A bit of a comic flavour this week. Some short reviews of what came home from the comic store with me. (BTW, The Comic Shoppe in Nepean, Ottawa – Highly recommended)
Batman – Streets of Gotham 9
Well, Paul Dini’s run on Detective a few years back was fantastic IMO. This book? Not so much. The current fill-in writer has turned in a two issue by-the-numbers story, with little to recommend it. 9 issues and any long-term plots get a cursory glance every few issues with no real progression. Disappointing but functional.
Deadpool 19
I like Deadpool. He was the most interesting addition to the X-family of characters in the 90’s, and has shaken off the black-mark of being a Liefeld creation quite successfully. Marvel have seen fit to milk him as a cash-cow in the same way they treated the Punisher and Wolverine. An overload of books (3 Ongoings at last count IIRC) and a slew of variants covers on almost every single superhero title over the past few months. This issue sees DP travelling to NY, looking for lessons on becoming a hero and leaving his homicidal methods behind him. And who else would you turn to but Spider-Man?
Character crossovers demand an initial misunderstanding followed by a tussle and then a grudging cooperation. This issue is fine up until they decide to introduce “Marvel’s Breakout character of 2010!” Hit-Monkey. Yes, a chimp, in a suit, wearing sunglasses, who kills hunters and assassins as vengeance for poachers killing his troop of monkeys.
No I’m not making that up. Words fail me…
Astounding Wolf-Man 21
The final story starts here, in Kirkman’s Invinci-verse title that never really got going. A shame really as the premise was pretty novel, just very slow to advance the plot and I believe it was shedding readers like a timber wolf sheds its’ winter coat (See what I did there?) so the series rushes headlong towards issue 25 and the fate of the Wolf-Man… Not quite sure where it’s going at this point, as there have been a number of big status quo changes at random, sudden moments in the series and I worry that the shortened series led to everything being thrown at the pages in an attempt to get all of Kirkman’s ideas for the book out there before cancellation. Mostly set-up, but promising signs of a big finale.
Green Lantern Corps 45
Mogo continues to be the GL writers’ favourite Deus Ex Machina. After his gravity well shenanigans of last issue, this time out he performs a full blood cleanse on the raging Red Lantern-possessed Guy Gardner. For a sentient planet, he certainly proves a lot more useful than you’d expect.
Green Lantern 51
Is it just me or is the fact that the death & zombie-centric Blackest Night crossover seemingly never ends, highly ironic? Is it meta-textual? Or is it a moneyspinner they’re keeping going for as long as possible? I know my thoughts on that one…
Where was I? Oh yeah, the primary members of each Lantern corps are here to fight the Black Lantern Spectre, embodiment of God’s Vengeance. Cheerful chap.
Green Lantern willingly allows himself to be possessed by the fear entity Parrallax in order to match the Spectre 1 on 1. It works. Spectre gets his mojo back, attempts to fry the uber-villain behind all of the crossover (No, not Didio, or Johns) Nekron. Only he can’t as Nekron has no soul. A bit like Michael Howard.
Nice art form Mahnke who’s taken the GL book as his own and put a great spin on what his predecessors set-up for him.
At this point, I’m not really caring why or how they win, I just want to know which of the Black Lantern zombie heroes get resurrected. J’onn J’onnzz and Ted kord please. oh and kill Barry Allen again while you’re at it…
Thought for the week: When life gives you lemons, fuck it, they’re free lemons right? Least you won’t get scurvy.
