Fast Thoughts - The Week of 8/27/08

AMBUSH BUG: YEAR NONE #2 - Should I even bother trying to review this title? I mean, you either hate Ambush Bug or you love it. Trying to describe the plot is pointless - there isn't one. And some of the items covered here - such as The Amber Butane Corps - are so obscure you can't even find articles about them! And it wouldn't be much fun for me to just run down a list of obscure references. Must leave Jess Nevins some work, after all. Anyway... this is a very silly book. If you like silly books, you will probably like it.


FINAL CRISIS: ROGUES REVENGE #2 - The thing I like best about Geoff Johns writing is the way he can take some of the sillier or more confusing aspects of the DCU and explain them away, simply and easily, with a throwaway sentence.

Case in point: even by the standards of super-villains, The Rogues dress funny. What's even more maddening is that they have a professional tailor who caters exclusively to the villain crowds. With just a few quick notes and one page of action, Johns explains that The Rogues go to Paul Gambi - not for his sense of style - but his practicality in design.

Yes, a blue fur eskimo suit with skier-sunglasses doesn't look very menacing... but when you're like Captain Cold and your powers involve generating Absolute Zero levels of cold and enough snow to cause permanent snow-blindness... well, suddenly a fur suit and eye-protection make a whole lot of sense. So does an insulated, water-proof costume for a weather manipulator. And so does Heatwave's bulky, ugly fire-proof suit - which proves to be the deciding factor in his battle against another fire-starter who didn't think to protect himself form his own flames.

We also get an explanation for why arch-baddie Libra should care about The Flash villains not wanting to join his gang. It's not the usual "no one refuses Doom!" shtick. No, he practically notes that The Flashes - with their ability to strike unseen and time-travel - are the biggest threat to his plans and that it is very important that he have people with extensive experience fighting Speedsters and winning most of the time on his team.

A very entertaining read. If you like stories told from the bad guys' point of view, this is a good book to pick-up.


JACK OF FABLES #25 - The 4th Wall as a narrator. Babe the Blue Ox as a friendly pirate. Jack actually proving to be every bit the ladies' man and hero he thinks he is. All this, and more hot librarian sex! It's everything you could want in a comedic Vertigo title. Well, everything I could want anyway...