First Reviews of the Week

Countdown to Final Crisis 3
Jimmy is in deep shit, but then, thanks to Ray, he turned the tables on Darkseid. That was cool. Actually, Darkseid's scheme using Jimmy was pretty clever, too. Now we're down to the big battle, I guess. I hope Mary Marvel sees the uh, light.

Green Arrow and Black Canary 7
I knew there was more to those "aliens" than met the eye. The banter might be a bit silly, but it made me chuckle and the plotting might be a bit over the top, but it moved along nicely. And while Ra's al Ghul's involvement is not a real surprise, things built to it well, I thought. I'm still enjoying this book.

Wonder Woman 19
Bernard Chang does not do Diana justice. And after a great opening arc, Gail delivered a rather ordinary two-parter, IMO. I'm looking forward to things picking up with the next issue, especially Aaron Lopresti's art.

Simon Dark 7
I love this creepy, unsettling book. Simon is such an odd character, strong and vulnerable at the same time. And there's some nasty evil taking hold of Gotham City. As medical examiner Beth says: "This is Gotham City. A lot of strange stuff goes down."

Titans 1
I'm glad to finally see this. I am not happy that Roy was missing from the ads and his hand is missing from the cover. I was happy to see him in the book. Some other random thoughts on the issue:

• Nice Nightwing butt shot while he's hanging on to the building after the explosion.
• Kory still at the Bakers' home, but has her powers back, so this must take place just before she left there at the end of Countdown to Adventure 8. Churchill and Rapmund drew a gorgeous Kory.
• Why is Raven showing the most skin in the shot with the other girls in school? Isn't she still somewhat modest? Have they changed that? I did like how she put down the other girls, though, telling them that they don't like her and she's fine with it. No playacting for Raven!
• Has Gar been reading X-Men? He's got a real Wolverine look going on with those sideburns. And that old-fashioned phone? What's with that?
• By the time we saw Donna, I realized Churchill is one of those artists who draws all female faces pretty much the same way.
• Wally in the shower. Beefcake to even up the cheesecake shots of Kory in the pool. Woohoo! Although, I would've preferred to see Roy that way.
• Batman shows up. Batman shows up in a full page panel that was awesome. I love the sweep of his cape.
• The Teen Titans are there. Power Boy is still dead. That's a plus.
• Donna changed to a new costume. I'm not quite sure where this book, which came out a bit late, fits into the Countdown timeline, because Donna started out in the book with Kyle.
• Trigon is back. That can't be good, for the Titans, but it usually makes for good stories.

Overall, I'm happy.