Monday, July 14, 2008

Another Batch of Reviews

Took a few days off for a long weekend to catch up on stuff. Have barely made a dent, but I did get to work on my new dollhouse and empty rooms in one of my old ones I'll be turning into an action figure hangout, did some laundry, cleaned, went to the gym, and read some comics.

Final Crisis Requiem
This was rather nice. I never was a big Martian Manhunter fan, but this tie-in tale had me caring about him now that he's dead. I like the way he touched the other JLAers. Tomasi, Mahnke, and Alamy did a nice job. I especially like how alien he looked in the art.

Trinity 6
I'm still reading this and still wondering why I am. Not a whole lot happened, but at least the focus was on the 3 stars this ish.

Countdown to Mystery 7-8
Nice conclusion to the Eclipso storyline and the various endings to Steve Gerber's Dr. Fate story were touching tributes. All would nicely lead into a series. I hope it happens, with the right writer. Gerber left tough shoes to fill.

Wonder Woman 22
First, I love Lopresti's art. He seems the perfect artist for Diana. She's still sexy, yet she isn't sexualized. She looks tough yet feminine. And the other characters look good, too. I like Nemesis, but geez, he's been acting like an idiot lately. I did love Donna showing up, though. This might not be the best book for Gail Simone's many talents as a writer, but she does do a great job with supporting casts.

Booster Gold One Million
This blew me away. It was as near to perfect as a comic could get. After Ted's sacrifice, Booster was as low as a guy could get, telling Rip he quit the time fixing biz. Peter Platinum was a pleasant diversion, but the meat of the story was Booster and his connections to others. To Batman who for once showed us why he's one of DC's greatest characters. Sometimes, all a guy needs is to know someone appreciates him, someone he respects. Sure, Rip has told him he's needed and sure, he understood about continuing to act the buffoon, but to know someone else knows there's more to him than that, to know Batman knows and gets that Booster is sacrificing his rep for a greater good, whatever it is, and that he's suffered for it, that can be enough to restore a guys' faith in himself. Then for his dead sister to be there, because Rip pulled her out of the timestream, giving him someone who knows him and loves him, well, that just had my eyes tearing up. And yet, that wasn't all Johns had in store for us. There was the big reveal at the end, a reveal that makes everything different and more meaningful. And anchors Rip in the DCU in a whole new way. Wherever this book heads now, I hope the new team can keep giving us the intelligent, moving stories as Johns has. And yes, Skeets looked adorable in a beret.

Justice Society of America 17
Grant healed, and the scene with Cyclone was adorable. Dr. Mid-Nite's vision restored. Gog has been bestowing miracles, but clearly, next issue as he tried to end war, things won't go as swimmingly. They can't, because this is a comic book where things can go wrong in a hurry. The pace of this might be slow, but the build-up feels natural, but I'm looking for a big payoff. I've really been enjoying this book. The JLA cameos were much appreciated, too.

Green Arrow and Black Canary 10

I do miss Chiang's art, but Norton and Faucher are okay. This issue was pretty much good guys vs bad guys, then the reveal at the end that the bad guys aren't really the League of Assassins. This isn't the best comic out there, but it is entertaining. I'm thinking we won't see the end of this storyline until at least issue 12, if then.

Huntress Year One 5
Huntress totally misreads the situation and tries to take out Bruce Wayne, has a run-in with Batgirl (Babs) who is later chastised by Bruce, then runs into Catwoman while battling Batman. I like how she's being tied more deeply early on with the rest of the Gotham part of the DCU and I've gained a lot more respect for the character thanks to this mini. I'll never care for her as much as I do the original Huntress, but this book and her appearances in BoP have moved her much higher on my list of characters I enjoy.

Madame Xanadu 1
This wasn't what I was expecting. It's clearly set in the past, and is strongly fantasy, not the urban fantasy I was expecting. Still, I liked it a lot. But I wish the paper inside had been better quality.

1 comment:

  1. You obviously HAVE been busy!

    Requiem was great, the whole choco bit at the end just made me tear right up. And Booster Gold was fantastic too. I really really hope that they can keep up the level of quality with whomever comes in after Dixon.

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