It's Memorial Day

It's bright sunny and gorgeous out. Perfect weather to watch a parade, or a race, or grill hamburgers, read a comic book and especially, remember what the whole day is all about.

So nothing particularly spellbinding today, except have fun and enjoy yourselves and be safe.

Oh,and congrats to Dario Franchitti for winning the Indy 500! Italian Scotsmen RULE!

'Hi, I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC' Gets Musical in 100th Installment

This has to be the most amazing thing that I have seen in...well, in quite some time. I don't have a clue how to do this, but my teenager DOES!

So...enjoy!!!!



'Hi, I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC' Gets Musical in 100th Installment

This is by Justsomerandomguy, who has been doing the I'm a Marvel/I'm a DC videos for quite some time...and they are magnificent.

Green Lantern #54

I have to admit that I snickered my way through the latest issue of Green Lantern. Partly because Doug Mahnke does such a superb job of drawing surly rage-filled cats, and partly because Geoff Johns...at least for one issue anyway, has lightened up a bit and seemed to be enjoying himself. Oh sure, there was STILL a fair amount of gore, and people being hideously killed, but I've become a bit inured to that lately.

We begin with a scene at a New York subway station. A gang of toughs are terroizing the hapless riders, when...out of the darkness of the tunnel...a pair of eyes gleam. Red flame spurts, the bad guys are destroyed, and who should walk into the subway car? None other than...Dexstarr, Rage Kitty of the Universe! BaBUMMM!! Oh, and Atrocitus also shows up.

Back in Silver City, New Mexico (wait, there's a NEW Mexico?) the curious inhabitants are still standing around the giant hole in their nice road, staring at Hal, Carol and Sinestro as they contemplate the nice white Lantern. Hal tries to lift the battery, and fails, as Sinestro manages to get a certain amount of snarky entertainment from it. Carol tries as well, and she can't do it either, so all three of them give it the old college try. Suddenly they are surrounded by visions of people who were returned by the Lantern, and the admonition to Help Them Live. Then the Lantern tells them to Find Them. Weird things are certainly going on. Hal, being the dullard that he is, stupidly asks if they are supposed to find Aquaman. The Lantern probably sighs to itself, as it then shows them the various Entities of the various Rings. Unlike Hal, Sinestro catches on quite quickly.

Meanwhile, on Daxam, the little gnome that we saw wearing the green chain, is making a visit to poor old Sodam Yat, still sitting in the middle of the Daxam sun. As you all remember, he used the power of Ion, to turn the sun from red to yellow, to give his fellow Daxamites the power to resist Mongul and his hoards. Of course, the Daxamites, being idiots are abusing their new power...at least according to the ragged Guardianish gnome. So...he takes Ion BACK, and turns the sun back to red. And suddently, it's Raining Men all over Daxam! He IS nice enough to boot out Sodam, so that he can go back to being a Green Lantern.

And now that's TWO of the entities that are chained up in the chamber. Atrocitus who performs a bit of bloody mumbo-jumbo creates a map that shows that the rest of the entities are actually on Earth, and located all in the United States,which is very thoughtful of them.

Then Hal, accompanied by Carol and Sinestro show up.



*snicker*

Oh Hal. That MAY not have been the smartest move on your part. Sinestro wouldn't have kicked the cat, and probably neither would have Carol. She would have picked him up and stroked him, and told him that he was a NICE pretty Rage Kitty. No naturally, Hal and Atrocitus have to fight for a while. Atrocitus uses a blood construct of Mera, which leads Hal to believe that he has a "sweet spot for the Queen of the Seas". Carol discovers that there is a spark of love in Atrocitus, which he hotly denies. Sinestro just sneers, which you have to admit, he is very good at.

And then Lobo shows up. AND his dog.

Oh...My!

Green Lantern Corps #48

Although I am STILL in a snit over the mishandling of Guy and Tora in Wednesday's Justice League book, I will try and control that, because this is the first issue of Green Lantern Corps by Tony Bedard and Adrian Syaf...and it's not bad at all.

It IS of course one heck of a hard act to follow, what with Peter Tomasi and Pat Gleason hitting it out of the park on a regular basis. But Bedard gets off to a very good start, by having Ganthet and Guy teamed up on the very first page. They are in search of Atrocitus, and apparently are fleshing out that scene from Green Lantern, wherein Ganthet has a quest,that he wants Guy and Atrocitus to aid him in. Guy is up for it, although he's pretty sure that it is going to piss off Hal. And considering that all Atrocitus wants to do is eat the rest of the Guardians, it must be fairly important.

The art gets off to a nice start with this...!



A Green Lantern Butt! And a darned nice one!

Sadly, that's all we'll see of Guy for the rest of this issue. But Ganthet goes off to visit the few remaining Guardians, and...quits. Being a Guardian that is, he is still going to be a Green Lantern, out getting his hands dirty. When the rest of the Guardians start to get snotty, he points out that they were all a bunch of idiots, lead around by the noses by Scar. One of them then gets sniffy about how things always go bad when a Guardian takes a name, but for the most part, they take it fairly well. Perhaps it has begun to dawn on even THIS bunch that they haven't exactly been covering themselves with glory lately, and had to have their tiny blue butts saved by the Earth Green Lanterns...again. Ganthet then flies off to forge his own ring and lantern, which is apparently quite difficult to do. But he ends up with a very nifty looking battery.

Meanwhile John Stewart is on Oa, helping with the rebuilding. There is a nice bit where Ganthet points out that a lot of the buildings are less than a million years old, so it's no WONDER they fell down. Heh. At least he and John get to have a nice talk about architecture. Then the Guardians call John in for a consult at the Citadel for a mission...sending him off to look for Stel, with Alpha Lantern Boodikka.

This...probably wont' end well. Since it appears that the OTHER Alpha Lanterns are up to no good, grabbing rookies, and forceably "converting" them to Alpha-ness. Really, who thought that turning perfectly good Lanterns into Manhunters was a GOOD idea? Oh wait...it was the Guardians!
So here's another fine mess they've managed to get themselves into...and John and Kyle are probably going to be the ones to clean up the mess.

Oh, and Kyle has moved in with Soranik. She's not dead yet, which is probably a record.

The Lanterns aren't quaking with fear, nor are they being mind-controlled, so I enjoyed this immensely.

Blood...Boiling...!

ARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!! Now I know what it feels like to become a member of the Red Lanterns. My rage knoweth no bounds. I would also like to extend my apologies to those people who have had their favorite characters written so poorly as to be unrecognizable. I knew that Cass-fans for example, would be livid at the improprieties perpetrated on their girl. Since I wasn't a Cass-fan, it didn't mean anything to me, and while I sympathized, I was SURE that such a thing would never ever happen to me.

Well...it HAS happened to me!

I made my blithe way to the comic bookstore, simply full of anticipation at the books awaiting me. Green Lantern AND Green Lantern Corps, not to mention Batman: the Return of Bruce Wayne, Gotham City Sirens, Brave & the Bold, Power Girl and Wonder Woman. Oh, and Justice League: Generation Lost.

Now Justice Leage:GL, is a biweekly book, with the second issue now coming out. I got the first issue, and was quite pleased with the premise, not to mention getting to see several of my favorites all together such as Ice, Fire and Booster. And heck, even Max. So...I opened this week's issue up, with delight.

I...I may never recover. Although Plotted by Keith Giffen, the book is actually Written by Judd Winick. He's NOT my favorite writer, but he has his moments of occasional brilliance. This however was not one of them.

Max Lord, through his mind-whammy powers has successfully erased all trace of his existance from the world, with the exception of Booster, Fire,Ice and Captain Atom. They are going around trying to convince everyone what REALLY happened, and nobody believes them. When they show photographic proof, Superman and Wonder Woman don't see what they see. Ok. I can live with this. It's a pretty scary thing, to KNOW that you are right, but nobody will believe you. Until I reached the page with Guy.

Guy Gardner, is trembling with fear at the sight of Tora. When she asks him what is wrong, he screams that she tried to kill him, and to stay away, and that she's crazy, and blah blah blah. Tora just rolls her eyes.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS SCENARIO????

Well for one thing, they show him with brown eyes. Guy doesn't have brown eyes, he has blue eyes. This is really nitpicky, but sheesh...how hard is it to get something like that right?

Secondly...there is NO WAY IN HELL that Guy Gardner would ever quake in fear at the sight of Tora. Or that he would react so violently. Or that he would be MEAN to Tora. Even if she really HAD tried to kill him! This isn't the old brain-dead Guy, he's certainly smart enough to know that people can be mind-controlled. Heck it happens to Hal on a regular basis. Guy LOVES Tora. Even in Blackest Night when she really WAS trying to kill him, he reacted with compassion.

This is not the Guy Gardner as written by Steve Englehart, Gerard Jones, Beau Smith or Peter Tomasi. This is not even the Guy Gardner as written by Giffen and DeMatteis.

Nor is this Tora Olafsdottir, aka Ice. Ice doesn't roll her eyes, or go "whatever" or be snotty about the whole thing. She also isn't the sort of person to keep trying to quit. I can understand her being a bit spooked about dying and coming back and dying again and coming back, and the whole readjustment to Guy and Fire, but again, the character portrayed here by Winick is NOT Tora.

In case you haven't realized it, I'm pissed royally. Which is ridiculous of course...it's ONLY a comic book, and they are ONLY fictional characters. But they're MY fictional characters.

Dammit.

Anyway...getting back to the reviews.

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne was pretty good. Bruce pops up in 17th century America, at the height of the witch trials, and falls in with a young lady. He's also posing as a witch hunter, but just can't control his urge to detect. Meanwhile, Hal, Superman, Booster and Rip have gone to the end of time to try and figure out what exactly is going on. It's a little confusing, and they sort've lose their time machine. Oops.

The Brave & the Bold, has the Legion of Super Teenagers teaming up with the Doom Patrol, in order to figure out how to save future earth from its untimely demise at the hands (hands?) of a cute little black hole. The art, by Jesus Saiz is quite nice, and it's a pleasant little story. Nothing spectacular, but good.

Gotham City Sirens continues to entertain me. Selina is still searching for her sister Maggie, who has apparently gone QUITE around the bend, and Ivy is getting to know the lady that she fired at STAR Labs. Harley is tagging along with Selina, but they may have bitten off a little more than they can chew.

I'll get to the Green Lanterns. Guy shows up in Green Lantern Corps, and is blessedly, written LIKE HIMSELF!

Power Girl, was a delight...simply a delight. This is the last issue by Gray and Paliotti and Amanda Conner, which is a DARNED shame. I'm going to just pretend that it was a 12 issue mini-series. It does have a nice happy ending, Peej and Terra hang out at Terra's place and get all happy, the Ultra Humanite gets his humanity back and his memories erased, and Peej's cat finally...FINALLY gets a name. It's been a LONG time. Dang it, I love that cat.

Guess who is supposed to take over next month? Oh yeah, isn't it WINICK? I WAS going to give it a shot, but in my rage, I may have to change that thought.

I believe in holding a grudge.

Wonder Woman was good. I was getting a bit worried, it seemed as though Gail had really stacked the deck against Diana, but she manages to come through and wins in the end. But boy, the saying that you can pick your friends, but not your family REALLY applies here. It's nice that Hippolyta and the Amazons show up in DC and help SAVE the place. I'm going to miss Tolifhar though. Again...something of a happy ending

So...pretty good books this week. One one...unfortunate exception.

Gah!

THIS is Guy and Tora...!

