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Green Lantern #22 - A Review

July 9, 2013, 10:10 pm
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The first thing one is likely to notice about Green Lantern #22 is the stunning artwork of Billy Tan.  Green Lantern demands much of any artist and it is a rare artist who can manage to portray a variety of unusual ring projections as well as the exotic alien races that dominate The Corps.  Thankfully, Tan proves up to the task and this issue gives him ample opportunity to show his skill in drawing interesting outworlders and complex contraptions.   


Robert Venditti's first issue of Green Lantern last month showed us that he was not content to tread the same path as Geoff Johns and this issue showcases his inventiveness while simultaneously making use of the diverse cast and mythology that Johns created during his long run on this series.  For instance, the Blue Lantern Saint Walker shows up and is given the first vestige of a personality beyond the easy-going space hippie we've seen for so long.  Venditti also introduces an interesting new villain in the mold of the original Star Sapphire with the alien warrior queen Prixiam Nol-Anj.   


If you haven't been reading Green Lantern before, this is a good time to start.  The artwork by Billy Tan and inkers Rob Hunter and Jon Sibal is truly breathtaking.  Writer Robert Venditti presents some great action sequences and utilizes the rich mythology of the series while still making things accessible to new readers.  I had been on the fence about continuing with this title in the wake of Johns' departure but now... well, what else can I say but "Once a Green Lantern, always a Green Lantern"?
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Injustice: Gods Among Us #26 - A Review

July 10, 2013, 2:59 pm
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Injustice #26 is about chess - literally and metaphorically - with the action of the issue centering upon two debates.  In the first, Lex Luthor - having just created a pill that can temporarily give an ordinary human the strength and durability of a Kryptonian under Earth's sun - argues with The Kents over Clark Kent's state of mind and the necessity that, some day, some one may need to use Luthor's creation to stop Superman from going over the edge.  The second subplot centers upon Superman and The Flash, giving a whole new meaning to the term "speed-chess" as they play a few games at super-speed while arguing over where they draw the line in their efforts to provide security for the people of Earth.

 

Writer Tom Taylor does an amazing job of taking the dark setting of Injustice and expanding it into something that is uncomfortably like the classic DC Universe we know and love.  Superman and Flash playing chess at super-speed is the sort of thing one would only expect to see in an old Justice League of America issue yet Taylor makes the conceit and the obvious symbolism work.  The interaction between Lex Luthor and The Kents is nice too, leading me to wonder if this was a universe where Clark Kent and Lex Luthor remained friends after Lex left Smallville to seek his fortune.


Despite this issue lacking any big action sequences, artist Tom Derenick keeps things interesting.  One wouldn't think a series of panels depicting two people playing chess could be exciting - particularly when the only hint of movement in the background is a slight change in the position of the character's arms and a minor shift in the light reflecting on the window.  Somehow, Derenick manages this feat with surprising subtlety and the artwork elsewhere in the issue is similarly skillful. 
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Astro City #2 (2013 volume)

July 10, 2013, 8:25 pm
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Fans of Damage Control would do well to check out this month's issue of Astro City.  As Dwayne McDuffie answered the oft asked question "How DO they repair all the damage to the buildings after super-villain attacks so quickly?", Kurt Busiek answers the question of how one would go about contacting a superhero in your time of need.  After all, the Superfriends' Trouble Alert can only handle so much and it's not like Batman has a Bat-Site where he'll take on work as a consulting detective for any case that interests him. 


Enter Marella Comper - the latest hire for the call-center of the superhero team The Honor Guard.  When super-villains are trashing your neighborhood or you think you've contracted Venusian Bird Plague, who are you going to call?  Well, yes - The Honor Guard.  But who is it that handles the call and decides if they need to call in the cavalry, the cops or the CDC?  Marella or one of her co-workers - that's who!  This issue follows Marella as she learns the ropes and comes to value the small but important role she has in helping the world's greatest heroes do their jobs.


