now it will all change in two months.  Graaah.

DC Presents Impulse - Collecting Impulse 50 to 53, this was a wonderful breath of fresh air, and I think everyone should buy it.

Bart Allen meets Superman!

Oh man I miss Bart as Impulse.  Check out what happens when Bart and Clark collide:

Comic reviews!

Yup, it's catching up time again. 

Birds of Prey  #10
It's an absolute joy to read a book about a group of tough, competent women, who support and love each other, are intelligent and demand everyone's respect.  Such a different feel and context to other comics.  Or books, TV, films et al.  BoP is a book about women, where women are in the spotlight centre stage and given credibility.  Why aren't there more stories like this?

On a more frivolous note, Batman is wearing a riveted metal jockstrap in this issue.  Oh how I laughed. and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Batgirl #19
The art in this issue is wonderful.  It's cartoony and lively, not very detailed and a bit caricaturish.  It's great.  Steph has a devil may care attitude to crimefighting and so the art and writing really mesh well together.


Superboy #5
It's Bart vs Kon in a race!  Krypto wins.  Seriously.

In other Flash news, DC will make all Flashpoint issues available digitally 4 weeks after the real copies have been sold.  Ace beans.  I'll be getting in on the e-versions then.

More reviews coming tomorrow.

Nicola Scott on Teen Titans

heartbart has a preview page up of Nicola Scott's artwork for Teen Titans.

Ahh I don't really care if the writing's crap, the art is gorgeous!  Such a lovely Bart, and such a square bodied Con!  Oh I am so looking forward to this.

And you can buy this page!!  Be still my swooning (skint) heart.

News from SDCC

Which I am obviously not at, being British and skint.  I am however following DCwomenkicknass on twitter and getting lots of info from her.  So, the news..

• New Flash ongoing for next year, including BART and Wally and Jesse and Iris!  Woot woot! So even if Krul's Teen Titans turns out terrible I'll get my Bart fix somewhere else. Hurrah

• News about Wonder Woman's new direction (I don't know how to do screen shots I just copied and pasted the text, I don't know where the numbers have come from :/) :

1. dcwomenkicknass
     
   Schrödinger's cat. is key to Wonder Woman according to JMS. Oh boy.
2.  
3. WonderWomanV2
     
   What the actual fuck? RT @dcwomenkicknass Schrödinger's cat. is key to Wonder Woman according to JMS. Oh boy  
4. WonderWomanV2
     
   @dcwomenkicknass Because fans can't know if you killed her so long as they just keep the book shut?  

I enjoyed that exchange.  I think this backs up my theory of this new directions lasting 12 issues then the timeline is pinged back to normal.

• The Green Lantern movie will apparently take us to Oa and we will see all 3600 Lanterns - They'd better not fuck up the CGI on that.  Or go 3D.  3D doesn't work very well when you already wear glasses.

•  Gail Simone is thinking really really hard about whether to have Babs walk again.  I say no.

• And here is a report on the Writing Queer: Creating and Writing LGBT Characters” panel moderated by Justin Hall and including Gilbert Hernandez, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, Judd Winick, Paige Braddock and Howard Cruse.

• Batman is gonna be turned into a franchise - Batman Inc.  What a terrible, terrible idea.

Well that's all the stuff I was interested in.  I say again, hurrah for a Bart book!
Gods I wish I was at the comi-con.

So, this turned out to be a tie-in week

Spoilers ahead for GLC: Blackest Night #44, Blackest Night: The Flash #2, Starman: Blackest Night #81 (resurrected title), The Phantom Stranger: Blackest Night #42 (resurrected title), Power Girl #8 (not a tie-in, amazingly), Superman/Batman #68 (Our Worlds at War tie-in).
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GLC: Blackest Night #44
Hoo boy this was fun.  Mogo turns up to save the day!  I cannot wait until he faces off against zombie Xanshi.  Next issue: Guy Gardner faces off against everyone.  Oh yes, this is why I buy superhero comics.

Blackest Night: The Flash #2
This is very much a middle issue - we saw the Rogues vs the ex Rogues, with some great scenes between Captain Cold and his sister, and some illuminating (pun intended) panels demonstrating his level of emotion.  The other half of the book delat with Barry acquiring the blue ring of hope.  He tries to save Bart, and Solovar anf Eobard Thawne turn up to provide extra harrassment.  I like that Barry is a member of the Blue Lantern Corps - from what I've read of him in Rebirth and a few other bits and pieces, it does seem to fit his personality quite well.  However in the context of DC superheroes, when you say hope to me I still think of Superman first and foremost.  Ahh well, this is a good mini and next issue will hopefully resolve everything nicely.


Starman: Blackest Night #81 (resurrected title)
I was definitley dubious about this, given Robinson's recent attempts on Cry for Justice, but I needn't have worried, this turned out well.  I've read one other Starman issue which was really very good, and he has kept up the standard here.  There's some incredible art, I can't quite work out by who as the credits list the various tasks as Colours, Letters, Layouts and Finishes, yet no penciller or inker.  I'm assuming Layouts means pencils and Finishes means Inks (broadly speaking), but I couldn't say that for definite.

