Non-bitter post!

This is exactly why Kyle Rayner belongs with the Green Lantern Corps:

The JLA just doesn't understand the need for super dorky teamwork in times of crisis. Whereas, I'm pretty sure there's a clause in the Green Lantern contract stating that Lanterns must exercise supreme dorkiness whenever possible and preferably when on duty fighting planetary crime. Yes, even Hal Jordan. You don't see him looking askance when Guy and Kyle break out their musketeer talk. (Perhaps this even explains the original falling out between Batman and Guy Gardner. Damn Batman and his tyranny on Dumas-inspired battle cries!)

Not the weekend I expected.

Friday night I made it about half a mile down the road from my workplace when I got a flat tire and had to get my car into the nearest parking lot. With a cell-phone on its last power notch and the only person answering their phone being my sister stuck at home with sick babies and a bracing Michigan winter wonderland temperature, I called a cab to get me home for the night until I could muster up assistance.

Saturday morning I drove to the parking lot with my mother to meet a tow truck and the driver informed us as soon as we got there, "Yeah, your car was broken into." Staring into my poor, violated vehicle and seeing glass all over the floor and seats, the door handle broken off, and my trusty radio/cd player gone made me realize how events like that seem so common place until they happen to you. When I left my vehicle there I made sure to grab all my personal information out of the glove box as well my cd cases so they only got the radio. Of course, I realized later that the thief(s) also got the complementary Spider-Man 3 soundtrack inside it.

I did have a few boxes of books inside my car but they were mostly penguin classics and literary stuff--not the type of thing to pawn off for big money--so they were still in my car after the theft. However, in driving my car home from the repair shop I took it to, I realized that the box I kept on the backseat floor was gone, gone, gone. Inside had been the entire Brian Michael Bendis run of Daredevil in trade. And you know what? It's not funny that in rummaging through all the stuff in my vehicle they only took my cd player and a box of comics.

IT'S HILARIOUS.

I had such a giggle fit after I realized those books were stolen. It was very cathartic. Because, fortunately, the only reason they were in my car was because I planned to sell them as soon I got off my lazy butt and into a bookstore and/or ebay listing. I hope whoever took them took them to read. And I hope they suffer. Flipping hundreds of pages ahead, wondering when Daredevil is going to show up again in his own comic. Asking themselves, "Demon baby? In my Daredevil comic?" (It's more likely than you think.) Waiting in excitement as a Daredevil-Black Widow team up races to the exciting climax of...standing in a bath towel and speaking French for no reason argggggghhhh.

Congratulations, Bendis! Judging by the recent plots spawning in New Avengers, I can tell you know your readership well.

Comics for the week of January 16, 2008

Alright, I feel like taking about comics and doing the weekly run-down sounds like a solid concept.

Birds of Prey 114: I only just got caught up on the post-Simone run of BoP this week and I have to say after adventures that involved Huntress driving a school bus off a bridge and using a trio of punks for character references, Lady Blackhawk wrecking a cab, a buggy, a train, and a stealth copter on her way to the bar where Hal Jordan hangs out in order to honor Big Barda (what is it with this title being the only place where minor heroes get a little love after they've died?), and Misfit saving Oracle's butt in the field using the power of....text messaging--after such fun comics that proved how well the team was working together, I'm not loving the step back that's been present in McKeever's story so far. Obviously, I'm talking about the Oracle-Misfit relationship. And for me it wasn't even about Babs breaking Charlie's ankle, though I thought that was very out of character. It was Babs then ignoring her and leaving the room that struck me as an odd storytelling choice. Perhaps McKeever is going to answer for their interaction throughout this arc but something should have been done directly in that moment to redeem Babs and her caretaking of Misfit. Babs' inner monologue at the end of 108 is the characterization I'm judging her by! So, McKeever, make my eyes misty rather than twitchy.

Even with all that, this is still one of my favorite corners of the DC universe and also in this issue Manhunter makes a man make a mess of his pants, Huntress and Zinda bring out the most irreverent in each other, and then Zinda fights an old Blackhawk villain on a roof, in her PJs, with only a gun for backup. Needless to say, I'm sticking around until Babs locks Misfit in the basement and tells her to kill rats for sustenance.

Booster Gold 6: One of the first trades I read to break myself into the DC universe was "Formerly Known as the Justice League" and it left me with an undying love for Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. So I don't care if it's cheating, but I've wanted him to be brought back almost as long as I've known the character. But I never thought it'd actually happen, even with Booster being so determined from issue 1 of this series and Ted appearing on solicited covers.

When I actually stopped freaking out and made it to the end of this issue, Booster and I had the EXACT same look on our faces:



I don't care if it's not perfectly wrapped up or too good to be true because as of January 16 and through the rest of the month and some of February it is the truth. And for as long as it lasts, I'll be emitting yelps only audible to bats and porpoises whenever I think of "Next Month: Blue and Gold Chapter One!"

Flash 236: For my part, I prefer to think of Mark Waid's run as setting the tone for Flash's new course rather than his own preference that the upcoming writers are going to undo/ignore. I am really enjoying Wally and Linda as parents and their children are already believable and vibrant characters. So I'll be standing in front of the family waving a big, flaming stick at the group of people who are silly and think that it would make any sense at all to dump the kids from the book. But, then, Wonder Woman says it better than I can:



--and that's fun!

