I’m in!
2 books so far!
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Welcome aboard!
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You’re doing the 2,022-issue challenge with us?
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Glad you could join the challenge.
That DEAD MAN’S HAND was quite 90s. Imagine a tv movie, a SPIKE TV tv movie, where every character is played by either Steven Segal or Lorenzo Lamas. I honestly wasn’t sure what was gonna on. In other 90s funnybook news, this week is the debut of SCORCHED, the SPAWN team book. Now havin read and been confused by 3 different new SPAWN books in the last couple months or so( king spawn,gunslinger spawn,etc), I’m really hoping this one goes beyond "dude, that’s cool"i.e. why does Gunslinger Spawn wear that ridiculous hat? Its where he keeps his extra-extra knives. “DUDE, THAT’S COOL!”, but also, what?!..Anyhow, its still 2022 and I’m gonna keep on vida loco-ing the 90s vibe till my eyes fall out.
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Just finished Blackest Night! I loved it! The art was out of this world!
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I have read 113 comics this week. Year to date I am at 374.
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Ugh. Just found a fatal flaw in the triangle-era SUPERMAN readthrus…lots of missing books. Important books, like, “the first parts and the last parts” books. Sigh. All them one-shots not here but we get NEW GUARDIANS weekly now. Not fair.
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Yeah, huge stretches of Stern’s Action Comics are missing for no readily apparent reason. Some of the preceding runs are very spotty too. Not sure what’s up with that.
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In good news, finished JEFF LEMIRE’s MAZEBOOK, in print edition. It really felt like it was meant to be an OGN but was separated into 5 issues. Either way, thumbs up. It treads on some very Lemire-ian familiar ground, loss, being lost, acceptance, moving on,etc. but still worth the time. Gimme a good “there’s just being alive and then there’s LIVING” story anytime. COMIXOLOGY had the first three issues at a buck a pop for anyone wanting a heart-twisting, feel good tale to read. And before i go do grown up stuff, the current(on here) WONDER WOMAN storyline is really giving me those early Perez issues vibes. Super strong stuff, but…I’m not reading the backup stories at all. They’re, I dunno, I might go back at binge them all. Maybe. I got a DC SHOWCASE on the shelf chock-full of Young Diana stories that I’d get into before these, it’s just not my thing. And just when I’ve thought I hit Maximum Batman, the current(print) Bat-books, BATMAN and DETECTIVE are rockin, as well as that Batman the DETECTIVE series. Just Batman bein Batman, FINALLY!
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The DOMINUS EFFECT storyline is missin the leadoff chapter and his return visit is missing the last chapter. Honestly, I was enjoyin the story way more BEFORE he showed up and Ol’ Waverider and the Linear Men, but still…
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The ongoing IRON MAN is set up so much like ED BRUBAKER’s CAPTAIN AMERICA run that its must read Marvel. A continuous cant wait till next month storyline, spot on art, and the colorist from that Cap run, Frank D’mata(?sorry). And the characters used, some not seen in forever, good, good stuff.
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They are good but jarring to read after the main story.
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I finally have read over 100 comics in 2022 so far!
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Maybe that’s it. I finish the main story and the YA art just jars me right off the book.
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111 pictures!!
111
That’s great!
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… And I’m finally here.
Don’t count me out yet; I started slower than this in 2020, and I did 4,000 issues that year.
Detective Comics: 16 issues from 2016
Writer: James Tynion IV
Some more of the actual physical comics I picked up recently that I read on a plane ride. I honestly remembered this run being a lot better? I think some of the better moments came later, but these first two arcs are not actually very good. I remember liking the Batwoman stuff, but now that I know more about the character, making her related to Bruce is unnecessary and it really does a disservice to Jacob Kane.
I like Tim Drake, but he’s… overpowered here. Kind of discount Oracle, plus having all the overpowered technology attributed to him, in addition to being active in the field. I feel like Batbooks’ reliance on sci-fi gadgets in general is a mistake. I prefer more ninja detective and less bargain bin Iron Man.
And the Victim Syndicate are some of the most painfully preachy villains I’ve ever encountered. Their arguments are that blatantly nonsensical “Batman’s very existence just kind of causes supervillains to manifest, ex nihilo” garbage that still does not hold up from a Watsonian perspective and still is exclusively pointed at Batman and not any other superhero with a rogues gallery. But then everybody’s all “OMG BUT WHAT IF THEY’RE RIGHT?” Gag me.
16.
Detective Comics #687 from 1995
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Old issue I like that I found in the comic shop’s back issues. This arc was admittedly maybe a little dumb, but only in a harmlessly goofy villain-of-the-month way, not in an annoying way.
