And Happy New Year's, too

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year's celebration and many more comic. And in the spirit of starting the year off right, here's another comic-themed happy New Year's illustration for your enjoyment. Come back next week for more comics talk!

It's Interesting, But Not Quite Cream Of The Crop

The New 52! Wonder Woman tpb 1: Blood
DC Comics
Brian Azzarello, writer
Cliff Chiang and Tony Akins, artists

The New 52! debut hit about the time I was deciding to seriously cut back on some of my comic spending. I knew I wanted to keep getting/trying out the new versions of my favorites: Aquaman, Nightwing and Green Arrow. I also decided to try a handful of the other titles I was pretty sure I was going to like. I've stuck with some and was proven wrong on others. Then in August 2012, when those 52 new No. 1 issues came out, I weakened in my resolve a little and tried a few extra titles I hadn't preordered. Wonder Woman No. 1 was one of those last-minute buys.

I've never thought of Wonder Woman as a character just for girls; I grew up watching her on "Super Friends" cartoons and in the live-action Lynda Carter series. I enjoyed and still own some of her adventures in pre-Crisis comics. And I absolutely loved George Perez's 1986 relaunch of her title after the Crisis On Infinite Earths changed her history. In fact, comics-wise, that Perez relaunch is still one of my all-time favorite Wonder Woman eras. I think the top Wonder Woman spot for me, however, has to go to Greg Rucka's fantastic run on the book just prior to Infinite Crisis. I love how what he did updated several elements from previous runs while still respecting what had come before. That run (Wonder Woman vol. 2 Nos. 195-226) was the absolute pinnacle of the character for me.

And to be honest, that is at least a part of why I opted not to pick up Wonder Woman's New 52 debut initially. Other writers have had good runs, but none had surpassed Rucka and Perez; why not quit while I was ahead in collecting the best of the best of Wonder Woman comics? But because those two had handled her so well, I weakened, hoping for more greatness.

I find Azzarello's take on Diana and her mythos different enough to actually warrant a reboot, unlike some other New 52 titles that relaunched for no discernible story reason. And it actually is a very interesting approach to Diana, Paradise Island and the gods and goddesses that are so much a part of the Amazons' heritage. And Cliff Chiang's art is gorgeous, as always; he is one of the all-time great comic artists. If I was still buying as many comic titles each month as I did a few years ago before my daughter was born, I would likely continue to pick up this title and enjoy it a lot. But as interesting as Azzarello's take on Wonder Woman is, this isn't the "iconic" Wonder Woman for my tastes. This won't replace the Perez or Rucka runs for me.

The Man Of Steel Gets Pouty

Superman 1-4
DC Comics
George Perez, writer and breakdowns
Jesús Merino, pencils and inks (Nicola Scott, artist on issue No. 3)

We're back to being slightly underwhelmed with a title from DC's the New 52. These first four issues are not a complete story arc, and I confess I AM curious how the story will end, so in that regard, they've got me.

Unlike with the Frankenstein title discussed a few weeks ago, the art is not a problem this time out. Perez's covers are gorgeous, as one would expect from this longtime fan favorite artist. The same goes for the art from series regular Jesús Merino and fill-in artist Nicola Scott. This time, the problem is more the story, and to a lesser extent, the pacing.

When Perez reinvented Wonder Woman in 1986, his first turn as a writer and not just an artist, he took a great deal of time revealing the history of the Amazons and the Greek gods along with the tale of his main heroine, Princess Diana. He seems to be following a similar formula here. Perez is not dealing overly much with the history of Krypton, leaving that to his Action Comics counterparts, Grant Morrison and Rags Morales, who are detailing Superman's early career. Instead, Perez is focused on the tapestry of Metropolis, the Daily Planet and familiar faces like Perry White, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and of course, Clark Kent.

The difference is that the Wonder Woman story being told back in 1986 was engaging on all levels: the story was interesting, and the heroine was challenged by a threat she truly might not be able to overcome. In this tale, Superman is mysteriously confronted by a series of seemingly alien threats. I'm curious about the nature of the aliens and what their true goal is, but almost any hero could be substituted for Superman so far with only minor changes. Having Superman be an easily replacable character in his own book isn't a great way to engage a reader.

