Comic reviews from June/July/August

It took me nearly 6 weeks to read these. I managed to post short reviews (thoughts) on twitter so I'm going to rewrite those comments for here.

Bombshells 1 - Pretty good. Nice designs. I'm glad I got this.
Hawkeye - this made me cross. Then my friend pointed out that the thing that made me cross didn't actually happen, and then I felt relieved. If you've read it you'll know what bit I mean.

Raven the Pirate Princess 1 and 2 are VERY GOOD. There is a not all men joke. Fnaar.

It also promises gayness and is building a wicked cool cast of lady pirates. Love it.

JLU 11 and 12 were pretty good. Nice art and a new direction for the series,in terms of team members. It's big heroic efforts to save.the whole world, and that's the sort of story I like

Batgirl 42 was good fun. Nice cartoony physical artwork. The annual had similar fun art and took us to the other Batladies! Including this era's Spoiler. It was a good intro (for me) of the character to the post-Flashpoint universe. Or is post-convergence now?

Starfire 3. Look at this Terra as drawn by Emanuela Lupacchino, inked by Ray McCarthy and coloured by Hi-Fi.

Justice League Gods and Monsters: Wonder Woman 1 - I did enjoy this and JL Gods and Monsters 1 and 2.  It's a decent alternate Trinity story.

Sex Criminals 9 and 11 were both good comics. I don't seem to have 10 so I bought that next time I was at the comic shop. I was pretty tired when I read 9 and 11 so didn't have any actual commentary. I've kind of forgotten the details of the two issues too.

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.

Recent comics purchases

I keep thinking about reviewing the comics I've got recently, but as soon as I start thinking about it my enthusiasm wanes.  I tend to go to the shop every few weeks now and pick up a bit pile that way.

These two lots I bought at some point over the Christmas period:

Of these, I remember Bitch Planet as being spectacular and Batgirl as being not spectacular, mostly for the poor treatment of ASL and Deaf people, as I blogged about here,  Ody-C is memorable for being utterly dull (to my mind).

Of this lot, X-men was fun, Ody-C was dull.  I think I may have put Sex Criminals away without reading it.  Either that or I've lost it...  Justice League United was pretty good and I think has further confirmed that I am a real Legion of Superheroes fan now.. oh dear!

This week I also got my first Elsyia reward through:

It contains the first volume of the comic, a tote bag, stickers, t-shirt, bookmarks and a feather or two.   the art is by Jennie Gyllblad so I know it's going to be a good read.

This week I bought this lot:

I've read Sensation Comics, which was a pleasure as always.  If you prefer the pre 52 Wonder Woman you really should give this title a chance, it's lovely.  The style of art on the cover is pretty horrible but I like the choice of characters in it.  I see Cassandra Sandsmark, a warrior child and other women in WW style outfits.  I like it.

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today, so although my brain is telling me to write a review of Tiny Titans for New readers... I think I'm just going to catch up on comics and prose fiction tonight.  Hope you're all feeling a bit better than I am.

Comics of the last week in November

Spoilers ahead for this lot:

Supergirl 36
It's the new creative arc and lo and behold I actually enjoyed it. This is a good writing team. Art was OK - the first panel was a boobs and butt pose which isn't great, obvs, but the rest was OK. Kara gets full armour and it looks better than the unitard.
The comic opens with Kara working in a coffee shop, frustrated with earth tech (till machines) and a bearded Clark turns up and lectures her. I liked Kara in these scenes. She felt real.

Then she gets whisked to space and introduction d to the crucible academy. This wasn't bad. Nice to see Maxima there. I hope we get to see her back on earth though.

Aquaman 36.
I dip in and out of this title. I bought this one for for the Lego cover (also got the Lego Supergirl cover). It's a strong issue. Good plotting, good writing and good art. I like Mera's catsuit.

Batgirl 35
This is the new creative team.  It's really, really good.  I will be putting this on my pull list.  Black Canary is in it (winner).  The art is kinda reminiscent of the art from Archie/Betty/Veronica type stories.  C'est triple good.

Batman/Superman 16
I got really edgy and grumpy while reading this.  It's a tense story with really touching moments.

Multiversity 3 (4)?
These are all numbered 1 on the cover, it's confusing.  (woe is me, ect ect).  This issue had watchmen, Midnighter and marvel references.  I preferred the previous issue, it made more sense.  Then again, this is Morrison and he's not interested in writing linear easy to understand stories.  I'm sure that as a whole it will all come together.

Sensation Comics 4
Ugh, just check out the boobs and butt pose on the cover it is horrible.  It would be nice if she wasn't twisted so much.  It looks like it's aping Adam Hughes, but for all his faults he doesn't usually create spine twisters.
Inside the comic is much better.  Gilbert Hernandez's Wondy, Supergirl and Mary Marvel art make for a very enjoyable alternative story.  I'm not sure I have a view on the plot or characterisation - it;s maybe rather stilted, but perhaps that's the point - but the art makes it worth reading.
The 50ft Wondy story is quite nice, with a bit of cheeky gender bending at the end.  The final story also has good art and fat Etta - always worthwhile.

