Who'd Like A Cocktail? #132

Butcher illustrates one of the reasons why The Boys is a mature readers title

It's Sunday afternoon and in my world that means a look at this week's comics:

• THE BOYS #55 - Mallory's tale of his time with the Boys comes to an end, revealing his take on Butcher to Hughie, highlighting just how bad he thinks the man is. Thankfully it spurs Hughie into spilling the truth to Starlight at last while Mallory's left to confront the monster he created. Another fantastic issue.
• FLASHPOINT #2 - we get a look at the Atlantean/Amazonian conflict with both this world's Aquaman and Wonder Woman showing up while Barry Allen gets Batman to help him try and recreate the explosion that gave him his Flash powers . . . by strapping him into an electric chair and dousing him with chemicals. For a police scientist, that's hardly the most scientific approach! There's no control over how much of what chemical is going over him, nor how much electricity is being delivered via the chair. No wonder that last page shows it doesn't pan out as he'd have liked.
• FLASHPOINT: ABIN-SUR - THE GREEN LANTERN #1 - So Abin Sur is dedicated to preserving life in all its forms but won't fight with Sinestro against the Black Lanterns? Sent to Earth by the Guardians he's told to let Earth die but declares "No life is insignificant!" He won't go against the Guardians to fight alongside his friend against Nekron and his legions but he will ignore them to save all life on Earth? This books looks lovely but the writing's a mess.
• FLASHPOINT: BATMAN - KNIGHT OF VENGEANCE #1 - another lovely looking Flashpoint book but this one seems to be a little stilted in the writing, particularly in the forced relationship between Wayne and Gordon. Batman goes on the hunt to find Harvey Dent's two children, kidnapped by the Joker and comes across Killer Croc who's still wearing the bandages on his arms from the early 90's. In this world, Batman isn't afraid to kill and it's the end of the road for Croc. Not a bad issue, but not brilliant.
• FLASHPOINT: SECRET SEVEN #1 - thank goodness for George Perez art. This is the title I was least looking forward to in the Flashpoint event as I'm not a fan of Peter Milligan's writing and he does nothing here to change that opinion. Still, it's only three issues, right?
• FLASHPOINT: THE WORLD OF FLASHPOINT #1 - it appears Flash isn't the only one with vague memories of the world before it was altered; Traci 13 remembers dating Blue Beetle and teaming up with Black Alice and Zatara so there's hope for her. In the best of the Flashpoint minis this week, she goes up against her father's cadre of world leaders who have decided to use a satellite weapons system against the Amazonians and Atlantis, wiping out an estimated 118,000,000 people. Failing to stop her father activating it, she now how a little under 13 hours to stop it.
• SECRET SIX # 34 - Scandal and the Six rescue Liana from her captor prompting Scandal to set things straight amongst the team. She knows they actually like each other (you know, despite the times they've tried to kill each other) and that they are co-dependent. After she welcomes Ragdoll back to the fold, Bane ends up going on his first date which ends . . . well, see below. Having the team walk around happy, though, can surely only mean that things are going to go pear shaped very soon. If this title isn't around with Gail Simone writing post-Flashpoint, the DCU's going to be a little less fun. Probably a little less dysfunctional and violent as well, but let's concentrate on the fun.

And what made me smile:

Bane the romantic!