A Week's Worth

A lot to cover, so short and to the point.

Brave and Bold 10
Superman with the Silent Knight. I always enjoyed the Silent Knight. And the original Teen Titans are always a treat even if Speedy was absent. Another good issue in a consistently entertaining title.

Shadowpact 22
A decent wrapup for the story, but the book has lost some of its quirkiness now that Matthew Sturgis is writing it. He needs to tap into the absurd sense of fun that Willingham has perfected.

Flash 237
An entertaining bit of fluff about testing the twins' abilities and Superman's cape.

Checkmate 23
Another taut, scary chapter in this consistently excellent comic. The battle against Kobra comes to the fore and it isn't looking good. Nice guest turn from Superman. He's sure getting around lately.

Countdown to Final Crisis 10
Now that we don't have the Trickster/Piper banter, it's good that Harley, Holly, and Mary are keeping things fun. Harley and Holly are too funny. I wouldn't mind seeing them in their own story. Some more on the New Gods and OMAC story threads, but the book was worth it for one page, that of Mary Marvel regaining her powers. Her tearful "Thank you," was heartfelt, and I got a bit misty-eyed. I never doubted she'd become Mary Marvel again, but her journey to the dark side and back was written well enough that I can understand if folks had doubts.

Justice League of America 18
I really, really miss Brad Meltzer on this book. At least, when he was writing it, I felt as if important things were happening. Now granted, the first story featuring the Suicide Squad, was a neat tie-in (along with last month's installment) with Salvation Run, but splitting the book into 2 stories each issue during this time so the stories can coincide properly is not doing JLA any good. I found the second story about Red Tornado to be a bore and since that was written by McDuffie, the regular writer, I'm not feeling hopeful for future issues when we get back to single stories per issue. And as has been pointed out by many people, the coloring was off, especially in the 2-page spread with the credits. Vixen is colored as a white woman and even Black Lightning looks a bit pale. It looks like the colorist was aiming for some sort of shadow effect, but it's a mess. And much as I love Ed Benes' art, I cannot see how Wonder Woman could be comfortable with her panties that tight. This is the weak title in my week's reading.

Zorro 1
Where the retelling of The Lone Ranger started with his origin and slowly had him assume the masked identity of the Lone Ranger, Zorro starts in the middle of things and uses flashbacks to fill in how Diego de la Vega becomes Zorro. The art by Francavilla is nice and moody and Matt Wagner brings Zorro to life with vitality for today's readers. This will be another for the pull list.

Birds of Prey 115
Helena and Zinda make a nice pair. I love Zinda. She brings a fresh energy to the Birds. Meanwhile, her recent setback has Babs emotionally closed off again. I like the antagonism between Misfit and Black Alice and having the Birds be a training ground for new, young, empowered female teens is a nice concept, putting Babs into the mentor role. I'm really sorry McKeever will be leaving soon. I like where he's been taking the Birds.

Catwoman 76
Still a Salvation Run tie-in, but an intriguing one that seems to be taking place in Selina's mind? It's an intriguing place, where Selina's sister Maggie became the Catwoman.

Wildstorm Revelations 4
I'm enjoying this, another female-centric title. This time, Back Lash faces off against her father, while Savant and Nemesis try to get info on the coming disaster. And next issue: Grifter and Zealot. Finally, more Cole Cash!

Madame Mirage 5
A great week for female characters headlining their own comics continues with this installment of this magic with a twist tale. Harper Temple is a wonderful character and Angie, well, Angie is something else again. I am eagerly, and a bit nervously, awaiting the last installment of this first story. Things didn't look too good for Harper at the end of this ish.

The Spirit 14
Mike Ploog's art is fine on this, but not the perfect fit as Darwyn Cooke's had been. Aragones and Evanier deal up a decent story, but I'll wait to see how they handle something more serious before I decide if this is still a keeper.

Angel 4
This continues to improve as we find out more about the old gang. This time, it's Lorne who appears. The banter is pure Whedon and the chapters are moving along in the spirit of the show they're continuing. Not as good as the Buffy continuation comic, but a solid read.