Who'd Like A Cocktail? #238

That old excuse, eh, Madame Xanadu?

DEMON KNIGHTS #23 - Vandal Savage directs the giants to Al Jabr's city where they launch an attack to retrieve the Grail. The Demon Knights defend the town while Jabr comes up with a plan to save them, using the Black Diamond to trigger the giants' hatred and avarice so that they end up killing each other rather than attacking the city. Both Grail and Diamond are left in Jabr's care as the Knights head off to find Merlin.

Whether they find him or not will likely never be addressed as this is the end of the series. It's splendidly done, as well, tying up most everything before the end before finishing, as mentioned above, with another quest in hand rather than just standing round saying "That went well."

I shall miss this series as it's never been anything other than splendid.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #23 - despite the tag line on the cover, John Stewart is actually able to save the rookie Lanterns in his care and get them back to Oa in order to find out what's going wrong with their rings. Fatality is wounded by the Durlans but manages to escape and ends up in Oa's hospital where, it seems, Soranik Natu is the only doctor to work there. Salaak's going paranoid and the various entities are heading off to die.

Not bad although I'm concerned Fatality is going to become John's Deja Thoris (from the original books, not the film or comics) - little more than a damsel in distress - and I can't help a lack of interest in the entities and their fate.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7 - Pandora goes to visit Lex Luthor while the League track down Dr Psycho and question him about any influence he may have had on Superman. The other League get Batman and co returned to them after their sojourn in Heaven in Phantom Stranger #11 and back with the first bunch, Atom spills the beans about Waller's plans to replace the JL with the JLoA. And then Wonder Woman and her League show up to stop Pandora giving the box to Luthor which ends with Wondy being possessed by the box.

On the whole not bad at all, mainly due to Doug Mahnke's excellent art; he really is way above David Finch. His Wonder Woman, particularly on the splash page for her entrance, looks the best he's ever drawn her (I always thought she was too skinny in the JLA issues he drew) and the rest of the issue's great. Martian Manhunter has one terrible moment where he threatens to tear Dr Psycho's mind apart but that's balanced a little later on with his declaration that "Everything I do, I do in the interest of this planet and its people." That's the J'onn I want to read about, not the one ripping out someone's mind.

THRESHOLD #8 - Jediah Caul is brought before the Glimmernet's head honcho only to find it's T'om T'morra. Elsewhere, Stealth and the other Hunted are rounded up as news that the show has been cancelled brings everything to a halt. Blue Beetle's sent home and T'morra offer's Caul the starring role in a new show but things aren't what they seem and it all ends badly for him.

Keith Giffen, more than aware that the series was coming to an end, has crafted an excellent issue with overtones of meta-commentary about comics in general dotted throughout, fourth wall breaking and a complete disregard for the rules. While the series was perhaps never destined for great things it's a shame it didn't last a little longer but it'll probably end up being collected and, if it does, I'd recommend you track it down.

WORLDS' FINEST #15 - Power Girl tracks Huntress through the boom tube that Desaad's Parademons took her through at the end of last issue and kicks their behinds before finding her friend and her torturer. During the confrontation, Desaad somehow manages to screw up PG's powers before he tosses them back to Earth, promising to return for them when they're ripe.

Levitz's writing, I'm sad to say, is clunkier than ever in this issue. It's little more than two fights and a "A-ha! I have you in my power! But I won't kill you yet!" moment that's more than a little disappointing. Emanuela Lupacchino's art, however, is absolutely gorgeous and carries this issue wonderfully; Power Girl's seldom looked better, the pacing's great and even Desaad looks good. You know, for a bad guy.

A quick look at DC's site, however, shows that she's doing covers for the next couple of issues rather than interiors. Shame.

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And what made me smile:

Hey don't look at me - I bought every issue of the damn thing!