Things Could Have Been Different

If I'd seen this cover a couple of years ago:

I would have called this blog Dr Light's 3-Way Bulbs Of Death!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #34

Two comics! Two bloody comics this week! Hardly worth going in to see my local comic shop.

• Justice League of America #32 - Dr Light's well pissed off and Starbreaker's back in town.
• Trinity #47 - why would Red Arrow called Nightwing by an abbreviation that contains twice as many syllables?

And what made me chuckle this week (not that there was much choice):

Supergirl really needs to work on her rallying cry, doesn't she? "Smack 'em up!" is hardly "Titans together!" is it?

Friday Night Fights - Midnight Strikes

This is going to sting - nothing like a good back-hander to deal with a "lousy piece of garbage!"

That's Midnight, one of DC's lesser known heroes who bears more than a passing resemblance to The Spirit which may be why he hasn't made more than a single post-Crisis appearance (at least according to Wikipedia and we all know how reliable that can be!)

As usual, head over to Spacebooger , check out the other fights and leave a comment to vote for your favourite.

The sound of one hand slapping was first heard in Secret Origins #28 cover dated July 1988, written by Roy Thomas with art by the master, Gil Kane.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #33

Only a handful of titles this week:

• Green Arrow And Black Canary #19 - as one new villain leaves the stage, the next one enters.
• The Dark Tower: The Sorceror #1 - Walter and his sister sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I . . . wait, what? His sister? Eeewwwww. (Gorgeous artwork as ever, though.)
• Green Lantern Corps #35 - that's a really big Sinestro Corps Sentry!
• The Stand: American Nightmares #2 - ahh, Trashcan Man - good to see you again.
• Trinity #46 - Superman: "Mmmmm, cookies . . . . "
• Vigilante #5 - Wow, Jericho really is nuts, isn't he?

And what made me smile:

Black Canary - it'll be such a shame if the move to a co-feature slot in her own (shared) title robs us of moments like this.

Way To Spoil The Surprise, D.C.!

As I do most Saturdays, I picked up my comics this morning and when I got home, sat down and read them. As I mentioned before, I'm looking forward to the Blackest Night event so read Green Lantern Corps #35 first.

I was reading through, enjoying the story when - just before the half way mark - I noticed an advertisement for the range of action figures based on the Blackest Night which featured Blue Lantern Saint Walker, Red Lantern Atrocitus, Alpha Lantern Boodikka and (if you want to read who else, you'll need to highlight the following) Black Lantern Earth-2 Superman!

Is it just me? Am I alone in not knowing that this character was going to appear as a Black Lantern? I'd heard rumours but had seen nothing confirmed and yet there he is, large as undeath.

Just kinda ruined the surprise a little for me.

Worth Playing?

I'm not the biggest gamer by any stretch - I own a Wii and a 360 but apart from Grand Theft Auto IV and the Lego Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman games I don't really bother with anything else . . . and yes, I know GTA IV and Lego games may indicate some form of split personality but hey, I like them.

Anyway, to get back to the subject of this post, I've just watched the following trailer for the Batman: Arkham Asylum game and I'm intrigued.

I have to wonder, though, whether it's a beat 'em up, face a boss, defeat him then progress to the next level because if it is, it's a little less intriguing.

Any thoughts from the gamers out there?

Friday Night Fights - Dark Knight Fights

I admit, I bought it - all three issues of The Dark Knight Strikes Again sit on my shelf and have remained there since 2001 without being re-read once.

Was it naive to think Miller could pull it off, that a sequel to The Dark Knight Returns could be any where near as good as the original? Maybe it was, but that's a thought for another day because all this is simply by way of introduction to One Panel of Pain:

There, my friends, is the only thing worth reading in that mini-series: the goddam Batman whaling on the goddam Man of Steel with huge, goddam gloves of Kryptonite. That was the only thing worth $7.95 in that issue. That and the final page.

Still, enough of me bitching about it - head over to Spacebooger , check out the other fights and leave a comment to vote for your favourite.

This gloriously over the top battle between two former friends appeared in The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1 from 2001, written by Frank Miller with art by Miller and Lynn Varley.

I Don't Care

I don't care that you've got weird, zebra-striped boots:

I don't care that you've got matching wrist bands, a gun as well as a claw/skull thing happening on your chest:

I don't care that you've got a bad-ass eyepatch, either:

I don't care.  You don't scare me, Hunter of the Legion of Super-Villains, and you know why?

Because you wear your hair in bunches, you big girl!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #32

Thanks to Blogger's scheduling feature I can post this while I'm not actually here!

• Booster Gold #19 - no, Goldstar, don't go to the dark side!
• Green Lantern #39 - she's got a big scar and is pissed off: how can anyone not see she's the bad guy here?
• Punisher #69 - not to ignore the story (which I'm really enjoying) but is that a cool cover or what?
• Secret Six #8 - ha! Streaky Dry Cat Food!
• Titans #12 - I'm just here for the cross-over, guys, don't mind me.
• Trinity #45 - Enigma goes all Episode III Darth Vader on us.

And what made me laugh this week:

Who needs Grant Morrison and his epoch making uber stories? The next big DCU event should be written by Gail Simone, damn it!

Friday Night Fights - Why Use A Fist . . .

. . . when you can use a sword?

Man, he took his arm off!  You know that's gonna hurt which is just as well, because that's what Spacebooger demands - One Panel of Pain!

