Bouquets and Brickbats

This was something of an...odd week. I was expecting Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, but no such luck. There ARE five weeks in December this year, so hopefully it will show up next week.

What there was, was either really good or really horrible.

Booster Gold #39.

*sniff* Not really a whole lot going on in this issue, except for Character moments, but it's no secret that those are what I LIVE for. Booster has to finally come to grips with the fact that even though he can see him whenever he wants to, by taking a dip in the ol' Time Pool, he's got to face the fact that Ted is gone, and he's not coming back. Skeets tries to be as comforting as his little circuits will allow him, and Michelle wasn't as annoying this issue, while Ranni continues to be adorable.

I give this a large bouquet of whatever smelly colorful flowers that Ted Kord would like.

Fables #100.

Well, boy howdy, this was fabulous, as befits the 100th issue of a fabulous series. We have the duel between Frau Totenkinder and the Dark Man, and it's a doozy. That's one lady that it doesn't pay to underestimate. Things turn out a little differently than you originally think that they will. Oh, and Beauty and Beast have their baby, and Nurse Spratt turns out to be quite the pill.

There are all sorts of lovely extras by different artists at the end, and it's all quite quite wonderful. So a large bouquet of roses.

Flash #7. This issue focuses on Captain Boomerang, and I have to admit that I enjoyed the heck out of it. I love Barry, but the past few issues have dragged a bit. This is bright and interesting, and it's going to have oh, so many many consequences. Digger is haunted by his visions, and decides that breaking into jail and questioning the Reverse Flash is a good idea. Oh Digger...I like you but you really aren't the smartest tack in the box. But it's fastpaced and it's fun dammit.

A slightly straggly bouquet, that Boomerang would have swiped from a cemetary.

DC Universe Holiday Special 2010.

This was an interesting little book. It's not a Christmas special, per se, it covers quite a few celebrations, and certainly it covers some unusual ones, or at least ones that I'm not too familiar with. We've got Anthro and a Winter Solstice celebration. Jonah Hex and Hannukah, which I thought was quite well done. John Stewart is being awesome as usual, and manages to teach a rookie a few things. Superman shows up with some balloons and a hero award that I found to be a little heavy handed. The Spectre gets cranky, but for a good cause. Oh, and the Legion one was good, and I don't even like the Legion!

So, I award a nice little bouquet, not a huge one, but a nice one.

Justice League: Generation Lost #15

Oh. Oh my. Where the hell do I start with this one? On the one hand, it has some interesting moments. Max Lord is trying to find Wonder Woman, presumably so that he can pinch her head off, but she's vanished, and what's more, nobody has ever even HEARD of her! Oh, the irony. Well, Max remembers her, and Booster, Atom, Fire and Ice, but that's it. I assume that this all ties in with whatever is going on in her book.

Captain Shinypants is wanted for murdering Magog of course. He's furious and wants to find Max and kill him, but Booster makes a nice speech about how they're all heroes, and heroes don't DO things like that, and when they find Max, they're going to lock him up for a Very Long Time. Oh, after he beats the crap out of him first.

And then we come to Fire and Ice. Bea wants to know why Tora lied about her family all these years, and Tora says it was because she wanted to be a HERO and Heroes don't come from a family of thieves. Apparently the Government moved her mother and sister to New Zealand.

Now this is where I started shrieking silently in my head. For one thing, Bea had been lying about HER family all along, not to mention her name, but that's not my problem. Winick completely ignores the fact that we've all BEEN to Ice's apparently imaginary Ice Kingdom. We've met her father, her mother, her rotten brother. We've been shown the letters that she used to write to her imaginary Ice Kingdom father, actually using Runic script. We've met these people and fought with them, and IT JUST MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER!!!!

*pant pant*

It's an illusion of course, yes, that's it, Max is just playing games with Tora's head for some unfathomable reason. Either that, or Winick just wants to FUCK WITH ME!

This did not get a bouquet. It receives instead a Large and Unwieldy Brickbat.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #23

Oh Vril Dox, you nasty boy you. I mainly got this issue, because it has John Stewart on the cover, and boy, I was not disappointed. Dox and his bunch have been badmouthing the Green Lanterns all over the Vega system, in an attempt to boost their own stock with the populace. As is their usual habit, the Gaurdians are making a mess out of their public relations. Adam Strange is supposed to be mediating between the two groups. Vril postures, and darned if John doesn't posture right back. And then a group of "revolutionaries" threatens to set off a bomb that will destroy Vega's sun. Vril Dox expects that the Lanterns will fail miserably, especially since he's set it all up to mimic the situation that lead to the destruction of Xanshi. But it is never wise to underestimate John Stewart, and his two rookies manage to save the day, and quite handily. The good name of the Lanterns is restored, and Vril must live to plot another day.

Darned good, and worthy of a green glowing bouquet.

Thor: The Mighty Avenger #7

Why oh WHY is Marvel cancelling this book? It's sweet and funny and dagnabit it' just about the best thing that they are publishing! And kids can read it and enjoy it too!

I swear every time I really enjoy a good and funny book it lasts for only a few issues. I'm starting to get a complex.

Anyway, Jane and Thor have a lovely evening at home, getting to know one another better, if you know what I mean (nudge nudge, wink wink) but Thor has to go off and investigate the wide swath of destruction left by a giant robot. A robot that has apparently been designed just to destoy him! He defeats the one, but unfortunately there are actually a lot of them. And he loses his nice new cell phone.

A huge bouquet to this book. A a slap in the face to Marvel for dumping it.