The other draw for New 52 books, of course, is how have things changed from the staus quo readers knew before the reboot. Most of the changes to Metropolis, the Daily Planet and familiar faces like Perry White, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are pretty minor so far. The only character greatly changed is Clark Kent, and he is no longer as easily likable, which can only hurt the title.

I'm just not feeling it with this book.

Reviewing 'Em Old School

One of the duties I have at the newspaper for which I work out in the real world is to generate the opinion pages, a portion of which is devoted to various columnists. In my capacity as a page designer/copy editor, I absolutely hate columns that have no central theme, but are instead just a collection of random thoughts and musings on a variety of topics. For one thing, such columns make it very hard to write a concise, all-inclusive headline. But as a writer, I have to concede that not only do they serve an occasional purpose, such columns can be downright useful sometimes.

As I've stated previously, I don't intend to discuss absolutely every comic I've read in this forum — let's face it, with the amount of comics I buy, just one comic each week would be way too slow a reading pace; I'd be buried under unread books in no time — waitaminnit! I already AM buried under unread books!!

Anyway, I have no intention of discussing every single comic I read. There are also some books I might wish to comment on, but for which I really don't have enough to say to fill up an entire post. So today, we have a collection of short thoughts on several recent reads, kind of like some of the older posts where I just did a collection of bullet-style reviews.

But enough intro, let's get to the comics; after all, that's why we're all here, right?

The Brave and the Bold No. 28 (DC Comics) — I really liked the relaunch of this book by Mark Waid and George Perez. After their initial run, the book became a bit more hit-and-miss, as anthologies often are. But J. Michael Straczynski has breathed new life into this book once again. This issue uses a Flash-Facts-type science experiment to drop Barry Allen with a broken leg into the past, specifically, a battle between Nazi soldiers and the Blackhawks. The World War II fighter pilots and contemporary speedster are far from an obvious pairing, but Straczynski manages to make the tale both done-in-one and great fun. The book combines all of the fun of a shared universe and a shared continuity, but without getting bogged down in all of the minutia that can often entail. I hope his run is long and prosperous on this book.

Warren Ellis: Wolfskin (Avatar) — This hardcover collection is not actually numbered, but it is the first collection of the first three/four issues of this gritty lone warrior tale. I believe there are very few actual bad comics; just because I don't care for a story or character doesn't mean that no one does. Some of what I like might not be your exact cup of tea, and just because I didn't care for this collection doesn't mean it will have no audience. It's not so much that this warrior's tale is so gritty or that the art is so graphic and bloody. That also describes Kick-Ass, which I did like. Rather, I just didn't care much for the central character or the dilemma he is faced with after wandering upon a village and slaying several armed attackers. Seems they attacked because they are at war with their neighbors and mistook the wanderer for one of their enemy's agents. By slaying so many warriors, our hero has now left this village at a severe disadvantage in their war, so he must decide if he will ignore their pleas or fight for them. Ellis is a good enough writer, I'm sure there is much more character development to come, but there's just not enough early on to make me care for this guy or wonder about him much. Without that initial interest, I don't care to continue buying to read more.

Gotham City Sirens No. 5 (DC Comics) — No surprises here. This title is just good comics, as I expected it would be. Paul Dini first proved his Batman chops on Batman: The Animated Series in the mid-90s. He not only GOT the Dark Knight Detective, but he seemed to have an affinity for some of the related-female characters. (He's much of the reason I'm looking forward to DC's upcoming Zatanna series.) This book features Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Dini's creation from BTAS, Harley Quinn, as the three femme fatales get an apartment together and enjoy Gotham City living. The book, like many of Dini's works, mixes drama, action and humor in just the right quantities to make a truly fun read.

Wonder Woman (third series) No. 37 (DC Comics) — I was really looking forward to Gail Simone taking over this book, but I've been kinda underwhelmed since I got that wish fulfilled. I like Simone as a writer. She was just as excellent as series creator Chuck Dixon on Birds of Prey when she took over writing that book. Her work on the Secret Six ongoing series is disturbingly brilliant, surpassing the excellent first mini and the somewhat lackluster second mini. Something just seems to be off with her portrayal of Princess Diana for me, though, and I can't put my finger on what it is. I haven't hated any of the story arcs, but I haven't been anxious for each new issue, either. Here's hoping Diana is returned to prominence in my collection when J. Michael Straczynski takes over with issue No. 600.

