Geek of All Trades

The first week of books for the new year. This may actually be one of my last real posta for a while. I’ll see. Obviously I haven’t had a lot of time to keep this up and I’m not really sure if I have a readership out there. (I haven’t had a comment in 2 years.) Update will be coming on that. But until then, the comics…

Archie #5 – Jughead, Betty, and Reggie try to cause problems between Veronica and Archie. Of course, things backfire and Archie separates himself from his friends instead and continues to let Veronica use him. The regular Archie comics were so much more fun. The revamp is kind of interesting but is falling pretty flat. I’m really having a hard time staying interesting and the “funny” part really aren’t all that funny.

Doctor Strange #4 – OK. I’ve hit the limit on this title. It’s just plain stupid now. It’s bad enough that we’ve got Magic, Scarlet Witch, Son of Satan, Talisman, Shaman, and others hanging out in a pandimensional bar. (Last I checked, Hellstrom had been on the side of evil in Avengers Undercover so why would he be hanging out with heroes? And the various characters really don’t tend to mix at all anyway.) Then we have a book dying. Then, we have Stephen eating all sorts of gross mess which he says tastes like leprosy because “magic energy changes a mortal body”. Seriously? He suddenly can’t eat normal food? Can someone please make me forget this comic even exists?

Green Arrow #48 – After getting bitten in the annual, Oliver has taken George out into the snowy wilderness somewhere to hide. He’s actually staying with the caretaker of his parents’ land. He’s pretty under control so far but you can tell it’s not 100%. There is mention of that caretaker’s son being killed but you know something is up. Oliver helps out a couple who are lost out in the snow and tells them to get out of the weather quickly. He then returns to find the caretaker beaten up on the floor by… who else? His son. And, of course, 2 random characters introduced into the middle of this can’t be safe. The son, who looks like Lon Chaney in the Werewolf movie but without clothes, attacks them and kills the guy. Green Arrow fights him until the father finally kills him and then Oliver takes off into the woods. It’s a decently written story but a bit predictable.

Green Lantern #48 – After his nephew is put in the hospital following the bombing, Hall takes off to find Sonar and the army behind it. The soldiers have bombs triggered by words and kill themselves though. Meanwhile, Parallax find a destroyed Oa and a lack of the Corps and decided he needs to kill this universe’s Hal Jordan. Looks like he’s still an ass even after it looked like he was going to turn things around.

Guardians of Infinity #2 – Part one is a continuation of last issue with the three Guardian teams teaming up and discussing plans to stop the army of the Newcomers. Given the sheer number of them, it’s not easy, especially since the invaders have a way of taking over the body of those they conquer. This is something they do to one of the Guardians 1000 that they capture. And then, an explosion happens presumably because of another one of the team from the past who loses control of his powers. This time around, the back up story isn’t bad. It is about Drax and a female warrior caught in a dream world where they have a family together. Tho it saddens them, they break out of it but you see an interesting side of Drax. A Drax that could have been if his life had gone better.

Midnighter #8 – This has to be the most bizarre issue so far. What else would you expect when you encounter B’wanna Beast. While chasing down another result of the Garden being broken into, Midnighter comes across some creatures who turn out to be chimera and who else is better to fight that problem. It’s definitely an interesting battle and story. And just as Midnighter gets home, things turn for the worse as Spyral shows up to get him to take on the Suicide Squad.

Uncanny X-Men #1 – For taking over the classic title’s name, I guess you couldn’t have a worse crew. This team is comprised of Magneto, Sabretooth, Monet, Psylocke, and a psychically controlled buy otherwise catatonic Archangel. (I can never keep track of what Warren looks like any more. Every time I turn around, he’s changing skin color or what his wings are made of.) The team frees some mutants who voluntarily went into cryogenic slumber and one of them gets off right away as the Dark Rider show up. I’m not intrigued by this team at all. Hell, Monet is so annoying that her being in it is enough right there for me not to buy it again.

