This Week's Haul: TED!!!

Welcome to Living Between Wednesdays: Home of the Slowest Comic Reviews on the Internet!

Well, here they are. As always I welcome discussion on these comics, or any other comics that were released this week. Possible topics for discussion may include:

• Iron Fist was totally awesome.

• This new Grendel series is totally awesome.

• Justice League is still terrible.

• The Incredible Herc rules.

• How awesome is that DC Action Figure Archive book?

Booster Gold #6

Ted's back?! For true?! I am aware that this is likely a fake-out, but I am still very happy. TED!

See, this is how you gracefully retcon stuff, Spider-Man. You don't make a magical deal with the devil. That's just stupid. The way you do it is you get a man from the future to travel through time with his robot friend and another time traveler. Then you get him to team up with three other versions of a dead character and save the dead friend's life.

I mean, it just makes sense. No magic. No devil. It's called science, Marvel. Look it up.

But seriously, if Ted is back for real than this was the best explanation for a dead character coming back to life ever. For that reason alone they should keep him alive. And also because I LOVE HIM.

Catwoman #75

Two observations I made about this issue right off the bat:

1. I hate Salvation Run

2. If it has to exist, I wish Will Pfeifer was writing Salvation Run

I don't think I have reviewed an issue of Salvation Run yet, mostly because I'm really not feeling it and I am trying not to review stuff that I hate so much anymore. It's not totally awful, I just don't think it's being done well. I like elements of it. For instance, I like comics with Amanda Waller. I also like that she double crosses the Suicide Squad. I like the Flash Rogues all being there together. I like Martian Manhunter being undercover there. But that's about it. The Super Villain Survivor competition between the two camps is pretty ridiculous. This is not where I want to see The Joker. At all.

And it DEFINITELY isn't where I want to see Catwoman. But, as usual, Will Pfeifer takes lemons and makes a great comic. I really liked the way he wrote Lex Luthor in this issue.

Speaking of Catwoman, I want to know more about this image that was featured in the back of every DC comic this week. Because it's awesome:

Robin #170

Chuck Dixon takes over, along with Chris Batista, as of this issue. The result is a pretty excellent comic. Robin has been a pretty solid comic for awhile now, thanks to the great work by Adam Beechen. It still isn't a title that I have committed myself to buying every month, but that might change. I bought this issue and I was really impressed. Dixon knows Gotham better than most writers, and he writes the characters really well. Tim was great, Batman was great for the few scenes he appeared in. And...The Penguin was fantastic! A proper Penguin: rich, powerful, and scary as hell. It was nice to see him restored to his cold-blooded glory.

Very noticeably, Dixon noted the absence of a memorial in the Batcave for Stephanie Brown in this issue. To that I say 'meh,' but I am interested in seeing where this story goes. Especially if the art is going to be this fantastic:

The Amazing Spider-Man #547

Well, those who didn't like that Spider-Man didn't appear in the first issue should be satisfied with this one. I wasn't so much bothered by that. I was just so happy to have Peter Parker back that I was perfectly happy to wait another issue to see the red tights. Happily, the classic costume is back, man-made web-shooters, web wings and all (is that what you call those things?).

Another great issue. I loved that the last one opened with Peter kissing a hot girl, and this one opened with him giving J.J.J. mouth-to-mouth.

For more fun Spider-Man this week, check out Marvel Adventures Avengers. It was lots of fun.

Birds of Prey #114

Ok, putting Sean McKeever on this title was a great idea! One of my favourite things about this title is that there tends to be more downtime than in most superhero comics. So you get to see the ladies hanging out a lot. And they drink quite often. Lady Blackhawk is basically an alcoholic. McKeever writes some good downtime.

Poor Barbara is going totally crazy after the whole Metropolis-getting-blown-up thing that happened last issue. Misfit is trying to redeem herself. Huntress and Zinda are drunk. A good issue all around.

This Week's Haul: Sinestro Gets Pwned

No real excuse for being late this week. I was so overwhelmed by having nothing to do that I forgot that I actually had something to do: review comics.

Countdown Arena #2

There's really no reason to pay any attention to this comic, but there's a little thing that's bothering me about this issue that I just have to say something about.

Ok, so the double page spread that shows all the arena fighters and what Earths they are from? Full of mistakes.

