A Modnar Noitseuq!

When Zatanna speaks backwards, is the backwards phrase pronounced the way it's spelled or pronounced like the original phrase in reverse? For example, when she says, "Nialliv nrut otni a ekans!", would the e in "ekans" be pronounced or would it be silent because "snake"'s e is silent?

Possibility B seems more logical (yeah, yeah, "It's magic"), but A is more interesting, at least to my mind.

Nif

Roberts-Sized Pull List, 3-21

I'm on spring break right now. If my behavior during winter break is any indication, under normal cirumstances I'd be too busy doing other things to update this blog (which I can do anywhere, including back at the university, after all). However, as it happens, I sprained my ankle yesterday, on the *very first day I returned*. So it looks like I'll be working the typing skills after all.

I only made one purchase at the comic shop last week.
***
The Brave and the Bold 2
The Lords of Luck, Chapter Two: Ventura
-- I came to a realization when I finished reading this: This might just be my new favorite superhero comic. That might be a bit premature only two issues in, but I don't think so. Even though we're in the middle of a multi-issue arc, each issue has been of a fairly self-contained nature, so I think we have a pretty good grasp of what the typical issue will be like already. (Though Waid and Perez could decide to arrange any future arc in an entirely different way, I suppose. I don't know.)

And what is the typical issue like? It's 22 pages of everything one could ask for in a good superhero comic: Imagination brimming on every page (...the Hounds of Chaos!...), clever banter that almost sparkles, artwork so vivid and striking that it comes to life whether you want it to or not. Perez seems especially well-suited for this title because his style is one that can successfully pull off a wide range of settings, from the mundane and gritty to -- well, to something as fantastical as a busy, extraterrestrial Vegas-writ-large.

Okay, so the characterization might not be the deepest. Not all books need it to be, though. And given how plot-focused this series is, it's quite impressive that Waid managed to get in as much of it as he did.

Now, some random observations about this issue in particular:

-I like that the Venturans come in more than one color. Humans do, after all. In fiction, unless an alien race looks exactly like humanity (e.g. Kryptonians), all its members tend to be of only one skin color. When Supergirl's carrying Green Lantern between the spires of Ventura, there's one panel that depicts a *blue* Venturan in the foreground. Actually, this could very well simply be a coloring error. Regardless of the cause, though, what's there is there. It was a nice detail.

-When Green Lantern mentioned Ventura's policy against "chrononauts," did anyone else think the story was leading to the authorities trying to arrest Supergirl for her time with the 31st century-located Legion of Superheroes?

-Perez went to town on his design of Ventura. That's one amazing skyscape. You'd think a place that's Vegas-writ-large would look tacky and gaudy (much like the actual Vegas), and maybe in real life, this sort of scenery would be. On the comic page, though, at Perez's hands, it's amazing.

-The background of the cover seems to contain pictures of characters who'll be showing up in future issues. There's Lobo, Adam Strange, the Venturan who's wielding the haruspex, Blue Beetle, and Batman. In the lower right, cut off by the page edge, we also see Mister Miracle (ah, but which one?). Who are the remaining two images, though? One of them seems to have an antenna sticking up from the right side of his head. At first, I thought it might be the cyborg member of the Fatal Five, but I checked and he doesn't seem to have any such design feature. And the thick arm in the lower left of the cover? Looks familiar, but I can't place it with certainty...


-In the time between reading that the balding guy with frizzy hair was someone on a mission and not just some schmuck and reading that he was a Rannian, my mind went to, "Someone from the 5th dimension?" The hair, it was his hair.

-This is my first real exposure to the new Blue Beetle. Not that there's a lot to go on this issue, but he seems pretty interesting here. And that armor and those wings sure look pretty and striking. I'm getting a Peter Parker-esque vibe from him.

-Hey, are those two Tamaranians in the luxury suite? Would their inclusion constitute... continuity porn? *rimshot*

-The woman who briefly appears in the pages of the Book of Destiny before it gets re-written, should we know who she is? Why else would George Perez draw her looking human when no one else on Ventura does (save the Rannian)... unless she's a pre-existing character?

