Review: JSA # 10

I didn't buy much today, just my weekly issue of Booster Gold and JSA #10. So here's me talking about JSA #10. Exciting, right?

Hey, lookit, it's an Alex Ross cover with more than one character on it! ZOMG! Next step: have them do something other than stand around please?

I don't usually comment on ads, but, and I don't know about your copy, but the one inside my front cover is for "Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane". Think up your own Snakes on a Plane joke; I'm too lazy to.

Anyway, I'd just like to say that I rather like Eaglesham's artses. I mean, look at Maxine on that first page there. She's adorable.

"I watched all of you die." Superman-22: Not exactly the World's Greatest Conversationalist.

Wrong Crisis, Jay. Superman-2 died in IC, not CoIE.

The thing about Starman is that you can never entirely tell if what he's saying has significance or not. Like, there was a bit in the 2nd issue where he's pretty clearly referring to when Maxine got kidnapped by T. O. Morrow, but sometimes I'm pretty sure it's just nonsense. All out of yellow, I'm thinking is nonsense. Or it could somehow reference the Sinestro Corps War. Although it seems by the solicits that there will still be a Sinestro Corps of some sort post-war, so maybe not. Hrm.

I skipped the Lightning Saga. Who was supposed to be going back instead of Starman? Or is that the basis of the Karate Kid storyline in Countdown? 'Cuz I'm not paying attention to that, either.

It takes Alan an entire page to do the mental math for 52-30. Then again, I imagine that Starman speaks very rapidly, so I suppose it probably would take that long to parse what he was getting at there.

Y HELO THAR, Alex Ross interiors! I do recognize a good bunch of these characters from KC, yeah, though there are some I definitely don't. Not even I can memorize everything instantly. But I'd just like to say that Captain Atom's spine hurts me. D:

So, is this before or after the Sinestro Corps War? 'Cuz I kinda figured the Sinestro Corps War would clue everybody into the "new Multiverse" thing, since that's one of the reasons that the Corps was after Earth, mmyes? Hmmm.

If the GL in KC was Alan, then why did he end up representing "New Oa" at the UN at the end? Mystifying.

Am I misremembering KC, or didn't Magog kill Joker in court?

I rather like the border of the 2nd panel and how it leads into KC Supes's ear in the 4th. S'nifty.

What we don't see: The rest of the JSA going "O SHI-" after ol' Ted points out that the Brownstone is not exactly sound-proof.

Yes, that's right, the JSA is solely responsible for the lack of Kingdom Come-itude going on. Nothing else could influence it. Nothing.

A hole blown through his torso like has been happening to the New Gods? Oh, don't tell me that that's getting mixed up in here. I like living in my world of denial where nothing bad is happening to them. :/

One wonders what's up with Dr. Mid-Nite 'n' that "GO".

So, am I interpreting this right, and this Supes got dragged out of KC right after the bomb was dropped?

OK, Ma Hunkel had the shirt, but where did the rest of the costume come from?

Dogpile on the Kryptonian! And they knocked Jay's hat off! For shame.

Hunh, KC Supes doesn't have a cape, does he?

Don'tcha think Supes could've at least tried to mention that he was going to stop a suicide?

Cosmic Treadmill = Auto lawls.

"I've never been comfortable with time travel." I so very much want to blame Booster for this. I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks.

Again, I hope this isn't tying into Death of the New Gods.

And Superman meets Superman should be interesting. Lookin' forward to it. If only it weren't so far away. :(

Well, I Spent Altogether Too Much Time on This....

So, I didn't really feel like talking about anything today-technically-yesterday, so I decided to phone in a doodle, again, but, being me, I took forever actually drawing the silly little things. Aheh. But, hey, at least now I have wee drawings of the Conglomerate line-up.



(For reference's sake, that's Booster Gold, Gypsy, Praxis, Echo, Vapor, Maxi Man, and Reverb.)

You can tell where the part of my brain that's actually good at this gave up right around Vapor. But I'm actually rather pleased with the first 4. Eh.

I Promise to Get Off Your Lawn Posthaste, Sir, but Could I Please Have Your Autograph First?

Got my new debit card yesterday, so I went comics shopping today. Bought my weekly issue of Booster Gold, Flash #233, and that Green Lantern shirt I told myself I wouldn't buy last week. (I realized that I owned black pants and could therefore use it as an excellent basis for a Halloween "costume." I also live in southern California. So if I die of heatstroke, it was totally my fault.) I also Byrne-stole the Superboyman Special. ...Mostly to see if Booster did anything particularly noteworthy in the background. (He caught Miss Martian, for the record. Totally important.) Additionally, my copy of JLQ #1 arrived in the mail today, so it's a pretty good comics day for me. :3 Expect a rant about JLQ #1 at some point, because that's pretty much everything great about Booster concentrated. But I'mma talk about Flash right now. Or, more accurately, a tangent off of Flash.

There was a back-up by John Rogers (writer of Blue Beetle), you see, which is, incidentally, why I bought the issue. It featured Jay Garrick. Which is where I go off on my tangent.

So, I'm a big fan of the Badass Old Dude type. Honestly, I'm probably reading JSA more for Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, and Ted Grant than I am for any of the younger characters. I harbor a great deal of <3 for Peacemaker over in Blue Beetle. There's something really charming about that, y'know? These guys could retire. I mean, they're old; it's not like anybody would really hold it against them, right? They've fought the good fight since WWII or thereabouts, you can't say that they haven't done enough. But they keep fighting anyway, because they're just that great.

Like the Flash back-up with Jay. Technically, of course, Jay is still rather young at this point. Still courting his lady love, even, but you can still see a lot of the foundation that makes him a Badass Old Dude. The guy's just been teleported from his lady love's front porch, mid-conversation, by an alien dogosaurus, and while he's trying to get an explanation, these crazy aliens break in screaming about murder and rape and the like, and what is Jay's response? "I know bad guys when I see them." And even "Where I come from, you knock before barging in!" It's kinda hokey and cheesy, but that's kind of the point. Even Gorflack (the aforementioned alien dogosaurus) narrates that "Yes, he really said that." Jay is old-fashioned. That's his charm. He's all about the "yes, sir" and "no, ma'am" and church on Sunday and Ma's apple pie, straight from the oven. In JSA #1, Wildcat says that "polite" describes Jay in one word, and this is very much the case.

Jay so very much encapsulates what it is to really be a hero that he manages to inspire an entire planet, whose society was on the very brink of destruction, to fight back and repel their invaders. Freedom, justice, and family. That's the JSA, right there. It's just plain pure heroism. I love it.

And, y'know, Jay's the heart of it. That's what makes this story specifically a Jay story. It's all about the heart. Of the JSA's Big Three, Alan's the brains, Ted's the brawn, and Jay's the heart. So, when these guys finally retire or die or whatever it is DC decides to do with them when having folks who fought in WWII still be active just isn't feasible anymore, I really do hope that the three of them get to go together. I'm not sure it'd feel right to have it any other way.

Review: Teen Titans #52

So, Teen Titans #52. Get the 52 jokes out of your system now, because there are none in this book. Even though I swear that Booster Gold coming out of nowhere and then kidnapping Jaime would be a great way to end this arc. But I never claimed to be unbiased.

We open with Jaime staring that the JLers, complaining that he misses out on all the cool imprisonments. This is not a bad thing, Jaime!

I like how Jaime looks on the top panel of page two. And, lollers, Flash pun.

I do not, however, particularly like how Tim looks on the next page. Something about the hair, I think. Personally, I think Tim!Bats has some good points, but eh. I kinda don't really care for the idea that with most heroes it's either you never, ever, ever kill ever, or else you kill all the crackpots you can. Why can't we have more heroes like Diana, who killed because she didn't have any other choice, but isn't exactly kicking herself over it (or, at least, shouldn't be)? One of the many things I like about Booster, if you'll forgive this temporary tangent, is that, while he hasn't killed anybody yet, he has threatened it several times, and made it very clear he wouldn't have any qualms about it, but he isn't running around trying to kill everybody who crosses him. It's just one of many viable options. I like that. And it makes me anxious for Booster trying to save Ted, because of course Booster's going to aim to kill Max, and, well, Ted is very, very much one of those never, ever, ever kill ever type of heroes. That's practically drama in a can, folks!

I like evil!M'gann's skirt. The wrappy thing is cool. And that she's invulnerable to fire is extremely interesting. How does that work? Tell me more, McKeever! I'd like it if we could decide whether or not M'gann's shirt front is open or not.

I feel vaguely worried that that firefighter got M'gann and J'onn confused. They don't look that similar!

Interesting how future!Tim and M'gann seem to be at least kind of sort of trying to help their past selves. With Bat!Tim's "think about it" thing and White!M'gann's talk about potential and warrior heritage and stuff.

And then Red Devil's just kind of a douche. And seems to have quite the particular hate-on for Rose. Hrm.

The "no problem with hitting a girl" and "neither do I" make me smile. :D I do so like it when Kara is written as smarmy instead of elitist/whiny/what-have-you. Smarmy's likable in a character, elitist/whiny/what-have-you is not.

Cassie is another future Titan that's being helpful/supportive/whatever to their past counterpart.

Also, Cassie needs to get a tougher shirt, it seems.

Bat!Tim, loving somebody who's in love with somebody else is hardly a new kind of torture. It's pretty much one of the oldest ones in the book, really. There have been so many country songs written about it, you'd think it was the only subject the genre had sometimes.

The absence of Cassie on the page of the Titans getting their collective rears handed to them is a telling one.

I think Booster's new series has forever ruined the phrase "The greatest ____ the world will ever know", even if the actual tagline of the series was "The greatest hero the world will never know!" (And they've swapped it out now for "The greatest hero you've never heard of!")

Scarab Speak Translation: "Trap him."

Note that as soon as Jaime listens to the Scarab, he takes Bart out like a little punk. This is why I figure that Jaime's going to be on more of a reserve status once this arc is over than a regular member of the team. He's just vastly overpowered, really, and it's only his own inexperience that is keeping him from being able to take all comers. (Not that being vastly overpowered is really a bad thing, of course, I mean, this is superhero comics, y'know, every third character is vastly overpowered. It's just that Jaime's vastly overpowered compared to the rest of the Titans, so I wouldn't say he's really conducive to a team book, usually.)

I'd like to know how Rose managed such a perfect, exact cut with a blow that shattered her sword. Where's the sense in that?

I do kind of like that Eddie has to double-check his impression of the rules of time travel with Rose. Vaguely amusing.

J'onn leaves as soon as being freed. How sad. :(

I question the accuracy of Jaime's mouthiness at Supes here. He was raised better than that! And I'm not sure why Diana's so irritable about it, either. But, awww, wookit Wally being woobieful about Bart.

I understand that they needed to get the JLA out of here, but I do wonder if they're going to explain exactly why the JLA had to rush out. (Also, don't they have a Hall instead of a Watchtower these days? Whoopsie!)

Jaime's flailing amuses me in its Jaimeness. :D And then Kid Devil calls him "bug butt." I really am getting a buddy feeling off these two. But Red Devil's "kill you twice" and the January solicits make me think that McKeever's aiming in the opposite direction. Crying shame!

Also, Red Devil must've gotten a helluva power boost from Neron's collection of his soul, considering Jaime's previously mentioned vastly overpoweredness.