Check it:

Ok, this Wonder Woman is from Earth-21, which is the New Frontier Earth. Fine. But below that panel we see that crazy monster thing made of beetles. He is also supposedly from Earth-21.

So my first thought was "that ain't right." Later in the comic we see him again, only now he is suddenly from Earth-26:

Ok...so that first one was a typo. Alright. It happens. I look up Earth-26 in that little guide they published in DC Nation a couple of weeks ago, and it lists Earth-26 as, wait for it...Captain Carrot's Earth.

I dunno...that just seems wrong to me...

And there was also this Firestorm guy, who is from Earth-37:

Earth-37, according to that guide, is the Thrillkiller Earth. That makes no sense. (Also...do we need a Thrillkiller Earth?!). Please correct me if I'm wrong about this. Maybe that guy was in Thrillkiller? I just don't see how.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #3

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Connor, you were too beautiful for this world.

Congratulations, Judd Winick. You've ruined Christmas.

Green Lantern #25

Not only was this worth the $4.99 cover price, each page is worth $4.99:

I swear, like every other page looks like that. It's amazing.

I love the rise of the seven lantern corps. That's going to be neat:

Oooo!! I hope the red corps and the green corps fight at Christmas time! It would be so pretty!

I loved Guy trying to fight while being infected with a viral member of the Sinestro Corps:

It was also great when he was injected with the GL Corps virus and the two viruses battled it out inside him. Craziness!

And Hal, Kyle and Sinestro all losing the power in their rings so they just start street fighting? Awesome!

I love that "The both of you." Hardcore.

Green Lantern Corps #19

The members of the Corps who survived the war finally get a little downtime to spend with their families and loved ones. It's nice.

And this page is awesome:

I love those two!

But the issue wasn't all hugs and kisses. It had a rad ending!

I love that "Yes. I believe I have." This is gonna be great!

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps: Ion

All that I really want to say about this issue is that it was pretty good. These things have been kinda hit-or-miss, but this one is definitely worth checking out.

Also, I liked Guy's sexy lady that feeds him marshmallows:

Especially her I Dream of Jeannie pose.

Booster Gold #5

Man, this was so good and so sad.

I figured that, y'know, Booster wouldn't actually stop the Joker from shooting Barbara. But the way he insisted on going back over and over again! Ohmygod. I am just so filled with love for Booster Gold right now.

And if that wasn't sad enough, Rip breaks the news that Ted's death is a fixed moment in time that cannot be undone.

Awwwwwwww. I can't stand it!

Wonder Woman #15

I can't believe how much happened in this one issue! And it was all awesome!

I have been having a hard time selling people on this relaunch (Can we call it a relaunch? I think it's a relaunch). Everyone is all "I was buying this series for awhile, but I didn't like it." And I'm like "But it's awesome now!" And they're all "Yeah...I dunno..."

But it is awesome now. Don't let the fact that it's been mostly kinda bad up to this point prevent you from checking it out now. I guarantee you'll love it.

Personally, I was really into the god that WW found to help her in this issue:

What religion worships him? I'm joining!

Superman Confidential #10

One thing I really like is when comics are both really good, and really smart strategic moves. The New Gods are playing a starring role in the current DCU, so it's not a bad idea to have a comic that introduces new readers to the Fourth World. And the fact that it's also a great read with nice art is just icing.

I love Superman just having no idea who any of these characters are:

I also like Superman's ripped costume.

Superman is totally awesome in this comic. He doesn't know who these New Gods are, but he wants them out of downtown Metropolis:

Word.

The Batman Strikes #40

This comic is consistently very funny and entertaining. This month's was written by Matthew K Manning and drawn by Adam Archer. I like this series because it frequently combines a wisecracking Robin with a humourless Batman:

Once you get past the fact that all of the villains in this series, like the cartoon its based on, look very messed up, it's a consistently fun read.

Nexus: The Origin

I've read this comic several times, and it never stops being awesome. This is a re-painted reprint of a 1992 comic which stands the test of time as one of the best single issues of any comic ever written, in my opinion. If you've never read Nexus, then obviously this is a great place to start.

*Sigh* I sentence YOU, Nexus...for stealing my heart.

