FBOTU’s Weekly Comics Load: The Ballad of Jason Todd

By Chance

August 09, 2010 at 2:25AM EDT

Click and ye shall receive.

Even though I had some trauma in the comic book store last week, I managed to get through all the books on my pull list over the weekend. I’ll be trying out a new comic book store this week. Yay! As long as they carry an obscure little book I like to read called Batman, we’ll be fine. Be sure to let us know what obscure little books you’re reading this week, either in the Comics Forum or right here in the comments section. Now, on with the Load!

	The Boys #45 I know this is an important issue, since it features Annie’s confession to Hughie, more information on Homelander’s confusing plan and Butcher actually expressing his feelings, but I am transfixed on Frenchie and The Female. Somehow, The Female has lost a couple of feet in height and is impersonating an eight-year old. Then, Frenchie decides she’s too murderous to be a child, so he hides her in a bunch of helium balloons, floating her around the Believe fairgrounds. None of it makes a bit of sense, logically or from a physics or biology standpoint, but I kind of don’t care. Things are always a bit off where Frenchie and The Female are concerned, so I’m just going to roll with it.
	Brightest Day #7 You’re back from the dead; what do you do? Mope around the planet and maybe have a cheeseburger? Why aren’t any of these resurrected jerks having sex? Even Hawk and Aquaman are just sort of surly, instead of horny. Boston Brand has clearly got a bulge. Why doesn’t he use it? I’d think Max Lord would have at least bent a delivery man over his desk by now. But no. I blame the White Lantern Entity. If it’s always yapping cryptic directions in your ear, you don’t feel much like banging one out. If this were Marvel, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
	The Rage of Thor #45 I rolled my eyes through the first part of this one-shot, which is clearly meant to highlight Thor’s complicated relationship with his alcoholic father, as well as his tender fascination with the human race. About halfway through, though, I really got into it. Once we’re past Odin’s bucket of crazy, the story gets really engrossing as Thor tries to live amongst (and sexually satisfy) the mortals. But just like in Godfather, the family keeps pulling him back in. I like this portrayal of Thor, since he’s far less godlike and myth-y and much more human and conflicted. Although the artist gives him really inconsistent bangs throughout the book, I’m still recommending it, based on the story and portrayal. Just ignore the bangs.
	Red Hood: The Lost Days #3 In this issue of the behind-the-scenes series about Jason Todd’s resurrection, he dons a red hoodie (foreshadowing!) and stops a child slavery ring. This makes Talia very happy and sexy. If she ends up bedding Jason, Bats is going to flip. Perhaps I’m getting a little jaded in my old age, but I totally agree with crazy Jason Todd: Batman’s a wimp, and killing villains is the only answer. I’m going to start practicing this in my own life. I swear to god, the next time that bitchy Barista at Starbucks gets my order wrong, I’m going to stab him in the heart with a little stir stick. Go Team Jason!
	Red Robin #15 Tim, why are you over-complicating things? Just kill Vickie Vale, dump her body in the Bat Cave and burn her apartment to the ground. And you might want to stay the hell away from Barbara, because if there’s one thing handicapped people hate it’s people pretending to be handicapped. What a douche.
	Secret Six #24 I have no idea what this issue is supposed to be about or what the point of setting it in the Old West is, but I don’t care. It’s pretty fabulous, so I’ll take it. The important thing here is that Catman shows up (naked and bound by ropes); Jeannette rides Deadshot like a trick pony (and in a bathtub!); and Ragdoll puts on a puppet show. Yup, everything’s normal here.

That’s it for this week! Happy reading!