Check out that smile on Bat!Tim's face as he leaves. That is freaking scary.

Interesting how the future Titans memories change as their past changes, but that they're aware that they've acquired new memories. Possibly this mostly interests me because it's pretty much the only theory of time travel that hasn't been applied to Booster Gold.

That last page is quite the oh, snap!, is it not? What sticks out the most to me, for no particular reason, is that we've got a Hawk with no Dove, which is never a good thing. (Do we ever end up with a Dove with no Hawk? Because that wouldn't be a good thing, either.)

I don't recognize all of these Titans, but I do recognize a good chunk of them, and I'm vaguely proud of that. I'm mostly confused about the rocky guy, the green chick, and the chick with the fire visible in between Luthor's legs.

Late Review: Blue Beetle #20

Apologies for the lack of blogging yesterday and Tuesday, but I kind of got mugged on Monday night, so blogging about comics has not exactly been at the forefront of my mind. :)

What I bought (technically, what my sister bought for me, on account of my getting mugged):
Blue Beetle #20
Teen Titans #52

So now it's time for a play-by-play summary of my thoughts on Blue Beetle #20. I'll do TT #52 tomorrow. Here be Spoilers, folks.

For starters, the cover. Me being me, I chuckled at the pun. And, of course, Sinestro does not appear in person in the entire issue. Which kind of makes sense, honestly, since this is peripheral to the War at best. And the solicit kind of made it sound like Jaime or his Scarab would be getting the yellow ring, but apparently this is also not the case.

So we open up with a splash featuring a fight over Mt. Rushmore that really makes me wish I wasn't tradewaiting this war, with a box of narration from our buddy Peacemaker. I went through the first two trades again last night (I was trying to see if any mention had been made of Brenda's last name or Paco's family period, but apparently not, interestingly enough.), and the box does, in fact, match up perfectly to the last time Peacemaker provided some narration. (His explanation of how he got the Scarab's programming in his head during WWIII, for the record.)

The Reach are from Sector 2. Not being a Green Lantern reader myself (umm, yet?), this doesn't really mean anything to me. Is there anything special of note in Sector 2, or is it just a random number?

Scarab Speak Translation: "Did you feel that?"

Scarab Speak Translation: "Christopher Smith". Am I reading this right and Peacemaker's Scarab has the same name as him? Interesting.

So, the Reach are a bunch of slimy jackasses, Y/Y? Gotta love the random terrified dude in the background of the top panel of page 5. A 99% chance of destruction of the GL Corps, you say? Mr. Reach "Negotiator" (does this guy have a name of his own? Usually I'd check my floppies instead of asking, but circumstances beyond my control make it a bit difficult to access said floppies at the moment.), I think you are either drastically overestimating Sinestro and his guys or drastically underestimating the GLs. Or both.

"Kid Devil and his sidekicks, the Teen Titans" amuses me, perhaps, a bit more than it should. In between this and the interaction between Jaime and Kid Devil over in TT #52, I gotta say that I'm feeling something good happening there, though I've kind of got no reason for said feeling, and the "interaction" between Jaime and Red Devil in TT gives off the opposite feeling. Sad.

Scarab Speak Translation: "Uh-oh." As Jaime helpfully translates, as well.

The way the Army guy speaks to Jaime makes me wonder whether or not the public at large has any idea that the guy in the bug suit is just a teenage kid. That said, it's nice to see an authority figure of some fashion being helpful to their local hero.

Scarab Speak Translation: "Reach-Tech."

The Infiltrator is very spiky. *Nods like this is insightful input*

Scarab Speak Translation: "Identity True" and "Sinestro Corps"

Can't fault Nadia for not having any strategic input of worth, really.

Dawur calls Jaime "the false Beetle" which suggests to me that if Jaime's Scarab was working like it should, then the Blue Beetle name would still be used. Not entirely sure if that's really significant in any way, but I find it interesting.

Earth and Earth alone seems kind of like a low goal to aim for, in perspective, (and not a wish that seems likely to be granted, given the hate-on certain members of the Sinestro Corps seem to have for the ol' Blue Planet,) but I wouldn't put planning for future back-stabbery past the Reach.

The "Peace" bit is, of course, important on account of the whole Peacemaker being in there thing. You don't need me to tell you that, I hope.

Scarab Speak Translation: "Order! Fear!"

It gives me a fun sort of glee to see that Guy gets so much respect in the Corps these days that Brik actually tells Jaime that he's not even worthy enough to say his name. Alright, Guy! \o/

Tangentially, I rather like it that Brik is entirely covered, save some of her face. Always nice to see a female character (even if it is an alien) as such. Tangent: Bring back Goldstar!

I wonder if the Scarab actually did call Brik a bitch or if Jaime's just making that up for the sake of symmetry.

The Infiltrator is certainly a good sort for the Sinestro Corps, considering that, from my impression of Sinestro (again, not a Green Lantern reader yet), that's pretty much his way of thought right there in that one panel of dialogue.

Scarab Speak Translation: "Peace."

Shouldn't we be aiming for Deduction instead of Induction here, Jaime? Or am I confusing my terms here?

Scarab Speak Translation: "Messy."

"Blue Beetle! Surrender and I will kill you somewhat less slowly!" makes me chuckle lots. :D Great incentive there, Infiltrator!

Scarab Speak Translation: "Messy" again.

Page 17, last panel: *Cue wibble wibble wibble sound effect*

Scarab Speak Translation: "Scarab Speak." x2 I figure this is a mistake on what I suppose is the Letterer's side. Which is a crying shame.

Jaime is right: Peacemaker needs therapy (then again, what character in comics doesn't, am I right?), as the next page or so handily demonstrates as well.

