Kung Fu Friday Moments: The Van Dammathon

Yesterday, we spent 13½ hours (counting dinner break) watching 7 Jean-Claude Van Damme films. I decided to live-tweet the event and given I'm a little tired this morning, I'm going to reprint those tweets here (plus any guest comments from the Twitterverse). Coherent capsule reviews on Sunday, as usual.

Preambles
-Today, a KFF special event, our Van Dammathon! 7 Van Damme movies from noon to midnight, and I'll be live-tweeting it under hashtag #JCVD
-Because I'm not that quick typing on an ipod, I probably won't be filling your tweetdeck with copious amounts of #JCVD coverage
-So non- #JCVD fans probably won't feel the compulsion to unfavorite me. I'll probably blog the results tomorrow as well.
-#JCVD Attending are @idiotbrigade @nathgoguen Isabel and St-Pierre. More will join.
-We're doing it chronologically. Bloodsport it is #JCVD-Arrived just in time: Ann-marie & Marc Burner
-#JCVD haha starts with a literal ice breaker!
-#JCVD is shower shy #dontaskdonttell
-#JCVD Accent excuse no.1: His dad is French.
-#JCVD Geez that flashback is right out of Proust.
-#JCVD 12 minutes in, we have achieved 1st split!
-#JCVD America's well represented by Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds. Ooh karate arcade game.
-If_I_fell_ : @Siskoid bloodsport is still quoted daily among my childhood friends and a vhs copy must be kept as initiation.
-#JCVD Forest Whitaker !?!?!!!!?
-#JCVD Wait, this isn't a Superstation original movie?! back to the least secret secret fighting ring...
-#JCVD So this underground event has a sponsor?
-#JCVD Dude, don't taunt Bolo! He fought Bruce Lee and Black Belt Jones!
-#JCVD Kumite theme song underscored by some awesome monkey kung fu!
-#JCVD 80s tasers have 2 giant USB jacks. Did any of those rockin 80s tunes survive?
-If_I_fell_ : @Siskoid the biker guy was the Danny Trejo of the 80s
-#JCVD Van Dammmmmn butt shot, all for skanky Lois Lane's benefit
-#JCVD Half the game seems to be showboating... and now you're dead.
-#JCVD Doctor can't find Ogre's heart. No... that's the clavicle. Dude, you're almost in the armpit...
-#JCVD Slow mo Jcvd expressions are the no.1 reason to watch Bloodsport
-#JCVD Bloodsport - the secret origin of Daredevil
-#JCVD Bloodsport - based on the true story that for legal reasons had to be remade as The Quest
-#JCVD Universal Soldier is next! Dolph Lundgren guest stars in a Roland Emmerich (gag) film
-#JCVD 6 minutes in and both leads are dead.
-So does every #JCVD film have an interfering female reporter?
-#JCVD TV's Conan is... the Universal Plumber.
-#JCVD The Universal Soldier program - so secret, we'll only discuss it on the news, but no pictures!
-#JCVD Reason for accent no2: Human robot (also, for the lack of acting)
-#JCVD Another butt shot for the benefit of a skanky Lois Lane. Drinking game coming together. Also lots of flashbacks.
-#JCVD Nothing like an army of Unisols to make you lose your damage deposit.
-#JCVD Reason for accent no3: When asked, deny you have one.
-#JCVD Those ear puns are on the level of Mr. Freeze's ice jokes in Batman & Robin.
-#JCVD I wonder what kind of club Kitty's is. Too subtle. Does the whole movie take place in America's shitholes?
-#JCVD Lois, how did you miss your bus ? It was right THERE!
-#JCVD I think the lesson if this movie is that you need drugs to be a winner. Slow clap, Emmerich.
-#JCVD Lundgren smoothie anyone? And yet he returns in the third sequel.
-#JCVD BODYCOUNT'S IN THE HOUSE!!! What the hell does that even MEAN?
-#JCVD John Woo's Hard Target is up next! (watch for dove alerts)
-#JCVD rocks a curly, greasy mullet. Yeah, that's not coming back any time soon.
-#JCVD Reason for accent no4: Cajun.
-#JCVD Lesson: Don't put your pathetic one-candle cake, lit, in a drawer.
-#JCVD Fact: A slide guitar soundtrack makes everything more badass.
-#JCVD True villainy is washing the blood off your hands in the victim's fish bowl.
-#JCVD DOVE ALERT!!!
-#JCVD Aww I thought for sure he would end up with the only cop in New Orleans.
-#JCVD Where would John Woo be without motorcycles I ask you.
-#JCVD Make no mistake, JCVD WILL punch your snake.
-#JCVD DOVE ALERT!!! And in a totally explodable disused factory. John Woo gold.
-#JCVD A Mardi Gras float factory! Did JCVD just wink at a dove?
-#JCVD Lance Henriksen almost got his crotch exploded! Uncle Duvet character find of 1993.
-#JCVD 's make-up guy is just called Zoltan. ZOLTAN!
-#JCVD During the dinner break, @MartyLight joined the party! Up next... Street Fighter! (And may God have mercy on our souls.)
-#JCVD The film that killed Raul Julia... Wha? Kylie is in this?
-#JCVD Street Fighter, based on the sequel to the game!
-#JCVD They tell me there are a dozen characters of the game butI'm afraid I have NO context
-#JCVD Features a guy who used to be Iron Fist. Getting my references crossed already.
-If_I_fell_ : @Siskoid If someone has a name and seems strangely shoehorned in, they're a character.
-slaymonstrobot: @Siskoid Don't hate me, but I actually sorta liked the movie...
-#JCVD Reason for accent no5: Despite the USA tattoo, works for the UN. That's international!
-#JCVD 21 minutes in and the lead has just been killed. These are short movies.
-#JCVD Ok Raul Julia is pretty awesome. "Then I would have ripped out his spine. The road not taken."
-#JCVD Note another female journalist mistreated by Jean-Claude. A ninja journalist.
-missmartin: @Siskoid I love ninja journalist, actually I think I have a thing for them... #jeudiconfession #JCVD
-#JCVD The war is canceled. We can all go horm... Guess what, nobody wants to go horm.
-#JCVD Bison makes some amazing cocktails and has a sweet bone chandelier.
-#JCVD Bison will fight the Allied Nations with an arcade machine.
-#JCVD Release the Hulk!
-#JCVD "Hostage pit open. Hostage pit open." Imagine recording that.
-#JCVD Doesn't Ken understand no one will want to play him if he runs away. Ryu knows.
-IdiotBrigade: @Siskoid All anybody plays as, is Ken. LINK
-#JCVD That's what I call platform shoes with variable height!
-#JCVD Now they're all doing their special attacks! FINISH THEM (wrong game)
-#JCVD FINAL GROUP ACTION PHOTO!!!
-slaymonstrobot: @Siskoid Fact: those are all their actual victory poses from the video game.
-#JCVD After credits scene - WORLD DOMINATION REPLAY! Now on to Sudden Death - Die Hard at a hockey game!
-#JCVD Game 7 of the Cup Stanley finals. The stakes couldn't get any higher. I sure hope a Canadian team is involved.
-#JCVD Reason for the accent no6: A Quebecker despite the English name (it's a common phenomenon actually)
-#JCVD Oh it's the Blackhawks... but these Penguins are filled to the gills with Canadians.
-#JCVD My apologies to Powers Booth. For some reason I remembered him as Huey Lewis.
-#JCVD PIT 1 CHI 1 - "It's hockey, you don't need to think." Americans just don't understand the game.
-#JCVD If the Zamboni gets under 50 mph, the evil mascot will kill the little girl.
-#JCVD Oh tranny mascot, you thought you would Pengwin, but you Penglost. (not mine, blame the room)
-Johanne_4: @Siskoid Boo the room. #JCVD
-#JCVD CHI 2 PIT 2 - the secret service didn't get the Die Hard memo from the FBI
-#JCVD is MacGyver. And beware Puckhead in the audience. He'll give you a piece of his mind.
-#JCVD CHI 4 PIT 3 - JC is now on the ice. He's got to goal and... HE'S STOPPED IT!!
-#JCVD To get off the ice, starts a fight. But when it comes to bad guys, it's skates to the face!
-#JCVD CHI 4 PIT 4 - But does the goal count if the player is in slow motion but the timer isn't?
-#JCVD Helicopter crash on the ice! Misconduct 2 minutes
-#JCDV So we'll never know who won the Stanley Cup?!??!! (the Canadian POV may differ from the norm)
-#JCVD Zoltan lives - he applied Vam Damme's makeup through the 90s... Double Team next!
-#JCVD Ooh Tsui Hark! Also, Mickey Rourque! But sadly, Dennis Rodman.
-#JCVD Reason for the accent no7: Lives in the south of France.
-#JCVD 2 anal sex jokes already and I'm not counting the title. Ooh I didn't expect underwater bondage.
-#JCVD I love being in the hands of a Chinese director. The action and visuals are crazy awesome, but the dialog is ridiculous
-#JCVD He wakes up in the Village?! Where's Number 6 when you need him?
-#JCVD Now leaving the island thanks to the plane that obviously brings coca-cola to the Village.
-#JCVD Parachutes are yesterday's news. Now introducing giant basketball technology. ---BOMB BABY!!!
-#JCVD In Rodman, they finally found an actor who speaks less clearly than Jean-Claude.
-#JCVD Disguises. Rodman as a pimp. Van Damme as Robert Downey Jr. Tsui Hark as John Woo DOVE ALERT!!!
-#JCVD Cyber-monks?!? And I thought the guy who held a switchblade in his foot was cracked out.
-#JCVD Roman arena, loose tiger, Rodman on a motorbike, baby in the middle. #badparenting
-#JCVD An explosion of Coke machines. Now I've seen every permutation of product placement possible.
-#JCVD Up next, JCVD... in the original French!
-#JCVD I didn't expect it to be that viciously funny! Haha tidy whitey SWAT guy.
-#JCVD It's over, lots to digest and it's late. So I'll take care of it in This Week in Geek Sunday

With Twitter, who needs to keep a journal? Am I right? And thanks to all my KFFFriends for much of the material above. I stole liberally from the room.

Great Easter Liveblog Challenge: Easter Monday - Let's Build Us a Religion!

Last day of the four-day Easter Miracle weekend and the end is actually in sight! 25 comics, a lot of them entire mini-series I've not gotten to or, yeah, big fat giant specials, but that should be quite doable. Priority comics pile, better hide your children, cuz I'm comin' after you.

Special Forces #1: I can't believe this is a Kyle Baker comic. Well, I can, because it's totally rad, but it's really not the kind of story I associate with him. Garth Ennis, maybe. Mark Millar doing Garth Ennis, probably. But Baker out-Ennises both here. A totally irreverent take on the War in Iraq, with a not that original high concept (the criminals and dregs of society drafted into the army) pulled from the headlines!Black humor that comes and gets you from page 1, crazy action, great art, and Felony is just the funkiest character find of the year! What am I waiting for? I've got the whole mini-series to read!

Special Forces #2: Is Baker using images from real life to enhance his art?
Helps keep the book straddling that thin line between action movie and real life. As Felony's uniform gets smaller and smaller, so do her chances of making it out of this alive. It's not "real" real, but you know what? It's like something a soldier might come back home telling.

Special Forces #3: If you're to be offended by an issue of this, #3 is the one. And if you're gonna be offended, be offended by the true events that inspired the story (in the text page). The best soldier is an autistic soldier... I'm sure that's a metaphor for something.

Special Forces #4: In #3, Baker mentions a #5, but this seems like a pretty definite ending. For those who have called it an anti-war (by which such people almost always mean anti-soldier) comic/propaganda, I have this to say: It's not anti-military, it's anti-military policy. It's about who gets recruited and how, and even though it's an extreme exaggeration (i.e. satire), it's right there on the first page of the first issue. Can I have my hyper-action giggles AND be touched emotionally and intellectually? Yes, yes I can.

Thor God-Sized Special #1: When Matt Fraction writes a Thor story, I show up. I loved his mythical specials, and this has the same basic take, but on a modern character - Skurge the Executioner. It's something of a follow-up to a Walt Simonson story (retold and then reprinted in the back), and is something of a love letter to Thor stories past. There's a great sequence drawn by Mike Allred that takes the characters from their Jack Kirby looks to their Simonson attire.
Don't screw with the great Ash tree!

Comic Book Comics #1: Another series I've waiting too long to read. It's Scott McCloud meets Larry Gonick, and all sweet sweet candy. The first issue tracks comics from the first use of sequential story-telling (The Yellow Kid) to the birth of superhero comics. The medium's connections to animation and pulp fiction have never been made so clear to me.

Comic Book Comics #2: My, these are long comics... can I make my deadline? From WWII to romance comics to EC (Bill Gaines' secret origin is the funniest!)

Comic Book Comics #3: How comics survived Wertham and Congress! You know, once these guys are done with American comics, I'd love to see CBC turn its attention to European comics. That's where *I* came from!

Marvel Apes #0: Starts out with reprints of Amazing Spider-Man #110-111, the first appearance of the Gibbon (with John Romita!). A different animal back then, but you can see how he evolved into the star of Marvel Apes. Then, a teaser for Marvel Apes starring Spider-Monkey... wait, did this come out BEFORE Marvel Apes? Anyway, best part about this is a reproduction of all those Ape cover variants. Favorite?:
Marvel Apes Speedball Special #1: I liked Marvel Apes and all, but did it really require follow-ups? And yet, here we are. Hey not bad. Our world needs a proper Speedball, even if it's a monkey, and the human Ape X makes a first appearance. Where is this going next? Uh-oh, it's high concept hell! Plus: Darwin on the Planet of the Apes. But why can't a 4-issue project actually be the same title numbers 1 through 4?

Top 10 Season Two #1: Top 10 without Alan Moore? Hey, he's right there at the murder scene:
A new anal commish from another parallel. Kinky crossover dressing. A new unexplainable murder. Drugs that turn our youth into Captain Marvels. It'll work. Gene Ha's not doing himself any favors by painting over his figures though.

Top 10 Season Two #2: Another living building? (See Damage Control and Danny the Street.) I think there are enough to make a team (The Suburb... no The Quarter... hm... The Arondissement!... I'll come up with something... Your friendly neighborhood Neighborhood!!!) And Ha has quit the painted overlay. Good.

Top 10 Season Two #3: Origin Weekend, ha! A transformative experience, to say the least. And a bombshell drops a bombshell! ;-)

Top 10 Season Two #4: For some reason, I thought this was a 4-issue mini-series, but it's not really, is it? It can't be. Too much left dangling, including the mystery set up in the first few pages of the #1. Interlocking minis and specials, is it? Seems like the big two are indulging in "same series, pile of number ones" strategy lately. And now: A patented, crazy cameo the Top 10 way!Top 10 Season Two Special #1: Like this. Why can't this be #5? It's not like the issue is extra-length. Girl Two's new job as D.A. is worthy, though artist Daxiong doesn't have Ha's flair for background characters. In fact, Neopolis looks positively empty in this issue. And as far as the story goes, the Zanders would have done better to tie up one of their loose ends from the mini.

PRISONER BREAK! WITH INDIAN FOOD!

Umbrella Academy - Dallas #1: Missed out on the original, but the recap makes me regret that! I was lured to it by a statue of John Wilkes Booth shooting a rampaging Lincoln Memorial, and I wasn't disappointed. Sure, the Academy members aren't as charming as adults, but they make up for it in killer gazelle badassery.

Umbrella Academy - Dallas #2: Violence is... a pair of mascots.

Umbrella Academy - Dallas #3: Heaven is... an all-white western.

Umbrella Academy - Dallas #4: Time travel is... just a rotting corpse away.

Umbrella Academy - Dallas #5: Nice homage to Dr. Strangelove. A giant Vietnamese mummy. And can we hope for Séance Jr. in the future? Those back covers are pretty funk too.

Stephen Colbert's Tek Janson #3: Hilariousness behind a Darwyn Cooke cover. You know, Colbert doesn't actually write this stuff, but it certainly seems like he might have sometimes!
Stephen Colbert's Tek Janson #4: It says something about Tek that guns trained on him with laser sights are primarily concentrated on his crotch. But otherwise I think the weakest issue of the first 4. Laser sights almost save it though.

Age of the Sentry #5: The regular Sentry couldn't interest me less (let me publicly announce that I'm not picking up Dark Avengers), but the Silver Age version is a delight. This issue: Ego the Living Planet's cousin has a baby, the Guardians of the Galaxy as the Legion of Super-Heroes, an interstellar mailman, a fruit-pie ad with Sentry and Cranio, and that's just the front half!

24 BREAK! bee-BEEP bee-BEEP bee-BEEP bee-BEEP!

Age of the Sentry #6: What a great headline:It's the end. And I know how that sobbing Hulk feels. And it ends like every Silver Age story does, with massive doses of exposition! And at the same time, it reminded me of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow. Geez, I'm gonna miss this.

JUST ONE LEFT!!! But - oh no! - it's...
Thor #600: Massive. Not just the comic, but the battle between Thor and his resurrected grandfather Bor. It's only missing John Workman's lettering to achieve almost Simonsonian proportions. Oh, too bad the Dark Avengers put in an appearance. There's a Stan Lee story taking place in his early Marvel history, cute. Some Mini-Marvels, always a charm. Throw in some vintage Lee/Kirby Tales of Asgard and... yep... I'm DONE!

Final Tally: 110 comics in 4 days, and my priority comics pile is GONE! Oh my God, my soul hurts.

(And now, have to read a Star Trek comic for tomorrow... ouch...)

Great Easter Liveblog Challenge: Jesus vs. a Magical Rabbit... FIGHT!!!

My money's on Jesus in this one, by the way.

Starting late on account of reading and reviewing a Star Trek book this morning, and of course, it's Easter, with all that entails, so if I manage 20 comics today, I'll be happy. I've gone through 60% of the pile though, so it's actually doable!! Ok, let's start the day skulking in all guilty for having Battle for the Cowl comics...

Battle for the Cowl: Commissioner Gordon #1: I like it when Commissioner Gordon can handle himself, and he's got a great fight with Mr. Freeze in this one-shot. However, I do wonder if this crossover event will end up proving that Batman wasn't really needed. I mean, if you show that every other competent hero in Gotham (including the police) is enough to stem the tide of crime and violence in Gotham... But for now:
Battle for the Cowl: Man-Bat #1: Can you really blow out Metamorpho's ear drums? Man, I couldn't care less about the Outsiders right now. Man-Bat gets a slightly different status quo (he can change at will), and I'm always happy to catch sight of Dr. Phosphorus, but otherwise, a big fat meh.

Azrael: Death's Dark Knight #1: There's a new Azrael in town and he's one of the substitute Batmen from R.I.P., a cop who lost it. This isn't the same Order as the previous Azrael though, it's the Order of Purity, with a cursed armor and lots of christian myth thrown in. Nicieza does a good job of building interest with his staccato rhythms. Wow, I just enjoyed an Azrael comic.

DOCTOR WHO EASTER SPECIAL BREAK!!!

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2: Man, I hate Jason Todd. And it's not a case of loving hating him either. No, I truly despise the character. I hate the very idea of bringing back this character from the dead (pointless!), and I hate how he's suddenly a psychotic killer (mischaracterized!), and I hate that he's a Batman that uses guns (boring!). It's just dull nonsense to me. Tony Daniel's art is better than under Morrison's scripts, but he still has trouble drawing age-appropriate body types. Everything with a BftC banner has been better than this.

Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead? #1: The only strand I found interesting is Vicki Vale's.

Air #7: A really interesting way to tell an origin story... Blythe is a passenger inside Zain's head from the time he was 10 years old to now, until she can't tell she's herself. Trippy without being obtuse, and I still have no idea where Air is heading. Love this understated plane shot though:
Unknown Soldier #6: Well-documented as ever, but I think it shines by showing us Uganda, making us understand it visually, whether war-torn or not. The U.N. tarps, for example, is a great detail. The series is creepy without really invoking anything supernatural. More and more, I'm comparing it to the Phantom.

Vigilante #4: Tie-in with the Titans, huh? Is this where Vigilante and I part ways? Well, I really don't want to pick up Titans #12, especially if it's not going to end with Jericho's death. But surely, Wolfman wouldn't participate in that?

Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam #3: Another beautifully drawn, charming issue. I especially love how the "Evils" are cursed with their own sin.
Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam #4: That's the creepiest lobotomy I've ever seen in an all-ages comic!

Solomon Grundy #2: I know Didio thinks Solomon Grundy is the non-Vertigo DC's answer to Swamp Thing, but he's really just its answer to the Hulk. Disjointed, relentlessly violent, and here includes a tonally incongruous fight with Bizarro. Ok, NOW I remember why I wasn't supposed to pick this up anymore.

The Mighty #2: Alpha-One speaks, but he's no less creepy. And the way Captain Shaw's murderers get killed, I'm still not letting him off the hook.
The focus remains on interim Captain Cole, the real heart of the series, which I think will be a lot more about how real people would react to a superhero in their midst. We haven't had a good one of those in a while, I don't think. "Realistic" superheroes in recent years have still focused on the superhero (Manhunter, what's left of Astro City, etc.).

The Mighty #3: So now I trust him more, but his fancy HQ puts the lie to his not so secret origin told in issue 1. So I'm back to not trusting him. Tomasi and Champagne do a good job of making him intense, which is how I imagine a superhero would seem to us normal folk.

House of Mystery #11: My pal Bauble told me he tried the new House and didn't like it. Not enough like the old one. I get that, but I still don't think an anthology would work so well these days. The longer story about people trapped in an in-between place, owing something to Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (or if you like, Sandman's Inn at World's End) is one that's keeping my interest at least (plenty of mysteries, ha!). And sometimes the "guest story" actually has something to do with the larger tale.

House of Mystery #12: The House just has the best drinks!
Lovely story about loving a person's multi-dimensional doubles! And an Animal Man-like exit from the house for Peter. I gotta say, the plot thickens. I hope other Vertigo heads are grooving on it too.

Mysterius the Unfathomable #3: Fun as ever. Was Dr. Seuss a Satanist? No, but he could have been!

Captain America Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1: James Robinson would have you believe Steve Rogers earned his super-soldier serum and that while he didn't have the physical power, he still had the resources to beat/elude a gang of 5th columnists. Well, he's got me almost convinced. Nice little tale. It comes with a Golden Age story in which Cap and Bucky play baseball. After that cover, not enough interior Hitler punching though. It's also a comic that makes me wonder if Steve is coming back. Its moral is that what made Cap special was Steve Rogers, who is NOT in the role right now. And Marvel keeps coming out with ways to use Steve Rogers anyway - a bunch of specials and Avengers/Invaders). So does that ad with Captain America's star mean he's back in July? Cuz his movie's not scheduled until 2011.

Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #1: Brought back fond memories of Assistant Editor Month back when I started reading Marvel Comics! The framing story is very funny, and you can just tell Eliopoulos is gently taking the piss out of the ass. eds. Three stories here: D-Man in Iraq, very original; a badass American Eagle story, yes, American Eagle, you heard me; and a funny Mini-Marvels spectacular starring Hawkeye and Dr. Strange.
I'll be back for the second half, guaranteed.

Thor #12: The recent Matt Fraction special have reawakened in me an interest in Thor, but Straczynski's comics work never appealed. Still, with #600 coming up, I thought I'd catch up a little and see. (Didn't expect 600 to be a 100-page monster however... and the God-Sized Special is also in my pile.) Anyway, it's a magical time travel story that takes us back to Loki's roots. As such, it's mythical like the Fraction Specials, so I enjoyed it.

Bloodpool - Suicide Kings #1: I'm kinda new to Bloodpool, though I guess I'd personally describe him as Deathstroke meets Ambush Bug. His two voices and spazzed out visions are certainly entertaining. The plot mildly less so. Didn't this guy used to know he was in a comic? I wish there was a little more of that Reality Check power in here.

Great Easter Liveblog Challenge: Apostle Scramble Day

The liveblogging action continues! Feels like I didn't even make a dent in the pile yesterday, so I must push on. How about we start with a few #1s?

Seaguy - Slaves of Mickey Eye #1: We all love Grant Morrison's Seaguy, right? Even if we don't understand it. That seems to be the consensus. This newest chapter is just like the first one, pleasant and cartoony, and yet disturbing as hell. The key is the mention of the word subconscious in the opening pages. The play on the word "sub" puts the world of New Venice in an interior landscape where people and events may just be fragments of Seaguy's traumatized psyche, and the visit to the mental hospital, even if it's just as surreal as the rest, may bear this out. Or just read it for such characters as She-Beard.

Hero Squared - Love and Death #1: Didn't read the first series, but superhero comedy by the Giffen/DeMatteis team made me try this one. There's a good recap, but I still feel like I came into the middle of things, especially when it comes to caring about the characters. Hmm.

Irredeemable #1: Written by Mark Waid (cool) and drawn by Peter Krause (but I imagine, not the one from Sports Night and Six Feet Under). It's the story of a Superman stand-in - the Plutonian - that goes bad after years of overhearing people trash his name. It's the superhero equivalent of a flame war of your favorite BBS. Violent without being particularly gory, it stands out as disturbing instead, and I think I'm going to enjoy it. Having an afterword by Grant Morrison is odd, but it's great reading, so everyone involved is forgiven the indugence.