Looking Forward to Wednesday

Am I the only one who is looking forward to this Wednesday with more than the usual zeal? Last week was something of a disappointment. Not in the books, but the fact that there were so few of them. But THIS week, we are getting a veritable smorgasboard, nay, a plethora of books.

Finally, I'll be able to read about Green Lanterns!

But I'll be doing it huddled next to a fan or something, because it is bloody more than 90 degrees here in lovely New England. I thought that it was still Spring? Well, it IS, because it is supposed to drop by 20 degrees or more tonight. Sheesh!

Enjoy your Books!
\

What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar?

Except substitute "Comics" for the sweet deliciousness of chocolate-covered icecream. Bear with me, children, for I am going to speak of the Olden Days, before there were Comic Book Stores, or at least before there were very many. Mostly, you found your books at the drug store or the News stand from a spinner rack. The concept of "mint" hadn't even been thought of. Back issues were unbelievably hard to come by. They were still printed on crappy newsprint, and they had that unmistakeable "comic book smell".

What oh what lengths would you go to, to find comic books?

My most ridiculous caper, was when I was a mere freshman at college, attending the University of Connecticut out in Storrs. UConn was a cow college to a certain extent back then, out in the misty wilds, far from any night life. There WAS however, a seedy little bookstore right next to my dorm. My ALL-GIRL dorm...for this was indeed the olden days. We called it the Nunnery. And AT this little bookstore...were COMICS! Back Issues of Comics! I was deep in the steely grip of my love of Marvel's Thor at this particular time of my life, and finding back issues was well-nigh impossible, because I lived in Granby, Ct, yet ANOTHER small town! We didn't even have a McDonald's.

I soon managed to wipe out the proprietor's meager collection of old Thor's, when I learned to my delight, that this was but one of several bookstores, all owned by the same person. The next closest one was in Willimantic, which was about 8 miles away. I didn't have a car, and none of my roomies or friends had a car. Did I let that stop me? Deep in the madness of the thought of acquiring yet MORE old comics, I borrowed my roommates bicycle, and rode it the 8 miles to Willimantic, whereupon I bought a lot of nice old Thor books, and then rode the 8 miles back. I was at least, a helluva lot younger and thinner then, and certainly had more stamina, but still...this was a pretty crazy thing to do. But I had to scratch that particular itch...!

So...what was the most insane thing that you ever did in order to acquire a particular comic or comics? You'll all be graded later on.

Please Indulge Me

I'm going to go into one of those stream of conciousness things here, since once again, it is Monday, and I haven't a CLUE! Plus I must have marched about ten miles yesturday in yet another Fife & Drum Corps parade, and all this fresh air and exercise is going to KILL me! To be accurate, I probably only marched about three, but that's still about three more than I would have ordinarily have done.

It's getting on towards the end of the month, and I STILL haven't had my Green Lantern fix, with the exception of Brightest Day, which frankly was more focused on Aquaman and Martian Manhunter. Nothing wrong with that of course, but I NEED my GL's! Or else I get...cranky. Fortunately, another Wednesday is fast coming up. And, we're one week closer to August, and the debut of the new Green Lantern Book!

I see that Valerie D'Orazio has once again closed down her blog. I've lost count of how many times that has happened before. I don't comment on her blog, but I confess to sneaking over and reading it once and a while...just to satisfy my evil curiosity. But she's redone it, so that only people that she WANTS can read it. I...I'm insulted!

Sometimes, I'm not a nice person.

I don't know how many of you have gone to Dusk Dog's site and read her MAGNIFICENT fan fiction, but she's one of my favorites, and she always has wonderful insight into Green Lanterns. She's had a rather tough time of it lately, since she lives around Nashville, and her home is one of the ones that got flood damage. I REALLY hope that she's going to be ok.

The Indianapolis 500 is coming up quite soon. The Andretti team is doing quite poorly, which is odd. Danica Patrick got booed, but then again, she shouldn't have thrown her crew under the bus.

And finally, just to get back to the fact that this is a COMICS-related blog, here is a nice picture of Batman kicking a bear in the face...which I blatantly stole from Chris Sims. It's just SUCH a great picture.



Hee.

My Goodness!

You've all heard me say this before, probably ad nauseum, but I'm not a big Bat-Fan. However. I hate to say this...I really hate to say this, but it's been quite interesting lately. I am actually enjoying Dick's take on being the Bat. I like Tim running around being competent and even impressing Ra's al Ghul. I'm even starting to like Damian a bit. Still can't STAND Talia, but that's pretty much a given. It's nice that Stephanie isn't dead, although I was never much of a fan of hers either.

I like Barbara as Oracle of course, so I'm thrilled that she's back with the rest of the Birds. I've always liked Catwoman. Alfred is by FAR my favorite Bat character. I was so happy when they decided to put him in charge of the Outsiders, but that seems to have fizzled out, which is a darned shame.

But Bruce Wayne has always annoyed me. He's just so damned perfect, as well as being a know-it-all. And he's just RUDE! Yes, Bruce you probably are the smartest person in the room, but it is awfully obnoxious of you to keep pointing that out. It smacks of insecurity. And your parents are dead. Guess what, so are a LOT of other people's! You grew up with a ton of rank and privilege and loads of cash, so stop whining. It is unbecoming.

However, I am liking the whole Lost in Time concept. The story has been fun, and the art has been wonderful. Plus we have people like Rip Hunter, Booster Gold, Hal Jordan and Superman wandering around looking for him, and I have to admit that that is a combination that I NEVER would have thought to put together, but I'm dying to see how it all works out.

And then, there is this.



Roowrrr!

Something To Look Forward To...!

With all the dismemberments and gore and death that has been going on our beloved comics lately, I've been feeling a little depressed. A LOT of my favorite characters are no longer amongst the living...a sad sad waste of a character for the sake of a cheap thrill in a plot. But that's another rant.