I'm kicking myself for not having found this series sooner.  The scripts are well-written.  The interior art and covers are amazing.  I have no excuse for having waited as long as I did to give this series a shot.  If you haven't visited Astro City yet, do so immediately.  You'll be glad you did. 
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Batgirl #22 - A Review

July 13, 2013, 4:06 pm
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In a perfect world, Batgirl #22 would easily win every award it is possible for a single-issue comic story to win.  Bold words, I know.  Yet I cannot think of any single story that has provoked such a full gamut of emotions within me for quite some time.  Sorrow.  Joy.  Fear. Anger.  This book conveys all this as strongly as any Greek tragedy.


The issue centers upon Barbara's date with Ricky - a reformed thug she first met and saved as Batgirl after he lost his leg during a run-in with a more violent vigilante.  The relationship between Babs and Ricky is played off well and Gail Simone does a fantastic job of showing how the two feed one another's need for a companion in a short span of pages.  The introverted Babs needs someone who can get her out of shell as much as Ricky needs someone who understands his disability and can show him that it isn't the end of the world.  This story is as inspiring and life-affirming as any image of Superman flying through the sunny skies of Metropolis.

That alone would be enough to make me recommend this book, for there are precious few books even in the superhero genre these days that seem to encourage this kind of optimism, much less revel in it.  We also get a long overdue scene between Jim Gordon and Batman - both mourning the loss of their sons - that is easily one of the most emotional scenes I've ever seen in any medium.  Yet Simone gives us darkness with the light as well, with an ending that will hit you in the gut like a young Muhammad Ali.


The artwork of Fernando Pasarin and Jonathan Glapion equals Simone's script in quality.  Pasarin's figures are well-designed and proportioned, with what little action this issue contains being well-paced and well-choreographed.  Glapion's inks are always perfectly suited toward the story, with light inks utilized for well-lit night clubs and ballet studios and heavy shadows for the dark alleys and rooftops of Gotham.

To sum it up in three words?  Read This Book!
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Justice League #22 - A Review And A Rant

July 15, 2013, 7:47 pm
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Remember when super-heroes fought super-villains in the big crossover events?

Seriously.  When was the last time we had a big event book where the heroes fought actual villains rather than other heroes?  And no, alternate universe versions or alien clones of themselves don't count, Flashpoint and Secret Invasion fans.  It's been a while, hasn't it?

I have no objection to heroes fighting other heroes but it seems like that's all the heroes do anymore.  Have we come to the future Mark Waid predicted in Kingdom Come where the villains are underground running the world in secret and the heroes are fighting turf wars over who gets to protect what?  Reading Justice League #22, it's hard to argue that we haven't.

While the plot does feature some random bits involving the Trinity of Sin (i.e. The Question, The Phantom Stranger and Pandora), the main focus of the issue is upon the inevitable battle between The Justice League and the newly formed Justice League of America.  Inevitable, at least, in the eyes of Amanda Waller, who create the JLA specifically to counter the abilities of the original Justice League should they ever work against the interests of the USA.  When the entire Justice League travels to the enemy nation of Kahndaq after newbie hero Shazam crosses the border, Waller sees her chance and sends the JLA in to enforce America's embargo.  Hilarity ensues.   



Thus far, Trinity War seems to be DC Comics' answer to Avengers Vs. X-Men -  a violent free-for-all born out of disagreements that could be solved in five minutes if the characters weren't written like complete imbeciles because that is what the plot demands.  While it isn't out of character for Amanda Waller to see The Justice League as a threat to the nation she serves, it seems uncharacteristically short-sighted for "The Wall" to send a group largely made of untested newbies like Vibe, Stargirl and the new Dr. Light into the field against a more experienced enemy.  Superman charges into battle against Shazam without trying to find out if the other hero instigated a battle with the Kahndaq Army - a question you'd think Superman would consider given that he and Wonder Woman were fighting the same army several issues earlier.  And if there was any doubt that the New 52 version of Billy Batson did not have The Wisdom of Solomon, this issue obliterated it.

