Quick Hits - Worth the read... For the most part

Let's get right into it shall we?
Potter's Field #2 - So it's only a mini-series huh? That sucks because this is one of the best books I've ever read! Issue two was no let down as John is inadvertently set up by one of his operatives over a woman... kinda of. Really I don't want to say to much other than Paul Azaceta is just really good at drawing action and having it make sense! If you've ever read a comic that wasn't superhero action you know that sometimes you have to really study the page to figure out what the hell the characters are talking about because the Artists' skills where inadequate in expressing the Writer's story. I'm really hoping that there's either more mini-series or they just turn it into an on-going series because I really can't wait till issue three and I'll be sad once I read it since that will be it for the mini. Seriously can't stop thinking about how good the book is, I really think Azaceta has a spell over me or he just works story book magic with this and Talent. I can't wait to see what he does next.

Black Panther #31 - Dear Mr. Hudlin, please get Black Panther and Storm away from the FF because you're story lines with them are very boring and it is not what I like about this book. Thank you. Seriously I couldn't even remember what issue 30 was about and I didn't read it that long ago. This book needs to get Panther back to earth and doing things other than fighting B list FF villains. Issue 32 seems like it's going to suck even more than this issue and I hope the Thing does kill the frogs... or something cool happens I don't care at this point I just want to like the book again.

Crime Bible #1 - I'd say my only grip with this book are the ridiculously long titles and the fact that DC can't seem to pick a cover and stick with it. Otherwise I'd say that Rucka does a great job with the new Question in making her a character and not an annoying character. The Crime Bible itself is an interesting concept and the fact that the Question knows so much about it is interesting. It's almost helping her know the future or something, or I'm reading to far into it. The art was fitting and unlike other DC mini's it was actually good! Not one of there random assholes who draws everyone the same and has shitty inker that can't cover up their rough penciling. There were some art issues on the sub-characters but overall much better than other mini's by DC. But the Question didn't ask any questions? Kinda the point of the character no?


Fantastic Four #550 - I love the fact the McDuffie loves the character Gravity, because so do I! Finally Black Panther and Storm depart the book. What a cool concept ruined by the fact that Reed and Sue were still in the book the entire time. If it hadn't been for that fact it would have been a pretty cool run of the book. I remember when the FF would have different team members like all the time it seems but now... well they could barely go an issue without the old team which is sad really since the book has a lot of potential. But the family is back together and now we can stop having really shitty Black Panther and Thing dialog which was never funny and really it seemed like the Thing hated Black Panther. Also Johnny hasn't said shit in the book for like four issues. Where's the wise cracks?

Lord Havok and the Extremists - So I haven't read the Countdown issue that ties into this book, and I know nothing about Lord Havok but I guess it was kind of a big deal that he was back. To me he seems like a DC's Red Skull and that dude with the shield seems like a poor man's version of Awesome Comic's poor man version of Captain America, and if you check out DC's original cover posted on their site you'll probably see the same thing I did. Otherwise it was just another Super-Villain organizing more villains. Seems to be a trend in Comics right now. I guess the publishers realized that if the Villains just show up and get their asses beat that it's not a very interesting story. Frankly this issue was a snooze fest and it took the whole book to finally get to... well something! Any thing! I'll probably get issue two just to figure out what the hell the book is about before I give it the axe.


Black Summer #3 - Does this book get any cooler? Yes it does. I just wish everyone would stop talking about how the book is going to change the future of comics and how it blows this book or that book out of the water. Frankly let the book be what it is and the readers will decide what it does to the future of comics not the media and news zines. Surprise, surprise, Tom's powers still work and man he has some bad ass powers. He suits up and goes out to prove to the other's that surrendering is not an option and gets blown up by a tank... yeah right! I'm sure he'll show up in the next issue alive and well but that's how the issue leaves you. Fantastic story and the art is just getting better and better some how. No flashbacks in this issue though, I missed that.

What If?... Planet Hulk - There's two stories in this book and only one of them is worth reading. The first story is the cover, they recap everything for the 50th time about Planet Hulk and this time his Queen lives and wants revenge. They don't show the Hulk's son because I'm sure it's going to come into play one day in the future and I'm also sure it will suck. As for the other story it's about what would have happened if the Hulk had landed on the right planet. It's a fun story as the Hulk and Banner take turns screwing the other over, leaving themselves in a more and more secluded area and having to find a way out of it. But while there the Hulk and Banner end up protecting a species from purple snake creatures. In the end Banner and Hulk merge into one perfect being. Only part that bothered me was the fact that Banner killed one of the things to and was eating it but hey whatever.

Action Comics #858 - Does it seem like Action Comics comes out a lot to you too? I mean I just bought 3 issue of this book and I had only stopped buying comics for a month! Gary Frank is far to good and be working at DC but for some reason everyone and their mother wants to work on Superman, not that theres anything really groundbreaking or interesting to happen to Superman since his death, but everyone still has this dream of working on the book. Finally DC starts answering some questions about all the Legions running around and the Lightning Saga questions get answered as well. Supes goes to the future and is powerless! Why? Red Sun! But wait a red sun doesn't instantly drain him of powers but slowly right? Not true I guess because Supes gets shot through the hand! But its okay because he doesn't respond with a painful cry or anything just a lot of talking from the Legionaries... Hopefully he'll find Supergirl and bring her out of Legions book that way DC can cancel the book yet again. The art was amazing even if once again I feel I've missed what the hell happened with General Zod? Can someone tell me what book to read that explains it?

