Saturday, August 30, 2008

Comics review again

Finally got down to the comics shop today. I realised that I actually should have gone in last week as I was waiting for Batman confidential 20 and Superman/Batman 51. Nevermind.
This week's haul turned out to be pretty good. In addition to the above, I got:
Teen Titans, 62
Teen Titans yr 1, 6
Final Crisis - Rogues Revenge, 2
Superman, 679


Batman Confidential 20. Pretty enjoyable. I liked Selina and Bruce's exchanges, and Barbara has been pretty fun to read about. It's a shame that the cover features Babs and Selina in strategically ripped costumes, but at least the art inside isn't overtly sexualised. Having said that, I'm not too keen on the art. There isn't enough distinction between Selina and Babs other than their costumes and hair. It's done by a guy called Kevin Maguire, I figure he may just need to develop some more.


Superman 679. Really good. Lois's and Clark morning conversation I loved. Kara's immediate response to Clark's situation was heroic. I'm confused as to why she was sitting in the zoo with all the lions, other than it made a good picture, but it was very random. I am totally hooked to see where this story is going. And it seems that Krypto is here to save the day. I think that's awesome.


Final Crisis Rogues Revenge 2. Again, really really good. The Rogues are a particularly human bunch of enemies, they have their own code, they never kill a Flash (until they did, of course, but that's partially cos Inertia tricked them into it), and we know their back stories. They aren't through and through evil, they care about and look out for each other. And they're all sane (except for this new Trickster, who I'm convinced is actually psychotic). They know what choices they make, they've got everything on their conscience, and they're happy with that. To me, this is what makes them interesting to read about.

And now they've come up against a bunch of pretenders, who think they can take over. Well, they got showed pretty good, din't they? They were destroyed by the current Rogues, because having a weapon doesn't make you deadly. Having experience and viciousness does.
Now Inertia is wearing the Kid Flash costume he's gonna get his arse handed to him on a plate when the other Flashes find out, or any superhero. Except that I've got a feeling the Rogues will find him first, and they'll give him a mighty beating.

Teen Titans yr 1, 6 I don't get this issue. :/ It's been so long since I read the number 5 that I can't remember what was happening before, but for the life of me, I don' recall that it had anything to do with events in this issue. So, I don't get it. :/ Nice art though!

Teen Titans 62 I liked. I know this is unpopular because they killed off Wendy and Marvin, in a particularly violent way (they befriended a mystery dog who turned into a giant killer dog and tore our Marvin's insides then went after Wendy, I reckon Sean McKeever is a cat person), but I enjoyed the issue. Lord knows where M'Gann has gone, Robin had a mini breakdown at Cassie, Eddie is Eddie and I don't know enough about Blue Beetle to have much of an opinion on him.

The dialogue was weird in this issue. I know Cyborg and Eddie waffling on about how much Wendy and Marvin meant to the team was there for dramatic tension to make their deaths more tragic, but they way it was done, and the way that they reacted, coupled with an issue of 52 included in the death panel has led me to a theory.

I reckon that this earth (as in this real life one where DC characters are fictional) and their earth are going to somehow merge and the characters are going to meet the DC writers and staff. That's what the Final Crisis is all about. So basically it's all going to go meta. A bit like the Dark Tower books where Stephen King met his fictional characters (which was a shit part of the series by the way). You just wait and see, I'll be right. ;)

Superman/Batman 51 This is hands down the most awesome and funny comic published in a long long time. In fact, the Impulse issues were the last ones to compete with these. It's THAT good. Lots of l'il leaguers turned up - cutesified mini rotund versions of the JLA. There was a goddamn Batman joke. Lil Batman and Big Batman's conversations were wonderful. L'il Batman's origin story is that his parents got shoved when he was 8 and that made him realize there was evil in the world. L'il Supes origin is that it rained a lot on Krypton so his folks sent him to earth so he could get some sun. L'il Kara cries when people fight and blows up windows.
There's hearts and lip shapes in the air when they see people they crush on!
It's freakin' adorable. So much squeee. Love love love.

Edit: And of course Mister Mxyzptlk said that he brought the l'il leaguers in to sell issues. Which backs up my Meta theory. Right?!

No comments: