Who'd Like A Cocktail? #110

Edward I continues his cross-border relations policy

Missed out on my comics last week so a bumper haul this week - possibly the last of 2010!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #104

You gotta love Wildcat

• GREEN ARROW #5 - something of a holding issue, this one, as Green Arrow goes up against the Black Lanterns once more, their brief return the result of his misguided attempt at doing some good. Looks like next issue Ollie starts to face off against his mother as well.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #12 - * sigh * so this is the issue that reveals Ice's new origin, what editor Brian Cunningham called "a credible and tragic origin that does not negate what we already know." I'm not going into detail here (I feel a longer, more ranting post coming on in a few days) but that line there is a flat out lie.
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #44 - new writer  Marc Guggenheim and artist Scott Kolins take the reins and throw the Society up against a new (maybe? I'm not recognising him) villain that can easily stand his ground against them. It's a good, solid issue that acts as a jumping on point but seriously, if they leave Green Lantern Alan Scott paralysed I will have words with them.
• NEONOMICON #2 - finally, the second issue turns up at my comic shop! This is a great issue, full of HP Lovecraft pastiches and Moore's take on a weird Cthulhu sex cult. Jacen Burrows's art is fantastically detailed without being cluttered but how some of the scenes got past the censor I'm not sure! Thoroughly recommended!
• SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE - I was a little hesitant to pick this up, not being entirely impressed by Straczynski's run on The Brave and The Bold but it turned out to be a pretty good decision. It doesn't really bring anything new to the basics of Superman's origins - the exploding Krypton, the rocket ship, the Kansas farm - but it does focus more on the young man's thoughts and worries about whether he should put on the red and blue uniform. All in all a good read.
• TEEN TITANS #88 - man, this is a breath of fresh air after the last year or so of Felicia Henderson's scripts. As with Justice Society this week, this issue serves as something of a jumping on point in that the main characters are sketched out so that new readers know who they are without the story being anything convoluted. Shame Bombshell didn't make the team, but it's good to have Ravager back.
• TIME MASTERS: VANISHING POINT #4 - while the main heroes are split up and apparently imprisoned in cages of their own, Black Beetle (surely with that armour he should be called Red Beetle?!) manages to convince the Linear Men to work with him. Talking of whom, I don't remember Matthew Ryder being such a dick before . . .
• ZATANNA #6 - once again a clear, straight forward story comes to a conclusion. I'm not damning with faint praise here: Zatanna's a damn good title and is worth picking up, but it'd be nice to see something of an ongoing, overall storyline.

And what made me smile:

Okay, that's a bit ruder than what you're used to here but being a Lovecraft fan I had to laugh at what Alan Moore did with the title of Comte d'Erlette's most famous tome!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #58

As I was away last week, this week's Cocktail post is bumper sized double issue!

• Blackest Night: Batman #3 - hmmm, seemed to finish on something of an anti-climax, I think.
• Booster Gold #25 - genuinely touching moment between Batman and Booster and Rip Hunter's chalkboard was entertaining as ever!
• Blue Beetle co-feature - come on! Anyone really believe Black Beetle is Jaime from the future?
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #6 - if I have to re-read all six issues to make sense of this, I think I'd be more inclined to read the whole of the Bloodlines crossover again.
• Green Arrow/Black Canary #25 - Green Arrow is apparently going to be an important character next year in the DCU; I kinda hope Andrew Kreisberg isn't writing him when that happens.
• Black Canary co-feature - well, that was a waste of ten pages.
• Green Lantern Corps #41 - oooh, just when things look their bleakest, the Indigo guy turns up!
• JSA vs Kobra #5 - as I've said all along, this is a really nice series both writing and art-wise and it'll be a shame to see it end.
• The Punisher #75 - crap - I missed #74! Still, nice collection of stories here and great to see the preview featuring Steve Dillon's artwork.
• Secret Six #14 - Catman shows he's still a bad guy at heart.

And what made me smile:

There were rumours for years about those two, you know . . .

And here's what I picked up this week:

• Blackest Night: Superman #3 - wow, Krypto really is a good dog!
• The Brave And The Bold #28 - you know, I think it took me until Flash took his mask off to realise that was Barry Allen! I'm so used to Wally being the Flash, I just didn't realise . . .
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #6 - so, only FCA: Ink to go and then we can all put Final Crisis behind us.
• Justice League of America #38 - the new era starts here, then? So what have we got? A teaser of a hidden villain; a return to Happy Harbour to reconnect with the old League; lots of self-doubt; reference to the end of a mini-series that hasn't actually ended yet; a completely pointless attack by an old villain; a realisation this version of the League's not worth continuing with; and a tie-in to Blackest Night. For a new era, it all sounds quite familiar.
• Power Girl #6 - whereas this is still fun and fresh month after month! A situation that would normally turn into a fight is handled differently here and that's so refreshing.
• The Punisher #74 - I missed this last month so picked it up this week. Not the best storyline ever, but Parlov's art is still great.
• The Stand: Soul Survivors #1 - this is the first issue of this adaptation that's felt a bit weak - knowing the book as well as I do, the burgeoning friendship between Nick and Tom was a lot richer in the original.

And what made me smile:

Talking of friendship, watching Power Girl and Terra interact is fun enough but having Terra map out the formula for superhero comics? Marvellous!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #45

Another quick round up of this week's comics:

• Booster Gold #22 - anyone want to take a guess at the shadowy guy directing Black Beetle? Booster's dad again? Too obvious?
• Green Arrow And Black Canary #22 - since Andrew Kreisberg took over this title, all Canary and Arrow seem to do is bitch at each other - dude, they were happily married before you came along!
• Green Lantern #43 - Blackest Night is shaping up to be one hell of a story line!
• The Punisher #72 - wait a minute . . . two people manage to creep up behind Frank in one issue?!
• The Stand: American Nightmares #4 - Flagg and Lloyd Henreid in the prison is one of my favourite scenes from the book and while it's necessarily contracted here, it still works.
• Wednesday Comics #1 - on the whole this was pretty good though I have to wonder whether Amanda Conner illustrating the Supergirl strip will impact on her work on Power Girl - as much as I love her work, she's not exactly known for being fast and with two gigs at once . . . ?

And what made me raise an eyebrow this week:

Sapphire's hoping for "the mother of all pearl necklaces"?! I can't be the only one to think Neil Gaiman can't be ignorant of the double meaning of that phrase can I?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #41

Thanks to Blogger's scheduling function, I can post this even though I'm enjoying a long weekend away with family and friends!

• Booster Gold #21 - Blimey! Black Beetle's back, beats Booster 'n' Batman!
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #2 - okay, anyone have a clue what's going on here?
• Green Lantern Corps #37 - ha! Guy Gardner's recurring enemy is Bolphunga the Unrelenting! Fail!
• JSA vs. Kobra #1 - well look at that, a JSA title where Power Girl actually acts like the leader of the Society. Kudos!
• The Punisher #71 - Deep South? Check. House in the middle of nowhere? Check. Cannibalisitic inbred rednecks? Check. Cliches galore? Check.

And what made me smile this week:

Matthew Sturges is back writing Blue Beetle in the co-feature of Booster Gold #21! Oh yeah!