New Avengers #35 - Once again a Super-villain is organizing other villains, but I actually really like it. I liked it so much I'd rather read a book about the Hood and the villains than another Superhero book since the whole initiative thing is getting a little old. I didn't like the fact that Tigra had to be beaten down and made an example of. She was already in character dumps-ville thanks to shitty writing. Also I thought Jigsaw was in Punisher? I could be wrong but I think Marvel messed up again and maybe I read to many books! Yu's art is amazing and anyone that thinks otherwise can stop reading one of the best comics out there. No other book has been as consistently good as New Avengers and it actually comes out on time! As for the story... well read it yourself! It's really cool and finally gives you some insight as to what Bendis has been sitting on for over a year.


Doktor Sleepless #3 Bastard of Tomorrow - And now the book makes sense! The Nurse's past is partially revealed and one heck of a real world concept is dropped on our lap. Digging through the website I found the Warren Ellis has some really dedicated fans that already have tattoo's from this book even though it's not even finished! Basically John tells his captors that he's created a phantom of himself and that the phantom is carrying on his work for him. Or is the phantom the one locked away? We also meet the man who raised John... and he's probably going to try and kill him.

Thunderbolts #117 - Another Ellis book that's also Really good! Yeah I guess that's not saying much. What is saying much is the fact that Ellis gave Doc Samson a haircut and made him less of an annoying jackass that constantly betrays other heroes for the Government. Oh and Penance is really fucked up! I had my doubts about how Ellis was handling the character but wow he really knocked it out of the park with this issue! Green Goblin finds his mask in his desk freaking him out which should be really cool with how crazy the team's getting. I think that's Ellis' ultimate goal to tear the team apart and rebuild it differently and new, you just have to wait for this one to erupt which should also be cool to watch.

Ah! It feels good to pump out some Quick Hits, yeah I know I complained some but I needed to get it out of my system. Pick up the books that sound interesting for you and feel free to share some opinions on the same books or others! Thanks!

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More DC for me please! and some Quick Hits!

So I'll try not to blotch this one up as I proceed to review Green Arrow: Year One, Black Canary, Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood and Green Lantern Corps, and some quick hits!

Green Arrow: Year One - This is how Green Arrow should be! Diggle and Jock are one of the best teams in comics and I can't wait to see what project they take on next. I would love to see an ongoing of GA: YO but I doubt DC has the grapes to do it. If for some reason you think I'm blowing smoke up your ass I have evidence from DC, on just how good this book is. Issue's 1 and 2 both have blank of four on the cover, but issue 3 became blank of six. Meaning the extended it for two more issues. Yeah it was probably just to help tell a better story and not actually due to popularity, but it still got me excited about reading two more issues of it. If you don't know the history of Greeny then pick up the book because I'm not going to sum any of it up for you, the book is just too good to ruin for anyone.

Black Canary - The first issue is titled, "Living With Sin." Referring to the little girl that Gail Simone (Ex-writer of Birds of Prey) stuck Black Canary with. That's really all this mini-series was there to do, get rid of the little girl so that DC could write Green Arrow and Black Canary however they wanted. Within the book Black Canary seems like a sub-character and GA even narrates one of the issues. Once again they make GA just way to bad ass for who he is and what he does. I don't know why DC is trying to make him more Bad Ass then Batman but with a better love life, it's just lame and not very interesting for his character. If I had read all the wedding nonsense I wonder how many books I would have found that BC says yes to GA? Too many probably. Also the ending is ridiculous as any sane woman would never have excepted GA's proposal after the shit he pulled, it just goes down as another example of how forced this wedding is and that no one reading comics should be happy about it.

Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood - This book was actually pretty good. It was typically Chuck Dixon, "I stick to action" but this time I could help but be sucked into the book... until the last 2 issues any ways. Whereas GA Year One needed two more issues, this book needed 2 less. It really felt like he didn't know how to fill that many pages and started adding filler to the story. The ending was horrible and pretty much ruined the character for me. Also I have no idea what time frame the book took place in but assume it had to be the past since it didn't mention anything happening in the GA world today. The art was awesome though and saved the book which wouldn't have been as good without it. The soft-cover is for sale now so if you're just a huge fan of the character or something then check it out.

Green Lantern Corps - Gosh I read a lot of issues of this series... starting from issue 3 all the way up to 13... I've got the whole series thus far... and really don't like the book one bit. The art sucks, the coves suck, there's too much pointless dialog. I wish they stick to just three characters at a time rather than trying to cover the entire corps. There was an interesting story, plagued by bad dialog, where there was a Corpse. Basically the anti-hero version of the Corps and they can kill and their powers are contained within themselves. It was pretty cool... too bad it doesn't fit into the War that's going on and will probably be forgotten until some years pass, but it was still pretty cool.

QUICK HITS!!!

Batman & Robing The Boy Wonder #7 - I don't care what people say this book can come out whenever it wants and do whatever it wants because it's the fucking good. This is how Black Canary should be and I think the idea of her hooking up with Batman rather than a wannabe Batman is cool. I would love to write that story since this book gave me a bunch of ideas for it. Great book as always!

Robin #166 - Didn't read 165... don't really care. How do you get rid of a character that's sheer presence means he'll have to become a starring character in the book? Kill him off of course. Dodge was a bad character and I don't know why the writer handled him the way he did. But to fix his own mess he opted to kill Dodge off rather than make him a character that didn't suck. I don't see myself reading 167. Sadly I'm still kinda interested in the book but there's just not enough to bring me back to it. I still think it's just a DC cash in book like Nightwing and Green Lantern Corps.

Simon Dark - I just realized that this book was written by Steve Niles, and I guess that's why it didn't suck and I'm actually looking forward to the next issue. The art was very detailed and had a familiar style to it, that I really enjoy. I thought it was just a mini-series since DC rarely takes chances on on-going titles anymore. It's almost their company policy to have a 6 to 8 issue mini then launch an ongoing with a different team and watch it fail. I really like Simon Dark though and I look forward to seeing how he fits in with Gotham.

