Who'd Like A Cocktail? #135

Police protection? Never heard of it.

Sunday afternoon run through this week's comics:

• BRIGHTEST DAY AFTERMATH: THE SEARCH FOR SWAMP THING #1 - after all the hype about John Constantine's return to the DCU we're left facing the reality and, frankly, it's not very good. Leaving aside the atrocious dialogue for a moment, we're faced with a Constantine who can apparently break into the Batcave and take out Alfred, not to mention sneaking into the Batmobile (sorry, "the vehicle") but who still needs Batman to help him find Swamp Thing. His relationship with Zatanna seems a bit at odds with what I thought was the status quo there but then I'm still thinking of Gaiman's Books of Magic where they may have had a relationship at some point but they were still friends; who knows what happened in the meantime. The last couple of pages seem to contradict the ending of Brightest Day as well where Swamp Thing and Alec Holland were merged together but here we seem to have them separated. Still, only a couple of issues to go.
• FLASPOINT: KID FLASH LOST #1 - appropriately for a Flash title, this seemed over all too quick. Kid Flash somehow finds himself in the Flashpoint world but still remembering the DCU. A captive of Brainiac he's rescued by Hot Pursuit and realises things have changed and that he has to reconnect with the Speed Force. And that's it, really. Not terrible, but nothing much to it, either.
• FLASHPOINT: LOIS LANE AND THE RESISTANCE #1 - this, on the other hand, is quite enjoyable. Lois Lane proves herself in the espionage stakes, working for Cyborg behind the lines in the Amazonian heartland before attempting to escape and facing off against Artemis. It's fun and the art work's nice and clean although Artemis on the last page appears to be having a touch of the Mike Deodato's. Only one quibble: "London City Airport"? Not Heathrow, then?
• FLASHPOINT: THE OUTSIDER #1 - now how comes this James Robinson is much more enjoyable than the other James Robinson writing Justice League of America? They can't be the same people, surely?! Despite the body count, this is good fun with the character of The Outsider an interesting one.
• FLASHPOINT: REVERSE FLASH #1 - this seems a little superfluous. Reverse Flash has tried to kill the Flash in the past but can't because it means he'll never become the Reverse Flash. So he tries killing Flash's loved ones . . . all of which we knew anyway.
• GREEN ARROW #13 - look at this - a non-JT Krul written issue that actually works. Coincidence? Arrow's hired to escort a prisoner by a Marshal who agrees with his having killed Prometheus. Things don't go smoothly however for anyone concerned and Arrow ends up doing the right thing from a moral standpoint but with potentially horrible consequences. This is the first issue I've enjoyed of this series for quite some time; shame writer James Patrick is only doing a couple of fill-ins.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #58 - as fun as Flashpoint: The Outsider was, here Robinson continues the constant fight / talk / fight / talk formula that seems to run through his tenure on this title. No surprises that one of his favourite characters, The Shade, is the key to defeating Eclipso's army but poor form at the end allowing Donna Troy to get stabbed again. Is that why she won't be in the DCU following the relaunch? Hey ho, it'll all be over soon.
• ZATANNA #14 - Adam Beechen can happily take over Zatanna if anyone wants my opinion. Blending seemlessly with Paul Dini's run, this is fun, magical superheroics and easily my favourite issue this week. That this title is dying with the relaunch is another sad fact and as I type this, I wonder how many times I'll be saying comics are fun post-September?

And what made me smile:

Naturally!