-I like how despite Green Lantern and Supergirl having power of the pretty much unlimited variety, the plot has them using their brains to try to solve their problems.

O'Grady-Sized Pull List, 3-14

My "pull list" entries always get more hits than my others. This is probably due to people performing Google searches for thoughtful, well-written, educated reviews of their favorite comics and, not finding any, accidentally stumbling here instead.

So, I will plug here my earlier entry about the fan theory about how the Superman appearing in comics for the past fourteen years is a clone. More people finding out about it can only be for the good.
***
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight 1
The Long Way Home, Part One
--I was a bit confused as to the official name of this comic. The letters column says "Buffy: The Long Way Home #2 on sale April 4th," which would indicate it's called BUFFY: THE LONG WAY HOME. The cover points in the same direction. However, all the press and fan buzz I've read labels it "Buffy Season Eight" or some such. And the indicia is on their side. So...?

I was trepidatious going into this because of who some of the writers for upcoming arcs will be. I was a little worried that my worry about the future would keep me from really getting into even the current Whedon-written arc.

My fears were put the rest, though, because I definitely enjoyed this issue. Not to the same extent I enjoyed my favorite episodes of the TV show perhaps, but things are just starting to get cooking here, so some leeway can be given.

Some people are saying it's too slow-paced and Whedon is writing in a way suited for TV but not comics, but I'm not sure about that. Right now, it could go either way really. But I don't think devoting one issue to setting up the current status quo and new threat is particularly outside the norm. Nor should it be. Whedon's first issue of FRAY was similarly uneventful, but by the end that mini-series certainly didn't feel ill-suited for monthly comic format.

All that said, this probably would read better in the trade, yes. But that and reading well in monthly installment format aren't mutually exclusive.

The bottom line is this: I enjoyed it, despite the uncertainty about the title's future that was on my mind.

It's certainly interesting to see Whedon's vision of BUFFY freed from the constraints of budget or the technological limits of sfx.

Fables 58
Big Scary Monsters! Part Two of Fathers and Sons
--I feel sad for Mr. North. I thought this arc would conclude in a family reconciliation, but I guess that's not in the cards. I understand why Snow and Bigby would be disgusted, but I still sympathize with the guy; I keep flashing back to those pleading eyes last issue when he asked Mistral if his son had said anything about him. He clearly wanted to patch things up badly, even if he was too proud to admit it. Instead, all he's accomplished is to turn Snow against him, too.

What can I say, I'm hoping reconciliation's still down the line and that Willingham only delayed it so that it will be that much more meaningful when it comes about.

I like that we're starting to see the cubs come into their own distinct personalities. I have trouble visually distinguishing them when they're in wolf form because some of the colors are rather similar, but that's unavoidable, I think. What's the alternative, green and purple wolves?

All in all, another solid issue.

Superman 660
The Art of the Prank
--Simply splendid. With this issue, the Prankster comes into his own, and a unique niche is carved for him within the Superman mythos. Possibly within the DC Universe as a whole, as well.

(One thing I'm unclear on: Does he actually invent his own technology or come by it through other means? He's a former kids' television show host, so it's a little odd if he's also a scientific genius. Then again, it's not impossible, especially in the context of a superhero story... )

The unconventional way this issue begins really works, really pulls the reader in while simultaneously fitting the Prankster's personality.

Busiek once again puts to use his skill at showing what makes a character tick and how s/he approaches life without being too explicit, unnatural, or obvious about it.

I do have two minor quibbles:

One, at one point the Prankster calls "Nitro G" "Harris," but his real name is something else.

Two,"Nitro G" has superpowers without any explanation where they came from. This is actually a small pet peeve I have with superhero comics in general these days. Lots and lots of them do this sort of thing. For example, I think there was an issue of BIRDS OF PREY a while back that had the heroes infilitrating a prison where, hey, one of the guards just happens to have super-strength.

It's not that there's no explanation that irks me so much as that superpowers is being treated as something commonplace and ordinary. (Edited to add: At this point, I seem to go from commenting on the latest SUPERMAN to launching into a screed that uses the latest SUPERMAN as an excuse to do so. Make no mistake, there's no real review past this point.) I'd rather that not be the case because a large part of the appeal of superheroes for me is that they take place in a world so much like our own. It's the juxtaposition of extraordinary people in such a mundane, ordinary world that does it for me. It's *our* world, with super-happenings thrown on top of it all. A world where an ordinary guy showing up with the power to generate nitroglycerin is so unextraordinary that it doesn't warrant the Prankster even asking, "How did you just do that?" is too far removed from our world, at least for me.

From what little of I've read of Silver Age comics, this wasn't the case in them. Unless it was a book like X-MEN where superpowers around every other corner was part of the premise, there was always an explanation for why the newest villain could fly. It might have been a perfunctory explanation but an explanation nonetheless.

That's the approach I'd prefer. Even if the explanation is as unremarkable as being hit by the Gene Bomb, I'd prefer it to no explanation at all.

But, aagh, I'm going on about something that probably belongs more in a separate entry. Like I said, many, many other comics do the same thing, so I can't be too hard about it. My long-windedness on the topic (all too similar to a rant, I fear) is responding to the trend in general, not the instance of it in this one story.

Image pulled from www.comics.org. What *would* I do without them?

This Is the Story of Superman's Clone...

In the mood for secrets and intrigue?

Here's someone's theory about how the Superman that fans have been reading about for the past 14 years is a clone:

"The theory starts with the modern re-telling of the "Sand Superman" story written and drawn by Walt Simonson. Walt's story was originally meant to be a Superman Annual back in 1989; but the work was shelved due to an editorial decision to focus on the "event annuals" or some such. However, Walt's story was a linch pin in a larger Superman story; and the foundation for that greater story was still set up in the regular Superman titles even though Walt's Annual was not published.

"In 1993, Walt's "Sand Superman" story was finally published as a Superman Special to be released one week before Superman #75 (The Death of Superman). Why such timing? Why release the story as a Special that was severely under-ordered (only around 10,000 ever published)? It was the "Vengeance of Bane" strategy; garner attention and fan recognition by under-publicizing and under-printing the key-stone story to the next big event. Of course, this background is getting a bit ahead of things; let's just examine the story for a second.

"The Walt Simonson "Sand Superman" story was set in 1989 even when published as the "Superman Special" in 1993. The timeline is clear because "fat" Luthor is still walking around with his black-gloved hand; Lois and Clark were not yet dating as shown by their dialogue; etc. The story? Lex Luthor attempts to create artificial kryptonite with disastrous results. Superman arrives on the scene only to be caught in a massive explosion in the artificial kryptonite lab. Superman is thrown a great distance and lands in a sand bank leaving a clear impression of his body in the sand. Superman leaves the sand bank, and the impression in the sand begins to rise and glow. A sand being of some kind has been created as a result of the explosive artifical kryptonite detonation.

"As the story continues, the sand being begins to stalk Superman. With each encounter, the sand being leeches away one of Superman's powers; and with each power leeched, the sand being begins to look more and more like Superman. At first, the colors on the sand creature's costume are very faint; but with each power gained, the colors become darker and more in focus.

"By the end of the story, a powerless Superman has lured the Sand Superman to the Fortress of Solitude. In one last desperate bid, Superman lunges at the Sand Superman and the direct contact causes a massive explosion that collapses the Fortress on them both. The fate of the two Supermen is left in question.

"At the end of the story, Superman flies up to Luthor's office. Luthor asks which Superman this is; and Superman explains that he defeated the sand creature. In a strange bit of wording, Superman reveals that he defeated the sand creature by finally understanding what the creature sought. Superman explains that the sand creature was not trying to take Superman's place; the sand creature was trying to *become* Superman. Superman tells Luthor that this realization is what defeated the sand creature; Superman just gave the creature what it wanted and Superman re-gained his powers as a result. Superman flies away from Luthor with no further explanations; and we're all left to scratch our heads a little.