All done! I'm gonna go watch TV until our power goes out from this storm. Any comments about these, or any other comic releases this week (Howard Porter doing the art on Countdown? Blech) are appreciated below.

PS - I would also highly recommend this week's Marvel Adventures The Hulk. It was great fun. Rick Jones calls Namor's army "Aqua Teen Excessive Force." Also...Spider-Man Family was excellent and featured some beautiful art by David Hahn. I'd kinda like him to draw all Marvel comics. Or at least all Spider-Man.

This Week's Haul: How Can So Many Great Comics Come Out on the Same Day?!

Every now and again, comic shops will experience a perfect storm of awesomeness all arriving on the same day. This Wednesday was one of those days. So many amazing comics that fans had been waiting forever for. I am, of course, talking about Gene Simmons' Zipper, Simon Dark #2, and the hardcover collection of Jodi Picoult's run on Wonder Woman.

No, of course I'm kidding. There was plenty of actually great comics this week. Even here in Canada where we didn't get League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier. Because the world is stupid.

I can't possibly write about everything good that came out this week. Obviously Scott Pilgrim was awesome. So were lots of things. It was a great week, people. Thursday should have been an international holiday to allow us to read all of these great comics.

Superman/Batman #42

Ok, before we get to the good comics, I need to talk about this. I'm not going to lie to you, of all the comics I brought home this week, this was the one I read first. I just couldn't wait for the latest installment of this porntastic trainwreck. It's really too insane to be believed.

So, just to summarize to this point, Batman meets Orion's wife, Bekka. She has a power that makes men uncontrollaby attracted to her, and she is uncontrollably attracted to them. The less love a man has had in his life, the stronger the connection. So with Batman, it's pretty strong. Even though Batman really, really wants to do her, he tells himself it's wrong and he can't. She's married, they are on a mission, etc. She gets herself killed in the last issue. Frozen to death, to be exact. Good riddance, I say. Unfortunately, that's not what Batman says.

In this issue, Batman is so upset that Bekka died before he could hit that ass, he decides to bring her back to life by stripping her naked and putting her in a steaming hot bath (it's ok...he's a scientist). It works, but while he's waiting we get THE GREATEST TWO PAGES IN COMIC HISTORY:

OH. MYGOD. WHAT THE HELL?! I was reading this alone and actually yelling at it. I would read two panels, throw the comic down and yell "SHUT UP! YOU ARE KIDDING ME!" I think that Alan Burnett has borrowed liberally from fanfic here. I am sure I have read those two pages before. Especially that first one. Holy hell.

You know, some other stuff happened in this comic too, but who cares? Here's some more porny goodness:

Wait for him for what?!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Please read the following page aloud:

Outstanding.

All-Star Superman #9

I went to see Final Fantasy play tonight. When I see him perform I get the same feeling that I do when I read an issue of this series: the amount of talent is disgusting. How can anyone be that good? It's simply terrifying.

The best thing about this issue is I had no idea what it was going to be about. It turns out, it was about AWESOME. The beauty of this series is that Grant Morrison doesn't need to come up with crazy new ideas for Superman stories. He is telling us stories we have heard before...he's just telling them better. But, of course, Frank Quitely deserves an equal amount of praise. His art really makes a lot of the jokes very funny.

Like this one, where one of Superman's robot's arm falls off after being handed the super-heavy key to the fortress:

Amazing.

Wonder Woman #14

Here's an idea...what if Wonder Woman was a well-written, compelling character with an interesting, fun-to-read series? Now, a lot of people have said lately that certain writers have "ruined" Wonder Woman. This is simply not true. Wonder Woman was NEVER GOOD IN THE FIRST PLACE. Please tell me when exactly the Wonder Woman title was good. The way some people talk, it's like she's the greatest character of all time, and certain recent Wonder Woman events have reduced her to a two-dimensional, boring character who can't stand on her own. People...this is what she has always been like. I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying it's the truth.

So a lot of people have been waiting for Gail Simone to come along and restore Wonder Woman. I've been looking forward to Simone to write the first-ever interesting Wonder Woman comic. I think the Heinberg run was really good, but it just came out so damn slowly. Team Dodson remains on the art, which is awesome, but also means that it could be slow again.

But it sure is pretty.