Heroes tpbs 1 and 2 (DC Comics) — These collections suffered in spite of themselves for me. I bought the first trade when it came out, sometime around the middle of Season 2 of the television show which inspired these web comics, but it went on the stack of trades that needed to be read sometime. A few months ago, the second collection was released, and I decided to go ahead and read both even though the third season of the TV show has lost me completely. There are some truly solid stories here, some featuring characters from the show, but many of the best tales in these collections have little to do with the actual characters seen on-screen each week. They exist in the same shared universe, but operate independently from the show, having little or nothing to do with actual episodes. But overall, these collections fell a little flat for me as the TV show has done.

That's it for this week, kiddie cops; more next time.

Welcome To The First Entry Of 2007

Sorry for the delay since the last post; between real life and the holiday season, life has been somewhat grueling of late. But I’m back now with another batch of Retro-Reviews before we delve into the recently received December releases. But first, a thought which has occurred to me of late.

I’ve been switching back and forth for several months now between reading dozens of current comics, then reading some from two decades ago for a few weeks. There are some marked differences in the comics from the two settings. I don’t mean plot or characterization differences, although those exist, as well. This is something far more basic — pacing.

Most books now, even continuing books are written as story arcs. They typically run four to six issues, sometimes more, but very rarely more than 12. Each monthly book is intended to be only one chapter of that overall arc, sometimes containing only one piece of the story-telling triumvirate of beginning, middle and end. And they tend to read rather quickly. I average about 10 to 20 minutes reading most current comics.

Many of the books featured in these Retro-Reviews can take me nearly an hour to finish, front-to-back, with no more pages. The older issues have more words, to be sure. The writers of the period tended to be more verbose. But the creators also packed each issue with much more, I think. Not every comic book from the 1980s was a stand-alone story. But even when an issue was part of a larger story arc, each issue had its own beginning, middle and end; its own climax and breathers; its own little resolutions and setbacks, no matter how small, along the way to the larger finale.

I’m not saying every story then was better than every story now. Certainly not. But the stories were often more full, more developed. Richer, in a way.

Anyway, just a thought I’ve had.

Last time, we caught up with a few issues of The Warlord and DC’s first post-Crisis crossover event, Legends. These books fall around that same time and shortly after.

Batman 402 (DC Comics, 1986) — The story in this issue is written by Max Allan Collins and illustrated by Jim Starlin. Robin Jason Todd appears in the issue, both in and out of costume, but has a fairly small role, so we can assume he is still recovering from the injuries he received in Legends. The story centers on a former police officer driven by the loss of his wife and child into thinking he is Batman. His actions are much more savage than the real Dark Knight’s, resulting in the deaths of several small-time criminals and prompting a confrontation with the real Batman. But the identity crisis is the impetus for a number of discussions on what the Batman does, how he operates, why he does what he does, and whether or not he should employ lethal force. The story winds up with an interesting musing from Batman. Robin, who has witnessed the final take-down, says, “Broke some ribs, huh? That why you didn’t hit that guy sooner?” Batman replies, “Robin, somehow it was hard to swing at him. After all, who am I but just another guy who thinks he’s the Batman?” Certainly not the always-confident version of today, but this is a good Batman nonetheless.

The New Teen Titans 26-27 (DC Comics, 1986-87) — When last we saw the Titans as a whole, Nightwing and Raven were being held by the Church of Blood, and the others had just fought Mento’s Hybrid creations, resulting in the kidnapping of Aqualad. Then Flash (Wally West) and Changling played prominent roles in the Legends miniseries. These issues pick up with the return of Starfire after her African adventure in Teen Titans Spotlight #1-2.She wants the team to immediately rescue Nightwing and Raven, while Changling insists that the team must go after and help Mento and rescue Aqualad. After some debate, the team opts to build their numbers by first going after Nightwing and Raven. They travel to Zandia, home base for the Church of Blood, and are joined once again by Robin Jason Todd. In Zandia, the Titans meet Twister, a young girl corrupted by Brother Blood and confront the Brotherhood of Evil.

The New Teen Titans annual 2 (DC Comics, 1987) — The annual contains two stories. The first is a somewhat timeless tale of a team-up between the Titans and the new Dr. Light confronting giant robot dinosaurs built by aliens. The story is every bit as fantastical as that description sounds, and is framed by Wonder Girl Donna Troy telling her step-daughter a bedtime story. The second but main feature of the book is the history of Brother Blood. The entire 700-year history of the character is related by Mother Mayhem, and falls where it does because it details the Titans finally gaining access to the main Church of Blood in Zandia. Mother Mayhem tells the Titans the history of Brother Blood before his planned “resurrection” in hopes of convincing them to leave him alone.