I think y'all should buy this issue.

The Phantom Stranger: Blackest Night #42 (resurrected title)
Also pretty good.  However it probably won't make much sense if you're not reading other Blackst Night stuff.  Zatanna's on the cover but isn't in the book.  In fact it is mentioned why she's not there, within the book.

Power Girl #8
Jeez, I know Power Girl is meant to have a big chest, and I know Amanda Connor specialises in doing sexy art, but this cover is ridiculous.

Inside it is good fun, Vartox gets even more sleazy than he was last issue, Karen can't help laughing at the Pregno-Ray and she gets to wear the gorgeous ballgown from the Women of the DCU poster that Adam Hughes did.  She even has the earrings in too.  Nicely done, Ms Connor, nicely done!

Superman/Batman #68
An Our Worlds at War tie-in.  I know, what?  Our Worlds at War was a tie in published in 2001.  I thought it was mid 90s and had to google to check the date.  When I mentioned my surprise at the banner in the comic shop they said it was cos the DCU timeline is all in flux now.

But, you see, I buy Superman/Batman because it's not tied in (or shouldn't be tied in) to regualr DC continuity.  I know it brought us Kara back, which is great, but on the whole the other tie in issues have been rubbish.  Blackest Night for example - 2 issues of utter crap.  Although that might be my disdain for Man-Bat, Solomon fucking Grundy and Bizzarro speaking.

Anyway, I was not remotely excited about this issue.  Somehow it surprised me.  Despite Batman looking like All Star Goddman Batman and Supes somehow being all gritty (so wrong), it was fairly enjoyable.  Not particularly memorable, but enjoyable.  There was some retro 70s esque exposition going on which was quite fun.

Over the last few weeks I have also received the following trades - Green Lantern/Green Arrow volumes 1 and 2 (wonderfully funny!), Superman: Last Son (reviewed here) and Wonder Woman: Bitter Rivals.  The WW book was great, as I knew it would be.  Greg Rucka had the golden touch for writing Wondy I think.

I have also ordered Fallen Angel volume 1 (the PAD book which was meant to be Linda Danvers after his Supergirl book was cancelled) and the first Trinity book, by Mat Wagner, not the weekly series.  I borrowed this Trinity book years ago and was quietly impressed, so thought it was high time I bought it.

Kid Flash book cancelled

*depressed*
That was the book I was looking forward to the most next year.

The Flash: Rebirth (spoilers)

I tell you what, this series makes a whole lot more sense and is much more enjoyable when read in one go.

I’ve never been a Barry fan, I didn’t know too much about him until recently and in my head he was an old fashioned 1D character that represented the old guard with all their stuffy ideas and out of date thoughts.  Not that I knew who this old guard is, but in my head, there is one.

Then I picked up Rebirth, and for the first two or three issues I still didn’t care for Barry.  He seemed self involved, moody, ungrateful and with no awareness of anyone else’s feelings.  Then we found out that these weren’t actually Barry’s thoughts, he had become infected with the Reverse Flash’s peculiar version of the speed force.  A-ha, all of a sudden Barry became more likeable, more heroic.  I began to see what all these old Flash fans were harping on about.

Then he brings Max out of the speed force.  And at this point I wouldn’t have cared what the rest of the mini was like, they’ve just reunited Bart and Max and I couldn’t be happier. 

Then finally, in issue number 5 we get a new speedster.  We get little Iris West taking responsibility for her brother’s pain and taking steps to end it.  She’s all of 8 years old?  6?  She shows greater maturity than a lot of adults in this universe.  As a result, she passes out and Jesse Quick arrives.  Jesse, newly rejuvenated and part of the speed force once more.  She brings Irey West back to us and it becomes clear that Irey is the new speedster.  With little lightening grips in her hair.

Then, as if that wasn’t good enough, when all the speedsters are racing along in formation (for anyone else this would be a Bad Ass Power Walk, but as they’re speedsters, they are running for the sheer joy of it), Wally uses the speed force to give everyone new uniforms.

Jesse Quick gets some new threads.  Wally gets a shiny, darker, more modern version of the Flash uniform.  And little Iris is in Bart’s old gear.  Ladies and gentlemen, we have another Impulse!  And Bart doesn’t look non too happy about it.

Thank you DC.  You’ve made me one very happy fangirl.

 

 

(Although why is Linda Parks drawn more Caucasian than Asian?  Is it just me?  Have I forgotten what Asian people look like?)