Head over to Spacebooger, check out the other fights andthen leave a comment to vote for your favourite.

This halo-holding, demon de-arming first appeared in Dawn #4 from 1996, written and illustrated by Joseph Michael Linsner.

Blackest Night

You know, I think I'm more excited about this than I was about Final Crisis.

And while the temptation to annotate it is there, it's not going to happen.

How Creepy Is Simon Stagg?

Some of you may be wondering who Simon Stagg is - he's the closest Metamorpho came to a recurring villain/archenemy character.  Stagg is the father of Metamorpho's wife Sapphire and in the second issue of Metamorpho from 1993, he displays his true colours:

That is wrong on so many levels - she's his daughter but he wants to "hold" and "touch" her . . .

How creepy is Simon Stagg? Very.

Who'd LIke A Cocktail? #31

No preamble this week, just straight into the comics. Oh, wait - this is a preamble. Damn it!

• The Boys #29 - "Let's give them a f****n' spankin'." Oh yes.
• Justice Society Of America #25 - why is Green Lantern giving the big address at the end? Am I the only person who remembers that Power Girl's the chairman of the JSA? I feel like Psycho Pirate at the end of Crisis On Infinite Earths!
• Masquerade #2 - I really like this series - it's making me think, damn it!
• Seaguy: Slaves Of Mickey Eye #1 - Da fug?!
• Strange Adventures #2 - "Lady Styx will then stand supreme!" Talking hair piece of evil!
• Teen Titans #69 - Man, how many off-colour remarks can the Face make in a single issue?
• Teen Titans Annual #1 - Deathtrap cross-over? Ah crap, this means I've got to buy Titans. Is Winick still writing that?
• Trinity #44 - Ha! Kanjar-Ro's going to tape everything and sell it on the internet!
  

And what made me chuckle this week:

You gotta love that Tyrone.

Friday Night Fights - Payback Is A Bitch

Spacebooger continues to demand One Panel of Pain so that's what you're getting.

I admit last week's somewhat weak panel was simply so that I could use this one:

That's Jason Todd getting his revenge on the Joker some twenty years later, smacking him around with a crowbar.

Remember to head over to Spacebooger and vote for your favourite fight over the weekend.

This slap in the face with an iron bar appears in Batman: Under The Hood Vol 1 trade paperback, written by Judd Winick with art by Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen.

Free Comics: The Sandman - Brief Lives

Here we go, folks - time to get yourselves some absolutely free comics straight from my shelves to you.

If this pans out, I may do this on a semi regular basis but this is a first go so we'll see what happens.  Here's how it works:

I'm offering you issues 41 to 49 of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, the Brief Lives storyline where Dream and Delirium head off to find their long lost brother.

What do you have to do to get your hands on them? Simply leave a comment on this blog post AND send me an e-mail.

That's it; there's no catch (well, see below) and you don't have to come up with some witty remark or break a code or anything like that. Leave a comment simply stating something simple - your name/nickname/favourite colour/pet's name/favourite book or whatever then send me an e-mail at jigsawmen [at] googlemail [dot] com with the same info you put in your comment and you're in the running.

Each of the comments have a number. As long as the minimum number (see below) of comments are left, I'll use a random number generator to select one of the posts - the winner gets the comics, simple as that. All you have to pay for is postage from the UK.

Okay, I hinted there might be a catch. For each batch of (hopefully) desirable comics I offer, I'm going to include a mystery booby prize: another batch of comics that, perhaps, you won't want; the price of posting these won't be included in the postage for the main prize so you won't end up paying for something you don't want! I promise they'll be nothing risque or the sort of thing you wouldn't show your grandmother, but they won't be of the highest caliber either!

Free Comics Rules:

1. One Comment Per Person - if the same person posts more than one comment, they're instantly disqualified. I don't have sophisticated software to track I.P. addresses so you could feasibly create half a dozen accounts and post under each one but come on, let's just play fair and have a bit of fun, eh?
   
2. You MUST e-Mail Me - Post a comment AND send me an e-mail with the subject line of "Free Comics" and the body of the mail MUST be the same as your comment. I can't identify I.P. addresses which is why I need your e-mail; if I announced comment number 1 from Joe Bloggs had won, there would be nothing to stop a dozen people getting in touch claiming to be Joe Bloggs. I promise that no e-mail addresses will be given to anyone else and will solely be used to contact the winner; like I said, this is just a bit of fun.
   
3. Minimum Number of Comments - if, at the end of the competition, there are less than 10 comments, the competition will be declared null and void and I will hold on to the comics. As long as there are 10 or more, you're in with a chance of winning.
4. Payment is by PayPal Only - I'll send you details of postage costs once the competition is over; I'm based in the UK so will be using the prices you can find in this link.
   
5. Duration of the Competition - this is posted on 1st April 2009; comments posted up to midnight GMT on the 14th April 2009 will be included in the draw; anything posted after that will not be included.
6. Winner Announced - the winner will be announced on this blog on Sunday 19th April and I will e-mail them asking for a postage address; they will have 48 hours to reply with the address. If I receive nothing within that time, I will draw a second comment number and contact them.
   

I apologise for the slightly complex nature of the posting/mailing side of things but I need to be able to identify commenters with e-mails.

In summary - leave a comment on this post then mail me so I can link comments with e-mail and remember: no multiple comments; Mr. Terrific is watching you: