The mystery of the Martian Manhunter deepens in Brightest Day #6. There is also a little more on Boston Brand’s White Lantern ring and Mera’s revelation from last issue. Apparently, from what they’ve shown us, J’Onn J’Onzz is now imbued with the Touch of Death—except for squirrels. In an unrelated story (maybe), we’re also shown that Boston Brand loves cheeseburgers and they’re apparently his hold on life. I couldn’t make that up, folks—although it’s probably more complicated than that. Mera, it turns out, isn’t what she’s appeared to be for the past forty-something years and now we’re going to meet her family. The only other thing to talk about in this ish—besides a Barb Gordon appearance, which is always cool—is Ronnie Raymond joining Firestorm while drunk and then he and Jason learning a rather interesting factoid about the whole new Firestorm thing. And the ish ends with Martian Manhunter finding out what that thing on the first couple pages meant. Yeah, you’ll have to read it to get that. I have to say I would like this better if they went away from the “52” format of rotating vignettes and just focused on Boston Brand since the White Lantern is the “star” here. On the other hand, I can see this style, too. Probably helps Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi not burn out on the story, too. I suppose that’s also why they have so many artists, so each vignette has its own “feel”. Doesn’t hurt to have talent like Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Scott Clark and Patrick Gleason on the book, either.

Always remember: “Sometimes being Dr. Mid-Nite means being just plain ‘Doctor’.” I know it may sound cheesy but that is easily my favorite line from Justice Society of America #41. Beyond that, all kinds of things happen, from Obsidian and Dr. Fate being taken over by the Starheart and waxing the folks at Shade’s house (and, no, they didn’t kill Wildcat although they should, or at least have him retire from field work) to the true reason behind Starman’s easy capture in the closing pages of the latest ish of JLA. This is the second part of the “Dark Things” JLA/JSA crossover and it lives up to the first part. It’s even better, to me. I think my favorite part is near the end where Miss Martian is reverted to her White Martian self (and I never paid enough attention to that, I guess; so the White Martians are genetically evil?) and is taken out with one punch by Power Girl. Pretty cool. Another installment of greatness by James Robinson and Mark Bagley.

And then we end this segment with Birds of Prey #3. And this, this is just a well-structured story by Gail Simone, something we’re used to seeing from her. I hate to say anything at all about this chapter, as it is full of shocks and twists and turns. I didn’t see them coming, anyway, although I’m glad they did. It’s always a better story when nothing’s safe, when nothing’s what you think it is. Especially a detective story, as virtually anything set in Gotham City tends to be. The only thing I will say is that Pengy’s wounds make for some pretty hilarious reading, and that Ed Benes is still churning out that great artwork. One thing more: Always remember if a girl has a Blackhawk emblem on, the yellow in it doesn’t stand for chicken. I love Zinda.

Bring on the Second Bananas!

Quick question: Do Bizarros now just have whatever power whatever writer needs to make whatever story work? “STEEL-Vision”?!? That’s my main thing about Supergirl #54. I’ve never really been all that enamored of the freeze-vision/flame-breath juxtaposition, but this new one is just… dumb. Overall, I liked this story, though. I did think the kid’s whole “You’ve got a girlfriend, too?” question to Jimmy Olsen was kinda weird; it just really seemed out of place. I almost thought we were reading a dream of Jimmy’s or maybe even of the kid’s. Beyond that, we have a lot of thread here that needs to be woven into a story. The Lana Lang thread, the policeman “saving” the kid thread, the kid thread itself. There’s just a lot going on here that I guess Sterling Gates will get around to explaining in due course.

Then we move from one Girl of Steel to another, as the other Kara fights to keep both her business and New York City entire from going under in Power Girl #14. It seems that her financial officer has taken out loans in the millions and absconded with the funds—although I have to believe there’s a LOT more to it than just that since PG has a few sensory powers to bring to bear and hasn’t been able to find her. More, she also has to deal with a whiny Booster Gold and her own version of Doomsday, sorta. I am liking this new creative team much better than where we appeared to be headed with the last one. Judd Winick and Sami Basri seem to have a good handle on this character so far and are keeping it interesting. Even though I’m not really sure why PG doesn’t just carry the “Bio-Bot” out into space and toss him into the Sun. He’s not really alive, right?