I'm being overrun by tie in and minis

After 5 days of being ill and then having a visit from a friend all weekend I'm finally ready to get back to blogging.  Before I go any further however, I'd like to say a massive congratulations to my friends Admiral and Mrs Drax on the birth of their little Draxette!  Congratulations guys!  And so you're warned well in advance, I *will* be stockpiling suitable comics for her for when she can read. ;)

Back on topic, this post will be a comcis review post, for books released 2 weeks ago.  Review also written about a week ago, in prepartion for posting, but then the dreaded germs attacked.
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This is the last time I buy into an event, I swear.  I’m running out of shelf space, it’s not good.  Spoilers ahead for Worlds Finest #1, Teen Titans #76, Gotham City Sirens #5, Green Lantern Blackest Night #47, Blackest Night: Titans #3 (my absolute favourite this week) and Blackest Night #4 and a picture of the nifty promotional giveaway I got.  And a few thoughts on Flash: the fastest Man Alive - Full Throttle.
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Worlds Finest #1
I got a choice of covers when I went in and selected the Nightwing version.  The colours are so lovely and I figure I was in more of a blue peaceful mood than a red mood when I was in the shop.  This was not a setting up issue, it dived right into the story and action. An excellent, character driven story.

Teen Titans #76
Much better than issue 50.  A good battle, some mysterious villainous creatures and fully fleshed believable conflict between team members.  I felt that M’Gann M’orzz was the star of this show, despite the fact she was captured and had to be rescued by the rest of the Titans.  Something about her just resonated with me.

The Ravager back up saw Rose moving in to destroy a human-slave ring.  She has lost some of her precog abilities which is causing problems when in the midst of a fight and the issue ends with her enemy intending to use her as a super soldier.  After reading this I realised that the Ravager story in the Halloween special last week has greatly impacted on my reading of Rose and has served to make all her other stories that much richer.  Now, that’s impressive for a one page story!

Gotham City Sirens #5
Another favourite and one that spares no opportunity for gratuitous bum and breast shots - make of that that you will.  I love these three as a team and Paul Dini is writing their relationship with each other really well.  The art remains great and the I enjoyed the twist at the end.

Green Lantern Blackest Night #47
I think that the GL and GL Corps Blackest Night stories are the weakest of the bunch so far. L  Please don’t shoot me anyone..  They aren’t bad stories but I think my disinterest may be because they are both focusing on big fights and involving characters that on the whole I know little about, and only marginally care about.  So, as a new reader to the GL canon Blackest Night may not have been the best time to come in.  However, they are pretty vital to the whole event so I’m not about to drop them, but I don’t think I’ll be converted to a regular GL reader when BN is finished.
Having said that, I did very much enjoy the last couple of pages of Agent Orange running away. :)

Blackest Night: Titans #3
Now this features characters I know and love!  I especially love Dove’s role in this event.  Avatar’s of peace, love compassion and hope please me, and I have liked every incarnation of Hawk & Dove that I have come across.  After all, the idea behind them is a pretty enduring (and timeless?) one.

I have this horrible feeling that some fans will whinge about Donna snapping her (revenant) baby’s neck, a la Diana with Maxwell Lord, and that her story and life history is likely to become more complicated – she was bitten by her dead baby in issue #2 and now the poison is spreading and she is seeing people with a Black Lantern’s eyes. I persoanlly like the Donna/Diana comparison – can this suggest that Maxwell Lord was, in a sense, already dead when Diana killed him?  Or am I being just a bit wanky thinking that?

Blackest Night #4
Oh my, oh my!  First, look at the cover:

Chilling!

Inside, Mera is tough and nails, the Atom is actually heroic and not torture happy, Scarecrow’s cameo just makes me like him more.  I wonder if his comments are foreshadowing for Bruce’s role in BN?  The WW/Supes/Flash comment was a great moment, Dinah and Ollie got a cameo (and instructions not to get hotheaded) and the rings get fully charged!  The Black Lantern power battery is transported to Coast City and the whole of Coast City is commanded to rise!  Holy fuck, this won’t be good.

The art on the final splash page is fabulous, as is the scythe (which I would like, please), but I can’t help feeling I’d be getting more out of this if I knew who Nekron was.


Before I head off and read Flash: Lightning in a Bottle: Full Throttle* (contender for longest trade name ever) I shall supply you with this picture of the promo bag I got with my books today:

 

 

 Cool huh?


*Now read and of course loved.  Poor Bart.  Poor Tim, and Jesse.  The two pages with them are really affecting.  This was a series which made me love the Rigues even more. they really aren't your average comic book villains.  They really are 3 dimensional and you can sympathise with them.  They have a code of honour and ethics and aren't through and through bad.  When Libra comes to them to persuade them to join Darkseid because evil will win, I get the sense that that is a stupid thing to fofer the Rogues, because they aren't evil.  They aren't interested in causing evil, they just want to get on with their lives.  They may do this be being petty criminals but it's done in the same way that used car salesman break the law, you know?  Their primary objective isn't to cause pain, or to hurt people or maim them for the fun of it.

I then re-read Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge which just made me love them even more, and hate Inertia.

Both the Flash book and Rogues Revenge should be essential reading for any Flash fan.

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.

Superhero sign names - as part of Learn to Sign week

As it's Learn to Sign week I thought now would be a good time for a post combining comics and signing.  Here we go.