"There's no frikkin' spoon or whatever!!" Hee! :D

The Scarab as Faceless!Beetle is interesting.

Scarab Speak Translation: "Scarab Speak." again.

Nice to see the Scarab demonstrating free will of its own. Eat that, the Reach! :D

Interesting how Peacemaker's corporeal body shows the same damage his mental one did. I'd figured it was just symbolic or whatever. Guess not!

Peacemaker cutting the Infiltrator Scarab out of his own spine: Bad. Ass. Also, probably physically impossible. But awesome!

This is just woobieful, y'know. The whole "I was the monster I was afraid you would be" just kind of gets me, y'know? Maybe it's part of the going through the first two trades again last night that makes even more heavy-hitting, but ouch. It hurts 'cuz it's true, y'know?

There seems to be some debate over whether or not Peacemaker's a goner now. The Reach did, after all, say that they couldn't remove the Scarab from Jaime without killing him, and Peacemaker was not exactly delicate about carving the thing out of him (so badass!), but Peacemaker is considerably more hardcore than li'l Jaime. Then again, that is a lot of blood he's lying in in that last panel there. Personally, I'd figured he's good as dead, but I guess he could survive, if Rogers wanted him to. If he is dead, I gotta say, this is a helluva way to go. He'll be missed, of course, but that's the point. There is no shame or anger in a death like that.

In short, good show, Rogers! Though that is pretty standard fare for this book, granted.

To Continue Some of My Previous Train of Thought, But in a Completely Different Direction...

WARNING: Looking at anything on the TV Tropes Wiki runs the high risk of something like this happening, but somehow worse. Here's hoping you roll a natural 20 on your Will Save.

It amused me greatly to find J2 mentioned in the examples of this trope. And they are, of course completely right. In fact, somewhere around the middle of the run, there was a letter that basically went something like "Wait, how does this even work?" and the reply was basically, "We have no idea! :D Anybody got some good suggestions?"

Y'know when the last time I got such amusement from a letters page was?

This.



Unfortunately, only about two suggestions regarding J2's power source made it to future letter pages, and neither of them were anywhere near as gloriously cracky as Booster Gold: Descendant of Braniac. Which is a crying shame. But I do suppose that's setting the bar a bit high.

But it's stuff like that that makes me miss letter pages. I mean, sure, we have message boards all over the place now 'n' all, but message boards don't get preserved for posterity in the pages of the comic themselves. I get to cherish forever the many, many theories people had about Booster's origin (remember, his origin was never told until the sixth issue of his series, giving the readers ample time to come up with workable ideas that were completely wrong. I <3 all of the misleading clues that Jurgens dropped. That that, Identity Crisis!), despite the fact that I wasn't even born until years after the series ended, but the many, many theories that people had about Supernova will be lost to the ravages of the Internet in time.

Which Supernova am I referring to there? Wouldn't you like to know? (OK, yeah, both. Hush.)

To bring this entry full circle, Booster appears as an example in a number of tropes, including one named after his JLU episode.

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to waste the entire rest of my day trawling TV Tropes.

Thinking of All the Money I Could've Saved Hurts Me a Little Inside

So, after a bit over two months here, I finally bothered to set up a pull list at my LCS. Turns out I get a 15% discount for that. Saving money: Always a good thing!

My Real Life Pull List, as it turns out, is a bit longer than my Theoretical Pull List, if we discount the multiple copies of Booster Gold on the Theoretical List.

My Pull List:
Booster Gold
Blue Beetle
Teen Titans
JSA
Brave and the Bold
Atomic Robo

Also managed to guilt myself into buying the latest issue of Brave & the Bold, and managed to resist the urge to buy a T-Shirt. We'll see how long that lasts.

BatB was, for the record, rather enjoyable. I like that Peej and Diana have different facial features. Good show, Perez! And I think, though I'm not entirely sure, that Peej's facial features match with Supergirl's. If they do, then even better show, Perez! I love the little button nose, too. S'cute.

Anyway, I read J2 yesterday, and it was enjoyable enough, as far as series go. I wouldn't recommend running down to your LCS and ravaging the back issues in search of it, or anything, but it's not a purchase I regret making. It's corny and cute. And I must say, Wild Thing is what X-23 should look like, with her short, stubby head 'n' all. But X-23 just plain mystifies me, anyway.

But, ummm, highlights! Because these bits amused me and I feel like sharing! \o/


(My favorite part might be that he's trying to thread the needle on the wrong end. Hah!)


(OK, so I'm secretly 12 and I find toilets automatically hilarious. Nyeeeeer.)

As you may have noticed, it's a very wordy book. Very wordy. I'm not sure there's a single panel in all 12 issues without words of some sort in it, even discounting sound effects as words. And that'd be annoying with a lot of other characters, but it kind of works for li'l Juggie. Zane there definitely strikes me as the type to mentally narrate his own life.

It's also worth noting that every issue has at least two stories in it. It's an interesting way of doing things, I suppose. It also has the side effect of making me think that things happened later in the series than they did, so imagine my surprise when something I had thought happened in the 4th issue or so actually happened in the 2nd. Aheh.

Biggest surprise: Random, bizarre appearance of Deadpool. OK, what? (And he wasn't even talking in yellow. For shame, whoever had that responsibility!)

All in all, I'm not really surprised that this only lasted for 12 issues.

Can't Blog Today, Busy Reading

Personal history story time! I might be a DC reader, but I've got something of a family history of Marvel. Sitting around and reading my cousin's comics was pretty much the highlight of family get-togethers for me for a while there. Except for the part when I didn't really entirely understand what was going on, because this was Marvel in the '90's.

And then I discovered the MC2 titles, and they were a Godsend to me. I didn't need to know who this guy that the Avengers had fought once was, or what on Earth was up with the Scarlet Witch and her being crazy, or anything. I could start with #1s in something new and shiny!

And I loved it. I'm not ashamed to admit that. (And even if I was, I have the convenient out of being less than 10 years old at the time, anyway.) All 3 of them: Spider-Girl, A-Next, and J2.

J2 was my favorite. No particular reason I can recall, I just really liked the guy. But I never got to finish the series, much to my chagrin for quite some time.

And, well, you remember me mentioning yesterday that I do random eBay searches, right?

I found this and couldn't resist. It arrived today. Please excuse me while I revisit my childhood.

(I'm halfway into the second issue as I type this. So far, it's not a bad read, I guess. Not super duper excellent, and a lot of it's pretty corny, but, hey, I like it.)

Also, any comic that features a skinny, awkward nerd turning into a huge beefy guy is pretty alright by me, I'm just saying.



The fact that he's stark naked the first time it happens doesn't exactly hurt, either, of course.

I Find the Greatest Stuff Through eBay.

First, really quickly, what I bought this week:
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil HC (Read it, great stuff, considering trying to trick my little brother into the world of comics through this as a birthday/Christmas gift, may not want to give it up, may not be willing to shell out cash for a second copy, will see what happens)
52: The Companion TPB (Halfway done, read 5 out of 10 stories included, managed to not skip directly ahead to the Booster origin story, somewhat proud of myself for that.)
2nd copy of Booster Gold #3
Considered buying Brave & the Bold, but decided that I was spending enough already, thanks.

But, anyway, eBay. I think eBay is grand. I actually work in a store which has the entire purpose of selling things on eBay. (Seriously, it's what I do.) So, I will, on occasion, whenever the fancy strikes me (which is somewhat frequently), I will search for whatever, uhhh, strikes my fancy. Booster Gold is, unsurprisingly, a staple in my searching. And sometimes I find some really great, weird stuff.

Find of the day?



Dan Garret(t) has the weirdest hobby ever. I do not even want to think about how this is even working, because I know that it does not.

Find of the day yesterday?



The best part is that it's drawn by a professional. A somewhat obscure professional, sure, but someone who has been paid real monies by a big publisher to draw comics.

One can only wonder what tomorrow will bring.

The Rest of the Solicits

Because I seriously stopped reading them after I got to Booster Gold.

The Batman cover confuses me. Well, that arm coming out of Bats's cape does. It's just weird.

Robin is interesting because of the Spoilery implications. Even if she's not being rez'd or whatever, she's being remembered, which is better than she's been getting. Gratzi, Dixon!

I'm not sure that Supergirl could take any direction that I'd find startling.

Superman Confidential: Didn't we get origins on Jimmy a couple of months back in Action Comics or something?

BoP: I like Misfit. I really do. I am interested in learning more about her.

It's a shame that Blue Beetle's gotten a fill-in, so we don't get anything new solicited this month. :(

The cover of Countdown Special: The New Gods: What is up with Scott's mask? I mean, sure, that's probably more reasonable than his actual mask, but it looks ridiculous.

I laughed at the "Wild Wests" in the Flash solicit. I really need to build a resistance to puns.

GL solicit in a nutshell: Guardians is crazy!

GLC: I see that the Sinestro Corps is apparently going to survive the war. Interesting.

That JLA cover is pretty cool, but won't, like, the title and stuff cover up some of that awesome? I think that is a crying shame.

Isn't this the same solicit as the last JSA?

JSA Classified: I love Hourman and Liberty Belle, because, lo, I am a sucker for married people, but that cover terrifies me, and not in a good way, either.

Man, but do I love those Metal Men covers.

Woo, 3rd Blue Beetle TPB! \o/

That's a lot of Alan Moore!

JLI HC is mystifying, considering that I am pretty sure that the JLI TPB, which has the exact same issues in it is still in print. I mean, I got a new one this past year.

Time Masters TPB coming out. Exciting. Featuring Rip Hunter whose real name is Rip Hunter, but they're saying he's the same one as in 52. I think I've decided that my fanon regarding Rip's "real identity" is that he's just a lying liarface.

So that's our solicits. Winter is shaping up to be a very interesting season for me.

How 'bout those solicits, huh?

Oh, look at that, the DC Solicits for January are up. Let's take a gander.

Hmmm, Countdown--Oh, wow, we're almost down to a quarter of the series left? Wow. Maybe noteworthy things will begin to happen?--Teen Titans, Teen Titans, Teen Titans, Countdown, Countdown...

*Scroll scroll scroll*

Oh, look, somebody looks to be dying in Black Canary/Green Arrow (it is traditional to do these things in alphabetical order, is it not? So why is Ollie/Connor headlining here? Tsk, tsk, DC.), how charming.

*Scroll scroll*

Ah, here's Booster GoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH

BOOSTER GOLD #6
Written by Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz
Art and cover by Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund
"52 Pick-Up" concludes as Booster Gold journeys back in time to save the best friend he ever had – the Blue Beetle! But can Booster stop Maxwell Lord before someone else dies in Ted Kord's place? And will Ted Kord let that happen?
On sale January 9 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

MY



SHIT.

Well.

Wow.

I wasn't expecting this, not now. I figured it was an anniversary issue sort of thing. I mean, yes, Booster did imply that he was going to be rescuing Ted as soon as he beat the snot out of whoever was screwing with time, but....

Man, this just isn't the sort of thing you end your first arc with. Johns and Katz, I admire your cajones.

I also worry for Booster's mental health after this, especially after you make him deal with Joker and The Killing Joke the issue before. Oh, I trust you, Geo/Jeffs, make no mistake about that. This series has been consistently good beyond my hopes, and I have faith that it will continue to be so. And I do honestly love to see Booster in trouble, because it is so fun to watch him, but, y'know, you can only put him through so much stress before he breaks and he can't be put back together very easily.

