Annotations For Blackest Night #7 Done

I've just published the annotations for Blackest Night #7 over at (where else?) the Annotated Blackest Night.

Enjoy!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #74

I read that line above in The Boys and thought "well that's just perfect for this week's low title count Cocktail post."

• The Boys #40 - poor old Wee Hughie's looking to get on the wrong end of a paranoid Butcher who's so used to betrayal and double dealing that he can't contemplate taking something at face value.
• Crossed #9 - the series finishes in the only way it could, I guess, open ended. Even though the forthcoming sequel (more correctly a separate story written in the same fictional world) won't be written by Ennis, I'll be picking that up as well.
• Justice League: Cry For Justice #7 - well, that's that over with then. Not entirely terrible following it's very shaky start but still less than I was expecting from James Robinson. And come on, killing Lian Harper? Jeez, that was low.
• JSA All-Stars #4 - Johnny Sorrow manages to snatch Stargirl and drop her in the Subtle Realms, betraying the rest of the Society at the same time.
• Co-feature Liberty Belle & Hourman - the husband/wife hero/villain teams are still trying to find that damn book; this isn't bad but feels like it is starting to drag a little, a result of the slightly cramped page count in which to tell the story - difficult to get things going in such a short time, but still fun nonetheless.
• Punisher Max: Butterfly one shot - hmmm, okay, this was nicely told up to the end where it didn't seem to do anything. Maybe that was the point?

And what made me smile:

Stool Shadow? *snort* Only Garth Ennis would call a hero Stool Shadow . . .

Friday Night Fights - Good Bad As Gold

These days, following Green Lantern: Rebirth and the success of Blackest Night, Hal Jordan's pretty much one of the golden boys of DC. Of course, that wasn't always the case. Times was, he was getting his arse kicked on a regular basis by a guy wearing a gold suit!

And that full page spread's the opening punch!

The most powerful weapon in the universe and it's no use at all!

And just when Jordan thinks he's got the upper hand, there's that two-fisted punch.

Goldface - a villain so, so in need of the same reboot that Black Hand, Hector Hammond and other Green Lantern villains have had.

Enjoy the fight? Make sure you head over to Spacebooger and vote for your favourite!

Jordan's beat down first appeared in Green Lantern #145, cover dated October 1981, written by Marv Wolfman with art by Joe Staton.

Blackest Night #8 Cover Revealed

The Source, DC Comics' blog, revealed the inked cover of Blackest Night #8 which has Sinestro pretty much front and centre:

Looks like just about everyone with a ring bursting out of Nekron's skull?  Bruce Wayne's skull? Some poor bastard's skull!  Have just noticed, though, that Mera appears to be missing . . . doesn't bode well for her.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #73

A couple of days late due to having last weekend away, but what the heck - here's what I picked up:

• Black Terror #8 - Black Terror finally finds the original American Crusader and ends up helping create a new one. Not a bad series, but still seems to be lurching from one fight to the next a little.
• Blackest Night #7 - the Guardians' secret is revealed and Sinestro claims his position as the best and biggest Lantern in the Universe! Oh, crap.
• Blackest Night: JSA #3 - Power Girl doesn't give up against the Black Lantern Superman and Mr Terrific comes up with a way of getting rid of the Black Lanterns en masse. Of course, it has to be a one time only deal, doesn't it . . .
• Chronicles of Wormwood: The Last Battle #3 - you'd think the Antichrist having a rough time of it would be the right thing to happen, but you can't help feeling sorry for the poor bugger.
• The Dark Tower: The Battle of Jericho Hill #4 - traitors revealed and friends die as the end of Gilead draws ever nearer.
• Green Arrow #30 - well, so much for the Green Arrow / Black Canary title of this book. Still, new writer J.T. Krul works a good story into the Blackest Night event, and artist Diogenes Neves is such a huge improvement on Sienkiewicz. Hopefully this book will manage to claw it's way back from the last few months.
• Justice Society of America #36 - another alternate future looking back tale, this time with the Nazi's in control. This should be good.
• Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #7 - what seems like four thousand sub-plots are crammed into one issue here but it looks safe to say that Kid Terror's secret is going to come to light soon.
• Teen Titans #80 - as one door opens, another closes. Just as Green Arrow starts to recover, Teen Titans continues its downward slide. The writing here is dreadful: Holocaust spends the whole issue saying how lovely and kind he is then flips in a split second? Wonder Girl and Beast Boy's supposed antagonism is clumsy at best and no-one else seems to do anything.
• Co-feature Ravager - this, on the other hand, is still ticking along nicely with Ravager seeking revenge.

And what made me smile:

You might not get it if you haven't been reading Chronicles of Wormwood: The Last Battle but it made me laugh!

More Blackest Night Annotations Done

Just published the notes for Green Lantern #51, Green Lantern Corps #45 and Blackest Night: JSA #3 over at the Annotated Blackest Night.

I'll be starting on the detailed notes for Blackest Night #7 today.

Enjoy!

Friday Night Fights - Good Nite

The bad guys win over at Spacebooger for this round of Friday Night Fights and for this week's entry, I've gone all sombre and maudlin as a true hero bites the dust in the pages of perhaps the super-hero book, Watchmen.

Poor Hollis Mason.  Poor Nite Owl.

HHUUGGHH indeed.

This chuckle free fight first appeared in Watchmen #8 cover dated April 1987, written by (as if I had to tell you) Alan Moore with art by the god like Dave Gibbons, though the scans come from my tired, worn out, well read and beloved copy of the trade paperback.

And remember: