Monday Memories #17 - Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #3

Each Monday this year I'll be taking a look back at a random comic, prestige format issue, graphic novel or collection of reprints from amongst my 3,000 or so comics that date from 1962 to 2003 - I figured anything in the last ten years would be too recent to hark back to.

The comics are chosen completely at random and apart from a four week lead-in period, even I don't know what I'll be looking at in the weeks to come!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #144

What? You think just because DC re-number all their titles
that I'm going to revert to Cocktail #1?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #139

Power Girl may need to brush up on her compliments

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #135

Police protection? Never heard of it.

Monday Memes #22

Like I said about the Iwo Jima image a couple of weeks ago, if there's a classic image, it'll be updated, reworked and used time and again. Take the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, for example. The original had Superman holding Supergirl's broken body but it could just as easily be

Green Lantern Kyle Rayner holding Donna Troy . . . Black Adam holding Osiris . . .

Red Torpedo cradling Red Tornado . . . or some lunar mummy thing holding Seaguy.

It's so versatile!

Friday Night Fights - Recap

As last week was the final round in the Free For All, Spacebooger will be reposting the winners (including my Donna Troy winning entry) tonight before having a prize fight next Friday.

I need to find something good . . .

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #99

That's a president I'd vote for!

As I was away last weekend, you lucky people get a double sized edition of Who'd Like A Cocktail, the posts where I just babble away in bullet points about my comic books.

• BRIGHTEST DAY #10 - Firestorm gets some really bad news - he's the next Big Bang just waiting to happen. I wonder if Damage will be jealous when he hears about that. The new Aqualad makes his appearance culminating in a very tense stand-off between Aquaman and Black Manta that really makes me think Geoff Johns could carry off an Aquaman solo-series. All told, another good issue.
• DC UNIVERSE: LEGACIES #5 - they missed a great trick here, not having the original Crisis tie-in banner running across the cover! Of course, this being a post-Crisis depiction of Crisis on Infinite Earths, it isn't really a tie-in, but I'm nit-picking. Len Wein continues his stroll through the various ages of DC's history, stopping off at the big Crisis. This issue really is splendid, managing to focus on a normal family who observe some of the biggest DC events; sure it's been done before (Marvels is the obvious comparison) but that doesn't stop this being good. And hey, they got George Perez to do this issue as well!
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #52 - the Alpha Lantern storyline comes to an end as Cyborg Superman is defeated once more (I'd like to say permanently this time, but we know that's not going to happen) and the Alpha's have their emotions restored.
• THE DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER: THE JOURNEY BEGINS #5 - And so the journey that began a couple of years ago has come to the end of the bit where the journey begins. Or something.
• GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #2 - Guy Gardner starts his top-secret mission and, no surprise, his friends Arisia and Kilowog tag along for the ride. There's not a great deal that happens this issue, to be honest, as it seems to be setting things up, introducing Zardor of Kralok and his mental powers, along with bringing Red Lantern Bleez back into things.
• THE BOYS: HIGHLAND LADDIE #2 - I love it when I'm right! Back in Cocktail #95, I wrote: "May I predict a hugely oversized adversary for Hughie, employed by the drug smugglers, who will also be quite humourous either in name and/or appearance?" and in this issue we meet the gigantic Wee Sarah. Still, Ennis's predictability doesn't prevent this being another top issue.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #10 -Warning! The cover of this issue is not reflected in the contents at all! Warning! Don't get me wrong - it's another cool cover, but at no point does a Year One style Batman hang around a JL International embassy building. The faux-JLI continue their attempt to find and foil Max Lord's plans and, just when it looks like Batman's figured out something's wrong, Lord's global mind-wipe kicks in again.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #49 - this seems like a done-in-one just to bridge the gap between the end of last issue and a big 50th issue celebration. Trust me - introduce a mind-manipulator in the first few pages and you can guarantee anything that happens after that is all in someone's mind. And since when did Donna Troy swear so much?!
• POWER GIRL #16 - here we see the start of the fight which is going to dominate #18 featuring Power Girl's new nemesis, Divine. The rest of the issue's background on why she ends up in the Arctic in the first place. Having bashed Winick on this blog on more than one occasion, I have to admit to still liking this title; he's keeping it relatively light and the art's nice and clean so hopefully it's not going to go down the pan at any stage soon.
• PROJECT SUPERPOWERS: CHAPTER TWO #12 - all the heroes get together to beat the crap out of the Claw while the Death Defying 'Devil is outed as being the Devil himself! Well, maybe. The next issue solicit says that Chapter Three, out next year, will be the last one. Surely Dynamite aren't just going to roll this series up and put it away?
• ZATANNA #5 - another cracking issue of magical superheroics; this series just keeps on getting better. It's almost as much fun as the old Power Girl series was, just with more demons!

And what made me smile:

I had no intention of picking up Knight And Squire but after seeing the preview in the back of Justice League of America #49, I think I may!

Friday Night Fights - Green Lantern's Might (Sorta)

Yay! I won last week's Fight! And who said Countdown to Final Crisis didn't contain anything worth while?!

At the risk of pushing my luck, I'm once more delving into the pages of Countdown... where we find dark Mary Marvel wandering around on Apokolips beating the crap out of anyone she can find.

Seriously, if Darkseid's giving you compliments you know you've gone over to the . . . err . . . dark . . . ummm . . .

Yeah, anyway, Mary's beating the snot out of Green Lantern Kyle Rayner but it's okay because here comes his ex, Donna Troy, to the rescue!

Oh wait - maybe not so much rescue as being battered by Mary using Rayner as a baseball bat!

I swear - the above is the best panel in the entirety of Countdown to Final Crisis! WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP  I can read it for hours!

Mary (with her overly large head) declares herself the winner and if you all head over to Spacebooger and vote for me like you did last week, I can too!