In British Sign Language we have something called sign names.  They are basically nick names and are a short hand way to refer to someone, as an alternative to fingerspelling their name.  One of my friends likes cake, so her sign name is the sign for cake with the lip pattern of her name.  My sign name is the sign for reading, (flat open palms with fingers together, palms face up, fingers slightly overlapping and move the hands round in one circular motion), with the lip pattern of my name, because I read all day, every day.  One of my old teachers name was based on his hairstyle, so it;s been a pony tail or a mohawk with his name.  You get the idea.

So I got to thinking what would the sign names of the superheroes be?  Signingtime, an American site has a forum which asks this very question.  That is however the only site I can find that deals with this issue.  If anyone knows of any others, please let me know in the comments.

In the UK, the sign for superhero in general is your right arm stuck out in a fist, a la flying.  That also works for Superman, and Supergirl would be the main sign + girl. I expect that Batman is Bat plus Man.  Buffy the vampire slayer is 'B+vampirefangs+a staking action'.  I expect Wonder Woman has her own sign.


As I don't know any Deaf comics fans I cannot ask them what signs they use, so I will speculate.  Sign names are never official anyway, they are given by those who know you, or you give one to yourself.  I will approach this from the point of view of what will those people who know and love the heros, e.g. friends and family, use.

Let us start with Bart Allen.

We cannot simply give him the multichannel sign of speeding-off-into-the-distance, because that could be used for all speedsters.  We shouldn't really use Impulse or Kid Flash as that's his actual code name.  I suppose the general public could trace the lightening logo on their chest, to mean Flash, and Kid Flash could be Flash+kid, but that isn't distinctive enough to mean Bart.  I would be tempted to go with his big feet or his hair.  No one else in the DCU has feet and hair quite like him, and I don't think he would be offended by it.  You could sign big-feet-racing-forward and provide the lip pattern for Bart.  I think that's fairly apt.

How about Speedy (Mia)?

Well, you can't simply sign speedy, or fast, because in all honesty that is far more likely to be associated with the Flash type heroes in the DCU.  Speedy's hero thing is her arrow shooting, but I find the sign for bow and arrow rather unwieldy, so would prefer not to use it.  I also would prefer to choose something that would be distinct from RoySpeedy, so it needs to be feminised or be something completely different.  Considering Mia's cocky personality I think I will go with the sign for Cheeky.  I'm sure Ollie would agree.


Black Canary.

 For her public name, I'd go with black+canary.  Black is a thumbs up hand shape swiped along your cheek from near your ear to off your face by your mouth.  Canary is a local sign in Norfolk, our football team is nicknamed the Canaries (these birds have a long association with the city, due to the influx of Dutch traders in earlier centuries).  As such, both Canary and Norwich are the same - the bird sign over your left breast where the football logo is on a shirt.
As for her private name, for 80s hero Dinah we could trace the headband shape+name.  For florist Dinah we could do flower+name.  For a joke we could do computer+name.  Although that might be best for Barbara.  As a really boring sign we could do blonde+name, or martial arts+name.

Guy gets the bowl haircut sign, no question and no matter how long he's had a new style for.  Batman has his own special sign for Guy though -  falling over (as in being knocked out)+name.

The possibilities are endless!

Trip me up and call me Nora. That was a rollicking good week.

Herein lies big big spoilers for the following comics:
Teen Titans #74, The Flash: Rebirth # 4, Wonder Woman #35, Gotham City Sirens #3, Green Lantern #45, Blackest Night: Titans #1.
There will be no spoilers for Blackest night: Superman #1 because my store still hasn't got it in. They reckon there may be a problem with shipping to the UK. Any other UK folks had the same problem?
There will also be no spoiler for Superman because that got missed from my pile so I shall be heading back to the city to pick it up tomorrow. I am sure it will be good. Well I hope so anyway.
So, on with the squee! (and there is such a lot this week).
[edit - i cancelled Det Comics last week. It's just not interesting me. i'm rather annoyed about that.]
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Teen Titans #74
Oh no. :(
Oh no no no no no no no.
Eddie's dead. (Do not insert Rocky horror show reference).
I am heartbroken. Eddie is too good to die. :( I mean, it's a good move story wise because killing off a newer member would just have been crass, and he did die a truly heroic death. how, I hear you ask? Well nuclear man (not his actual name) was sort of defragmenting at the prison, so Eddie pelted over there, still without powers I will add, and took nuclear man up in the shuttle to outer space where he exploded without harming the city.
Oh Eddie. :( The rest of the Titans were fighting down on the ground so couldn't take over, but M'Gann realised what Eddie was up to, and her, Cassie and Blue Beetle flew up to try and stop him but they didn't get there in time.
What is Rose going to do when she finds out? Beat seven shades of crap outta the folks who orchestrated this I reckon. Those two were made for each other. :(

After his death Cassie has a pity fit thinking she's a crap leader, and Bombshell gives her a pep talk, saying they should learn from their mistakes instead of running away from them.
looks like they're getting some respect for each other.

Oh this was good, but oh so sad.

Eddie better not come back as a Black Lantern. I've no idea what sits where continuity wise, so hopefully this is not even a possibility.

As for the Ravager back up, well last issue some folks had decided to kill her. As you can imagine it didn't work and she beat them silly.

The Flash: Rebirth # 4
Oh holy fuck! Max is back Max is back! *does the happy Max is back dance*
Oh I've been waiting soooo long for this!
A lot of the issue is about the things that draw the speedsters home when they're stuck in the speed force. Max claims he doesn't have anyone like that. Barry tells him he's a father to Bart, and brings him home. Oh I welled up reading this.
The (original?) Zoom is back and in command of a negative speed force. It is revealed that Barry created the speed force when he had his chemical accident. Bart punches Zoom in the face and then Zoom is about to stab him in the neck. Next page is a full splash of Max standing tall, lightening crackling, stating the pleasure [of fighting and winning] will be all his. Bart is knocked to the ground and is stunned, incredulous and happy that Max is back.

Plotwise, one last mention should go to Jai and Iris. Great little kids. Irey reminds me of katei power from Marvel's Power Pack. If you haven't read any of the original Power Pack you really should go and hunt it out. Start with the earlier issues, because it goes a bit wrong later on.

The art on this issue is stupendous. If you're in anyway interested in the Flash family, Bart or Max, go buy this issue.

Over on heartbart everyone is pretty stoked about this issue. Deerane has posted a Max/Bart picture and it's so lovely I just have to share:


There's also some adorable fan fiction up concerning the Connor/Bart/Tim reunion.
Love Bart. There's one very happy fan over here.

Wonder Woman #35
Simone writes good female friendships. It is clear that Diana has a great deal of respect for Dinah and vice versa. It's also clear that Simone enjoys writing these characters. I don't often get a feel for that sort of emotion.
Diana and Dinah found the Ame-Comi DC statue of Diana. They weren't very impressed. God knows what they'll think if they see the new one.
I've really liked these last 2 issues and now I am pretty certain I'll buy the Wondy trades.

Gotham City Sirens #3
Not much of the Sirens in this issue, instead it focuses on the Riddler and his meeting with the new Batman. Still good though. Thoroughly enjoyable. good art. Still cheesecakey and asserific, but this week I've decided I don't care. There's room in the superhero comic world for T+A, just so long as we've also got non exploitative issues to go alongside it.

I like the cover - very much about the bodies, and most definitely using the women's sexiness to sell the issue - it looks like a scene from a strip joint, but the colours are lovely.
It's amazing how much my interpretation changes dependent on my general mood...
At least this book is upfront about it. I can't stand it when media tries it pass itself off as fair and just, yet includes crass and insulting portrayals of women. It's linked in to my views on lads mags and how they should they be on the top shelf. But that's a whole other post.

Green Lantern #45
Carol Ferris as Star Sapphire vs Sinestro. She tries to show him the power of love, he lashes out and pushes it away. I think the Sapphires are being a little close minded trying to convert everyone to the power of love, we need other emotions too.
The Black rings are hovering around Odym, home of the Blue corps, waiting for death to claim the corps.
Agent Orange is on Okarra and about to be ransacked by a huge number of Black lanterns that have just risen. Yuh-oh.
The Indigo Corps haven't risen yet, but there's hints that they shall do so soon. the Black corps state that 'as soon as it's bearers shine the indigo light it will be ours'. Does this mean that the Black corps can only assault the other Corps if they are utilising their powers? Indigo for compassion. I *really* want to see what they can do.
The most entertaining part, and dare I say it, the best part, was Xanshi becoming a Black Lantern. For those that don't know, Xanshi is a planet. There is now a revenant planet. Most. fun. thing. ever. Is it gonna go smash into Mogo? Is it gonna hurtle towards earth? hee hee, so much fun!

Kalinara will be pleased. Kalinara, are you psychic?! Or was every GL fan expecting this and I just hadn't cottoned on?

Either way. Hell yeah.

Blackest Night: Titans #1
No rejuvenated dead planets in this one, but still plenty good.
Rose is in it, she's just had a one night stand and is telling the guy to get out, presumably because she doesn't like getting close to people.
Bart is in it, complaining about his statue not looking like him. Ed Benes does the artwork on this. I do like the basic idea of his faces, they're sensual, unfortunately they all tend to look the same. Not much variety.
So, who comes back in this one?
Hank Hall. He kills the current Hawk.
The original Terra. She starts snogging Gar.
Lilith - she must be a former Titan, but I've not come across her before.
Troia's daughter will be back and on panel in the next issue.

All good stuff, and my am I glad I chose this event to get fully involved in.

A bloody great week all told.

Flash - oh oh - he's the saviour of the universe

Dum de dum dum.

I bought some Flash trades the other week so will share my thoughts with you all. I will also mention Wonder Woman #34 and JLA Year One.

The Flash, the Fastest Man Alive: Lightning in a Bottle
Yup, it's the Bart Allen Flash. I've been meaning to get this for ages but my shop didn't have it on the shelf and I was loathe to commit to spending more money. Then I saw it in another shop and just thought the hell with it, let's buy.

I don't care what anyone says I like this run. Bart may be all grown up and a bit darker but he's still got that innocence and naivety about him. This trade deals with Bart's feelings towards taking up the mantle of the Flash, given all that has happened during the crisis. He has a lot of nightmares, a lot of friends in danger moments, a true asshole of a flatmate and a lot of support from Jay, Joan and STAR labs.

The art changes quite a lot, which is a pity, because issue #3 is absolutely stunning and now I wish the whole run was done the same way. HeartBart uses a couple of images from this issue on their banner. To be fair, it's not just number 3's art which is great though. The inker for issue #1 is also pretty fabulous and does a brilliant Jay Garrick.

If you're a Bart fan you should buy this. If you're an art fan you should buy this. I don't think anything I say will convince casual fans or Wally fans to try it. The story isn't terrible, I don't get why everyone hates on it so much. Is it because it's not cheerful and jolly? Do people object to Bart being used this way? I object to the end of the run, but that doesn't make it a bad story.

The Flash: the Human Race
Upon my joy at finding the above Flash trade in stock I also noticed a copy of The Human Race on the shelves. I dithered for a few moments then decided i'd get this too. I was then
served by the least likely people to be working in a comic shop ever. It was very bizzare, but that's another story. Onwards..
This trade is about Wally outrunning death, or the Black Flash as we come to know him. It starts with some intergalactic giant gamblers coming to earth and insisting that a representative of ol' Terra run an everlasting race, or earth will be destroyed.
Wally signs up to the task then finds he is being forced to run against his childhood imaginary friend, Krakkl, who lives in Radioland. I won't spoil the story as I'm sure you all can guess the end result. It's the details and how they get there that makes this so interesting. To whet your appetite, I shall say that there are entire worlds out there who are running, nonstop.

The second half of the trade deals with the Black Flash actually stalking Wally. He doesn't get him, but there are some casualties along the way. There's a big deal made about Wally and Linda's relationship and Wally grows a terrible little goatee.

The final story is Flash of Two Worlds, and is told from the point of view of a young Titan. We find out about a bridge that goes nowhere and see how Jay and Barry first met. I believe this is a retelling of a silver age book that detailed the first cross universe meeting of the Flashes. But I could be wrong.

JLA Year One
One of my favourite trades. Written by Mark Waid this has some really great characterisation. Aquaman is shown adjusting to surface life, and mumbling because sound doesn't carry so well over water. Dinah grows into herself as a hero and a person and finds out some uncomfortable truths about the JSA. Barry is calm, laid back and torn between a desire to do good and not screw things up with Iris. Hal is an arrogant womaniser who manages to calm down and work well with others. J'onn J'onzz is oh so lonely and mistrustful of earth folks, but also truly heroic.

There are a few cameos by Green Arrow, Superman and Batman but this book is very much about the greatest group of heroes and all the other 'stars' of the DCU recognise their combined worth and efforts. There is of course an apocalyptic battle at the end, which is pretty good fun.

Over all this is a really good intro to the heroes and the JLA. Shame it's not canon anymore.

Wonder Woman 34
So, I finally bought a Gail Simone penned Wonder Woman issue. I think Simone is a good writer, but I find her very wordy and my experience of BoP is that she works best when read as trades, not as individual issues. However, this issue had Black Canary in. So I bought it.

I liked it. I still find Simone wordy (and that's not at all a criticism) and so it takes me twice as long to read her books. She can however write Dinah very well. Hell, she gives each character a distinct character. God, I shouldn't be impressed by that, it should be the standard, but then again, there's a lot of hack writers out there. Dinah was quite clearly having fun playing dress up with Diana. I believe that Dinah has wanted to do that for a long time and was waiting to see how far she could push it. There were some nice world building bits about Themysciran opera and the indignities of being carried fireman style over the ocean thrown in.

I will definitely be buying the next issue. I think y'all should do. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how it should be done.
But maybe in a less wordy manner.

New Kid Flash title!

Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!
To be written by Sterling Gates. :D Fucking ace.
Of course this means I will have to look at losing some other titles because I cannot afford everything. I'm currently thinking of dropping Booster Gold, Power Girl (unless it*really* picks up), Gotham City Sirens, Detective Comics (depending on performance) and Action Comics (after the crossover has completed).
Those are the 5 I could lose. Then there's the 5 minis I'm currently getting, and then of course Blackest Night won't last forever.
Come November I'm going to have to seriously reevaluate what I buy. And sell on a lot of stuff I wasn't impressed by. I don't have the space for all these!

Reviews 23.07.2009

Well this is nice. I’m reviewing something the same week it came out. Spoilers ahead for Wednesday Comics #3 (so-so), Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5 (tickle worthy), Green Lantern #43 (Prologue to Blackest Night), Green Lantern #44, Power Girl #3 (so-so), Gotham City Sirens #2 (tits and asserific), Supergirl #43 (wow), Adventure Comics #1 preview (double wow).
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Wednesday Comics #3
The Supergirl strip continues to delight, Amanda Connor’s art is lovely and I’m really enjoying the little details she’s putting in, such as the kids petting Krypto. I hear tell that this type of story is very silver age. I wouldn’t know as I haven’t read much silver age stuff, but now I’m more inclined to give the old fashioned stories a go.
Kamandi is just an old fashioned adventure story really.
Superman is still lovely – full of emotion.
Tim’s derision of Wednesdays and the violence it brings, in the Teen Titans strip, makes me chuckle. I think it’s great how this strip contains more than one group of Titans.
The Wonder Woman story is very full of information, but that doesn’t make it bad. The colours are beautiful, the lettering is really effective and I find it really interesting. This strip has received a lot of criticism, but I’m not getting that.
Flash has just got a whole lot more interesting, what with Barry visiting the future.

I no longer have any interest in Metamorpho, Strange Adventures, Metal Men, Sgt Rock, The Demon & Catwoman, Batman, Hawkman, Deadman or Green Lantern.

Final Crisis: legion of 3 Worlds #5
Oooh this went all meta! I am a big fan of these types of stories so was very tickled by the outcome of this one. Not really much else to say. We finally saw the reunion of Superboy and Bart with the Titans and respective families - the scene was set up in the same manner as that of Green Arrows return from the dead.

Green Lantern #43 (Prologue to Blackest Night)
I succumbed and placed all Blackest Night titles on standing order. Initially I wasn’t going to bother with the prologue issues but I was told that I really should get GL #43. Post reading, I’m not that bothered by it, but I guess it’s good to see where Black Hand came from since he’ll be an integral part of Blackest Night.

Green Lantern #44
J’onn is back and beats up on Hal and Barry. John Stewart is at the site of Xanshi when all the black power rings descend and proclaim the dead to Rise. As the man says, That ain’t good.
It sure isn’t!

Power Girl #3
Ultra Humanite’s ship is powered by a giant organ. Hur hur. Innuendo aside, that’s a frickin’ great idea! Terra and cameos from the JSA made the final installment of this story more interesting. I was rather enamoured of the way in which Peej and Terra rescued Manhattan. The new alien ladies look like great fun and remind me of why Amanda Connor’s art is so good.

Hopefully now that this arc is completed we won’t see any more discussion of the use or ownership of Peej’s body.

Gotham City Sirens #2
The idea of Selina getting training from Talia Als Ghul on how to hide Bruce’s secret for the world is just terrible. An awfully cackhanded way of resolving last issue’s cliffhanger.

Although the colouring and pencils in this issue is gorgoues, the gratuitous tits and ass isn’t. The scene where the criminal blokes are checking out Harley and we only see a torso, that’s not gratuitous - we are seeing her from their perspective and they only see her as a hot piece of meat.

Every other scene of Catwoman, Ivy and Harley where their breasts, bum, legs or lips take centre stage, that’s gratuitous. It is interesting that the other women in the comic (bystanders) aren’t objectified like this, so it seems to be that the artist (or editor, whoever makes these decisions) is deliberately choosing to make the 3 heroines uber sexy. While I understand that they are all sexy and each has their own way of using their sexuality, that doesn’t mean that every.single.scene. has to objectify them. When the 3 of them are together, alone, in the warehouse they won’t be using their feminine wiles on each other. It follows that the art should reflect this. Yes, they are wearing sexy costumes, but their costumes don’t require them to arch their back or for the focus to be on their hips, groin, chest or grossly distort their anatomy. I’m thinking specifically of the first splash page with Selina tied up. What is going on with Ivy’s thigh. Legs, and joints do not work that way!

Supergirl #43
Oh my I’ve been waiting a long old time for this issue. The cover is beautiful and would make a perfect poster. Kara thinks so too as she has a photo of it on her desk. That is incredibly egotistical and weird. Who has pictures of themselves on their desks? Well, I know people do, but I think it’s bizarre. It’s similar to have a portrait of yourself up in the living room…

This issue gave us a lovely snapshot into Kara’s home life on Krypton. The arrangement of items in her room, the way the clothes are strewn across the chair and floor and the objects she has decorating her room all give us more insight to both Kara’s personality and Kryptonian life. Her white outfit that’s he’s wearing at the desk is evocative of 2 of the Tonner Supergirls doll. I wonder which design came first?

Kara is a typical teenager in this installment, by that I mean self centred and self pitying, and I don’t mean that as a criticism. She is convinced that her mother is sending her on all these chores in order to punish her. Her mother is actually doing it as a favour to her so that she can learn more about her new world and make an informed choice when it comes to choosing a guild.

I thought this was a great piece of characterisation. Who here hasn’t, as a teenager, been so convinced of their rightness and world view that they cannot fathom that their parents may have a different motivation for asking them to carry out chores.