Ironically, the only thing that makes this story tolerable and indeed prevents it from being  Avengers Vs. X-Men Starring The Justice Leagues  is same thing that makes it so aggravating - the writing of Geoff Johns.  Johns succeeds where Bendis and Company failed by evoking real ethos in a series of short scenes amid all the strum und drang.  Whereas it was hard to find sympathy for either the fascist Captain America or the single-minded Cyclops, one can't help but feel Billy Batson's guilt and admire his determination to do the right thing even as he goes about it in the worst way possible. 

Where Johns fails is by falling into the same trap of manipulation that turned off so many comic readers when Brad Meltzer pulled it in Identity Crisis.  With a single issue, Meltzer was able to do what so many writers had failed to do and make Ralph and Sue Dibny into something beyond a joke - characters who had earned their seemingly accidental place in The Justice League.  He then destroyed the miracle by setting us up to care about Sue and Ralph only to kill one off and turn the other into an shell of their former self.  Johns does the same thing here, sacrificing the brilliant conceit of turning Dr. Light - perhaps the most hated villain of the past 10 years of DC Comics - into a loving family-man, moralist and would-be hero.  There's no small irony that Dr. Light is the one who pleads for peace and tries to get everyone to discuss their differences before his sudden and grisly death, which triggers the superhero smackdown we were promised. 


Rest In Peace, Dr. Light.  We Hardly Knew Ye. 

The artwork by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Oclair Albert is as good as one might expect.  I haven't seen a bad issue yet from Reis in the past year, be it on Aquaman or Justice League.  But in this case the artwork is like a candy shell on a rabbit pellet.  Sure, it may look good... but it will leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Despite this, I will attempt to finish this crossover so that you, my readers, do not have to.  Not that I have much choice with it dominating so many of the books I read on a monthly basis.  Still, I will endure even as I wonder how two writers I enjoy so much can create something that leaves me so disgusted.


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World's Finest #14 - A Review

July 15, 2013, 9:48 pm
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If there's a book that has gone downhill faster than World's Finest, I'm hard pressed to think of it at the moment.  Once blessed with two great artists - the legendary George Perez and Kevin Maguire - this series now has a single art team after months of rotating through several.  Sadly, the team of Robson Rocha and Wayne Facher is the worst of all possible combinations. 


Rocha's figures are unique in that they manage to be awful in different ways from panel to panel.  On one page, Power Girl can be drawn as a neckless mass of muscle while later sporting a neck so long one might think her part giraffe! Noses, eyes and even the basic shapes of faces are rarely consistent from panel to panel  Facher is similarly inept, half-inking some figures and foreground details while leaving everything else on the page undefined.  There are some points where, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear Facher used a black Sharpie marker tooutline the individual characters!


The malaise of the series' artwork seems to have infected the writing.  Nothing much happens in the on-going plot until the final pages.  Paul Levitz seems to be in a holding pattern, as if padding things out for the inevitable trade paperback collection or just biding his time until cancellation or a crossover with Earth 2 - whichever comes first.  Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that Previews promises a new art team next month, I'd consider dropping the book here and now.  As it is, this book is still on thin ice.
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Batman #22 - A Review

July 15, 2013, 9:59 pm
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When I first heard about Batman: Year Zero, I must admit a part of me rolled my eyes.  Aren't we all familiar enough with the origins of Batman by this point that we don't need to retell them anymore?  What more can possibly be said? 

Plenty, it turns out.

Scott Snyder avoids the usual traps by focusing not on Batman and the villains he fights but on Bruce Wayne before he even conceived of the idea of a Batman.  The conflict here is not between Batman and the mysterious Red Hood gang - it is between who Bruce Wayne is becoming and who Bruce Wayne should be.  This conflict is beautifully summarized by Alfred, who makes the point echoed by so many critics of the superhero genre - couldn't Bruce Wayne do more good with his fortune than through vigilante justice? 