Before leaving the title forever--again--Waid reminds us that no one writes Wally like he can.


When is Wally going to be in the JLA title? Soon? *sigh*

The final chapter of the back-up story is even better, with Braithwaite providing a painted art style that's beautiful and energetic and Waid and John Rogers packing four pages with great interaction and a sentimentality than any Flash fan has to love. Flashes are awesome! But Flash-wives are even cooler:


Now that's the kind of fridge action I, as a fan of superhero romances, want to see more of in comics!

As a sidenote: I was going to complain about the artist making Iris' head giant for her body but on Friday a young girl around that age came into the library where I work and her head was equally as towering upon her small frame as Wally's illustrated daughter. So there you have it. Sometimes kids do have freakishly disproportionate heads and comics are representing that quota!

Immortal Iron Fist 12: I don't know what's wrong with me but I'm not grooving on this comic as much as everyone else. The last issue that got me really excited was the the story of the pirate queen iron fist. Since then, rather than actually getting pumped over the qualities of this comic, I feel like I'm intellectually recognizing the stuff that other bloggers will mention with praise.

Maybe the problem is that I've been in such a DC comics mood lately that all the Marvel comics I read have to work that much harder in order to be appreciated. By me. Hmmm.

The Incredible Hercules 113: Following the above theory, Greg Pak and Fred Ven Lente must have been super training all day long because I loved this issue. I am so glad that Pak's spectacular take on Hercules--one of my absolute favorite things to come out of World War Hulk--continues here, alongside the genius punk Amadeus Cho and his adorable doggy sidekick, paving their own way through the Marvel universe. The writing is top notch, with great character voices and dialogue that fits so well because it's hilariously contradictory to what you're expecting the characters to say. Like Wonder Man nitpicking his relationship with Ares while Herc pummels him:


And we also get Ares, the bureaucrat:


Here we have an antagonist that I want Hercules to smash and smash but he makes me laugh and enjoy his presence in the story at the same time. That's good comics!

I also bought Showcase Presents: Superman Family this week so soon I'll be well versed in the adventures of silver age Jimmy Olsen and that's something I've dreamed of accomplishing for months now.

Nicola Scott's art being the cherry on top, of course.

I was dithering on the subject of Birds of Prey and whether or not it would stay in my pull list when Newsarama.com released previews for this week and, eureka! This issue opens with Manhunter again working with Oracle, specifically: kicking butt on the streets for information. That's all it takes for me to feel excited about a book.

What I've liked so much about BoP since the one-year-later jump is the larger number of characters who are involved in Oracle's operation. Of course, I always enjoyed the Babs and Dinah show as well as the addition of Huntress and later Zinda--and Gail Simone excelled at rounding out the cast with other heroes and villains and in-betweeners. But it was really exciting once Oracle sent out those invitations and the story didn't tell us exactly who we could expect until they showed up to join the party. For example, when Hawkgirl swooped in and smashed off the Secret Six's roof with her mace? I had to rock myself back and forth to eject some of the glee that was threatening to rip my body apart--and with it, the very fabric of reality. Shockingly enough, when I read that issue I didn't know Kendra from Kamandi. Such is the power of this title.

So I am really glad to see that Sean McKeever is picking up on that aspect of the post-Dinah Birds, since it makes the title more exciting and offers more opportunities for diversity in the cast. It's obvious, too, that McKeever's been doing his research on the heroines of the DCU. This month Onyx and Dr. Light, in February....the world! (Meanwhile, wouldn't it be fun if Gypsy joined Manhunter's supporting cast? I really enjoyed their partnership when Kate commandeered Oracle's operation for Mr. Bones. So, just as soon as Manhunter comes back...any day now...when new solicits are released...April? May? 2009? Bueller?)

Why I love silver age Green Lantern...

And Carol Ferris as well:



"Hello."

"Why, hello yourself, Miss Ferris."

"Hal, is that you? ...you're coughing, are you alright?"

"Ha, no, I'm fine. But I believe you have mistaken me for someone else."

"That deep timbre, it must be...Green Lantern?"

"At your ser--"

"*Click*"

(Soon to be a back-up story in Green Lantern #30 as Geoff Johns continues retelling Hal's early years.

Pencilled by Colleen Coover.

In my dreams.)

Brubaker's still got it.

Disillusioned with the fate of the Parker marriage and my girl Mary Jane Watson-Parker's place in future comics, I climbed into non-Spidey titles with hopes and fears. Was I to follow the path of good friends, in swearing to never deliver another penny to the sexist, unimaginative, tyrannical hands of our Marvel overlords? Or was there still someone out there taking into consideration my voice and opinions--acknowledging that, yes, I am heard and appreciated. Goshdarnit, even loved!?

It was with such a frame of mind that I read Captain America issue 33 and, lo, did these panels enter my line of sight:




Winter Soldier: Trained killer. One-armed. Chaotically inclined operative. Kind of (really) sexy.

Thank you, Ed Brubaker. Thank you for showcasing the opinions of this female reader in your comic. (And, Marvel, here's to you getting more of my money in 2008!)