Really?!? They really have named the new villain Hush just because he said that to some chick he decided not to kill? I know, I know. It’s just I expected a little more out of Batman Beyond #2. I will say this, this is a good story. Adam Beechen is doing a bangup job here. I love the new Catwoman, although mainly for Terry’s reaction to her more than anything else. I do want to see more of her. I do have to say that I see no way this is really Tommy Elliott. I think it’ll be better if it turns out to be Jason Todd (who should be dead—I voted for that—I’ve been DISENFRANCHISED!!!!). This is an alternate future, after all. More, the Ryan Benjamin art is pretty well done, too, especially in that so many scenes in this book are very dark. Benjamin does a great job when we can’t see his drawings… okay, I didn’t really mean it like that. I just like the way he adds expression to Terry when everything else about Batman Beyond’s costume is featureless. I know it’s a simple thing but I like it, and I like the rest of his art here, too.

Finally, we end up here with Azrael #10. This title is another, like the aforementioned Power Girl, that I loved in the beginning but that quickly wore on me to the point where I was thinking of dropping the book. This ish, though, like the aforementioned Power Girl, is a new direction in many ways and gives me hope for the comic. I still have the only problem with this character I’ve ever had and that’s how Dick Grayson can not go after him. Azrael kills people. I always thought that was a no-no in Gotham’s “Cape” circles. Anyway… here we find that the Crusader, a guy with the power to transmute materials from one thing to another and a cross tattooed on his face, is hunting down the people behind Azrael, the people connected with the Suit of Sorrows and asking them for a name. After which he invariably tortures them to death. Good stuff from David Hine and Guillem March. We’ll see how this works out in the near-future.

I have said before that I’m not a huge fan of Robert Kirkman’s writing on superhero books. I have never read Invincible because of that, and only my love for the characters got me to try his Irredeemable Ant-Man and Destroyer series. I didn’t like the Ant-Man stuff—although I thought it was an interesting take—but I loved Destroyer. I missed the first couple issues of his Astonishing Wolf-Man because of a snafu at my comics shop and just decided I buy enough comics so I’d just let it go. I don’t know what the difference is between, say, Ant-Man and Destroyer; why I would enjoy the latter so much while disliking the former escapes me. And Charlie Adlard’s artwork seems pretty pedestrian to me. I’m truly not sure I’ve ever seen anything by him other than The Walking Dead. The point to all this is that I don’t just fall in line because I love this creative team so much.

Having said that, let me tell you how good a book The Walking Dead is. It’s not a “butcher shop zombie flick” set to paper. It is the realistic story of how people would survive and what they would do if an on-going cataclysm like this were to take place. Think about it: Even in the worst natural disaster, the survivors know things will be getting better over time, even if their only reassurance is that the disaster has done its damage and is passed. A “zombie apocalypse” is different in that one has to be on guard all the time, as one never knows when a remnant of the initial disaster is going to step out from behind a tree and take a chunk out of one. The Walking Dead is the story of a policeman, Rick, his son, Carl, and whoever else they meet and join up with along the way. Early on there was also Rick’s wife Lori, who was killed well into the run (somewhere in the late ‘50s if I remember right). The travails have been many. The group has found and discarded various places they thought of as safer than being on the road, and many have died along the way. There’s really too much history to tell it all to you in this column. Suffice it to say that this is the best, and thus far most successful I believe, cannibal zombie comic ever made, well worth your investment of time and money, for the trade paperbacks if nothing else. And don’t forget the tv show coming from AMC this October.

And now we turn to the current issue, The Walking Dead #75. If you’ve seen the Aussie picture, Undead, you can already get a little bit of a picture as to what Kirkman does here. But don’t worry—it’s not “real”. Seems that he answered a letter way back in ish #7, telling a guy that you would know he (Kirkman) was running out of ideas when he started throwing in “aliens and stuff”. Kirkman then said that it wouldn’t be until about ish #75 you’d have to worry. So… if you haven’t read it, the ending here is pretty funny all the way around. But it is just a joke—that’s made very plain. As for the real storyline, I can certainly see how this happened. I originally thought Rick was just being cautious, and that all the things he was doing made sense but in this ish (even though I still kind of agree with him that something should have been done) he stepped over the line. I still think he’ll come through this all right, after all that’s happened is taken into account, but in this book you never know. And that’s what makes it so good. Messrs. Kirkman and Adlard, I salute you both for this great comic and hope to be reading it for many more years to come.

Buy The Walking Dead Trade Paperbacks at TFAW.com:

Booster in Teams and Teams Needing a Boost:

Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis team with artist Chris Batista (and a bunch of other people you’ve never heard of) to bring us yet another Blue and Gold teamup in Booster Gold #34. Jeez, Ted Kord’s around more now than when he was alive. I really thought he was going to return with the others after Blackest Night but now I’m thinking he decided—as Don Hall apparently has—that he’s happier being dead. And who can blame him. He gets to hang out with other dead folk, like Mister Miracle and Big Barda (don’t know how good that is, though, since Barda hates him and Scott never crosses Barda—and if you’ve seen her you understand why). At least I think they’re still dead. Max Lord is in this ish, too, and he was dead but now he’s not. And this is a time travel book so this appearance of Lord is from before he died. The first time. Ah, well, in all this hilarity I guess I should mention that this story will continue into the next ish, so we’ll have to wait another month to see how our heroes save the Book of Destiny Cliff’s Notes from the Kirboids, who are “interdimensional drones from the planet Quatloo”. That should pique your interest; peaking your interest is up to KG and Just Me (I always wondered what those initials stood for, and I doubt very seriously I just hit upon it).

Next, we’ll move into the present day for another BG adventure, this one sans the Beetle—the Ted Kord variety, anyway—from Justice League: Generation Lost #5. This story begins with a flashback from before Booster left the future to come to the past, a flashback bookended by a conversation we see later he had with Max Lord before joining Lord’s version of the JL. In this ish our heroes finally talk to Lord himself—through the armor of a downed Rocket Red—and find out why they’re the only ones who can remember him. And while I’m not a big fan of just buying into whatever some nut says his reason is for his nuttiness in this case I think Lord’s reason actually makes sense. As far as it goes, anyway. I’m sure he has a few decks of cards up his sleeve we haven’t seen yet, The Decks, not the sleeve. I mean, the sleeve’s right on the cover. Sorry. Also, Captain Atom shows once again why he’s the one always in charge when the team goes into combat, even though they’re not in combat when he does so. More good stuff from Judd Winick and Keith Giffen with that good old Aaron Lopresti art.

Moving away from JL: GL with its portrayal of what many would consider an inferior version of the JLA we go to The Brave and the Bold #35 for J. Michael Straczynski and Jesus Saiz’s teaming of The Inferior Five and The Legion of Substitute Heroes, the “second part” of last month’s Doom Patrol-LSH outing. In here we see the LSH (I can’t help that the Subs have the same initials as the Supers) watching a newscast of the LSH (see how confusing that can be?) saying they saved the earth from the black hole. Of course, the LSH wonders how the LSH can prove they actually saved the earth since the LSH technically prevented the problem from occurring by making a time ripple, which leads the LSH to have an idea: now that the LSH knows how the LSH solved the problem they can steal one of the LSH’s time bubbles and go back in time before the LSH did it so the LSH can do it instead and garner credit for themselves. See? Clear as mother’s milk. Unfortunately, the Subs arrive a little later in the past than they intended, missing the opportunity to contact the Doom Patrol before the Supers. The Subs then make the mistake of creating a paradox and end up in the ‘70s with the Inferior Five, who I think have a miniseries ahead of them now that they’ve reversed the Living on Mars process. A pretty funny story which explain all the little non-sequitors from last ish very well.

Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel begin the post-Anniversary Batman saga by taking us back to before they “killed” Bruce Wayne in Batman #701. I don’t understand a lot of the backstory here as it’s all tied in with Batman R.I.P. but it’s a good story. Batman resurfaces after his climactic battle with his father… well, probably that guy impersonating his father… and stumbles back to the Batcave for the administrations of Alfred (and they really need to do a miniseries about Alfred: Battle Medic) and rest. He’s haunted by the prophecy that the next time he wears the costume will be the last—a prophecy that will be proven to be false very shortly now—and stews over it until called by Superman to investigate the murder of a New God. Then Bruce does what Batman always does: goes to work.

And speaking of Superman… J. Michael Straczynski has done a lot of things in the past. He created one of the greatest teleseries mythologies in history with Babylon 5. He created another great mythology for the comics world (although the ending was botched rather badly thanks to time and distance) in Rising Stars. He wrote Spiderman into the ground as far as I’m concerned. His Thor run began with a bang and then kind of languished toward the end, but I lay that more at the feat of TPTB at Marvel for trying to drag Thor into the gods-awful Dark Reign storyline. Then Joe went to DC and has since turned out some very good stuff, mainly on a title that’s largely a throw-away, The Brave and the Bold. Now, he takes over two of the three most iconic characters in the DC stable, with Wonder Woman and Superman. In Superman #701, we see a Superman who appears to be thinking about his place in the world. After the prologue to this story in #700, I have to admit I wasn’t too up on reading this. It just seemed to me that there was no way Supes could feel bad about that woman’s husband dying while the Big Red “S” was out saving the entire planet from destruction. Sorry for her loss, yes, but guilty about it? Don’t see it. If anything, I would think he would be a little angry at the ingratitude inherent in her accusation. I thought maybe he went for a walk to try and figure out why he should bother helping us in the first place. This ish is better than either of those and reminds me again why I love Straczynski’s work so much as a whole. He reminds us of the best parts of ourselves. I can’t wait to see WW #701 now.

Wrapping up last week’s comics we start with Brightest Day #5. Here we have Deadman trying to resurrect Hank Hall and we see where the Hawks went: Hawkworld. Also, Mera and Aquaman face some folks who appear to have Mera’s hard water powers, which leads to a rather shocking disclosure on her part. Still enjoying the series, although I sometimes think it’s a concept that’s getting away from the creators. One of the things they do here is try and make some kind of point about the BP oil leak—a point that only made me wonder yet again why, with all the great heroes from alien cultures they have, the DCU still uses oil at all. Just a thought. Someone at DC can feel free to steal it that way they stole my idea about spirituality for the backup story in the latest JLA (and, no, I don’t really think they stole it).

Then we have the Jeff Lemire-Mahmud Asrar story in the Brightest Day: The Atom Special #1. This was all right as the springboard to what I’m sure is a well-followed series beginning in Adventure Comics #515. It sets up a mystery and tells us the origin of the Atom at the same time, adding to his life history as it goes. Don’t know that I care enough about this character to read the series, but I am wondering if Palmer even knows what happened to the other Atom in the Titans: Villains for Hire Special of a month or so ago, not to mention whether or not his brother comes back to life so I’m sure I’ll start it anyway.

Next, we come to the new installment of the Bob Layton/Ron Lim creation in Hercules: Twilight of a God #2. Have to admit, I don’t understand what Galactus is thinking here. It would seem to me that having a very powerful herald—one that can challenge the Big G himself if they run to cross purposes—with a chip on his shoulder would be a bad thing. Even so, good to see the Prince of Power cutting loose for a change. I was very happy with Wonder Woman putting down the mad animal that Maxwell Lord had become, and if I’ve ever had any dispute with making comics more realistic it’s that there would be death and destruction strewn from one horizon to the other, especially when gods and ancient warriors are involved. Also, in the back of this ish is the preview for Shadowland, which is apparently going to show us the end of Daredevil’s fiefdom in Hell’s Kitchen (which I didn’t even know he had). My only question with this preview is one I asked at the beginning of the Dark Avengers thing—but had this concern quickly overshadowed by the Norman Osborn thing—which is: How is Bullseye still alive? Maybe it could be said that Matt Murdock just wasn’t that kind of guy but the DD they show us here doesn’t appear to have a problem doing what needs to be done. Just a thought.

And now we come the real god of the Marvel Universe, although not in his own title. First, we have the end of the adventure in Thor and the Warriors Four #4. I almost thought the kids were going to talk Loki out of his prize. It almost worked. But if they had we would have missed an even better ending. Ah, the Law of Unintended Consequences… our government could certainly learn it and the God of Mischief and Evil gets a crash course here. Also, we learn of a new person worthy to wield Mjolnir and witness a very funny, though brief, scene with Throg and “Thorse”. All of this and the end, too, of our backup story with Hercules telling the Power children of his twelve mighty labors. This was just a great, fun series written with just the right touch of humor and action by Alex Zalben with perfect artwork for this story by Gurihuru. If you haven’t read this series I highly recommend it in trade.

