Who'd Like A Cocktail? #238

That old excuse, eh, Madame Xanadu?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #234

Captain K'Rot regrets his career choice

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #232

Dr Thirteen proves smart men can be stupid too

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #218

Not your dad's Captain K'rot

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #212

That's squirrels for you - always looking for the good in people. Usually in their ears.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #209

Which is why you should always read the instruction booklet

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #208

And yes, Jaime, your butt does look fat in that.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #200

Barry Allen proves he's incapable of reading the situation between two people

Swan Songs

Amongst DC's solicitations were a handful of series that had reached their final issue and thus cancellation. Aside from Grifter and Legion Lost, Blue Beetle is to bite the dust with #16 - a shame as, on the whole, it's been okay to my mind. A little hit and miss, sometimes funny (Jaime throwing up on La Dama's shoes) sometimes horrible (Jaime slapping Brenda) there was enough in there for me to keep coming back.

The good news is that Jaime will be continuing in Keith Giffen's Threshold series which I will definitely be picking up.

The other title to kick the bucket is Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. and I have to wonder - though not wishing to sound uncharitable - how much of that decision follows from Jeff Lemire leaving after #9? Matt Kindt's writing has been fun from a story point of view but, as I've said in several Cocktail posts, the pacing's completely shot to hell. Another shame as I really liked this series when it started.

Wonder what we'll get in place of them?

Keith Giffen Writing New DC Space Series

And I for one couldn't be happier with this news: Keith Giffen is writing a new ongoing series called Threshold for DC, set in space and which "will star DC's sci-fi heroes and villains" as well as having a back-up featuring Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern.

The news does come with a side serving of sadness, however, as during the interview linked above, Giffen says that the story "spins out of the Annual and the last issue of Blue Beetle"

So while we're getting a new on-going, we're also losing Blue Beetle although - and this helps ease the pain - Jaime Reyes will appear in the pages of Threshold as the action takes place near the Reach homeworld.

And Jaime's not the only character Giffen will be playing with. Along with a new lead - an undercover Green Lantern called Jediah Caul, Giffen's obviously raided his old copies of Who's Who and come up with this lot:

"we're using the original Starfire, we're not using her name, and we're changing her look a bit. We're just using that basic back-story she had and the environment that she might have come from. 

Another example: We've got Star Hawkins and his "gal Friday" Ilda, except in our case, Star Hawkins is a little bit of a shadier kind of street informant, and Ilda has been programmed with his ex-wife's memories, and they hate one another. 

My favorite so far is Space Cabbie as Travis Bickle [from Taxi Driver]. He's a crazed, paranoid street source for helping Hunted contestants stay clear, but he's a maniacal conspiracy nut like Travis Bickle."

Space Cabbie?!

In Giffen we trust.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #196

Always trust your scarab, that's what I say.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #192

And that's got to count for something, right?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #188

Jaime, trust me: Booster Gold is not a good measure of recognition.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #184

Seriously, John? A tikka masala? I thought you more as a dupiaza man.

DC's September Solicits

I don't normally go through the solicitations with any great detail, just enough to pick out a Don't Ask post and that's about it. With all these zero issues coming out in September, a few things caught my eye:

Written by TONY BEDARD and KEITH GIFFEN
Art and cover by IG GUARA and J.P. MAYER
On sale SEPTEMBER 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Where was the Scarab before it merged with the current Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes?

Look - Keith Giffen's writing Blue Beetle again! Couple that with the fact that the story's about the scarab before Jaime and the internet explodes with Ted Kord anticipation in three . . . two . . . one . . .

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #180

Flash really can't do the whole bad cop thing

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #176

Speak for yourself, man.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #172

Don't be too sure of that, Jaime

Who'd Like A Coctail? #167

Because that's what heroes do, folks - bomb people using people as bombs

Who Was Who Is Who #5

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, and with DC's New 52 well under way (how long are they keeping that title do you think?) I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see who's made it over to the new DCU, who might make it and who hasn't got a Bolt's chance.

BLACK LIGHTNING - he got some love during Final Crisis and kicked around with the Justice League for a time but we haven't seen much of him lately. Will he be back before the end of 2012? Possibly, though it's sort of difficult to say where he'll turn up.

BLACK MANTA - when Aquaman surprised everybody by being the breakout character of Brightest Day, an ongoing series was sure to follow. In Brightest Day, his long time enemy Black Manta showed up and caused him some trouble along with being revealed as the father of the new Aqualad before being defeated by Aquaman and Mera. At the time of writing (early December 2011) there's been no hint that the storylines from Brightest Day will be carried over into the New 52 but I'd be really surprised if we don't see a version of Black Manta before the end of the year.

BLACK ORCHID - here's one where I find myself wondering if I've actually read something on the net or have just imagined it. Is Black Orchid appearing in Justice League Dark? The internet would make me believe not, but I'm sure I read something. Oh well, I'll put her down as a possible.