No theme for you today except, happy love day.
Love yourself, love somebody else, share some good snuggles with a good pupper or kitty.
Action Comics #997
Words – Dan Jurgens
Pictures – Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Andrew Dalhouse, Rob Leigh
Back into the action my friends.
Supes, Booster and Skeets fight the whole Zod family. Two are captured and strung up as power-dampened trophies for everyone to see, one is left broken and sparking on the battlefield.
Back in present time on Earth, Lois continues her sneakity-sneaky mission to save her father from execution in a hostile country
. Breaking into the enemy base with AMZAZING “luck” wasn’t enough to clue her in to the stowaway help. Maybe Jon has been paying attention to his time with Damian.
But in the end how will she explain to her father how her (perfectly normal) son is out here for this A-Team level insane romp?
Batgirl and The Birds of Prey #19
Words – Julie Benson, Shawna Benson
Pictures – Roge Antonio, Marcelo Maiolo, Saida Temofonte
Barbara wants some balance.
Being Barbara and Batgirl and Oracle has left her too stretched thin to be there for everyone.
So why not use a criminal’s technology against them?
There’s a program left by a friend on her computers that almost effortlessly allows her to piggyback Calculator’s set-up.
If you had a way to overhear the dealings criminals did online before the crimes were committed wouldn’t that just be expediting their job?
Maybe they can stop crime and give Barbara a chance to show those she loves the attention they deserve.
How could such a plan go wrong?
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #38
Words – Robert Venditti
Pictures – Ethan Van Sciver, Jason Wright, Dave Sharpe
We’re back on Jekuul again, but in the present. Hal and Kyle are imprisoned in some very “Fortress of Solitude” architecture, neither have their ring and both are pretty beat up.
Zod has the natives building his dream home (I guess the holding cells went in first, nice of Zod to stay consistent).
But even without their powers, freedom, any way to call for reinforcements or even communicate with the locals Hal and Kyle want to free these people.
But how can you save a population without understanding it?
So why at this time is Zod attempting diplomacy?
Does Hal have any last ditch tricks to pull?
Justice League of America #24
Words – Steve Orlando
Pictures – Neil Edwards, Daniel Henriques, Andy Owens, Hi-Fi, Clayton Cowles
You may think a “bad” comic is the hardest thing to write a review of, but a “good” one one that pulls a trick that impresses you is much harder to write about.
I read it before you and want to scream from the rooftops “you never see it when ___ appears at ____!”, but that would just be horrid and rob you of the joy of experiencing it yourself. So I had to hold myself back last time when Holy Shnikies Promethea Burst Out The Door At The End!
Big fan of J H Williams III (as anyone who reads my reviews of Batwoman has picked up on), and I dug Promethea from her first to last issue.
This is an exciting issue with large exciting fights, good guys coming together to fight the bads with friendship, and Frost making the hard choice she’s been facing since the arc begun. All of these are great reasons to read it.
But my fangirl hat is on, my favorite single ABC (America’s Best Comics) character is officially DC cannon now, so my mind spins with all the extended questions I get to so happily speculate upon.
Mister Miracle #1 Director’s Cut
Words – Tom King
Pictures – Mitch Gerads, Clayton Cowles
I appreciate when they take the time and effort to put one of these out.
It’s a deeper dive for those that liked it the first time and a second chance for those (like me) that completely missed it.
Maybe it’s the extensive use of a stark black and white only punctuated with a splash of blood or the warm color of a television screen, but this feels arthouse theater to a regular comic’s weekly t.v. series. It’s not a story given chronologically or straightforward. There is a looming threat even Scott feels, and through repeated black panels with simple white text we feel it too.
Where can you escape when the future feels bleaker then anything you have yet survived?
Into memories? Depression?
Work?
A more drastic and final escape?
Or could you find it within to choose to do the opposite?
Scooby Apocalypse #22
Words – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Ron Wagner
Pictures – Andy Owens, Hi-Fi, Travis Lanham, Colleen Doran
The gang has learned what scared the other mutated monsters away from the mall, the monsters inside were even more nuts!
Set somewhere between a season of “American Gladiators” and complete global annihilation is this game the mall mutants play.