Gotham Underground - Calafiore is a decent artist... on Exiles... but nothing more. Underground was pretty boring, Penguin is running an Underground Railroad for super-villains that are getting pick up by the Suicide Squad *Cough* Thunderbolts ala Civil War *Cough* and Batman is investigating. Two-Face and Scarecrow and Mad Hatter all make appearances and are completly out of character. Scarecrow was left scary and new at the end of Detective Comics, Two Face hasn't made his bad ass return after One Year Later but I expected him to be less of a sissy, and Mad Hatter was a lunatic after his run in Secret Six which also but a scary new twist on him. In this book they're all cowards and it doesn't even make sense that someone with their resources would need the Penguin. The Squad shows up and busts all of them including the Penguin. Lame!

Superman #667-668 - Sigh... Does Busiek really need two story lines happening at the same time? Were still wrapping up Camelot Falls and then it switches over to The Third Kryptonian which is equally cool but by having both running at the same time, you take away from both! The Third Kryptonian is more than likely going to die so that Superman can live and we can't have that many Super people running around or it'll get boring. Still like the book I just wish DC wasn't so deadline happy and forcing 2 stories at once.

Well I've said to much but at least you only have to read one post rather than a bunch which is what I would have typically done. Feel free to send in disagreements and opinions.

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Superman, Action Comics, Green Arrow and why Judd Winick should probably retire from comics

So if you've been reading... hopefully someone has since I haven't been posting much, I've been catching up on the comics and I've pumped out quite a few including Batman and everything that could be considered a Bat-book, Superman and everything under that category and now I've started on Green Arrow. All in all I've read almost an entire box of comics which if you're a comic nerd/collector you know that those boxes can store a lot of comics!

So Superman... where the hell to begin with this mess? Well I've already covered Superman the series but as for Action Comics... well good luck figuring out any kind of time line. In-between the actually interesting Johns, Donner, Kubert run is a bunch of fill in stories that do 1 of 2 things. 1) prove my theory about Busiek only being as good as his artist or 2) bore the crap out of you and make you wonder what the hell's happening with the series. I'm actually very confused as to what's happening with the Kryptonian Invasion and I'm wondering... what the hell did I miss? Now he's on Bizzaro planet? Seriously what's going on? Otherwise it's a damn good book, not the best Superman I've ever read and Kubert's art is... not very fitting. I don't know if it's the colorist or if it's just him but the art is just not there.

Probably the best Superman book I've read so far was Superman: Confidential #1-5. I was disappointed that the storyline ended with issue 5. It's just a classic Superman with a hint of a modern twist, but was one of the most rewarding books I've read and I hope they finish the storyline. Cooke and Sale are a perfect team and I hope they do more work in the future.

As for Green Arrow, geesh, where to begin? I read like 15 issues of this book and still really think you could have trimmed it down into like... 5! I will continue with an open letter to Judd.

Dear Judd Winick,
I know that you were upset that you were taken off of Batman and that you probably could've milked the same storyline for at least 2 years much like you've done with GA. In fact you pretty much continued the storyline from Batman into GA which was pathetic, lazy and spiteful on your part. GA is now the poor man's Batman only he's a sucky character thanks to you. You were probably one of the only writers that spent the year after One Year Later explaining what had happened in that year... Let me tell you... it was boring to read about the mystery year. Back to the Batman thing since it's bothering me. I just find it so ridiculous that you continued your really bad Red Hood storyline into GA it was so half ass and not even worth it at the end. You taught Speedy a lesson? Great... to bad she's a hollow character because you write her one dimensional for the most part or she's just GA's Robin since all you do is try and make her look better than Robin instead of making her, her own character. Also I know you're friends with Brad Meltzer who did a great job with Deathstroke in Identity Crisis but you are not Brad and you're Deathstroke is not cool. He talks to much, he's not that scary and frankly I think anyone could take him in a fight if you weren't writing him. Also I'm pretty sure you're gay and know someone with HIV, which I have no problem with other than the fact that you shove it down peoples throats every time you write a comic. Lesbians in the Outsiders, Homosexual's getting beat up in Green Lantern, HIV in GA when do you stop shoving? This goes for everything, no one wants to hear your view constantly, whether it be religion, sexual preference, or cookies. We get it stop the shoving you're not doing anything about the issue by putting it into a comic. Also the fight scene between GL and BC was pointless and pathetic and seem so out of character for the both of them that I couldn't help but laugh... a skip a few pages forward. Upon receiving this I hope that you'll just start writing you're own characters that way you can see how hugely successful you are..n't.

As a note I'm not reading the new GA series as I find it to be a complete joke and waste of time. If they had relaunched it with a different writer then I might have checked it out but after reading his last GA I really don't see the point and have to say that it was a bad move on DC's part to leave him on the book. Maybe when they wise up and replace him I'll give it a shot.

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Camelot Falls!!! - Why Superman is actually an interesting book

Have you noticed a trend to my blogs lately? Yes, you see I have all my comics organized by company and by book making it easier to read... sigh... I'm a nerd. Well any ways next on my DC read-athon is Big Blue. Originally I brushed this book off, saying to myself that it wasn't that good or interesting. I just remember everyone telling me that Busiek was the jam and that no one writes a better Supes than he. Well I'd have to say that they are partially right. Busiek is only as strong as his artist, and frankly he's only strong with Carlos Pacheco. When sticking to the main plot with the main artist the book is quite impressive, but when it trails off with fill in artist and fill in stories you have to wonder if it's the same writer from the issue before.

There are a couple of fill in stories that were actually very good, the first being the Prankster issue in which Superman makes more of a guest starring appearance. The second is the Origin of Jimmy Olsen which was just an interesting story and took us back to the hay days of the Bugle without it being horribly cheesey like it typically is. But like I said this doesn't always pan out... the issue guest starring Wonder Woman was simply horrible. Every other book that WW's been in instantly throws in a line from WW stating that she hasn't been gone from the world so long that she doesn't know what a computer is or reality games shows, you know something to that extent, but in this issue Wonder and Lois go into a cyber-cafe and the exact opposite happens I kid you not. WW acts dumb and Lois says, "My gosh, you have been disconnected from the world for to long."

I don't know if it's intentional or not, but the book only seems to struggle with certain artists, literally when the artist changes it's like reading a throw back issue from a team that has not right working on Superman. I haven't read the latest 2 issues but there's another issue from the horrid artist that worked on issue #666 which was another story that just screamed "throw back." Needless to say I'm not to sure about Superman's continued existence in my collection, for now though he's bought himself a free pass. I only wonder if Action Comics will fair as well...

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MADE the cut - Catwoman and The Outsiders

Surprise, surprise, there's actually a few books that made my chopping block! I won't go all rant crazy on them but yeah I was actually surprised by these two books. I still have my gripes with them on a few things but sometimes I have to take into account that they aren't meant to be read back to back like I'm doing but rather month to month. Catwoman's book was probably the second best book to tackle the One Year Later fiasco and actually make it work. Lopez's art on the book is consistent and very fitting, not only with the writing but also with the character. It just goes to show that sometimes a book just needs a constant team to produce a good book rather than a thousand different artist and writers taking a stab at it one month to the next. I strongly believe that that's what's wrong with comics today is that they companies don't lock down these creative teams but rather throw there up and comers on struggling books or use them as fill-ins and say, "Prove yourself!" they also do the same with the superstars only this time they say, "Make it sell!" Myself I have given up on reading a book just do to the writer and definitely due to the artist. Yes I will give them an issue or two to see if it's worth reading but I know longer cling to the theory of well they were good once they're good always. Back to Catwoman though, I haven't read the newest issue yet and the next issue has her stealing from Bruce Wayne for some reason and her life as Selina is completly gone and that frankly has me really interested. What interests me more is her role on the Outsiders which I just got done reading and was like wow, two books that I like tying into each other... alright, good going DC. Even if the creative team changes I'll still give this book a chance since it didn't make me feel like I had wasted my money collecting it for a year and never reading it.

As for the Outsiders, they almost didn't make the cut. But then Judd (I have to make a least one character Gay in whatever book I'm writing) Winick got booted off the book and things really started to turn around. I like the concept of the Outsiders, I like the team and wish that some of the members were still on it. I like the fact that Batman's leading it. In fact I wish he weren't even on the Justice League and I don't like the fact that DC's going the way of Marvel and making all the heroes register and keeping tabs on them. The joy of DC has always been that it just seemed magical, all these made up cities with these characters that the people in the world loved and respected. DC isn't like the real world so don't make them like that. The Outsiders are going this way to, but at least its interesting and the team auditions were some of the best Outsider stories I had read in my year and a half of collecting and not reading any of the books.. spree I guess you could call it. I do hope that they add some other members that are more interesting, I liked the fact that it was always a couple of really well-known characters mixed with a bunch of B and C-listers.

Both books really caught my attention I just hope they keep it, but DC may have gotten me for another six months to a year and unlike Robin and Nightwing I feel these books have a point rather then just giving the fans of the character something to read and be disappointed with.

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Making the Cut - Robin

Let me just say this first, Can I get some character consistency with this guy? Please? Every book I read that has Robin is completly different than the next and frankly I only like him in Batman. We're he a Bruce actually try to act like Father and Son. In his own series he constantly wonders if he can trust Batman, over and over and it's just ridiculous. Teen Titans is just whatever, I haven't gotten caught all the way up on the book yet but I don't think anyone will argue that he's different in that book as well.

As I read this book I couldn't help but think that some DC editor was trying to capture the magic of Ultimate Spider-Man with all the teen dating and break ups and blah blah blah. The thing is, I'm pretty sure no read of this book would even think to compare the two because of how boring this book is. The Character Dodge (I use the word "Character" loosely) is a crappy character there's no getting around that. He was bullshit when they created him and if everyone else didn't figure out that he was going to become a villain because Robin didn't like him then well maybe this book really is for you... I stopped reading this book with the issue above, whereas Nightwing had made me interested to see just how bad the book could get and how inconsistent the villains could continue to be... Robin has done nothing but bore me and since the art really isn't that good and the dialog pretty much sucks the big one I've got no reason to come back to this book until DC forces me into picking it up during a killer cross-over or something.

That's pretty much always been my problem with Nightwing and Robin's books, they don't do anything. They don't hold any weight in the rest of the DCU, hell they don't even cross over with other books. That doesn't mean it has to be like Manhunter where she's guest starring in her own book, but even Firestorm had some decent guest stars or cross-overs with other titles. Robin's own book doesn't cross-over with Teen Titans the group he leads... I mean come on how easy would that be? From the very start of both of these books they have simply been a cash in, another book to add to the Batman line and nothing more. Hopefully the slumping sales will force DC to either cancel the books or finally make them interesting. After all Marv Wolfman couldn't save Nightwing after the One Year Later fiasco, and I couldn't even tell you one other thing the Robin writer has written... nor would I want to read something else he's written. Robin is another title that doesn't make the cut I'm afraid.

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Making the Cut - Nightwing - About a Year's Worth

I started reading Nightwing during Infinite Crisis and with One Year Later one of my favorite writers took over the book. A lot of people screamed bloody murder about everything Bruce Jones did on the book but I have to call "Bullshit" on that. First off, Jones did the best he could with the crap that was handed to him. Frankly I hate Nightwing in New York and think that it's a horrible mistake for DC to put real cities in there world of made up cities. Everyone already considered Metropolis to be New York so it's a waste to actually have a New York. The problem with Jones' run, was that he was just following suit with the book... nothing new to the character. He just made him "Bruce Wayne Lite" and called it good. When I see this I call foul on the Editors because regardless of what anyone thinks they are responsible for all character decisions and for what happens on the book. My point in case is that Marv Wolfman is now on the book and if he re-read the book Nightwing still isn't that different even though a man responsible for crafting the character is writing it, someone who knows the history of the character compared to someone who knew nothing.

