Who'd Like A Cocktail? #198

You hear that, Justice League?

Almost didn't make this due to illness but thought I might as well.

THE BOYS #71 - man, this was a tough one to read. The final showdown, of sorts, between Wee Hughie and Butcher following their fall from the top of the Empire State Building which left both of them in a heck of a state. It's hard read but plays out in a way that's true to the characters with an ending which, while not entirely surprising, is fitting nonetheless. Oh, and when writing about the last issue I said "I'm convinced Stillwell is going to throw Jess Bradley to the dogs" - sadly for her, I was right.

EARTH 2 #5 - as Grundy's attack on the earth continues, the heroes finally start working together in the hopes of defeating him, unknowing that it may be too late thanks to the intervention of someone from the past. There's the almost traditional battle between newly-met heroes before Alan Scott manages to pull them into some sort of group, having them fight Grundy while he takes on The Grey. Trouble is, Mr 8, Terry Sloan, has convinced the world council that a nuclear attack on Grundy is the only option.

A good issue with a nice couple of hints - Red Tornado and Captain Steel - of other heroes to come, as well as briefly seeing a new Sandman.

FATALE #8 - in the present, Nick Lash's life takes a turn for the worse yet again while back in the 70's Josephine's influence over Miles continues to increase. His old friend Suzy, though, seems to discover Josephine's secret before being picked up by the cult she's been trying to get away from, a cult that's now looking for Jo.

Splendid stuff; you really should be reading this.

GREEN LANTERN #13 - Earth's newest GL, Simon Baz, is on the run with the American government thinking he's a terrorist; they do what they think is sensible and call in the Justice League to bring him to heel.

Looks like Barack Obama is President in the DC New 52 and we at least get an explanation of why Baz is wearing a mask - though if he's hiding his face to prevent identification, why not hide the distinguishing tattoo on his arm as well? His ring channels Jordan's and Sinestro's last words/instructions which boil down to not trusting the Guardians while the Third Army continues to rise.

Not bad, not brilliant.

STORMWATCH #13 - Midnighter and Apollo head out for a quiet night on the town in an area beset by violence and criminality while the others examine the big horn found way back when at the start of the series. Meanwhile, the Eminence of Blades continues to plot behind the scenes. The cause of the violence Midnighter and Apollo are investigating turns out to be the psychic influence of Etrigan who's been buried beneath the ground for centuries before now being released and, apparently, killing Midnighter.

Not bad at all.

SWAMP THING #13 - Swamp Thing emerges from the Rot to find Poison Ivy and Deadman allied against him, blaming him for the destruction of the world which happened a year before when he entered the Rot. It takes Swampy some time to realise he's been gone for a year and he has yet to be told that Abby didn't survive, before the Rot sends the zombiefied members of the Teen Titans against them.

This whole Rotworld thing seems to have been dragging on for years now but the book's written well enough that it's bearable.

WORLDS' FINEST #5 - while conducting tests to determine the effect of the Irradiated Man's powers upon them, Power Girl and Huntress tell tales of how they've spent some time off. In PG's case it's fighting a possibly Apokoliptian robot sent to destroy the Large Hadron Collider at CERN while Huntress attends a Take Back the Night march, taking down a crazed gunman.

It's a nice change of pace issue, still managing to be mostly light hearted while still containing an important point.

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And what made me smile:

Excuse the profanity, but "nob-end" is such a wonderfully British term, I just couldn't resist!