Harley Quinn 12
Good fun. Harley has a red and black Peej outfit on.  I bet we'll start seeing that at cons soon.  Peej has named Harls her sidekick and they fight a giant pizza slice then visit Manos, bearer of the infinity rings.

Jonah Hex new 52 volume 2
I'm halfway through this and it's OK so far.  I'm not a big fan of Westerns hence why it's only OK.  I would quite like to read the issues when Jonah gets plumped forward to the present day.

A further Merry Christmas to everybody!

I have two more things for you!

- By Mike Maihack.  Visit his site here and buy the comic here.

Was the Hogfather a God?  Why not?  thought Susan  There were sacrifices, after all.  All that sherry and pork pie.  And he made commandments and rewarded the good and he knew what you were doing.  If you believed, nice things happened to you.  Sometimes you found him in a grotto, and sometimes he was up there in the sky...

- The Hogfather, Terry Pratchett.

London Super Comic Con 2013

"In fearful day, in raging night,
With strong hearts full, our souls ignite.
When all seems lost in the War of Light,
Look to the stars, for hope burns bright!"

Have a super merry christmas!

Mike Maihack is back with another Christmasd Supergirl/Batgirl striip!
(click to embiggen)

Original found here.

Isn't he talented?  Isn't it great?

Merry Christmas everybody!  Hope you're all having a great day :)

Ps, if you want Supergirl/Batgirl goodness check out Maihack's previous strips:
Last year's Christmas comic
The first Supergirl/Batgirl one he did
The second one he did


His webcomic

A Captain Marvel comic that is somehow linked to the Super/Bat girls comic

Belated Merry Christmas!

Comic by Mike Maihack
I hope you all had a wonderful day :)

Wonder Woman Wednesday

This is a brilliant piece by Cliff Chiang:

I believe that is Wonder Woman as Joan Jett, Zatanna as Slash, Babs!Girl as a member of Kiss and I don't know about Black Canary.

Honestly, how excellent a band would this be?   I'm really quite looking forward to Cliff Chiang's upcoming stint on Wonder Woman.

Cass and Steph get benched in the new DC universe

Crissposted from DC Women Kicking Ass:
---------------------

Notes from the DC Roadshow: Well, that’s that, isn’t it?

Bleeding Cool has posted reports from yesterday’s road show in Texas. And here you go:

You won’t be seeing Donna Troy yet in the new DCU, nor the Stephanie and Cassandra Batgirls. They haven’t been killed off though, just benched.

And the new readers they are targeting?

The target audience are men age 18 to 34 though they do realize that they have readers in other demographics.

I’m going to take a few moments.

 --------------------------

MOTHERFUCKERS

Killing Hawkwoman

So, seeing as the whole DCU is gonna be rebooted after Flashpoint, what the fuck was the point in killing Hawkwoman off at the end of Brightest Day?    I mean, Flashpoint has changed the world already so the new universe doesn't have to tie in with the old, at all, so why not let Sheira survive Brightest Day?


After reading this interview I am keeping a more open mind about Babs becoming Batgirl again.  But given the choice, I would prefer her to remain as Oracle, as a wheelchair user.

Batgirl Slap of Justice!!

So, there was a couple of North American comicons going on recently.  A lady from twitter, StephOOC dressed up as the current Batgirl , Ms Stephanie Brown, and recreated a scene from a recent comic:

I adore this.  And she makes a great Batgirl. Here's another pic of her with a Jason cosplayer:

Great costume, great Batgirl, all round awesome sauce.
So wish I could go to one of these America comic cons

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.

More reviews..

Birghtest Day 20  - If you like kick ass women you really need to buy this issue  Mera is seriously badass.  Aquagirl is pretty hot too (I mean hot as in amazingly cool, not hawt hawt sexy hot).  Aqualad continues to enthrall me and on the whole Brightest Day is just proving to me how unbelievably cool the Aquafamily are.  Unfortunately, I think Arthur's gonna die in a puff of white light soon.  I hope he comes back pretty darn sharpish and just as spectacular as ever,

Wonder Woman 607 - The suicidal minotaur made me sad.  The wall murals made me happy.  the cat made me even happier.  We need more kitties in comics.  We have Streaky, Stinky, Dex Starr, Talky Tawny, that family of cats from Morrison's Animal Man trade, what others?

JLA 54 - I have put this on my pull list hoping for Supergirl action.  I got none.  Lots of Eclipso action, (fine, set up the story, whatever) but no Kara.  The cover even has eclipso'd Kara, I feel vaguely cheated.  Why's she in her regualr, non dark uniform though?  Next issue - Boodika and Doomsday, yay!

Batgirl 18 -  I can't say anything about this that hasn't been said already.  It's a Valentines issue, it;s adorable, Steph has a really big heart.  Go buy it.

Ok, only this week's batch to go, come back tomorrow for more opinions..

Thinky thoughts about lovely comics

New comics day is now a Wednesday for the UK, yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!  However I am probably not going to manage to get in to the shop on a Wednesday lunchbreak, so i'll still be picking them up on a Saturday.  Still, it's nice to know I've got the option if I so want.