Finally, we have Thor: The Mighty Avenger #1. I admit when I got this—because I don’t look too closely at the comics section of Previews—I thought it was going to be some new story concerning Thor returning to the Avengers. I didn’t know it was going to be a complete reimagining of his origin. This… this is very, VERY good. Roger Langridge has crafted an interesting and fun new beginning for the character with a return to innocence of the best female character from Thor comics, Jane Foster (sorry, Sif). Here we meet a Jane Foster who has never been in love with the God of Thunder, one who’s not even a nurse. And this semi-amnesiac Thor… I just have to say that I enjoyed this ish so much. And I really thought it was going to suffer for having been read directly after the last Warriors Four book, because that ish was so good. This was fun, though, and a real must for Thor fans like me and anyone who wants to read a fun, different take on a famimliar character. Also, here we have the great art of Chris Samnee, who does an excellent job of matching his style with the story. These two men have created a wonderful brew here. Can’t wait til next month.

Batman: Odyssey #1 is out and it’s as wonderful as expected. As usual with the first installment of a single storyline this long, the first ish doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. And while it’s easy to tell what the individual threads are, how they connect is for the future. It all starts as Bruce is relating the report of his latest adventure with its true beginnings back in the early days of his career, apparently before he had donned the costume. This was in the time when Batman carried guns, a practice he tries to dissuade young Robin from in this tale (not sure I’d want to try out his advice about being the only unarmed man in a locked room with twenty gunmen, though). We then see a little episode with Man-Bat bringing the Dynamic Duo some info before the two heroes rush off to help the local constabulary against the Riddler. And there’s a couple things here I don’t really want to talk about because they kind of come out of the blue, and, especially in the case of the final page, seems to tie into the story related at the beginning in an odd kind of way. I know that this is going to be one of those times when you’d rather I just tell you a lot about the story but it’s another case of my being averse to telling you everything about a good story I want you to read.

This is Neal Adams, folks. As I said in a comment on this site when the news story posted about this title coming out this week, there’s just nothing much that Neal Adams can do on a comics page that will be bad. The man just has too much talent to not tell a good story. If I had any complaint about this story—and it would be a small one, believe me—it’s that Adams’ Batman here seems an awful lot like a slightly toned down Frank Miller version. Some of the way he interacts with Robin just seems like a Miller scene to me. And that’s it; that’s the entirety of my complaint with this book. The art is fantastic, showing that Adams, whom I’ve seen nothing from for awhile now (which probably means I just haven’t been looking closely enough), has lost none of his trademark style and storytelling verve. That plus the fact that I just love the way his Batman looks means we’re in for a rare treat. The only thing I can think of I’d like better from Adams might be a Green Lantern maxi. Or, better, a run for Adams on the regular GL title.

Let’s start with Scott and David Tipton’s teaming with artist Federica Manfredi for the IDW miniseries Star Trek: Burden of Knowledge #1. This first installment, “Uncertain Prescriptions”, concerns the crew of the Starship Enterprise—TOS brand—arriving at Mygdalus 3 in order to make a survey of that planet’s cultural qualifications for joining the Federation. Dr. McCoy is especially anxious to get to the planet, as they apparently have a legendary medical aptitude and a storehouse of knowledge. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Cannon Fodder—errr, I think his name is “Lt. Thompson” here, but it doesn’t really matter, does it?—beam down to the planet and are escorted around by Facilitator Weis. Until the action begins. Seems the Mygdalians have enemies that weren’t covered in the preliminary report. I don’t want to give anything away here as it is a pretty good story that will remind you of others, from both TOS and NextGen. Also, this seems like a self-contained tale, but it apparently is to be continued later. I only hope that, if they do carry this into Next Generation territory (which doesn’t look like it will happen in at least the second ish, from the pic they show at the end of this one), the Tiptons can do as well with those characters as they do with these. The Triad sounds just like they always did, you can almost hear McCoy and Spock’s voices as they argue back and forth and Kirk is perfect. The artwork—usually a bit of a sore spot with me in these—is actually pretty good, with each character actually being completely recognizable just from a picture. I really enjoyed this story all the weay around and look forward to the next ish.

DC’s Brightest Day event continued with Green Lantern #55 and The Flash #3. In the GL ish, we have Lobo trying to capture Atrocitus. This was okay, I guess; as good as any story with Lobo in it can be, anyway. Actually, my favorite part of this book was the “Tales of the Red Lantern Corps.” backup where we learn the origin of Atrocitus’ cat, Dex-Starr. I know, I know, it may be stupid to have a cat with a power ring but this is an excellent story by (guess who) Geoff Johns with good artwork by Shawn Davis. The front piece has an interesting ending, too, by the way, so go ahead and read it… even though it does have Lobo in it, and apparently no amount of writing talent can make that clown interesting. In The Flash, we have Barry being attacked by the Renegades… again… and being saved twice by fairly unlikely sources. The single most interesting thing about this ish to me? That the court system in the USA of the DCU is currently being asked to reinstate all of Captain Boomerang’s murder convictions that took place before his death and subsequent resurrection in the Blackest Night event. And what does he get if they reinstate them? He goes back to Death Row. I have a hard time getting the logic there. It seems to me that his dying in the first place constitutes payment for those crimes. Unless it’s going to be argued that his return proves he never really died in the first place. I’d really like to see this court case played out somewhere, in some title. I just think that would be interesting and it would have long-reaching ramifications for anyone else returned by this event, or any other such resurrection.

Finally, we land in Gotham for a couple of issues that take place nowhere near each other in any kind of continuity. First, Gotham City Sirens #13 hands us the second part of “Sister Zero”, a story by Tony Bedard with art by Peter Nguyen and Andres Guinaldo. This story is the payoff for the Catwoman title extension brought to us as part of the Blackest Night event, the story where we saw that Selina had helped her sister, Maggie, escape the clutches of the Black Lantern Black Mask. At the end of that tale Maggie gets away, talking about how she must kill The Cat in order to save Selina’s soul. This is her first attempt. Armed with the power of an “angel”, Maggie attacks Selina and Harley. Typically good stuff from this crew. Then there’s Batman Beyond #1, in which Terry does battle with what appears to be a villain from Bruce’s past. Not too sure where this is headed just yet but I did enjoy the ish. Adam Beechen and Ryan Benjamin are the storytellers here, and they do a pretty good job of setting up this tale of a “maybe” future Batman.

Our first “god” of comics is one that’s only divine in his own mind. The Invincible Iron Man Annual #1 shows us “Mandarin: The Story of My Life” by writer Matt Fraction and artist Carmine Di Giandomenico. The Mandarin loves the films of Jun Shan, says he feels the director “speaks to, and of, the Chinese soul and character in a way that would make poets jealous”. The Mandarin has also decided it is time for a biopic to be made of his life, one that would do his greatness true justice. Guess who he “hires”? Well, “hires” might not be the correct word. What do you call it when someone is taken by force and told if he doesn’t cooperate his most beloved wife will be put to an untimely and painful demise? Oh, well, it doesn’t ever really matter anyway because this director has integrity. Now if only he could still breathe… Seriously, this is a good story, and it is a good springboard for the Mandarin character to return to the pages of his most hated enemy.

And in keeping with the “bad guys who think they’re gods” theme, and this one’s also all about rings of power, we go to Action Comics #890. Lex Luthor, it seems, really liked what he had when wearing the Orange Ring of Avarice. He wants another one. In fact, he wants all the Rings of Power. Even a Black Ring—all of which have, apparently, disintegrated. He’s back in full control of LexCorp through the machinations of his deal with Gen. Sam Lane (even though I still see no way that deal is ever allowed to stand by the government, for PR reasons if for no other) and back to handing out pink slips and murders for no reason. In other words, doing all those things Marvel copied in making Norman Osborn the most annoying evil character in comics. This story is all right, and I’ll probably keep reading it for awhile at least, but, honestly, I hope the team of Paul Cornell and Pete Woods can bring a little originality to what appears from this ish to be a tired old storyline.

Moving to the good side, we go to Thor #611, where the gods are still picking up the pieces from the Siege storyline. This is all pretty interesting, what with some of the gods questioning Balder’s fitness to lead—and nominating Tyr for the job, which is interesting given the historical circumstances surrounding him in the “real” world—and us getting to see the Disir again (you may remember them from the Loki Siege one-shot). A couple things I have questions about: If the Disir could really change the conditions of the spell which has held them in check for all these millennia as easily as this then how the hell did it keep them in check for all these millennia?!? I mean, they just say, “Well, we don’t really think this counts,” and that’s it? I like them as baddies, I love the use of real myth in this title (no matter how changed around), but come on, Kieron Gillen, you gotta give us a little more than that! I’m also wondering where Loki is. I know he’s dead but they show Hel—or, at least, the space in Hell Hela has leased for Hel at the moment (snicker)—and the God of Mischief and Evil is nowhere to be seen. Oh, and by the way… I BELIEVE IN THE DISIR! Just wanted to say that, in case anyone’s listening. I really did enjoy this story, all kidding aside, and am already looking forward to the next ish.

