No Freedom Fighters Yet

Despite splendid mini-series featuring the Ray, Phantom Lady, Doll Man and the Human Bomb, this Q & A session about the New 52 offered up the following concerning a possible Freedom Fighters series:

"[Editor-in-Chief Bob] Harras said there are no plans for "Freedom Fighters" at present. "That would have to be a little further down the line," he said."

Which isn't a complete no so maybe there's still hope. And who knows - maybe we'll get one or two more minis before then. A new Firebrand? Red Bee? Heck, maybe even Plastic Man?

Fingers crossed.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #217

He's not wrong.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #214

Admitting it is the first step.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #211

You have to admit, he's got a point - the clue was in the name.

The Shirt Off Her Back

I mentioned in Sunday's Cocktail post about the character of Joan from Human Bomb and her apparent lack of suitable shirts to wear to work. Just in case you missed it, here's what a normal S.H.A.D.E. operative gets to wear on the shop floor:

I'm sure they're perfectly functional, all-in-one high tech romper suits.

The head honcho, Uncle Sam, does the standard boardroom look:

while Joan? Poor old Joan gets to come to work like this:

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #207

Hawksmoor paraphrasing Oscar Wilde. A Haaaawwwksmoooor?

New Human Bomb Mini-Series Coming

Following their work on The Ray, Phantom Lady and Doll Man, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are bringing another of the former Freedom Fighters back to the DCU as revealed over at CBR. From the interview:

"It's the opportunity to say let's take this character, let's take the core of who this character is and make subtle changes or big changes or try to find ways to streamline it for a mainstream audience and still make it fun and still have the charm of those characters."

That there, from Justin Gray, pretty much sums up why I like the writing of these guys - their stories are fun on the whole.

With these four characters brought back into the DCU, can we be looking at a new Freedom Fighters book soon? If it's by this pair, I hope so.

Who Was Who Is Who #20

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Human Target's chance.

HERCULES - with Wonder Woman's premise of gods and monsters, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Hercules turns up there so I'm going for a possible here.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #14

Another tricky decision this week as to who got the Cocktail post: Countdown To Final Crisis #14 was a good, solid read as things really seem to be kicking into gear now; Blue Beetle #23 was as entertaining as ever; Teen Titans #55 stepped out of the shadow of Geoff Johns at last and moved various characters forward; and the lives of doctors Gordon and Nelson in Countdown To Mystery #5 took a turn for the strange.

Despite those and a bunch of other titles I picked up - not least the second trade paperback of the Tangent Comics line - I just had to go for Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters #5 for a whole bunch of reasons, not least of which was the gorgeous cover and the fact that the very first page contains the immortal line: "She wants me to father a thousand explosive insect children."

This title's been splendid from day one and has built on the strong characters introduced in the first mini-series that followed the events of Infinite Crisis. Both in the first mini-series and this one, the writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti haven't shied away from being brutal with their characters - I think the first series had one of the highest body counts of recent years and even with today's wholesale slaughter at DC that's saying something.

And it looks like the deaths aren't about to stop.

The line about "explosive children" comes from the Human Bomb who is being forced by his one-time team-mate Red Bee to impregnate her following her transformation into an alien insect/human hybrid. Stripped of his containment suit, however, the Human Bomb does what a bomb does and begins to countdown to an explosion.

Mind controlling her team-mates and using it as a way of removing female competition, Red Bee commands Miss America - a character that Gray and Palmiotti brought back into the DCU in the first Uncle Sam series - to absorb the Bomb's blast and fly into space before it explodes, presumably killing the all American heroine. Of course, with no body to be cradled in someone's arms, there's always the chance that Miss America could return but based on the writers' previous series, I don't hold out much hope.

Something else Gray and Palmiotti have done with these series is the introduction of new heroes and villains, some brand new, others as the latest incarnations of older heroes.

The latest Firebrand, along with the other members of the team have been stuck to the walls and, once they've been forced to mate with Red Bee, will be eaten by the resulting progeny. Breaking free, Black Condor manages to attack Red Bee and stoically pronounces that for everyone to be freed, Red Bee must die.

Ever the liberal, Firebrand doesn't agree while one of the newest heroes introduced - the new Captain Triumph - has no qualms whatsoever about Condor's rough treatment of his former team-mate as can be seen in the picture.

Condor's efforts, though, are for nothing as the mind-controlled Human Bomb attacks him only to be commanded by Red Bee to kill him.

It's a great series and I for one would be well behind an ongoing written by Gray and Palmiotti and illustrated by Renato Arlem who, despite his tendency to use the same scene several times in one issue, is a damn fine artist.