Misc DC titles from LSCC

I honestly have no idea if these posts are interesting to anyone.

I have no idea why I bought the GL/GA issue - I have the trades.

Superboy 25 is well worth digging out as Knockout has a large part in it.  It was really nice to be reminded of her role in this series.  Not only do we get her origin story but the other Furies come looking for her and she wins the fight.  Hence the pileup on the cover.  There is something quite bizzare about this issue as there are 5 posters in the back.  One is Superboy about o get eaten by sharks, one is him with a rainbow dinosaur and a groupie, one shows him being carried by Krypto (by the collar).  The fourth is him and Impulse with two ladies and the final one is this:

I'm quite keen on the logos across the top of the page.

Impulse 19 is Bart's efforts to get to sleep and his dreams.  Poor sod.  It must be very boring when you're a speedster from the future forced to do everything in normal time.

Shazam 1
I'm sure I already have this too.  Mary and Billy are powerless as the Trials of Shazam have granted the magic to Freddie.  Mary at first appears bitter about this, but then we realise this si justa  ploy to brign Blaze into the open to Freddie can defeat her.  I forget Blaze's origin, but I do recall how I was pleased when she was woven into the Marvel stories.  This issue is a good one.

Starman/Congorilla 1
Despite thinking I already had this, I don't.  This is much better than I expected.  There is a lot going on but it doesn't get confusing as James Robinson plots it really well.  The art is lovely and the switch between timeframes is nicely done.
Starman and Congorilla are on the hunt for Malavar from Gorilla City as he can help them witha  Justice League crisis.  Tthe only problem is that Malavar has the bad guys after him and has some important business to carry out, so when our heroes do find him, they need to fight until business is concluded.  This works out rather well as it turns out that Malavar was resurrecting Tasmanian Devil in a Lazarus pit.  You may remember that he was killed and turned into a rug in Cry for Justice.  Thankfully, no one stays dead in comics.

Prism Comics

I’ve written several articles for Prism Comics, all focusing on LGBT characters.  A list of the articles can be seen below.

I'll be updating this post as and when more of my stuff gets published by Prism, and I'll be including a link to this post on my blog sidebar.

Secret Six - Six Degrees of Devastaion: It’s a team of 6 villains, with one lesbian and one bisexual character.

Venus Envy: Webcomic about a young trans woman.

Coming out in comics – similar to my series on this blog, this is an overview of LGB characters in modern DC comics, what I think about them and why I think it’s important to have them.

Iono-Sama Fanatics volume 1: A Japanese yuri (girls love) manga about a visiting Queen, looking to build up her sobames (companions).
Paris:  2 women find love in 1950s Paris.

Starman #45: Featuring a gay male couple, and some rather dodgy gay men in prison assumptions.

Starman 80 page giant - Wherein I talk about the concept of bisexual erasure and what this comic does to break the trend.

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.

Yet more reviews (part 6): The Justice filled edition

First of 2 posts today.

I have a new banner! Very kindly produced for me by Charles Yoakum at Ink Destroyed by Brush, who incidentally has done a very nice sketch of the Black Cat which I've been admiring.

Thanks also to ComicsAllTooReal'sChris and terrylegend42 for the offers of help. I'm sure all would have done a great job.

Onto the reviews. This post covers Justice League: Cry for Justice, Starman #43 (featuring the JLA), Young Justice 31, and Extreme Justice
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Justice League: Cry for Justice # 1

The art is gorgeous, but we already knew that from the previews and the cover. The actual plot is very much a set up issue with lots of posturing from the current JLA. Essentially, Hal has a strop because he feels the current JLA doesn’t actually do much Justice. So he resolves to form his own league, one that is more proactive. We’ve been here before with Justice League Elite. The JLE also included Ollie, which is interesting, and they spent a lot of the time undercover. The whole shebang didn’t work then so I’m a bit confused how it is going to work differently now. What does being more proactive mean? I understand that once this mini is finished the team will become the Justice League proper so I hope that they will manage to overcome this hurdle.

When Hal is talking to the JLA he is mostly talking to Supes and Wondy, which is odd considering Dinah is meant to be the leader. Yet she is just in the background muttering to Ollie.

The rest of the issue introduces us to the Atom, Starman and Congorilla. While this is useful it doesn’t really start the story. Detective Comics 854 and Gotham City Sirens were much better opening issues in this respect.

There was a nice additional text piece at the back of the comic about how this mini came about and why Robinson picked the team members. I presume this is to justify the price of the comic. Works for me. There will be a text piece about Kara in future issues too, so huzzah for that. The 2 page origin of Congorilla was nice but could have been done in the main body of the comic.

I’ll keep buying this mini but I sincerely hope the actual story starts next issue.

Starman #43 featuring the JLA
I picked this up in a second hand store because it’s written by James Robinson and I wanted to get more of a feel for him while Cry for Justice is going. The cover is also absolutely wonderful:

I really liked this book. I’ve never read any Starman before but that wasn’t a hindrance. The current Starman has just opened up a store called Knights Past and he is showing it to his Dad. I’m guessing they either haven’t gotten on in the past or that they were estranged. Anyway, the current Starman then asks his dad if he can help locate a rocket for him because he needs to go into outer space. He needs to go into space because his girlfriend, who is the sister of the previous Starman, believes that her brother is still alive in space and she wants this Starman to go find him.

And I’ve realised how ridiculous that will sound to non comic fans.

Anyway, the current Starman’s dad calls up Jay Garrick, who calls up Wally West, who speaks to the JLA and so Starman gets an invite to meet them all and state his case. They say no as they’ve only got one rocket and won’t lend it out on a hunch. At the end of the book a guy called Shade has sourced a rocket for Starman and I suppose next issue he’ll be in outer space.

The lay out in this book is great, it reminded me a bit of Promethea, and by extension the last Detective Comics issue.

This book is recommended and I shall try and read the rest of the run.

Young Justice #31 – When Mimes attack!
The silent issue! Purchased from ebay and an absolute delight. Bart is bored (as usual) and wants to hang out with Kon. Kon however is settling down to watch the Cheerleader Championship with Wendy the Werewolf Slayer. I’d forgotten about these nods to current pop culture, very funny. So Bart heads out the house to find excitement elsewhere.

He comes across a fella tying a damsel to some railroad tracks, saves the damsel then finds out that it’s a shooting of silent film. Next he goes to a book fair and imagines that everyone will want his autograph, only to discover it’s librarians book fair and they all shush him. Then he sees some silhouttes in the park, assumes it’s the trinity, then sees that they are mimes (god knows how he got confused). Whilst sitting on a step very bored some guy comes up to him to chat, Bart tells him about his crappy day then the guy produces a card saying he’s deaf and asks him to buy a card showing the fingerspelt alphabet - kudos to Peter David for bringing Deaf issues into his books, even if he sometimes gets it a bit wrong.
Next Bart finds some monks who invite him to share lunch, chuffed to bits he races over and chats, then finds out they have taken a vow of silence. Lastly, he discovers the Cheerleader Championships and finds that the mimes from earlier are thieves and are making their getaway via the competition venue.

It’s a great issue. There’s thought bubbles all the way through and it even made the boyfriend laugh. Hunt it down if you can.

Extreme Justice – last few issues
It remained rubbish. The most interesting part was at the back of issue 0 which showed what an inker does. Here’s a scan for your edification and learnings:


Pretty interesting huh? I didn’t know what inkers did before I saw that. Now I’m educated.

Currently listening to: The British summer rain and Garbage's Only Happy When it Rains. Tres apt.