Issue 6 is a bit early to be doing that, don't you think?

I mean, I daren't even hope that Ted comes back. I mean, maybe I'm just assuming the worst here and that covers and solicits lie and Ted will somehow make it through this hunky-dory and nothing will happen that could cause Booster to have a mental breakdown. But I can't really see that happening.

Of course, Ted's not the only part of the solicit. Just the biggest, immediately apparent part. We've also got this: "before someone else dies in Ted Kord's place? And will Ted Kord let that happen?"

Technically, there are all sorts of possibilities here. The one that immediately popped into my mind, and, in fact, has been in my mind since I saw that last panel of Booster Gold #1, is, well, it takes some explaining.

Booster's time traveling here, of course. So we actually have two Booster Golds existing at the same time. Not a big deal; it's happened before. Supernova 'n' all that. The thing is, the past Booster would be, at this moment in time, unconscious in a hospital bed. Not a very good position to be in, strategically. Especially when Max has things like the OMACs on his side.

So, basically, I'm putting my money on something happening to the Booster who's in the hospital and Ted deciding to take that bullet to save Booster and stop time from falling apart from sheer power of paradox. We'll see if I'm right.

I Can't Think of Anything to Actually Talk About Today

...So here's the cutest Jonah Hex you'll ever lay eyes on.



(Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we like to call "phoning it in")

Beefcake Week, Eh?

I think I can deal with a Beefcake Week. Especially considering the copious amounts of ammo that yesterday's Booster Gold #3 provided.



(So, they've only interacted for one page, and I already love them together. When's the wedding?)



And, of course, Booster Gold is the Prettiest Man Alive, and I defy anyone to try and prove otherwise.

On-Time Review: Booster Gold #3

Another fine issue from the pens of Johns and Katz. No surprise here, and plenty of roffles.

We open with Danny in his boxers. I approve. And Booster's trying to punch him out for getting the Supernova suit stolen. Of course. Nothing seems to frustrate Booster quite as much as Danny does. Though I'm not sure I can really entirely blame him for his frustration.

I already love Rose, too. Also, she is totally checking Danny out in that last panel here. Not that I blame her.

"A fight between Booster Gold and the 100" is a reference to Booster's original series, by the by. Though, granted, Booster was fighting the 1,000. It's close enough.

Another random cameo by Team 13! Love it! :D

Go figure that if the Kents don't get wee Kal, then the Luthors do. How very meta. And that Lex and "Lionel, Jr." would be bestest pals.... right up until Lex finds out that Lionel's Superman. It vaguely amuses me in the worst way that it takes Lex less than a year to kill him. Hardcore. Booster is, naturally, horrified by this, considering how very much he idolizes Supes. I really love how he's all business after that.

In case you had managed to fail to catch on, Jonah Hex is hardcore.

Can we have Booster in various states of changing his clothes in every issue? Please?

I had to look up who Ennid Morricone and Frankie Laine were on Wikipedia. Does that make me a bad person?

Considering Booster's family/personal history of gambling problems, how very quickly he accepts Jonah's bet is both very in character and slightly worrisome.

Y'know, if you can't see the messed-up half of his face, Jonah's pretty handsome. I like this scene. It's kind of gratuitous, but it totally fits. And the woobie's strong with the discussion of friends, of course.

Random page of inexplicably Caucasian Jaime Reyes!

I love these two pages here to pieces. Booster's very drunk here, and it's somehow very endearing. And what's really endearing is the story of his cape. It is 100% true that Booster used to have a cape in his original series. The cape was mostly for PR purposes, and Booster was usually in the habit of taking it off for any actual fighting. So this story, while new, does fit, and, well, it hurts in the best way. Like I said earlier, Booster idolizes Superman. It's such a pity that Superman doesn't care much for him.

Booster has fought both Mammoth and Blackguard on-panel, for the record. Mammoth in the very first week of 52, and Blackguard in the very first issue (along with the next 3) of his original series. Although Blackguard reformed before Booster's cape disappeared, so I doubt he's the one in the story.

And I love that Booster forgot to eat. Because he would. And then he drank all that whiskey on an empty stomach. Amazing!

And Supernova calls Booster Michael, which, as I noted in my review of issue #1, calling Booster by his given name is not something you just do.

And then Booster's suit appears out of nowhere. I am mystified.

Supernova has very good mastery over the suit's capabilities. And he's definitely a very clever strategist. (Because it's so hard to beat a drunk guy up, right? :P) And buffalo. Wow.

And this last scene is definitely a winner. Rip declaring that "Friends don't let friends drive drunk!" is one of the most amazing/ridiculous things ever. Kind of like Sinestro's mustache twirl last issue. And then Booster just has to go and tempt fate. And his guilty face when Rip calls him on it afterwards is just so adorable. A great note to end on. :D

Except for one little thing. Barry's and Wally's eyes are both colored brown here, when they ought to be blue and green, respectively. I could kind of understand accidentally coloring them both blue, since I see people screw up and make Wally's eyes blue all the time, but brown? Seriously? Way to drop the ball, Hi-Fi!

Overall a most excellent issue, not that this is surprising, of course.

Catch-up Review: Booster Gold #2

It's time for another exciting installment of Shut Up, Shut Up, My Opinions Totally Matter! Here we've got Booster Gold #2, featuring Booster vs. Sinestro. Exciting!

We start off where we left off, with Booster and Rip discussing the ultimatum that Booster gave Rip at the end of last issue. I absolutely love this conversation. The "No one's supposed to die--" "We all die, Booster." "Not like that." It's very telling of Booster's psyche. He does not care for how history has gone recently, so, by gum, he's going to change it and if Rip doesn't like it, he can find somebody else to play chump. Rip really did not pick the right guy to be his time cop.

