last week's comics

[resnullius_bells]

More comics I tried out just to see if something sticks.
 

-Batgirl #43: I know I should get over it, it’s been years, yadda yadda. But I’m still pissed about the new-52 retcon with Barbara. I find her unrecognizable. Anyway: Barbara gets hooked on a mysterious fantasy book after saving a woman from some monsters; it turns out its writer can conjure what he imagined, and said woman was his editor and past love. He used his powers to create himself new wives based on her, but kept killing him because they were too two-dimensional (no, the story was not subtle). Barbara gets hooked on the book series. She’s also torn between Dick and Jason Bard (for a moment I thought they meant Jason Todd and groaned. Big NOTP, to be honest). Barbara and the Jason guy end up in the fantasy world when the writer is trying to make a potion to save his ex, and now Jason has to defeat a dragon with the power of love. Okay. The story itself is entertaining and different, but IDK. I miss my Babs.

-Batman #87: well, ain’t that prison you built creepy, Bruce. “I had to imagine cages that would be able to hold me, hold my family” smh. I have absolutely no idea of what’s going on with this one, and Alfred’s absence feels odd. I liked seeing Cheshire (I loved her in Young Justice), even if her outfit looked ridiculous -even by comic standards. Selina was there too, but she didn’t get to do anything interesting. I don’t think I’ll continue this for now; maybe when a new arc starts.

-Batman – Curse of the White Knight #6: “actually, the Wayne legacy is built on lies and crimes and murder” is a concept I can get behind. I wish one day it was done with Thomas and Martha (they were BILLIONAIRES on a BROKEN CITY, js), but I get it’s a long shot. I liked seeing Renee, and Bruce & Harley’s scenes, too (though here she apparently knows who he is. Do secret identities don’t matter anymore). I’ll probably go back and read the whole thing.

-Batman/Superman #6: the art was pretty (I appreciate Bruce’s non-slicked back hair a lot. There were curls there!), but the comic was boring. Diana telling off Clark and/or Bruce is always fun, though, at least as long as it doesn’t get into “team mom” territory. I doubt I’ll continue this, especially since it looks as part of a crossover event and I’ve been tired of those for years.

-Detective Comics #1019: still feeling Alfred’s absence. Very pretty art too with the winter theme, and a plot very much in line with Bruce’s… Bruce-ness. He got to flex his detective muscles a little bit too.

-Red Hood – Outlaw #42: questionable choices have been made with Jason in comics, but “school of supervillains funded by Luthor and trained by Jason Todd” has to be very, very near the top. I could do without any of them, especially the evil toddler. The art is pretty, but I rather they drew Artemis taller and buffer than Jason, TBH. I liked seeing them comfort each other, though I still don’t know what to make of their relationship and its will-they-won’t-they; sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn’t.

-Superman #19: if you're going to deprive me of a secret identity, you better exploit it. By which I mean, I want now a mini run of how the public and supporting characters react to the Clark Kent=Superman reveal.  

 

-Amazing Spider-Man #38: this was “the evils of clickbait journalism: the story”, more or less. JJJ starts working for/with his daughter in a podcast, online paper, something something. Spider-Man is robbing a bank For Reasons but Jameson is sure there must be a good explanation and tries to help (but blows up a covert operation). Sable and Foreigner, Marvel’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith, appear too. She is recovering from an injury and he is in a casino for villains. They have a room where they watch superhero conflicts like they’re popcorn flicks. And Peter now has a sister who works for SHIELD, apparently. IDEK. I think I’m to out of touch with the Spider-Man lore to get into a run like this.

-Black Panther #20: the story begins with a recap telling us that Wakanda explored space, and that branch became an invading empire; T’Challa had gone there, got amnesiac and enslaved, and was freed by his fellow slaves. That… does not sound like a story I want to read, if I’m honest. Anyway, now the leader, N’Jadaka (who has/is a symbiote?) is trying to invade Earth Wakanda, and has possessed Killmonger (who struggles to take control back) for it. In the story itself we see Shuri taking charge of military strategy, refusing the help from a child possessed by Bastet and instead relying on outside allies (Sam Wilson, Luke Cage, Ororo, Misty Knight, Manifold, Monica Rambeau, Riri…). T’Challa only appears to have a chat with his dead dad in the other plane. The comic ends with Bastet appearing in front of one of N’Jadaka’s people. I’ll probably follow on this one, I liked Shuri a lot here.

-Captain Marvel #14: Carol is facing an enemy that tries to make her kill her fellow Avengers or he’ll detonate some bombs (she’s killing clones instead I think? And trapping the originals in a singularity to keep them hidden). Tony wears a cute bath robe and he and Thor try to get her to accept help, to no avail. She and Tony are still snippy with each other. When she leaves the singularity Thor points out they don’t even have board games to entertain themselves in The Void LOL. I’m sure you can think of something, Thor. She defeats T’Challa next (and there’s a comment insinuating he and Tony are just their suits *sighs*), but She-Hulk appears, ready to kick her ass. She still has that terrible speech pattern. I hate it. I don’t really feel like keeping up with the rest of the story, so maybe I’ll pick the run up again after this one is done.

-Guardians of the Galaxy #1: the Greek gods are wreaking havoc, because ofc, and Nova comes to recruit the Guardians (who are in the middle of a nice family barbecue). Gamora objects because they have the right to rest; Quill differs and joins the rest (Phyla "I've spanked gods before" Vell, Moondragon, and Rocket. Noh-Varr appears later, in hot pants), and instead of telling her upfront he sends her a voice mail after he leaves, because he's a jerk. The gods kick their asses, but at the end they find Hercules trapped in their castle and he offers to help. There are Greek gods and I like Moondragon/Phyla-Vell, so I'll probably continue with this one.

I wanted to read Birds of Prey Giant #1 because it had a Gail Simone story, but I couldn’t get my hands on it. In other comic news, I started reading the Arkham Knight comics, because the Brujay Week in February has an Arkhamverse prompt and I wanted to see if it inspired me. So far, too little Jason on it, but it’s a quick read. And it's nice to see Oracle Barbara there at least.