Each team in nicely hand-made (or is it claw-made?) uniforms either representing “C J Nickel” or “Mears” and at an appointed time leave their chosen department store to rip apart as much of the other team as possible.
That it’s such a predictable pattern actually gives Velma hope that her plan to change the mall into their base is possible. Let’s just hope this slim thread of a plan doesn’t get complicated.
Secret Squirrel is a Bond-ian flavored parody this time. The artist du-jour (Colleen Doran) has a light fun style with almost an “Adult Swim” feel.
This is good because I could see this being the subject of a Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode.
The bad guy group “The Committee” who hired Loup Astucieux to kill Secret Squirrel want it to happen quickly or they’ll bill him for all the cool gadgets and death traps he failed to kill him with earlier! Oh no, what is a world famous assassin to do?
Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #90
Words – Sholly Fisch, John Rozum
Pictures – Walter Carzon, Horacio Ottolini, Silvana Brys, Saida Temofonte, Don Perlin, Scott McRea, John Costanza
Two tales of mild terror for you tonight.
First the gang has enough of a break to wash their clothes.
Well, theoretically they do but there’s so much fighting between customers and the owner is a loud sour grump its almost a relief when a ghost crashes the party. But cleanliness is second to mystery solving and not even the fear of funk will stop them from cleaning up this case.
The second story sees the group getting yet another flat tire on a lonely spooky road. Even they’re starting to see the meta of this joke (their spare is flat from the last time this happened!).
When will they get a roadside auto emergency membership?
The nearest place is an “everything” making business with only one employee brave enough to be there. Three days ago a monster was “created’ in one of their many labs.
If only there were an intrepid group of kids to help solve the mystery.
Sideways #1
Words – Kenneth Rocafort, Dan Didio, Justin Jordan
Pictures – Kenneth Rocafort, Daniel Brown, Carlos M. Mangual
Sideways is how my head was turning while reading this.
It’s sadly a tired premise that gets it’s mystery from budding off of an event I didn’t read. But this is a #1, and those are expected to stand on their own.
The art is nice, Rocafort likes detail and if there’s a texture he will be sure you can feel it whether it’s Ernie’s kigurumi or every floor of every skyscraper in New York.
The faces feel pulled from reference, sometimes that’s fine (the sweet kiss on page 7), sometimes it feels out of place or distractingly off-model. But hey you can’t be the best at every aspect right off the bat, I look forward to seeing this artist grow.
As for writing…Teen kid gets powers from event, his best friend knows secret and made him awesome costume. Parents don’t know and are extra worried for him. People are angry at him using the powers willy-nilly and he’s already in trouble for that.
But it could get better issue 2.
Supergirl #18
Words – Jody Houser, Steve Orlando
Pictures – Carmen Carnero, Michael Atiyeh, Steve Wands
The semi-formal has been crashed! (by a glowing flying alien demanding Supergirl)
She (I judge beings based on Earth biology) claims Supergirl and other “helpful” aliens doom Earth with their very presence and she’ll solve that by “purging” her.
Kara finds the alien’s plan as sound as I do and changes into her boots and cape to pull the crazy space lady away from all the fragile innocents.
We get the alien’s sad backstory and Kara tries something unorthodox and radical – talking to her. Read to the end to see how well that turns out!
Also, it is a dance, there is awkwardness and cuteness, maybe even an awwwwhhhh! It’s good to see people becoming comfortable in their own skin.
Wonder Woman #40
Words – James Robinson
Pictures – Emanuela Lupacchino, Carmen Carnero, Ray McCarthy, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Hi-Fi, Saida Temofonte
After one page of tension, Jason isn’t dead… yaay.
Jason has the same quick healing Diana does, which you’d think he would’ve noticed by now. Diana wishes she had Steve there to help track the (now damaged) Silver Swan.
Funnily enough Steve and friends are battling the Furies protecting a relic from Darkseid, he wishes he had Wondy there to help.
Wonder Woman uses her brain; first stop is the hospital where everyone on staff has been slaughtered and all relevant data scoured from the system.
Even for a person who killed a family she saw on t.v. this seems extreme, how paranoid and in her own world has this girl gotten?
The Silver Swan won’t be stopped!
