Who'd Like A Cocktail? #69

• Black Terror #7 - this series kinda seems to be stumbling from one big fight to another but does so with such abandon that I'm still enjoying it - plus it gave me this week's quote for the banner.
• Blackest Night: JSA #2 - oh, those sneaky, tricksy Black Lanterns! Who'd'a thought so many heroes could be so easily duped?
• Green Lantern #50 - Hal Jordan appears as Green Lantern and Parallax in the same issue and has the Spectre along as well. Jeez, it's like all his ex's turned up at once!
• Justice League: Cry For Justice #6 - was it just me or was this issue actually not that bad? Of course, we can all guess how it's going to turn out because of . . .
• Justice League of America #41 - . . . which takes place after the events of Justice League: Cry For Justice #7 which isn't out yet, but even this issue wasn't too bad. Poor old Reddy's been dismantled again but the time-travel aspect with Tomahawk and Miss Liberty looks like a nice set-up; even Green Arrow's grim hunt for Prometheus didn't impair it too much. For the first time in several months, this series seems to be picking up.
• Justice Society of America #35 - this was a really good issue; Mr Terrific's refusal to play by Mordru's rules; Wildcat's prison; even Dr Fate's drooling on the floor all worked superbly. Only one complaint: Flash's dialogue just didn't sound like Jay to me.
• Teen Titans #79 - have to admit this didn't work for me at all; it didn't flow at all, just jumped about everywhere: page 3, the Titans are all working out together and Static says he has to head home; page 4, Static's at his sister's apartment having travelled all the way to Dakota; page 5 and the Titans have just finished their workout. The rest of the issue's just as clumsy, really.
• Ravager co-feature - Ravager manages to break free of the bad guys but doesn't get the answers or closure she needs. Still better than the main story, though.

And what made me smile:

Never a truer word said.

Friday Night Fights - Not Again!

Over at Spacebooger, the Friday Night Fights must be won by the bad guys this time round and this week, I have what many would consider the first example of a bad guy winning:

The two eldest brothers in the business, ladies and gentlemen: Cain and Abel . . . and I think we all know how this is going to end:

Well that taught him . . . at least till next time.

Remember to head over to Spacebooger, check out the other fights and then vote for your favourite.

This filial flattening first appeared in The Saga of The Swamp Thing #33, cover dated February 1985, written by Alan Moore with art by Ron Randall, though the scans come from the Swamp Thing: Love and Death trade paperback.

All Caught Up

I've just spend the last hour or so catching up with some notes and things over at the Annotated Blackest Night.

Notes are now up for Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2, Blackest Night: The Flash #2 and Green Lantern Corps #44 and I've also updated the Character Map.

  

Sorry for the delay - just been busy as hell in work over the last couple of weeks.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #68

Been busy as all heck in work this week so am running well behind on the notes for Blackest Night tie-ins; will get them done as soon as possible, I promise! In the meantime: comics!

• Battlefields: Happy Valley #2 - Garth Ennis continues his war story about a bomber crew and their new pilot but I can't help but think it's all going to end badly.
• Blackest Night: The Flash #2 - a little more emphasis on the Flash this time round rather than the Rogues and I have to wonder whether the new Captain Boomerang can really bring back the old one.
• The Brave And The Bold #31 - another take on the Joker's beginnings, moving away from the "one bad day" to a point where he was apparently always weird. And didn't the Atom think of the irony of walking around the Joker's brains, contemplating on causing a blood clot and killing him? Isn't that basically what his crazy ex-wife Jean Loring did to Sue Dibny?! Pots and kettles, Mr Palmer, pots and kettles!
• Green Lantern Corps #44 - maybe this is why Mogo doesn't socialise!
• Power Girl #8 - so many funny moments in this issue; the "formal evening wear"; "that particular function"; the meal; the "pregno-ray"! Loved the nod to the Adam Hughes women of DC picture as well. Seriously, folks, buy this book - it's one of the best out there at the moment.
• Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #6 - it's all going mental as hero fights hero spurred on by Supremacy infiltrators while the threat of Zeus hangs over them all.
• Starman #81 - nice to see Opal City and the Shade again but, like the other fill in titles, this was all done in one - Black Lantern arrives, battles hero, is defeated.

