The Amazing Spider-Man #546
I LOVED THIS!One More Day was terrible beyond words. It was actually a giant insult to comic readers everywhere, as far as I'm concerned. But this issue of the all-new Spider-Man was excellent. Peter Parker is a lovable loser, it's funny, he has a secret identity, he's friends with Harry Osborne, he's single, he's broke...it's great.
Scenes like this one, where Peter is looking for a job, are so enjoyable:
Oh, Spider-Man. It's so nice to laugh out loud while reading your comics, and know that the writer wants me to.So while One More Day was just awful, at least it led to this. Even if it took the laziest route possible.
Now if I could just think about this comic without getting that damn Sting song in my head.
Green Lantern Corps #20
I loved this because it TOTALLY sounded like Guy and Kyle decided to get married.
They have, in fact, decided to move to Oa together. And Guy is going to open a bar there! I think this is a fun development.
I love how Hal and John are all "Wow, that's a big decision. Are you guys sure? When did you decide this?" Totally sounds like they're getting married.
Hee!Green Arrow/Black Canary #4
This issue was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, obviously it looked fantastic. Chiang's art is so good that it can even make scenes as goofy as this one look amazing:
The hero who is panicking and yelling at everyone because a loved one is on the brink of death story line is nothing new, but there was something extra touching about Ollie losing it on everyone over Connor. Especially when Hal got there.
Awwwww.And then Black Lightning makes a fairly sensible observation:
I would think that, being a member of Meltzer's Justice League, he wouldn't even notice that anymore.Wally's comment here confused me:
Arthur is in the water? Really? Where? What's his status? I thought he was dead. Or whatever.So Connor isn't dead. But he is brain dead. You can still be hot when you're brain dead right?
Nightwing #140
Saaaay...this was good! Rags Morales serves up some great-looking art, and Tomasi gives us a story that's kinda like Nightwing: Brand New Day.Nightwing is making some changes. He's making an HQ for himself in New York, for one:
Look at how nice that art is!I loved this meeting between Batman and the two boys about family always coming first:
Oh, Batman.The Nightwing title has a long, proud tradition of being very boring, but I really liked this issue. I look forward to more!
Marvel Adventures Hulk #7
This was totally awesome as always. I know there was that other big Hulk comic out this week, but I would advise everyone to buy this one instead. I mean, if you like Hulk. Like, regular Hulk being Hulk. But maybe you guys aren't interested in fun adventure stories full of the greatest Marvel characters. Maybe you want Hulk to be red.I mean, check this out: Bruce Banner wants to step in and help out the Silver Surfer, so he asks Rick to punch him. Rick refuses. Hilarity ensues:
Jeph Loeb can't write funny like that, people!Superman #672
All I want to say about this is that I hate insects. They are gross.
Ew.The Spirit #12
Ohhhhhhhh...why did this have to be so good? The last Spirit comic by Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone and it was so damn perfect that now I'm all upset.
Why does this have to end but Marvel Zombies continues?! It's not fair!I want a Cooke-designed Spirit action figure. Anyone else?
Scalped #13
This is the first issue of a new arc and it was AWESOME. I think this might be the best storyline yet. Although, really it is all one long storyline. I hope everyone is reading this series by now. You can buy the first trade with a money back guarantee! Do it! (I'll bet they get exactly zero books back from unsatisfied customers).
Teen Titans Lost Annual
Oh man. Bob Haney + Jay Stephens + Team Allred + JFK = the best.I am pretty vocal about my love for the late, great Bob Haney. Nobody can write insanity like that man could. Sadly, he never got to see this comic before he died. Happily, the rest of us have finally gotten that opportunity.
JFK is kidnapped by aliens who believe his leadership skills will help them win a war on their planet. He is replaced by a shape-shifting alien. Robin notices. The Titans go to the distant planet to help win the war so the president can return to Earth. While all this is going on, the president is assassinated...on Earth...as in, it's actually the shape shifter who is famously killed, not the real JFK. The real Kennedy decides that the shock of revealing that he is actually still alive would be too much for Earth to handle (??!!...so his wife and son can just deal with the loss, I guess). He decides to return to the far away planet, where he continues to live happily.
Bob Haney is the greatest writer of all time. And this panel alone proves it:
Yeah, that's definitive Haney right there.The art looks really great. The cover is beautiful. There's a lovely Nick Cardy sketchbook in the back.
Showcase Presents Robin The Boy Wonder
Trust me. You want this. If you don't own it you are missing out on heartwarming classic tales like this one:
Ha Ha! Good luck, boys!***
Good news, everyone! I have found the perfect wedding cake!
And they make cupcakes too! Which are more fashionable these days.
21 comments:
What's the proper title of that Titan's Annual or is it just referred to as the lost manuscript?
I was releived to see Connor was only in a coma. I guess that counts as Winick changing it up a bit, right? Instead of killing people, putting them in comas?
Speaking of hot, now in a coma Connor, you realize somebody's job at the hospital is going to be to give him daily spongebaths, right?
Well, a coma is definitely better than some of the other possibilities, and as soon as Gail Simone gets on the title it'll soon be set to rights.
...damn, we need to clone Gail Simone.
Rags Morales' art just gets better all the time. It's nice to see an artist constantly improving their craft, without turning into an overindulgent photo-referencing maniac.
