Friday Night Fights - Punch Lines

Over at Spacebooger, the fights keep rolling in. This time round, the rules are that I can't use any character I've featured so far - this means Catwoman and Green Lantern Hal Jordan are off limits for the rest of the fights.

This week, then, I've been trawling through some old trades and came across this little gem:

Yep, that's the Creeper facing off against the Joker; it's not often you get to see the Clown Prince of Crime in a fist fight, mainly because he just stands there and gets BIFFED!

Those last couple of panels above might look like the Joker's down and out . . .

. . . but no! That's lead weighted coat tails in action, folks!

And in a quick reversal of fortune, the Joker flips the Creeper head over heels.

Head over to Spacebooger, folks, check out the other fights and remember:

This hilarious (apparently) stand-up fight between stand-ups first appeared in The Joker #3 cover dated September 1975, written by Denny O'Neil with art by Ernie Chan and José Luis García-López.

Jonah Hex Poster

Suddenly, the summer doesn't look so empty.

No Cocktail Post This Week

Not because I'm away or am busy or anything along those lines, rather it's caused by this:

Yep, that's the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland that's played havoc with air traffic into and out of the UK where I live.

One of the casualties of the recent ban on flights around the UK has obviously been the delivery of comics to this wonderful nation so I have nothing to read this weekend but, on the bright side, should have a bumper batch next week.

Friday Night Fight - Cutting Jordan Some Slack

It's Friday, so that means another Friday Night Fight hosted by Spacebooger.

Over the last few weeks, I've shown Green Lantern Hal Jordan being smacked around by some of the lamest villains I could find but you know what? I still have a fondness for the guy and a while back his books were top of my reading list.

So, just for the hell of it, and to show I don't hate Jordan completely, here he is back in 1993:

That's Mongul kicking him around (literally) shortly after Jordan had discovered the mess Mongul had made of Coast City. This was during the Reign of the Supermen storyline and Jordan had just returned from space to find his home town utterly destroyed. Obviously, he's a bit peeved.

With some ring-constructed armour and the hammer of Steel (who had appeared earlier) Jordan's ready to do this:

Love him or hate him, Jordan used to be a force to be reckoned with so while it might cost me some votes in the poll over at Spacebooger, I'm still happy to use this.

Now remember:

This hammer-in-the-face blow first appeared in Green Lantern #46 cover dated October 1993, written by Gerard Jones, with gorgeous art by M.D. Bright and Romeo Tanghal.

I Have A Confession To Make

I like Batman: The Killing Joke, I really do. I've read it countless times over the years and bought the Deluxe edition a couple of years ago.

Today, though, I've noticed for the very first time that the Joker's wearing a hat on the cover.

How weird is that?

What's Good For One . . .

Just read the CBR report on the DC Brightest Day Panel which was entertaining on the whole but one thing leapt out which I thought I'd just throw out here:

The topic of characters NOT brought back to life in "Blackest Night" went across the panel and the crowd, and Sattler asked if there was anyone fans were hoping would be brought back "other than Ralph and Sue Dibny and Ted Kord." Several fans noted Damage and one asked for Aztek. When it came to the Blue Beetle, [James] Robinson said that it was because he died a dramatic heroes death and because people liked Jaime Reyes so much, they decided it was best to leave it be. "I love Ted Kord too, but to resurrect that character would be a terrible thing."

Now I happen to agree that the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle is a great character - shame his ongoing series didn't run as long as I'd like but it was cool and he's still getting a little bit of exposure in Teen Titans and the upcoming Justice League: Generation Lost.

But the line about deciding to leave Ted Kord as one of the dead because of the heroic nature of his death . . . that doesn't really wash.

Here's the last part of that quote again but with a couple of names changed:

When it came to the Flash, [James] Robinson said that it was because he died a dramatic heroes death and because people liked Wally West so much, they decided it was best to leave it be. "I love Barry Allen too, but to resurrect that character would be a terrible thing."

That doesn't really work, does it? I'm loathe to get in to rating how heroic one character's death was compared to another, but Allen died in Crisis on Infinite Earths for the sake of the entire Multiverse! It doesn't get more dramatic than that and yet, despite people liking Wally West so much, Allen gets to come back.

I'm not complaining about which character has or hasn't returned, just the ridiculous, contradictory reasoning behind leaving one character dead and allowing another to return.

Do what you need to do, DC, but is it too much to ask for consistency?

Justice League: Generation Lost #5

Who'd have thought I'd be pushing a Judd Winick written comic? I'm just a sucker for Soviet-style artwork I guess.