Who'd Like A Cocktail? #253

Judging by the construction of his sentence, I'd say it's fairly obvious he's not using it

EARTH 2 #18 - evil Superman continues to trash Earth-2 under the orders of Darkseid while new and improved Batman releases unexpected bad guys from the World Army's holding facility in order to use them to save the world.

As I mentioned last issue, I was concerned the quality of this title would dip after James Robinson left but, I have to say, this is still a damn fine read. The new Batman's an enigma as he appears to be invulnerable and have super strength; he's obviously a meta human and one who knew Batman... my first thought (though I admit it's unlikely) is that he's the Earth-2 Martian Manhunter, but that's just based on the strength and invulnerability. Intriguing, though.

GREEN LANTERN #26 - Hal continues to throw his and the Corps' weight around with self-appointed justification, using Mogo to cause an earthquake in order to force a surrender of Nol-Anj's people. Unknown to him, the Durlans are still hanging around, plotting something.

It's well written but Hal is acting more and more like the old Guardians - deciding what's right and justifying the means by the ends. He's even aware of what he's doing but keeps going. It's not going to end well for him, I think.

THE MOVEMENT #7 - the Graveyard Faction move against the headquarters of the Movement while their heavy hitters (such as they are) are out protecting one of their injured members. On top of that, rogue police officers are planning to attack the Movement as well. All of which leads to Burden cutting loose and revealing his demonic self.

Not bad; this title seems to be picking up with this issue.

THE PHANTOM STRANGER #14 - the Stranger's not best pleased to be forcibly brought into John Constantine's plans to save the world from Blight that's possessed the body of the boy the Stranger saved from Heaven and is going to do evil deeds while the Earth's under the sway of the Crime Syndicate.

It's not bad but the Blight crossover's not one I'm really going to be following so the next few issues might be a little confusing for me.

THE STAR WARS #4 - Annikin and Luke manage to save the royal twins from the stormtroopers while Prince Valorum and Darth Vader plan their attack.

It;s another round of lushly illustrated fun trying to spot the differences and similarities to the story we all know.

STORMWATCH #26 - AI takes the team on a tour of worlds experimented upon by the Kollective who remove all forms of technology from the planets in an attempt to push their peoples into an evolutionary step that mirrors their own. Instead, each of the thousands of worlds ends in death and despair and now they're trying to do the same to ours.

Meh. Starlin continues in his corner of the DCU that appears to pay no attention to anything else.

SWAMP THING #26 - Seeder, the new avatar of the Green, tries to make an impression on the Parliament of Trees by attempting to kill Animal Man, thinking he's the avatar of the Red. Having his arse kicked, Seeder instead destroys a logging / industrial complex. All the while, Alec shows the origins of Seeder, how Jason Woodrue's curiosity was twisted into desire for power.

Splendidly done - the art and the writing are top notch here.

VELVET #2 - Velvet's on the run from her own organisation as she attempts to find out who killed X-14 and who framed her.

It's good spy thriller stuff in the same mold as James Bond . . . but it's not gripping me as quickly as Fatale did. Still, I'll definitely give it a few issues to see where it goes.

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And what made me smile:

That's right - Han Solo looks like a cross between a troll and Swamp Thing in this Star Wars.