DC's May Solicitations

FUTURES END #1

Five years from now, the DC Universe is reeling from a war with another Earth, leaving the world unprepared for an approaching evil that threatens to destroy the future. Can a time-traveling Batman Beyond help a massive cast of the DCU’s finest avert the impending apocalypse? Find out in this new weekly series that will forever alter the direction of The New 52! In this debut issue of The New 52’s weekly series, Batman Beyond arrives five years later! Grifter turns against humanity! And a Justice League member DIES!

Okay, a new weekly series sounds fun - you got me, DC. I just wish we were past then whole idea of the death of a character being a story hook.

It Represents People

In Green Lantern: Emeral Warriors #4, Sodam Yat rebelled against the Guardians of the Universe, taking his Daxamite followers and planning to start up his own Corps . . . or take over the existing one after ousting the little blue fellas in charge.

His rebellion comes complete with a change of symbol:

Isn't that a lovely ideal? To represent "Everyone -- in every corner of this universe."

People like these:

and these:

and these:

and not forgetting these guys:

Yep, that's what you need - a symbol to represent all those that don't conform to the anthorpomorphic template of two arms, two legs and a head.

Oh dear.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #106

Come on - who wouldn't?

• BOOSTER GOLD #38 - Giffen and DeMatteis seem determind to run through the roster of their Justice League run as time travelling Booster Gold bumps into General Glory when he ends up in World War II. Yet another good, fun issue.
• CHRONICLES OF WORMWOOD: THE LAST BATTLE #5 - Blimey, I'd almost forgotten about this series! This is a cracking issue as several things come to a head and Jay makes a big sacrifice for his friend.
• GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #4 - Guy Gardner's Lanterns head into the Unknown Sectors (question for you - if they become known, does that mean there would then be more than 3,600 sectors?) and Sodam Yat rebels against the Corps.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #13 - So Magog, the guy that was big enough to helm his own title just a little over a year ago, has now been summarily disposed off, tossed aside and killed by Max Lord with Captain Atom being framed for the murder. That's another black mark against Judd Winick in my book because, yes, I kinda liked Magog. Sue me.
• KNIGHT AND SQUIRE #2 - oh, I'm liking this! Let's ditch Winick from Power Girl and get Paul Cornell to write it! Yes, part of the attraction is seeming deliberate (and a little cliched) elements of British life injected into American comics but there's so much fun in this title it escapes from being a parody into genuine good humour. Would it work as an ongoing? Probably not, but a six issue mini-series seems perfect.

And there were a couple of things that made me smile this week, both from Knight And Squire #2:

That scene was simply there for that punch line but it worked a treat! And, in the same scene in the newsagents, it tickled me to check out the titles of the "top shelf" magazines:

Tucked in besides copies of Indeed, Blimey, Oops, Honestly and Strewth . . . the Joy of Sheds!

Paul Cornell, I salute you!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #102

Larfleeze shows why he's the one getting his own Christmas special this year

• BOOSTER GOLD #37 - you're almost left with the thought that either Giffen or DeMatteis is occasionally tapping the other one on the shoulder and saying "Didn't we have a plot we were following at some point?" This is still a great fun series but it does delight in wandering down various sub-plot alleyways before being wrenched back to the main one! And methinks we haven't seen the last of Estrogina!
• GREEN LANTERN #58 - finally, Carol Ferris slaps down Hal Jordan's expectations, reminding him of his girl back home while she gets on with her life. Meanwhile Salaak begins to get suspicious of Jordan's activities and hey, the Flash turns up.
• GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #3 - the Red Lantern Bleez seems to be along for the ride, but at least she can speak now. Sodam Yat finds he's being hunted by his own father and that creepy, floating dwarf who's behind the draining of Lantern's rings shows up again.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #11 - this issue's pretty much all about the Metal Men attacking Fire, Ice and Rocket Red which ends up with Ice being forced into her new persona, the origin of which we meet in the next issue and which I moaned about earlier this week.
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA 80 PAGE GIANT 2010 - I've said it before: the thing with anthologies is you have to take the rough with the smooth. The Obsidian story was well done though it was little more than an origin tale; Jesse Quick helps a battered woman (as an aside - a trash can lid can deflect bullets? I don't think so!); Mr Terrific's tale was a little empty; Cyclone battles through some some spiteful people and discovers a new power; Sand shoots a cop (but he deserved it); the Wildcats get closer to each other; and Dr Fate manages to help someone in death. Mostly okay stories, though the Mr Terrific one was, as I said, just a little less than the others.
• KNIGHT AND SQUIRE #1 - I've never picked up a book before on the strength of a preview, but had to give this a go. It's wonderfully British and I applaud DC for publishing it. Storywise it does little except establish some characters but does so with humour and charm. Well worth getting.
• UNTOLD TALES OF BLACKEST NIGHT #1 - basically an anthology so again a little hit and miss. I think the most pertinent thing to come out of it was the recruitment of Lyssa Drak by the floating, creepy dwarf from the Green Lantern titles.

