Welcome to Tranquility 11
Still behind in my reading. This book just gets weirder and weirder. I like weird. In this, we get closer to learning the truth about Tommy's father.
Birds of Prey 111
By far, my favorite of Tony Bedard's latest stories. Without needing to tie in to an ongoing storyline elsewhere, like the New Gods getting killed or some such, he didn't have to force anything. This was pure fun. Babs and Calculator are both undercover at a technonerd con to get info on Oracle's identity. Calculator is obsessed with finding out who Oracle is and Babs must prevent that at all costs. Misfit is nicely used to allow Babs to explain how this disaster-in-the-making came to be, which was much better than some annoying exposition (always nice if you can logically have a reason for a character to explain to another). Oracle and Calculator cross paths as "Sylvia" and "Simon" and he's hooked. Maybe there's more to life than his computer hacking! He considers hacking a fortune as a gift for her. Sweet. Then things turn nasty. A computer battle commences, then spills over into real life, with Hellhound joining the fray. And of course, he underestimates the nerdy broad in the wheelchair. But just when it looks dire for Babs, the nerds all come to her aid. Why? Because Misfit had the idea that saves the day. Characters were well used, Babs got to be front and center, the art was nice, and the dialogue snappy. First issue I've really enjoyed since Gail Simone left.
Catwoman 72
I got sucker punched by this. I knew Selina was giving up Helena. It was so logical. I thought she'd get Zatanna to wipe her memory of Helena. So far, I was batting a thousand. Then Zee talked her out of it, and told her, when Selina asks to have her mind restored to her bad gal self, that she'd already been on the path to good. The scenes with Zee and Selina were emotionally wrought and I loved Zee sitting in mid-air while they talked. And she gave her the gift of a dream. This was powerful stuff. And seeing a version of a grown-up Helena was wonderful. Oh, and Robin watching Helena so Selina and Bruce could talk, via flashback, was cute. So, what leads Selina down the dark path broadly hinted at in the Countdown promos? That's where the sucker punch comes in. Selina waking up in a completely empty apartment except for the blanket she's lying on and a bomb. Wow. Talk about "can't wait to find out what happens next" moments. Oh, and another awesome AH! cover. Hughes draws emotions like no one else. And his characters look real.
Countdown 28
Jimmy moves into the forefront story-wise. Maybe we'll learn more about these powers of his soon. Trickster and Piper continue to entertain and get a nifty origin 2-pager. The Karate Kid/Brother Eye storyline had me actually feeling sorry for Brother Eye. And Shadowpact realizes Mary Marvel needs to be stopped. Oh, and Donna is about to be flailed. This isn't as good as 52, but it is entertaining.
Justice League of America 14
In which Superman and Black Lightning get showcased and nothing much else happens. We hardly see any of the other team members, except for some torture scenes. And Superman looks pretty stupid in this. Okay, the Injustice Society has strength in numbers, but these guys aren't exactly a well-coordinated team. They've taken down the JLA too easily, and yet, that's all that's happened. We still don't have a good reason for all this. I'd heard such wonderful stuff about McDuffie, but I don't see anything amazing here yet. People complained about Brad Meltzer's run, but at least the JLAers seemed heroic in his stories. I hope there's a big finish for this story. And I wish, given the cover of January's Green Arrow/Black Canary, I didn't think Roy was toast. I really want more from this book. Still, Grodd wanting to eat Geo-Force was pretty nifty.
JLA was a huge disapointment to me, I'm starting to feel that McDuffie is way over-hyped, at least Meltzer made me think, and care, he may have been a tad slow in his wind up, but the story had depth. This issue bored me.
ReplyDeleteAs for the feeling that Roy may be toast, hate to say it, but I have that exact feeling myself. I know he's supposed to be on the new Titan's book, but that was supposed to be released in December and they've held off for some reason, also the silohette on the new cover appears to be one team member short if Roy's there. It wouldn't be the first time DC has lied to throw fans off the track--hope my bad feeling about that is nothing.
I've read conflicting things about the Titans book. I'm really having mixed feelings about this. I'm enjoying too many books to completely give up the mainstream DCU books, but I know I would definitely drop JLA if Roy isn't in it, and maybe Green Arrow/Black Canary, too.
ReplyDeleteI've had this feeling about Roy before and I was wrong, so I'm trying to stay hopeful, but still... Except for writers like Brad Meltzer, almost no one at DC seems to respect the character.
And yes, Brad did make me care, too. His pacing is better suited for novels, but his stories are solid.
Gah! Not Roy! Or even Connor! Seriously, I'm getting a wee bit fed up with all the death. Is this absolutely necessary anymore? It has been (pardon the pun)DONE TO DEATH! Enough already!
ReplyDeleteSheesh.
Oh, and Birds of Prey was excellent.
Sally, I'm starting to think they're addicted to death.
ReplyDelete