And Simone's writing does not disappoint at all. Already we have Diana fighting gorillas AND Nazis! Plus, the gorillas become her new roommates.

This comic was excellent. It's back on my pull list!

Booster Gold #4

If I hear one more person say that they don't want to read this because they don't like Dan Jurgens, I am going to beat them with the Death of Superman Omnibus. Because, sure, Jurgens has produced some unforgivably bad art, but not on this comic. This comic is fantastic, and if you aren't giving it a chance because you didn't like some other comic, you are only cheating yourself.

For one thing, you are missing out on hung-over Booster Gold:

I liked this issue, but I am really looking forward to the next one, where Booster Gold visits The Killing Joke to stop the Joker from shooting Barbara Gordon. I know they probably won't really do anything, but nothing would make me happier than if they fixed her spine and restored her to her Batgirl glory.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #2

I felt like the Winick was starting to be a little more present in this issue than the last issue. And by that, I mean Mia was making some clunky statements about being HIV positive and a former prostitute.

Actually, the writing was pretty clunky in general in this issue. But the art was FANTASTIC.

Everyone is so good-looking!

I really like that Dealbreaker teaser title for the next issue, because all it implies is that they are going to mention the underwear again.

World War Hulk #5

A very action-packed ending. Finally.

My favourite part, though, was this panel, when Hulk does his impression of a 15-year-old girl:

Leaving Iron Man and Reed Richards to wonder how they ever managed to raise such a disrespectful son.

Black Adam #4

This comic has crossed the line from being surprisingly good to being effing great. Seriously.

It's really violent, but the violence has this great black humour to it that I'm really into. Every issue you see several insane things.

In this issue, Black Adam stumbles into a veterinary hospital to fix up some wounds from a recent fight. It's pretty excellent.

They fix him up, but they aren't happy about it. I really loved this:

It's just a great series. I'll be sorry to see it finish.

Avengers - The Initiative #7

I'm glad that, in a time where The Amazing Spider-Man has been consistently terrible, there is another Marvel title willing to pick up the slack. This was actually some of the best Spidey storytelling I've read in awhile. Plus, a significant plot point happens to Peter Parker in this book, which is good because all we're seeing in his other titles is an agonizingly slow and depressing march toward Aunt May's death while Parker is a wanted criminal. That story is continued in this book, but in a way that is actually interesting and pleasant to read. And it gets resolved somewhat, which was a nice surprise. Also, Peter Parker was being cool again. I liked when he saw the Scarlet Spiders running around:

The identity of those guys gets revealed in this issue, by the way.

The spiders help Peter out by using their shape-shifting abilities to confuse the public. They all turn into Peter Parker and announce that "Spider-Man" is actually just a robotic suit, not a person. It's a pretty significant plot point.

Here's my question though: ever since Peter Parker announced to the world that he was Spider-Man, he's been on the run. But would any random person on the street really see him and say "Hey, that's Peter Parker! He's Spider-Man!" I mean, he just looks like some dude. There's nothing really memorable about his appearance. Sure, Peter Parker is Spider-Man, but who the hell is Peter Parker? If he really wanted to visit Aunt May in the hospital, couldn't he just grow a beard or dye his hair?

The Batman Strikes #39

I don't know how interested kids are going to be in a comic primarily about corporate sabotage and ethical business practices, but I certainly liked it. A lot.

Iron Man and Power Pack #1

All that I want to say about this is: Best. Cover. Ever.

Superman Confidential #9

While we wait patiently for the final issue of the Cooke/Sale run on this comic, we first suffered through two of the most horrible issues of anything ever, and now we have moved on to this wonderful little New Gods story. Seriously, this run, of which this is the second issue, is really great so far. It's telling the story of the first time Superman was introduced to the Fourth World, and it's really entertaining.

Wonder Girl #3

I am so happy that this comic has potentially ended the mourning of Con El by Wonder Girl. I was really getting tired of that shit.

Yay for moving on!

And yay for being done this post!

