My Long Delayed Report on What Comics I Bought The Last Wednesday In February

            I am a week late in telling you about last week's trip to the comic shop.  I was able to get to Ssalefish Comics to empty some of my books out of the hold box.  It has been a rough time at the end of February financially.  I had the normal health insurance and medicine bills to deal with and a nice surprise.  It was time to renew the auto insurance.  I went shopping and changed the place I get my insurance from.  The main reason was the fact that the old company stopped allowing customers to stop by and pay the bill.  For me this is a problem.  I have to wait on checks and sometimes scrap the money together over a week or so.  I need the ability to drop by and pay.  So I ended up with a cheaper policy for the same coverage which is nice.  I also went to see the Sleep Apnea doctor, the reason I was in the same area as the comicbook shop.

            There is something I try not and let happen and that is letting my books pile up.  I like paying for and getting the books in a timely manner.  Rarely do I sort and buy only part of the books either.  This time I had too.  It means now there are two with a possible third on the way issues of ECHO in the box.  That is a $3.50 book so it adds up.  DC Comics helped greatly with the $2.99 across the board pricing.  What follows is what I picked up that last Wednesday in February.

            We begin with the newly added creative team on SUPERGIRL, which I added back to my pull list.  I need to state for the record that I love the new hairstyle on Supergirl.  Kara was always similar to Wonder Girl and Stephanie Brown in the long blonde hair look.  Add in Lady Blackhawk and any other fair haired gal and the DCU was looking like they had only one hairstylist for all the heroines.  Last issue saw a weird guy start a new app for smart phones.  “Flyover” is a social tracker of Supers and the idea was that everybody would take pics and upload locations.  Cool except for the fact that it is being used to send groups of villains to attack the younger heroes of the DCU.  What is awesome about SUPERGIRL #61 is that the brat Robin is in the issue.  He is on the phone in a pitch battle when Kara lends a hand.  What follows is what I have begun to enjoy, Damien and the cool older blonde heroine team up.  This book has been really good for two issues.  Let us hope for three and more.

            BATMAN BEYOND #2 finds Terry McGuiness facing down the future Justice League.  His mother and brother are part of a group of hostages being held by a new version of the Matter Master.  Terry really shines as he takes out the League one by one, except for as Bruce Wayne puts it, “the one he likes.”  Still, this is a book that is just well written and superbly drawn.  It is like having the animated series back.  Dana even gets a nice cameo.  This is just what comics should be in all forms.  It is a great read for the older fan and accessible to the younger reader.  This is a series I would give to my cousins as a gift.

            One of the books that I was reading that DC dropped the price down to $2.99 was GREEN LANTERN EMERALD WARRIORS #7.  I liked that as I was picking books to buy and ones to wait on buying that I could see how Guy Gardener was doing as he battled Krona's weird partner.  I was correct by the way, Krona was capturing the entities.  Speaking of Lanterns, GREEN LANTERN CORPS #57 had a guest appearance by Firestorm.  We get some resolution to the Weaponeer story.  Not satisfying, by well written.  I hate what happened to the guy at the end, but it will make the future interesting.  Sinestro is one messed up Dad.  He basically tells Sora that if she had been harmed he would have destroyed Qward.  The funny thing is I almost believe he wanted her harmed so he could do just that thing.  Sora Natu is fast becoming a strong Green lantern character.  I hope she and Kyle can go the distance in their relationship.  He needs a strong woman in his life and she is a great character to be outshining the big boys of the Corps.

            Catching up with WONDER WOMAN #607 makes me even more convinced that this should have been an Elseworlds story.  Diana is missing in the DCU right now and even though JMS is crafting a really cool story, I can't help put think about what this is doing top the character.  She is once again pushed aside after all this talk of her being part of this Trinity.  Batman is over-saturated and Superman is as observable as ever, yet Wonder Woman is almost invisible.  It should be her plane and not her that we cannot see well.  Again, cool read, but a bad decision to keep the character front and center.

            Judd Winnick has at long last kept me reading a series he is writing.  I have had bad experiences with his taking over a title I read.  POWER GIRL #21 has held this book in the pull list.  It is not the must read like it was when it first came out, but it doesn't suck either.  I am glad.  I have enjoyed reading about this character.  She has such a different group of heroes than I normal encounter in the DCU.  In this issue she has to make Batman remember Max Lord.  She gets some help from Batman???  If you have not been keeping up with batman then you will not get the attempt at humor there in that sentence.

            Because I am a puppeteer I was a bit upset with the prejudice of making them “creepy” here.  Everyone knows clowns are much creepier than puppets.  Still ZATANNA #9 is good.  We get a bit more of a look at the scary incident that made Zee be mind wiped by dear old dad.  What I really loved was the backup story of the child Zatanna dealing with getting braces.  It was just so cute and funny.  I love the way she handles things and the writing of her dialogue was priceless.

            I got the SECRET SIX #30 that was in the box, but skipped until next trip the picking up of the crossover issue of Doom Patrol that goes with it.  What did make the buy pile immediately was the awesome BIRDS OF PREY #9.  Gail Simone has returned to her excellence in writing as she returns the Birds back to the elite team of heroes we deserve.  Oracle is tying up loose ends with Calculator and the gals are in the middle.  Black Canary fights for her life inside her mind as that weird gal Mortis touched her last issue.  The others are captured and we are reminded why Lady Blackhawk is so cool.  She is handcuffed in a school bus and still puts a bully villain in his place and gives a great groin shot to a henchman.  Huntress shines even out of costume.  Helena is becoming who I think she was destined to be as a character under Simone's well crafted writing.

            A decision is made here.  I will begin talking about the TOP COW titles I read.  It was Top Cow that was used as a way to attack me where I last worked.  Part of me wants to play it safe and just leave this be, but another part feels like that is denying part of who I am.  So I will tell you that I bought WITCHBLADE #142.  It was a great solo Patrick Gleason story that will be continued.  Witchblade is a Mature Read.  I have always described it as like a Network Television 10 o'clock show.  It is not for the kiddies.  Under Ron Marz this title has become a wonderful story for older comic fans.  Gleason is the current partner and boyfriend of Sara, the wielder of the Witchblade.  Can he survive horrific forces without the mystical might of the Witchblade?  Guess we find out next issue.

            Rounding out the haul was BATGIRL# 18, BRIGHTEST DAY #19 & #20, and a free issue of JLA #53 because I spent more than ten bucks.  This ends my adventures in not being able to buy all my comics.

BDS

This Is Just Cool

 

Been a bit scattered during the year's end.  DC has been busy though.  The letters pages return, they locked prices at $2.99, and gave us this panel from Brightest Day.  Pretty cool.  I need to get some things caught up and done.  Hopefully I will get some posts up soon.  Oh, and without spoiling too much, I was right.

BDS 

Brightest Day #12 & #13

            I will double up on this quick review of the Brightest Day series.  It has been good so far, slow in places.  Here in these issues we get two of the faster paced parts of the story.  In case you have been under a rock and do not know what this is about I will give you my explanation.  The end of Blackest Night saw a number of individuals brought back from the grave permanently, kinda.  See we learned that each has a task to perform to remain alive.  Boston Brand, or Deadman, is one of the people brought back and he now has a mission to find the new Guardian of Earth.  He has a White Ring as well.  The series is the tale of his mission and the tasks that the others are to undertake.

            Issue #12 is a Martian Manhunter centric story that also has Firestorm in it.  The Firestorm story has a Black Lantern return in the form of Deathstorm and a crew of Black Lanterns that we all thought gone.  It is the Martian Manhunter story that is most tragic and intriguing.  He is apparently able to return “the Green” to Mars.  The problem is that another Green Martian is there on the planet as well.  They are a former Martian Murderess that had escaped the destruction of the race of Green Martians.  She wants J’onn to be her mate.  She wants to repopulate a genetically designated race to replace the flawed one she was glad to see gone.  There is fighting.  There is a surprise resurrection.  There is a twist ending that chills the spine.  Poor J’onn is all I can say about it.

            The central characters of Issue #13 are Hawkman and Hawkwoman.  There is a great telling of their history and how the current state of them and Hawk World came to be.  All the secrets that currently were hidden are revealed.  We see some gruesome fighting as Carter Hall battles to his love.  She is facing her mother and the reason apparently for all the troubles the Hawks have faced over the centuries.  Really cool story here.

            Boston and Dove are the other part of the book.  They are looking for the new Guardian and I think they are kind of sweet on each other.  The big twist here is who might be this Guardian.  The newly returned……well that would be telling would it not?

BDS

Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #2

                Everyone is calling this a Guy Gardner book.  For the most part they would be correct.  Guy does seem to be the anchor.  Yet the title is Emerald Warriors.   In fact there are two others Green Lanterns that take the stage this issue.  Still this is the story of the secret mission that Guy is undertaking as part of the pact with the Red Lantern Atrocious and Green Lantern Ganthet.  What is most wonderful is that we get a glimpse of the human side of Guy.  He knows that this mission will come between him and the other three Earth Lanterns and he fears what that means for his friendship with each one.  That is really cool.  The other major part is that we are seeing how the Red Lantern infection has been affecting him.