Anyhoo, I stumbled upon this little cover for an upcoming Booster Gold book.



August, I think. But look! There's Ted, and Scott and Barda along with Booster! Tentacles! Justice League International! FUN dammit! I can hardly wait.

Please, DC and Marvel...can we start making fun comics again? It doesn't have to be a laugh a minute, just stop killing children and minorities, and all of my favorites.

Wednesday's Reviews

A small week. A decent week, nothing particularly spectacular, but nothing horrendous either.

Brightest Day #2. Things continue to happen to our hapless heroes. Ronnie and Jason are still bickering, and Ray Palmer and the Professor are trying their darndest to separate them, but things look...complicated.

Meanwhile, a mother is preparing dinner for her family, when she sees on the television news that the Martian Manhunter is alive again. She calmly slaughters her family and tears her skin off. I could probably have done without even MORE gore in my comics, but perhaps I'm getting numb by now. Oh,and J'onn visits the old astronomer who brought him to earth. He looks pretty good...all things considered.

The Hawks are cranky. They track down Hath-Set's lair, with the various deathmasks of their multiple demises hung on the wall. A bit out there, decorating-wise, certainly. Carter gets mad.

J'onn decides to visit the daughter of Dr. Erdel, who is in a nursing home. He shows up looking like her dead father, and she, quite naturally just assumes that she's dreaming or something. They have a nice heart-to-heart talk, and we learn that J'onn wasn't the ONLY alien transported to Earth, which I find rather interesting.

Deadman is still getting jerked around...literally...by the White Ring.

Lots of plots are being set up, and I'm enjoying it.

Justice League of America #45. I actually kept looking back at the cover, because I was sure that this was really a Justice Society book. But no, even though most of the JSA IS there. Alan Scot is having a rather bad time of it, although it is nice to see Obsidian, and he actually has some lines! Oh, and Jade shows up. Apparently, the meteor that brought her to Earth from Oa, is actually part of the Starheart, and its presence is causing all kinds of shenanigans. Power Girl has gone off her rocker, and various heroes are fighting. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Still...Todd!

DC Universe Legacies #1. Now this I did enjoy. I just love the hell out all those old farts in the JSA. There are two nice stories about Wesley Dodds, the Crimson Avenger and the first Atom. Interestingly, they are told from the point of view of lookers-on. In the first, the narrator is an elderly gentleman, who tells us about when he was a boy, and trying to make ends meet by collecting the protection money from store owners back in the bad old days in Gotham. This is when the Mystery Men were first beginning to show up, and he ends up being quite fascinated by them. It was really well done, and beautifully drawn by Scott Kolins, Andy Kubert and Joe Kubert.

The second story is from the point of view of a reporter, talking to his photographer, as they investigate a mystery out in a mansion, that involves Inza and Doctor Fate. and the Spectre. Len Wein writes this one as well, and the art is by J.G. Jones, so it's pretty gorgeous as well.

This was really good, and I'm looking forward to more of them.

Batman; Streets of Gotham #12. Dang it, but this was good. The first part has the Carpenter, that gifted young lady who showed up in Gotham City Sirens, building a lair for Catwoman. That is her profession, and she ends up working for a REALLY wacky Hollywood Director type, who wants to make snuff movies featuring various heroes, starting with Batman. She's rather enthusiastic, until she discovers, that she's supposed to be the guinea pig for the traps. Bummer. Also, Damian shows up and gives a garage and really cool bike to the kid who saved him from Zsasz a while back. Damian, you devious little tyke.

In Manhunter, they are still trying to figure out where Ramsey and his amazing dog are. Oh, and that REALLY creepy character Jane Doe shows up, and you won't believe who's skin SHE'S wearing. Creepy, atmospheric, and excellent.

Zatanna #1. This was...ok. Not terrible, but not great either. Ok. Not sure if I'll keep up with it. I'm not familiar with the villain, Brother Night, who comes off as a cheap magic version of the Joker.

It's Finally Wednesday

It's Wednesday...at last, but man oh man, the pickings are mighty slim. Odd for the third week, usually, there is a fair amount of stuff. NO Green Lanterns of any kind. Well, except for Brightest Day. But still, I get accustomed to getting my books on the same week every month, and I get...cranky when I have to wait.

Oh well.

Maybe Barry and Hal will be in Brightest Day.



At least SOMEBODY is excited.

Help Me Green Lanterns!

You're my only hope! It's a dull and gray Tuesday, and I STILL haven't got a coherent thought in my head! Therefore, I am relying upon the old tried and true.



Here's Kyle Rayner dancing with his arms over his head. I mean really...how can one possibly go wrong with THIS?

Oh Kyle.

Blogging is Hard!

Back from the Fish Parade, and I don't have a single thought in my head. It sure was a gorgeous weekend however. But apparently rain is on the way, and since, thanks to Sea of Green, Aquaman is now stuck in my brain, I give you...



He looks all tuckered out, poor baby. Bossing around dead sea life will do that to you.

To The Fish Parade!

Yes, I'm marching in the Fish Parade today, otherwise known as the Shad Derby, in Windsor, Connecticut. It has something to do with shad, I guess. There are fishing competitions, and a queen and everything! And I get to wear my 18th century style corset, which makes me look simply fabulous...except that I can't bend over, or sit down particularly comfortably. Thank goodness I'm not also wearing stiletto heels!

I don't know how Emma Frost does it. She really IS a mutant!



Woowoo!

Too Uncritical?

I love comic books. This may come as a surprise to you all, but there it is. I try for the most part, to only buy the ones that I LIKE, and therefore, my enjoyment of them is enhanced. Sometimes, there are disappointments, and sometimes I stick with a book far too long in the hopes that it will improve, but eventually, I do see the light and drop it. I'm happy to pick a book up again if there is a change in the writer and things improve.

