Random Thoughts from 10/3/07

I usually read all my comics right away when I get home from the comic shop on Wednesday. I realized last week that this means by the time Monday rolls around, I really haven’t thought about my weekly comics for a while and don’t have much to say about them. Hence the earlier than normal post.

Countdown has gotten to the point where if isn’t just completely terrible, I’m pleasantly surprised. And what can I say, Countdown #30 wasn’t a flaming bag of dog turds. Pretty much the only storyline that was forwarded at all this issue was that of the Challengers. Remember when 52 started focusing on one storyline for almost the entire issue and got really good? Am I foolish to hope the same thing is going to happen here?

So there’s an alternate Earth where Jason Todd is Batman, Donna Troy is Wonder Woman, Kyle Rayner is Green Lantern, and they all pal around with an Atom? That seems awfully convenient. It also seems quite wasteful of one of the 52 universes DC has to play around with. In less than six months, DC has already assigned specific continuities to 29 Earths (thank you, wikipedia!), including such notable universes as “Conjurers” (huh?), “Justice Riders” (come again?), and “everyone has the opposite gender” (seriously?). At this rate, I doubt the multiverse as it stands will even last until Final Crisis. Seriously, when’s the next time anyone’s ever going to use Earth-15, the “convenient for storytelling purposes” Earth?

With Green Lantern Corps #16, The Sinestro Corps War seems to ramping up into overdrive. With Lanterns gaining the ability to use lethal force, the Sinestro Corp seemed like it was on the defense for the first time. Except now they’re all attacking the Earth, along with Superboy-Prime, Cyborg Superman and maybe the Anti-Monitor. That’s going to be one hell of a fight.

Surprisingly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer #7 was not my favorite book of the week (that honor goes to GLC), despite my professed love for the property and the talents of wiriter Brian K. Vaughan. Something about a Buffy comic without Buffy seems wrong, although that was rectified on the last page. Seems the evil Slayer the formerly-evil Slayer Faith was sent to kill is trying to kill non-evil Slayer Buffy and wants pretending-to-be-evil-(and-British) Slayer Hope (Faith) to help her. I desperately want that to be a Kelly Ripa reference, BTW. Great dialogue this issue, particularly during the Willow/Dawn scene:

Dawn: “You don’t understand, he was the only guy on campus who treated me like a friend, not a…a walking pair of boobs.”
Willow: “Oh, sweetie. Don’t talk like that. Boys are into you because of your legs, not those itty-bitty things.”

Detective Comics #837 was a nice little Countdown tie-in. This issue tied the Athena’s Shelter story into the Apokolips story, which finally makes the former story somewhat relevant. Too bad something like that couldn’t happen in Countdown itself. Anyway, Batman appears for a grand total of one page, but not surprisingly, Paul Dini still manages to tell a good story. Detective Comics has never had a bad Dini-penned issue, and I’d be surprised if it ever did.

I’ve never liked Storm. She’s always just seemed so bland, and an unnecessary co-captain with Cyclops around. I was glad when she left the X-Men a while back to marry into the worst comic being written today, and was not happy to see her back in Uncanny X-Men. Uncanny X-Men #491 was the first time I ever thought “Okay, Storm’s pretty cool.” And surprise, surprise, Ed Brubaker was the man to do it. Also, the return of Magneto has been handled very well. “It said you’re still a mutant.” “Did it now?” Very nice.

For no obvious reason, I enjoyed Supergirl & The Legion of Superheroes #34 much more than the previous issue. Same writer, same artist (I still don’t think Dennis Calero is a good fit for this title, though)…I guess I maybe just didn’t like the cast of characters in that last arc. . I like that Tony Bedard is incorporating more aspects of Legion history into this new continuity; first Matter Eater Lad and now Wildfire. Strangely, it looks like the next issue is going to be part one of Supergirl’s team’s story instead of the second half of this story. That seems like a bad idea.

I don’t think I’ve enjoyed Nightwing since One Year Later, yet it’s never occurred to me to drop the book since Dick Grayson is such a great character. Nightwing #137 marked the end of the Marv Wolfman’s disappointing run on a character he kinda-sorta created twenty years ago. Next issue is part of the “Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul” storyline, and I believe after that a new creative team takes over. Perhaps the third post-OYL writer will be the charm? I hope so, but I kind of doubt it.

Exiles #99 was a disappointing resolution to the “Exiles scattered across the multiverse” cliffhanger from last issue. Apparently, it’s not that difficult to find people scattered randomly across the multiverse, because Crystal Palace noobs Psylocke, Shadowcat and Thunderbird were able to figure it all out in just one issue. Next month Exiles gets to cross over with New Excalibur in a book perplexingly titled X-Men: Die by the Sword. A book I’ve grown to hate crossing over with a book I recently stopped buying because it was so bad, written by someone who’s well past his prime? Count me in!