This interesting use of a Green Lantern first appeared in Countdown to Final Crisis #3, cover dated April 2008, written by Paul Dini and Sean Mckeever with art by Freddie E. Williams II.

Friday Night Fights - Double Donna Troy Trouble

It's Friday so start fighting!

Yes, Spacebooger again demands that we take up arms amidst a sea of troubles and pound the crap out of each other.

For my sins, this week I'm delving back to what was not DC's finest hour by a long shot: Countdown to Final Crisis where we find Donna Troy battling her evil twin from , I'm guessing, Earth-3:

The bad Wonder Girl tries to shake Donna's resolve by babbling on about her lack of identity:

And you know what sort of reaction that's going to get:

Oh yeah! One punch!

And a cool line to finish as well!

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

Donna dopplegangers first appeared in Countdown to Final Crisis #15 cover dated January 2008, written by Paul Dini and Tony Bedard, with art by Pete Woods, Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher.

Who'd Like A Cocktail #56

A bumper haul this week so let's get on with it:

• Amazons Attack! trade paperback - yeah, I heard it was a bit pants but what the heck, it's a corner of the DCU I wouldn't normally visit. It was okay, I guess - I like Pete Woods' work if nothing else.
• Blackest Night: Titans #2 - dead ex-husband and child or not, I can't help thinking Donna was a little too accepting of the Black Lanterns; the Hawks vs Dove battle heats up; and Titans Tower takes a tumble. This is good!
• The Boys: Herogasm #5 - oh The Homelander's plans get derailed and he's not happy about it; and the Boys themselves look to be in trouble.
• The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead #5 - things are pretty dire right now as the tale approaches its end.
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #5 - we get Tattooed Man's origin and this series begins to pick up again after a lull in the last couple of issues.
• Green Lantern #46 - Hal finally finds Carol's joined the Star Sapphires; old enemies team up; and Sinestro beats the snot out of Mongul. Cracking issue!
• Justice League of America 80 Page Giant #1 - I love the 80 Page Giants and really wish there were more of them. Sure the framing story here isn't exactly original - members of the JLA get thrown across time leading to crossovers with various DC heroes from yesteryear - but the majority of the stories are good fun (particularly the Green Arrow/Firestorm story)and it was nice to see Snapper Carr and Cheetah's fling from Final Crisis: Resist picked up on.
• Justice Society of America #31 - the lines are drawn more clearly for the forthcoming split and the villains attempt to reorganise. And that last page - anyone think that's for real? Cause I sure as hell hope not.
• The Last Days of Animal Man #5 - seeing Ellen supporting Buddy and helping him get back in the game makes me want to see a real Animal Man series up and running again.
• Teen Titans #75 - wait, what? Changeling's back?
• Ravager co feature - nice, taut story, nice art work, an interesting (and pissed off) lead character. And they say she can't carry a regular series?

And what made me smile this week:

Green Arrow cheerfully facing down Ra's Al Ghul from Justice League of America 80 Page Giant #1

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #52

Here we are again for another round of cocktails:

• Blackest Night: Titans #1 - Black Lanterns! Ed Benes! Butt shots! Joking aside, not a bad start - the ghostly pram/stroller in Donna's room was a nice, creepy touch.
• The Boys: Herogasm #4 - 9/11's always going to be an emotive subject even when dealing with an alternate history of it. Ennis handles it very well.
• The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead #4 - the centre cannot hold / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #4 - oh wow, it's the return of the long dead brother complete with super-villain name. And this series started off so well.
• Green Lantern #45 - oh boy is Agent Orange in trouble now!
• Justice Society of America #30 - Dr. Fate's back! Oh yeah! Could do without the bickering but I guess that's building to the JSA All-Stars series coming soon.
• The Last Days of Animal Man #4 - Jeez, poor old Buddy's getting put through the wringer here.
• Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #2 - you know, with such a huge cast in the Superpowers universe, it'd be nice if someone annotated it . . . Seriously, though, this is good stuff.
• Teen Titans #74 - poor Kid Devil, not to mention Kid Eternity.
• Wednesday Comics #8 - hmmm, toss up between Metamorpho and the Flash this week I think.

And what made me smile this week:

Heh - pink bunnies have never done it for me.

So, Farewell Then . . .

This is a rhetorical question, but does anyone else think Countdown To Final Crisis ended with more of a whimper than a bang?

After all that hype, all that universe hopping, the key series leading into the forthcoming Final Crisis limped to an end. Pied Piper - last seen being blown to hell in issue #9 - somehow survived and landed in Gotham City; Jason Todd who appears to have foregone the Red Hood identity is also in Gotham, as surly and nasty as he was when he started out; Mary Marvel is still wearing black and has become a petulant bad girl; Buddy Blank has become an OMAC more recognisable to older readers (and readers of older comics) and the boy who would be Kamandi on another Earth here turns out to have been named Tommy all along in a nod to the post-Crisis On Infinite Earths retcon; and the Challengers From Beyond . . .

After moping around Ray Palmer's house they address the Monitors and tell them to watch their behinds because they are monitoring the Monitors.

I can't help wondering if this whole idea of Kyle Rayner, the Atom, Donna Troy and Forager (I notice Jimmy Olsen didn't make the cut) keeping tabs on the Monitors is just going to get swept under the carpet. Rayner's a Green Lantern so will have duties elsewhere; the Atom's already due to appear in The Atom series alongside Ryan Choi, the latest Atom; Donna Troy's back in with The Titans; which leaves Forager . . . one new character (with little characterisation) is going to monitor all of the Monitors? In which series is this likely to happen?

No, I think it's more likely that a few months down the line, after Final Crisis, we'll never hear about this whole monitoring the Monitors lark again.

Which won't be a bad thing to my mind.