Peach the Destroyer: Issue 039

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Hey, guys. Can you believe I'm already on comic #39?! Crazy! Well, we're finally back with Peach and her friends and things look like they're going to be getting even worse. What's the secret Bobby's been protecting our heroes from? We'll soon find out!

But first...comic book reivews! (warning: spoilers)

Swamp Thing #5

• This continues to be a bit of a perplexing book for me. At one point it dawned on me that we've actually been seeing Swamp Thing's alter ego, Alec Holland, almost exclusively for five issues now. Imagine DC trying that with, say, a Batman or Superman comic. Crazy!
• Creepy kid villain is still creepy. Hate kid villains.
• Yanick Paquette is the only credited artist this issue (sorry, I usually don't keep track), and his pencils really keep me coming back to this story with the sharp layout and a…beautiful macabre. In fact, I think those words sum up the whole book for me. Beautiful macabre.

Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist #2

• Dude. This is how you start a comic. Seriously, if I'd been marketing this book, this would have been the only preview image released. Wanna see Flash? Nope. Wanna know what Mongo's gonna look like? Buy the book. 'cuz we got Hitler saluting Ming the freakin' Merciless up in here!
• - This book is just deliciously old school. Flash and Dale are separated and Dale's ordered to Ming's chambers? Flash reacts by beating on some guards and grunting "THAT'S NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY!" I swear, you can almost hear an Indiana Jones-era Harrison Ford yelling the dialogue.
• - "In our darkest hour, he could save every one of us." Okay, Flash Gordon, you've already won me over. You officially don't have to quote Queen songs to make me happy (unlike other incarnations of this character).

Justice League International #5

• Y'know, a newscaster raises a very good question early in this book: where is Superman? Where is the Justice League? Until I'm told otherwise, they're having a beach party. Superman's kicking back in a lounge chair saying "vacations are nice" and they have no clue this is going down.
• I love the JLI…it's like one big, dysfunctional married couple. Everyone gets great banter moments: Guy Gardner complaining about Godiva, Rocket Red and August General in Armor actually behaving and not bickering with one another. Vixen chastising Batman for always being "the constant rain cloud."
• And the team saves the day by crashing a gigantic spaceship into the Earth and Godiva has a flirty moment and, oh yeah, a vague shadow villain proclaims that the JLI are gonna get killed. Overall? Awesome.

Blood Red Dragon #3

• I'm sure I say this every month, but considering that I remember when "Stan Lee Presents…" usually only preceded really terrible straight-to-DVD movies based on made-up (and lame) characters, this is a huge step up.
• I was sort of worried that the entire issue would be recap/backstory…the issue starts out that way, but it's quick about it before returning to Oblivion's invasion of Earth.
• Yoshiki fires up his Dragon powers by humming a song. I love this since Yoshiki's, y'know, a musician. Also, he succumbs to The Dragon's light and I swear he literally doubles in size (which I have no problem with because…know what? It looks pretty awesome).
• The story wraps up nice, neat, and fast. All I can say is…it feels a little too fast, a little too convenient. I think this could have been split into two issues and paced out a little better, but I can only assume the objective was to get past the "pilot" phase of the book and establish the new status quo quickly.

Green Arrow #5

• Gotta say…when I was told GA would be fighting a guy named Midas in this issue…I certainly wasn't expecting a third-tier Solomon Grundy knock-off (and, just saying, Ollie already fought Grundy in a spectacular fight in Brad Meltzer's "The Archer's Quest" storyline (sorry).
• Overall…I liked this issue, but it's far from my favorite. I think part of my problem is that Midas feels like a misplaced character, like an idea accidentally swapped offices with Swamp Thing (maybe next issue of Swamp Thing we'll suddenly see Alec head to Japan and team up with Black Canary?). Also, the character design feels very out-of-place. I could go on and on, but hopefully you get my point.

Action Comics #5

• Umm…Brainiac (I think) narrates a bedtime story of how Kal-El came to Earth, what's been going on with his spaceship and…I'll be honest, this is a real head-scratcher of an issue. If anyone can explain to me what I just read, feel free to clue me in.

That's all for this week, kids. I'll see you back here next week, same Peach time, same Peach channel!