Right, I am very aware that I haven't reviewed the weekly floppies for aaages.  The thing is, December happened and I only had about 3 spare night during the whole month so this sort of dedicated reviewing got pushed aside.  Then I found I was forgetting what happened in the previous month's issues, so now I reckon some reviewing would do me and my little old memory some good.

Aren't these special covers just wonderful?  I mean I bought the Green Lantern Emerald Warriors books just for the special ragey logo.  I still have a beef with the Supergirl logo being pink (grrr) but all the others are simply fabulous.

I'm not sure what book was my favourite last week.  It might have been Batgirl 17.  Steph teams up with Damian, but not really because he's a moody ten year old and takes after dear old Dad, but anyway, Steph discovers that Damian doesn't know how to have fun.  So she takes him to a bouncy castle and jumps up and down in it with him.  This is adorable.

In other Robin news, Damian describes Alfred as an adeqaute servant, and that his culinary skills leave much to be desired.  Damian also likes to hang upside in his room.  For fun and profit.  (Maybe).

The kid is devilspawn, I'm telling you.

Then I found out Bryan Q Miller who does Batgirl also writes for Smallville.  I recently bought the box set and am now up to the JSA episode of season 9.  I think Mr Miller's involvement with Smallville makes him 300 x more awesome.

Speaking of the Batclan, Red Robin was also a lot of fun.  Robin and Tamara Fox find themselves  in the Unternet and their choice of costume is really quite interesting.  I've no blinking idea how they got into the Unternet (or even what it is, which demsontrates why I need to review my comics).  When the other heroes turn up they also look different - Bart is in a Flash costume, Kara is a silver age Supergirl dress, Cassie (Wonder Girl) looks divine, and Cass Cain is in a Batsuit.  Kon is in a blue Supersuit with yellow arm bands, M'gan M'orzz has a white sleeve suit on, Aqualad is in a variation on Arthur's classic getup, and Jamie Reyes, Garth and Raven look pretty much the same.

It's a gorgeous splash page.  Kara and Cassie (Sandsmark) look especially great.  Kara looks so determined and sure of herself, and like she's having fun.  Cass looks like a modern goddess.

Steph Batgirl action figure!

After a chance sighting in my local comic shop I impulse bought the Steph figure.  I decided to review it  a month ago and finally here is the review..

Colour scheme
Very nice. The purple and yellow are vibrant and complement each other well.  The colours look fairly deep and are nicely put on.

Articulation
This is my first figure that moves at the waist.  She also has articulation at the neck (sideways and up/down), elbows, shoulders, wrists and knees (sing along with me now...). her right hand is much looser than her left so I'm a little concerned it will fall off and I'll have a stumpy Batgirl.  I currently have her in an about to kick someone inna fork pose:

Design
It's pretty faithful to the comic.  She has flat boots (hurrah) and her legs and arms are ribbed (not for anyone's pleasure).  Her leg belt does appear to be inserted into her leg rather than sitting on top of it. Steph has many abilites but shapeshifter she ain't, so that much be quite painful for her.  Her hair has good waves and is nicely defined  The Bat ears are rather tall but it avoids looking daft as it is balanced out by the long hair.  The cape is lovley - flexible and swept off to the side.  Her breasts are of a normal teenage woman size.

Accessories
Baaaaaaaaaaataarrrraaaaang!  Yellow batarang!  And a boshing stick.  No I don't know the real name (baton?) so I call it a boshing stick.  It fits in her belt and the batarang sits in her hand.  Joy.

See?  Accessoried upa nd ready to kick someone inna fork.  While smiling. Steph we love you.

She also has this stupid platform to stand on - it's too small and looks daft.  If you put both legs down they don't fit on the platform.  Daft.

All in all though, I really like this figure.  I want to bring it into work and have her on my desk, but I hotdesk so that's not really feasable.  Maybe in the future when I hopefully can swap between just 2 desks.

I bought the best t shirt

Or possibly the most fun one.  From ebay, it's cheap, it's a knock off but I love it.

 It's mah new Super Bat Girls t-shirt!

Well I'm pleased.  I was having a crap week then I saw this and bought it, and now I have it.  Gods bless ebay,

Batman gets told off

There were a few good moments in War Games.  Only one or two mind.  This is one of them.

There.  That's the best bit of War Games.  Now no one else will have to read it, hah!

This reminds me of a scene with Babs, Cass and Bruce, that I will never ever get tired of:

Wonderful comics came out this week!

Red Robin 16 was not so wonderful, but have been better if it wasn't read next to Batgirl 14 and a Dr Horrible 1 shot which was..odd.  I also got Teen Titans 52 + 53 and Gotham City Sirens #9.  Which was amazingly good fun.  But onto the scans!  I cannot gush enough about Batgirl 14 so will display my love via scans:

So much win about this issue.  So much.
For a more indepth discussions see Nevermore999s LJ and Anj's blog.

Then there is also this lovely page of Kara from Teen Titans 53.

Maybe Eddy Barrows should take over Jamal Igle's pencilling duties on Supergirl?

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!