17.
Brightest Day: 34 issues from an event from 2009-2010
… What an absolute mess of an event. I can’t discern any actual point to anything that happened in it. Like, characters all go through a bunch of motions because some talking bucket of kerosene ordained that it would be so. But there’s no apparent purpose to most of it. So basically nothing that happens is motivated even on the White Lantern’s part. All of it is just a bunch of convoluted preliminary shuffling to… apparently a Swamp Thing reboot???
Issue-by-issue breakdown
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Brightest Day #9 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: Huh. Only in a Tomasi book would *counts on fingers* five separate people getting murdered and stuffed in refrigerators (in one panel, of course) not only not be any kind of Alex DeWitt reference, but just kind of be something that happens as a perfunctory background event.
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Brightest Day #10 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: I will say that Jackson and his plot are pretty interesting, if nothing else.
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Brightest Day #11 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: wow deathstorm is incredibly annoying
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Brightest Day #12 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: … “D’Kay?” Seriously?
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Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #2 by Peter J. Tomasi: I like that Tomasi tends to be credited for “story and words” instead of “writing” or “writer.” Calling the words that he generates in connection with his issues “writing” would indeed be a bit of a stretch.
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Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #3 by Peter J. Tomasi: Waaaaaaaaiiiiiiiit, is Zardor just Tomasi’s next Mongul substitute? Anyway, I guess we’re doing the eyeball fixation again too.
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Green Lantern #56 by Geoff Johns: I roasted the last couple issues of this title for being all fight scene, but this is really the best of the four titles I’m working with right now.
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Green Lantern #57 by Geoff Johns: Johns’ Star Sapphire lore, while a little better than Tomasi’s, is still kind of muddled. I get that he’s trying to work with information established about them before the Emotional Spectrum was a thing, but I do feel like there had to be a cleaner way.
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Green Lantern #58 by Geoff Johns: Seriously, the Blues are so creepy.
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Brightest Day #13 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: I see what this is trying to do, but Khea kind of comes out of nowhere and is very mustache-twirly with fuzzy motivations.
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Brightest Day #14 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: I feel like this is supposed to be exposing some fundamental character flaw of Deadman, but “understandably confused and freaked out by a mysterious space ring giving him unclear directives for even more unclear motivations” is not really something that I’m judging him for?
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Green Lantern #59 by Geoff Johns: Welp, back to characters announcing their motivations at each other I guess.
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Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #4 by Peter J. Tomasi: All right, class. Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with this quote?
[Unbreathable]
If you said “That’s not remotely how atmospheres work, Tomasi you hack,” gold star for you. Guy proceeds to… I guess space-waterboard this random goon. I just- what the hell is this scene?!
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Green Lantern Corps #53 by Tony Bedard: OK, I actually kinda dig the Weaponer. He’s interesting.
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Green Lantern Corps #54 by Tony Bedard: I mean, Soranik is just kind of being a damsel here, but otherwise this is actually a pretty solid arc so far.
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Brightest Day #15 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: You know, I’m not really all that fond of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? or Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? but the use of the title format feels out of place here. It’s a pretty standard dream sequence issue without any longer-term significance in the same way as the last Pre-Crisis Superman story or something released in connection with Batman’s apparent death.
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Brightest Day #16 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: Not much happened here.
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Brightest Day #17 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: Solid issue.
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Brightest Day #18 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: Wow, Queen Shrike really had no plan whatsoever for what to do when she got to Zamaron, did she?
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Green Lantern #60 by Geoff Johns:
Really? You went for “Parallax-Flash,” not “Barry-lax?”I’m also a bit baffled why Sinestro leaves to confront the Weaponer here instead of back in Bedard’s GLC issue. He seems to be reacting to the fact that the Weaponer “demanded his presence,” but I think he already knew that, or at least it was very obvious that the Weaponer was trying to get his attention. -
Green Lantern #61 by Geoff Johns: So Atrocitus and the Spectre don’t even especially want different things, they just kind of get into a Marvel Misunderstanding to make sure there’s excess collateral damage. … Sounds about right, actually. Plus, I don’t think Johns entirely understands the point of the Spectre’s host, since I feel like Atrocitus’s weirdly calm and authorial-mouthpiece-sounding lecture here is saying that the Spectre is too mechanical and indiscriminate
(because Atrocitus strikes me as someone who is merciful and ethical in his rage)in spite of (or… because of? It’s not very clear) the host. (Who is… Crispus Allen right now, right?) But, like, that’s what the host is there for, to rein that stuff in. There’s maybe a coherent point about the difference between impulsive vengeance and emotionless judgment that Johns is trying to get at, but even yanking Atrocitus out of his usual voice to mouthpiece about it, he still manages to muddle it. As a factual sidenote, the Spectre’s exact theological affiliation is a bit vague beyond “monotheistic and probably Abrahamic,” but Crispus Allen was, while agnostic himself, raised Christian, and for that matter Jim Corrigan (the, uh, the original, not the other one who killed Crispus Allen but had no relation whatsoever to the original - what is the point of that?) was Catholic. I bring this up because “an eye for an eye” is significant in Jewish and Islamic religious doctrine, but Jesus directly and specifically contradicts it in the Sermon on the Mount. So, the Spectre being salty that Atrocitus is criticizing “scripture” is fuzzy at best given that scripture criticizes itself. (For the record, I am not religious and thus do not care other than that if you’re going to complain about religion, you should at minimum have your facts straight.) -
Green Lantern #62 by Geoff Johns: Honestly, it takes Krona a while to wave everybody off despite controlling all seven entities at once.