There’s a pretty obvious split for this week and an easy top 3. The top of the list this week goes to Green Arrow, Guardians of Infinity, and Midnighter.

And I’m finally caught up on the comic reviews.

Flash #47 – All the pieces come together in this issue. And when I say pieces, I mean it. The book is split up in almost alternating panels of now and flashbacks for Zoom. It shows him blackmailing Barry’s father into taking the blame for his wife’s murder. It shows him being a tyrant in the future/his past and blaming rebellion on Barry because the people idolized him. He makes himself out to be some hero when he was not a kind leader at all. To him, everything is Barry’s fault. Zoom’s father killed his mother in front of him which is why he set up Barry’s father like he did. The guy is really psycho. And Barry somehow works out that Zoom doesn’t speed up, he makes everything else slower. I’m not really sure why this makes any different other than so he can call him the reverse Flash even more. I’m really not impressed with the issue. Splitting up the current and past events the way they did was interesting but also annoying in trying to read it. I’m just glad it’s over. I only recently picked the title back up again based on the good reviews I heard from others. I’m not sure if it’s good enough for me to stick with though.

Justice League #47 – The cover says it’s part 7 of the Darkseid War. The inside says it’s chapter 1 of act 3. Since last issue was act 2 chapter 2, that means we had a 4 chapter act, a 2 chapter act, and who knows what next. There’s not even any consistency in numbering per issue let alone in number of chapters per “act”. Green Lantern and Batman join Wonder Woman as she gets Superman under control. Batman says the energy he’s running on know is going to break his body down. Meanwhile, Power Ring, Cyborg, Mister Miracle, and Barda go to interrogate the Crime Syndicate. While Barda creates a diversion and Scott checks in with Ultraman, the others go to Super Woman. The ring takes over Power Ring though and then brings Grid out in Cyborg again. Then, Owlman shows up to start bringing the group back together but actually suggests they work with the league to stop Mobius. I’m through with the whole “god of” business with everyone but this part of the story has me a little more interested.

Squadron Supreme #2 – This issue has the team pretty scattered. With Namor dead, Nighthawk creates a new identity (Since there already is a Kyle Richmond on this world) and takes over Namor’s businesses. While investigating some stuff, he finds a Kymellian who blows everything up to keep him from finding out what was going on. Hyperion is just out investigating life. Princess Power gets visited by Modred the Mystic (I haven’t seen him in ages!) after she drains some guy of his life. This is the character from the original team and she was never like that before. It’s a bit odd to add that sort of side story to her. When I first saw her, I thought they were bringing Selene into the storyline. Doctor Spectrum has some dream about Black Bolt saving her and Blur is just sorta around. The even talk about how they aren’t like a real team. And to really class it up, on the last page, the Uncanny Avengers show up. Is this a required cameo for new books? Are they the ones who have to investigate everything? I’m not sure if they are using them to boost other books or spreading them out to get others to ready their book. Either way, I’m sick of seeing them and not getting too attached to the Squadron either.

Superman: Lois and Clark #3 – We get another flashback to this Superman’s earlier time on this Earth when he fought an albino named Blanque who had telepathic and telekinetic powers. After beating him, he locked him up where he felt he couldn’t be able to get to anyone else. Back in the present, Clark flies off to his home base. It’s not the fortress of solitude but it’s a lot more high tech than I’d ever think he could build without anyone else finding out who he was. There’s even some Kryptonian stuff in it somehow. In fact, there’s a lot of awfully big stuff in there considering the tube he flies down to get in there isn’t big enough for some of it to fit through. One other thing he has down there is the body of Hank Henshaw who, you guessed it, gets possessed by Blanque who appears to be one of a number of beings locked away down there. I want to try to like this, but I guess I still can’t get past the fact that it’s Superman, albeit a bearded one.

Only 4 books so I’m not going to do a top 3 this time either. None of the books really stand out as all that great anyway. They all tended to be from mediocre to boring this week. The Crime Syndicate part of the issue would make Justice League about the only thing of interest this week at all.