Convergence week 8 (the final one!)

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

Now to do the final week's batch.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Super Silly Sunday

Perhaps this should be super slashy Saturday instead.
Can anyone tell me what issue this is from?

EDIT - Just found this (and others) in my draft posts folder.  Will be posting them over a period of a few weeks. They look to be about a year old.

Comic reviews - week of 23/04/2014

Reviews ahead for this lovely lot:

 

Spoilers ahead for Larfleeze, Secret Origins 0, Batman/Superman, Justice League United 0, Red Lanterns 30 and Supergirl 30.

Comic reviews

Over the last two weeks I have read X-Men 10, Forever Evil 5, Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion 5, Green Lantern/Red Lantern 28 and World's Finest Annual 1.
Spoilers after the break.

Comixology comic reviews

I am SO behind.  These may be very short.  Since it's been a while since I read them I'll just have to skim them again, oh no, the horror! ;)

Spoilers ahead for: Power Girl 13, Batman L’il Gotham 4/5/6, Green Arrow 16/17, Justice League 16 and Aquaman 16.

Super Sexy Saturday

From Teen Titans V3 issue 92.

Comic reviews!!!

These have been a long time coming.  As I said before I spent 80 quid on comics at Thought Bubble, and because I've been busy moving house and doing coursework it took me a while to start reading them.  Now I've read all apart from the 3 Cinebook books, for which I want a full afternoon spare in which to revel in them, and Howard Hardiman's Badger books, for which I want an evening to sit and relax with them.

But I now feel ready to start getting down my thoughts on the other books I got.  The best books will also be reviewed on New readers.

I'll start with the weakest of the lot - Team Girl Comic.  This wasn't something I went looking to buy, but when I saw it I thought it might be the sorta thing I'd like.  You may remember I had a Wonder Woman costume on.  So there I was, stopped at the table, selling TEAM GIRL comics, and I noticed they had about 5 eager looking enthusiastic women all sort of crowded round ready to sell comics to the punters.  In fact, there's a picture of them here. But what with the enthusiasm, and me in the WW costume, and it being a girl comic, it all felt a bit cliched, which was mildly embarrassing, but also quite nice, I think.  Anyway it meant I didn't chat much to them, even though they were all perfectly nice people, and advised me to get issues 5 and 6 as they were the best.  So I did.

It's an anthology, with strips by women artists/writers in the Glasgow area.  The problem is the comics aren't that great.  The quality of work is variable and the only pieces that really stand out are Penny Sharp's Fox comics.  The rest I can easily leave.  However, I guess that's the beauty of anthology comics.  You take a punt and everything is a surprise.  Occasionally you discover a gem.  I have the first two issues of The Girly Comic, which was doing a similar thing, but I feel that The Girly Comic was much better.  Mind you, I haven't re-read them for years, so maybe they are bad too...

Next up I read Julia Scheele's I don't like my hair neat.  I first came across Julia in The Peckham House for Invalids.  I hadn't set out to find her at Thought Bubble, but I saw her name on the table and it rang a few bells and I asked her if she was involved with the Peckham House and she said yes, and so I bought the comic.  I think my boyfriend was buying something else from the same table at the time.  It helped that I saw this image of hers being given away as a postcard:

Julia's blog is here and she is on twitter at @juliascheele.  I don't like my hair neat is a collection of stories, the first (and main) one being about a woman fearing she might be pregnant. Then there's a page showing 'a short history of touches' which is actually quite moving, and a page showing what is in her handbag ( a wonder woman badge and a lot of tobacco and filters, amongst other things).  Julia's strength is in her colours.  They are incredibly vibrant and full of life.  Positive (written by Katie West) and Diem (words and concept by Chrissy Williams) are mesmerising.
On a more physical and less visual note, the paper this has been printed on is gorgeous!

That's enough for ThoughtBubble stuff for tonight.  I'll do more reviews of these indie comics in a few days, and now move onto a few DC issues which are languishing.

Gaymazing Tim/Con slash

By Colours07 on DeviantArt, here (might be worth clicking through to a larger version if this one isn't clear enough).