And what made me smile:

Induce vomiting! Kiss her!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #84

Robotman gets caught out staring at Saturn Girl's behind

• BLACKEST NIGHT DIRECTOR'S CUT #1 - finally got round to picking this up, partly to satisfy the collector in me. The cover gallery's nice, the script to issue #1 gives an insight into how comics are made and the unused scenes - particularly the Rainbow Raiders suicide - were interesting. Certainly not essential to the Blackest Night series, but an enjoyable add-on.
• THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #34 - I'm sure some of us have seen this type of story before: a two parter involving time travel almost guarantees a couple of things 1) that the first issue will have odd, seemingly insignificant details dotted throughout (in this case the moving time sphere and the pink fluff) and 2) that the second issue will explain these as being caused by the same characters working behind the scenes to ensure their present selves don't see them. It's not a bad story, but neither is it anything above ordinary - it seems like an exercise for Straczynski to be able to tie up the various anomalies in an interesting way next month.
• GREEN LANTERN #54 - Atrocitus comes back, along with Red Lantern cat Dex-Star who makes a great entrance. The entities of the various Corps are named and shown to Jordan and the others and the mysterious cloaked figure frees Sodam Yat from Daxam's star. Oh, and Lobo turns up leading to a great next issue caption: Lobo punches people with rings. Hard.
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #48 - Tony Bedard's first issue as writer isn't too bad; admittedly I don't think he's got Atrocitus's voice down yet but John Stewart's handled well.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #2 - well, I guess those first couple of pages answer the critics who wondered about how Max Lord would deal with the physical evidence of his crimes / existence. Nothing much happens apart from scenes where the main characters are all shown attempting to convince other heroes that they're right and being turned down. But hey, always nice to see Jaime Reyes's Blue Beetle.
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE RISE OF ARSENAL #3 - oh, you gotta go down before you can come up or some such other homily springs to mind with this. Arsenal goes back to the dope, then gets forced to go cold turkey and starts hallucinating his dead daughter Lian. One more issue to go.
• POWER GIRL #12 - I know this series is continuing, but this issue for me feels like the end. It's a wonderful, wonderful wrap up issue that still leaves plots not so much hanging as available. Having set the bar so high on this series, Palmiotti, Gray and Conner have almost guaranteed a slump in quality when Winick takes over next month but I don't want to tarnish this last issue snapshot with negativity about the new team. Power Girl has, for just over a year, been consistently one of the best books out there: fun, well-written, wonderful art, and characters that you end up caring about. There's no way Blackest Night could have made a cross-over into this world and as much as I enjoyed that series, I'm glad Power Girl never had to deal with it in these pages. I'm seriously going to miss this book even though I plan on sticking with the title if you see what I mean.
• PROJECT SUPERPOWERS: CHAPTER TWO #9 - okay, so all the heroes are piling on Zeus and after spending ages just growling Catman - sorry, Man-Cat finally gets to tear up the imposter Kid Terror who, paradoxically, may turn out to be just what they need against the mad god.
• TEEN TITANS #83 - oh god where do I start? I've stuck with different titles through rough patches before but I'm seriously considering dropping this until Henderson either leaves or is kicked off as writer. Changeling's yelling out "Raven!" every five minutes; Superboy and Wonder Girl are apparently splitting up because... well, I'm not sure, really; Changeling's yelling out "Raven!" every five minutes; Aquagirl fancies Superboy; Changeling's yelling out "Raven!" every five minutes; two doctors spout more pseudo-science nonsense than ever before; and why the hell would Changeling become a chimpanzee to mend a broken computer?! This is becoming a truly dreadful title with every issue, a car crash that I can't help staring at. Someone please tell me Henderson's going to be fired soon?
• Co-feature: COVEN OF THREE - not a bad start to a tale about three teenage magicians; always nice to see Traci 13 (even if she looks younger than when she was in Tales of the Unexpected a couple of years ago) and I wonder how Black Alice will be reconciled with her Secret Six appearances but this is still better than the main story.

And what made me smile will surprise no regular reader of this blog: Power Girl #12 just delivers so much this month like this -

and this - 

and this -

Once again a big thank you to Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Amanda Conner for their excellent run on this book. Those of you who haven't picked it up can get the whole thing in two trade paperbacks with the second one out this year.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #37

A quick trip through this week's comics:

• Booster Gold #20 - enjoyable despite Booster's inconsistency when it comes to hitting women (see previous post)
• Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead #1 - all this trouble over a stolen breakfast fruit. Oh, wait a second . . .
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #1 - anyone else think a "build your own Wonder Woman" is kinda creepy?
• Green Lantern Corps #36 - Sodam'll be fine; after all he's alive in the 31st century in Legion of Three Worlds, right?
• Punisher # 70 - well that all wrapped up quickly, didn't it?
• Titans # 13 - who's taking bets on whether the Titans and their Teen team are dead? Anyone? Anyone at all?
• Trinity #50 - "Oh God. It's not over." Come on, Lois, it's got another two issues to go.

And what made me chuckle this week:

Heh heh - four astronauts fantastically disappointed at their rocket being downed by Booster Gold!