Peach The Destroyer: Peach the Destroyer: Issue 045

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Hey, guys. Not much to say since I'm typing this up mere minutes before the comic updates, so I'll see you next week. Now on with the comic reviews!

I really like how, whenever DC recaps something from another book, they throw in a note from "Cross-Promotional Chris" or some other person with a wacky nickname. It feels, ironically, a little like classic Marvel comics.
Superboy, on a hunch, punts N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s surveillance truck into a river and flies off.
Supergirl shows up, still dealing with her Kryptonian language barrier. Superboy's powers solve the issue by having him instantly download Kryptonian speech, which helps them get on the same page…and quickly start fighting (y'know, as superheroes do).
Superboy's inner monologue is…surprisingly human this month, showing his evolution as a character. Also, he gets punched by Supergirl a lot.
I'm not sure if the newfound knowledge that clones revolted on Krypton is a clue to what caused its destruction, but it's an interesting bit of information nonetheless.
Supergirl explains that Kryptonian clones are doomed to turn into mindless killing machines (which could explain stuff like…y'know, this), which I'm sure can be explained away with one line of dialogue about Superboy's half-human side, but it's nice that he has something new to fear.

We begin with a flashback of Kara training for the combat portion of her finals trials and she receives some important advice from her father, Zor-El.
Kara escapes the ruins of her dying planet (which, remember, was so far away from Earth's yellow sun that her powers had faded) thanks to…a pick-me-up speech from holograms/memories of her parents? I don't really understand it, but it gets her off-world and back to Earth, where Reign's popped back up (no other inhabited planets between here and Krypton, huh?).
Reign reveals that more Worldkillers survived Krypton's destruction, teasing a heck of a knock-down drag-out fight next month.

One of the great aspects of this run on Wonder Woman has been the designs of the Greek gods. Last issue we met the Cthulhu-like Poseidon and this month we meet Hades, who looks like an albino midget in armor wearing a crown of melted candles that covers half his head. Honestly, I thought he was a flunkie at first, but as soon as he introduced himself…know what? It works.
Also, just a bit of fun with the Greek pantheon, a character says "god almighty" and gets no less than three "yes?"es. We need a petition to keep Brian Azzarello on this book forever.
This issue's an interesting game of Wonder Woman's team trying to pull a fast one on the Greek gods. In the end, Diana finds herself under Hades' thumb, ending the issue on an ominous note.

This is one of those issues I won't have a lot to say about…not saying that it's bad or incomprehensible, mind you.
The conspiracy theory ramps up with the team rescuing top secret sleeper agents, culminating in an office building getting activated (which is a really, really creepy visual).
The only negative is it feels like some tension was lost between issue 5 and this one. The big cliffhanger from last month gets addressed pages later almost in a "oh snap, we forgot to mention…" kind of way.

This is the beginning of a new leg of the Snarked! adventure (I believe it's even being billed as the perfect jumping on point for new readers, if memory serves), with our intrepid heroes out at sea.
"You! Mister La-De-Dah I'm-So-Mysterious Cheshire Cat! Where on Earth have you been? Do you have any idea of what we've been through the last couple of days?" Have I mentioned I love the writing in this book?
This book is so good it's positively beaming and you have no excuse for not reading it right now.

"Oh. Stupid Avengers. We get it, Hawkeye. You can shoot an arrow real good." Y'know, as a DC fan who'll always prefer a certain Emerald Archer…I enjoyed the random archery teacher complaining at Hawkeye.
As if trying to win me over, Hawkeye proceeds to complain about one of the kids in the class using a compound bow. Nice try, Hawkeye. Keep working at it (also, it seems his complaining has fallen on deaf ears over at Nerf).
"'What if you missed and that one got away?' 'It's me. I don't miss.'" Seriously, Hawkeye? Seriously? Jeez, someone let being in the Avengers movie go to his head. Has he always been this full of himself?
I think the next Avenging Spider-Man team up needs to be someone Spidey gets along with. Red Hulk was one thing, but Hawkeye just rubs me the wrong way.
I'm sorry, but this was the worst showcase for a character since the Frankenstein/O.M.A.C. team-up…in fact, I'd say O.M.A.C. came off better in his issue. This was several pages of "I'm awesome. Hey, guys. Come check out how awesome I am!" with an eleventh-hour Very Special Message tacked on. Honestly, I don't think a single issue made me nerd rage harder than this.

"Flash Gordon, Earthman." I don't know why, but I just love that that caption's sitting there on the first page, like it's daring someone who picked this up by accident to keep reading.
Flash, after destroying two alien ships: "greetings from Earth, fellas." Note that he says it with a period, not an exclamation point. Why? Because he's Flash FREAKING Gordon!
This issue felt a little slow after the breakneck pacing in the beginning, but I don't mind it. It's the calm before the storm, and the storm seems to be coming next month.

I'm still not sure how I feel about this book…there were some good parts and there were some questionable parts.
I liked...the idea of Challengers of the Unknown being in the DCnU, which is the point of "DC Universe Presents," I suppose: highlighting characters who may not be popular enough to warrant an ongoing series.
I hated the trippy dream sequence serial killer 2-page spread...and then at the end of the issue, there's the tease that it wasn't a dream sequence (I guess?) and serial killer boy's our villain? It really ended on a sour note for me.

That's all for this week. I'll see you next Thursday, hopefully with more to say!

Peach The Destroyer