Who'd Like A Cocktail? #123

Power Girl asks what we've all been thinking for some time . . .

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #99

That's a president I'd vote for!

As I was away last weekend, you lucky people get a double sized edition of Who'd Like A Cocktail, the posts where I just babble away in bullet points about my comic books.

• BRIGHTEST DAY #10 - Firestorm gets some really bad news - he's the next Big Bang just waiting to happen. I wonder if Damage will be jealous when he hears about that. The new Aqualad makes his appearance culminating in a very tense stand-off between Aquaman and Black Manta that really makes me think Geoff Johns could carry off an Aquaman solo-series. All told, another good issue.
• DC UNIVERSE: LEGACIES #5 - they missed a great trick here, not having the original Crisis tie-in banner running across the cover! Of course, this being a post-Crisis depiction of Crisis on Infinite Earths, it isn't really a tie-in, but I'm nit-picking. Len Wein continues his stroll through the various ages of DC's history, stopping off at the big Crisis. This issue really is splendid, managing to focus on a normal family who observe some of the biggest DC events; sure it's been done before (Marvels is the obvious comparison) but that doesn't stop this being good. And hey, they got George Perez to do this issue as well!
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #52 - the Alpha Lantern storyline comes to an end as Cyborg Superman is defeated once more (I'd like to say permanently this time, but we know that's not going to happen) and the Alpha's have their emotions restored.
• THE DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER: THE JOURNEY BEGINS #5 - And so the journey that began a couple of years ago has come to the end of the bit where the journey begins. Or something.
• GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #2 - Guy Gardner starts his top-secret mission and, no surprise, his friends Arisia and Kilowog tag along for the ride. There's not a great deal that happens this issue, to be honest, as it seems to be setting things up, introducing Zardor of Kralok and his mental powers, along with bringing Red Lantern Bleez back into things.
• THE BOYS: HIGHLAND LADDIE #2 - I love it when I'm right! Back in Cocktail #95, I wrote: "May I predict a hugely oversized adversary for Hughie, employed by the drug smugglers, who will also be quite humourous either in name and/or appearance?" and in this issue we meet the gigantic Wee Sarah. Still, Ennis's predictability doesn't prevent this being another top issue.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #10 -Warning! The cover of this issue is not reflected in the contents at all! Warning! Don't get me wrong - it's another cool cover, but at no point does a Year One style Batman hang around a JL International embassy building. The faux-JLI continue their attempt to find and foil Max Lord's plans and, just when it looks like Batman's figured out something's wrong, Lord's global mind-wipe kicks in again.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #49 - this seems like a done-in-one just to bridge the gap between the end of last issue and a big 50th issue celebration. Trust me - introduce a mind-manipulator in the first few pages and you can guarantee anything that happens after that is all in someone's mind. And since when did Donna Troy swear so much?!
• POWER GIRL #16 - here we see the start of the fight which is going to dominate #18 featuring Power Girl's new nemesis, Divine. The rest of the issue's background on why she ends up in the Arctic in the first place. Having bashed Winick on this blog on more than one occasion, I have to admit to still liking this title; he's keeping it relatively light and the art's nice and clean so hopefully it's not going to go down the pan at any stage soon.
• PROJECT SUPERPOWERS: CHAPTER TWO #12 - all the heroes get together to beat the crap out of the Claw while the Death Defying 'Devil is outed as being the Devil himself! Well, maybe. The next issue solicit says that Chapter Three, out next year, will be the last one. Surely Dynamite aren't just going to roll this series up and put it away?
• ZATANNA #5 - another cracking issue of magical superheroics; this series just keeps on getting better. It's almost as much fun as the old Power Girl series was, just with more demons!

And what made me smile:

I had no intention of picking up Knight And Squire but after seeing the preview in the back of Justice League of America #49, I think I may!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #95

Garth Ennis introduces us to the least feminine transvestite ever

• THE BOYS: HIGHLAND LADDIE #1 - so Wee Hughie's headed back to Scotland, to meet up with his old friends (one of whom has changed more than a little) and get away from the madness of The Boys back in New York. With smugglers peddling in super-drugs in the same town, it seems likely their paths will cross. May I predict a hugely oversized adversary for Hughie, employed by the drug smugglers, who will also be quite humourous either in name and/or appearance?
• BRIGHTEST DAY #8 - so there's another green Martian kicking around which stuns J'onn J'onzz; Hawkgirl gets a bit of a family surprise; and Hawkman begins raising an army. All told, this is rattling along at a good pace.
• THE DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER - THE JOURNEY BEGINS #4 - for the very first time in all the Dark Tower books I've bought since the series began, I found myself thinking this is awful. Not the art, which is as gorgeous as ever, but the dreadful, stilted dialogue. Hopefully just a one-off glitch as I've been enjoying these books til now.
• DCU LEGACIES #4 - ah, the rise of the kid sidekick and the Royal Flush Gang! It truly is the Silver Age again! One query, though, from a continuity frame of mind: the meeting of the two Flashes - isn't this contradicting the whole Central City being asleep thing from a few years back?
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #51 - Ganthet learns what it means to have emotions as he and the other Lanterns try to fight back against the Cyborg-Superman. And is there hope for the Alpha-Lanterns after all?
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #42 - still a little hit and miss with Robinson at the helm but better than the recent Justice League issues. Still, Mark Bagley's art is lovely!
• POWER GIRL #15 - my god, am I enjoying a Judd Winick written comic? Still not a patch on Palmiotti / Gray / Conner, this books is actually holding its own with me. Winick, despite my many and public reservations, actually seems to not be ruining Power Girl, either the book or the character. Of course, it's still early days and there's plenty of time for unsubtle, ham-fisted crowbarring of relevant social issues into the pages but for now let's hope he keeps it on this tack.

