Scott Pilgrim #Shiny!

Scott Pilgrim VS The Universe - Bryan Lee O'Malley - This is volume 5 in the series, but you must already know that. I won't disown you if you haven't been reading this, but you are missing out. If you for whatever reason may have picked up a volume and not loved it as much as I did, this may be an issue to pick up anyway. #4 in my opinion is one of the all time best comics. At the very least, in terms of my enjoyment of comics. # 5 is perhaps not as non-stop fun and funny, but it has a LOT of depth and a lot of character development in it.

It's still funny. Scott stuffing his face, Scott being lovable and clueless, Scott explaining oldschool X-men plot to Ramona, Scott getting his butt kicked by a tiny robot, etc. Including some funny that isn't generated exclusively by Scott. It is a funny book, and I laughed a lot. That isn't all we get in this volume though. For the first time since I have been reading this I felt really sorry for anyone trying to date Scott or even care about him very much. We have always known exactly how he is. He is a very face value kind of guy. but in this one you start to feel a little bad for the people that love and care for him.

There are some big new twists in this one. We get a lot of Kim Pine, who I am crazy about. We get inexplicably shiny Ramona, and Gideon the final boss is introduced, but not seen in person. My biggest complaint about this is that we don't have the next volume sitting and waiting to be read right now. I'm not kidding about that, or being cute. I almost wish I head waited until the next one was out before reading this one, but there is no way I could have waited that long.

If for some reason you have not been able to get into Scott Pilgrim, you may wish to try this one. If you've never read any of them, go get the first one and give it a try. They are often shelved with manga. The rest of you are getting it anyway, or already have it, so you didn't really need a recommendation, did you?

Criminal Volume 4 - Bad Night

Criminal Volume 4 - Bad Night - Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips - I like this series so much that picking it up when I see the trade is almost an involuntary muscle reaction for me. This volume focuses on the character Jacob. He is the counterfeiter we saw in Lawless(v2 of the trades), and the cartoonist behind the Frank Kafka comic strip we first see in Coward(v1 of the trades).

Jacob is an insomniac, a former counterfeiter that can't seem to stay all that former, even when he tries, a cartoonist, an easy mark, and a former suspect for murder. Like a good movie, or a really good series of comics that read like movies, we learn a lot about this interesting and flawed character while at the same time being pulled through a constantly moving and evolving story. Brubaker is really good at developing characters and giving insight and back story without it slowing down or taking anything away from the central plot. I think I become a bigger fan of his with each thing I read.

That being said, now that I am 4 trade paperbacks into this series and feel a need to rank them somehow, I am not sure where I put this story in order of favorites. I am almost inclined to say that I like them in exactly the order they appear. Coward is really my favorite, but I think I like the next three almost equally. This one may lose a few points for the sheer fight club-ness of it, but that is not to say that it has anything in common with fight club outside of the insomnia-surprise plot device. That aspect of it is only a piece of the total package, and certainly works.

Comic Book Day 1/28/09

Big Day! (some of these were released previously, but they didn't show up at my LCS until today.

Tiny Titans #12 - Faces of Mischief!! Finals Crisis!! The (hall) Monitor meets the Anti (hall) Monitor!! This book has it all. Trigon and Slade take their kids out for a day of fun and leave Darkseid in charge. Seriously, This title is as funny and enjoyable for me, as it is just adorable. I really wish more titles were this good.

Incredible Hercules #125 - I am not a fan of the type of book this issue was. I don't love those... changed world House of M style things. In this case it's House of XX Chromosomes. It's good, I just don't love the device. That said, I guess this is a decent wrap up to an arc I enjoyed a good bit, so I am not actually complaining. It was fun with all the references to the different women in different positions in the Amazonian world order. Also, in addition to some humor, I thought Emma Frost as the White Phoenix was pretty cool.

Echo #9 - This issue has 9 pages of dream sequence. All of them are decent and more or less contribute something, but I just wish that we got more in a serving than we do. I think this will be great in a long format, but it is a little maddening to read an issue at a time. My frustration is not at all that I think it is anything less than pretty great, it's just a pretty slow moving thing so far.

Black Lightning Year One #2 - Great issue. Solid writing and art. I don't think that is too much to ask of any comic being mass produced these days. I think this is a Year One story more on the lines of Green Arrow and Teen Titans, rather than Huntress. I like black lightning, even when he looks like grown up Static.

The Umbrella Academy: Dallas #3 - Again I will say it... Great art, Great writing, lots of crazy crap thrown together in a way that makes me smile. It's good, and promises to only get better as far as I can tell. We get more explanations in this issue than in all the previous seasons of the show Lost combined... Actually, we get a lot of Number 5, and it's awesome.

