Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Fast Thoughts For 03/19/08

Comic Foundry #2 and two Sheena books delayed.

Ah well. Still a mighty haul of mighty good books this week.



BIRDS OF PREY #116 - I'm a little less sleazed out by this issue even if it was a lot sleazier than last month's. Somehow, knowing that we were dealing with the grandson of the original Killer Shark and that he's a pathetic, posturing geek who - upon stumbling over a mind control serum - immediately starts plotting how to use it to have not one, but two superheroine sex slaves for life makes the whole "mind control, 'You Are My Queen' act more pathetic than anything. And - oh yes - Misfit kicking Black Alice's ass without her powers. Bliss.


EX MACHINA #35 -

"I don't think you feel guilty about what Blacks went through in this city 400 years ago. I think you feel guilty about what we're going through today. And so do I. It's not White Guilt. It's not Black Guilt. It's just Guilt. Guilt that we got a future with fucking jetpacks before we got one with a level playing field.

Vaughan couldn't have timed this issue better if he tried. An examination of race relations in America and politics, this issue also gives us some new insights into the character of Deputy Mayor Wylie as well as some particularly apt lines given the current political zeitgeist in the United States.


FABLES #71 - The last page gave me chills akin to when I first read Watchmen and got to Adrian's now famous lines - "Do it?" To say more would be to say too much. I've said it before and I'll say it again - You MUST be reading this book.


JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #19- In the words of the LOLCats... "can we haz Grant Morrison back, pleeze?"


RED SONJA #31- Quite possibly the best issue of Red Sonja since the book came back.

We're still in flashback country, with Sonja heading toward Hades and the ferryman recounting her life. This time, we are treated to a tale of how Sonja almost gave up her oath for the noblest man she knew and how she inevitably came to lose him.

It's a fascinating look at an aspect of Sonja's character that has - for better or worse - been one of her defining characteristics. That is to say her oath to her goddess that she cannot give herself to any man who cannot beat her in a fair fight. In addition to spelling out the exact terms of Sonja's geas (we find out, for instance, that Sonja is easily capable of expressing emotional love if not physical) we also find out that the choice has always been Sonja's to make. She could have given up the warrior's path anytime she wanted - but she refused to do so because she could not bare the thought of what might happen if she failed to be there when a hero was needed. And that, in my opinion, makes her all the more heroic a figure.

3 comments:

  1. As ludicrous as the pitch sounded, I'll settle for Robinson's upcoming revamp of Justice League Extreme/Justice League Elite. Its shocking how badly McDuffie has done on JLA. Blame the bad artists, blame the need to coincide with other peoples crap storylines. But just across the board this run is bad. Ok, not John "Lets have them fight vampires" Byrne. But bad...

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  2. Point of order - McDuffie has written two back-up stories for JLA since his first storyline (JLA vs. Injustice League) ended.
    The last few issues have all been the work of Mr. Alan Burnett.

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  3. See I've stopped paying attention to JLA, what should be DC's flagship team book, that I didn't even know that...
    I can't believe its been a DECADE since the Morrison run...

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