The stylized artwork by Greg Capullo and Danny Miki remains as strong as Snyder's scripts.  Capullo has a unique sense of aesthetics and design, which is given free reign to play throughout the issue.  Perhaps the best example of this is a sequence where an ancient Eygptian board game becomes the panels for a circular conversation between Bruce Wayne and a pre-Riddler Edward Nygma.  


The back-up story, with art by American Vampire artist Rafael Albuquerque proves equally skilled and enjoyable.  Co-written with collaborator James Tynion IV, Snyder tells another brief tale of a young Bruce Wayne's travels around the world. This time, the young Wayne is learning the fine arts of mechanical engineering with an ex-Soviet scientist who also teaches Bruce an important lesson on the value of creative thinking.
   
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Demon Knights #22 - A Review

July 16, 2013, 9:50 pm
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Little happens in this, the penultimate issue of Demon Knights.  What little does happen only occurs to set up the big battle to come in the next issue.  There's very little action, apart from one sequence during the end and an attempted mugging of our heroes that barely lasts one page and stretches the definition of the term "action sequence".  At least the scenes of Vandal Savage dealing with his giant captors are amusing but a far cry from the wit of Paul Cornell. 


The art this month is vastly improved by the absence of inker Wayne Facher.  Chard Hardin inks his own pencils for the entirety of this issue and the difference is obvious and welcome.  Hopefully Hardin will have a new monthly gig waiting for him when this title comes to an close. 


I must tip my hat to writer Robert Venditti in one respect.  Though this series is coming to a close, he still writes each issue in a way that would be accessible to any new readers picking this book up for the first time.  Would that I could still recommend this series to new readers!  Truly, this title was one of the best books of The New 52.  It will be missed. 
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Hawkeye #12 - A Review

July 16, 2013, 10:35 pm
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For the third month in a row, Hawkeye focuses on someone besides Clint Barton.  And for the second time in as many months, Francesco Francavilla replaces David Aja as the book's artist.  And for the first time in this book's run, I find myself wishing it was a more typical superhero title.



Matt Fraction tells a different kind of story here, focusing on Clint Barton's older brother Barney and his run in with the gangsters terrorizing Clint's neighborhood.  A number of flashback scenes are intercut into the narrative, showing the two brothers as children and how Barney began teaching Clint the skills he would use as Hawkeye.  We also see how this story ties in to the adventures of Clint Barton's dog from last month, which itself tied into the Kate Bishop story in Issue #10.  Perhaps this will pay off eventually but the whole affair seems like so much padding to me at this point, as we tread water until Clint finally confronts his enemies.


Thankfully, the artwork of Francesco Francavilla is far more effective this time around than in Issue #10.  The panel placement seems far more natural and the story is much easier to follow.  There's also far less splash-pages than in Francavilla's last outing - a change that plays far better to Francavilla's strengths.

In the end, even a lackluster issue of Hawkeye is not that bad and this remains one of the best books on the market.  I just think it will be better read in the trade-paperback collections than the monthly books given the slow pace Fraction has adopted in recent months.
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Green Lantern Corps #22 - A Review

July 16, 2013, 11:01 pm
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Two issues in to Van Jensen's run on Green Lantern Corps and I'm still satisfied that my favorite book in the Green Lantern family of titles is in good hands.  My main concern remains the same as it was last month - that a tight connection to the other Green Lantern books would limit Jensen's ability to focus on his own characters and storylines as more and more pages are given over to crossovers.  This seems a legitimate concern given that the plot thread involving the rings of the various Lantern Corps failing (first seen in Green Lantern) continues throughout this issue and the final page of the issue seems to hint at events in New Guardians.


Thankfully, these moments are few and far between and the best parts of the book involve John Stewart taking a group of newbie Lanterns under his wing.  He we see a side of John Stewart that hasn't been seen in a while - John the Leader and John The Teacher..  Given that my first exposure to the character came back in the days with John was leading The Darkstars and acting as a mentor to Kyle Rayner, it was like old times to see John put in this role again.  I'm also gratified that Van Jensen has given Fatality her own storyline to pursue, giving us the first chance in a long while to see her as a warrior and not a love-sick young woman.


Bernard Chang's artwork is as wonderful as ever.  I've sorely missed Chang's work on Demon Knights of late and his detailed smiled proved a perfect match for the aesthetic that a Green Lantern book demands.  The only complaint I have about the art lies with colorist Marcelo Maiolo, who has given Fatality a far lighter skin tone than she should have.
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Red Sonja #1 - A Review

July 17, 2013, 7:37 am
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That Red Sonja #1 should be as excellent as it is should surprise no one. How could it be anything but with the talent behind it? Gail Simone - the most fearsome and dangerous redhead in the real world of comics - weaves a tale worthy of The Nemedian Chronicles and Walter Geovani - no stranger to depicting the adventures of the She-Devil With A Sword - proves equally epic in his pencils and inks. 

Praise must also be paid to the tremendous team of artists, whose work graces the covers of this issue.  Thank goodness the digital edition gives you all of their work!  With a line-up including Nicola Scott, Amanda Conner, Colleen Doran, Jenny Frison, Fiona Staples and Stephanie Buscema, I'll be hard pressed to pick which cover to buy in the store.


After an unexpected opening which I dare not spoil, we open on familiar territory.  Bandits with more desperation than sense attempt to rob a heroically hungover Sonja - an act Sonja is willing to tolerate provided they don't do anything stupid and leave her to sleep it off.  After the inevitable conclusion is played out, Sonja answers the summons of the only king she holds any respect for and the tale begins in earnest.

Those familiar with Simone's previous work will find much to enjoy here.  The action scenes are well-paced  and Simone injects plenty of her wicked humor into the dialogue.  This may stun those fans of Red Sonja who are used to more serious tales but Simone knows - like Robert E. Howard said of Conan - that Sonja's life is one of gigantic melancholies AND gigantic mirth.  Yet there is drama as well and we see that Sonja is not the blood-thirsty man-hater so many characterize her as in her treatment of one of the bandits -a plague-stricken soldier forced into thievery to survive.   


I've praised Walter Geovani's depiction of Red Sonja in the past and I suspect I will continue to do so for many issues yet to come.  His Sonja is beautiful yet looks every inch the warrior rather than a Sports Illustrated cover girl who just happens to be carrying a sword.  More importantly, Geovani is an amazing visual storyteller and the action of the issue flows naturally from panel to panel without any confusion whatsoever.


If you've never read a Red Sonja comic before, now is the time to rectify that mistake.  With this issue, Simone and Geovani have crafted the perfect starting point.  A world of adventure is waiting. Will you heed its' call?
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Wild Speculations On The Casting Of A Third Dinah on 'Arrow'

July 19, 2013, 11:05 am
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SOURCE: CW's 'Arrow' Casts 'The Pact's' Caity Lotz as Black Canary

As the alter-ego of Dinah Drake, the actress will play a love interest for the hero.

The Pact" star Caity Lotz is set to play the Black Canary on The CW's "Arrow,"TheWrap has learned.

While the Black Canary will start out as a recurring role, Lotz is expected to eventually become a series regular, as her character will be groomed as a love interest for Arrow (Stephen Amell)


I was going to avoid commenting on this until the Arrow panel at San Diego Comic Con tomorrow. I read the above article yesterday and found it highly suspect. Ignoring what a grand slam it would be to actress Katie Cassidy, whom it had already been hinted would be taking on the Black Canary role in time, the rest of the article's facts seem way off-base with what has been reported before in regards to Summer Glau and her role on the show.

The Wrap article describes Summer Glau's character, Isabel Rochev, as "a Queen family friend and also a speculative love interest for Arrow." This flies in the face of everyotherbloodyarticle about Glau's new role. More, the character of Isabel Rochev in the comics was a vicious corporate raider out to take over Queen Industries after having an affair with Oliver Queen's father, Robert. What little had been said about the character by the show's producers indicated that Glau would be a straight-forward villain in the same vein, plaguing the Queen family without a hint of romancing Ollie.