Runaways #6 - This is the conclusion to the first arc, and I think this issue makes up for anything that needs making up for from the previous 5 issues. It's sad, it has action and fun as well as more or less resolving things. I am bummed by the sacrifice at the end, but I hope it isn't the last we see of that character.

Final Crisis #7 - I cannot even pretend to understand this at all. But!! Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew seem to appear prominently at the end! I got that when it was first coming out...

Justice Society of America #23 - This carries the Faces of Evil branding and features Black Adam. It was OK, but I doubt I will keep with this title. I like the Justice Society. I liked All-Star Squadron, I like the characters in the book, but I am not sure that I need to keep getting this.

New Avengers #49 - Luke Cage is Awesome. I stopped getting New Avengers a long time ago, but the dynamic between him and Spider-Man in the beginning was enough to merit getting the title. This issue has a lot of Luke Cage awesome as well as some Jessica Jones and baby stuff. It was a good issue, and # 50 should be pretty good as well. The art was great.

I bought the 4th Criminal tpb. I will post about it when I finish it.
I picked up previews, but haven't been able to open it yet

Superman: Infinite City

Superman: Infinite City - Mike Kennedy & Carlos Meglia - This is a 24.95 hardback released in 2005. I picked it up for 12 bucks at the used book store that I go to. I am increasingly hot for hardcovers, although I am trying not to fully give in to that. I prefer to get them with 'found money' or used if possible. I have resisted buying the mediocre batman volumes that have turned up in the used bookstore, but while I have a decent collection of Batman on my shelves, Superman in under-represented. I understand this probably isn't what anyone would recommend, but I enjoyed it a lot. I absolutely love the character design and art. The pages seem a bit cluttered, but this is to me, a sort of 'out there' romp. The premise is crazy and fun. The plot holes may be huge in places, but honestly, it is possible to just not worry over them and enjoy the story.

Superman busts a criminal that is using a super high tech weapon. He traces the weapon to Infinite City, which at first glance seems to be a sort of diner in the middle of nowhere. Lois and Clark go to investigate. When they get there and do just the most minimal investigation, they get pulled into a strange temporal pocket that is a sort of nexus between realities and worlds and such.

The good news is that Superman gets to see his dad again. The bad news I guess is that his dad is a sort of construct, and there are plots and concerns and mechanical swarms, etc. I thought it was fun, I recommend it, but maybe not at 25 bucks.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Episode 8

Where is the fun in having a blog if you don't try to have recurring features?...right?

Opens with Batman and the Ted Kord as Blue Beetle 'two years ago' breaking into some bad guy lair
In the main story we get Jaime Reyes and his friend sitting at a campfire while Jaime tells the classic Green Lantern origin story. His friend thinks it's stupid and doesn't believe that the ring chose the lantern for his heroic traits, but that he just lucked into the ring. This gives Jaime a fit. He needs to know that heroes are chosen and not just made by dumb luck. He wants to believe that he has the scarab because he is worth it, because there is more to him than even he fully comprehends. He seeks out Batman, who happens to be fighting Dr. Polaris, and after Jaime keeps getting in his way, Batman pulls a LLoyd Benson and tells Jaime he is nothing like the previous Blue Beetle. Jaime seeks out Info in Hub City, and the Scarab takes him to Ted's old Lair. He then ends up on Science Island!! meeting Ted Kord in person... or is he...

Turns out, the guy that Jaime meets and is tricked to power up an army of robots by, is not the Good TED Kord, but the evil(and or misguided) JARVIS Kord... fresh off his stint as the Avenger's butler... ok, not really. Jarvis wants to achieve world peace through total domination via robot army. Yep, Jaime shows his heroism, Batman confirms that he was chosen, and that even Ted, who was awesome... Never got the scarab to work like Jaime did.

This is a good episode. The opener is great because instead of seeing Batman as competitive testosterone junkie as we have when he teams up with Green Arrow, We see Batman and Ted... Science geeks having conversations about gadgets as they kick butt. I really do like what the series is doing. It is so much less about fighting and action (which is there) but it is all about the team up, and the personalities and relationships, etc. Only it's done in a way that is more subtle than that. I mean, it's still obvious, but it isn't after-school special heavy handed. For only seeing Bruce in flashbacks in this series, and despite a near whackiness to it... We actually see a good bit of the real Bruce.

Comic Book Day 1/21/2009

I actually made it to my LCS on Wednesday, instead of on some later 'Comic Book Day Observed'. It was a pretty light day for me, but that rarely lasts very long. Here is what I picked up:

Amazing Spider-Man #584 - I will probably appreciate this more in the context of the story arc, but on it's own this issue wasn't as compelling as the other stuff I read.

Spider-Man Noir #2 - Noir pretty well covers it. I am enjoying this so far. Anxious to see the Daredevil treatment

Black Lightning #1 - I thought this wasn't bad. Decent enough art. The story was fine. It was about the same speed as Lean on Me, with some of The Substitute thrown in maybe... probably other movies of that ilk, but with the promise of some electrical powers eventually.

Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil - Honestly, there is almost no other tactic as effective at getting me to try a new series these days as putting 'all ages' on the cover. There really are a lot of outstanding all ages and kid targeted titles right now. I think it's cool. This issue centers on a Sinister Six team consisting of Mysterio, Kraven, Sandman, Vulture and Chameleon. Dr. Doom has given them a mission to pull off. It's funny and fun, well written and well drawn. I think we know for sure good comics are possible. What possible excuse is there for making bad ones?

Dark Avengers #1 - I didn't want to even like this. The title makes me assume I will hate it. The branding of the next big event makes me feel the same way. Unfortunately for my preconceived notions, I read it and found a lot to enjoy. Norman Osborn is on top of everything. What is the first thing he does? Why recreate the Avengers, sticking himself in it as BOTH Iron Man and Captain America, and usingbad guys to fill the costume of easily recognizable good guys. I'm Sorry, Carol won't play? Hey Moonstone... You're Ms. Marvel now. Bullseye... You can keep the word eye in your name... but instead of a mamal, how about a bird this time... Hawkeye... It has potential. The sort of backup of Nick Fury gathering his tiny little troops together and the promise that he will be disturbing some shit, as they say, made me smile.

Empowered Volume 4. - Another pretty great volume. I will review this as well as 2 & 3 at a later time.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Episodes 5,6,7

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Episode 5 - Opens with Batman and Guy Gardner at Green Lantern central(Kilowog also appears). Guy is being a jerk and unleashes a big bad guy that kicks some Green Lantern butt before being taken back down to size. The main story centers on Batman and old-school costume, clean-shaven Green Arrow being zapped back to the dark days of camelot and facing off against Morgan Le Fey. It also features the Demon Etrigan in his original time. The story has a running joke/theme in it that Batman and Green Arrow keep a running tally of the bad guys they defeat as though it is a sort of macho contest between them.

Episode 6 - Opens with B'wana Beast and Batman going after Black Manta in a giant tri-pod robot machine. It's pretty funny, and in the course of the intro he fuses a spider and a horse, as well as a pelican and a shark. Batman is a bit freaked out by his partner's power. In the main story Batman teams up with the ever-aging Wildcat in a story that I liked a lot despite the cliche'd generational battle. It was done really well. A teenage version of the Outsiders (Katana, Metamorpho & Black Lightning) are the badguys in this, although the real badguy is Slug, the mastermind that has been using the kids to carry out his own agenda. The neat part and the funniest in my opinion, is how Wildcat and the outsiders actually agree on a bunch of things (like hating shopping malls). I think wildcat is portrayed as just a guy in a suit here, but it is a little ambiguous to some degree. I have always really liked the character, as well as the outsiders that showed up in this.

Episode 7 - Opens with Batman and Kamandi running from ratmen and trying to get an antidote for some horrible something that is plaguing Batman's time period. They have to get to the time portal (on the torch of the mostly submerged and askew Statue of Liberty. Batman tells Kamandi to look in the statues nostril before jumping through the portal, and claerly goes back to the past and hooks Kamandi up with a sweet Kirby-style blaster device. In the main story Batman teams up with Boston 'Deadman' Brand, as well as old style Green Arrow and non-addicted Speedy to take on Gentleman Ghost. My only issue is that Batman uses meditation to astral project, and in doing so he is able to fight with the ghost, etc. I just don't think it would work that way... Ok... now that that is out of the way... I enjoyed this. It was fun, and I always liked deadman, even though I never had a great deal of use for him. (My issue isn't that Batman used meditation and projected himself out of body... It's just that i don't think he could hit a ghost that way).

I really like this show. It is fun, and shows a bright blue suited Batman who seems like he has some amount of fun fighting crime and has friends that he jokes with while he does it. There is a lot of little voice over narration by him that gives us further insight. It's great. I am glad there is a show like this. I am glad there is an outlet for this sort of storytelling about this character. I had thought that maybe I should have lead with something about Batman dying, but he was never really dead in that episode.

I don't have a problem with grittier batman stories. I really think that Batman is a character that benefits from different perspectives. I think his nature and his history beg the creation of these different incarnations. While I like this one a lot... I really wish we still had a show along the lines of the Animated Series or Justice League or Justice League Unlimited. I actually think we could all really use the JLU series to never end... Stories could be told as long as they wanted to tell them, new characters introduced and showcased... I guess it isn't my decision. I Liked the newer Batman cartoon with it's sort of 'Ultimate batman universe' feel to the villains. There were a number of things that show did right, but it just wasn't the same either.

I like the short intro bits and the main stories. It feels like a comic with a backup story in it, and maximizes the situations and matchups and pairings we get to see. I think the voice acting is pretty decent as well for the most part.