Also, the look on Booster's face in that "Not like that." panel is scary in the best way. Booster's usually a compromiser to the sort of extreme that most other heroes wouldn't, but when Booster does stand his ground, then he does not move in it.

By "always," Booster of course means "never." The boy has practically defined the phrase "by the seat of his pants."

What interests me most about the alternate history shown here is that Rip says that Guy would die "decades before he should," because it suggests that Guy's going to be sticking around for a long, long time. Which is good. I like Guy.

Random page of Dan Garrett! There's a lot here that contradicts previous canon, but considering that said previous canon was a few time line rewrites ago, I think I can forgive it.

Fun fact: I live in Pasadena, so I am filled with glee by this.

I like Booster being mystified by Guy's behavior. Booster never met Guy until well after he was brain-damaged, so it makes perfect sense for him to be utterly confused by this non-aggressive and completely reasonable Guy.

I like how, after the initial tackle to get Sinestro's attention, Booster spends the entire rest of the fight dodging Sinestro's attack and trying to reason with him, because, well, he did ask for a little chat. It's nice that that was almost literal instead of just a euphemism for a fight.

Considering that Booster's first series ended with him teaming up with the Manhunters during the Millennium event and then backstabbing them later, any reference to the Manhunters in relation to Booster is inherently hilarious to me.

I've also independently thought up the relationship between Booster's costume and the yellow weakness, so that's also inherently hilarious to me, too.

The appearance of the Doctor Thirteen crew is great. The Other Time Sphere intrigues me. There has to be some sort of reason for the shape of those windows(?). Other than making The Other Time Sphere look like it's some sort of twisted love child between Unicron and Galactus.

Am I the only one reminded of Return of the Joker by the "He loves to hear himself... talk"? And as near as I can figure, Booster and Sinestro were doing roughly equal amounts of being chatty during the fight, but at least Sinestro was fighting, too. Also, it amuses me that Sinestro has apparently not bothered to wipe that blood from his brow.

I love this scene here with Booster lying through his teeth to Sinestro to pieces. It's part of that constantly compromising thing I mentioned earlier. This glorious display of ego-stroking a bad guy (even if he isn't entirely a bad guy yet) is the sort of thing that Booster has and would do unhesitatingly, but isn't really something a lot of other folks in the DCU would. They might go in that direction a little bit if they couldn't help it, but I don't think I could see many other heroes going as far as to claim to be a member of the Sinestro Corps. And Booster doesn't just lay it on, he lays it on thick. And Sinestro eats it up like it was the most delicious cake he's ever had. And it's so very nice to see Booster put all that charisma he has to work.

Sinestro twirling his mustache would probably look ridiculous in any other book.

Yet another thing I love (in case you hadn't caught on yet, I love this book with the burning fire of a thousand suns) is that Booster isn't just like, "Oh, I've chased off Sinestro, time to go jump back into the time stream, lah de dah." He's noticed that something's up with Guy and, by gum, he's going to find out what it is, because Guy is a friend of his (despite the fact that I'm inclined to say that they've fought more often than not), and, even though everybody and their mother (including Booster himself) may think Booster is, at his core, a selfish jerk, the fact of the matter is, Booster cares very, very deeply about his friends.

Enough to accidentally hit on them. Whoopsie! (As an aside, I'd like to note that Booster looks very, very good in civvies and could we please have more of this?)

And then we actually get Booster talking about his family. Even mentioning Michelle out loud to someone, which is something I've seen him do maybe twice since his first series ended. And you'll notice that he says, "I never even told Ted this....", which should further emphasize to you how very much Booster does not talk about his family. So, yeah, this is Important-with-a-capital-I stuff here. This is also the first time I've ever seen it implied that Booster had any sort of contact with his old man after said old man walked out on his family when Booster and Michelle were 4. And it's interesting that Booster sought acceptance from him (It's called "being your own man," Booster. Have you heard of it?), considering that Booster's dad was not what anybody would call much of a great guy, cf. the earlier leaving a single mother with 4-year-old twins thing. You don't need me to tell you that the woobie's strong here, of course. I'm just ruminating on what it all means.

I can only wonder what Booster did with that ticket. Doesn't seem to have stayed and watched the game himself. And I wouldn't put scalping it past him, of course.

Supernova has given poor Rip an amazingly thorough beating here. I'm not sure I've seen that much strategic clothes ripping since the last time I watched DragonBallZ. Interesting how everything on his left arm seems to have been left intact though. I wonder if that was done on purpose.

Camouflage capabilities for the Supernova suit seems to be a new one. That's not something we've seen used in 52, and Booster didn't mention it when he listed its capabilities in the first issue.

And next we get Jonah Hex, so that's definitely pretty exciting!

Catch-up Review: Booster Gold #1

So, Booster Gold #3 comes out on Wednesday. Today is Monday. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if I want to review #3 on time and still have covered the previous two issues, I'd have to do one a day. So....

A list of what pushes my buttons, and an explanation of all the references for those of you who do not have Booster's history more or less memorized backwards and forwards. (If you want a synopsis, you've got the entire rest of the blogosphere for that.)

So, we start off with an extended poker metaphor. Considering Booster's personal and family history with gambling, this is flail-worthy. And, of course, he's fighting the Royal Flush Gang, which, as Black Canary will point out in a few pages, is how he got into the Justice League in the first place.