However, since The Mary Sue - who I've always found to be generally reliable about this sort of thing - is now running with this story, I thought I owed it to the public to speak on this matter in my capacity of one of the Internet's foremost Arrowheads and Black Canary experts by proxy. Because even though we'll probably get some kind of explanation for this tomorrow, there's nothing to stop us from making wild guesses today.

Here now, in no particular order of likeliness, are some possible explanations.


1. It's the Dinah Lance of Earth 2 and this will open up a whole new world for Ollie... literally.

2. Dinah Drake is Ollie and Laurel's daughter from the future, traveled back in time to ensure her birth given the likely strife between Ollie and Laurel as Season 2 opens. The romance rumors are totally false, unless Judd Winick has secretly begun ghost-writing the show.

3. "Dinah Drake" is hired by Laurel as a body double in much the same way Diggle sometimes acts as a second Arrow for Ollie. To Laurel's annoyance, The Hood starts to fall for her double.

4. Dinah Drake is Laurel's grandmother, who was fighting Nazis as Black Canary back in the 1940s. Ollie starts romancing her after an accident involving a contraceptive and a time machine.

5. Some mad scientist obsessed with Laurel Lance created an imperfect clone with Laurel's memories. The clone adopts the name Dinah Drake in honor of her mother and becomes Black Canary while Laurel starts fighting crime in a modified costumed with a hoodie as The Scarlet Canary.


Got your own crazy theory? Let's hear them in the comments!

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False Alarm, Arrowheads! Caity Lotz NOT Cast As Black Canary! Katie Cassidy Still The Pretty Bird To Be!

July 19, 2013, 12:54 pm
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SOURCE: Arrow Boss Sets the Record Straight on Black Canary Casting (TV Guide)


The Pact's Caity Lotz has, in fact, been tapped for a recurring role on Arrow's second season, but she won't be playing Dinah Drake,

"There's been a bit of misinformation printed out there and what I would say is, yes, Caity Lotz is joining the show in a recurring role and we're really excited," executive producer Andrew Kreisberg tells us. "She's a tremendously talented actress. The character she's playing is really the beginning of the story of the Black Canary."

So... yeah.  Lotz's character is tied into how lawyer Laurel Lance starts to become The Black Canary.  Not actually Black Canary herself.




Well, that was a worrisome two hours, wasn't it? :)
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Injustice: Gods Among Us #27 - A Review

July 20, 2013, 9:54 am
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Injustice: Gods Among us continues to be more than your typical video-game tie-in comic.  Indeed, it's proving to be more than just a typical comic.  Tom Taylor and company have paradoxically taken a world where our favorite heroes are changing into something other than how we think of them and managed to distill the essence of what makes them who they are.


The action of this chapter is split between two separate scenes.  In the first, Superman and his loyal team of Justice Leaguers discuss the potential of Lex Luthor's latest invention - a drug that can give ordinary humans the endurance and damage resistance of a Kryptonian.  In the second half, the prodigal son Damian Wayne - disturbed by the implications of what his Justice League allies are planning - attempts to make peace with his father, Batman.  I shan't spoil the events that follow but suffice it to say it is not a happy homecoming.


Jheremy Raapack's style is well suited towards this story.  Raapack's command of shadow is masterful and he adds a layer of distinction as well as an aura of moodiness that leaves even characters standing in full light seemingly cloaked in darkness,  A visual metaphor for how our major players in this chapter are using deception in some form or fashion?  Either if it isn't, it looks wonderful.
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Justice League of America #6 - A Review

July 20, 2013, 10:41 am
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Justice League of America #6 is far less than the sum of its' parts.  This is not to say that the book is totally without merit - far from it!  Geoff Johns and Jeff Lemire give us many great character moments and some wonderful drama but all of this is incidental to the rather lackluster plot involving the so-called Trinity of Sin and Pandora's Box.


