reviews
The Boys #64 - This issue tackles the fallout from Homelander and the rest of the supes taking action against the US government. Homelander visits the VA man and tries to scare him, but the VA man tells off Homelander, calling all his actions juvinile and boring in their predictability. During this, Hughie and Butcher are at the White House, coordinating with the marines on waiting to strike. Eventually, Butcher goes in to tackle Homelander all by himself. Elsewhere, the world gets wind of what the supes are really like and finds out that their recent actions are actually an overthrow of the government. Mother's Milk also gets some info on Black Noir, which royally scares him, but too late to warn Butcher. The tension is certainly ratcheting up. What's Butcher going to do to Homelander? What's Black Noir up to? My only complaint would be Annie not showing up this issue. I sure home she has a role to play in the end game.
Power Girl #1-12 - 12 fun and hilarious issues following Power Girl as she defends NYC while trying to set up a normal personal life and run a company. There's lots of great stuff from talking apes, to perverts getting just desserts, to a Sean Connery lookalike alien vying for PG's affection. The action was great, but the quite personal moments were even better. Amanda Connor's art is amazing, capturing so much emotion in just a facial expression, though even she can't manage to make PG's costume work. Complaint? The business angle is a lot of set up and there's a nemesis introduced that doesn't get resolved. I'm assuming the writer who took over tackled these issues, but I wasn't too interested in reading further once this team left. I guess I wish these 12 issues wrapped up in a nicer bow.
The Twelve #10 - Too much of the early parts of this issue are a detective explaining the crime to a group of people, but we finally see that the robot was behind all the killings thanks to a "mind meld" with Dynamic Man. See, Dynamic Man was created by a scientist who found sex impure, so he made DM as a sexless robot with the same prejudices and no memory of being a robot. The big robot was killing the people that made DM sick not because they were interracial couples or gay men, but because they represented sex and love and all that junk. DM takes these revelations none too kindly, declaring himself a human before attacking the group in genital-less full frontal nudity. Other than the slow early start, nice chapter to this story. It makes you go back and reassess old information with this new knowledge, which gives everything a new meaning.
Villains For Hire #4 - Everything was a setup, everyone fights everyone, most escape, we learn the Paladin was in on it the whole time (shocker), and then Puppet Master is copping a plea bargain while Misty and Paladin make out. Meh. It feels like this this series just kinda wore itself out over time and just ended here because it wad nothing else to give. The whole who's controlling who is a bit confused (though stopping the story to explain it all helped). Also, don't like Misty and Paladin together. I think they'd work better as friends who respect each other.
Wolves - Becky Cloonan writes a kind of stereotypical story of a man sent out to kill a werewolf, but the werewolf is really his lover. Nevermind, Cloonan makes it empathetic as hell with her great artwork. Lovely book if not exactly an original story.
Hard Boiled TPB - A Frank Miller written story about an assassin robot that thinks it's human, killing indiscriminately, until it is confronted by the truth and tries to get revenge from it's creators/builders. The story is neat if unoriginal. What makes this awesome is Darrow's artwork, super detailed and super violent. I just spent time looking over every page, knowing that I'm going to miss something.
The Unwritten TPB vol. 02-03 - I kinda forgot what happened in the first volume, but we start off here with Tom in jail for murder where the guys who set him up come to assassinate him. He meets up with a reporter and the girl that started this whole mess is also in the prison. They escape using a magic door knob, go into a story set in Nazi Germany, and end up in London three months in the future. There, the cabal is planning on releasing a false 14th volume of the Tommy Taylor series to draw out Wilson, but Wilson one ups them and substitutes in a messianic real version. Tom figures out his powers a bit and goes on a mission to rebuild his power. I like how twisted the story is getting, plots within plots. The magic is literally the power of stories and the big picture is using stories to control the world. It was a slow build, but I'm now fully enjoying the series. I only wish I read more of the classic stories that are referenced as I'm sure I'm missing lots of details.
Cannonboy 1-2 - Cannonboy is a anamorphic cannon wandering the blasted post war landscape, generally chasing a gull. We also get a glimpse of the cannon's life pre-war. It's nice and emotional, though a quick read (mostly no dialog). Too bad there's no further issues and I liked it.
King Conan: Pheonix on the Sword 2 - There's a flashback within a flashback explaining the villain and how he came to power, then he comes back into power, than Conan has a vision. I don't really know what's going on and I don't care too much.
The Cape 4 - The final issue of this series. We get a confrontation between the two brothers and finally learn why the evil one became divorced from reality. Pretty satisfying conclusion, but I don't like the "he's evil because he's mentally ill" angle.
ASM 680 - Spider-Man and Johnny Storm are in space fighting Doc Oct's robots. The setup is preposterous, but the banter between the characters is fun. Decent.
FF 15 - I don't remember the details other than this issue showed how the FF met up and prepared to fight the Celestials, but I remember it being sci-fi-funtastic.
Defenders 4 - This was a packed and complicated issue. We see Dr. Strange meeting up again with the one night stand from the first issue (she's not proud, but needed a book from him). Also, while he is contemplating the magic wishing machine, he thinks about his wife and brings her back from the dead. They get acquainted, but eventually he makes her leave. On top of that, a fellow magician finds the book Ms. One Night Stand is carrying around and blackmails Strange into giving up his secrets. So, Strange has to take care of that on top of everything else. All three story lines work off each other well. There's pathos and mystery and a tiny bit of action. Totally enjoyable issue.