And what made me smile:

Oh crap - I find myself agreeing with a crazy talking badger scientist. That can't be good . . .

Friday Night Fights - A Damn Good Hyde-ing!

I originally had something else planned for this week's fight over at Spacebooger, but a combination of re-reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and last week's entry from Marvel Flipside which featured Mister Hyde led me to this:

Edward Hyde takes on the Martians!

Why are there no three-legged animals on Earth?

Because some mad bastard can bring them down single handed, that's why!

Alas, his victory is short lived . . .

And that, dear readers, is the end of Mr Hyde.

Remember to head over to Spacebooger, check out the other entries and vote for your favourite.

This heroic end to a previously nasty piece of work first appeared in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol 2 #6, cover dated November 2003, written by the marvellous Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #67

• Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 - missed this last week so picked up now; gorgeous artwork from Nicola Scott and Eduardo Pansica and despite knowing what was going to happen to Wonder Woman (having read Blackest Night #6) the story still held me . . . right up till the end. Even though Aphrodite's intervention was kinda fitting within the confines of the story, it was still "all just a dream." Disappointing.
• Booster Gold #28 - I can't help wondering, given the recent news about Giffen and DeMatteis taking over this title, whether Dan Jurgens is building up to a big finale - wouldn't be the first time he's had a hand in destroying Coast City!
• Blue Beetle - oh, Jaime, what have you done now? Looks like this, too, is building to a finale and it'll be a shame to see Beetle go.
  
• Catwoman #83 - have to admit I was looking forward to these resurrected titles but they seem to be fairly formulaic now - villain rises as Black Lantern, attacks hero, is destroyed after fight. Still, halfway through so I'll grab the rest.
• Green Arrow/Black Canary #28 - I'm just sticking with this title because of the characters now; I don't like Sienkiewicz's art, I don't like Kreisberg's writing though I do approve of his attempt to beef up Green Arrow's rogues gallery. But that's about it.
• Green Arrow - what do you know? A second feature that doesn't actually feature any of the main characters.
• Magog #5 - Giffen continues building up to the inevitable conflict between Magog and the Justice Society.
• Neonomicon prologue - all new Alan Moore! Just when you thought this week's comics were a little light on substance! Can't wait for the series to begin proper later this year.
• The Power Of Shazam #48 - again, a little formulaic as the Catwoman issue above but, to be fair, there's the slight spin of Osiris actually fighting against the black power ring from the start.
• Punishermax #3 - what is it about Steve Dillon drawing horrible old ladies?
• Secret Six #17 - the Six pretty much get shafted by Amanda Waller, the Suicide Squad and the Black Lanterns. Another tightly plotted issue by Simone and Ostrander.

And what made me smile:

Ah, Ragdoll . . .

Friday Night Fights - Bat-Buster!

Pre-Identity Crisis, no-one in the DCU had a problem with heroes mind-wiping villains. Hell, they were doing it every other day it seemed like. As I wrote a while back, you, me and everyone else alive in 1978 has been mind-wiped!

Which brings me to this week's Friday Night Fight which Spacebooger has decreed should feature a villainous victory. Before the eventual turn-around and triumph of the Justice League against the Secret Society of Super-Villains, the villains managed to defeat the League and swap bodies with them - hence the mind-wiping at the end of the story.

During that defeat, though, Batman goes up against an enemy who he ranks as "one of the few who almost frighten" him.

Almost frightens him, you'll note.

Still that doesn't stop him delivering a hell of a punch to the rampaging villain. But wait, weren't the villains supposed to win?

Oooooh, that's got to hurt! Batman's down for the count with a giant fist to each side of his head!

Remember to head over to Spacebooger and vote in the poll for your favourite fight.

This bout of Blockbuster beating Batman originally appeared in Justice League of America #166, cover dated May 1979, written by Gerry Conway with art by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin.