Sunday, July 09, 2017

A Sunday Comic Books Review

DCBS
Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:
  • Jan 18th
  • Aquaman #15 - A little more pat of an ending than I was hoping for, but at least Aquaman provided both proof and a good reason for the US to stop aggression. There are, of course, a lot of other things going on, but Arthur used the one tool in his toolbox that no one expected him to use. Sometimes it's better to surrender and stop the fight than try to save an ego and cause massive destruction. There's still a couple of great hanging threads, though - Mera's handling of the prophecy and Black Jack, who survived this issue just like her Golden Age namesake so often survived. Have I mentioned that I REALLY love having a Black Jack the Modern Pirate back in the DCU?
  • Justice League vs Suicide Squad #5 - Ah, and there's Eclipso himself, finally making his appearance at the end of the issue. Now, did he kill Max Lord as he did it? I kind of wonder. This wasn't a bad issue, and this mini is moving along at a fairly nice clip now. I love that Batman blew up Lobo's head not just to stop him, but to stop Max from controlling him. That's hilarious, and very much like Lobo. Too bad the same method wouldn't work on anyone else.
  • Justice League #13 - Yet another JL vs SS tie-in, this one featuring Steve Trevor's response to the Eclipso invasion. Not bad, but really just more of the same. Eclipso plays with people's minds, so I figured the ending wasn't as happy as it appeared to be.
  • Green Lanterns #15 - This is a nice standalone story after the long Phantom Ring arc. No mention of that, no other strangeness beyond the normal super antics. Just a tale about Jessica dealing with her anxiety. The final pages are a nice lead-in to maybe another story, but since when does Batman ask for help from rookies?
  • Super Powers #3 - There are definitely a couple of pages in the incorrect order in this issue, as Aquaman's finny friends grab the baddie on one page, and on the next page the baddie is getting free from Wonder Woman's lasso. Still, switch the order around, and it's amusing that Aquaman is the one who stops the big bad (with a lot of help). Fun, but bizarre.
  • Dirk Gently: Salmon of Doubt #4 - As with anything involving Dirk, I'm completely confused. Ok, no, not completely. I get that there are multiple timelines and multiple Dirks. I get that one thing we're seeing is the lead-up to the television series. And I get that saving the cat is very important. Beyond that, though, I think I'm mostly confused.
  • Doctor Who 9th #9 - Oooh, Rose is jealous! But she's got Captain Jack to keep her company. I like Jack's security system and the interplay between him and Rose. I just wonder if Jack is going to run into himself, and if the Blinovitch Limitation Effect will then take effect, erasing the memory of what happened from one of their minds. In the meantime, the Doctor has his hands full with a nice little monster hunt. Whee.
  • Jan 25th
  • Justice League vs Suicide Squad #6 - Since I don't believe anything Max says, even if the writer puts it in his mouth, I'm not convinced that Amanda Waller actually engineered all the events. On the other hand, if anyone in the DCU is self-righteous enough to do that, it would be Waller. I liked Killer Frost's role in this, and found Batman admitting he was wrong to be a thing of beauty - which is slightly undermined if Waller did, in fact, engineer the whole thing. This book makes my head hurt, but in a good way.
  • Batman Beyond #4 - A new suit, which was apparently a prototype Bruce was working on, which of course works perfectly in the heat of battle. Ok. I'll suspend my disbelief. As for the rest, it was a nice action-packed issue and how on earth did Dana not figure out before then? Really?
  • Batman '66 Meets Wonder Woman '77 #1 - How do you combine these two characters? Well, you have Bruce meet Wonder Woman while she's still in the past, of course. I'm not going to try to figure out the timing of any of this, I'm just going to enjoy the fact that young Bruce Wayne witnessed Diana turn into Wonder Woman.
  • Wonder Woman '77 and Bionic Woman #2 - I like that Jaime and Diana have an understanding. I also thought the "signal watch" thing was hilarious. Nice way to cover for it. And Steve's d'oh moment when Diana points out he never asked for something like that was good, too. I don't recognize the villains, but then, I hardly ever. They are given enough of an intro to understand they are up to no good. And there's even a nice little cliffhanger. Good stuff!
  • Future Quest #9 - All the various groups are finally converging on the same place, only there's a nice cliffhanger caused by a fatal misunderstanding. I'm really not sure how this will turn out, but now I get the careful inclusion of the history of certain characters in past issues. This is actually a really solid way to get introduced to all these classic cartoons. Although I can't imagine the cartoons being quite as cool for an adult as these comics are.
  • Scooby-Doo Team-Up #22 - Thank goodness for Future Quest, because without that book I wouldn't have recognized the team-ups in this issue. Frankenstein Jr and The Impossibles are characters I had never heard of before Future Quest. That said, this was fun, especially Fred's usual advice to take the mask off. These Team-Up books are a joy, and I'm glad this series has gone as long as it has.
  • Doctor Strange #16 - Interesting that Dormammu also faced the Empirikul... I would have thought they wouldn't make a deal with him. But they proved they weren't much for believing even in their own message. Anyway, nice method to get rid of him, even if it required a bit of help. Now, what's going to happen to Wong?
  • Star Trek/Green Lantern V2 #2 - Manhunters, Atrocitus, Lafleeze, and then HIM? They're pulling out all the stops for this series, aren't they? But then, it's an alternate universe, so everything is allowed. I'm enjoying this so far, but I'm really curious about how they are going to deal with the ring problem. This is heating up nicely.
  • Back To The Future: Biff to the Future #1 - So, how did Biff become a millionaire in the alternate timeline, using the book from the future? This comic details his adventures, starting with the old man giving him the book and moving forward as he tries to cash in right away but runs into some problems. While this was covered in a few scenes in the movie, I like the filling in of details this provides.

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