Who'd Like A Cocktail? #229

Ladies and gentlemen: Hawkman summed up in four words.

And after my short break, it's back to business.

EARTH 2 ANNUAL #1 - the Atom is sent out on a mission by the World Army to find and capture a peddler of high tech weaponry known as Henri Roy and, after a fantastic giant sized chase, manages to get hold of him, with a little help from the mysterious new Batman. Roy was sold out by his son Henri Roy Jr who then joins the World Army. Elsewhere, the new Batman takes down Mr Icicle after getting information from him that will lead Bats to Hawkgirl, while in the wild and dinosaur infested Gotham City Mr Miracle and Barda come up against the new Fury.

This annual, basically a double sized issue of the main series, was superb. Lots of character and world building still going on with lovely hints dropped about possible future characters - a soldier named Terrill calls the Ray to mind; Henri Roy Jr is (as Rob S pointed out in the comments here) a Frankish version of Hank King Jr who became Brainwave; and we meet the new Captain Steel. The new Batman's a little enigma as he appears to kill Mr Icicle once he's got the information he needs and, honestly, that just seemed wrong for anyone in the bat suit. Other than that, this was great, though tinged with sadness at the news that Robinson has left the book before all his plans came to pass.

FURY MAX #12 - Fury and Barracuda face off with the result not being what you'd expect before Fury then gets to call out Pug McCuskey who tells him some hard to hear facts. Just before it all comes to a head in the final issue, Fury manages to pay a little visit to Barracuda and clear some things up.

Another excellent issue with Ennis showing there are no real heroes here and everyone has their own twisted motivations, but at least some are better than others.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #4 - Catwoman's infiltration of the Secret Society continues as Amanda Waller recruits a certain Dr Arthur Light to help track down their location. The rest of the team (unknowingly with Stargirl tagging along against orders) find the Society's HQ and are attached by the Shaggy Man while Catwoman's snooping earns her an interrogation by someone who, with his white face, bowler hat and purple suit, looks for all the world like a grimmer version of Jarvis Poker, the British Joker. And that interrogation doesn't end well for Catwoman at all.

On the whole this wasn't bad; the main story's rattling along nicely with none of the long, drawn out pacing that Johns has used recently in other titles. Catwoman's fate has caused a little controversy on the internet which, I'm sure, DC are happy about but I'll be interested in seeing how they resolve that. The art by Brett Booth was a nice change from David Finch's cramped style, though he still gets to draw the cover complete with Catwoman's top undone to her waist and her Howitzer shell-sized boobs implausibly pointing upwards. I'm really glad Doug Mahnke's joining this title.

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And what made me smile:

Dinosaurs in Gotham! Being hunted by Big Barda!