This Week's Haul: So Good It's Boring

I really want to review comics this week, but I don't have much to say about them. They were all pretty solid. I mean, what can you really say about Captain America, Iron Fist, The Incredible Herc, Grendel, The Brave and the Bold and Birds of Prey besides they are all really good? All the time. Even Spider-Man is rocking the house regularly. I have very few complaints these days.

I would like to talk about three comics, basically.

Catwoman #77

Ok, this was awesome. This book is consistently awesome, as I keep mentioning on this blog, but I think bonus points deserve to be awarded when the book ties into Salvation Run and is STILL awesome.

In this issue Catwoman, still on a bizarre parallel world after having supposedly escaped the Salvation Run planet, beats Batman in a fight:

And then destroys the Justice League:

And then LIGHTS A CIGAR WITH HAL'S RING!

I love this woman.

Super Friends #1

Awwwwwwwwwwww. Look at them! All stumpy!

I'm not going to lie: I'd be a lot happier if J. Bone was doing the interiors on this title, but I can give any quibbles about the art a pass because, hey, kids are buying this comic! Kids are asking for this comic by name! We are selling lots of copies of this comic! It's exciting. This first issue is certainly a lot blander than Tiny Titans, or Teen Titans Go...or basically any other all ages comic on the shelf right now by any publisher, but still...

Green Lantern defeats Amazo using the awesome combined power of the Justice League believing in him. And frankly kids need to learn these valuable lessons (i.e. - holding hands with your friends will cause a giant ram's head to burst out of your finger).

Superman/Batman Annual #2

Yeah, I keep saying I am not reading this comic anymore...but I love annuals.

This annual kept the same theme as last year: re-telling a classic Superman/Batman team-up story. This time it's World's Finest #178, where Superman loses his powers and tries to make a go of it as a powerless crime fighter named Nova.

Like last year's annual, this one is written by Joe Kelly and infuses a nice amount of humour, parody and tongue-in-cheek sexual tension between our two heroes. But where last year's was just full-throttle with the silliness, this comic is actually a pretty decent re-telling. It updates the story nicely without being nearly as corny as you would imagine something like this being. It's not hard to be an exceptionally good issue of Superman/Batman, but this is one. The art, by Scott Kolins, is also very nice.

I think it would be cool if they could reprint the original stories as part of these annuals, or at least mention where readers can find the original stories. I also think that every issue of S/B should just be a re-telling of a classic story. Or be anything other than what it is right now, which is a complete waste of everything.

So there it is. Another week of comics that is so high in quality it's downright boring.

Addendum to the Review of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Part Five, By Johnathan

Well, it's been a little while, huh? One reason for this is that I'm having a bit of a hard time thinking up anything interesting to say about the last four old Legionnaires that I have to cover before moving on to the exciting, new, awesome Legionnaires. So I'm going to plow through them all at once. Yee haw!

SUN BOY

Good basic picture of Sun Boy. I've always been fond of that costume, though the fact that it's never really changed in any significant way makes it hard to think up any new snarky things to say about it. Same goes for his hairdo, which really hasn't changed since he first grew it out in the 2970s. Mrs. Morgna's boy knows a good thing when he sees it, I guess. Oh, what I wouldn't give for him to have had a momentary lapse and started wearing a big spiky sun mask, like something Electro would wear if he was Solaro Energo instead. I coulda gone on for days!

The pose is great, though. This is almost certainly the exact posture and facial expression that Sun Boy adopts when his girlfriend of three months catches him sleeping with her sister. "Sorry baby," it says, "Dirk Morgna just can't be tied down to one woman."

JOHN APPROVED

TIMBER WOLF

Again: very hard to say anything new about this costume, as it's basically the same as the one he started out in (barring some minor redesign. The same bits are all there, just in different places). The ol' orange-and-brown-or-black-maybe costume isn't anything to write home about, but it's not terrible either. See? Not much to say.

Evidently, this picture hails from one of those periods in which Timber Wolf was having rage issues on the side. I have to admit, I always think that that sort of thing is bullshit, at least in Mr. Londo's case. I mean, he was given super-powers by a ray that his father developed out of a rare mineral, right? And then he called himself Lone Wolf because he was under the impression that he was an android and had some asinine belief that a self-aware android wasn't fit to interact with humans and so vowed to live apart, right? And then he changed his name to Timber Wolf when he joined the Legion because Lone Wolf doesn't work as well when you hang out with twenty other guys all the time, right? So... where does the 'bestial temper' thing come from? I don't recall any in-continuity explanation other than the assumption that wolf = bad temper. Could the origin of Timber Wolf's rage and interesting teeth be that Wolverine was/is a very popular character and the Legion was filled with very polite folks with no anger-management issues? Nah.

I like the mean-looking drawing in the background, though. Check it out: it looks like a drawing of a vampire from a 1970s black-and-white horror comic - Creepy or Eerie or something. Neat!

NOT APPROVED

ULTRA BOY

Favourite Legion costume, with no changes, check. Flying around looking like a loveable lunkhead, check. Nice sideburns, check.

JOHN APPROVED

WILDFIRE

Again with the unchanged costume that I like. Bah!

