This Week's Haul: A Light Week

Howdy y'all! 

That's how they talk in the south, and that reminds me: I did another podcast episode with the Dollar Bin boys this week. This time the subject was my very favourite lady: Catwoman!

Listen as I talk an unending streak by clicking this link: Catwoman!

I can never hear super clearly when I am doing these phone interview things, so I just keep talking over everyone. And my heavy breathing makes it sound like I'm an astronaut being interviewed from a space station.

And now on with this week's comics!!

Here's what you should read this week:
Wonder Woman #24

Why? Because Gail Simone really rules at cramming a whole lot of story into one issue, and making every part of that story thoroughly entertaining and hilarious. Wonder Woman brings Nemesis home to meet her mother, which is great, and the second half of the issue has WW visiting the set of a Hollywood Wonder Woman movie. This, of course, is also great because it allows Simone to make some fun commentary about the unending struggle to get Wonder Woman into her own movie, and give us an idea of how horribly wrong Hollywood could get it if it were made.
 
 
 

 

Amazing Spider-Man #571
 
 

Why? Because this comic has been coming out almost weekly since Brand New Day started, and it's been consistently great.

Norman Osborn is really enjoyable in this issue, and Eddie Brock is really crazy. And the art, again, is wicked.

 
Super Friends #7

Why? Because the Super Friends teach some kids how to skateboard. Even Aquaman. I really want Batman to teach me how to skateboard.

In this comic Aquaman actually reasons that he must be a good skateboarder because he is good at riding dolphins. Probably as he is saying this, Flash is stealing his wallet.

Booster Gold #12

Why? Because this is how a time-travelling hero should be used: as an opportunity to re-visit all our favourite eras of DC comics. This week it was 1970s Batman, with the classic Batmobile and with Barbara Gordon as Batgirl.

This comic is just fun. It's always fun, and I love it.

 
Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #3

 

Why? This issue concludes a series that was better than the following comic series: Secret Invasion, and Runaways.

 

Seriously, this team (Christopher Yost and Takeshi Miyazawa) should be doing Runaways. And SOMEONE should do Young Avengers, because I would sure like to see a comic about them again.
 
 
 

Angel After The Fall: Final Night v.2

IDW released the second hardcover collecting the official continuation of Angel this week. First of all, these hardcovers are beautiful. Nice job, IDW. Secondly, writer Bryan Lynch's enthusiasm for what he's doing with this series comes through loud and clear in the bonus content. Plus, the intro, written by "Groosalugg," is absolutely hilarious. Seriously.
 

Also, unlike the first collection of this series, this book contains several short stories about each secondary character, each with a different artist. So having an array of artists is nice. And I know this title isn't nearly as possible as the Buffy comic, much like the television series, but I really do think it's a well-written continuation of the show. It's an entertaining comic, as is the Spike series that is being released alongside it, also written by Lynch.

I wanted to post an image of the cover of this book, but it is nowhere to be found. Not even on the IDW website. Which is weird.

 

Portable Winter Soldier

I don't know about you guys, but I really like those Marvel Classic lead figurines that Eaglemoss has been putting out.

And coming soon...Winter Soldier!!

Oh, sexy Winter Soldier. There you are in all your shaggy-haired glory. Machine gun, bionic arm...sexy, sexy leg holster. I could spend years in the trenches with you.

This is a guaranteed way for me to die of lead poisoning. I cannot guarantee that I will not lick this figurine.

And since we're on the subject of these rad lead figures, coming soon from Eaglemoss...DC lead figurines!!! Oh man...I can't wait for...all of them.

Check out Lex Luthor:

Awesome. I want a Booster Gold and a Blue Beetle! And a Jonah Hex! And a Batgirl! And a Phantom Stranger! And five Batmans! Eeeee!

I'ma Light the Bat Signal!

Josh Elder wrote me into a Batman Strikes comic! And you can buy it today!

Here's Gordon asking me to do an important job:


Yeah. I know. My name isn't spelled right. But still! I like to think I'm that tall, blonde, Nazi-looking cop.

I just want to point out that between Chris Sims, Dave Campbell and I, I definitely get the coolest job.

So there you go! Getting married is only the second most exciting thing to happen to me this week!

This is Batman Strikes #47, just to be clear. And it's a lot of fun!

This Week's Haul...Is Not Happening.

Alright, so it's pretty clear that I'm not going to get my reviews up this week. I've been all busy, what with school, wedding preparations (less than a month away!) and preparing for my trip to Charlotte this weekend.

All that I really wanted to say about this week's comics anyway was that ACTION COMICS WAS TOTALLY AMAZING AND GREAT!

Seriously. It was so good I can hardly stand it. You really don't need to wait for the new issue of All-Star Superman to get your awesome Superman craving satisfied. Especially if you love the Superman movies at all. And I DO.

The art is amazing. I can't wait for more of this.

Martian Manhunter Week: Earth Girls Are Easy

Let's continue on with

Martian Manhunter Week

Remember, to get the full Martian Manhunter Week experience, you need to also be visiting fellow Halifax-based comic book blogger, Johnathan Munroe's blog. It's a cross-over event!

Let's see what happens when Detective John Jones, the Manhunter from Mars, faces his greatest challenge yet...the charms of a female!

As Miss Meade gets herself tarted up for her first assignment, John Jones is easily taking out the escaped criminal using yet another made-up power:

Sure. Why not? By the way, I hope you like randomly occurring super powers, because this comic is full of 'em!

But we'll get to that later. Here's where Det. Jones is formally introduced to young Miss Meade:

I'm sure she would love to learn his methods. That tramp. I also like that Jones decides that he is willing to work with her based on the fact that she is "kind of pretty"...for an Earth girl.

But wait! What's this?

No! He seems awfully surprised that she's smoking, considering EVERYONE smoked then.

Jones plays it cool:

So they go to investigate a stolen artifact or something, and are told that the thieves were wearing black masks. No problem. Jones has a super power he was saving in his pocket for just such an occasion:

"Let's play Justice League! I'm Aquaman! I can control the ocean!"

"I'm the Flash! I'm really fast!"

"I'm Martian Manhunter! I can visually magnify the electronic components of any object to 1,000 times their natural size!"

These next two panels are really weird:

"Haha...a little casual sex on the job, eh? Well, don't let us intrude. You kids have fun!"

A couple of panels later Jones falls victim to the oldest trick in the book: the ol' totem pole on the noggin:
Rearranging the molecular components of your arm and reaching right through the roof of a cave to the rocky hillside above you: sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution.

So they get out of the...cave...or wherever...and Jones whips out yet ANOTHER super power:

Jones tells Diane to stay put and changes to his Martian form in this awesome panel:

Then he decides to go and get himself some crooks, using a veritable buffet of invented-on-the-spot super powers:

I love this. Jones wants to bust in on the crooks like in the movies, but they aren't in a room. So he picks them up and places them in a room:

"Where am I? Weren't we just in a car? Now we're in a room?"

"I...I don't know...This is creepy. Are we dead? Is this heaven?"

"Hands up! In the name of the law!"

"What?"

And Diane is like "Huh? They were in this room the whole time? Then where the hell did John go?"

This comic ends on a bittersweet note, with our hero wondering if he could ever, really ever love a woman: