Who'd Like A Cocktail? #117

Just how does Batman prepare for every eventuality?

It's Sunday so grab your cocktail of choice and let's look at comics.

• THE DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER: THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA #3 - that's it, I'm done with this whole thing. I really enjoyed the first few series but lately the Dark Tower mini-series have just been floundering - at this rate, Roland should get to the Tower in about fifty years and I'm not waiting that long. So, farewell, gunslinger.
• DC UNIVERSE: LEGACIES #9 - ah, Final Night. Anyone remember that crossover? It didn't have the cosmic scale of those that came before but I remember enjoying it, I have to admit. This issue of Legacies focuses primarily on that followed by the Day of Judgement crossover which, if memory serves right, was my first introduction to the writing of Geoff Johns - and I wasn't impressed! Legacies here runs through Hal Jordan's redemption and return as both Parallax and the Spectre, changing the latter into the Spirit of Redemption. A nice experiment but it didn't work. Legacies, though, continues to entertain.
• GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #7 - whereas this title . . . I don't know, it's just really not gelling for me. The bad guy just doesn't hold any interest so the entire conflict is just a bit flat. A shame as I've mostly enjoyed Tomasi's work in the past.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #19 - okay, so we finally get to the issue that worried me when it was solicited. Max Lord tortures Blue Beetle while the rest of the JLI rush to save him but they arrive a little to late and watch Max shoot Beetle in the head. Our only hope now, of course, is that the armour protects Beetle - I mean, DC can't be killing off a popular character who may well have a live action series coming up. Can they?
• KNIGHT & SQUIRE #5 - one of the problems with picking up my comics on a Friday or Saturday is that in the run-up to that I'm having to dodge blog and news reports about the books I haven't yet read. So it was this week when I found out that a character would be dying in this issue; one glance at the cover led me to the obvious, so it was with a sense of resignation that I read it. The obvious wasn't the way to go here, though, and an excellent issue delivered a surprise ending and guest star that I hadn't seen coming. While there hasn't been much of a continuing plot through this mini-series, this and the next (final) issue form a two-parter that looks to be an excellent finish to a damn fine series.
• PUNISHER MAX #10 - finally! After a bout of illness, Steve Dillon returns to this title, picking up on Bullseye's story just in time for him to realise what made Frank Castle into the Punisher. There's a nice juxtaposition of some established elements of the Punisher's history here: it's been said Vietnam turned Frank into the Punisher, but that it was also the death of his family that did it. Bullseye wonders why Frank didn't spot the Central Park assassins when he had been so good at spotting ambushes in Vietnam. The implication seems to be that Castle allowed his family to be killed and is using their deaths as an excuse to allow himself to be the Punisher. A damn good read.

And what made me smile:

A wonderfully British way of dealing with super-villains!