The only thing that I can really think of to comment on is the fact that Wildfire seems to be venting an awful lot of his anti-energy in this picture. Perhaps, says the juvenile portion of my mind, he has just experienced the energy-being equivalent of letting a large fart? I know, I know. Far too obvious. Consider this, though: could this be what Dawnstar looks so surprised about, over in her picture?

JOHN APPROVED

Okay! Next up: new folks!

Wasn't Red Still Available?

I'm just going to say it...Captain America: White is a poorly thought-out title.

You know who wouldn't like that title?

Review of the New Frontier Movie, by Johnathan

Good adaptation, overall, taking into account the compression of story necessary to squeeze two volumes into 90 minutes.. The art is, I guess, a compromise between that of the comic and the DC Animated Universe style, which works better than the triangle-shape Bruce Timm style would have. Excellent voice casting. King Faraday isn't as big a jerk, which is good or bad, depending on how much you like King Faraday.

Watching this thing on a big screen is definitely a good idea. Also, I feel that for maximum enjoyment you should watch it with Darwyn Cooke. Okay, fine, I was a couple of rows away from him. Going out for drinks with Darwyn Cooke afterward also enhances the movie's impact. Okay, drinking a couple of tables away from him. His wife was at our table, though. We all talked about lolcats.

The most important thing that happened tonight, at least for people who like Hourman, is that Rachelle asked Darwyn to clear up an argument that we'd been having. Turns out that she's been right for the last year: Hourman doesn't die in New Frontier. Whee!

JOHN APPROVED

(so I don't get to name-drop very often, so sue me. Darwyn Cooke is a stand-up guy and a talented comicsman.)

This Week's Haul: Poor Daredevil

Let's see if I still remember how to review comics.

Daredevil #105

When you are feeling stressed out, there is really no better cure than picking up a Daredevil comic. Because no matter how bad your life is going, Matt Murdock's is much, much worse. And his loved ones are having an even rougher time.

So, this concludes the Without Fear story arc. And does it end happily? Oh my goodness no. Not at all. Daredevil confronts Mr. Fear re: the poisoning of Matt's wife, which has turned her into a murdering lunatic. Mr. Fear is a stone-cold badass:

Haha...good one, Fear.

DD is pretty badass too:

Well, that shut him up.

So anyway, Matt punches Fear around and, having beaten him, believes he's going to get the cure for poor Milla. Nope:

Ohhhhhh shit.

And I love that the preview of the next issue is a picture of Daredevil crying in the rain.

Captain America #35

Let's see if my boy Winter Soldier is faring any better than Daredevil this week.

Yup. *sigh*

Blue Beetle #24

Love it! Love the cover. Love how much ass Jaime kicked in this comic. Love the Death of Ted Kord motif.

Love Traci 13:

This comic rules.

All-Star Batman and Robin #9

Ok, I wasn't going to say anything about this comic, because I am trying to ignore it. But, seriously...

WTF, DC?! Why are you even allowing this?! I don't care who's writing it or how "legendary" they are...this is just wrong.

Batman #674

Well, at least this was some awesome Batman. I like it when Batman just does something really, really cool. Like this:

I liked how this issue ended too. Bruce Wayne is clever.

Teen Titans #56

This issue was really entertaining. I've been pretty underwhelmed by McKeever's Titans run so far, while at the same time being very impressed with his Birds of Prey writing. So of course he's leaving Birds of Prey. When McKeever was announced as the new writer of Titans, I thought it would be perfect, and this is the first issue of his run that had the level of fun I was expecting. The Titans are teenagers! This title should be two things:

a) fun
b) a soap opera

I think we are getting there.

In this issue Kid Devil decides to invite some fans from a Kid Devil message board to Titans Tower for a party...with hilarious results!

I particularly loved this little detail, with Robin bitching Kid Devil out from home:

Very funny.

And, of course, Batman getting prank called:

Saying "Your Mom" to Batman is funny for so many reasons...

New Frontier DVD

And, of course, New Frontier came out on DVD this week. In case you forgot. You should buy at least one copy. You won't be disappointed.

There were lots of other good comics this week too. I actually haven't gotten to Nexus #100 yet. I'm saving it. It's going to be rad.

Caption Contest Winners!

Hi guys! I'm back! Thanks for your patience and kind words. My life has now settled down and I am ready to resume reading comics and writing about them. I haven't picked up my comics in two weeks. Insane, eh? I also haven't worked at the store in weeks. But that all changes now!

So after much deliberation, I have chosen a winner of the caption contest. But first I want to give a special mention to Tony Z, because he put so much effort into colouring his entry:

And now the winner...Scott!

I entered the text into the panel myself (a little tricky because Lois's speech balloon is so tiny):

I think Bruce's thoughts match his facial expression perfectly. Ditto with Lois. Plus, the idea that Batman is analyzing the Sunday comics every week for Riddler clues? Hilarious.

So congrats, Scott! Email me with your address and you get an autographed copy of Nexus: The Origin, signed by the legendary Steve Rude (courtesy of Strange Adventures)! And, hey, Tony Z...I'll send you something too.

rachellegoguen at gmail dot com

Thanks to everyone who entered. You can see all the entries here.