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Hey, guys! For a change of pace, I'm really proud of this week's comic. This is the kind of big reveal I've been threatening for weeks and, for once, I actually revealed something! Believe me, as excited as you guys are (you...are excited, right?), I'm even...excited-er!
Anyway, with no further ado, here are this week's comic reviews (warning: SPOILERS, especially for Batgirl, The Ray, and Superboy, so if you follow any of those three, feel free to skip my review).
Stormwatch #5
- I swear, Stormwatch is one of those comics that's just laughably absurd because…hey, comics! Someone gets to say "the data I got from the moon." Data. From the moon. That's at least a little bit awesome.
- Speaking of the moon, remember how I said last month's issue marked the end of the Stormwatch vs. The Moon story arc? Well, I…guess technically that phase of the story's over, but this is still listed as "The Dark Side: Part 5."
- Also, Stormwatch gets an emergency visit from a member of The Shadow Cabinet (the Stormwatch team's bosses) to elect a new boss on the team. This results in some good comedy moments of him rattling off different characters' traits or deep dark secrets.
- Overall, I think this may have been the best issue of Stormwatch yet. The story felt well-balanced and moved at a fast clip (as opposed to some issues that, I felt, sort of dragged).
The Lone Ranger #1
- For the record, this is about as much knowledge of the Lone Ranger I had going into this.
- "It's a good day…to see some justice done." Ohh…that's good comic.
- I'll be honest…I wasn't expecting much from this comic. What I got was a surprisingly moving story from the perspective of Jurgens, a farmer in the Old West whose family is in need of some justice. I would highly recommend you seek this book out and I can only hope the rest of this arc is as good as this first issue.
Batgirl #5
- A new conspiracy comes to Gotham with a crime family muttering on about "338" and we briefly see a new mystery woman named Gretel who can handle herself in a fight.
- We also flash back to see Barbara's less-than-touching reunion with her mom, picking up from the last issue's cliffhanger. Maybe it's because we started with the whole "338" plot, but I wasn't too sold on Barbara's mother. I guess we'll have to see how she's developed in future issues, so I'm going to hold off on passing judgment here.
- The Occupy movement comes to Gotham with the awesome protest slogan "NO WAYNE, NO HOW!" in response to Bruce Wayne's downtown urban renewal project. Whoever came up with the "NO WAYNE, NO HOW" slogan deserves a raise.
- Oh, look. Bruce Wayne drank the magic 338 Kool-Aid, too. Considering they tease a team-up with Batman next issue, I'm assuming he'll be able to shake it pretty quick.
The Ray #2 of 4
- I love the loose, easygoing narration in The Ray. I'm secretly hoping that this is selling well enough to earn an ongoing series in DC's upcoming announcements of new books.
- Lucian finds a brave new way to have relationship drama in comic books…he uses his light-based superpowers to BECOME INDIAN to impress his girlfriend's traditional Indian parents. Somehow he forgot to run this by her (conflict!) and she chews him out. Her father glares at him through the window.
- Another really great thing about this series is that all of the monsters have been weird, giant sea creatures. I'm expecting either an Aquaman team-up or the giant squid that was missing from the Watchmen movie.
- And, in true superhero fashion, his girlfriend gets kidnapped. DC needs to make this an ongoing STAT because they have their very own Spider-Man right here.
Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #5
- Since I don't follow Dan Didio's O.M.A.C. book, I went in assuming that I had missed the first part of this comic. So opening it up and seeing "Current Mission: stopping a race of Man-eating Mountain Dwarfs" just makes me smile and say "oh, comics."
- Dude. As Frankenstein's threatening the dwarfs, he just casually mentions that his sword is the sword of the Archangel Michael. THAT IS AWESOME (I also thank DC for having a more literal interpretation of the Michael sword than Supernatural did back in season 5, but that just brings up bad memories, so I'll be moving on).
- Frankenstein called O.M.A.C. "boy" like he was about to tell him to go out back and pick out a switch. That was out of nowhere and I love it!
- This issue really didn't do O.M.A.C. any favors…he kind of comes off as a third-rate Hulk knock-off in this book and it didn't really fill me with any desire to read more about the character.
- Also…minor nitpick/possible art failure: O.M.A.C. teleports off with Frankenstein's left arm right as he's trying to decapitate O.M.A.C. with his sword, held in his right arm. After the teleportation, we never see the sword again. Did O.M.A.C. steal it? Did Frankenstein drop it to clutch his arm stump? What happened?! THESE ARE THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS, DC!
Superboy #5
- Superboy remains a solid book, but my problems with it stem from a continuity standpoint: this issue precedes Teen Titans #5 and, if these kind of muck-ups continue, they're bound to make my head hurt.
- We also get some oblique references to "Culling Day," including a creepy creepy farm couple who feel like those country people you see in TV shows who kidnap and hunt people for sport (if you watch your genre television, you've seen these people before. I always hate them).
Batman: The Brave And The Bold #15
- I don't usually read this book, but I was a fan of the cartoon and, hey, this issue has Mister Miracle in it (I'm kind of a sucker for Mister Miracle).
- This issue mixed some of Mister Miracle's best assets (Mother Box, Jack Kirby's Fourth World, and impossible escapes) with some of Batman's traits (namely villains trapping him in a dream state…the premise for two Batman: The Animated Series episodes if memory serves).
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