Who'd Like A Cocktail? #252

I hear that all the time, though thankfully never from Mrs Earth-Prime

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #248

It's important to know the difference

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #240

It's a fear a lot of men have, you know...

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #216

Jonah Hex: Nineteenth Century Batman

Who Was Who Is Who #51

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 Yellow Peri's chance.

THE WIZARD - despite being an old Justice Society villain, I think it unlikely that the Wizard will make an appearance in Earth-2 so I don't expect him to be around too much.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #206

Break it to him gently, Jen

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #201

You'd think the daughter of an archaeologist would read something better, wouldn't you?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #189

Jordan and Sinestro - the DCU's Odd Couple

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #177

Because nothing lets you bond with a new hero like a little old-fashioned racism

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #164

Arkham fails to produce a worthwhile threat.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #160

If you have to make something with a grenade, I'd vote for a curry.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #152

Some people ask the stupidest questions.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #148

Jonah Hex: as forthcoming after the relaunch as he ever was

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #115

Zatanna makes a whole lot of sense

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? #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? #80

Power Girl delivers an ass kicking to order

Bumper crop this week following last week's volcano-caused delay.

• Battlefields: The Firefly And His Majesty #2 - ah, humour building up to what will be a horrible, horrible ending. Damn, this series is good.
• The Brave And The Bold #33 - as soon as I saw Batgirl I sussed what was going on but you know what? It worked. Easily the best of the Straczynski issues so far, this quiet tale was a little sad but handled really well. Plus it has the gorgeous, gorgeous artwork of Cliff Chiang.
• Crossed: Family Values #1 - another foray into the world of the Crossed, this looks to be as nasty as the Garth Ennis series; even without the infection, we're dealing with a incestuous rapist so things can only get worse.
• The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill #5 - the preludes are done as Roland is left alone and in search of the Tower.
• Green Lantern #53 - so, who's the short guy in the cloak at the start of the issue? The scarred Guardian somehow regenerated? And why is Lex Luthor acting like a real estate agent? We all know how that turned out in Superman Returns.
• Green Lantern Corps #47 - man, Arisia's pissed and the Guardians know it! For once, after the Lanterns stand up for themselves, it looks as though the Guardians might actually be learning how to deal with people.
• Justice League of America #44 - okay, this book is still a little clunky in places but it seems to be getting better on the whole.
• Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #2 - poor old Roy; grief makes you say some pretty mean and stupid things to those you love, doesn't it?
• Justice Society of America #38 - the Joker begging to be executed alongside the Batman? That kinda makes sense!
• Power Girl #11 - I suspect this may be the last but one issue of fun, well-written superheroics from this title. Power Girl goes up against the Ultra-Humanite who's tucked up in Terra's body and while that battle seems resolved, there's still Satanna to deal with.
• Teen Titans #82 - I am a slave to various titles, I see that now. I have to pick them up no matter how little I'm enjoying them. Teen Titans is a case in point as the writing is just awful (Superboy and Kid Flash fist-bumping after saying they need to bury their friends? Ugh. Wonder Girl being a stroppy cow and not talking to Superboy even though he's just returned from the dead? Ugh.) and even the art's become worse - Raven gets kidnapped at the end and the last panel (complete with clichéd "Nooo!" from Beast Boy) is the smallest on the page? Come on, that whole last page was just too cramped and badly  laid out. Can someone please get another team on this book?

But this made me smile:

As much fun as Power Girl is, she can be as mean and brutal as she needs to be when her friend's in danger.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #73

A couple of days late due to having last weekend away, but what the heck - here's what I picked up:

• Black Terror #8 - Black Terror finally finds the original American Crusader and ends up helping create a new one. Not a bad series, but still seems to be lurching from one fight to the next a little.
• Blackest Night #7 - the Guardians' secret is revealed and Sinestro claims his position as the best and biggest Lantern in the Universe! Oh, crap.
• Blackest Night: JSA #3 - Power Girl doesn't give up against the Black Lantern Superman and Mr Terrific comes up with a way of getting rid of the Black Lanterns en masse. Of course, it has to be a one time only deal, doesn't it . . .
• Chronicles of Wormwood: The Last Battle #3 - you'd think the Antichrist having a rough time of it would be the right thing to happen, but you can't help feeling sorry for the poor bugger.
• The Dark Tower: The Battle of Jericho Hill #4 - traitors revealed and friends die as the end of Gilead draws ever nearer.
• Green Arrow #30 - well, so much for the Green Arrow / Black Canary title of this book. Still, new writer J.T. Krul works a good story into the Blackest Night event, and artist Diogenes Neves is such a huge improvement on Sienkiewicz. Hopefully this book will manage to claw it's way back from the last few months.
• Justice Society of America #36 - another alternate future looking back tale, this time with the Nazi's in control. This should be good.
• Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #7 - what seems like four thousand sub-plots are crammed into one issue here but it looks safe to say that Kid Terror's secret is going to come to light soon.
• Teen Titans #80 - as one door opens, another closes. Just as Green Arrow starts to recover, Teen Titans continues its downward slide. The writing here is dreadful: Holocaust spends the whole issue saying how lovely and kind he is then flips in a split second? Wonder Girl and Beast Boy's supposed antagonism is clumsy at best and no-one else seems to do anything.
• Co-feature Ravager - this, on the other hand, is still ticking along nicely with Ravager seeking revenge.

And what made me smile:

You might not get it if you haven't been reading Chronicles of Wormwood: The Last Battle but it made me laugh!