I seem to be in a minority however. It is a little disconcerting, after having written and posted my happy happy reviews, that I seem to be the only person on the planet who actually enjoyed a book! There were people who didn't like the new JLI book! Granted, I'm thrilled to pieces because it includes some of my favorite people, and can therefore do without things like a plot. Heck, if it had Booster, Fire and Ice in it, they COULD sit around a table and look at photographs all day, and I'd be perfectly happy.

So...does a person NEED a great book, with fabulous writing and art to be supremely happy...or can one achieve bliss simply by reading a so-so story about one's favorite characters? I say the latter, but that's just me. I do know that I've got a whole crapload of books that are pretty terrible, but I don't care because one of my favorites shows up in it.

But they can still stop killing off perfectly good characters. What is WITH these people? Enough already!

Thursday's Reviews of Wednesday's Books

Well, that was actually a pretty darned good week. I love good weeks. No more Blackest Night, but Brightest Day and now the Justice League: Generation Lost, is filling in the gap quite nicely.

Batman: The return of Bruce Wayne #1. Dammit. I enjoyed this. I had low expectations actually, because I'm not really that much of a Bat fan, but Grant Morrison put together an interesting little story here. It doesn't hurt that the art is awfully pretty. We have Cave Batman, doing his thing, and going up against none other than a very young Vandal Savage.

Heh.

Bruce gets beat up a bit, there's an eclipse of the sun, and a giant bat. Oh, and Booster, Hal and Superman show up looking for him, but he's already moved onto the next era. This was quite a good read, and I'm going to be sticking with it.

Birds of Prey #1. Be still my heart! The girls are back together, with Barbara, Dinah, Helena and Zinda. Hawk and Dove wander around for a bit too. An Arctic rescue, Zinda being AWESOME, and making sure that Hawk isn't "fancy". Can't blame her for taking precautions this time! The Penquin gets quite a surprise, and there is a new mystery villain! Even Benes on the art wasn't too bad. Gosh, I've missed Gail and the Girls.

Booster Gold #32. This is the first issue with Giffen and DeMatteis, and they don't go overboard on the Bwahaha's, which is probably a good thing, as events are fairly grim at the moment. Poor Booster ends up in the future on Daxam, retrieving a particular artifact, and happens to land on the exact day that Darkseid is destroying the planet. He's NOT happy about it, and only manages to save one little girl, whom he brings back with him. When he yells at Rip, it turns out that he went back on the wrong day, because he can't read his handwriting?

Oh good grief.

Oh, and Max shows up on Rip's screens, and neither one of them is too happy about it.

Fables #95. We continue to get a story about Rose and Snow when they were little girls growing up in the deep woods, and it is an interesting tale to be sure. Fables never ceases to engage me.

The Flash #2. Barry is rather surprised to be confronted by future versions of the Rogues,who are actually future cops, and want to take him into custody for murder. He manages to escape rather neatly, and is trying to figure out who killed the current Mirror Master. The identity on the fingerprints is quite a surprise! I'm rather enjoying this book.\

Justice League: Generation Lost #1. Well! Max Lord is back, and up to his old shenanigans. Well, not his OLD shenanigans, but his more recent shenanigans...before he was killed that his. Yes, Max is still evil. Damn it! Recognizing what a potential threat he is, ALL of the Superheroes are out looking for him. Booster wants to be the one to get him, but everyone else is busy underestimating him, to his chagrin.

Ice is having a bit of trouble adjusting to life after being dead twice, and really, who can blame her? Guy, get your butt off of Oa, and come home and hang out with Ice! But Beatriz is on the job, and manages to prod poor Ice into getting off her floor, and dressed and back to work, trying to hunt down Max, along with Captain Atom, who is busy throwing HIS weight around.

I'm a little confused here. Weren't Hawk and Capt. Atom bad guys until quite recently? But here they are, and nobody seems to care a bit. I'm sure that if all Max did was apologize and tell everyone that he was "under mind control...yes, that's it" everyone would just pat him on the head and say welcome back. Of course, Max is being something of a jerk, so that's not going to happen.

Max is laying some rather nasty traps for people, and of course Capt. Atom blunders right into one. Being a whole lot smarter than anyone ever gives him credit for, Booster figures out that Max is hiding in plain sight, and figures out that he's at their old JLI headquarters. The Cave one, not the Embassy. But Max was still a bit too smart for Booster, and uses some of the Ted's toys to depower his suit, and whacks him in the head with a chunk of rebar and concrete.

Ouch.

Max then explains to Booster that he misses him, and he's sorry about Ted, but that he's still trying to save the world from all those pesky superpeople. He stomps off, and Booster manages to get a message to Skeets, who comes a'running, along with Captain Shiny-Pants, Fire and Ice. This is the precise moment that Max pulls his little mind-whammy jammy, with the plasma and ice bath, and lo and behold, the entire world forgets all about old Max Lord. With the exception of the above mentioned old JLI'ers, who are now stuck with trying to catch Max all on their own.

This is good stuff, and I can hardly wait to see what happens next. All I can say, is that Guy had better show up.

I even broke down and bought a copy of R.E.B.E.L.S, because it had a couple of new Green Lanterns on the cover...and darn it, it's a good book! Tony Bedardis going to be the new writer on Green Lantern Corps, and based on his handling of this book, I will say that it is in good hands.

I even bought the new Prince of Power book from Marvel, which continues the story of Amadeus Cho, who is still trying to find Hercules. It continues to entertain mightily. And while I was at it, I picked up numbers 1 and 2 of Thor and the Warriors Four, which teams up Thor and the Power Pack, because it is simply adorable.

So! A really really decent week all around! Not a clunker in the bunch.

Bats and Lanterns

Sometimes I just start thinking about the darndest things. Like exactly what is behind the apparent antipathy between Batman and three out of four Green Lanterns. Well, three out of five, if you count Alan Scott.

Of course even Alan has had a bit of snippiness from the Bat, since it has been inferred that Bruce actually blames Alan for not stopping the murder of his parents, since he had left Gotham City at that point. Bruce sure knows how to carry a grudge.

Sure, Batman and Hal Jordan SEEMED to get along ok, when they were both in the newly-formed Justice League. That's back when Batman wasn't quite the douchebag that he turned into later. I can't really say in all honesty that Hal has changed that much. He's ALWAYS been a bit flighty, arrogant and self-absorbed. But hey, he got the job done.

It's just the WAY that he managed to get the job done that seemed to stick in Batman's proverbial craw. No preparation, no mind-bogglingly thorough planning, no reconnaisance...everything Hal did was by the seat of his pants, and it drove Batman nuts. Plus, Hal was fairly easy-going and seemed to eke a great deal of enjoyment out of life...unlike Bruce, who...broods. A lot.

Then Guy Gardner came along, and the uneasy co-existance between Lantern and Bat really underwent a sea-change. Guy wasn't much like Hal, except that he too had a tendancy to leap before he looked. Hell, Guy never even bothered to look. Of course, he was basically a brain-damaged ten-year old, and must have been AWFULLY hard to deal with, but still...you would think that Bruce would have had some experience in dealing with children. But I guess his experience only applied to highly motivated acrobatic black-haired children.

Batman and Guy clashed on practically every level and occasion. Batman couldn't abide the fact that Guy was the loosest of lose cannons, and Guy couldn't stand that Batman did his best to humiliate and ride roughshod over him at every opportunity. Even when Guy was in his sweet little girl stage, a result by the way of further brain damage CAUSED BY BATMAN...Batman STILL treated him like crap.

I don't think that Batman and John Stewart have quite the problems that Hal and Guy have with Batman, nor does Batman seem to be quite so cranky around John...but still I always feel that there is tension. John is the most dependable of the Lanterns, the quietest, and the most likely to be a good soldier. But he still doesn't just lie down and let Batman walk all over him, which is what Batman always tries to do...with everybody. So although they've managed to work together relatively harmoniously...they still aren't bestest buddies.

Kyle Rayner is probably the only Lantern that doesn't drive Batman crazy. There are any number of reasons, Kyle is impulsive, but not arrogant like Hal, and he's not crazy like Guy and he's not as cold as John can appear to be. He's younger, and more easily intimidated, and Batman likes intimidating people. It's his whole stock in trade. As John once pointed out, Batman uses Fear as a weapon, and Hal, Guy and John aren't afraid of him. Kyle is a little bit. But even Batman can't control the fierce creativity and impulsiveness of Kyle, so Batman still gets a bit crabby.

I suppose that it is just as well that Batman was conspicuously absent during the whole Blackest Night kerfuffle. He would have disapproved of it. Enormously.

Ummmm...

Well THAT'S an exciting title. But sadly indicative of my current state of mind, I fear. It is, after all, Tuesday, the most depressing day of the week. The new books don't come out until tomorrow.

*sigh*



My feeling exactly.
On the other hand, I don't want anything TOO exciting to happen, since that usually has a tendancy to get expensive. Simply a nice glowing meteor that would provide me with some nice super powers...but not any of those icky ones...would be nice. Or a power ring would also be quite handy in a pinch.

White Lantern

So...there is this nice White Lantern, sitting at the bottom of a hole right in the middle of a road, and it's just causing all SORTS of problems. The townspeople would really just like to have it out of there, since it is causing traffic problems, and they have better things to do with their time. Sinestro is peeved, because he couldn't lift it. Hal is stunned because HE couldn't lift it. Carol thinks that it may be like the Sword in the Stone, and can only be lifted by one who is worthy.

Heh.

Well...that lets out the Guardians. And there are plenty of simply fabulous Earth heroes, like Superman or Wonder Woman, but they aren't Lanterns, and I would assume that it is probably more inclined to want a Lantern involved.

There is Deadman of course, who is in possession of the only White Ring, and who seems to be communicating with some sort of entity, which zaps him all over the place. On the other hand, he's invisible, and rather cranky at the moment, so who knows? And if he DID lift it, what on earth would he DO with it?

It's possible that only someone who has experienced ALL of the various emotions embodied by the various Corps would be worthy. And sadly for him, that's not Hal Jordan.

Could be Guy though.



Because that would just crack me up. Kyle would probably be a decent choice as well. It would also be a hoot if it was John. Or B'dge. And I'm sure that Larfleeze would love to have a go at it. Maybe they could trade him the White Lantern for poor Sayd.

I really don't know where Geoff Johns is going to be going with this whole premise, but I can't wait to find out.

Happy Mother's Day!

I don't usually post on Sunday's, but what the heck, this is a special occasion. I've got MY kids all trying to buy my love, which is sweet indeed.

But I would like to make mention of one of my favorite super hero Mothers. And no, it's not Peggy Louise Gardner.

It's Bianca Reyes.

Jaime Reyes is one of the best new characters to come out of comics in a very long time. Yes, he's a legacy hero, filling the VERY large shoes of Ted Kord as the new Blue Beetle, but dagnabit, I love him. But his family is yet another wonderful creation. They are supportive, they are feisty and they actually know his secret identity.

Bianca is an amazing character. Yes, she worries about him going out and fighting bad guys, but she still backs him up 100%. And woe to any Do-Badder who crosses her awesome path! She even teamed up with Doctor Mid-nite at the hospital where she works, and gave Jaime a hand! And she was able to keep both Guy Gardner AND Peacemaker under control...and that's no small feat.



Their family isn't rich, they don't have access to Beetle caves, or engineering, or weaponry. They do have a computer and the internet, and some of Jaime's friends are...connnected. But they work, they take care of their house, they pay taxes and they raise their kids.

