Slighty Delayed Reviews

Oops.  Just sort've forgot to get around to this yesterday.  Because naturally you are all dying to know what I thought about my books.  We had some hits and we had some misses.  I will say this for the end of the month...a LOT of books come out!


Aquaman #30

This wasn't bad at all.  Nothing particularly spectacular, but a good book nevertheless.  Arthur has to deal with poor Hercules, and manages to fight him off for a bit before sending him back to a labyrinth.  Now he just has to deal with the terrors set loose upon the world. 

Meanwhile, Mera is dealing with the rebels in Atlantis, and receives some rather unexpected aide from Tula.  The counsel is sure that she's going to have them all fired or executed, and are stunned when she doesn't even mention it to Arthur.  Something interesting going on there, I would imagine.  And finally, Arthur is smart and decides to ask Wonder Woman about her crazy relatives, so there is a team-up in the future!  Woohoo!


Flash #30

Well, this is the first issue I think with Robert Venditti and Brett Booth and Van Jensen...and after the delights of writing and art preceeding this...I have to admit that I was left pretty cold.  Barry has to go and see a shrink, to see if he is mentally competent to remain on the police force.  In-between talking to her, he rushes around doing his Good Deeds.

Nothing wrong with that at all.  But the dead teenager lying on the ground in the beginning, and the whole past/future stuff is annoying.  What is really annoying is that the dead teenager is named Wally. 

Oh crap. 

Wally West?  If that is their plan, then I am furious.  If not, it may just be another random kid named Wally, which of course is a totally common name in a Flash comic book.  I don't have any problem with the fact that they have made him a black teenager, because DC rather desperately needs more people of different ethnicities, but did they have to kill him off?  And couldn't they have made him into a NEW character?  Because if this is the new 52 version of Wally West, then I am pissed.  Because I really really like Wally.  Red-haired, love-lorn, obnoxious Wally.  Kid Flash, new Flash, married to Linda Wally. 

Damn. 

But I will withhold my judgement, until I find out what is really going on.  But man, the art just blows.

Jonah Hex #30

Well, poor Jonah buries another girlfriend.  It's a shame, I was starting to like poor Gina.  He does manage to meet up with none other than Tallulah Black shortly thereafter, which is nice, although she is understandably confused about his lack of a scar, and thinks initially that he is his brother or something.

Then there is a short second story about Madame .44, whom, to be frank, I have never even heard of.  I hope this is a new character, because otherwise, I'll feel silly.  It's not a bad little story either.

I must admit that while I enjoyed Jonah running around in our time, I'm glad to have him back where he belongs.


Justice League Dark #30

This is an issue, where they all stand back and more or less catch their breaths.  Deadman is still furious at John for running out on them,  Frankenstein and Black Orchid decide to go off on their own,   Asa, aka Nightmare Nurse makes some moves on Zatanna which rather startles her.  Zatanna is trying to figure out how to deal with things, and she and John finally come to a parting.  And Swamp Thing shows up, which is always nice.

Not bad at all.  It's always nice to take a breath between crises.


Justice League United #0

And so, we have what is apparently going to be the Canadian League.  This is a good thing, Canada deserves a League of their own.  And it has Animal Man, who is a lot less angsty than he has been lately.  It also has Stargirl, which is also nice, and Martian Manhunter, and Green Arrow.  Adam Strange is a professor and Alanna is his student and love interest, which is slightly squicky.  There is a nice Cree young woman who has some sort of cool powers, but not a whole lot happens with her quite yet.

Oh, and aliens have kidnapped Alanna, and nobody believes Adam Strange, until he comes to a signing and gets Animal Man and Courtney to listen to him, and some of the others show up.  Alanna is in a cage with some other people and aliens, and the new young sexy Lobo shows up and so does Hawkman.

It is actually...better than it sound.  Ollie is properly snarky in it, and I love a snarky Ollie.  It looks as though it might actually be...fun!  It's written by Jeff Lemire, who is a good writer, and drawn by Mike McKone who is a decent artist, so I am cautiously optimistic about the potential for this book.

Larfleeze #10

I haven't been reading this of late, it was just a little too weird for me.  I like Larfleeze in small doses, but not as a main character.  But I simply couldn't resist the appearance of G'nort.  I'm so glad that G'nort is back, and not dead, and not all mean, the way he was portrayed in that awful Howard Chaykin two-part story, but he's just dumb old G'nort...and that's the way I like him.

Not the greatest story in the world...but hey...G'nort!


Sinestro #1

This apparently came out last week, but for some reason I missed it completely. 

Sinestro is alone and feeling quite sorry for himself, when who should show up but Lyssa Drak, who is being her usual incredibly creepy self.  Sinestro, by the way is in a cave fighting giant tiger things, and looking extremely buff. 

Sinestro learns from Lyssa that he's not the last Korugarian, and that there are others out there, so he's all hot to go out and rescue them.  He puts his yellow togs back on,and goes up against Arkillo, who has been running the Sinestro Corps in his absence, and isn't too inclined to just hand things back over to him.  Oh, and he also kidnapped Soranik, who isn't all that happy to see dear old Dad.

The art by Dale Eaglesham is very pretty, although I am a bit taken aback by such a muscular version of Sinestro, who has always been on the lean and lanky side, but hey.  It's an interesting premise, and I rather like Sinestro,so we will see where this all goes.

Red Lanterns #30

Guy...has his hands full.

Daredevil #002

Oh God, I do love this book.  Matt is now in San Francisco and trying to adapt to a town that isn't New York City.  He is pretty open about his identity and seems to be doing well,   There is a slight problem with another vigilante, named the Shroud, who has a bit of a Bruce Wayne kind of background, except that his is blind too, and seems to have these darkness powers of some kind. 

Matt and Kirsten are having dinner, and his new pal, Charlotte Hastert who is the Deputy Mayor of San Francisco, and who is making his transition pretty smooth, shows up and they all sit around and talk.  She's worried that one of his old foes is trying to become a new kingpin of crime.  Naturally, Matt thinks she's talking about Wilson Fisk, and cracks up when she says it actually  Leland Owlsey, aka the Owl.. 

Then Max Coleridge, the Shroud shows up to warn Matt off of his turf.  Naturally they fight a bit and are quite evenly matched.  The Shroud says that he's kidnapped a couple of guys and they'll starve to death if Matt doesn't go with him to check them out, as they are capos for the mob. 

So off they go...too bad about that little trap at the end!

Samnee's art is sublime as always and Waid's story is gripping and fun, and well, pretty sublime too.  I love this book to death.