"However, it becomes interesting when you notice the 1989 time frame and re-read the Superman comics from that period. In one story, Superman falls ill and gains a strange "sandy" appearance; but Superman suddenly rises to his feet and returns to normal when kryptonite is brought into the room to weaken Superman's skin for surgery. The reasoning is chalked up to some kind of "virus" Superman had that the kryptonite killed. The doctors are puzzled by it; no further explanations given.

"In the cross-over story "Time and Time Again", Superman is caught in a massive explosion caused by the temporal equipment of the Linear Men. Superman in turn *absorbs* the temporal power due to the explosion; Superman's costume turns jet black as a result of absorbing this power. Superman finishes out the adventure by traveling from time period to time period by using explosions as a catalyst.

"In another story, Superman faces Blaze and Satanus in hell. Blaze uses a magic axe as a sure way to kill Superman; the axe inexplicably breaks on Superman's chest (his body now seemingly invulnerable to even magic). Superman offers no explanation; he just quips that the axe must not have been as magic as Blaze thought.

"Stories continue where Superman seems to get a power boost after an explosion where his enemies weaken at the same time; Superman is able to fight kryptonite menaces such as Conduit without losing his powers or facing any apparent ill effect (beyond psychological); and then there is John Henry Irons who would become Steel.

"During the original Doomsday story, Superman is desperately trying to stop the engine of destruction as it marches toward Metropolis. Part of that battle occurs under-ground when a gas main is ruptured causing a *massive* explosion with Superman at ground zero. The same explosion shakes the construction sight where John Henry Irons works, and John Henry begins to fall to his death after losing his balance. Superman bursts from the explosive cloud to save John Henry's life; and the panel depicting the rescue shows a strange artistic effect surrounding the arms of Superman and John Henry as they connect.

"During a QVC special at the start of "Reign of the Supermen" (the follow-up to Doomsday and the introduction of Steel), Walt and Louise Simonson specifically showed the above panel to the camera. Walt explained to the host that the effect around the arms was intentional and would be very, very important in future stories; yet we never saw anything else about it. The only thing we saw was a brief glimpse of something strange in John Henry's early appearances. During a gang shooting, John Henry actually chases down a speeding car and rips the roof from the car. It was almost like John Henry had "Superman-like" powers out of nowhere; powers that could have been transferred after an explosion.

"At the end of "Reign of the Supermen", the true Superman returns in his black and silver suit. The true, resurrected Superman is powerless despite being in sun-light; but that is corrected by the end of the story. What happens? The true Superman is blasted with pure kryptonite with the Eradicator acting as a body shield; and Superman regains his powers because of that one act. It was as if the Eradicator had transferred his powers...or as if Superman absorbed them. When Green Lantern arrives on the scene, his ring tells him that massive amounts of kryptonite radiation are present; Lantern even encases the other heroes in a protective bubble to keep the radiation out. What's Superman doing in that room? Superman is flying around enjoying his returned powers; he never notices that the room has kryptonite radiation in it. No explanation ever given.

"At this point, the reveal of the Sand Superman seemed to be racing toward its day as the follow-up to "Reign of the Supermen"; a story so massive and so long in the planning that it would have fans digging through the past five years of back issues to find the clues that had been there all along. So what shelved the story? Marvel Comics.

"It is hard to say how Marvel learned of DC's Superman plans; I often wonder if my unprinted letter to Wizard Magazine outling the above may have been used to tip Marvel off. However, Marvel (as in most cases) wanted to beat DC to the punch; and the Spider-man Clone Saga was half-baked overnight to be rushed to the printers. With the Clone Saga in full swing (and fan reaction very mixed), the Sand Superman reveal was shelved...but not killed.

"A few years later, the big DC event "Final Night" hit stands as our sun was eaten thus leaving the earth to freeze to death. During this small time without sunlight, Superman even lost his powers completely; but Superman's powers did not return when the sun came back. Why? Well, what happens to a car battery that's drained...you need to jump start it. Brainiac 5 tries using intense yellow sunlight as the logical thing to jump start the Man of Steel; the sunlight has absolutely no effect. Superman needs some other source of power to jump start him.