The Mighty #1: Another Superman stand-in, Alpha-One, who came out in the 40s and today has a whole police force built around him. And it's really more about the characters around him. Alpha-One doesn't even get a line (kinda creepy). So is he corrupt just like the Plutonian? Could be. Zeitgeist is making all these series come out at the same time, eh?

Rawbone #1: Of all the early Vertigo writers, I was never really a fan of Jamie Delano's. I'm not saying his brand of horror was ineffective (on both Hellblazer and Animal Man), but it's not something that I personally enjoyed. His pirate story uses his trademark purple prose, creating a heightened reality not unlike some kind of perverse Shakespearean tragedy. It gets just a little too obscene at the end there, so I'm not sure I'll be back for a second issue. Sometimes too much is like not enough.

Timestorm 2009-2099 #1: I never read the 2099 titles, but coming to this reality "fresh" doesn't make it work any less. A Handbook page for Spider-Man 2099 clears up a few things, but isn't really necessary. I like the Thor-worshipping stuff, and I'm usually a sucker for time travel/alternate reality stories. Is this, in fact, the other side of the Avengers/Invaders coin?

Warlord #1: Oh, not a mini-series this time? I kinda liked Warlord back in the day, but never bought it regularly. Mike Grell here makes it a little more interesting for me by first following modern day adventurers trying to reach Warlord's fantasy world, though we're soon there ourselves and back with Travis Morgan. Hey, does Tara mind that he sleeps with Shakira?
The intrusion from our world should provide enough juice for early issues. And while I don't mind DC plugging Power Girl in almost every single comic, I don't want it to eat at the main story. 16 actual pages? Booooo!

Ignition City #1: Warren Ellis spins out another high concept comic, this one my favorite of recent memory. It's the 50s, and the old pulp SF yarns were all true. It's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets Dan Dare, basically. I'm gonna call it Rocketpunk.

All-New Savage She-Hulk #1: "Phallo-Fascists"? Really? Oh Mr. Van Lente, I only got this comic because your name was on it. And you can feel Van Lente's hand on this. A tamagochi turned into a taunt-spouting, bracelet version of Skeets; Zabu roasted over an open fire; the title is "W.M.D. Woman of Mass Destruction". And how do I feel about Jen being replaced by the genetically engineered offspring of Thundra and the Hulk? Oh, I don't think Jen's gone too far.

Exiles #1: Here's another series I've never read, but it's got Jeff Parker's name on the cover. There's an extended bit of exposition, which would be grueling if it wasn't so visually inventive.
But it's still a bit awkward. On the one hand, the selected characters aren't really different enough (yet) from their Earth-616 versions to really spark my interest. On the other, this is a comic that has Forge driving a city made of Sentinels. On the fence.

The Phantom - Ghost Who Walks #1: I'd picked up an issue of Moonstone's first Phantom series midstream, and while I liked what I saw, it was hard getting into it like that. A new #1 is just what I needed. We're still very much in the world of today, political and relevant, and the Phantom cuts a mysterious figure. I'll be following it for the long run, and hope to pick up The Phantom: Generations as well.

Oracle: The Cure #1: About being on the fence... I really like Barbara Gordon as Oracle. I also like her as Batgirl a lot (the recent Batman Confidential story a case in point). So how am I to feel about her likely return to her former costume (unless I'm misreading the title)? Not sure until it happens. As it is, I'm liking this battle of wits and computers between Barbara and the Calculator. But then, I remember liking The Hacker Files.

Marvel Zombies 4 #1: The zombie virus is loose on our world, and it's up to the Midnight Sons to eradicate it. Not as outrageously funny as the previous chapter, but still has a nice, underbelly of the Marvel Universe, feel to it.

Daredevil Noir #1: I thought Daredevil was ALREADY Noir? Aside from the mention of prohibition, this kind of confrontation with the Kingpin could happen in the real DD book.
X-Men Noir #4: Now THIS is world transformed. And the mystery's solution? Sheer genius to use Claremont's most famous story. And that's all I'm going to say about that. Read it.

Spider-Man Noir #4: The ending is just a touch too uplifting for Film Noir, but still a likable mini.

Trinity #41: The Krona stuff is a bore (Busiek resolving his old JLA storylines is Trinity's big weakness), but on Earth, the reappearance of the Trinity, even as gods, has history aligning. Some heroes are back, and dead heroes have a way of getting themselves killed!
Trinity #42: History is set aright, finally, but the Trinity's still living large and god-like. I guess we're gearing up for the last 10 issues. Neat bit with the Joker-as-Gotham, by the way.

Trinity #43: It's all about Tarot screwing with Morgaine's head in the first half, and getting touch with a trio of gods in the second. You know, despite the length, this could still have been the real Final Crisis, though it looks like it ends something like Zero Hour. Can we get Tomorrow Woman back?

Trinity #44: Apparently we can. And I was only joking. I don't know what can be done with Tomorrow Woman beyond her Morrison JLA story. The whole point of her was that story. I'm just glad it wasn't Triumph!

Trinity #45: The Crime Syndicate may just be the only ones who can stop the Trinity, and then we're off into Krona land, the power into which everyone's been tapping. Slap him down already.

Wonder Woman #30: Diana throws her tiara! She takes down the Secret Society with extreme prejudice! She's the Jack Bauer of superheroes! Well, maybe that last one seemed a touch unnecessary. Wonder Woman at her most badass, people. I hope Etta's ok. And I quite like how Genocide's origin mirrors Diana's, as does the leader of the Manazons'. And now: Phobia.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #3: A riff on Marvel Zombies on page 1. Batman becomes president of the USA on page 5. The Warlords of Okaara declare war on the U.S. on page 6. The Ultra-Humanite has a lair in Nova Scotia on page 12. It's that kind of a comic.

Agents of Atlas #3: Namora's Sea-nopsis? Oh, Jeff Parker! We're still moving from 1958 to the present and both stories are pretty great. And I'm guessing both will feature (a) Captain America.

Captain Britain and MI13 #12: Paul Cornell continues to be a genius. He's even going to make me like Blade.

Haunted Tank #5: Great art, a blackly humorous take on the invasion of Baghdad, and the Civil War through the somewhat naive eyes of General Stewart. But it doesn't quite come together in the end. We get the origin of the ghostly curse, easy hindsight into Iraq and a few more tank battles, but how it all connects into a thematically meaningful whole... I'd have to read the entire series again.

