One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Green Arrow #8

GOOD THING: There's a very neat plot thread here with Jason Blood somehow getting separated from a less-than-pleased Etrigan. While I'm sure this idea has been done before, Krul plays with it beautifully. And then there's the added element of Ollie trying to figure out how he can use Jason - who actually was there for the days of Camelot - to confirm or deny that his new buddy Galahad is the REAL Galahad without upsetting the knight errant in question.





BAD THING: There's a lot of cameos here that don't amount to a lot, any one of which would be worthy of a story themselves. You have Poison Ivy, apparently traveled into Star City with a group of environmentalists, attempting to commune with the magical forest. You have Lex Corps scientists doing what they do while a group from STAR Labs with Mr. Terrific and Doctor Midnite are present. And Lois Lane shows up for a moment to talk to our own local report about the craziness in Star City. And apart from Doctor Midnite and Mr. Terrific fighting with Ollie and Galahad when Galahad goes a little crazy and attacks the STAR Labs scientists, nothing much is done with ANY of this.





It's possible Krul is setting up a lot of future storylines here but it feels more like he's trying to make up for lost time and explain why we haven't seen more people in the DCU expressing concern or interest in a magical forest suddenly growing out of a major metropolitan area before now.




The Final Verdict: This issue is either trying to hint of things to come or covering its' ass as to why nobody in the DCU at large has expressed much interest in the Star City forest before now. Still, the core of the story - centering on Jason Blood and Etrigan's battle leaking over into the lives of Ollie and Galahad - is well worth reading.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Darkwing Duck #8

GOOD THING: As fun as it is seeing all the various in-jokes and references in all of the alternate-universe Darkwings (my favorite was the Tom Baker Doctor Who Darkwing), I have to give props for the hero of the issue being the Green Arrow-inspired Darkwing, Quiverwing.





BAD THING: The ending, in which the army of Darkwings have to fight a Paddywack-posessed Negaduck, is a little rushed and depends far too much on knowing the continuity of the old show (and why there are TWO different Negaducks) for my tastes. Paddywack is never really explained as a character apart from being so evil that even the rest of the bad guys fear him. Yes, I know that this comic is aimed more at fans of the old cartoon than it is child readers today... but still, it could have been made a little more accessible or explained better than it is here.








The Final Verdict: A pat ending that may be inaccessible to all but the most devout of Darkwing Duck fans doesn't spoil the enjoyability of this issue or this series. Highly recommended.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Secret Six #30

GOOD THING: Wacky fun. You've got The Doom Patrol fighting the Secret Six (Plus Two, now that King Shark has apparently joined the team). You've got the return of The 100 from Simone's Rose And Thorn series in the form of a slacker revolution of sorts. And in what is sure to be a SyFy Channel Original: King Shark vs. Robotman!





BAD THING: I hesitate to say it but there's almost TOO much wacky fun in this book. To the point where great ideas like Bane going out on his first date are given far too little time. Thankfully, the book suggests that this storyline is far from over... but I wanna see a whole issue devoted to this!







The Final Verdict: It's a fun issue, even by the standards of this book. The one problem is there's so many good ideas here it seems like they are fighting to stay on the page.

Preview of Black Canary on Young Justice.

Suffice it to say, somebody besides Gail Simone gets it.

DC Universe On-Line: Second Thoughts

I went and read some of the other reviews of this game. Saw a lot of complaints about random bugs, random lag, the crappy chat system, some of the PVP fights in the open zones being arbitrarily difficult since it doesn't limit who can participate or curve the levels accordingly and how you have to go hunting for costume pieces rather than being able to start out with what you want.

These are all very valid complaints and they are accurate.

However, all the faults this game has are minor ones. And they are quickly forgotten during the moments like this...








That's Beau Hunter. Fighting The Joker. With BATMAN.

You wouldn't think that would have power over a 32 year old fanboy... but it just hits you.

You. Are fighting The Joker. With Batman.

And that is awesome.