Who'd Like A Cocktail? #197

Alien infiltration will start in the strip clubs, people.

A Letter To Santa

Dear Santa

Just a quick note to say that - as far as I can tell - I've been pretty good this year so if you were to find your way to sending me an X-box 360 copy of this for Christmas . . .

I'd be really, really happy.

And then none of this unpleasantness . . .

would need to happen.

Thanks very much, Santa!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #196

Always trust your scarab, that's what I say.

Who Was Who Is Who #39

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Rubberduck's chance.

RUBBERDUCK - another of Captain Carrot's crew, and another we won't be seeing in the new DCU.

RYAND'R - Starfire's brother and member of the Omega Men, I'm going to guess we won't be seeing him any time soon.

SABBAC - one of Captain Marvel Jr's enemies, the chances of this guy getting an appearance in the brave new world has got to be really low.

THE SANDMAN - there are two versions in Who's Who: Wesley Dodds, the original Earth-2 Sandman and Garret Sanford. I suppose it's possible that Dodds might reappear in Earth-2 but with the Sandman name being so wrapped up with Neil Gaiman's series I sort of doubt it.

Firestorm #15

From the solicitation:

Firestorm vs. Captain Atom!
Two of the most powerful heroes in the universe go head to head, and things are going to EXPLODE!
Don’t miss this issue’s shocking conclusion as the first hints of a disturbing new force in the DCU are seen!

Firestorm and Cap just had to end up going against each other, didn't they?! And the hints of a "disturbing new force"? Is that tied in with Orion and the New Gods getting a mention in Wonder Woman?

Who Was Who Is Who #38

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Roving Ranger's chance.

THE RED TORNADO AND THE CYCLONE KIDS - while Ma Hunkle had something of a revival as the housekeeper for the reformed Justice Society, I can't see her making an appearance in the new Earth-2 series.

RED TORNADO - he's an android! He's blown apart! He's the Tornado Champion! He's blown apart! He's the Tornado Tyrant! He's blown apart! He's a wind elemental! He's blown apart! He glimpses the multiverse! He's blown apart! Blimey, poor old Tornado's had it rough over the years. Don't think we've seen him yet (I'm writing this at the start of April) though hints about his creator T.O. Morrow were dropped in Justice League early on so while he may show at some point, I don't think it'll be before the end of 2012.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #195

Ruler of Hell, not to mention Purgatory. See? Rhyming's easy.

New Human Bomb Mini-Series Coming

Following their work on The Ray, Phantom Lady and Doll Man, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are bringing another of the former Freedom Fighters back to the DCU as revealed over at CBR. From the interview:

"It's the opportunity to say let's take this character, let's take the core of who this character is and make subtle changes or big changes or try to find ways to streamline it for a mainstream audience and still make it fun and still have the charm of those characters."

That there, from Justin Gray, pretty much sums up why I like the writing of these guys - their stories are fun on the whole.

With these four characters brought back into the DCU, can we be looking at a new Freedom Fighters book soon? If it's by this pair, I hope so.

Talk To The Badge

As well as providing some choice dialogue, last week's Phantom Stranger #0 also made me scratch my head with another moment where script and art in a Dan DiDio written comic didn't really mesh. Snell over at Slay, Monstrobot... beat to the punch last time but it seems to have happened again.

When introduced to the new Jim Corrigan before he becomes the Spectre, he's railing against Captain Hopkins in the latter's office:

Dan DiDio's Diabolical Dialogue

I really wanted to enjoy last week's Phantom Stranger #0 a lot more than I did - I like the character but this new iteration has stripped the mystery of his identity away and has given him a finite number of tasks to complete. Saying that, though, it's taken him two thousand years to do the first one (the creation of the Spectre) so we should be okay for the next few years.

But the main reason I didn't enjoy it was mostly the clunky, leaden dialogue:

Really? "An uncontrollable rage"? Even "I've been angry all my life" would be better; it sounds more natural, at least to my ears. And later, once the Spectre has been created, we're treated to this:

Right . . . Spectre . . . Wrath . . . I see what you did there, Dan . . . real subtle.

I can forgive one use of the "I am . . . just a stranger" line as a sort of nod back to the old days when the guy used to say it on an almost weekly basis, but to squeeze a second one in at the end of the issue seemed to just underline how old fashioned it sounds.

I'll be sticking with this series for a while but I've a feeling I may be using this post title again.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #194

Uh-huh, that sounds believable.

Who Was Who Is Who #37

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Reactron's chance.

PUZZLER - umm . . . who, now? Apparently an old Superman villain, "obsessed with games, tricks and puzzles" who was intent on outwitting Supes. Yeah, don't think we'll be seeing him.

QUAKEMASTER - pretty sure this is one Batman villain that we won't be seeing again.

QUEEN BEE - there's been a couple of versions of the Queen Bee: the original alien seductress and her modern-day JLA version along with the Queen of Bialya who caused trouble for the Justice League way back when it was funny. Will we see either in the New 52? I don't think so.

He IS The Law!

Cocktail post will be delayed this week as I went to see the new Dredd movie and damn me it's good!

Karl Urban completely nails Dredd as a character, Olivia Thirlby is impressive as Anderson, Mega-City One and the environment work a treat. It's loud, violent, bloody and grim - exactly what Judge Dredd is all about.

Go see it if you haven't already.

More League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Sort Of)

A standalone issue coming in February next year - check out the Gosh Comics site for more info.

Happy, happy day!

Perusing Previews - September 2012

While I won't be picking up the IDW Judge Dredd series, I'm interested as to how the US will take to this quintessentially British take on future American law keeping.

Who Was Who Is Who #36

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Pulsar Stargrave's chance.

THE PREDATOR - in the recent Green Lantern books, the Predator was revealed to be the entity behind the Star Sapphire's power rather than Carol Ferris's dark side. So while the black and silver garbed villain is no more, the Predator is still around but hasn't appeared post-Flashpoint. I'll put it in the possible column, though, as most of the GL continuity is unchanged.

PRIMUS - one of the Omega Men so I don't think we'll be seeing them any time soon.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #193

Ummm, because he's a bloke?

Still Missing, Still Missed

With all the hoo-hah over Superman and Wonder Woman kissing in Justice League #12 this week, DC revealed a top ten list of their favourite super-couples:

There's some obvious ones there - Batman and Catwoman - and some that give me hope for characters we've yet to see in the New 52, specifically Mr Miracle and Big Barda.

But as soon as I read that, one couple instantly sprang to mind and it's a shame not to see them on the list:

You can keep Lois and Clark - Ralph and Sue Dibny were the best couple in the DCU and it'd be nice to have them back.