Now we move into the DC 75 celebration, first with Superman #700. This ish starts off with “The Comeback” by James Robinson and Bernard Chang. I read it through like normal. Starts off with Lois investigating an arms deal with some high tech stuff being brokered by the Prankster and Parasite. Parasite is chasing her and Supes—whom she hasn’t seen since the 100 Minute War ended—shows up to save the day. Then the two of them are together, and, and… nothing I can say here would do this story justice. It is a simple, nothing story that is so touching, so… magical… in so many ways. It’s at once reminiscent of the latest run of the “S” titles and Superman: The Movie—and not just because they go flying. This is why we read comics; this was true wonderment. The next story is “Geometry” by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund, and it’s a cool little story about Superman’s first meeting with Robin. Dick Grayson Robin, that is. Excellent story, really, and fun. Finally, we roll into the J. Michael Straczynski prologue to his upcoming run on this title, “Grounded: Prologue: The Slap Heard Round the World”. Meh. This isn’t bad but it doesn’t appear to be anything we haven’t seen before. I don’t understand Supes having a lot of soul-searching moments about this. No one can be everywhere at once. This woman’s husband dying is a tragedy but without Superman the whole world has ended how many times. I understand where this is coming from, and Joe might have something new up his sleeve here—he usually does—but I just always have a problem with this kind of action.

Finally, we will discuss what is certainly the most talked-about of these issues, although why I don’t really know. Wonder Woman #600 starts off with a very cool little touch: an introduction by the legendary actress who played the Amazon Princess on the small screen, Lynda Carter. And what an intro it is! She talks of growing up as a fan and then being allowed to play the character on tv. The coolest part for me was where she said that she didn’t play Wonder Woman, she played Princess Diana. That was a great show, too, if you haven’t seen it. Anyway, for the comics portion of the book, we have pinups interspersed with stories, the first tale being “Valedictorian” by the incredible twin talents of Gail Simone and George Perez. It is an action extravaganza with tons of heroines battling villainesses (sort of) before WW goes to see Vanessa Kapatelis (whom you’re familiar with if you’ve read the WW title for awhile) graduate high school. Next, Diana helps Power Girl… look, can we just cut to the chase here? All the stories in the ish are worth reading, but everyone is talking about something that happens in J. Michael Straczynski’s prologue to his upcoming run on this title (where have we heard this before?). It’s all over the news: Wonder Woman Gets a New Costume! First, I don’t have a problem with it… looks all right to me. If she was Black Canary, anyway. But the main thing I want to say is that none of this really matters. This is not unlike the costume she had in the ‘70s, when the “mod” look was in. More, if readers don’t like it enough it’ll last no longer than Superman Blue did a few years ago (remember that?), or Azrael as Batman, or Jim Rhodes as Iron Man, or Eric Masterson as Thor. And I’m sure it will change back because it’s such an iconic look—the original costume, I mean. Does anyone really complain when Supergirl changes costumes? No. Why? Because she does it all the freakin’ time! WW doesn’t, and when she does it doesn’t last. I doubt this will, either. But if it hangs around for awhile I can live with it.

DC Universe: Legacies #2 picks up the story from the first ish with Paul Lincoln telling what it was like being a newspaper boy in the ‘50s. Especially with the JSA still making headlines, along with the advent of other teams like the Seven Soldiers of Victory, the Freedom Fighters, and solo artists like Plastic Man and Robotman. We see Paul being rousted by a local gang of wiseguys only to be helped by—you guessed it—the Newsboy Legion and their friend the Guardian. Paul’s decision to go straight doesn’t sit well, of course, with his erstwhile buddy Jimmy who joins one gang after another, Vandal Savage to Ra’s al Ghul. This issue’s narrative takes us up to the Congressional Un-American Activities Committee meeting where the JSA disappeared from the public eye rather than divulge their secret identities. Very good stuff again by old master Len Wein with art by Scott Kolins and Andy and Joe Kubert.

Then we have Legion of Super-Heroes #2, in which Saturn Queen arrives to sabotage the LSH’s efforts to aid the people of Titan. She takes over Ultra-Boy and sends him… well, I think you should read it for yourself. Of course, if you know anything at all about the LSH you know that Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl are married and have twins. Twins who disappeared last ish, with their mother trailing them. Also, Earth-Man begins his LSH career. He helps to quell a riot he would have instigated before, and next ish it looks like we’ll get to see him as GL. A lot going on here. We’ll see how it all pays off.

The Future Foundation tackles the problem you knew they would in Fantastic Four #580. Okay, maybe not what you thought would happen right out of the gate but what you thought they were doing when Jonathan Hickman was so cute about it early in this ish. I mean, it looks like he was trying to make it a little bit of a mystery (although he does reveal it by the end of the book) but it was the very thing I thought of when Reed said he wasn’t sure whether to be insulted or proud. But first: Johnny takes Franklin and Leech to a toy store that turns out to be run by Arcade and Impossible Man. Arcade promises he’s changed his ways and Impy is, well, Impy. Hijinks ensue. But it’s the end I have the problem with. Why are they making a big deal out of Ben returning to normal? Didn’t they discover years ago that he could change back anytime he wanted? But then he left his human self on Warworld from the original Secret Wars (I think). Did they ever change that, or say it didn’t really happen? I don’t know. I like the story, really, and I am looking forward to seeing where this all goes, but…

Then, the Heroic Age of Marvel continues in Avengers #2. Kang has come to request help from the Avengers and they have resolved to do what they must to ascertain the veracity of his story. They go to Marvel Boy—who doesn’t like to be called that, by the way—and ask him to build them a time machine. He does so and the team looks into the future. Or, well, actually into a slew of possible futures. And then Wonder Man attacks. Then he disappears. Then the… well, I can’t tell you everything. Suffice it to say that this series, at least for the first two issues, reminds me of the old Avengers series, the first one, back when they really were “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”. They were always powerful though human in those days (yeah, even Thor), and their adventures were always above all else fun to read. Marvel of late—to me anyway—seems to have lost much of that. Outside the FF and, mostly, Mighty Avengers, the Marvel team books just didn’t make it for me. This new series is like going back in time for me. And I like it.

Mars attacks in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #18. Bats finds out there are actually two surviving Martians, one a friend known as the Martian Manhunter, the other a White Martian villain known as… well, no one on Earth really knows him as anything. His name is Ma’alefa’ak and he has a plan to bring Mars to Earth, basically supplanting the human race with a reconstituted Martian regime. The Caped Crusader and J’onn J’onzz foil his evil scheme before finding that Dr. Fate is necessary to finish the job. Another good kid-friendly “epic” in this line.

Next, “a new era returns for the” Justice Society of America #40, as Bill Willingham continues his run by wiping out the events of the great Fatherland saga. Of course, we knew that’s what was coming, didn’t we? I mean, it kinda had to be. But it is cool the way he does it, changing everything by waking Obsidian (and curing his homosexuality—you just have to read the book; it is funny). I hate to say too much about this particular story as it is very good and very well worth your time. If you haven’t been reading, this is also a good jump-on point. Which they make pretty clear on the cover. My only irritation with it is that it’s “continued” in JLA #44, which is fine except that that was out two MONTHS AGO! Oh, well.

Which brings us to Justice League of America #46. This is part one of “The Dark Things”, a JLA/JSA team-up. We start off with Supergirl and Batman fighting Naiad, go through seeing Jesse Quick and Congorilla battling Samurai, only to have it explained that the Starheart—which is the source of the original Green Lantern and his family’s powers—has gone nuts (actually, you know that if you’ve been reading this series for the past couple issues) and is causing magic-powered folks to go off at random. GL and Obsidian are missing and Jade is left to wonder why she isn’t part of the whole thing. Maybe her return from the dead at the end of Blackest Night has something to do with the whole thing. She does figure out a way to track her father and brother, though, and the team sends Starman off to take care of that little detail. I never liked him anyway. Just kidding. This is a cool opener for this team-up of teams and I think we’re in for a great ride from James Robinson and Mark Bagley. Also, the Red Tornado/Cyborg backup story looks good, too.