Who'd Like A Cocktail? #66

Oh yes! My Cocktail posts have a new banner where each week I'll be including my favourite quote from the comics I pick up!

• The Boys #38 - the origin of the Female as provided by Frenchie shows that the poor woman's as messed up as the rest of the Boys.
• Doom Patrol #6 - Giffen takes us through the various incarnations of the Negative Man in a wonderfully understated little tale.
• Metal Men - more Metal Men mayhem and mirth. I wonder if this is going to bite the dust along with the other Second Features?
• JSA All-Stars #2 - Ah, Matthew Sturges and Freddie Williams deal up more Justice Society larks with the villain behind the attempted abduction of Stargirl finally revealed. Really enjoying this series already!
• Liberty Belle & Hourman - an okay start to a murder mystery that pits the married couple of the Justice Society against the unmarried couple of the Injustice Society.
• PunisherMax: Get Castle - living about half an hour's drive from the setting of this story, it was kinda nice to read some believable Welsh-accented dialogue! Oh, and for the benefit of the Americans in the audience, when Kevin says to the Punisher "Alright, butt? How's tricks?" he's not calling him an "ass" It's a Welsh term that means "mate" or "friend." Don't say you never learn anything reading this blog.
  
• Red Tornado #5 - things come to a head as Red Volcano goes after Red Tornado's family. Only one issue to go to find out if Reddy manages to save Traya.
• Suicide Squad #67 - Blackest Night resurrects dead series as well as dead heroes and villains! Great to see Gail Simone and John Ostrander writing together with loads of guest stars dropping in as well.
• Weird Western Tales #71 - this one's not as effective as Suicide Squad as it seems solely an excuse to show some of the Old West DC characters but hey, nice to see Renato Arlem's work as I like his art.

Should have picked up Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2 as well but due to a snafu on my part, that's going to have to wait until next week.

And what made me smile:

Roxy, the All-Stars' new in-house AI messes with Power Girl's head!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #62

My (usually) weekly round-up of what I've bought this week:

• Blackest Night: Flash #1 - have to admit this didn't work for me as much as I thought it would. I like Geoff Johns's stuff, I like his and Scott Kolins's run on The Flash but this . . . this seemed a little lacking in substance, though Black Lantern Solovar was a nice touch. As the last but one page has Flash heading off directly into the pages of Blackest Night #4, I wonder if this is going to be more Blackest Night: The Rogues than anything else?
• Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1 - this was better: nice and straightforward rematch between Wonder Woman and Max Lord with some cracking dialogue and the gorgeous art of Nicola Scott. From the next issue box, it looks like this'll be dealing with the fallout of Blackest Night #5 next issue so can't wait.
• The Boys #37 - oh, Garth Ennis, you old devil . . . The origin story of Frenchie was littered with (at the kindest) stereotyped or (at the worst) racist caricatures of the French, a nation Ennis has poked fun at on more than one occasion so could have been utterly dreadful. As it was, so much of it ("Ah-haw-hee-haw-hee-haw-hee-haw-hee-haw!"  "Croissant!!"  "Nnoooooooooooonnn!!!"  "Mon Daaaaaaaaaaaad!!") had me laughing my arse off I just thought I'd live with feeling guilty but amused!
• The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill #1 - stunning art as always and, for possibly the first time in this series, a genuine laugh out loud moment!
• JSA: All-Stars #1 - ahh, Matt Sturges and Freddie Williams II fresh off their run on . . . er . . . Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! start their new series . . . er . . . running. Lots of action, excellent dialogue, I like Williams's art, and the return of an old JSA villain. Only think that fouled it up was the misplaced dialogue balloons on page 19, panel 1 which, as they're shown, make no sense and really threw me out of the story. Other than that, cracking stuff.
• Red Tornado #4 - probably the weakest issue of this series so far: nothing much resolved, plot moves on a little, everyone has a fight.

And what made me smile this week? Two things, actually:

Max Lord's bouncing, talking head from Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1 and:

that laugh out loud moment I mentioned from The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill #1