Monthly archives: August, 2007

How embarrassing! As I sit down to write this, it’s 11:20pm on Tuesday and it just occurred to me that I forgot to write this week’s Doomino Effect!! I even sat here and commented on the site several times today. In my defense, I kept thinking today was Monday. I also kept thinking that yesterday was Monday, so either I thought that this week had two Mondays or else maybe I just thought Monday was really long.

Well speaking of embarrassing things that drag on, let’s start with Countdown #37. I think I said last week that I didn’t think #38 was as awful as the previous ones, or maybe it showed promise or something. Well, this week, I’ll go so far as to say that I kind of liked the issue.

I don’t really know why though. I don’t think Doom DeLuise has bothered to write his review this week, so I’ll spare no detail. I thought it was stupid that Oracle told Karate Kid to sit down so that she could deliver no news. You tell people to sit down when you have bad news, not just to build up drama for an anti-climax. She also seems somewhat surprised that maybe the virus is from the future. Could this be, I don’t know, obvious perhaps, since Karate Kid is from the future?? It seems like it was all just set up for Triplicate Girl to refer to “The Great Disaster.”

Then we’re treated to Inconsistencies With Zatanna’s Stupid Spells, as she says “Emoh su ekat” and “Ffats ekat a kaerb” in the same scene, which either means she cast spells saying “Home us take” and “Staff take a break” or else people at DC Editorial can’t wrap their heads around one of the stupidest spell-casting mechanisms in history.

Like what if she’s hanging out with her mom, and her mom makes this amazing cheesecake. Zatanna takes a bite and says “Wow Mom!” because normally her mom sucks as a cook. All of a sudden, will there be like tapdancing ostriches in the kitchen attempting to impress her mother? So very very stupid. But I’m digressing, because the inherent stupidity of her spells is not exclusively a problem to Countdown. Just the error with “Emoh su ekat.”

We return to tiny land where Jason Todd continues his competition with Nightwing to be the most horribly miscast character in the DC universe. Jason is an evil genius, but instead he’s written like a cocky, dim-witted meathead.

I still want Piper and Trickster to die, and I still don’t care what’s going on at the women’s shelter, but I think the big thing that made me like this issue was that – with the cliffhanger of Jimmy knowing Clark is Superman – I actually want to know what happens next issue! I do believe this is seriously the first time that has happened with Countdown.

Here’s my two-part theory at this point:
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Line of the Week- Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #23, by Peter David

J. Jonah Jameson: “I hate that F.N. Spider-Man.”

I’m not really in a blogging mood right now, but I still wanted to bring that line to everyone’s attention. Peter David’s run on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has in my humble opionion been a trememndous success, especially considering all the crap he’s been forced to put up with over two years: The Other, Iron Spider, the unmasking, the black costume, etc. David has made the most of an unfortunate situation by telling two years worth of incredibly fun and witty Spidey tales. And really, that’s the way Spider-Man should always be written.

Thanks to Peter David, for putting out yet another smart, funny and damn entertaining run on a comic series.

Let me just tell you, the Time Away From Comics is not going so great. My life hasn’t fallen into a complete pile of dog poo or anything (lots of job interviews and looking at apartments), but I just flat out miss comic books. I’ve read plenty of blog posts about how it doesn’t really hurt that much to leave the Happy Wednesday cycle for a few months, but hump day just isn’t the same without a trip to the comic shop.

So, it was a pleasant surprise when the fine folks at DC Comics sent over a copy of the new Booster Gold series this morning. The series, as you probably know, spins out of 52 (such series are cleverly referred to as “52 pickup”). Booster is back, still a dickhead but at least without logos plastered on his costume. Skeets is also back and evil free. The initial fight with the Royal Flush Gang is a nice reference to the character’s origin, and just like then, Booster uses the petty bout to ingratiate himself to the JLA.

The fairly boring intro becomes a lot more interesting once Rip Hunter shows up and spouts a whole bunch more mumbo jumbo about the multiverse and timestream being under duress because of wormholes and time jumpers and whatnot. Honestly, Rip Hunter is one entertaining SOB. Can you imagine being friends with him? How off-the-wall would parties get once he showed up?

“Oh, the keg is all empty, is it? Well my chrono-intensifier will allow us to warp to the inter-space of the Greek gods of myth and steal their sweet ambrosia!!! Now pop some DMX on the stereo, Rip’s gonna get down!!!”

Sadly, the jumbled mess of time traveling nonsense that ensues in this issue makes just about as much sense as the above sentence. Which is to say, none at all. It’s no surprise that Geoff Johns is involved. Sinestro Corps aside, he’s been one of the main culprits in crafting this new status quo in the DCU, and it just doesn’t make a lick of sense. We’re all supposed to be concerned about these “time jumpers,” yet we never actually see them in action or how or why they’re jumping or how exactly this is hurting the multiverse. It’s like the writers and editors just invented this threat (also present in Countdown, et al) and just expect us to say, “Oh, okay, this is dire!” They need to SHOW us that it’s dire.

A key example of this nonsense comes when Rip explains that Booster essentially needs to reprise my role in Timecop and save all the heroes from time-traveling villains who will strangle them in their cradles, or something. Then he says they need to catch those dang time jumpers. However, their first act is for Booster himself to create an anomaly to save some people from Black Adam, circa World War III. HUH? This could all be some masterful groundwork of an incredibly intricate time-traveling mystery plot. I just don’t see it. Instead, it looks like a certain someone is hoping no one gives any thought to what he’s writing.

The sad thing is, this book has kind of a cool retro DC feel. In Dan Jurgens’ art and Johns’ writing, there’s the feel of the fun and frivolous stories of yesteryear. It’s written in a way that far too few books are, a way that younger readers can enjoy. Too bad it’s a convoluted mess. So if you’re looking for a good DC comic to share with the kids, stick with The Brave and The Bold.

So that Fin Fang Doom’s tribute to the late Mike Wieringo could stay up a little longer, this week’s Doomino Effect is a little bit late. But now, it’s time.

Speaking of being a little bit late, I’ll start with Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America – Iron Man, the fifth and final chapter in the series. I’m not sure when this came out, but I realized that I had missed it when it did, so I grabbed it last week. In spite of his downward spiral on Wolverine over the past few months, Jeph Loeb did a really nice job of wrapping up this series – another reason I hope Captain America stays dead. Falcon’s farewell speech was done very well, and I especially liked little acknowledgments, like the fact that many of Cap’s surviving World War II friends have already had to go through this.

I’m not on the John Cassaday bandwagon at all, but he did a decent job on the art here. The funeral scenes managed to stay subtle and somewhat understated, while the big battle flashback splash pages were grand enough. The fact that he really only has one Male Face in his artistic arsenal was exposed somewhat, as everyone fronts the same sorrowful expression. But it did what it needed to do, and it wasn’t a disrespectful way to end the series by any stretch of the imagination.

Speaking of Captain America flashbacks and disrespectful endings, that leads me to New Avengers #33, which featured an awesome Cap flashback to Hawkeye’s early days in the Avengers, plus an unceremonious termination of b-list villain The Owl.

Skrullanoia continues to infect the New Avengers, to the point where Luke Cage now doesn’t even trust Jessica. The team is fairly strained and splintered, while a warehouse of bad guys unites under a mysterious new bald guy. A de-activated Deathlok is now at their disposal, and Wolverine has snuck onto their trail.

The bar scene with Wolverine is a great example of one of the things I love about this book. Bendis brings out humor by tapping into some of those “real life” aspects of superheroes – the fact that the bartender hates Wolverine because he’s always trashing the place – without having to hit the reader over the head with some kind of deconstruction of the fascist superhero archetype. It can have those touches of reality’s implications without having to pull you out of the realm of superhero action comics. This book is still consistently one of the best comics out there.
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