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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Comic Book Quick Hits - 1st Instahlment

Black Summer #2
Ellis delivers another great issue. The only problem is that it's too damn short! Each issue get more and more action packed and interesting that really I'm having a hard time between choosing... do I want more action or do I want more story? I love the flashbacks that really add depth to the characters and make me more interested in THAT story then the current one. I'd love to read the teams adventures from the beginning and get some inside into the world that Ellis has created for them. The action is... it's freaking great! The art is top notch and I wish that action movies could do some of the things they're able to do. My only grip is that all the women are starting to talk the same, other than that it was a great issue.

Astonishing X-Men #22
So, Cyclops is dead? Um... what? If Cyclops is dead then I'm officially done reading X-Men since he's the only character I like or give a crap about. I'm hoping it's all BS but we'll see I haven't read anything on the internet yet so either no one cares or it's all part of the story and we'll find out more in the next issue. If he is dead though... then I am not friends with Joss Whedon! Cassaday's art continues to be the best in the business, seriously I can't wait to see what project he's going to work on next. Since Ellis is taking over after Whedon I wish he'd just stay on the book and reunite the team that made Planetary, but it's not going to happen. Other than Cyclops dying in a lame ass way nothing else happened in this book.

Amazing Spider-Man #543
It happened... Peter Parker's a criminal. This issue was good in the way that it made me uncomfortable. By that I mean I didn't like what was going on but I'm able to see that, that's what makes it a good issue. You're not suppose to like Peter's decisions, you're suppose to ask, "What's going on? Why won't this just stop?" this books is suppose to leave you wanting the old Spider-Man back and frankly you're not going to get it. This is Garney's last issue too hopefully he's got something good lined up though I think I've already read something he did. This is also the last issue before "One More Day" where Amazing takes over and becomes a three issue a month book. One More Day will also mark Straczynski's last arc on Spider-Man.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #23 - What a good issue, Jonah beats the crap out of Peter. Yup that's what happens. It was probably one of the most psychological mind fucks I've ever read and I blame Peter David for it. Basically Peter let's Jonah got nuts on him punching him in the face over and over until his knuckle was literally bare, and the best part was that Peter took photos of the entire thing. Then he gave the film to Jonah telling him to publish them and gave him the headline for it and everything. Jonah tells Robbie the whole story as he asks him to come back to his job, even though I guess there was clarification on whether he would or not I still didn't get the impression that he was. Again this is the last issue of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man which kinda sucks but we'll see.

The Sensational Spider-Man #40 - I can't tell you how good this issue is... wait yeah I can. Spidey's origin has been told countless times in the issue of Spider-Man but I have never read it like this, and the art has never been so beautiful. Clayton Crain's style is just fantastic, I wish he could do more issues and I will truly miss him on Spider-Man. So, um Peter talks to God... and it's very touching, and even though he doesn't just cure all of Peter's problems he does let him know that him being Spider-Man, is important. That the lives he's touched are countless and that his heart is good even though it's been crapped on countless times, and that anyone else would have turned to the dark but that Peter is the exception to the rule. Great issue here's a couple pages, enjoy!

Terror Inc. #1 - This book really surprised me, I don't know if this character every existed outside of the MAX line but if he did... I'm sure he wasn't as cool. The violence seemed toned down after reading Black Summer, but it was still pretty cool. Basically our rotting friend to the right there is a Merc for hire and when he's drunk and horny he tells his life story. His life story is pretty messed up and depressing, yet very interesting and in depth. Lapham did a great job of making me care about this character even though the character probably didn't deserve to be cared about. Mr. Terror (guy to the right) is cursed and his body needs new body parts to keep going since he can't actually die. He kills this one guy, and takes his head off and puts it on as his own. Then bam, he's got the guys memories... for the most part.

Halo Uprising #1 - Well after a lot of praise, I really have to ask if it's deserving? The books not bad and I agree that Bendis can write anything. But Halo means Master Chief and this book was seriously lacking in the Master Chief department. The art is great and fits the world perfectly, but I don't know what the story is doing and it's only four issues so I'm hoping to find out by the next issue. Really I'm calling BS on finding the Key of whatever, and that the guy I was forced to follow through the whole story knows wear it is. I bet that it's a made up computer game referance that the main character use to play or something like that. Really I hope I'm wrong but the clues given to us point to wear I'm going. Also Master Chief got his ass handed to him... I don't buy that... at all!

Birds of Prey #109 - I didn't know that Gail Simone's last issue was 108. Maybe it should have been 109. Not only is Tony Bedard handling the Black Canary mini-series but he's also doing Birds? Yeah I'm not liking this. In the first issue not only does he dis-ban the Secret Six (Gail's creation), but he kills one of them too! Knockout gets a hole blown threw her and Scandal thinks it's Barda, because Barda is standing over the body. Also DC copped out on showing a bunch of blood even though the scene screams bloody mess. Barda is also changing character dynamics already and frankly I don't know who's on this team anymore. Nothing Bird like happened, I kinda wish they'd work with Batman again but whatever. Canary told off Oracle, and vice versa, which did nothing for me.

Green Lantern Corps #15 - Sinestro Corps War Part 5! The Sinestro Corps attacked Mogo, who apparently mentally trains all the GL's and directs the rings to the next barriers. Didn't know that, that makes Mogo pretty cool and I hope they save his ass since they were drilling to his center where his ring resides. Some freaky children psycho's were heading to the center. Frankly the war is turning into more of a GL blood bath and it's getting a little lame. Kilowog kicks some butt, but nothing major. There's just to much going on in this book to really keep track of everything or to care about any of the characters. I'm behind in reading this book so some of the character's are still new to me, but DC needs to learn that a book like this needs to have a central cast of no bigger than five! It's got like ten.

The Flash #231
So All-Flash kinda impressed me... this issue didn't. I didn't like the fact that they returned to the original numbering picking up right where the other one left off, it was like the year long series with Kid Flash didn't even happen. The Flash kids are quite possibly the worst children character's I've ever read in a book. Also their powers suck and I don't really care how they got them or why the grew up super fast... get it? I'm not crazy about the art, I can see why Waid would choose it, but I don't think it works for this book. Even though I'm a fan of Acuna's style I don't think it works for most DC books. The dialog between Wally and his family is pretty flat too, and the Mom is the second worst character. Not a lot of "Flash" things happened either. Here's some pages.

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The Sinestro Corps War - Parts 1-3

I was able to sit down tonight and finish reading all three parts of the Sinestro Corps War. Written by Geoff Johns and Gibbons, with art by Van Sciver, Reis and Gleason. I've included all of the covers (plus variants for you cover hungry Fanboys). Quite frankly it is one of the best Crossovers I've ever read and literally has me counting the days until the next issue comes out. Basically Alan Moore set the stage for this entire thing, he wrote an issue about Hal Jordan's predecessor going to a forbidden planet. On the planet he was given a prophecy about his future, this is the last part of that prophecy coming true. If you didn't pick up the Sinestro Corps Special, don't worry they did a second printing of it... that being said if you missed out on the second printing, don't worry they're doing a third printing of it. So right now there's the Green Lantern's that represent Willpower and the absents of Fear, then there's the Sinestro Corps that represent Fear. Back in the day the GL Corps' rings didn't work on yellow, because Parallax (The Embodiment of the emotion Fear) was trapped in the central battery for the GL's (The Central Battery is what charges all the GL's rings) and his presence made their rings useless on yellow. I know that was way to nerdy for anyone to follow but hey it doesn't matter, you can't still enjoy a good story.

So here's some basic info for you, Sinestro was Hal Jordon's teacher. Jordan caused Sinestro to fall from grace as the Greatest GL ever, and Jordan took his title. Sinestro's back and he's not happy with Jordan or Kyle Rayner (Ion the Torchbearer aka the embodiment of Willpower) I'll just let you read the first 3 pages of the Special and it will pretty much tell you why. Like I said it's only three issues into this crossover and I'm not even sure how many there are. Love has it's own Corps starting, as was learned in issue 20 of Green Lantern and there's still 4 more emotions out there. Each of these emotions may or may not have it's own Corps, but only time will tell. Over all I'm giving this crossover a solid 10.0. The writing is top notch and with Johns working with his 2 best Green Lantern artist, it will be hard for it not to look as good as it's written. I'll do an update on the Crossover and if the scores changed I'll let you know but right now it's sitting on Pretty St. riding it's perfect 10. Enjoy the first 3 pages of the Special and oh yeah the last page too! SPOILER ALERT!

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