                Arisa joins the book and we see what the loss of Sodam Yat has had on her.  She was just beginning to acknowledge feelings for the new Ion bearer when he sacrificed his life to save his ungrateful planet.  She is not handling things well.  This is becoming the emotionally unbalanced book with Guy and Arisa dealing with heavy duty feelings.  Why not throw Kilowog into the mix?  He has been rocked by the deaths of so many rookie Lanterns.  Kilowog has been the training officer for the Corps for a long time.  All the loss has brought him to the decision to leave that post and strike out with Guy to the unknown sectors.  He is dealing with some hard thoughts.

                There is a looming threat out in the unknown sector.  Mind controlled Green Lanterns that have delivered some of the Children of the White Lobe to this odd guy.  What he does to them is just plain horrible.  He has a tagline worthy of the TV Show Heroes.  “Control the Corps, Control the Universe.”  It is yet another of these past deals the Guardians made coming back to bite the Green lantern Corps in the behind.  So the stage is set for a hard battle in the unknown sector.  The Red Lantern gal with the bone wings makes her presence known.  She has been sent by Atrocious to monitor the mission and his interest in it.  Her story is tragic.  It was shown in the Tales of the Corps series that ran as Blackest Night approached.  Her rage is justified as well as any of the lanterns we know of in that group.

                This is a great book that gives us three of the best Green Lanterns a spotlight.  They are deserving of this special attention and I believe the book will show it is justified as a third offering of the GLC each month.  It is one of the few books I will buy that is over $3.00.  It must maintain its current excellence to be continually bought.  I wonder if the recent price reductions DC announced reach this title?  That would be really cool.

BDS

Green Lantern Corps #51

                Alpha Lanterns were the scariest thing in the build up to The Blackest Night to me.  They were these soulless creatures that were just sitting there waiting to become a problem.  Thanks to Cyborg Superman that happened.  He has taken over Lantern Stel’s home planet and now hold Ganthet prisoner.  Worse he wants Ganthet to reverse the Alpha Lantern process so he can reverse his own robotic status as he is now an Alpha Lantern.  It is through the destruction of the Alphas that this is to happen.

                Kyle, Sora, and John Stewart are trapped with the populace and with their rings depowered sitting ducks.  That is when Kyle calls for the Lost Lantern Hannu.  It is clear when he arrives why he is a perfect choice to aid them.  The results however are mixed emotionally as a favorite Lantern is returned and lost.

                This is the final fate of this group of Lanterns.  We have her one action pack issue that is the middle of the tale.  Green Lantern corps is one of the top titles at DC for the simple reason of how it spreads the use of Lanterns across the board.  It also is usually where the action happens.  So this is a great read for all fans of the Green Lanterns.

BDS

Birds of Prey #4

Birds of Prey #4

I did go to the comic shop last week because of a doctor's appointment in the area.  I have been debating the listing of what I got for a reason I will explain soon.  Still, I wanted to write a review on Birds of Prey (BoP) #4.  The cover image is worthy of a poster I believe and I went to the DC Comics site to snag a text free image.  This is a Brightest Day themed book because of Hawk and Dove.  The thing is that Gail Simone is back and it is like she never left.

I was sad to see her left BoP when she went to Wonder Woman.  I was sad to see her leave Wonder Woman, but it is so nice to have her and the BoP title back and in fine form. Things are bad for the Birds.  Their secrets are being exposed, Oracle has been captured, a White Canary has them dying, and Lady Blackhawk is bleeding.  It is bad.

In this issue we have the Black Canary figuring out who the White Canary is and taking her on.  The battle is awesome.  She has to use her wits and her smart mouth to get a good shot at the foe.  The last page gives a very BIG hook for next issue.  It is wonderful that BoP is once again showing excellent female heroes and just kicking butt.  I really am glad this old friend is back.

Read this book.

BDS 

Brightest Day The Atom Special #1

Brightest Day The Atom Special #1

This is a stand alone issue connected into Brightest Day that does have a hook ending that might make you want to follow it on into Action Comics.  One of the great things about this "special" is that the cover price remains at $2.99.  It is a decent read.

What I enjoyed about it was the background on The Atom.  I knew who Ray Palmer was and basically what his powers are, but I had never really gone beyond that basic information.  Here we are given some of his origin and extra material that will become important to the rest of his story.

It is just a solid comicbook read.  Completest will want it for Brightest Day.  Those interested in The Atom would do well to grab this book.  Those that wish to wait should grab it when the extra orders are placed in a back issue sale box.

BDS