The art for this book is horrible and since it's just a niche book appeasing the league of Nightwing fans out there, the art will never really improve. If by chance they do land some up and coming superstar artist they will be yanked from the book after they finish whatever storyline they're on and but on another title. I guess I need to read Infinite Crisis again because I don't remember Dick almost dying, and frankly since he didn't I don't really care and Wolfman needs to stop bringing it up in every issue. I don't know why DC would even toy with the idea of killing Nightwing, yeah it would have been ballsy but DC doesn't have the balls to do it. Also what would that really have done for the story of IC? Nothing, at least Conner's death had some substance to it. Overall this book is very safe, meaning it doesn't take any chances and just maintains the status quo. Most of each issue is spent showing how much Nightwing isn't like Batman, and frankly I don't care. If anything this should be a chance to get Batman right even if you have to use another character to do it.

The Villains are horribly inconsistent as well. During the Bride and Groom storyline, the Groom became more and more out of character after the first two issue that his character was established and the Bride did the same thing. They almost switched characters completely then in the last pages switched back. Also Nightwing teaming up with the villains to bring them down was the most forced storyline ever. Nightwing crashes a villains bar to see who knows about Bride and Groom, even though there unknown villains and he knows this and he's been keeping tabs on the place since he got to town but hasn't busted in yet. Also the amount of property damage he does is just bullshit and makes Nightwing look like an asshole. So obviously the Villain don't know anything about the Unknown villains and Nightwing books it leaving a petite threat towards the washed up villains. And wouldn't you know it, Bride and Groom find the place... sigh, by tracking Nightwing's aura which seems convenient since they never said Groom could do that, but since they didn't say he couldn't I guess it's okay.

Probably the best issue I read of this was the annual written and drawn by two people that have nothing to do with the ongoing series at all. It had heart, it understood the characters (even if Barbara felt a little out of character at times) and really it just nailed it. I wanted to read more of that Nightwing rather than the year's worth of Marv's run. Since I'm cutting back on comics I have to tell you Nightwing didn't make the Cut!

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Countdown to the Final Crisis... of a new crossover!

Another 6 issues of Countdown have come out so it's time to talk about another 6 issues of Countdown. I'll be short this time, I'm not going through each issue and for the most part I'm going to pretend you know what I'm talking about rather than boring you with the details of each book. Pretty much all I have are issues with this book, no they're not typical Fanboy issues of this character shouldn't do that or whatever typical Fanboy's grip about. My first issue with this book is that it's horribly rushed at times, which I could easily fix for them... stop recapping each character in every issue. Seriously I'm beginning to wonder if Dini and company or even the rest of DC even read 52? If they did, they would have noticed how issues would feature certain characters and sometimes the whole gang, but not ever issue. It gets really boring reading two pages about Jimmy Olsen and not knowing the what's, why's and how's of the situation that he's in simply because there isn't enough time. And they're parts that I've frankly just stopped caring about, for instance the group searching for Ray Palmer, don't care, they don't do anything interesting or say anything that isn't forced or frankly just dumb. Another storyline I don't care about is the Rouges. I started off iffy about them, then I really stopped giving a damn, and now I'm just tired of them being the only story we're following 100%.

Piper and Trickster are the only two that we follow every where, if they take a shit, we're there, and I don't care anymore. They killed the Flash, yet in Countdown they say they didn't. They have no redeeming character qualities to care about and yet the book asks you to root for them, but I can't they are murderers plain and simple. I'm also very much so done reading about Catwoman's buddy and Harley Quinn who just can't seem to find a home outside the animated cartoon. They just hang around and now they're becoming Amazon warriors big deal, they haven't done anything for almost two months now. My last grip for this book that's really sinking fast, is that fact that for the last six issues at least (possibly more but I can't remember) is that someone will be saying something like, "We wouldn't want to walk into a..." and it'll cut off, then on the next page a different character will finish the sentence, "Trap!" This has been happening with EVERY, SINGLE, TRANSITION! I find it very far fetched that every character is A) always talking about the same thing and B) Using the same dialog to do so. So Dini and company are you saying that none of these character's have an original voice, that they all talk the same? Because that's how this book reads. None of the characters read any differently from the others, and since the art's not that good we have to be thankful that they're wearing costumes otherwise I wouldn't know who's talking. I'll probably continue reading this book for another couple issues, I'd like to at least buy it till the name changes to Countdown to Final Crisis, but I'm not sure I can last that long. I knew the gimmick of having a weekly book would fade, but I didn't think it would fade in the middle of that book. PS the covers are starting to bore me too!

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Quick Hits - Third Strike

Another week, another installment of Quick Hits. Up this week is Eva - Daughter of the Dragon from Dynamite Entertainment, Iron and the Maiden #2 from Aspen Comics, Doktor Sleepless - Tesla Boy Gangster #2 from Avatar Press, 30 Days of Night - Red Snow from IDW, Madame Mirage #2 from Top Cow Entertainment, and Infinity Inc. #1 for DC Comics.

Eva - Daughter of the Dragon #1 - I was not impressed by this book, sure I didn't know anything about it before I read it, but it turned out to be Van Hellsing with a chick basically. Eva's Dracula's daughter born from the un-dead. Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein are after some lame ass stone, Frank's monster turns on him and begins protecting the stone. Eva and Frank become a team, then get transported into the future... did I mention the actual villain of the story is narrating the story to a TV production crew that want to turn it into the next Buffy? Must have slipped my mind, much like this book will slip my mind when Dynamite surely makes it an ongoing series. The art was good, there was little to no dialog, and you didn't get the chance to know Eva enough to care about her at all. In fact she kinda comes off like a total asshole that's willing to do anything as long as it results in the death of Dracula. Jo Chen's cover was the best part of the book, I love Jo Chen's art she's great, maybe if she had done the book I would have liked it more but the story was still really bad, so probably not.

Iron and the Maiden #2 - I first covered this book just this week in Worth Every Penny? One nice thing about Aspen I'm hooked on the series but I'm willing to give it another issue. #2 still felt like it was missing panels as well and the story really seemed disconnected and convenient. After like six months Iron's finally wakes up, he's got a beard and a new arm but no one including himself acts like anythings different from when he left. Literally the story picks back up right where it was six months ago and it didn't improve at all. The Maiden is just a little too bad ass for her own good and I stopped caring about the character when she turned out to be stripping at one of Big Daddy's clubs. I don't know why it's every male comic book readers dream to have the leading lady a stripper, but it doesn't do anything for me and really is a cop ou is that they pump books out quick... then leave you waiting for the fifth issue. Well I wouldn't say thatt on doing any actual story telling. Iron's has got 48hrs to make his debt to Big Daddy right or die, and the A-Hole in the purple that snuffed out the Maiden's family has 48hrs to kill Iron's to make his 1 million dollar debt to Big Daddy even. We'll see how issue three goes but the story had better be good, the art was still pretty good and had that strong 90's feel to it which really works with the story.

Doktor Sleepless #2 - Another book I've covered before, feel free to check it out first. There's more of the mystery revealed in this issue, and more mystery added to the mystery. You'll notice that this issue isn't called Future Science Jesus, but Tesla Boy Gangster. I'm sure this is a theme that will continue as the book goes on. It's hard to say what this confusing piece of work is about. Apparently Doktor Sleepless can't look in mirrors for long without the mirror talking back and his real persona John Reinhardt is locked up for some reason. The introduction of the Shrieking Girls was intresting. They are all linked together so whatever one experiences they all experience. There was more societal commentary, and make believe tech talk that would be interesting if people were actually trying this sort of thing. Again I'm not 100 percent sure what the book is truly about but that's the point in reading it, to figure out the story.

30 Days of Night - Red Snow #1 - Let me just say that I hate, hate, hate it when people take their characters and put them in a World War II setting. It's lazy and annoying and even though I love Templesmith's art, he struggles as a story teller. The dialog was rough, the pacing was annoying and I swear he was jumping around telling the same story from different perspectives and was telling the reader. Anyways if you couldn't tell I didn't really care for this book, I was hoping that since it was Templesmith that it wouldn't just be a cash in on the soon to be released movie based off the first series... but that's what it felt like, a cash in. The great thing about the first series was that no one had ever thought of it before, so when this book comes along and says well the Vampires did the same thing in World War II, it's pretty hard to swallow. Unfortunately IDW will never let the series rest and will always be trying to pump something out under the name, and most of them will continue to be junk not worth reading.

Madame Mirage #2 - Paul Dini and Kenneth Rocafort are a dream team together! This book is so simple yet so effective that I can't wait till the third issue. It was a happy coincidence that it came out this week because on Tuesday I thought to myself, "Hey where the hell is Madame Mirage #2?" that's right I think in numbers, and then there it was! Mirage does seem a little like Hunter Killer, but that's okay because unlike Hunter Killer the art hopefully won't change by the seventh issue and won't be plagued by delays. Rocafort really is the break out talent of this book and if TopCow is smart they'll start pumping out posters and T-Shirts because I've already got money waiting for both. Mirage is targeting another Mobster to take out, the word is that he's trying to kill a celebrity so Mirage is there to stop him. The Dude (Big Lebowski rip off) is there to lighten the humor some more and is really becoming a likable character. The story is action packed and fast paced so I'm not going to tell you much more because it's a quick read and should only take about ten minutes. Mirage gives fanboys a tease changing into different outfits and Rocafort is probably already deciding between Marvel and DC, because I'm sure one of them is offering him an exclusive contract although he may have an exclusive with TopCow for now too. This book is definitely my Quick Hits: Pick of the week.

Lastly we have Infinity Inc. #1 - Let's just call this book what it is, another cash in on the success of 52. I like Peter Milligan but sometimes he's just not the right fit for a book... mostly DC books. Not only is the story pretty uninteresting, it's not very revealing to what the book is going to continue to be about. It relies on the first couple of pages and then the last two pages to hook you and bring you back for issue two. Sadly this book has six issue written all over it before it either gets canceled or re-vamped which means it'll get canceled any ways. If you pick this book up expecting anything that resembled the old Infinity Inc., then don't bother. It only deals with the new Infinity there biological and mental problems after the fallout of Luthor's Everyman Project. The Everyman Project was a genetic experiment that gave everyone super powers that laid dormant within themselves, but Luthor put an on off switch in everyone and then killed a bunch of them because he was mad. I'll be unable to tell you what happens in issue two because I won't be buying it, in fact the art alone was enough to make me not want to buy it ever again. This definitely gets the Quick Pick: Save Your Money choice of the week.

Well it wasn't really a good week for Quick Hits, but then they can't all be winners right? As always their will be more next week and hopefully the new books won't let me and everyone else reading them down like they did this week. Thanks for reading!

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Worth Every Penny?

Something I've wanted to do for a while now is an article that asks which book of the week did I want my money back after reading. Unfortunately I'm still so behind on my reading that it makes it hard to do that. Instead I've decided to pit two relatively new books together and see which one was actually Worth Every Penny. Today it just so happens to be DC Comics Countdown to Adventure, and Aspen's Iron and the Maiden.