Immortal Iron Fist #24: I can't believe last issue's cliffhanger will only be resolved NEXT issue!!! What gives? On the other hand, if Iron Fist is preventing itself from lateness by doing guest-artist stories about older Iron Fists like this, I gotta say it's brilliant. Li Park, the peaceful Iron Fist who didn't want to throw a punch, is a compelling story and one that could actually fuel stories about K'un-L'un in the future.

Secret Six #7: It's the final battle for the free pass out of Hell, and it's a doozy. I love Bane-o-vision! Most ironic line:
Secret Six #8: Deadshot and Scandal go on a double-date (but not as each other's dates) and it's the most hilarious issue yet! Especially the no-killing pact. And Rag Doll's dream. And Insignificus. And all the dialogue. And the superhero drag bar. And the Power Girls playing a set. Comic of the Week... hrm, of whatever week it came out.

Booster Golf #19: The Egyptian arc is finally over. Went on a bit long. Ooh, a Rip Hunter blackboard!
Ok, so, references to Battle for the Cowl and whatever that Titans/Vigilante crossover is called. "He is coming back" could refer to anyone - Batman, Superman, some poor soul turned into a Black Lantern... Barry Allen? The Immortals, I'm not sure about. Is Rise of the Olympian on Rip's radar? As for the equation, that has to be Anti-Life, as mentioned in Oracle.

Savage Dragon #145: A Chris Sims recommendation and like him, I haven't read Savage Dragon in, oh 120some issues? Wow, time flies. A lot has changed, but Larsen makes this an easy issue to jump onto. Kind of back to the basics, really. And what is that ending about?!

Ok, let's do a couple more Invincible Super-Blog recommendations...
Uncanny X-Men #507: Yes, Fraction and all that. I should be liking this. I still don't get it.

Ghost Rider #33: I was lured to try this series again by Sims and the promise of nuns with nun-chucks, and though this comes on the heels of a major change, it's really quite good. I'm a sucker for what I call Bubble Worlds, and the Ghost Ride legacy is sufficiently built up that way with throwaways.
The hellish big rig isn't too bad either! And the Ghost Riders of Tomorrow?! This just got crazy enough for me to pay attention!

Mighty Avengers #23: Tony Stark vs. Hank Pym... HILARIOUS! Actually, all the super-smart people are funny. There's so much weird stuff going on here, it reminds me of Morrison's JLA (and that's a compliment). A reveal that saddens me, but not that much.

New Avengers - The Reunion #2: So this has turned into a spy thriller, and I'm not at all disappointed. Hawkeye and Mockingbird work well in the genre. Plus, just how Mockingbird was abducted by the Skrulls, so there's that.

Franklin Richards - April Fools #1: The usual collection of fun stories and charming art from Chris Eliopoulos. It's not quite Tiny Titans or Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, but still cute.

Marvel Adventures Avengers #34: What happens when a time travel story is allowed to go completely nuts? How about Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos, Abe Lincoln and Toulouse Lautrec all appearing? How about the time stream filled with cats? How about... Jousting ancient Egyptians on segways?
Yeah, that stuff. I'm real happy Tigra joined the team too. Next issue: Hawkeye and Batroc? I'm there!

Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil #3: It starts with a Dr. Doom song to the tune of Shaft and goes on from there. I'm not totally with the (seemingly) continuity heavy plot about Infinity Crystals or whatever, but the Masters are a fun lot and Tobin's comedy works, so.

Justice League of America #31: Sigh. Ok, the first part of the book is Black Canary slapping down GL and GA for something they're GOING to do in an as-yet-unreleased mini-series. The hell, people?!? The big point though is that Canary gets called on the JLA not having done much in the last 30 issues, and that's true. Most storylines have been "internal", haven't they? Dealing with a fellow's resurrection, or screwy powers, or helping out another hero team, or getting attacked by super-villains. How have they saved the world exactly? Meltzer's failure has become the entire series, and McDuffy at least seems to realize that. So this issue is just a big shake-up in the wake of Final Crisis, New Krypton, etc. (all of which can't possibly have happened between issues and still sync up). Who's staying, who's leaving? Well, everybody that matters is leaving, so rather than become the next Justice League Detroit, Canary dissolves the team. I've personally been down this road a number of time and every time DC decides to create a lot of upheaval in its main solo books, the JLA suffers. So what's it going to be like now? Detroit? JLI/JLA/JLE (and I'm thinking about the later years here)? Extreme Justice? I can't wait to find out. End sarcasm.

Done for the night!

Great Easter Liveblog Challenge: Good Friday

A four-day weekend, and I see it as the perfect opportunity to get through my immense stack of comics. Even putting aside series that could suffer their own liveblog because I'm so late with them, graphic novels, sundry trades and books I've given up on with a couple issues lying fallow, I still make it out to be well over 100 comics. Gah! That got away from me fast!
But Siskoid, wouldn't it be faster if you didn't Liveblog them? Why yes, pesky voice inside my computer, but Liveblogging gives me a MOTIVATION.
Added difficulty: It's Easter weekend, and I also have to do Easterly things, like clean up the appartment, eat copiously, have friends over for mucho Guitar Hero, craft some Doctor Who cards, cripes! WATCH THE NEW DOCTOR WHO SPECIAL and take care of the usual blogging. So consider the post live and open until I actually go to bed, but there may be large gaps as my so-called real life intrudes.

Let's start with the least anticipated book of the post-Final Crisis season...
Flash: Rebirth #1: It may be fitting to start Easter Weekend with a resurrection story, and you know, once you get past the politics of it (i.e. that you considered Barry Allen's death "permanent"), it's not a bad one. I liked Flash's reflections on his fellow heroes and on how the world has changed, I liked the Rogues' reactions, I liked the Black Flash stuff, I liked the nods and winks at continuity, and I'm a total sucker for a Flash of Two Worlds homage:So while not mind-blowing, I'm ready to add the word "yet" to that phrase. On the Power Girl preview... Fun art, but nothing to really make me care.

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade #4: I just now noticed this was a 6-issue mini-series. Boooo. And this one has it all too. Supergirl blowing her secret identity in front of Lena Luthor, evil Streaky the Supercat, a Doctor Who reference... This one deserves to be ongoing!

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade #5: Graduation Day Part I has a nice mirror/Bizarro cover to match Supergirl #1, Streaky the Super-Saber-Toothed Tiger, Comet the Super-Horse, a Legionnaire Supragirl, Supergirl's classmates being turned into Bizarros, and the evil principal is WHO?!? Can I already start hoping for Cosmic Adventures in the 9th Grade?

Supergirl #39: In actual continuity, Supergirl's after Superwoman who's working with Reactron. It's the continuation of the New Krypton storyline, which I'm enjoying. Bit of a slow chapter.

Superman #686: So like Action Comics, Superman ALSO doesn't feature Superman. So much for what it says on the tin. Well, he's there, but in a series of flashbacks where he sets up Mon-El's new life as Metropolis' protector. James Robinson has always been good at creating a life for the environment, and that's what he does for Superman's hometown here. Seeing Bibbo again fills me with delight, as does the idea that Steel is the city's anti-Luthor now.

Superman: World of New Krypton #2: And Robinson does the same thing with New Krypton. There's a Labour Guild revolution brewing and while Superman - sorry, Commander El - runs his military unit as he sees fit against thought beasts, how is he going to fare against revolutionaries he agrees with? WNK takes Superman into uncharted territory, and yet he's still himself. Maybe those 15 Superman-less months aren't going to be that painful.

Tiny Titans #14: Features a product for The Aquaman Shrine.Charming as always. Especially the chocolate cake recipes.

Green Lantern #39: The Orange Lanterns make their arrival known. I love the "War of Light" arc, and Johns does a good job of giving the emotional spectrum an allegorical bent (Hope is nothing without Will, so of course the Blue Lanterns can't do a blasted thing with out a Green Lantern around). I do think the art's a little confusing at times, especially when alien anatomy is so radically different. Not always sure who or what I'm looking at sometimes. Pretty though.

Invincible Iron Man #12: Iron Man vs. Namor. The Controller. Oh my, Madame Masque! Despite the Dark Reign connection, I'm loving this series. Pepper's Iron Maiden helmet does take some getting use to though.

GUITAR HERO BREAK!

Secret Warriors #3: May I just preface by saying the Wolverine Art Appreciation variant covers are totally gratuitous, irrelevant and STUPID, no matter how many Wolverine movies come out this year? Anyway, Secret Warriors? Pretty cool. The Contessa and Dum Dum spare an appearance, and while the Warriors aren't quite up to snuff yet, Nick Fury......is frickin' cool.

Frank Castle the Punisher #69: In an effort to pad the trade, I think this thing's just a chapter too long. And this chapter is the padding.

Black Lightning Year One #6: A nice finale, especially BL's narration. Plus, Tobias Whale becomes Tobias Whale (I was worried there for a minute). This is another of those Year One minis that I wish were an ongoing reboot. This is a Jefferson Pierce I could read every month. I really don't care for him in team books, or for his contemporary set-up, for that matter.

Batman: Gotham After Midnight #11: The penultimate chapter takes the battle with Midnight to Gotham historical village. Still great art, though I do think Jones' Catwoman is a little wonky.Batman Confidential #28: Speaking of great Batman art... The Garcia-Lopez/Nowlan team is one that really should be on a regular Batman book (if they still existed). I still say the King Tut introduction was only okay, but what a great Riddler DeFilippis & Weir have given us!

VERVOID BREAK!
Ok, that was scary... In all the wrong ways...And now...
Amazing Spider-Man #588: John Romita Jr. draws the HELL out of Spidey's jail break and the ensuing climactic fight with Menace. Pete's last thought: A highlight. So much stuff gets wrapped up, I have to wonder where the series will go next. Thankfully, I'm late enough to have a few more issues to read.

Amazing Spider-Man Extra #3: I still don't know why we need an Extra when the series is already thrice-monthly. So why is the epilogue to the latest story arc NOT in the series proper, for example? That first story by Guggenheim is pretty depressing, to tell you the truth. Joe Kelly's makes me realize that the trademark Osborn hair doesn't work in every art style. Dale Eaglesham's, for example.
Doesn't look normal, does it? As for the Phil Jimenez Kraven Girl story, it's not bad, but largely irrelevant. Sigh.

Amazing Spider-Man #589: Whooo the Spot! I used to have his original appearances in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, but traded them away for my missing issue of Son of Ambush Bug. I'm not sorry, but I am, y'know? I don't remember him being so violent though. Anyway, cool story by Fred van Lente, with a great nod to the Batman movies. Oh! It's Friday, isn't it? Let's call this the Friday Night Fights portion of our liveblogging.
Amazing Spider-Man #590: So did this adventure in the Macroverse really happen on paper? Or is Slott making it all up? Uatu Protocols, heh. While I don't care much about the Macroverse stuff (except how much Ben Grimm wants to clobber giant lizards with cannons), Slott is actually addressing the fact no one remembers Spider-Man's identity. Looks like Mephisto's spell is wearing thin!

R.E.B.E.L.S. #2: Vril Dox betrays just about every ally he has, and that's just the way I like him. And hey! Is this the first appearance of the 21st-century version of Dawnstar's people? Bedard's surprisingly badass in this thing, and I'm actually excited about Vril freeing all the planets under L.E.G.I.O.N. domination. Unfortunately, his ship looks like a toilet seat. It's not just me, is it?

G.I. Joe #3: The Pit is under siege by Destro's robots, and quite cleverly, they're after G.I. Joe's servers. Meanwhile, Destro and the Baroness are fighting, making me believe we're seeing the origin of their relationship (and Destro's mask?). Never though I'd be excited about a G.I. Joe comic.

G.I. Joe #4: Still a ton of fun.

G.I. Joe Cobra #1: So I thought this one would finally feature Cobra Commander, but no dice. Unless he's Chuckles' meet. And for a while there, I thought our main character would turn out to be IDW's version of Zartan, which would have been really cool. But no, this is Joe story first and foremost, and I have a new favorite G.I. Joe.

G.I. Joe Origins #1: Larry Hama returns to G.I. Joe! Nice stuff too. I loved the initiation episodes of The Unit, and this is basically Duke's and Scarlett's, with Snake Eyes thrown into the mix. And a really creepy former Green Beret who wears part of a Goya painting as a mask.
Brrr.

G.I. Joe Origins #2: Roadblock makes an appearance on his own "try-out". A lot of cool bits, including Snake Eyes' funeral.

G.I. Joe Movie Prequel #1: Duke: So another "origin" story, this time for the movie continuity. I don't know if the movie will be any good, but this adventure starring a pre-Joe Duke is a good special ops comic. I'd read stuff like this on a regular basis, no Cobra needed.

G.I. Joe Movie Prequel #2: Destro: Now if the movie has something to offer, it's Christopher Eccleston as Destro. I AM going to have trouble not thinking of him as Doctor Who if this is how he dresses though:
Destro has some cool tricks and weapons, but the issue's quality drops dramatically if you know how to read French. Wow is there a lot of bad French in this thing! Here's a small sample:
I'm not sure what the first guy is going on about, but the second is saying "Send in the units" in Babel Fish. At best, it's word for word literal translation thanks to the magic of the Internet. At worst, the dialogue is completely incomprehensible. And there's a LOT of it. Entire pages where Destro is the only English speaker. EPIC FAIL!

OK TO BED!!! See ya tomorrow!

Revenge of the Live Blog of Doom

Still way behind on the principal comics stack and since last week's live blog provided enough incentive to read 50 comics (50!), I thought I'd give it another go. Only just an evening this time, so if I get to 25, it will have been a big night. Shall we begin? Thanks for putting up with it.

Action Comics #875: Greg Rucka writes - he's been hit and miss with me, though I did enjoy Checkmate - and we find his usual penchant for secrets here. With Superman gone, Action is about the new Kryptonian Nightwing & Flamebird sporting new costumes already. Did Rucka just come in and change everything? Perhaps including the identity of Nightwing? If you were expecting Superboy, you'll be disappointed. I am. The Phantom Zone Villains they're after... some are named after the pre-Crisis guys, but Az-Rel got a sex change. Nice bit with the subtitles.

Agents of A.T.L.A.S. #2: I admit to having missed the original mini, but I like these characters after only two issues. Especially Namora. I also like that there are two stories being told, the one taking place in the 50s alleviating the frustration of the Dark Reign thread. Sole real complaint: The second Uranus joke would have worked better without the first.Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1: Just curious, really. The Knight & the Squire are in it. The happy surprises end there. Tony Daniel's art hasn't gotten better (and I do wonder why he's being "rewarded" with the task of writing an important event like this), with his usual botched story-telling. Panel placement, "camera" angles, clarity, Poison Ivy's dignity, are all strangers to him. So who's the new gun-totting Batman? Start your speculations.

Batman Confidential #27: What's Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez doing these days that we don't see his art more? No, we're stuck with the likes of Daniel and Benes instead. Anyway, good-looking comic, and Batman and the Riddler play well as a double act. Batman: Gotham After Midnight #10: Another book to get for the art. That crazy, crazy Kelly Jones. Goes a bit far with the "heart" puns though, doesn't it?

Solomon Grundy #1: Again, curious. Curious to see how Didio believes Grundy can be the Swamp Thing of the non-Vertigo DC Universe. Writer-artist Scott Kollins' story is pretty disjointed, so I don't think I'll follow it. Sad, because Etrigan's in it.

Justice League of America #29: Retro-writer Len Wein guests to retell the story of Starbreaker's first couple JLA appearances (a bit like he did with that Libra special). Starbreaker may be a two-bit Galactus, but the comic has this panel going for it:That, and Aquaman beats the living daylights out of a cosmic-level villain!

Justice League of America #30: The Milestone heroes. Shadow Thief working for Starbreaker. The moon's shadow attacking Earth. It should be cool, but it just lays there. I'm blaming the art, but it's not like the writing heightens it or anything.

Wolverine: Switchback #1: The art reminds me of Wolverine/Havok Meltdown. It's a Punisher-ish story about a serial murderer who uses a tight turn in the road to kill people, and then it's over and there's a second story, with interesting animation cell-like art, but really no story. What is this? Stuff that couldn't make it into a proper Wolverine series?

Green Lantern Corps #34: Sodam Yat makes his mom appologize for all she did wrong, and Mongul lays waste to Daxam. Hey, can a Lantern change the color of the sun so that the population can get revenge? That would be sweet. I didn't post Nightmare Fuel yesterday, but GLC 34 could have hooked me up: Frank Castle: Punisher #68: A kinda got lost in the supporting player scenes, which makes me think this'll read better in trade, because it's otherwise cinematic and well done.

Immortal Iron Fist #23: HAWT!!! Danny gets to talk to the very first Iron Fist, also a prisoner in the 8th City, and Foreman provides a number of money shots. Folks, this book is as good as it ever was under Fraction.

Invincible Iron Man #11: Pepper Potts becomes Iron Girl, and Tony... shaves his moustache?!? He's on the run alright. Some nice cloak and dagger email stuff. A smart fight with War Machine. I dig it.

Haunted Tank #4: The tank finally reaches Bagdad!Oh and we learn plenty of little details about the crew and old Jeb himself. Could he have been cursed to know no rest by a slave?

Unknown Soldier #4: I like this iteration of the character. I wonder if, as a "spirit", it will inhabit other people and hotbeds of violence as the story progresses. But I'm content with the African setting, a perfect place for the spirit of the Unknown Soldier to rise in the new Millennium.

Unknown Soldier #5: Moses is reunited with his wife and start getting flashes of his life before he became the Soldier. Then, violence erupts. If the next issue is going to be the arc's finale, it's gonna be a doozy.

Captain Britain and MI13 #11: Dracula has declared war against the UK, and while this is a lot of set-up for "Vampire State", there are still some great moments. Like an undercover vampire remotely detonated by holy water capsule.And Faiza healing herself and the Black Knight at the exact moment they hit the ground from a great altitude.

Black Lightning Year One #5: I'm gonna miss this series when it's over. I like that Suicide Slum is just as much a character as BL, what with the shifting viewpoint and all.

Booster Gold #18: The end of the knife story, and I'm sort of glad. This thing has more temporal paradoxes than a season of Voyager! I sure hope Michelle's not gonna sacrifice herself because of existential blues.

New Avengers: The Reunion #1: First off, the cover with the classic costumes proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that they were better. So I got this because I'm a Hawkeye/Mockingbird fan from way back in West Coast Avengers (no, I will not call him Ronin). Bobbi still has her throwing batons , but she also throws a mean syringe!Ooh, and the eraser heads from AIM! Mockingbird has a nasty case of PTSD. Love the Matrix joke. I hope they don't dilute the mini with too many Avengers, because I like it with just the two of them.

Ok, well, that makes 20, and I think I'll call it a night. Not bad for a few hours' "work".

Damn, that stack still has like 30 comics in it. It's endless!