Honestly, this book would be much more enjoyable if Johns and Lemire were free to ignore the big epic battles between vaguely defined supernatural forces and just focused on letting the characters be themselves for a time.  Many of these characters are green and undefined, particularly in the case of the new Justice League members.  Throwing these characters we've had no chance to get to know and less time to care about beating each other senseless is nowhere near as interesting as watching a brief interaction between Wonder Woman and John Constantine. 

The Goddess of Truth and a magical conman being forced to work together?  Now, THAT is interesting!  I also have to give the writers credit for making Wonder Woman the main focus of this issue and letting her be the one to start investigating the case in earnest.  Diana rarely gets to take the center stage in these big events and I for one am glad to see her in the spotlight!    


The artwork of this issue is as uneven as the story.  DC Comics really needs to stop putting teams of multiple inkers to work on single books.  Doug Mahnke's pencils look decent enough from what I can tell but they are rendered quite differently depending on which of the book's four inkers are working on what pages.  Anyone who doubts the power an inker has on the final look of a book would do well to study this issue and learn the error of their ways.  
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Batman '66 #1 - A Review

July 20, 2013, 1:38 pm
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Riddle Me This, Reader.  What is old yet also new, never dull and dressed in blue? 

Give up?  It's the Silver Age Batman, of course!  For Messers Jeff Parker and Jonathan Case have brought him back in style with Batman '66!



Simply speaking, if you love the Batman TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward, you'll love this comic too.  The story of this premiere issue centers around The Riddler's latest crime-spree, stealing the works of a sculptor famous for placing hidden messages in his art.  The feline femme fatale Catwoman becomes involved in the hunt for The Prince of Puzzles as well, after a double entendre hidden in The Riddler's riddles sends the Dynamic Duo crashing through her new legitimate business - a go-go club called the Meow Wow Wow! 

Jeff Parker's script reads like something from the classic series in terms of plot and dialogue.  It's not hyperbolic for me to say this issue features everything you could hope for in a Batman episode.  It even features a celebrity cameo by another famous bat-man! 



The artwork of Jonathan Case is a perfect match for Parker's script.  Case captures the essence of Swinging Sixties camp, with the bright colors adding to the mod aesthetic. He also does a fine job caricaturing special celebrity guests Frank Gorshin and Julie Newmar along with the Dynamic Duo themselves.

Will the Caped Crusaders Clashes With Colorful Costumed Criminals Continue To Cheer The Cynical Starman?  Tune in next month to find out!  Same Bat-Time.  Same Bat-Book!
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Conan The Barbarian #18 - A Review

July 20, 2013, 2:41 pm
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Fans of action and high-adventure, rejoice!  Brain Wood's yellow lotus psychodrama has reached it's conclusion after three months.  And I for one couldn't be happier to wake-up from "The Nightmare Of The Shallows". 


Did you ever want to read a story about Conan having kids, growing old and dying after living a peaceful existence with Belit on a deserted island?  If so, then congratulations!  This issue has been written to your incredibly specific tastes.  For the rest of us, this issue has little to offer.  Wood is generally a good writer but this issue lacks the punch of the first two chapters as we only see things from Conan's perspective this time and there is precious little thrill in a story we know to be the result of a dream. 


At least the artwork of David Gianfelice and Dave Stewart continues to impress.  Gianfelice is an excellent visual storyteller and what little action there is in the issue is choreographed well.  Stewart's palette gives everything a vibrancy that defies the dream-like nature of the sedate story.  With any luck they'll have a chance to illustrate something more exciting in future issues. 
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Arrow - Season 2 Trailer!

July 20, 2013, 3:33 pm
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Arrow Season 2 - First Look At Black Canary

July 20, 2013, 5:59 pm
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Nothing To Prove - New Geek Girl Anthem From The Doubleclicks

July 23, 2013, 6:09 am
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The Doubleclicks (pictured above with a far too excitable fanboy) have a new music video out today, for their song Nothing To Prove - a response to the idea of fake geek girls and the harassment of real geek girls by real elitist morons.  It's an awesome song, with an awesome video starring a lot of prominent geek icons as well as a goodly number of fans.  Check it out then check out their website for more great music.

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