And I also liked how Nightwing called himself "Richard" when he meets someone. This is a change whose time is long overdue.
That Titans book from Haney was nuts. Agree that the art was lots of fun, but the story was... wow.
8.5 hour operations management course? Good lord, what do you DO in that class? I know what OR is; is OM like that?
frumious - the title is actually called Teen Titans Lost Annual #1.
caleb - I am seething with jealousy.
wrye - More and more I believe that the DCU would be perfect if Gail Simone and Geoff Johns wrote everything. Not that all the other writers suck, I'm just sayin'.
John - I liked Nightwing calling himself Richard too. You shouldn't introduce yourself to women as "Dick."
rich - and yet that was a fairly tame Haney title, insanity-wise.
bill - I honestly cannot tell you a single thing about operations management. It was 8.5 hours and I didn't really absorb anything. I know there are formulas, and math, and, um...management? It was not the best Saturday ever.
I will only buy Dick trying to get people to call him "Richard" if he tries it with or in front of someone he's known for a long time (say Wally or Roy or one of the original Titans) and they razz him about it for the rest of the issue. Because I've never known anyone who tried to change which form of their name they get called by (after, say, college, though it's often firmly locked by high school) where their friends and acquaintances didn't react that way.
If I go to your wedding and you have, say, a traditional wedding cake with that Iron Man cake on top, I will shit a brick. It will be the best thing ever, I swear.
Welp, between your endorsement and Caleb's angel, I think I'm going to have to pick up ASM next Wednesday.
Also, JFK is alive and adventuring in space?
Huh. I wonder what color lantern ring he's going to get...
i just wanted to thank you for turning me on!
TO SCALPED!
i bought the first trade based on your recommendation and i wasn't disappointed. i'll probably continue to but them in trades as i like to read good story arcs in a sitting or two without month long delays.
the art and story are amazingly good,complex and dark.
thanks again rachelle!
I read that The Teen Titans Lost Annual was, originally, supposed to come out in 2003 under the title of Teen Titans Swingin' Elseworlds Special.
My God, I may actually have to start picking up Nightwing. This looked...good!
At least Connor's not dead...he's just sleeping! Yes, that's it.
And Green Lantern Corps was just hilarious. Mongul is one sick, twisted individual, and the Guy and Kyle show is just getting better.
Jason - that's what I like to hear!
Batmanisgrim - that is true. And it would have been a much more awesome title.
SallyP - Yeah, I'm totally down for Nightwing for at least the next little while. I never thought I'd say that.
YES!!! I want a Cooke-inspired Spirit action figure, too! :-)
I dunno, my complaint about ASM #546 is simple:
There's no Spider-Man.
I mean, this is the first issue of what is, essentially, a brand-new Spider-Man series. Ostensibly, it's there to hook a bunch of new readers who heard that Spider-Man was changing a lot to be more accessible to casual fans, and it's the first part of an exciting three-part story.
And what do they get? 22 pages of Peter Parker looking for a job and hanging out in nightclubs. (I will set aside the fact that 19-something college guys who are constantly near-broke, bounce around from job to job, and live with family are "lovable losers." 27-something college graduates who do the same are "kind of pathetic." Getting rid of the marriage was supposedly going to 'de-age' Peter, but it's really just made him seem like a Gen-X twerp with Peter Pan syndrome.)
(OK, I didn't actually do a very good job of setting that aside.)
But the point is, setting aside the fact that I think it's more "pathetic" than "lovable" to be a jobless college graduate who lives with his aunt, I still think that having your "please, please, please buy this, it's the start of a Brand New Day for Spider-Man!" issue not actually feature Spider-Man at all is a gigantic mistake. Those "new readers" you're supposedly trying to attract, particularly those "new, young readers" who were supposedly turned off by the marriage, will say, "Hey! Four bucks for a Spider-Man comic that doesn't have Spider-Man? Screw this. I'm going to go buy a 'Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man' digest. It costs about what two issues of 'Amazing' cost, and has _four_ Spider-Man stories in it, all of which feature Spider-Man hitting people."
But, um...it's nice that you liked it, I guess.
I always enjoy Banner's "Hit me!" method of changing to the Hulk. Do you realize how hard it would be to really get mad at someone who hits you when you ask them to? I imagine it would really be a much longer, protracted, drawn-out, painful process, much like this sentence is turning out to be . . .
Re : GA/BC #4 - Didn't something almost exactly like this (Connor getting hurt/shot/at the hospital) happen during Kevin Smith's run on Green Arrow?
Re : Darwyn Cooke Spirit figure - If we can join forces to make sure J. Bone gets his Aquaman, surely there must be something we can do to make this happen.
Wow, wasn't DInah just yelling at Hal in this comic? I'm calling it: in a few issues, Hal will be having a screaming match with an insane-with-grief Itty.
Hey, I just glommed onto your awesome blog and wanted to say thanks for the entertaining reviews!
I was inspired by your contextless page from Marvel Adventures: Hulk to create this - http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/4840778.html
;) Hope you enjoy it!
You say that Nightwing is boring... well I don't know if I'll be alone in this one but I really enjoy the Nightwing comics, I believe they are a great add to thye Batman universe
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