And that's just nice.

Pooped but Proud

Just staggered in from the Regional games for the Special Olympics, that we attend every year with my son Christopher, who is mildly autistic. Although not as insane as the State games, the Regionals do have quite a bit of chaos, especially since we are going with a new venue this year. On the other hand, they FINALLY decided to put the 4x100 relay first thing instead of last, and saving the three-person 80000000 meter walks that usually hog the track all day, until the later hours. It finally dawned on them, that keeping special needs kids pent up, bored and hungry for hours on end is NOT a good idea.

So...a gold in the 4x100 relay, a gold in the running long jump and a silver in the shot putt. Not too bad! And icecream after, to celebrate.



Man, I'm tired.

Brightest Day #1

Woohoo!



So. You know back when they first started talking about how the Brightest Day would follow the Blackest Night, and a great many of us (myself included) thought that perhaps they'd bring back ALL the nice dead people, and life would be all roses and rainbows? Well. THAT'S not happening. But still, good things are nevertheless afoot.

We open with those poor cops in that rural backwater still trying to figure out how to get that fershlugginer White Lantern out of the big hole in the middle of their nice road. Unfortunately, the Lantern seems pretty much glued to the ground, because they can't lift it. Then, who should their wondering eyes appear, but three Lanterns; Love, Will and Fear.

The cops panic at the sight of Sinestro, which is rather insular of them, and he doesn't take it particularly well, as he tries to crush them with a yellow construct of a police car...which Hal promptly crushes in a green vise. But it turns out that Sinestro is just in a teasing mood apparently, since he just shrugs it off. He also says that he can't lift the Lantern either, and that perhaps ol' Hal would like a shot. Would he? Would he ever! Hal LIVES for stuff like this, which is why he's portrayed giving himself a hernia on the front cover. But, alas for willpower, because he can't lift it either. Carol makes a remark about it being a sword in a stone and then has to explain the allusion to Sinestro.

Meanwhile, Deadman, the onely one of the resurrected who still has a ring, is getting a bit cranky, and really who can blame him? He may not be dead anymore, but he's still invisible and the Ring keeps yanking him around...literally. At the moment he's on some pirate ship, which has just kidnapped a bunch of kids, and the captain has bad bad things planned for some of the them. Deadman tries to intervene but to his fury, is unable to help, when fortunately, Aquaman and Mera jump out of the water, and start beating the crap out of assorted pirates. Woohoo!



Arthur even does that mind-whammy thingie that he used to do on the old Superfriends show (which I loved, by the way) to summon some finny friends. What actually shows up isn't particularly finny...but it sure is frightening. A squid from the ocean depths makes short work of the pirates. A DEAD squid. Then a DEAD shark shows up and eats a guy. Poor Aquaman is gobsmacked, and Mera isn't far behind. So, in an odd twist of fate, he can still summon sea creatures...but only DEAD ones!

And in a coda to this part of the story, some nice people in a seafood store are listening to a newscast on the television and commenting about how nice it is that Aquaman is back...when the guy behind the counter goes bonkers and slices them all into sushi.

We drop in for a little visit with Ronnie and Jason,who are still bickering about who is going to be running Firestorm. They try to seperate, but it doesn't go well, and then, they apparently get bad news from Professor Stein and Ray Palmer.

Meanwhile back on Mars, J'onn J'onnz is doing a bit of terraforming, and having himself a fine old time. I assume that he's been eating all of Guy's Chocos. Suddenly, he has a vision, and half of his body reverts to being a Black Lantern. He flashes back to when he was pulled to earth, but sees himself killing Professor Erdel, which certainly didn't happen, and he sees a woman there, who wasn't there...so he feels compelled to go in search of her. This probably won't end well.

Aaaand, the Hawks are flapping around looking for whatever it is that the Love crystal on Hawkman's glove is pulling them towards. A bunch of ne'erdowells are lurking below with a large package, when the Hawks drop in for a visit, and the fight is on! Carter and Shayera open the bag and discover their original bodies, much to their mutual bemusement. Then one of the remaining baddies pops a grenade, and gets away with their booty. Oh, and blows up plane to boot. Somehow or another Hath Set ends up with the bodies, and I don't imagine that he has anything particularly pleasant planned.

And finally, FINALLY, we see the little seafood place burning brightly next to the sea, as the guy from behind the counter, turns and walks into the water. And guess who HE turns out to be! Aquaman is going to be simply thrilled...not.

The art is quite nice, with Ivan Reis, Pat Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark and Joe Prado on the pencils, and Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi doing the story, so it's all still in the best of hands. We aren't resolving anything, just laying new groundwork for new stories, but we are going to be able to read about it all in only two weeks instead of four...so I'm happy as can be.

Reviews and Outrage

I know, I know, this is the Internet, and wild assumptions and generalizations get thrown around ALL of the time. Sometimes, those assumptions are even right on target. For example, not ALL Massachusetts drivers are insane...just MOST of them. They don't know what a turn signal is, for one thing. The few who DO use it, use it as a warning device...they have signalled that they are going to move into your lane whether you are occupying that particular space or not. But mostly it seems as though they regard turn signals as a sign of weakness. Some days I'm just happy that I made it home, safe and sound and with my fenders unblemished. In fact...!

...wait, how did I get started about the driving habits in Mass? See, what I mean? Assumptions and generalizations are insidious. As I was visiting my beloved local Comic Book Shoppe yesturday, I was delighted to see that Brightest Day #1 was in. I was sadly cast down, to realize that they had not been issued those nice white rings that come with Brightest Day. Matt patted me on the back, and assured me that he would save me one, and Joey commisserated me upon my disappointment. We all then went on to discuss the new books, and were having quite the fine old time, when some guy that I didn't recognize, insinuated himself into the conversation. He'd been listening for quite some time, in growing disbelief that this middle-aged woman was standing in HIS Comic Book Store...and he didn't seem to like it particularly.

