Early July
What took them three months to release Suicide Squad Blaze part 3? I mean, Rogues as well, but I jumped off that train with part two anyhow. 3 months for these black label titles???? *ugh* This isn’t Image comics you know guys! And everyone keeps trying to tell me the comics industry isn’t broken.
It’s strange too . the title actually got a lot worse in the intrum. I know I keep harping on the Amanda Waller as a villain thing, but they REALLY turned her into a terrible person here – off the charts. The story goes esoteric off the charts and gives the strangest Vertigo title a run for it’s money. It’s one of those things – you can go too freaky, too weird, and too edgy. Blaze revs up and goes right off that cliff.
I
t’s a beautiful fall though. The art is absolutely gorgeous and inspired. Standing alone it’s some wonderful rendering. But for this thing to fall apart here is a big disappointment to me – especially with me digging the first couple issues.
I’d actually completely forgotten that Batman ’89 was still going. I probably should have just waited for the whole thing to wrap up and grab a trade. I still might, now that it’s all over. a trade would look really nice next to my copy of the actual film adaption (By Jerry Ordway – my favorite Superman artist 
no less!)
It’s genuinely an interesting take on this universe. I’m not sure I would have been happy with it if this had been the actual third film, but then again – I wonder how much like this a film would have been. I don’t feel as much Burton influence as I think we would have seen had he made it. I also remember not being real thrilled with the racebending on Robin when it was rumored back then, but then again, I was similarly disappointed with the recasting of Two-Face when we ultimately got Batman Forever (which I DO really like). Because this exists as an exercise in theory, I think it becomes far more palatable and it’s been an interesting enough read – with the occasional moments of brilliance.
I also checked in with Daredevil. You may recall me pointing out that Devil’s Reign didn’t quite reestablish the status quo that I really wanted, rather redirecting DD into a whole new globetrotting direction – but before we do, it’s time for one last night out on the town in the big apple, busting heads with Spidey. It’s genuinely good. It’s everything I want this title to be. We’ll see where issue two goes, but this one bit of storytelling sure did make a good deposit of goodwill in the bank.
Over at the Punisher though – my patience is just about wearing out. They are doubling down on this garbage about Frank being a trouble kid and trying to retcon a foreshadowing of the Punisher into his ten year old self and ….UGH! Just read my last review. It’s all there.
There’s some cool stuff here once we get past that bit. It’s particuarly interesting to see Lady Bullseye and her companion show up to do battle with Frank…and we may just be seeing the real turning point here where he turns on the Hand. It sure feels like it, but I’m honestly not sure where this is going. For now I’m still on the ride and just enjoying the pretty pictures.
By the way, is anyone else reading Flashpoint Beyond? I grabbed issue three on impulse and then had to go back and read the rest of it. Perhaps it’s got to do with me recently reading through that amazing Flashpoint special ediditon trade, but I really enjoy this. I find most Batman comics from the last decade or so to just be impenetrable, but this actually works for me. It’s a cool continuation in that universe and actually does these characters some justice. Seriously, give this title a chance and see if you don’t dig it.
Speaking if digging stuff…I finally figured out why this current run of Ghost Rider has got me so hooked.
Quite frankly, it’s Hellblazer. This title is absolutely a new version of Hellblazer – but with more motorcycles and chains. (and not THAT many more chains – John got into some WIERD stuff)
It really occurred to me when I was watching the cop who’s 
pursuing him do magic. Her partner isn’t into it, so it feels cheeky and alien to him, but it’s that sort of mystical edged horror that we’re really seeing here in Ghost Rider. It gives it a freshness of dark delights that just has me totally hooked. It even spills over onto the other characters in the series. This issue it’s Ghost Rider vs the Circus of Crime. Now these guys are fine – but on the goofy side. very 70’s marvel….
This issue is the Circus of Crime like you’ve NEVER seen them before… and they are TERRIFYING.
Batgirls continues to be delightful. Normally I’d be annoyed that Babs is coming in and taking center stage, taking the focus off of Cass and Steph, but man. She’s just so CUTE with Dick. Like, I barely remember what the actuall misson was. I was just there to watch her and Nightwing flirt.
They don’t skimp on the action, never fear. There’s plenty of jumping and punching and foiled evil, but the way these characters are written is just SO compelling and I haven’t ben THIS into Dick and Babs since the ORIGINAL Birds of Prey when it was running simultaneously with the original run of Nightwing. This stuff is ABSOLUTELY back on form. I can’t believe this is one of my favorite comics going right now but is totally is.
The other title I’ve found myself looking forward too every month is the current relaunch of Archer and Armstrong. The books was always a little cracked, but it’s just complete Lunacy these days and enormous fun. Imagine opening the book to see something like this….
Like I said….just really fun. And that’s a lot of what I’m looking for these days. I know we’re only on issue three of this run so far, but it feels like I’ve gotten way more than three issues of reading out of them. I’ll leave you with this image and check back next time!
Last Week’s Pulls 11/13
Man, remember ten years ago when i wold do these kind of “this week’s pulls” fairly regularly? The thing is, I don’t read a lot of new comics. New 52 REALLY broke the habit and comics have been in a sort of slow decline. But there’s DECADES of back issues and fifty cent/dollar bins out there for me to keep feeding the habit….
I got my dates mixed up. CnJ’s big indie sale was LAST week. But while I was out there, I figured I’d hit the recent release racks and fill my 
alliteration quota at the same time.