"Superman's quest to regain his powers led to a battle with an alien electrical being in the arctic; the electrical being was killed in a massive explosion with Superman present. Superman miraculously survived the explosion without having his powers back. Shortly afterward, Superman began having powers again...electrical powers. The same electrical powers the alien had before the explosion.

"Superman's traditional powers eventually return through some kind of magic hoo-doo at the end of the Millenium Giants story; and things rock on again as normal. Then comes DC One Million. In DC One Million, Grant Morrison presents a future in which Superman wanders the universe for a number of centuries. Superman returns to earth having absorbed over a dozen new powers...his costume now darkened...sound familiar?

"The fact is that DC has never killed the hidden Sand Superman angle; clues continue to be planted. Even in the wake of Infinite Crisis, we had the exact same situation as "Final Night". Superman has "the sun knocked out of him" and loses his powers for a year due to lack of something to jump start him. Yellow sun-light is tried; yellow sun-light has no effect. It is not clear what catalyst gave Superman back his powers One Year Later; but Luthor was collecting a massive amount of kryptonite in the city...

"So there you have it; food for thought. I see the Sand Superman as needing two catalysts. Explosions (such as what created the Sand Superman) ignite the power absorption process; Kryptonite (a key ingredient in the Sand Superman) amps up the power held inside the Sand Superman creature (much like feeding a spark into a flame). All of the clues still fit even today; and DC could split the Sand Superman story wide open any time they want.

"But where is the real Superman who hasn't been seen since 1989? His body is where we last saw it...perfectly preserved in the frozen remains of Superman's original Fortress of Solitude. The interesting thing is to remember the timing, though. The Superman frozen in the arctic was from before Lois and Clark began dating. The true Superman never married Lois Lane...only the Sand Superman did."

I of course do not believe this person's theory for a second. Still, it's fun to think about in the same way a conspiracy theory is. "What if..." And the idea that Superman all this time has been some freakish sand abomination does has an appealing creepiness to it, doesn't it?

And hey! Speaking of freakish abominations.... Worst school librarian ever:

"As an elementary librarian in a public school, I would not choose to spend my limited funds on Goosebumps. The kids do love them. I have read them and find them uninteresting, not at all engaging. When I took this job in the fall, there were a total of 6 copies of Goosebumps in the inventory. They are always checked out and I keep hoping that they will be lost. One has been...hooray! I will not replace them, nor do I intend to buy more."

Laura Manthey. Kindly go and find another job.

Assuming they haven't already fired you.

Image taken from www.comics.org.

Escape from the Negative Zone

Recently, I've been trying to avoid being too negative here in my entries. After all, the reason I tried to curtail my web-surfing in the first place is because there was just so much negativity online. It was around every electronic corner, it felt like. And I'm not just talking on comics-related websites. I'm talking about everywhere.

I wanted to avoid being too negative, but it turns out that's easier said than done. There have been numerous occasions recently where I thought of something that I wanted to put down in an entry, only to quickly realize that it was just another instance of me complaining about something comic-related. And I don't want my blog to go down that road because what's the point of retreating from negativity if I'm just going to dwell on it myself? Really, that this is happening just shows that I ran screaming from it all too late. It's infected me.

So, yeah, I'm trying to focus more on the positive, but it's hard. I find it difficult to express what I enjoy and why I enjoy it at anything beyond the shallowest level. I have this (perhaps irrational) fear that looking too deeply into the subject will end up diminishing my enjoyment. You can never again be awed by the Great and Powerful Oz once you've seen the man behind the curtain, you know?

Bottom line: It's much easier to be negative, which is probably why it happens so much more.

That's why I'm happy to list here in this entry two comic-related items that made me quite happy. Hopefully, this entry will function like a glass of water to wipe my palate clean.

Oh, I'm sorry. That's far too much preamble for an entry in which I'm doing little more than mentioning two news items, one of which is pretty old by this point. Sorry.

Item One:
From an interview with Kurt Busiek in which he mentions some of his plans for SUPERMAN:

"So I'd say there are long-term plans there, yeah. As for sharing them, well, I like to surprise people. So I'll just say that there are plans for Third Kryptonians, bottle cities, Perseus Hazard and Squad K, the Young Gods of Supertown, the Insect Queen, the Beast From Krypton, the Origin of Jimmy Olsen, Lana Lang saving LexCorp from bankruptcy, Superman at the World Series, the Batman/Chris Kent team, the asteroid belt, Lois's cousin, Krypto's new master and lots more. "

All right!

You know you're enjoying a title when even something as plain as the phrase "the asteroid belt" gets you excited and your imagination firing. I'm loving the current SUPERMAN so much that Busiek could have said/written, "Superman punches someone," and I'd still have gotten hopped up.

I really shouldn't be reading stuff like this given how much of a spoiler-phobe I am, but oh well...

Item Two:
Alan Davis is currently working on a CLANDESTINE mini-series, one that will be the first of a series of mini-series.

For me, CLANDESTINE is just one one those series. I can read it over again and over again... and over again. When I begin reading my well-worn trade, I have to eventually force myself away from the pages because if I don't, I won't stop till I finish the last page.

My first encounter with these was wonderful characters was a copy of the TPB in a bookstore. First, I was casually flipping through it; soon, I'd moved to reading in earnest; and by the time I got home, I was in trouble with my parents for staying out so late.

I'm too lazy to find the Newsarama article that announced its return, but I can provide a link to a pencil preview page from Tom Brevoort's blog. I'd put up the image directly, but Marvel's site doesn't enable that, the sly foxes.

Kudos to Marvel for going forward with this series. Given that Davis is on exclusive contract, you'd think they'd want him working on "name" projects while they have the chance. Maybe they realize how much potential the series has? Not an unlikely possibility, given its quality.

Dane-Sized Pull List, 3-7

I haven't been updating as much as I'd like. I'll have to fix that.

I left the comic shop with two purchases cette semaine.
***
Fantastic Four: The End 6
-- A disappointing finale for the latest of Marvel's THE END series. There were a number of things that felt off here --
a. Galactus's sudden arrival to save the day. Technically, it's not a deus ex machina because it was foreshadowed, but it's dangerously close to one.
b. Reed's odd insistence that time travel can't change the past. Obviously, the very premise of the THE END books points to a less-than-strict adherence to past continuity. Still, a change this big bugs me in a way I can't pin down. (Edited to add: On second thought, maybe it's not that big a change; there had to be some reason they never used time travel to save the day, right?)
c. For a THE END story, there's not much of a sense of finality to this tale.

I'm not sure how much water that last criticism holds. Obviously, mistaken expectations can have a negative effect on one's enjoyment of a story, but how much of the blame for mistaken expectations falls in a writer's lap?

I don't regret buying this because it's page after page of beautiful Alan Davis art. I do regret that the writing wasn't by the same Davis who gave us KILLRAVEN, JLA: THE NAIL, not to mention every single CLANDESTINE story the man ever put out. Those three works were enough to solidify his place as one of my favorite mainstream writers, despite how little of his oeuvre I've read. Unfortunately, this six-parter wasn't up to their admittedly high standards.

I will say that the Dragon Man being a member of the future Avengers was cool, though.

Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil 2
Mary Takes The Cake!
-- I said in my comments for the first issue that I found it disappointing. Well, now this is more like it.

Things start out a bit slow, with a couple of scenes that aren't particularly bad but not especially good either, simply... there. However, from the moment the alligator men stage their reptilian revolution onwards, it's nothing but grade-A entertainment, with a deft balance between humor and drama.

I prefer my plotlines to be more complex (and no, by this I do not mean more adult or darker) than what we have here, but it's still a delightful read.

And the new Talky Tawny, née Tawky? Rocks. (And face it, in its own way, this is as radical a revamp as anything Judd Winnick is doing over in TRIALS OF SHAZAM.) I'm a bit of a sucker for talking, intelligent animals who -- and here's the important part -- still look like completely normal animals.

Now that I think about it, Waid and Perez should do a Krypto/Smith's Talky team-up in a BRAVE AND THE BOLD issue. It'd be neat to see how Perez handles an entire issue where the two protags are both four-legged animals. Oh wait, my mistake; it was Alan Moore's Radar, the Hound Supreme, who talked and thought.

DeMara-Sized Pull List, 2-21 & 2-28

Well, midterms are over (four in a single week, grumblemumble), which means I can get back to updating this blog instead of doing something useful with my life.
***
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis 49
Gate of Shadows, Part Two: Dreams of the Fisherman
--And the last issue of Busiek's Aquaman turns out to be my favorite one. Does that count as some sort of irony? I'm not sure.

I have to say, this is the first story I've read in my life that features a demonic, talking manta ray. Really cool. I already like the new Fisherman more than what little I've read of Aquaman's regular foes, Black Manta and Ocean Master.

The Fisherman's dream flashbacks were really well executed. There's a slight chaotic quality to it all that fits wonderfully given his/its confusion, and the narration is well-written. Even the lettering's tops here.

The Brave and the Bold 1
The Lords of Luck, Chapter One: Roulette
--The alien's weapon is called a *haruspex*? As in the kind of fortune teller who sees the future in animal entrails? I wonder if that's a clue or simply Mark Waid having a little fun. The name does fit in a way, I suppose.

I remember reading an old Waid interwiew in which he mentioned that one of the most useful writing tricks for him was to, when out of material, take two disparate characters and get them interacting with one another. If so, no wonder this comic was so enjoyable. The man must have had lots of experience at this sort of thing. The Batman/Green Lantern back-and-forth was candy to my mental ear.

Oh, wow, that last sentence is gibberish. Anyway...

And make no mistake, this story was indeed "so enjoyable." Between a Waid at the top of his game, and Perez, who is never *not* at the top of his game no matter what he works on, this was a must-buy.

I suspect Roulette's actually in cahoots with the Venturans.

Kamandi Archives, Volume 2
--Ha, I wish. This is what I would have bought if I wasn't broke. I've bought a large number of KAMANDI issues from the back issue bins and it's great wild, unpredictable fun. Better than Jack Kirby's Fourth World stuff, I say.

Alas, alas, alas.

Superman 659
Angel
--Well, I guess they can't all be home runs. Of all the issues of SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS Kurt Busiek has written or co-written so far, this is the weakest. That's not nearly as damning as it sounds, though, because Busiek's Superman had until now been consistently excellent. This issue is merely good instead of the series's usual great.

When it came to this story, my own biases betrayed me. When I saw Barbara Johnson's devoutness, I assumed we readers were supposed to think of her as some trouble-causing nutso psycho. It wasn't until towards the end did I realize that, wait a sec, she's meant to be a positive portrayal.

Jack of Fables 8
Jack of Hearts, Part Two: Heaven or Las Vegas
--I think this book is really hitting its stride.

I still think Jack's narrations are overdone and that, if they were cut by 50%, his personality would shine through just as well without becoming just slightly tedious. Well, "shine" might not be the best word, given that it's Jack we're dealing with, but you know what I mean.

Agh, I don't want to come off too negative. This was a good read, possibly the best in the series so far. Everything in this series has this sort of quirky edge to it that you can't help but enjoy.

The sequence of the car explosion and its aftermath, including the twist at the very end, was great. Very well-done on both the writing and art front. For a moment, we get convinced that Jack actually has a heart, and then -- ha! Oh man, that smile -- that smile! The thing of it is, I wouldn't have thought him capable of even this little amount of grief, so the events still managed to make him more sympathetic in my eyes, even if only ever so slightly.

Runaways 24
Live Fast, The End
--Yet more confirmation for me that Vaughan's writing reads better in trade paperback collection format. This issue simply feels like it'd have been a lot more enjoyable if read shortly after the previous issue rather than a month afterwards.

Actually, has this series been managing to come out monthly? I haven't been keeping track of that sort of thing, but it feels longer in-between issues for whatever reason.

The issue suffers from a bit of finale-itis, where the loose ends wrap themselves up in quick, neat manner that comes off a little forced. But again, that might be an effect of the single issue format. Or it might not; I'm not sure.

Still fun, though. And Alphona's art is great as always.