First of all there was no adventure in this book so I don't know why it's called that. In fact this is a cheap cash in on the space characters from 52, and they thought, "Oh hell just throw our new character Forerunner in the mix as well." Not only did the writer not have any sense for who these characters are, but he seemed to not know what to do with them either. I didn't get the point of anyones story. Buddy's wife thinks he's in love with Starfire, his son snapped at him when he yelled at him for taking a picture of Starfire sleeping seductively. Adam Strange is retired by an Ultimate Fighting Champion. Really everyones just hanging out in this book, while the writer tries to figure out what made them interesting in 52. Forerunner's story was okay but not great. Monarch starts off saying, "We've got a few minutes and just so happen to be looking at our Army while hanging out all cutiesy on this cliff, why don't you hurry up and tell me about yourself." No he doesn't say that, but yes that's basically what he saying. How forced of an opening do you need? Really the story could have just been told to us the reader, buy Monarch had to drop the bomb shell on Forerunner and tell her she's the last of her kind and that the Monitors killed the rest of her people. I don't know what DC's obsession with everyone being the last of their kind is. First Superman, then Martian Manhunter, then Lobo, now Forerunner. With the exception of the latter two, they always have someone else show up so it's pretty worthless to say they're the last of their kind. I'm sure some other Forerunner will show up some day and blah blah blah will happen.

Don't be fooled by the cover art, Joe Mad didn't draw this issue. I have to wonder though, if he's been giving classes because the inside art screams of his style. Really this book belongs in the 90's and hell maybe that's why it'll work. Micheal Iron works for the mob, he's an enforcer and all that mob stuff. He busts up a church in the beginning and it's pretty boring, then he gets sent with 2 other guys to get some money from a family. One of the guys (Who likes purple) begins shooting up the family. Iron's tries to stop him, some how he gets his arm blown off and is left for dead. The wife has a doctor magically show up and requests that the doctor save him as well. I have three problems with this book. One, the story was boring and typical. Two, they use the over-used Syndicate BS for the mobsters and the over-used Order for the Church, please think of something that I haven't heard in every mob inspired comic and movie in the last 10 years. I thought I was watching Payback with Mel Gibson all the sudden. Three, it felt like there was panels missing. I was reading and then I'd turn the page and something completly different was happening, I kept turning back and forth wondering what the hell happened. The art's there but the story has a long way to go before it's A interesting or B original.

Since the point of this is to decide which is actually worth every penny, I'm going to base it mostly off the art. Adventure's art was actually really good, so it was disappointing that the story was so bad. Same thing with Iron's art, really good but the story wasn't there. I'm going to have to go with Iron and the Maiden, because the art was 90's good and I'd like to give it another issue before casting it aside. As for Adventure, I will not be counting down any further with it.

Winner: Aspen's Iron and the Maiden

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All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder #6

Wondering what's going on in this book? Yeah I think most people do too. It's not that the story and art aren't good, it's that each issue takes almost 6 months to come out and by the time it does who the hell remembers what's going on with it? That and Mr. Miller seems to be jumping slightly forward in time with each issue. It's taken 6 issues now just to the next night after Robin's family's murder. Most of the characters are crazy. Black Canary is freaking cool, but nothing like the Black Canary anyone's come to know in the last few years. Batman really, truly, is psychotic and I'll be damned if I don't love it. Other than Frank Miller's crazy story that's made so many fans scream bloody murder, Jim Lee's art is top notch. He loves having the characters kick through windows and peoples teeth on full splash pages. This issue has two splash pages, one for Black Canary (Kicking teeth with her left foot) and one for Batman (Kicking through a car window with his left foot). Most comic fans love to hate this book, yet every time it comes out it sells out in an instant. Frankly I love the craziness of the book and it's the only book that I'll let the Superstar attitude fly on. Other book's like Ulimates and such have had too many strikes, so if the books stops coming out on time... I stop reading it. But Miller and Lee get a free pass due to their track record. If you're not reading this book then you probably shouldn't. It's not going to make any new comic fans but it'll probably keep them talking for a long time.

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Countdown - The Next Six

DC's Countdown... to Final Crisis!

At Comic Con this year DC announced that with issue 30 something, they would be officially changing the title of Countdown, to Countdown to Final Crisis. I know, I know, about a thousand petty little jokes just roll off the tongue. Like, "how original. Where'd ya come up with that one?" That's not what this is about, this is about the next 6 issues of Countdown. If you didn't read about the first 6, then click away!

Going through each issue is frankly very boring and since there's not a whole lot happening in this book yet, and some issues feel completly tacked on, I'll save you the details and just hit key points of issues, and overall story lines. One major inconsistency that I don't think a lot of readers may have picked up on; Mary Marvel only has half of Black Adam's powers, even though in issue 46 she receives all of Black Adam's and his wife's powers. In one of the issues she meets Billy, now the Wizard Shazam! and her powers are now half of what they were... The only foreseeable reason DC would have to do this is if they decided they couldn't get rid of Black
Adam. After all they did make him a big deal in 52 so why end his Villainous career? Several people already pointed out the fact that Piper and Trickster claim no responsibility for Bart Allen's death, even though in All Flash (I think someone reviewed that) they clearly participated. Again one of my major grips with this book is that Paul Dini is only plotting a lot of it and guest writers are doing their best at making the characters inconsistent from issue to issue. Probably one of the worst comics I've ever read was issue 43. This issue is a memorial for the late Bart Allen; several boring speeches are giving that do nothing more than fill the page. They have no heart, they have no meaning and they don't do Bart's character any justice. The worst speech, which I was hoping would be really good, was given by Robin. Now I thought that Batman had remained out of the spotlight of the JLA in order to keep the villains of Gotham guessing if his existence is real or not. In fact it's part of his character archetype. Well Robin pretty much announces his existence to thousands of people in attendance and to who ever may be broadcasting the funeral service, then Bart does it himself when Robin puts on a lame ass DVD where Bart speaks from the dead. So the Robin speech was a disappointment, but then Bart's on, and you're thinking, "Hey this will be alright". Nope! Not a damn chance, his speech sucked so bad and had no point. The worst part is that it really left his character feeling shallow and one dimensional. Also in the same issue the Monitor for New Earth proves to be the worst and most annoying character ever! He says the same line over and over for like three issues. Also there's a female character, I have no idea who she is, why she's on the run or what she has to do with anything. Frankly even if I did know anything about her I probably still wouldn't care because she hasn't done anything the entire book.

Here's a quick hit list of the good that happened: Darksied showed emotion, Jimmy Olson became a superhero, Forerunner took over and Army, The Bleed was featured (Even if DC had no right to use it), Batman told off Karate Kid and had a bad ass line, "What were you expecting? A sidekick job?", Comments on Mary Marvel's new outfit, Clayface getting thrown into space, Deadshot... doing stuff. I just like Deadshot even if he shows up and just smokes, he's cool. (But no smoking is not cool... unless you're Deadshot of course). Harley Quinn shows up as a Amazon woman's rehab manager... or something like that.

For me the book really isn't doing much, I know a lot of DC's history and what not, and I'm very up to date on what's happening in the DCU (Since I read almost everything they put out (You think there's a lot of comic reviews? Just think of how many there could be!)) so I have to say I'm disappointed so far. I can only hope that the next 6 issues will pick up. I will say the the quality of art was much better than some of the first 6 issues, but not by much. Maybe a title change is just what the series needs... nah!

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All Flash - DC kills one Flash to bring back another

I feel the need to mention first that there were two covers to this special... click here to see how bad the other cover was. The special marks Mark Waid's return to the Flash, and I'm sure a lot of Fanboy's are excited by this. Even though in his 5 years of writing Flash before, he couldn't get the book to be a top seller. In fact not even Superstar Geoff Johns was able to, although it was before he became known as a Superstar. Waid's hot off of 52, which I'm not going to explain what 52 is you can google it, so maybe he'll be able to re-new interest in the Flash. The story was pretty good I must say, wrapping up the crap-tacular ending of Bart Allen's run as the Flash. Bart died by the way. I recently read all 13 issues of the Flash and was actually enjoying it up until they killed him, but as I read All Flash, I couldn't help but wonder if this was really DC's plan all along? I just wonder if they had handled the re-launching of the Flash, or maybe had chosen a new person to be the Flash, if things wouldn't have turned out differently. Frankly I think some one lost their editor's position after messing this one up. We'll see what happens with the next issue of the Flash which returns to the original numbering of the last volume. The future images they showed for the Flash at the end of the special looked stupid by the way, he and his much older kids, are like a superhero family or some crap. If you're not into the Flash, this book won't get you hooked. If you were a fan of Wally West, you'll love his return, and if you weren't you secretly wish that Batman's choice for which Flash to return, had come true. Lastly if you were a fan of Bart Allen, just be glad to know that his death meant nothing and did nothing other than get him out of the way for DC to return to the run of the mill Flash everyone's use to.

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Minx Comics - Double Review!

The Re-Gifters
Mike Carey
Sonny Liew
Marc Hempel
Released: 06-13-07

Clubbing
Andi Watson
Josh Howard
Released: 7-11-07

I finally got around to reading the next two installments in DC's Minx line So let's get cracking!

Re-Gifters: This is definitely a book you don't want to guess the moral lesson by the cover or title. In fact the title is mostly just cleaver and has little to do with the main character and the life lesson's shes going to learn throughout the course of the book. Some times I wonder if Mike Carey is just toying with comic book readers and is actually better than he's coming off as. This book was good, it was not great and it was no P.L.A.I.N. Janes but it was still rather enjoyable. It's about Dixie a Korean American who is basically competing in a Hapkido (Korean Martial Arts) Tournament and her journey to get there. She's dealing with emotions of love, anger and fear as she tries to find her Ki (Soul) and win the tournament. The art is good and actually works really well for the story, due to the inking some of the characters become unrecognizable if they don't make another appearance until some pages later. My main grip with this book is that yes I know it's for a young girl but that doesn't mean you write down to your audience. Look at Harry Potter, it's written for children but she never writes down to their intellect. I think the editors probably got a hold of the script and said no dumb it down they'll never get what you're talking about and so we got a mediocre story trying to teach way to many lessons and no surprises because they had to be hinted upon so heavily that literally they took up several pages. Worth a read and for 9.99 it's still worth the buy if you're looking for a quirky love story with martial arts at the center. Score 8.0

Clubbing: Being a fan of not only Andi Watson but also of Josh Howard I became very interested in how this book was going to turn out... until I read it. The team up was great, the art and story complimented each other perfectly and I would love to see what they could do on a creator owned project rather than this heavily editor interfered project. The beginning was useless and by the way it's the catalyst to get us where we were going. Also the title is mis-leading since it's referring to a golf "club" owned by Lottie's (The Main Character) Grandparents. At the start of the story Lottie gets rejected from a club for using a fake ID and for some reason this gets her picked up by the cops, it's not really explained because I'm sure the actual story was way to long for the format the books are in and so we get a half ass beginning, good middle and way to short end. Basically Lottie has to stay the summer working with her Grandparents and mystery ensues. Also I don't think mystery books for young girls is Andi's cup of tea (There's a pun there since the book takes place in England) it really didn't take Nancy Drew to figure out this mystery since he practically tells you right off the bat. It was another prime example of writing down to the audience rather than just writing a good story that everyone could take something from. Some plus to the writing were the narration and dialog, and the Art was top notch Howard is really coming into his own and should be picked up by one of the big 2 or at least let loose over at Image. Overall I'd give this book a 6.9; it's in the parking lot, its just driving past a lot of good spaces.

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