Review of Music, By Johnathan

This here's from the Phantom Zone miniseries back in the day:

I kind of really like the idea of a super-hero-inspired musical subgenre - sometimes it seems like the people in comic-book universes live in this state of disinterest re: superstuff. Unless, say, Booster Gold punches his way through their front door for some reason, they have no real day-to-day thoughts on the issue of the heavily-muscled spandex models flying through their towns. Except for a whole lot of exceptions that I just thought of of course. Culturally, though, it's this and that one arc in Legend of the Dark Knight where there was a fad for bat-clothes.

The lyrics seem to be about a hundred times better than is usual for comic-rock. Possibly because there are so few of them. And because they aren't composed entirely of 'baby', 'hey' and 'yeah' (see all music featured in, say, Showcase Presents: The Teen Titans).

Oh, Bizarro-music. Everyone born after 1961 is an imperfect duplicate. Why isn't this all over current continuity?

JOHN APPROVED

Also:

Well? Which side won?

This Week's Haul: So Late It's Pretty Much Irrelevant

As I said, the comics were late this week after the long weekend. And I've been really busy. But now, without further ado...This Week's Haul!

Booster Gold #3

Thanksgiving can go to hell if it means I have to wait even one extra day for the new issue of Booster Gold. This comic is my favourite...thing. It's like...what if Quantum Leap was AWESOME?!

And in this issue he runs into Jonah Hex!!! This issue was basically a parade of things I love. It's like this comic reads my mind. Before we even get to the cowboy fun there's a Back to the Future reference (you know that both Booster Gold and Rip Hunter have seen that movie, like, so many times) and this Smallville reference:

If Booster Gold doesn't save the day, the world turns into Smallville! (Only...better Smallville...with Clark and Lex raised together as brothers. That rules). It's so weird and rad to see my boy Lionel in a comic. Nice.

Now let's get to the good stuff. Like Booster dressing like a cowboy:

Oh man, Skeets is totally welcome to follow me around blasting The Ecstasy of Gold if he wants. That would add a touch of majesty to everything I do (like, when I'm frantically running around cemeteries...).

I'm getting off track. What I meant to talk about was Booster stripping down there (yowza!) and also that Rip Hunter keeps a cheap cowboy Halloween costume in the Time Sphere.

So our boy runs into Jonah Hex, as I said, and is challenged to a drinking competition. So Booster gets PLOWED. And it's great.

But not as great as SKEETS RIDING A HORSE!

Let's see another shot of that:

Adorable!

And then there was this:

Booster is gonna drive the Time Sphere...drunk.

This is as good as comics...nay...entertainment...gets.

Black Adam #3

This series is really, really good. I am calling this the surprise of the year. I really wasn't even planning on reading this, but every issue is great.

In this one, Black Adam runs into Hawkman and totally throws down. It's AWESOME.

Also, Doug Mahnke draws a great looking Hawkman. The helmet is perfect.

Adam totally lays waste to him. He crushes his mace with one hand, rips one of his wings off and smashes him mask up.

This next page is great:

Soooo rad.

Captain Carrot and the Final Ark #1

This is pretty much as geeky as something can possibly be. And I love it.

"Justa Lotta Animals"!!! Quail Simone! Giraffe Johns! Panda Dio!

If you're confused about Captain Carrot, don't be. It's just fun. It's an Earth that mirrors our own but its inhabitants are anthropomorphic animals. Funny ones.

I laughed out loud quite a bit. Particularly at these two panels:

And this one, which reveals that the past few pages of monologue-style narration have actually been a very long one-sided conversation Rodney Rabbit is having with the worm in his tequila bottle:

It's extra funny because the worm is wearing an iPod for no apparent reason.

Countdown Week 29

I really only have one comment on this week's issue, and that is this:

I know that they are hand-cuffed together and it would therefore be tricky and everything, but...wouldn't Piper and Trickster maybe want to think about changing their clothes? Since they are on the run and stuff? I mean, I would at least try. If I were them.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #1

I actually did expect to see this team-up...because this cover was revealed months ago. Which is weird because there is a perfectly good variant cover with Canary and Oliver that DC could have released in Previews instead.

Let's talk about Cliff Chiang and how frigging awesome his art is. It's so beautiful. I could not be happier with the choice of artist on this.

And look at classic Oliver, looking all sexy:

I really enjoyed this. I'm a big Connor fan, so it's nice to see him getting some attention. And Black Canary's insistence that the man she killed wasn't really her husband is very touching. And of course the only one who believes her is my boy Batman:

Awwwwww.