The New Teen Titans 28-29 (DC Comics, 1987) — Obviously, the Titans aren’t going to leave Blood alone. They’ve learned that Nightwing and Raven are being held at the New York church where Blood’s “resurrection” is to be staged. Making use of the duped Azrael and the brainwashed Raven and Nightwing, the Church of Blood whips the world into a frenzy of spiritual need, then present their resurrection event in front of the world. When the Titans attack, things have been manipulated so that they appear to be attacking a benevolent entity with mankind’s best interests at heart. And the combined powers of Raven and Brother Blood truly seem to be defeating and destroying the Titans.

Jon Sable, Freelance 44-45 (First Comics, 1987) — These two issues present the two-issue tale, The Hard Way. Sable is hired to protect the only copy of a never-released six-year-old film as it finally makes its way to its debut at the Cannes Film Festival. The story itself, especially the resolution, seems a bit overly convoluted and disappointing considering the title’s usual level of quality. But these books are noteworthy as the beginning of the end of the series.

Mike Grell wrote the story and illustrated the cover, but he did not do the interior art. That chore was completed on these two issues by Judith Hunt. The art isn’t bad, but as happened when Grell started giving up duties on the Warlord, the trend here would continue. The letters page in issue 45, tells readers that with the next issue, Grell will give up all interior art duties to new artist Mike Manley. The reason for this is so that Grell can devote more time to a Sable graphic novel, but as far as I know, one never materialized. And this series only continued through issue 56, so the writing was apparently on the wall a year before Grell’s departure.

Teen Titans Spotlight 7-8 (DC Comics, 1987) — Both of these issues of the Spotlight series focus on Hawk by Mike Baron, Jackson Guice and Larry Mahlstedt. When last seen in New Teen Titans, Hawk was even more angry and prone to violence than ever before. That’s the Hank Hall presented here, although he’s still effective enough to defeat a group of very small terrorists who first take over a Colorado nuclear power plant, then lead Hawk to their home base in South America where their hive is being threatened.

Wonder Woman 1-2 (DC Comics, 1987) — This is the re-launch of the Amazon princess by George Perez and others. First there was Superman in John Byrne’s Man of Steel. Then Batman by Frank Miller. Now it’s Diana’s turn. And when DC re-starts Wonder Woman, they go all the way back to the beginning of time, re-telling motivations of the Olympian gods, the full history of the Amazons and the creation of Diana to thwart a mad plot orchestrated by the god of war, Ares. This is a very dramatic recreation of the Wonder Woman story.

That’s it for today. Again, next time we’ll dive into some of those more current December-released titles. See ya next time, Kiddie Cops. Happy collecting.

More Post Crisis Retro-Reviews

Welcome back, Kiddie Cops. As promised, here are some more retro-reviews from my personal comic book collection. Now, we’ve already covered a large number of comics since discussing the mega-crossover event of 1985, Crisis On Infinite Earths, but many of those comics were produced later and only happen to “occur” chronologically in my collection immediately after the Crisis as history is being re-written. But in the real world, the Crisis lasted into 1986, eliminating a number of characters and titles from the DC Universe. Just like DC is doing now, creating several new titles in the wake of Infinite Crisis, back in 1986 and early 1987, the company began to launch several new titles or tweak the premise of existing titles. And what better way to accomplish that task than to launch yet another, albeit smaller, crossover.

Legends 1-6 (DC Comics, 1986-87) — Darkseid launches a gambit to turn the populace of Earth against its heroes using the persuasive powers of Glorious Godfrey. The plot focuses heavily of the legends surrounding the heroes, hence the name, and includes a running verbal battle between Darkseid and the Phantom Stranger as they watch events unfold from Apokolips. Darkseid has some initial success crushing the spirit and even lives of some heroes, and does indeed turn much of the populace against the heroes. In a parallel to Marvel Comics’ current Civil War, the growing outrage against superheroes even prompts in-story President of the United States Ronald Reagan to declare all heroes who do not cease their activities outlaws. Superman is sidelined; Captain Marvel is demoralized; the Detroit-era Justice League is decimated. But the Phantom Stranger points out that Darkseid has failed to account for one segment of the population who will always believe in heroes and their legends — children.

