I Read a Lot of Comics

And I'm still far from caught up. But here's what I read in the past week.

Blue Beetle 28
A sweet fill-in story by Will Pfeifer. This started out looking like a serious, intense story, and turned out to be a nifty character piece.

Birds of Prey 119
Nice to see Black Canary back, even if not part of the team. Carface was a hoot. And Bedard seems to be getting a handle on the Birds.

Catwoman 80
The book still has a couple of issues to go and I'm already starting to feel withdrawal. This is one of DC's best. Selina demonstrates why it's really a bad idea to piss her off.

Crossing Midnight 19
An odd number to end on, which makes me wonder if they rushed things for some reason, ie cancellation. Still, the story worked and the conclusion is both satisfying and open-ended. Sad, too.

Final Crisis 2
Confusing at times with a lot going on. Great ideas here, but I wish they were developed better. Maybe a few more issues to flesh some of this out would've been better. I know there will be the tie-in books, but the main story shouldn't feel this disjointed. But I'm getting into it and figuring I should just ignore most of Countdown. I never read Death of the New Gods, so that conflict with this isn't much of a problem for me.

Flash 241
The story of the kids and their powers, especially Iris, is taking leaps now and I'll admit I'm hooked.

Green Lantern 32
The Secret Origin flashback story rocks. The whole Hector Hammond aspect, the snottiness of Carol and her love/hate type of relationship with Hal, and the mystery surrounding Abin Sur's death give this story a lot of importance and it's more than living up to expectations.

Huntress Year One 4
Another pleasant surprise. Ivory Madison is making me care about this version of Huntress in a way I hadn't before.

Justice League of America 22
I can't decide what to make of this book. There's an actual story going on, which is nice. And I'm one of those people who likes the art by Ed Benes. But the opening scene with Reddy admitting to watching the JLAers, including Roy and Kendra having sex, was just creepy. Even within a scene, there's good and not so good. Supes and Hal giving Roy relationship advice was fun. But this whole relationship has just been weird. Much as I like seeing Roy scenes, this seems to be slowing down the story and not adding much to the character bits. I guess this means Roy is over both Cheshire and Donna, though. But Dinah is acting like a leader, so that was nice.

Justice Society of America 15-16
The pacing might be slow for some people, but I like how this story is unfolding. And the look on Grant's face at the end of 16 was very moving.

JSA Classified 39
Ted triumphs in what turns out to be the last issue. It was a good book overall, but I don't know that I'll miss it.

Manhunter 32
I loved her scenes with Blue Beetle and in her dealings with La Dama and Bones, Kate is one tough customer. And I'm starting to really worry about Dylan, whom I adore. And it looks like Ramsey might be in trouble, too. Andreyko really picked up the pace if possible, and the art by Gaydos really suits this book, giving it a realistic, suspenseful feel.

Nightwing 146
The creepy Talia story comes to a close, and yet, despite the creepiness, this was a good, solid story with some nice moments. Dick snarking at Talia was fun and I loved his scene with Supes at the end. Right now, I'm one happy NW fan.

Rann-Thanagar Holy War 3
The weirdest group of characters continue to entertain. I love the Weird and Comet, and when mixed in with Buddy, Kory, Adam, and Carter, plus various religious fanatics, it makes for snappy dialogue. The various plot elements are starting to connect, too. And I adore Tyrone. I'd love to see Tyrone and Detective Chimp team up in Brave and Bold someday. Wouldn't that be fun?

Supergirl 31
I guess Puckett's emphasizing Kara's stubbornness. The book is better than it was for a while, and it wasn't bad, but it's not exactly good, either.

Teen Titans Year One 5
Roy and Donna have fun on a date, then Roy in his typically clueless fashion, ruins things. Entertaining issue.

Trinity 1-5
I'm only reading the main story as I find the backups rather annoying. I can't say I hate this book, but it's definitely not wonderful. Just an average read and I expected more. I'm thinking maybe DC should give the weekly concept a rest for a bit and recharge, because the books are getting less entertaining, not better. 52 still rules. It's a tough act to beat and neither Countdown, nor Trinity so far, has come close.