And what made me smile:

"My shiny platinum tush!" Lois Lane gets put in her place by Platinum of the Metal Men.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #92

Hector Hammond's secret is out!

• GREEN ARROW #2 - well what do you know, looks like I was right. Isable Rochev turns out to be Ollie's mother after all. It's nice to see Green Arrow and Green Lantern palling round again, but wasn't Jordan all fired up a couple of months ago to bring Ollie to justice? Don't me me get Justice League: Cry For Justice out to double check, please.
• GREEN LANTERN #56 - hmm, is that cover and tag line reference John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness by any chance? Either way, Larfleeze makes a welcome return and Hector Hammond gets a makeover as all old GL villains do under Geoff Johns.
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #50 - you know, if Cyborg Superman would just stop killing people, you could almost feel sorry for the guy.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #6 - despite the over the top build up from The Source blog the other day, this was something of a holding issue I felt. The team had already decided to catch Max Lord - remember that stirring last page from #5? To have Captain Atom suddenly have another, bigger reason to stop him sounds a little redundant.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #47 - the main story's meandering a little now; a few issues ago it really felt like this series was picking up again but it really sort of a mish-mash of things. A few fight scenes, some snappy dialogue, but I'm not getting a real sense of the characters or the plot if I'm honest. The back up featuring Red Tornado left me with a question, though. Just about every time a robot goes haywire, you can almost guarantee dialogue written thus: "1101011010100100" Am I the only one who reads that as "One one zero one zero one one zero one zero one zero zero one zero zero." in the voice of Bender from Futurama?
• TEEN TITANS #85 - seriously, I skimmed this entire issue. All I got was "Oh, where's Raven?" "Oh the Wyld's dangerous!" "Oh, where's Raven?" "Keys!" "Doorways!" "Clumsy dialogue!" I swear, if I didn't know JT Krul was coming on board soon, this title would be the first one I'd have dropped in years.
• Co feature COVEN OF THREE - nice, snappy fun featuring three of the DCU's lower level magicians facing off against some old JLA foes. This is good.

And what made me smile:

Larfleeze finds out about Santa - brilliant!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #87

Like you needed a reason not to piss Zatanna off....

• BATTLEFIELDS #7 - Anna Kharkova returns from The Night Witches, joining a fighter squadron, and was anyone surprised when the NKVD offcer turned out to be a coward?
• GREEN ARROW #1 - and we're back with the grim and gritty Green Arrow, newly separated from Black Canary and patrolling Star City's built-in-five-minutes forest. Oh, and the mysterious Isable Rochev? I'm going out on a limb and guessing that'll turn out to be Ollie's mother.
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #49 - and the big bad guy behind the Alpha Lanterns' revolt is revealed as Cyborg Superman. And if Tony Bedard breaks up Kyle Rayner and Soranik Natu over this Jade nightmare Kyle's having, I may have to send him a harsh letter. Can't the guy have one relationship that doesn't go down the pan?
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #4 - I thought it was kinda cool that it was Booster who worked out that Max Lord was behind the JLI getting together again, though the new Rocket Red seems a little . . . forced, I think.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE RISE OF ARSENAL #4 - I for one won't be following Arsenal into the pages of Titans; that one-shot where Ryan Choi's Atom got killed off was enough for me.
• POWER GIRL #13 - the comic that I've been dreading for some time finally turned up: Judd Winick's first Power Girl issue. As expected, it was nowhere near as much fun as the Palmiotti/Gray issues that preceded it and, judging by the solicitations for subsequent issues, it's probably not going to be much fun either. That said, so far it wasn't dreadful; the art was kinda nice, for example, and the Justice League: Generation Lost tie in was no surprise. I guess we see where this goes.
• TIME MASTERS trade paperback - picked this up on something of a whim; I like Rip Hunter as a character and time travel's always a good plot device but it was something of a shame to discover Hunter's a bit of a dick in this story.
• ZATANNA #2 - quickly rising to the top of my list (despite being last alphabetically) Paul Dini continues to write a good fun series with some lovely art. Fuseli may sound like a pasta dish but the nightmare demon almost managed to give Zatanna a run for her money. Despite ending up in the top hat, I think he might show up again. And the ghost on the last page? That's not going to end well!

And what made me smile:

Some people will put any old crap on their blog . . .