Thursday, July 02, 2009
FBOTU’s Weekly Comics Load: Bats, Babes and Buffy
It’s a less than impressive Load this week in terms of quantity (not quality). I still have five or six more titles to read, which I’m saving for the holiday weekend. I’ll chat those up over in the Comics Forum, as I get to them. In the meantime, here’s what I’ve been reading as of press time. But this is just my list; feel free to share your own thoughts and your own Load! Let us know what’s rocking your comics world this week!
Batman and Robin #2: Damien is 10. What?! I thought he was 13 or 14. Ten is entirely too young to be Robin. I realize that he’s a wild child and that through Dick’s patience and Alfred’s stoicism, they’ll teach the little monster to be human. It’s just that I’d like all that to happen in the next issue, so we can get on with it, and Damien can stop being such a nuisance. Damien doesn’t want to play by the rules. Damien runs off on his own. Damien gets kidnapped. He’s like part Dawn Summers and part Scrappy Doo. The highlight of this issue, though, is when Alfred gives Dick the classic drag queen pep talk. When things get tough, just put a little more mascara on. It does the trick, ‘cause Dick straps his bat heels back on and goes out into the night, ready to take on the world and save that horrible little brat. Damien’s in trouble? Must be Wednesday.
(More of the Load after the jump!)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26: Sucks to be in the Scoobies these days. The gang’s all back together again, including Giles and Faith, but the recent wave of anti-slayer sentiment has sent everyone into hiding and on the run. Plus, all the magicks they’re employing are starting to push Willow over the edge into Dark Willow territory again. This sounds like a job for...Oz? Tune in next time for an all-Scooby class reunion. If only Cordelia could be there...and Tara...and Jonathan...and Joyce...and that hot football player that came out before the graduation episode. What was his name?
Green Lantern Corps #38: Okay, here’s what bugs me about the little blue guys. Clearly, they’re nuts. They’re making wild, erratic and irrational decisions, going against everything they stood for, executing prisoners, sending Larfleeze off to annoy the Blue Lanterns and dismissing Kyle and Guy with a wave of their tiny blue digits. So why the hell isn’t anyone doing anything about it? Superman is on New Krypton. Batman is dead. Wonder Woman is in self-imposed exile. Who’s left? Is Booster Gold going to have to fix this mess?
Marvel Divas #1: I soooo wanted this to be good. Alas, it is not. Not unlike Gotham City Sirens, the first issue of this miniseries about the hottest superbabes in town suffers, ironically, from too much testosterone. I’m not saying that men can’t write believable female characters. I’m just saying that the voices in this book are terribly inauthentic and suffer from a man’s idea of what women sound like and what they talk about. The art isn’t that great, either. While Sirens stuffed their pages with T&A, Divas goes more for the inflatable love doll approach, depicting Felicia in a perpetual wide-eyed, open-mouthed stupor. Assuming that a first issue can be as bumpy as the pilot episode of a TV series, I’m willing to give this another chance. But fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on Larfleeze.
Secret Six #11: I think it’s high time for a Men of Secret Six calendar. In just about every issue, you can count on one or more of the guys to strip down. And while Catman’s thighs meet in an anatomically confusing sort of way, I can see what they were going for. The short-shorts are super hot.
So, was this issue all about hairy chests and skimpy sleepwear? If only. No, we’re deep in Smyth’s crazy compound, and he spends much of this issue trying to convince the gang that slavery is the key to great human achievement and tourist traps. To test this theory, he’s managed to kidnap and subdue Artemis. Yes, that Artemis. Wonder Woman’s Artemis. Trying to enslave an Amazon seems like a really, really bad idea. I know one Amazon in particular who’s not going to like this at all.
That’s all, folks! Be sure to head over to the Comics Forum for more comic talk. Happy reading!