When you hug Batman, he gets so freaked out that little red triangles appear above his head.

Yeah, so Batman believes that Oliver isn't really dead. Hal on the other hand is totally keen to bury the body and move on. Because Hal's an idiot. Or Hal wants Oliver's XBox or something.

This autopsy scene was pretty amusing:

It actually isn't almost exactly what they do. What they do is a pretty standard, and tidy, autopsy that leaves the body in tact. So I don't know what Midnight is going on about. I guess he gets his giggles where he can. Or Judd Winick does. Either way, I like Batman in that apron.

Y'know what else I really liked in this comic? Dinah's eye make-up. That mauve shadow really looks pretty!

So of course Ollie isn't dead. But I guess Everyman is.

Green Lantern #24

Super awesome as always.

Particular highlights this time around include the continued use of lethal force by the GL Corps (I could watch those guys waste bad guys all day), and Parallax calling Kyle "the pretty boy."

This page is awesome:

Superboy Prime is kind of awesome. "I'm baaaaack. Jerks."

I really like that aside with Superman and Hank too.

I also really like later in this issue when Kyle emerges from Parallax, all naked, and Guy uses his ring to make clothes for him...but he only makes tight-fitting boxer shorts...

Justice League Unlimited #38

Giganta loves Wally!

Did anyone else find this comic to be kinda hard to read? I hate to say that about a kids comic, because it makes me feel dumb, but the pacing of the story just seemed sorta bizarre. It was like every other page was missing or something.

But I'll tell you what I loved about it: Giganta using a skyscraper as a make-up mirror:

And this:

Another Smallville reference! What a week!

Runaways #28

First of all, I just want to say that the zombie variant cover for this was horrible. All of the zombie covers are horrible, but this one especially. The main cover, on the other hand, was beautiful. As you can see.

This was a good issue. I just don't really have anything to say about it. Except I hope they return to the present soon because I am getting bored of the past.

Superman #668

And we're off on another zany Busiek adventure. This time Superman is searching for the supposed Third Kryptonian on Earth (besides Power Girl, Krypto, and his new son Christopher...who seems to be the most neglected son in the whole world, because he has not really made much of an impact on Superman's life. I keep forgetting about the little tyke).

To find the Kryptonian, Supes gets some help from his old pal Batman. Because that guy loves to find stuff. Superman also brings Christopher to the cave, and it's pretty cute:

It's been awhile since I've read a good Superman/Batman sexual tension comic, so I enjoyed this. Maybe this will be the arc where they finally kiss.

Why?

Awww, Batman can't say 'no' to those eyes.

Also, I don't know who this guy is, but I like his enthusiasm:

Suicide Squad #2

This series is also awesome.

For one thing: Dinosaurs!

Getting shot in the face!!!

I would like to know where I can get one of these fire swords:

Man, that's sweet. I could just slice and BBQ a cow right there on the spot. No more pesky waiting for grilled meat.

Wonder Woman #13

J. Torres does double Wonder Duty this week with Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl. And he does a good job of both.

The art on this kinda jumped around between pretty good and really bad. Like, why did Wonder Girl look like a 40-year-old trophy wife?

And Wonder Woman's shorts were certainly awful in this issue:

And Black Canary's were possibly worse:

Wow.

Wonder Girl #2

Well, this is a much better Wonder Girl than the one we saw above.

Wonder Girl is a very charming mini-series. The fun art really suits Torres' writing, I think.

In this issue Cassie is getting stalked by a very persistent Hercules. He gives her a new outfit, which looks pretty cool:

Man, I am so sleepy. I can't think of anything else to say about anything. Comics were good this week. Yay!

This Week's Haul: MBA vs JLA

I really love Wednesdays.

I started the MBA program this week, and let me tell you, that is a lot of dry reading. Especially for someone who pretty much exclusively reads things featuring no less than three kinds of superpowers. Accounting and statistics textbooks offer no superpowers, or epic battles, or triumphs over evil, or cliffhangers. After getting my stupid school readings done, I was very happy to dive into a big stack of new comics. An added bonus was that this was a very good week for comics. Let's have a look:

Wonder Girl #1

Man, I am always happy when a good comic comes out about a teen superhero. And this is a really good comic.