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Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #5 by Peter J. Tomasi: When someone’s vomiting and crying blood on the cover, you know you’re in for a fun Tomasi issue. Also dig the gratuitous on-panel mass suicide. Stay classy, Tomasi.
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Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #6 by Peter J. Tomasi: This conflict comes up a lot in superhero stories for some reason: Protagonist keeps a stupid secret for no reason, supporting characters are angry. And on one hand, you kind of sympathize with the supporting characters, because it was a stupid secret kept for no reason. But on the other hand, it requires baffling, out-of-character decision-making on the part of the protagonist to do it in the first place, so it feels like the protagonist got screwed too. And then the supporting characters tend to go through such histrionics over it, usually ignoring their own best interests just to have a sudden contrived rift with the protagonist. That all sounds inordinately specific, but, like, it’s all the time. Ever watch Arrow? Yeah.
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Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #7 by Peter J. Tomasi: Question about this three-eyed guy whose name I’ve already forgotten and don’t care about: Why does Krona need him? It seems like none of what’s going on has anything to do with Krona’s actual game plan. Also, what’s actually with the snakes? Oh, wait, Tomasi thought they were gross and scary, so, snakes everywhere. Yaaaay. Anyway, naturally the solution to all of the protagonists’ problems is the strategic application of gore. Speaking of which, Bleez’s level of coherence sure seems to vary depending on what’s convenient for any given scene, doesn’t it? The line “Something smells like burning blood” from one of the extras is amusing on multiple levels. First, how does this random telepath know what burning blood smells like? Second, oh, wait, this is Tomasi World, naturally most people are intimately familiar with various exotic forms of gore. Third, blood is not flammable, but discerning that that’s the case called for one of my more amusingly questionable Google searches. I don’t doubt that Red Lantern vomit would have a… distinctive bouquet, but it probably would not be recognizably similar to any other reference point.
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Green Lantern Corps #55 by Tony Bedard: I love Ganthet and John having a melodramatic conversation about unrelated plot while the Weaponer has them tied up and just paying no further attention to him.
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Green Lantern Corps #56 by Tony Bedard: I’m still not following why Sinestro changed his mind like this.
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Brightest Day #19 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: “Why are you orchestrating all these arbitrary happenings, White Lantern?” “Cuz I gotta.” Anyway, wasn’t Black Manta already Darth Vader enough as it was?
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Brightest Day #20 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: That was a bit of an… abrupt solution to the Aqua-situation.
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Brightest Day #21 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: Oh my god these two are repeating the same points over and over again, this arc basically already wrapped up. Plus it’s painfully unclear what… *Sigh* D’Kay (god that’s a stupid name) is actually proposing to do? It seems to oscillate among “Have lots of sex to repopulate Mars,” “Somehow resurrect the Martians who died before,” and “Create psychic dreamworld to pretend all the Martians who died before are alive” basically at random. The latter at first seems to be a tactic to convince J’onn to cooperate with one of the former objectives, but some of her dialogue afterwards makes it sound like the dream world was the endgame.
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Green Lantern Corps #57 by Tony Bedard: The Weaponer’s switch at the end here is really abrupt and doesn’t really line up with his goals.
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Brightest Day #22 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: God, the White Lantern is getting to be a deus ex machina, isn’t it?
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Brightest Day #23 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: Wow this is a left-field ending.
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Brightest Day #24 by Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi: And was anybody really asking for the real Alec Holland to be relevant? Also, the last scene with J’onn displays an understanding of how brain damage works that is roughly commensurate with Tomasi’s understanding of how most things work. And… sudden random Constantine at the end, I guess. What a concluding note.
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I have read another 126 comics this week. My total for the year is now 500.
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