This sub plot also served to further differentiate Kara from other heroes. Dinah Lance, Barbara Gordon, Wonder Woman would never have jumped to the same conclusion. Granted, they wouldn’t be put in that position because they don’t have the adult-teenage mother-daughter dynamic, but nevertheless as adult women they have maturity and an understanding of life that you generally don’t have as a 17/18 yr old. It tells us more about her and contributes to an individual characterisation that distinguishes her from not only adult heroes but also her teenage peers, Mia, Cassie Sandsmark and M’Gann M’orzz wouldn’t have had the same interpretations of her mother’s requests.

I am not faulting Kara for reacting the way she did, it’s something everyone goes through and it’s necessary as you grow up to be a mature, responsible adult. It’s really good to see that she’s not being treated as standard teenage hero model 3 and it also helps us see her growth from issue #1 to now.

All in all, an excellent issue.

Adventure Comics #1 preview
The art in this is ace. Colours, pencils, layout, all of it. It looks like the first issue is going to re-establish Connor’s place in the DCU, comparing him to Superman’s career, re-connecting him to his friends (hello there Bart!) and looking at how he performs with potential disasters. This is going to be a must on the pull list.

Currently listening to: Patti Smith's Easter.

Things I love about (superhero) comics

As I'm away for the weekend and won't be online tomorrow I'm doing 2 posts today, this is the second.

A while back I thought I’d do a post listing the things that I particularly love about superhero comics. So here goes.

1) Wally West and Linda Park’s relationship
She is his rod and serves to anchor him to this plane of reality, not get dragged into the speed force. They love each other so much that even when he’s trapped in some distant place he can find his way back home by focusing on her. During Infinite Crisis (or thereabouts) he ran home to say goodbye to her as he knew he was getting pulled away somewhere unknown and her reaction was ‘you’re not bloody going without me’ and promptly hung on.

I just love the idea that you can be (mutually) in love with someone that much that they serve as a way to ground you and bring you back home when you’re in danger. I think it’s wonderful and oh so perfect.
Yes, I am a product of a broken home.

2) You don’t need words
There’s an issue of Young Justice, # 31, which has no text in it at all. You’ve got Bart’s thought bubbles which are just images and no words. The art is impeccable and flows so well it tells you all you need to know. I'm someone who didn't pay a lot of attention to stuff around her when younger. Now I'm relearning how to be observant and take everything in and part of that involves really paying attention to the images use in comics, as well as how they're used.

3) The sheer epic scale of it all
Two things about this point really. One is that because it’s epic you quite often get huge universe spanning wars and then there’s lots of lovely tragedy. I enjoy a good bit of tragedy.
The second thing is that because the Universe is so bloody large and it’s got such a lot of published history there is so much to learn. Let’s face it, as a new reader, started reading comic properly about 5 years ago, I’ve got a hell of a lot of catching up to do. Considering I get frustrated when I come to the end of a 6 book fantasy series, because I haven’t learnt enough about each character, or the world’s history, or the culture or whatever, superhero comics are a bloody godsend.

4) Powers
Flight, laser vision, ice breath, telekinesis, supra intelligence, actual wings, shapeshifter, pyschics, Godlike powers, magic, super strength, shrinking people, growing people, time travel, space travel, robots, cyborgs, super speed, talking to fish, sonic screams, magic rings.

5) Fandom
Comics fans are so obsessive about what happens, why it happens, what it means and why it's wrong. Or right, if the individual is in an optimistic mood. I love it, we get so immersed in our fandoms it all becomes so important. I love having a community I can talk to about this stuff.

6) What Avalon's Willow said

Now, fancy throwing in your favourite things about the genre?

Part 2 Or, the second hand stuff I bought off ebay (mostly)

Final Crisis: legion of 3 worlds #1
Well, reading this suddenly made #s 2 and 3 make more sense. It probably helps that I was reading a lot of Superboy Prime’s other appearances at the time. Either way, a good start to the mini and it even made me like the Legion a bit more.

Impulse #30 and 31
Oh humour how I have missed you. I had hoped one of these comics would be the silent issue I was asking about the other week, but as it turned out that is actually a Young Justice one I didn’t really have much luck.
Still, really good comics, as you’d expect. In number 30 everyone loses their faith in something, leading to lots of folks hugging the ground as they’ve lost their faith in gravity and fear being sucked into space. Haw.
#31 features lots of Max Mercury (hurrah!), as he’s been captured by Morlo and the dude Max stole his wife from. Bart is meanwhile running around like a mad thing trying to work out where Max is. It’s good and I approve and think everyone should seek out copies of Impulse. After I’ve got mine so that you don’t price me out of buying the issues.

Doom Patrol: Magic Bus trade paperback
Written by Grant Morrison this is surreal and anarchic, of course. I enjoyed all of it apart from the Fantastic 4 spoof which was shit and reminded me why I don’t read Marvel. I hate dialogue written in accents.

Not a post

Honestly not.

Does anyone know which Impulse issue was the silent one? No one spoke a word it was all Bart's thought bubbles.

On second thoughts it could have been a Young Justice issue. Anyone know what i'm talking about?

I think I've blogged about it before but I obviously didn't tag it very well.

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.

Heart string pulling fan comic - Bart/Kon/Tim

Oh Tim! Found here via heartbart.