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| Boxing gloves are so 1960's |
Bunch of comics to get through this week so here goes:
Wee Hughie goes to see the Legend who is, frankly, coming apart at the seams, seeing lawsuits from every angle. Meanwhile Mother's Milk heads off to see his daughter and tries as best he can to confront her about her mother's actions which results in him finding out something very surprising about Butcher. Hughie later puts into practice what he's inadvertently learned from Butcher and finds out his own little details while Butcher himself goes to see the Legend as well.
This is all going to end terribly, I can tell.
The various groups meet up at last with the Crossed hot on their heels but, surprisingly, they manage to take them down without too much problem. Of course, with them out of the way, they only have to deal with each other's problems like jealous twin sisters and a newly pregnant woman.
Honestly, this all seems a little like Delano's trying to be gross for the sake of it, as though the survival aspect has become boring and he wants to show how messed up people can be even when they're not one of the Crossed. Trouble is, it all seems forced.
Mr Terrific arrives from the last pages of his final issue and is greeted by a man with a name which is very familiar to those of us who've been on Earth-2 before. Meanwhile, Jay Garrick gets granted his powers by the dying god Mercury and becomes the Flash, eventually ending up in Poland where he meets the new Hawkgirl. Alan Scott meets up with his partner in Hong Kong and plans to enjoy a romantic break with him which, unfortunately, is cut short with an explosion.
Another splendid trip to Earth-2 where the story is rattling along.
Fury's still in French Indochina where the natives are getting restless and launch an all out attack on the rag-tag soldiers under the command of the French army, just at the moment that Fury himself is in the compound. Despite the best attempts of Fury and the others, the camp's taken and everyone except the big man is killed.
Seems I missed #2 a couple of weeks ago so had a double helping this week. While the story's a little light plot wise, Parlov's art is great as ever and the covers by Dave Johnson are worth the cover price alone.
Green Arrow manages to save a suicide victim who's convinced she's a robot. Turns out she had the metallic implants done voluntarily after her adoptive parents mistakenly attempted to help her fit in. Arrow tracks down the man who did the work who's holding other depressed and disturbed people and turning them into pseudo androids as well before having a big fight and freeing them all.
This done in one is still a mess like the preceding issues, made slightly more bearable with the stand in art team. I'm going to give it another couple of issues before deciding whether to drop it or not because while I like Green Arrow, I'm not liking this writing.
Following the events of last issue, Detective Pruitt lays in a coma, replaying how she got to where she is today, trying her damnedest to be a straight cop in a crooked department. All that gets her, though, is teamed with the department's resident drug-addicted, Mafia-bought cop, Fulsom. Fighting for survival, she ends up coming out of the coma and determines to bring down Jennifer Blood with the help of her dead partner who is now either a ghost or her imaginary friend.
Better than recent issues, I'll be sticking with this for a while longer.
Fresh from their adventure in Paris in the last issue of Firestorm, the League reassemble in New York and spend a bit of time visiting the injured members of the team, hoping they get better. Elsewhere, the villains of the piece, led by Breakdown, plan to attack the League once more but are discovered before they can. The two teams fight before the League are overpowered, Breakdown planning to sacrifice them before the media.
Another good solid superhero story, spoiled only - I think - by the fact that the injured members made up three quarters of the female contingent of the team. Will this title resurface following it's apparent cancellation in August? I hope so.
[Updated - following the news of the four new titles being released in September, it seems unlikely that JLI will exist in one form or another. However, in an interview with Dan Didio he did say "What's interesting is that events we saw introduced in the Free Comic Book Day comic are played out [in the Justice League International Annual], and those threads will be picked up again in October once we're past zero month." so maybe there's some hope for this team.]
I read this thinking "this seems to have jumped ahead a bit."
Then realised I'd missed #3.
Bugger.
Still, Mandrake's art is absolutely gorgeous.
While most of Stormwatch are wandering the globe, trying to track down and monitor various heroes, an archaeologist stumbles across a futuristic weapon in the midst of an 18th century battlefield. Detecting it, the Engineer calls the team together and Apollo uses the resulting fight to work off some anger issues. They eventually manage to overcome the problem, leading to a couple of revelations about a previous attempt (ie the 18th century) to allow Stormwatch to go public.
Surprisingly good, Milligan continues to surprise me.
Abby manages to get Swamp Thing back home, to the swamp, where there's a pleasant surprise waiting for them: a new Parliament of Trees growing slowly in the swamp outside Abby's old home. Swampy goes to rest and recuperate in the water after warning her that even if she should need him, he won't be able to respond. It's a sad, prescient warning as no sooner is he out for the count than Anton Arcane makes his way back into their lives, bludgeoning Swamp Thing before going after Abby.
Another superb issue with a wonderful framing device, this is great stuff.
And what made me smile:
For all the flirting that Godiva and Booster have been doing and they miss the moment!
Aw, Night Force #3 was really good, casting lots of light on stuff!
ReplyDeleteWith a bit of luck I should be able to get it this week and catch up.
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