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| Uh-huh . . . that's how to start a story, alright. |
Sunday afternoon + comics = Cocktail!
Poor old Hughie's given a stern talking to by Starlight, Mother's Milk gets some sort of good news and the Boys end up facing off against more idiotic superheroes. Jess Bradley gets a little closer to the Vought-American exec who's been running the Seven for quite some time and she may well end up learning how to take down the Homelander which, I'm guessing, is going to be important information fairly soon. She's also introduced to Team Titanic, a third or fourth string super group full of the most ridiculously named heroes ever; I can't help but smile at the Stanley and his Monster pastiche of Earl Mulch and Snaffletwat! It's all going to end nastily, I can see it, but it's still damn good.
Ollie meets his latest new villain, Blood Rose, and gets one heck of a shock at the end of the encounter. The transition from J.T. Krul to Giffen and Jurgens works seamlessly, in large part due to the art team of Jurgens and Pérez remaining on board so that's one thing in the title's favour. The other is Giffen's dialogue which, as usual, is economic where it needs to be and even the required exposition sounds believable. Blood Rose starts off as something of a bog-standard villain, but by the end of the battle between her and Arrow, it's clear that there's something different about her.
All in all, another good issue.
It must be somewhat daunting following Garth Ennis on any title, let alone one he created by Al Ewing picks up the threads left behind in issue #6 and starts weaving something new.
The main thread is the police investigation into the mass murder seen last issue which is in part being conducted by a corrupt cop called Fulsom. He's then bribed by the father of one of the Ninjettes that Jennifer killed back in #4, a man who is happy to have a cashier killed for shortchanging him eleven cents - clearly not a nice man. The only thing that didn't gel for me was the cliffhanger ending with Jennifer's son about to discover his mother's stash of guns.
Still, it's a decent enough issue.
The JLI's troubles continue as they discover who's controlling the four giant robots while Guy Gardner gets his butt kicked by the same bloke. The team were all captured last issue and are held captive long enough for bad guy Peraxxus to explain his nefarious scheme: he plans to destroy the Earth and plunder the remains for its mineral wealth. All life on the planet is simply collateral damage. While that may not sound like the best plot in the world, the interactions between the characters - not least both Ice and particularly Godiva having something proactive to do this issue - saves it from being somewhat run of the mill. Sort of harder to swallow Jurgens's rendition of Gardner who's still really annoyed at Booster but maybe that'll start to calm down once this first adventure's finished next issue.
If there's one thing guaranteed to help new members fit in with an established team, it's said new members saving the butts of the other guys and that's exactly what Midnighter and Apollo do here. Working together - and with a little touching moment thrown in which may be the start of their romance - they manage to free the other members of Stormwatch. The team, under the instructions of the Engineer who takes control as Adam One loses his focus, set about resurrecting a lost city and defeating the monster that attacked them. All this only to confront someone from the Stormwatch Shadow Cabinet who proclaims Adam One has to die for his failure to lead his team.
As with previous issues, there's a lot going on here but it's all good!
William Arcane, the avatar of the Rot, proves quite adept at killing while Abigail and Alec Holland try to catch up with him. The Parliament of Trees contact Alec through his dreams, warning him that he must take on the mantle of Swamp Thing if he is to stand any chance of defeating the Rot. Plus, the big surprise of the issue, they claim that Abby herself is "a minion of the Rot" and will ultimately betray Alec unless he kills her. Being the old softy he is, and having memories of Swamp Thing's time with her, he can't do that and instead they continue hunting William down.
Splendid issue.
And what made me smile:
A little bit of humour from the JLI crowd with Godiva's facial expressions being spot on!
I've not read Swampy yet, but expect it to be good. JLI was a good, traditional comic but blimey, Not Galactus really was Captain Exposition. He'd never have gotten away with that in the Bwaa Ha Ha days!
ReplyDeleteAh, expository dialogue - it's like the Silver Age never stopped!
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