So the Amazons have finished attacking, and there are a lot of dangerous mythical beasts strewn about the greater D.C. area since the Amazons were all zapped away. Someone has to clean them up, and that someone is Wonder Girl!

So here's what I liked about this comic: it gives a very brief and enjoyable overview of the character for new readers; it is very funny and entertaining to read; it has great artwork by Sanford Green; it's all-ages appropriate; it ties in to larger DC events without being confusing to people who haven't read the other comics; it gives us a little bit of the aftermath of Robin and Wonder Girl's near-kiss from Teen Titans #50; Wonder Girl is an awesome character who is feeling very sad and alone but is dealing with it by going out and helping the very people that hate her. She's a tough girl. It's rad.

And she totally goes Street Fighter Bonus Level on a military jeep!

Perfect!

Booster Gold #2

And speaking of perfect, I really could not possibly love this comic more than I do. Is anyone else just grinning like an idiot while reading each and every page? It's just so much fun!

I can't even write a paragraph about what I loved. I have to do it in point form:

- Booster's ultimatum: bring Ted back or I quit.
- Booster having to prevent Guy Gardner from becoming the greatest Green Lantern
- Sad Guy Gardner and his dying father
- Skeets using Sinestro's weakness to yellow to his advantage:

- Booster stopping Sinestro by stroking his ego:

- Sinestro twirling his moustache:

- Booster having a drink and a chat with Guy:

- Everything about Rip Hunter
- Jonah Hex!

Seriously. This comic is so fantastic.

Batman Confidential #9

The word 'terrible' gets thrown around a lot these days, but I think it can accurately describe the contents of the current arc on this series. And the one before this one. But especially this one.

This series has almost replaced All-Star Batman and Robin as my favourite terrible comic. I love reading it because it's so jaw-droppingly bad. Now, I don't like to be really negative on this blog. I'm not out to hurt anyone's feelings or whatever, but this comic is just really, really bad. In ways I can't even wrap my mind around. At least with ASB&R it's just Frank Miller being a jerk and writing a purposely bad comic for his own amusement. With this series it's more depressing because what we have is a television writer who had an idea for a Batman story and no one had the heart to explain to him that it's stupid. At least that's what I assume.

I'm not completely against playing with the origin of iconic characters, but I am against making those origin stories much, much worse. It's very stupid to write a story where the Joker gets his deformed mouth when Batman throws two batarangs at his face. It's stupider to write a story in which Batman orders a hit on the Joker. It's stupider still when the Joker is not even the Joker yet. He's just some crazy guy who robs and kills people with no gimmick. And Batman knows his name, meaning he's gonna know who the Joker is. Add to this some very clunky writing that implies the author only has the most tenuous grasp of the characters involved, and that perhaps the research ended with a viewing of Tim Burton's Batman movie ten years ago. What you have is a bad comic. With a glossy cover.

On the plus side, it gives me hope that perhaps I could one day write a Batman comic.

Justice League of America Wedding Special

Now let's get back to awesome comics.

I really liked this. Perhaps because it had very little to do with weddings and more to do with DWAYNE McDUFFIE WRITING JLA! WOOT!

It also featured awesome things like the Injustice League, Firestorm being awesome, and Hal Jordan trying to quietly get rid of some strippers he hired:

Man, that's good stuff.

I love Batman and Hal. Hal's the cool guy who hates having to ask for help, especially from annoying nerdy weirdos. And Batman is an annoying nerdy weirdo who talks all cryptic instead of just giving a straight answer because it annoys the hell out of the cool guy.

You know what else I loved? Bachelorette party at a gay bar. And, y'know, everything else.

But I do have one question. Who is this?:

What Aquaman is that? The same one I'm reading about in Aquaman right now? The ending of the last issue of JLA confused me so much.

The New Avengers #34

Is this still "new"? Can we start calling it The Avengers soon? Please?

All that I have to say about this is that I liked the little scene where Dr Strange did that spell that revealed everyone's true selves. Especially Hawkeye (or Ronin, or whatever).

Y'know, I've read pretty much this entire Avengers series and I conclude that these guys don't really do much. We've had, what, three or four issues now where they just lounge around and talk about who's a Skrull? Aren't there Hulks to stop? And aunts to save? (Actually, I'm very glad they aren't dealing with the Aunt May thing in Avengers).

Oh! Wolverine got his junk ripped off in this issue. That was neat.

Countdown Presents The Search for Ray Palmer: Wildstorm

Well this was pointless.

Seriously. I was interested in this series. I was at least curious. There's nothing terrible about the idea of crossing over DC and Wildstorm per se. It's at least interesting. But when it's as rushed as this was (and by that I mean the story was rushed along due to space restraints. I don't know how long it took to write this), it's just a jumbled mess with no purpose. This did not introduce the Wildstorm characters in any way that would make someone want to explore them more. Pages were wasted on an undeveloped and uninteresting love triangle between Kyle, Jason and Donna (Donna being the apex, sadly. If everyone was fighting over Kyle, I'd be a lot more on board).

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Pointless. And weird. And really just awkward. I think I'll give the rest of these a miss. I think they are basically just ads for Elseworld re-prints anyway. Like, do I need to read a story about Donna Troy, Jason Todd, Kyle Rayner and some Monitor wandering around Gotham By Gaslight? No, I don't. I'm jumping off this crazy train before they get to planet Thrillkiller. Or Planet In Darkest Knight.

Black Adam #2

And this would be what we call a good tie-in. I was surprised by how much I liked the first issue of this series, and I liked this one even more. It's decidedly not appropriate for all ages, and that's nice from time to time.

I think my favourite page was this one, which shows Adam in various locations obsessively trying out different random words in hopes of landing on his unknown magic word:

I also really like Black Adam in a Red Sox hat. I'm glad he keeps it for a couple more pages.

I also really liked seeing Ralph Dibny again, even if it was just his rotting corpse. It's just good that someone is talking about him. Where the hell is that guy's funeral?

This is just a really good comic. It's compelling, and it looks great. The 52 tie-ins are kicking the Countdown tie-ins all over the place.

Daredevil #100

One of the best comics out there gets a nice anniversary treatment this month. The story has been really exciting lately, what with Milla accidentally murdering a man, and Daredevil facing Mr Fear. This comic was as good as all Brubaker Daredevil comics, with the added bonus of having some guest artists contribute short sequences throughout. Lee Bermejo, John Romita Sr, Bill Sienkiewicz, Alex Maleev, Marko Djurdjevic and Gene Colan join Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano to make a really excellent-looking comic book.

It's a nice thick comic, but that's mostly due to a re-print of Daredevil #90 in its entirety. I was more excited about the page evolution stuff at the back, showing script, pencil, and ink pages from the different artists.

They didn't show the evolution of the Turner variant cover, which is good because it kinda looks like he just barfed it out. (Man, I am really mean today).

Superman #667

And Camelot Falls is almost done. I feel like I've been reading this storyline for about two years. How long has it actually been?

Not that I mind, because I've enjoyed this arc a lot. I was moved a surprising amount by Subjekt-17's confrontation with Superman. He argues that humans imprisoned and tortured him, and are therefore evil and shouldn't be protected by Superman. It's actually a pretty compelling and emotional argument, which ends in a fight between the two of them and some really heartbreaking panels:

I'm gonna miss Pacheco's art on this series.

Justice Society of America #9

First of all, awesome cover.

Secondly, I really loved the whole fire department-fundraiser pancake breakfast thing that the JSA was participating in.

And then they all go fight a fire, resulting in an awesome double-page spread:

I think JSA strikes the perfect balance between:

- the personal lives of the heroes and their interactions with each other;
- fighting evil and rescuing people;
- larger DCU events.

Now we get to see Kingdom Come Superman join the team for a couple of issues. I'm interested in seeing how this goes.

Green Lantern #23

Again, awesome cover.

I read three comics by Geoff Johns this week and they were all excellent. Just sayin'. Props.

Also, in two of those comics (this one and Booster Gold) we had Guy Gardner mentioning his abusive alcoholic father. Kinda interesting. And sad. Poor Guy.

I love Sinestro Corps. It's just so exciting. Now the lanterns have been given the ability to use lethal force! Crazy! And the battle is coming to Earth!

Alright, back to the accounting and statistics. Ehn. Maybe it will help me keep track of the multiverse.