I’d been eagerly awaiting Batman 89, and then completely forgot about it. While I was at it, I picked up superman 78… even though I’m not a huge fan of the Christopher Reeve movies, (yes, I know that’s sacrilege). Nevertheless, playing around in these movie continuities seems like a really interesting idea and I wanted to explore them. Then, my jaw dropped. Ambush bug was on the cover of Suicide Squad. Ambush Bug! I love Aambush Bug. He’s underused (then again, that may be a blessing. Once Marvel started doing more and more Slapstick stories, they completely lost what was funny about the character in the first place) but I think his two mini series back in the 80s are some of the funniest stuff DC has ever put out. He pops up from time to time nowadays, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. His appearance of new 52 was amazing. Ambush Bug year none on the other hand, was less than triumphant.
This is… Interesting.
I like Suicide Squad, I really do. And I feel like the title is starting to get back on track what with the new movie out. It went wild in bizarre directions for a little while there, and while nothing will ever top the 80s Ostrander run, this isn’t terrible stuff. Ambush Bug is really weird here in issues #7 and #8. He’s goofy, but not quite as wacky as usual. Still, the fourth wall jokes all land, and the fact that he keeps changing costume and dressing up like the various squad characters… To see him in a Captain Boomerang costume and then a Harley Quinn one… It’s absolutely worth the price of admission.
Batman 89 on the other hand, I’m shocked that I’m so underwhelmed. I don’t understand when exactly this movie supposed to be. They’ve got Michael Keaton looking old here. White streaks on his temples like Mr. Fantastic, and it just doesn’t line up. The haircut’s weird. Michael Gough’s Alfred has a mustache and Commissioner Gordon is just a bit more fit. Still big, but that sort of 50s barrel chest big instead of Pat Hingle beer belly big. It all just feels off.
W
e do have to congratulate them though, they are doing the thing we all wanted, giving us more of Billy Dee Williams Harvey Dent. We’re definitely going to see him transform into his version of Two Face, and that’s got me holding on. And they’re also trying to introduce a Robin… this is one of the things I’d like to know more about. Is this supposed to be the Robin Chris Rock was up for? Because they’re calling him Drake… Tim Drake wasn’t Around yet in 1989. Certainly not as Robin. And it’s a weird costume. I’d like to know what it was influenced from.
All in all, I’m not sure I’m into this. We’re only two issues in, but it’s just too flat and too off for me. If you promise me Batman 89, I want everything to look like Batman 89. It’s a high bar.
Superman 78 on the other hand, I can’t believe how much I love this book!
As I’ve stated previously, I’m not a huge fan of the Donner films. I don’t dislike them per se, but the gawky bumbling Clark Kent, and the chain-smoking, raspy voice Lois Lane do nothing for me. In fact, I remember liking parts three and four better because Clark got different love interests that actually cared about who he was! Things were going that direction in the comics at that time as well… With Superman and Lois Lane breaking off their long standing romance, while an adult Lana Lang, Clark’s co-anchor at WGBS, was starting to take notice an interest in him. I really enjoyed them exploring that towards the end of the pre-crisis run.
That may be what really charms me about these comics. It’s not so much that they feel like the Donner movies, as much as it is they feel 
like Superman comics in the late 70’s And early 80s. I’m very much a post crisis John Byrne, Jerry Ordway kind of guy, but I do have a certain nostalgia for those old days. There’s something fun about them, fun about seeing Lex Luthor as a chubby evil doer, and throwing back to a time when they actually had Brainiac well defined a knew what to do with him.
Superman 78 sees Brainiac coming to earth to collect the last Kryptonian to store him in the bottle of Kandor. It’s a perfectly straightforward set up, and gives us an excuse to visit with Marlon Brando as well as Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Margot Kidder, Marc McClure and Christopher Reeve. They manage to sneak in the skeletal super powers version of Brainiac as well, and the whole thing just works. It hangs together, and pulls at the nostalgia heartstrings just perfectly. And they manage to do it all without any politics, social justice or any of the other drags that so anchor down to many modern comics. I am absolutely following Superman 78 all the way.
By the way, speaking of avoiding a lot of those things that dragmodern comics down, is anybody watching Star Trek Prodigy?
Seriously. I think He-Man gave me some renewed hope for some of these “kid” Versions of the series, so I sat down and gave this thing a try.
I’m genuinely loving it.
It’s not trying to be cynical or deconstruct anything, in fact I don’t even know what time period this is taking place in. We’re not necessarily bound by the non-confrontational and optimistic nature of humanity at the time, because we’re not dealing with humanity. It’s a rogue group of aliens who have discovered a lost starship and are learning how to fly it. Yet we still get the optimistic hopeful evolution of humanity in the holographic representation of Katherine Janeway. She feels very Star Trek. In fact, it almost feels like she is there on the bridge with these guys, trying to steer them into becoming Star Trek… I mean Starfleet. The whole thing is absolutely the most enjoyable Star Trek I have watched since the license was handed over to Bad Robot and Secret Hideout. Once again, the show is fairly devoid of social agenda and identity politics, opting instead for an interesting adventure, with moments that are adorable and other moments that are absolute punch the air events. We’ll talk more about this I think, once I get around to catching up on Stargirl again and doing a proper TV post!
Still, the comics thing was fun. We should do this again.
Argo City Comics 