Who'd Like A Cocktail? #100

The Ultra-Humanite displays his "legendary impatience"

Blimey! 100 Cocktail posts and the vast majority of them completed and published every Sunday at 1pm. Okay, enough patting myself on the back - time for comics!

• CROSSED: FAMILY VALUES #4 - as I mentioned last time, Javier Barreno's art here has just become a little too cartoony to take seriously which is a shame when you're dealing with a subject matter of this sort. The violence loses its shock when the characters are edging towards human versions of Wile E. Coyote. So people get shot to bits, so characters get run over, so what? It doesn't matter that much when they look like cartoons. A shame as the story's okay but the art let's it down; I'm not saying it's bad, just not the right style.
• GREEN ARROW #4 - so Martian Manhunter visits briefly, just like he did in Brightest Day #9 - actually the first few pages of this issue are basically a retread of that issue's visit which explains my sense of deja vu! Aside from that, there seems to be a new bad girl in Ollie's city who's threatening his new friend Mary. Certainly not terrible, but this series seems to be treading water a little.
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #43 - this, an epilogue to the recent cross-over between Justice Society and Justice League, was easily the best issue of the lot. Robinson crafted a discussion between Green Lantern Alan Scott and Obsidian that was heartfelt and genuine without being melodramatic or saccharine. Of course, establishing a rule that Obsidian and his sister Jade can't come within half a mile of each other runs the risk of another writer or artist simply putting them in the same place together at some point down the line. And once that happens, the internet will scream its indignation! Seriously, though, this was a really nice issue.
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA SPECIAL #1 - this, on the other hand, was a little bit messy, wrapping up as it did the storyline from the recently cancelled Magog series. A little sprawling, perhaps due to a four or six issue arc being crammed into one issue, it still ends on something of a cliff hanger which, in all likelihood, won't get picked up ever again. Ah well.
• TEEN TITANS #87 - for the first time in months, an issue of Teen Titans that I really, really enjoyed. Not that I read it, simply that it's the last issue with Henderson writing. I skipped over pretty much the whole thing and can't wait for JT Krul to take over next issue. Anything has to better than the last year or so.
• Co feature - COVEN OF THREE - nicely wrapped up even if the three protagonists are shown to be in a worse emotional state than when they started.
• TIME MASTERS: VANISHING POINT #3 - while I prefer the dorsal-finned, bulked up, UN flag wearing version of Despero to the lateral-finned version here, it's nice to see the guy back in business. Not to mention the Linear Men - I'd been wondering where they were for some time. You can count on Dan Jurgens for some straightforward storytelling (and trust me, that's not a complaint) along with some lovely art and this series continues to supply both.

And what made me smile:

Rock in the face!