Who'd Like A Cocktail? #120

Firebrand bemoans the budget deficit

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #116

Power Girl explains the problems of dating Kryptonians

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #105

See, there are worse things than pelicans

• THE BOYS #48 - with one of the best pastiche covers ever, the new Boys storyline gets underway. The Homelander's plans seem to be underway and Butcher's previous bastardry comes back to haunt him.
• BRIGHTEST DAY #13 - a Hawkman-heavy issue is never a bad thing even when all he's doing is beating the crap out of things which, let's face it, is what he does best. A quick cameo by the Resurrection Man reminds us that Deadman still has a mission to find the Chosen One and as a certain Batman has recently returned, there's no prizes for guessing who next issue will feature.
• CROSSED: FAMILY VALUES #5 - for a moment at the start of this issue there was a flash of what the Crossed world offers to writers: an exploration of how normal people deal with the extreme crap they find themselves in. Then they had to go and bring the corseted and stockinged mother into things as a cartoon villain out to get them. Ah well, not long to go now.
• DOOM PATROL #16 - would it be remiss of me to mention that I've met Brian Keene, author of this issue? And that he's a good friend of my mate Tim? Probably, so I won't. Even though it's something of a fill-in, this is still a good fun issue with some wonderful Giffen artwork. It manages to further Robotman's character as well, pushing him towards the horrible realisation that he may be turning into the Chief. Talking of Robotman, just about any other issue would have ended with that wonderful splash page of the alternate reality Cliff roaring in and I'd have been happy with that. Carrying on with an excellent next panel was just laugh out loud funny! A damn fine issue.
• FREEDOM FIGHTERS #3 - Phantom Lady turns out to be the ace in the hole to get rid of the renegade shamans before Firebrand's conspiracy theories take over. And hey, Miss America's back! Another cool issue of paranoid politics and superheroics.
• JSA ALL-STARS #12 - despite the cover depicting a big space battle, the vast majority of this issue deals with Cyclone and her attempts at leading a normal, de-powered life in university. Until not one but two apparent clones of her super-powered self turn up . . . or do they? Neither Roxy nor one of Cyclone's university friends seem to notice the doubles . . .
• LADY MECHANIKA #0 - finally managed to get my hands on this even though it's been out for a couple of weeks. The art's gorgeous and the steampunk genre is one I enjoy so I'll be sticking with this. The only slight quibble is Benitez's dialogue. Mostly it's okay but every now and then it's just a bit clunky and forced. But hey, it's an introductory issue so here's hoping it'll improve.
• SECRET SIX #27 - both teams go berserk in Skataris and Catman makes a passable Warlord. It's all a bit hectic, to be honest, and I'll be glad once they're back in the real world again.

And what made me smile:

Recipes at the back of Lady Mechanika! This is what we want!

Friday Night Fights - Hail To The Chief

While I'm tucked away in a cold corner of Britain, I'm not unaware of what's happening on the other side of the Atlantic and with a new President settling in this week, I figured I'd go patriotic.

Come back with me to the wild days of 1941 as America becomes involved in the Second World War and Latin salsa bands command radio controlled bomber planes with the sound of Wagner's Ride of The Valkyrie.

Told you they did. But never fear - America has a new heroine to hand:

Miss America in her first outing, destroying the bombers with some sort of non-tactile telekinesis, and the salsa band leader isn't happy.

But Miss America doesn't need fancy powers - a quick Judo flimp and WHOMP! the Latin leader's on his behind.

Who will lead the band now? Only Spacebooger knows!

This patriotic punch-up first appeared in Secret Origins #26, cover dated May 1988, written by Roy and Dann Thomas with art by Grant Miehm.

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.