Voodoo #2

Mature Reader Warning

            Wildstorm was folded into the DCnU as a full participant of Earth Prime and the old WildC.A.T.S. Character of Voodoo received her own title.  Makes sense as DCnU is all about the sexual side of women with these relaunches.  Maybe this is the MAXIMization of comics.  Anyway, this title is definitely not for the kiddies.  In fact I would suggest no younger than 17 or 18.  It is like the difference between Public Broadcasting and HBO or Showtime in terms of content and what we are seeing and reading.  That said, it is a well written drama.

            Ron Marz is coming off his history making run on Witchblade.  He displayed an amazing ability to do the sexy style the Micheal Turner began, while also having smart and intelligent dialogue.  If he can strike that balance here on Voodoo, then the title could be a sleeper hit for the DCnU line.  It is a niche title for sure.  There will also be much discussed online in the months to come I believe.  Marz will be walking a line and we will see how close DC Comics lets him go.  This could be Fallen Angel the sequel. 

            So in the first issue we get the stripper scene.  This issue it is the post sex scene.  There is a real sense of the weird as our main character is a shape-shifter.  She also is a killer.  Maybe even an alien.  It all culminates with one humiliated Special Agent as I guess Major Force shows up and inflicts property damage. She may need blood to change into another person.  Still watching that aspect.  It is clear this will be a chase title as hunters are gathering.

            A character Marz is very familiar with is teased for next issue.  Kyle Rayner is pictured.  Could be a neat issue in terms of that pairing if that really is Major Force.

BDS

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

Flash Back Fridays: SAMURAI HEAVEN & EARTH #1 v.2

            I am going to try this as a way to make sure there is content on the Blog when the days between Ssalefish Comics is few and far between.  So I usher in Flash Back Fridays.  I figure to mine some gems from my old Blog that had to go dark.  So some my seem familiar.  Enjoy!

            SAMURAI HEAVEN & EARTH #1 v.2 is just as good as the starting tale. I worry a bit that new readers might feel a smidge lost as they enter this story. It does set the framework of what happened, but a title like this demands one find those back issues or buy the Trade Paperback that has been released. This is one of those tales that just has so much to offer. It is a feast for the eyes and has a tale of romance and action that rivals any TV Show on air today.

            I happened upon this comicbook by accident. The beauty of that original cover's art caught my eye, but the writer drew me in. Ron Marz is currently making Witchblade and many Top Cow titles be more than just sexily drawn women and violence.  He is really doing some of his best work there and it began here. The sentimental romantic that I am fell in love with the story. A Samurai on a quest to find the woman he loves, no matter the dangers or miles he must face. Just because I mentioned romance, do not balk. Upon returning to find his master’s house conquered and his love captured, Shiro systematically slew every soldier in the compound, alone. From there he traveled following a slave trader to whom the now dead enemy had sold Lady Yoshiko. Shiro ends up in Europe and crosses swords with the famed Musketeers. It is from there that the story continues.
            It just so happens that it is the slave trader that Shiro has tracked down. There is just the matter of the hulking bodyguard standing in the way. Action and romance is here as we are at least given more of both Shiro and Lady Yoshiko. I admit that this is a bit harder to feel the same chemistry of the first volume, but like a TV Show second season, one must make allowances that they are entering a part two of an ongoing tale. Still, this book is better than most the stuff filling the store shelves.

            I just wish to be able to follow the adventure of this Samurai as he fulfills his vow that nothing in heaven or on earth will come between him and his love. That is just a great concept that we seem to lack in the current society today.  But, alas, Marz is so busy at Top Cow I fear it might be a long time coming for volume three.  Both volumes are in Trade currently.

BDS