Rapid Reviews - 18 January 2006 - Part I

Infinite Crisis #4: "Homecoming": Lots of lots of action in this one, but not as much by way of revelations as the previous issue. Superboy... wow, some action there. I don't really know what else to say. Nothing about Atlantis in this one, so not much for me to be excited about. I do wonder how much duplication is going to happen between the two earths. Of course, that kind of question may well be very premature.

Action Comics #835: "A Contagion of Madness": Is this the first appearance of Livewire in the regular DCU? I like the character, it's nice how it all fit in with the existing story, but Byrne's art seemed completely wrong for Livewire. Ah well. A fun story, despite the art.

Flash #230: "Last Man Standing": Is this the final issue? The "Next Issue" box misleadingly says "The Flash #231" and calls that the final issue. Not very useful to readers who don't get Previews and can't check. It continues the boring story from the last few issues. Not impressive.

Phantom #9: "Slave Trade" part one of two: Nice illustration of how good intentions don't always end up in good results. I'm looking forward to the next part of this one. I want to see if the lessons are taken to heart.

PS238 #14: This is the only issue of this series so far that I read and then, instead of gleeing and telling everyone to go read it, had to sit back and think about it for a long time. This one needs previous issues to understand the full implications, and the final page nearly made me cry. I want the next issue NOW!!!!!

Noble Causes #16: It sure seems like everything pulled together in this issue... but of course things are never as they seem in your standard soap opera. And this has a lot of aspects of the soap opera. I didn't like the flashback style of telling the story in this one. It made the book a little too disjointed. Overall, no bad.