And then we've got a nice double-page spread in which Booster handily summarizes his backstory. The panel layout's a little odd here, forming a kind of convoluted backwards "S" (somewhat appropriate!) The reference to his parents as a collective unit is an interesting one, given how his father walked out on them when Booster and Michelle were 4. Booster's football number being 13 has been rather thoroughly consistent throughout his history, I am pretty sure. Though the colors were originally red and white rather than monochrome. I am willing to forgive this. Monochrome feels more Gotham. I also love all the parenthetical asides here. There's something extremely Booster in that. I also love that the nearly 20 years between Shel's death and Ted's are pretty much entirely skipped over. I mean, it makes sense to do that, of course, but, well, that's almost 20 years right there.

The "I deserve to be cheered for again. (I do.)" gets me every time. Have confidence, Booster!

Batman hits on the strangest mix between dickishness and niceness here. Amazing.

Booster's first heroic adventure was to stop a Presidential assassination plot, so the first paper in the second panel on this page is hilarious. And, of course, the reference to the beginning of Civil War on the second paper. Also worth pointing out is that the teeny tiny type on the papers is all actually real words. Not words that would actually appear in a newspaper, but if you get really up close and personal with your copy, you should be able to make them out. They're worth a good chuckle.

I get a kick out of Booster referring to his usage of historical records as cheating, because I always kind of felt that it was.

It makes oodles of sense that Booster would be mad at Rip for 52. Rip put Booster through all sorts of Hell there and Booster got almost nothing in return for it. I also love it to pieces that Booster lists Skeets's body before his own reputation. It's such a small detail, but it's a telling one.

Strange that Danny and Booster are living in Pittsburgh now, considering that Danny was living in Covington, Ohio in 52 Week 19.

I love Danny. I just do. I also love the contrast of how Booster lost football through his own stupid mistakes, but Danny lost football because of an unfortunate, uncontrollable accident, along with the contrast between the way they are now. *Waves hand vaguely* Did that make sense to anybody but me?

And then Rip is an ass. An ass with a beard. Good call, that. Makes him look distinct from our other two blonds. (The ones who are actually related.)

Also, it is a True Fact that Booster considers his friends to be more important than the Multiverse. Oh, Rip, you magnificent bastard, you, you knew just the think to say to Booster to get him to go with it, didn't you?

I have many, many theories as to who Supernova is. Most of them are the same answer as the last time that question was asked.

The "if I lose an arm again...." is a reference to Booster's ill-fated fight against the minions of the Overmaster. Not only did Booster lose his arm in this fight, however, he was also medically dead for the remainder of the crossover, which eventually led to the infamous Extreme Justice life support suit. It takes balls to reference that, let me tell you.

I like Rose. She's pretty, as a relative of Booster ought to be. :P

Rip is skilled in the art of the back-handed compliment. And, of course, Rip is right when he says that Booster's entirely too comfortable in this environment. Booster's really not the type to give much consideration to the consequences of doing something like kidnapping a baby who would eventually grow up to be a time-traveling supervillain and then dumping them with a happy family.

The scene with the Justice League here just breaks my heart to pieces, because Booster so very much wants that spot on the League, and, well, dammit, he has earned it. The hard way. And he has to let go of it voluntarily (and literally, in the case of that certificate), in order to really be able to be the best hero he can be, and the whole thing's very symbolic and hurty, hurty, hurty. I love it.

And then there's the thing with Batman. Now, a very important thing about Booster here. Calling him Michael is not something you just do. There are tons and tons of reasons behind this, that'll I spare you of (for now), but what it boils down to is that there is a very, very small list of people who can call Booster by his given name and get away with it (I can think of 7 people whom I'd accept a "Michael" from. About half of them are dead. Make of that what you will.), and Batman is most definitely not on that list of people. So, seeing ol' Batsy use "Michael" and then Booster retorting with a "See ya, Bruce." is just great, because can't you just hear the spite in that "Bruce"? It's so very nice to see that the Michael thing is something that Johns and Katz get, because it's important.

Also, can you not just hear the gears turning in Batman's head after that "living down to expectations"?

Internet humor is always worth a chuckle. True Fact.

I love the scene with the kid. Even if the kid couldn't have been older than 5 or so when Booster was in the League. I'll forgive that. And, of course, watching Booster give up the glory is downright charming.

There are two things that I absolutely love about this last little scene. And they are "A couple times" and "we're going to start by saving." Because it's so nice that the writers realize that Booster has lost people other than Ted, although Ted is a very important loss to him. So this promise that Ted won't be the only one that Booster is fighting to save makes me very, very happy. What can I say? Booster has a twin sister who has been dead for about 20 years of whom I am rather fond.

The preview page is just enticing beyond words, of course. As Geoff Johns so artfully put it, "Die, Max, die!"

So, a bit about me.

The name's HotAndCold. Well, technically, the name's Victoria, but whatever. HotAndCold is my alias of choice. Welcome to the Internet. Also note that the blog is entitled Running Water. I cannot resist a good pun. Or, obviously, a horrible one.

I like comic books. DC is my poison of choice. My theoretical pull list as of this writing looks a little like so: Booster Gold, JSA, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Teen Titans, and Booster Gold. Needless to say, I am pretty damn fond of Booster Gold. And I usually pick up other stuff I think looks interesting, too. Though, as a poor college student, I probably should be a bit more careful about my spending habits. Which is why I'm buying a copy of Booster Gold every week, of course. (Don't believe me? Oh, ye of little faith. [I have, since this picture was taken, acquired all the variant covers, bumping my total for the first issue up to 7 and the total for the second up to 5. Thank you, eBay!])

I do have a LiveJournal, but, well, I decided that I wanted in on the comics blogosphere instead of just the LJ crowd. Especially considering that most of my LJ is yakking about whatever it is that I happen to be knitting at the moment rather than whatever comic I happen to be reading. Hopefully I'll manage to update this thing more loyally than I do my LJ, but I shall make no promises.

Anyway, that's me, pretty much. How about you?