The series brought about real change in the DC Universe on the heels of the Crisis, change as permanent as any in comics. The series served as a springboard for a new Cosmic Boy miniseries, as the time-traveling Legionnaire was in the past when Darkseid’s assault began. It launched the beginning of a new era for Captain Marvel and the Flash as Wally West assumed the costumed identity of the late Barry Allen. It ushered out the Detroit-era Justice League and relaunched the team with many principle characters from Legends — Dr. Fate, Batman, Captan Marvel, Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter and Blue Beetle. And it provided an early glimpse of the soon-to-be-relaunched Wonder Woman.

Detective Comics 569-70 (DC Comics, 1986-87) — This two-parter came out at the same time as the Legends miniseries, but actually has to “occur” slightly before. In Legends #4, one scene has Batman in battle with the Joker and declaring, “After what you did to the Catwoman, I ought to kill you, Joker ——” referring to Detective Comics #570. However, Robin appears prominently in the Detective story arc, but is hospitalized throughout most of the Legends series for injuries sustained in Legends #2.

So, what did Joker do to Catwoman? Contemporary issues of Batman and Detective Comics had Catwoman semi-reformed and working alongside Batman and Robin in their nightly crime-fighting activities. Additionally, Batman had revealed his dual identity to Catwoman, and Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle were dating out of costume. In this arc, the Joker is out of sorts, lacking the creative spark that will inspire a challenge with Batman until he is reminded by one of his henchmen that Catwoman is now working with the Dark Knight. Joker flashes on the idea of taking Catwoman away from Batman, both literally by kidnapping her, and figuratively by then brainwashing her into returning to a life of crime. In this, the Joker succeeds, with the help of Dr. Moon.

Along the way, Joker demands that the recently brainwashed Catwoman reveal to him Batman’s secret identity. What she tells him is lettered very small, indicating a faint whisper, and leads Joker to an innocent family named Benson where the story’s final showdown takes place. But the panel where Catwoman tells Joker Batman’s secret identity clearly says “Robert Redford.”

The Warlord 114-15 (DC Comics, 1987) — These two issues of Warlord continue the quest storyline, but also tie in with the Legends miniseries of the time. DeSaad is dispatched to Skartaris by Darkseid to attack the legend of Travis Morgan, the Warlord. In the end, DeSaad is dispatched, but not before Morgan’s reputation has taken a severe hit among the denizens of the inner world.

That's it for today, Kiddie Cops. Happy collecting.

We’re Absolutely Flying Through August

Hey, Kiddie Cops, it’s time for some more comic book reviews from the month of August. We’re already halfway through the month, and I’ve been reading at a better than normal pace, so we’re almost through the entire month already.

Martian Manhunter 1 (DC Comics) — Another limited series, this one with some strikes against it right off the bat. First off, I don’t much care for the new costume design. From what we’ve seen of the character in the past, the costume doesn’t make much sense, so there better be a darn good in-story reason for it. Second, I didn’t much care for the creative team of Lieberman and Barrionuevo on Gotham Knights; actually, the art was fine,but the story rang off for me. However, I’m curious about where this discovery of other green martians on earth is going.

52 Weeks Fifteen and Sixteen (DC Comics) — Still liking this series, especially the arcs involving Black Adam and Isis and Montoya and the Question. It was nice to see a glimpse of the stranded space heroes again, too. No sign of Ralph Dibny, though, so apparently they’re going to make us sweat his fate out a bit.

Manhunter 25 (DC Comics) — I’ve mentioned that the last arc of this book was a little disappointing. This new story seems to be starting off nicely, but I wonder how this story is going to mesh with what is happening in the relaunched Wonder Woman title. Speaking of which ...

Wonder Woman 2 (DC Comics) — Very interested in where this story is going, but what is up with Wonder Girl? Cassie was devastated by Conner’s death and Diana disappearing, but what is up with her joining a resurrection cult, blowing off the other Titans and being a complete jerk when Diana resurfaces. She was hurt, sure, but endangering Donna and other civilians to get back at Diana? What’s up with that.

Checkmate 5 (DC Comics) — I’m glad I waited this title out. It’s getting better and better.

Nightwing 123 (DC Comics) — This first One Year Later arc wasn’t bad, but I find myself just waiting for Marv Wolfman’s run to begin.

