Comics and Stuff
My internet got shut off for twenty-eight hours the years because the cable company is a bunch of dumb jerks. Things I wind up doing when I don't have internet to get in contact with people:
- Walk around the neighboorhood, check.
- Learn to bake french bread and experment with a recipe for fried rice, check.
- Write. A lot. Check.
- Actually make it to the comic shop in the next town to stock up on all the stuff that I've been missing, plus a bunch of older comics, like I always do when I wind up in that shop. And now, since I have my internet back and the insatiable urge to talk to people about comics, I figured I'd give reviews for a couple of the comics that stood out to me.
The Joker’s Asylum - I only got my hands on Penguin and Scarecrow, but I gotta say - this is the best series I’ve seen in a long, long time. I’ve gotta sniff out Poison Ivy somewhere. The individual stories really give you a good look at each of the crazy club, and the narration gives a great characterization of the Joker.
Batgirl #1 - I knew this was going to happen after everybody freaked out over this issue last week, because it always happens. Despite the fact that the first issue of the Batgirl miniseries has caused a massive outcry of hatred from most of the fan base…
I freakin’ loved it.
All of my glowing writing geek opinions about the quality of the craft aside, there’s a big part of me that wants to know: how the fuck can the fandom be upset with this issue? It basically says everything that Cass-loving fan fiction have been saying for the past two years! It’s all canon now, including the family being back together and Batman owning up to his mistake of not being there for Cass! You want to throw all of that out because you don’t like Nightwing’s characterization, which is, more likely than not, going to do a total 180 by the end of the storyline? Excuse me for saying, but WTF, fandom?
Highlight: Cass - unlike a certain other female crime fighter who recently returned to the Gotham streets - has actually been affected by the events of the past year, and she has grown as a character because of it.
Final Crisis: Requiem - All I can say is…I didn’t buy J’onn’s death when I read the first issue of Final Crisis, because it didn’t seem to be important enough or have enough emotional impact for the death of such a crucial character in the history of the DCU.
I buy it now.
Highlight: It made me cry.
Final Crisis: The Rouges’ Revenge #1 - Normally, apart from anything involving Bart Allen, I don’t give two shakes about the Flash or anybody involved with him. Despite this, I really, really enjoyed this - just the fact that they’re bringing Inertia back as an active villain (and he’s just as much of a twisted little freak as he’s ever been) is pretty awesome. But the real treat was the sheer craftsmanship of storytelling in this issue. I still have my reserves about the main Final Crisis storyline, but I gotta tell you - I’m really impressed with all of the spin-offs. This is really good, high-quality stuff here.
Highlights: Even though Bart remains quite absolutely dead (sorry fellow YJ fans) his presence is just everywhere in this book. Now that’s the way to honor the dead - not bringing them back to life, not trying to clone them back to existence. Just showing the way that they’re still affecting the world even after they’re no longer a part of it.
Robin #175 - Admittedly, I would have enjoyed the story a lot more if the Spoiled Bitch wasn’t involved, and it wasn’t the greatest book of the week. But I’m just so happy that somebody at DC has the common sense to realize that Tim wouldn’t just welcome Steph back with open arms. He’s mad at her, and he deserves to be mad at her, dammit, she’s jerked his chain around way too much in the last two years. (“What? You’re still mourning for me? I thought you knew that I’ve been stalking you for the last month.”) Mix that in with some flashbacks to the little-recorded Year Abroad that involve some great Tim-Dick brotherly bonding, and it was all a definite improvement to the bullshit Dixon‘s been shoveling.
Highlight: Robin to Officer Harper: “I need someone that I can trust as much as Batman trusts Gordon.”
YES. So much win in this line. I LOVE Officer Harper.
Also the fact that the passage of time in the flashbacks was recorded with the words: “Bruce in a Cave."