Love it.

Comic reviews the second (of March)

As in, my second late post for reviewing.  All issues are a few weeks old.

Secret Six #31
I had intentions to reveiw this for the LGBT Book challenge, but haven't got round to it yet.  Suffice to say, Knockout is back.  Hip hip hooray!

Wonder Woman #608
At it's best i'm just not finding this very engaging.  At it's worst, I'm finding it downright insulting.  Dr Psycho gets to rescue Diana? Really?
In addition to the abov, which I think is a fucking awful plot point, Diana is out of character.  This may be an alternate timeline and all, but she should still be the same basic person underneath.  And that, dear readers, I am not getting from these books.  Oh yes, I have turned.  notintheface covers this quite well here.

Brightest Day #22
Ok, 22 issues in, 2 more to go, and I'm not really sure of the point of Brightest Day.  I don't feel that we are reaching an all importnat climax, I feel like we've just meandered in and out of several stories. I have very much enjoyed the Aquafamily story, and the Hawks were good before they were killed but on the whole, I can't really bring myself to care too much about this series.

Red Robin #21
Oh yeah, this is the shizzle :)   Y'all should be reading this book.

Superman #709
I want the Superman Squad back please.  That is the only part of this story I am interested in.


Young Justice #1
This is surprisingly good.  I've read mixed reactions to the tv show, but this issue is enough for to have placed this book on my pull list.  yeah.

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.

Thinking of Steph

Lets look back at when she was awesome, before War Games was ever thought of.  Spoiler and Robin have just broken into an aprtment and are surprised to find out the blonde woman in the apartment has dealt with the intruder.

War Games

I just read it.

Ho. Hum.


Now I see why everyone hates it.

Then I read War Crimes.  Way to go, assasinating Leslie's character.

The only good thing about it is Steph was heroic to the end, and Selina was supportive.

But Batman is still a massive dick.

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!

No Mans Land - Comedy moments

So, yesterday's post was all serious and deep.  Today's will be amusing (and short).

First, a peek into Batfamily life:

I love getting glimpses into Batfamily life.  It seems as if the relationship between Dick and Alfred hasn't really changed much over the years.

And now, I finally got to read about something I've been hearing about for years.  Big Barda wears Plastic Man.

It's probably a good thing he's plastic and unkilleable, or he'da been in real trouble.

No Mans Land

I've been reading Cataclysm, Aftershock, Road to No Mans Land and No Mans Land.  They were surprisingly good, even for a Batman hater like me.
For those of you that don't know, Cataclyscm deals with a massive earthquake destroying Gotham.  Aftershock is the immediate aftermath of said earthquake, and No Mans Land covers the year following the earthquake.  The US government, pushed by various malign influences, decide to annex Gotham city, cut it off from the rest of the country and leave it to rot as a no mans land.  The inhabitants are given the opportunity to leave but some, for varied reasons, decide to stay.  Chaos ensues and the Batclan and the remnants of the GCPD try to restore order to Gotham city.

No Mans Land ran over 85 issues and 40 of these were collected into 4 trades.  I've been lucky enough to get hold of the whole run, so I discovered that the 80+ issues were arranged around various small story arcs and a few standalone issues, each focusing on one particular area of Gotham city or one character.  It's been really interesting to read all of these and I'm planning to do posts on the things I found most interesting.

Given that this story crossed many different DC titles there is a huge variation in the art styles and ways of drawing each character.  The Penguin was particularly interesting to see, as some artists caricatured him to become a short, squat figure with a very pointy news, and others drew him more human like.  Depictions of Two Face also varied enormously.  But to start with, lets take a look at the cover issues.  Click to embiggen.

This is from the Aftershock storyline and I think it's just a beautiful picture.  I'm a big fan of using similar tones and shades to create moods in artwork, and I feel that this is just a very powerful picture.

Whereas the image above is isolating and shows Batman as somewhat inconsequential when compared to the plight of the city this cover is crowded and claustrophobic, and even more desperate.  The firey colours used are, I assume, meant to remind you of hell.

This is the cover to part 2 of a 3 part arc and ran in Shadow of the Bat 88, Batman 568 and Detective Comics 735.   Poison Ivy has set up in Gotham's Robinson Park and has made it her own.  Anyone going in doesn't come out again.  Clayface enters and makes her a deal.  Unfortunately for Ivy, he reneges on it and imprisons her, feeding her salt and denying her water and sunlight.  Ivy has also adopted various (human) children and Clayface captures them forcing them to work for him tending and selling the produce Ivy grows.  Batman and Robin investigate, help Ivy out and can't quite believe that the children are happy and want to stay with Ivy.  Score 1 for environmentalists, score nothing for pompous know it all crimefighters.

No Mans Land is a harsh place and people survive any way they can.  In this issue, an enterprising couple are promising a way out of Gotham in return for jewellery and other shiny goods.  However their way out is actually a tunnel full of starved, crazed people who attack and eat anyone tricked into entering.  It's noteworthy because the starved cannibals are drawn to resemble zombies, making this an interesting take on the survival of the fittest theorem.  If it weren't for the sanctimonious ending this would be a really good issue.

What can I say.  Any cover stating that Robin tastes like chicken is gonna get a mention from me. Mmmm, chicken!

Ahh, this cover is just lovely.  The story concerns an cop and a veterinarian and their struggles to care for the people they come across.  The cop ponders the value of his soul and wonders what the daily fight is doing to him, and the veterinarian is worn out to the point where she will make a deal with the penguin to help the kids in her charge to get out of Gotham.  This story ran in Legends of the Dark Knight 123 and Shadow of the Bat 91.

I find this cover giggle inducing.  So sue me, but it doesn't look like he's grieving, it looks like he's muttering 'I'm Batman! I can breathe in space!' or something similar.

This is just lovely.  The composition, the softness of the background colours compared with the dark of Batman, the fact he's not brooding, but is simply ready.  Lovely.

General Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong

As seen in Chuck Dixon's run of Robin.  He's young, obnoxious, pompous, sociopathic and generally reminds me of Damian.  Wikipedia says he became Anarky.  Is this correct?  Did he suddenly age up or something?

Tim Drake is pretty darn cool

Not only is he pretty:

He has good music taste:

He has his comic filled with moments like these:

Admit it.  You wish you were him.

Remember the first rule

People never remember the first rule.

They also don't know a lot about yetis.

(If you get the reference let me know in the comments!)

This week's comics!

See I CAN do it on time (sometimes!).  No spoilers.

Superman #702.  Shit cover.  He looks like he's wearing a nappy - where's the creases and folds?  Why are his pants so bulky?  And it's boring as anything.  I think they may have been going for iconic, but it;s just rubbish.
And inside, Superman is a massive knob.  He wants to get in on humanity and ordinary people but he just comes off as a patronising, interfering, self righteous jerk.  Am not impressed.

Batgirl #13.  Better.  Proxy (Wendy) gets some screen time and Steph does her usual dive-right-in-and-ignore-subtlety kind of heroing.  I've worked out what's been annoying me about this comic.  It's the slang.  It's calling Babs 'O' and saying gross or ewww.  I don't like it.  I also think the art could do with more definition - more lines on the faces and the costumes.  But then again, this comic always seems much better on the re-read, so it can't be that big a problem.

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1:  Someone tell me why Guy was never an earth cop, and was instead a PE teacher.  He loves being in charge I'd have thought he'd tried out to be an ordinary copper.  This has promise.  Black/Red/Multicoloured Lantern promise.

Antique Bakery vol 1:  It's a yaoi title, by the same lady that wrote the The Moon and Sandals.  there's no sex in this one.  I feel cheated.  But I guess the story was alright.  It was very funny in places.

Robin backissues - I got 20 back issues of Robin for £12.99 a couple of weeks back.  Am now reading them (and only one is a duplicate of an issue I already have, hurrah!) and realising how good they are.  Look out for a post on General Ulysses.