Donald Duck and Friends 343 (Gemstone) — I like Donald. I just do. But there’s no escaping the fact that the best stories in these books are the reprinted classic Carl Barks stories.

JSA Classified 14-16 (DC Comics) — This story arc was a sequel to the most recent JLA Classified arc with the Royal Flush Gangs. But this story just didn’t seem as good to me for some reason. I like most of the characters, but the tale just left me saying “So?” I’m not exactly sure why.

Daredevil 88 (Marvel Comics) — I shouldn’t have doubted Ed Brubaker. The stories he’s churning out in this title and Captain America are incredible. But when I learned Foggy was still alive, I feared the explanation would fall flat. I should’ve known better. He’s written another ace that keeps the characters in question completely in character.

That’s it for today. Check back next time for the rest of the August release comics, or at least the ones I received for the month. And quite probably, there’ll also be some more retro-reviews.

Busy Weekend of Reading

HHere’s some more thoughts on comics I read this weekend, and there’s a lot of them so here we go:

Civil War Front Line 1 (Marvel Comics) — OK, I don’t know who this Sally journalist is but I’m guessing she’s been in some previous stories from the conversation she has here with Spider-Man, but I do know who Ben Urich is; this comic holds promise. This first issue doesn’t start out slow either.

Wonder Woman (2006) 1 (DC Comics) — The Amazing Amazon is re-launched with Founding Teen Titan Donna Troy in the title role, or is she? Steve Trevor certainly wasn’t who he appeared to be. And Diana does show up in the final scene, so there’s more to this title than meets the eye in the first issue.

52 Week Six (DC Comics) — This was a good issue. It was especially nice to see Ralph go off on somebody, venting his grief, and I can’t think of anybody more deserving of some anger directed their way than Booster Gold.

The Battle for Bludhaven 5 (DC Comics) — Again, I’m not real sure about this miniseries. It seems a little disjointed and some of the more familiar characters don’t necessarily act like themselves. Green Lantern Hal Jordan shows up in this issue; he can’t save it.

Superman 653 (DC Comics) — “Up, Up and Away!” continues; it started so promisingly, but now that Superman’s powers are back, I dunno. Maybe I’m just losing interest, but I’m just not feeling the excitement I was in the first few chapters.

Checkmate 3 (DC Comics) — Still not sure about this title, but I’m warming up to it. Alan Scott, Sasha Bordeaux and Fire seem more in character to me. I’ve also decided to give the first Checkmate series a try. Worked out a trade over the weekend swapping some of the comics from the Web site for all 33 issues from that series. Hopefully they’ll be arriving soon.

Green Arrow 63 (DC Comics) — Ollie is one of my favorite characters, but I’m just not sure what writer Judd Winick is up to. I’m losing interest in what is going on, and while I’ve liked his art in the past, Scott McDaniel’s art in this title is just rubbing me wrong.

Fables 50 (DC Comics) — WOW! I love Bigby and I’m happy to see he and Snow finally together. I just hope their seeming bliss at the end of this fantastic anniversary tale doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing them again. Great espionage tale winding up several plot threads from the first 50 issues.

Civil War 2 (Marvel Comics) — Obviously this is the main series Front Line spins out of. It’s getting a lot of great buzz online, and Cap’s great escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first issue was great. This one, not so much except for the big shocker on the last page, which, of course, was ruined for me online since I get my books after everyone else. Oh, and I’m a little shocked at the side of the CW Ben Grimm is on. I figured he’d be more on Cap’s side.

Squadron Supreme (2006) 4 (Marvel Comics) — I still like this title, but it seems to have lost some of its kick with the move from Marvel max to the mainstream Marvel U titles.

Nightwing 121 (DC Comics) — This Bruce Jones guy is just writing my absolute favorite hero stranger and stranger.

Donald Duck and Friends 341 (Gemstone) — Love me some Donald Duck. Not much to say about this specific issue, but these are fun to read.

52 Week Seven (DC Comics) — Oops! Read so many comics this weekend, I forgot. This is the issue where Ralph goes off on Booster. We also get our first glimpse of the new Kathy Kane, the soon-to-be all-new Batwoman.

JSA Classified 13 (DC Comics) — The final installment of this travesty. I’m not the biggest fan of Vandal Savage anyway, but I just didn’t care for this arc.

Toldja it was a lotta readin'.