I really thought that I was past all this crap. I've been going here FOREVER, and practically everybody knows me. With only a few exceptions, I've always been quite fortunate in my comic-sharing experiences. But this fellow was rude, dismissive and condescending.

I WANTED to make a generalization about under-socialized, basement-dwelling trolls, but really, he was relatively well-groomed and fairly articulate. So I had to come face to face with MY prejudices, and I couldn't fairly blame this man's attitude on a well-worn cliche. At least not visually. In attitude however, he showed himself to be every bit as obnoxious as the worst trolls around. He...he mocked Geoff Johns!

Gah!

Thank goodness for my buddies at the store, who put him in his place with a few well-chosen words. And really, he wasn't THAT bad...just ignorant. And obviously tasteless.

But anyway, enough bloviating. Onto the Reviews!

Batman & Robin #12. Man, I do love this book. Maybe because the REAL Batman isn't in it. But Dick is doing a bang-up job as the Caped Crusader, and I'm starting to like Damien more and more. Talia and Slade get their just desserts...in a manner of speaking anyway, and the plot continues to thicken nicely. Very decent artwork, and one HELL of a reveal on the last page! I honestly did NOT see that coming!

Brightest Day #1. Oh, I WILL get a ring...sooner or later.

Jonah Hex #55. Another book that I love. An odd little tale, but a good one.

JSA Allstars #6. I wasn't too sure about this book at first. Then they dumped Magog, which was a major step in the right direction. And they brought back Sandy, which was another. But jeez, they must be getting AWFULLY tired of fighting the King of Tears! Pretty good, actually.\

Nemesis #3. Again, I'm liking this a bit more. It's still a little hazy on some of the details, is Tom REALLY nuts, or is it all real? But I enjoy someone who can be as dangerous as Nemesis, and it's nice that Wonder Woman actually recognizes that. So, I'm interested in where this is leading.

Secret Six #21. Oh my goodness! Gail hits another one out of the ballpark. A little trip down memory lane for Blake...boy howdy was HIS father a jerk! At least his mom was nice. Catman is taking out his enemies quite ruthlessly and efficiently,while the rest of the bunch trails after him, and Bane and Jeanette put together an ad hoc bunch to get in a few paydays. I don't see this new bunch lasting particularly long however, although it WILL be fun to see how they get blown up. Oh, and Black Alice is being rude to Scandal. She may come to regret that.
Fabulous as always.

So enjoy your comics, and look out for pushy people in Comic Book Stores.

Batman Bashing

You know, it's been a LONG time since I made mock of Batman. It just hasn't had the same...zest, since he's been gone. But he's coming back soon, and therefore, I need to prepare myself.

So...



Ouch. That had to hurt.

It's hard to come up with a Bat-Repellant for a table.

Roy's a Big Crybaby!

You think YOU have problems, Mister Arm-Falls-Off Archer Boy? Try doing THIS!



What. Too soon?

One More Time

I just can't seem to let this go. So here, as per a request from Sea-of-Green over at the Hoosier Journal of Inanity, is another picture by the incredible Pat Gleason.



Isn't that adorable?

And finally this one, because it still just cracks me up.



Oh Guy.

Green Lantern Corps...Without Pat Gleason

Oh, it has just finally dawned on me, that this week's issue of Green Lantern Corps is the FINAL one that will be drawn by the insanely talented Patrick Gleason, and my heart is in my shoes. I liked the two-page teaser at the end, advertising the new book with Guy and Kilowog, and Fernando Pasarin as the new artist...but it just won't be the same.

We have been lucky enough to have Mr. Gleason as the artist for quite some time, and considering in modern comics that artists and writers seem to stay around for only an arc or two, that is quite a remarkable run. The Green Lantern books have been VERY fortunate in both their writers and artists, and once they come on, they tend to stay. I'm do believe that Mr. Gleason is going to be working on some of the Brightest Day books, which I will of course be buying but still...I'm going to miss him.

For one thing, he draws Aliens like nobody's business...and that's a handy talent to have when you are doing Space Opera. He also has the talent to be able to draw different body types, and different FACES for both his men and in particular his women. That is a talent that is increasingly rare. Put Arisia, Soranik and Iolande next to each other, and you KNOW who is who, as opposed to so many artists that have the exact same faces, with only the hair color and costumes being different.

Iolande has an acquiline nose, full lips and a soft round chin. Soranik's features on the other hand, are sharper, her chin is more pointed and her eyes are bigger. Arisia's nose is different too. Brik looks different from all of them. Gleason is also perfectly happy to put women into the vast unnamed hordes of background Lanterns, which is always nice.

His version of Guy of course is unparalleled. He does a darned good job with Kyle and Kilowog and Salaak and Vath and Stel and Isamot and EVERYONE else. His characters have an odd grace and fluidity to them, the action just flows from panel to panel effortlessly. Oh, and he's a crackerjack costume designer. Just look at the Star Sapphire Miri's outfit, which is simply adorable (just like Miri) to the sleezy outfit that Carol wears. Gleason can DO sexy...he just doesn't slap you in the face with it.

Here's a few of some of my favorite Gleason pictures.



This has to be the quintesential picture of Guy. It's...it's just so PERFECT!



Beautiful INDIVIDUAL ladies. And Guy.



Ice being sweet and forceful all at the same time. Oh, and Guy.



Look, it's the Justice League! And Guy.



Arisia, Sodam and Salaak. No Guy.



Kyle busting heads. With Guy.



The uncolored pages. Gorgeous eh?



Same thing with Soranik. Those are lovely pencils.

So, my heartfelt thanks to Pat Gleason, and good luck with your new projects. And if you ever want to come back to Green Lantern, we'll be waiting.



And so will Guy.