Who'd Like A Cocktail? #71

Horrendously busy in work over the last week, so much so I didn't even get a chance to post a Friday Night Fight. Still got my comics, though:

• Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3 - missed this last week but have to be honest and say I have no idea why Mera's rage is so great, what the big secret was or what Wonder Woman hinted at. No idea at all.
• Booster Gold #29 - the destruction of Coast City's about to happen all over again and Booster's right in the middle of it.
• Second Feature: Blue Beetle - ah, all good things come to an end, I guess. I shall miss Blue Beetle both as a series and a back-up in this comic. It was a good, fun series which is what I like but at least Matt Sturges was able to finish off his storyline.
• The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill #3 - oooooh, traitors everywhere, it seems.
• Green Arrow/Black Canary #29 - warning! The cover of this issue does not in any way reflect the contents! As usual, clumsy dialogue, horrible art and . . . I'm sorry, but . . . Hilt?! Bwah-ha-ha! Oh my dear lord that has to be the crappiest, most contrived villain name in the world! A guy with a knife handle sticking out the back of his head, whose name is Hilton, is being set up to become a bad guy called Hilt?!
• JSA All-Stars #3 - Power Girl and Magog throw down just before the events of last week's Justice Society Annual and sub-plots galore are introduced.
• Second Feature: Liberty Belle & Hourman - light and fun, this isn't exactly taxing but it's pretty good.
• Punishermax #4 - Jason Aaron turns in a good Garth Ennis pastiche with the advent of the Mennonite taking on the Punisher, ably helped along by gorgeous Steve Dillon art.
• Secret Six #18 - the identity of Mockingbird is revealed in a sort of "Why didn't I see that coming?" kind of way and the Six and the Squad team up against the Black Lanterns.

And what made me smile:

I remember a similar scene in Young Justice with Superboy and Impulse complaining about their books getting cancelled but this made me chuckle. Farewell, Blue Beetle . . .

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3 Notes Done

Just published the (admittedly) brief notes for Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3 over at the Annotated Blackest Night.

Was it just me or does anyone actually get the whole thing about why Mera's so angry in this issue?  Wonder Woman talks about understanding her rage and years of hiding behind lies, but . . . nothing seems to make sense.

Anyone?

New Pages

Been hideously busy over the last week or so but just dropping by to point out the new pages feature on the blog.

Just below the banner, at the top of the posts section, are a couple of new sections called Links and About The Crisis.

Oh, and I've also started playing with Google Buzz - I'm a bit of a Google fan so if you want to come play, have a look at my profile here.

Enjoy!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #70

• The Boys #39 - the crap gets ready to hit the fan as Butcher discovers just who Wee Hughie's been dating.
• Doom Patrol #7 - woah, wait a second - when did Oberon get that head of hair?!
• Metal Men co-feature - ah, farewell Metal Men, it was good fun while it lasted.
• Justice Society of America Annual #2 - this ties in nicely with events in Magog and the JSA All-Stars, so much so that if you haven't read Magog you might be a little lost. There were a lot of questions when Magog received his ongoing series, many revolving around why such a minor character who was also a pain in the arse should have a series. Turns out, written by Keith Giffen, it's not so bad and this issue goes some way to rounding out - or at least highlighting - who he is. He's a jerk who, as Power Girl says, is "going about this the wrong way . . . but he's doing the right thing."
• The Question #37 - another done in one Blackest Night tie-in. It was okay but I find Sienkiewicz's art just plain ugly.
• Red Tornado #6 - and the mini-series comes to an end rather quietly. That's not a criticism; if anything, the reaction of Red Inferno was somewhat fitting. I wish DC writers/artists would get a handle on how old Traya is and how she speaks - wasn't she in her early teens in Young Justice? Here she looks to be about 5 or 6.

And what made me smile:

Maybe the joke's a little obvious but Maguire's artwork sells it.

Friday Night Fights - Only A Master Of Evil

I had something else planned for tonight's fight, something that I'd already scanned in and written up. As it is, I woke this morning with a totally different scene in my head - yes, I wake up thinking about comics and blogging and . . . Star Wars!

Pulled from the pages of the Marvel Comics adaptation of Star Wars (before it became known as Episode IV: A New Hope) comes the battle between Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader:

I love that last panel on the page above - Vader and Kenobi facing off with the lightsabers locked between them . . . takes me back to reading the story when I was a kid!

Even though the dialogue isn't spot-on from the film, it still manages to work somehow . . . much like the terrible dialogue in the film, actually!

Oh sure, we all know Ben's coming back as a ghost in the next film but right now, at this instant, this is a great win for the bad guys, thus fulfilling Spacebooger's demands that the good guys lose in this round of Friday Night Fights.

Remember to head over to Spacebooger, check out the other fights and cast your vote!

This completed circle was first shown in Star Wars #4, cover dated October 1977, written by Roy Thomas with are by Howard Chaykin and Steve Leialoha, but the scans come from the collection Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 1 published in 2002.

Black Lantern Anti-Monitor!

How cool is this?

Green Lantern #50 And Blackest Night: JSA #2 Notes Done

Just published the notes for Green Lantern #50 and Blackest Night: JSA #2 over at the Annotated Blackest Night.

  

Enjoy!