Reviews, Slightly Later than Usual

By Odin's Raven, that was a heck of a good week! And not a Green Lantern butt to be seen!

Let us begin with Batman: Odyssey, by Neal Adams. This is something of a flashback story, telling the tale of a much younger and less experienced Batman. As I have said frequently, I don't have a lot invested in Bat continuity, so stuff like this is always fun for me. And besides...it's Neal Adams! The man draws like an angel. There wouldn't have even needed to be any dialogue or plot and I would have been happy.

Brightest Day: The Atom Special. This is a one shot deal, which had me initially confused, as there seems to be quite the cliff-hanger, but it is to be continued in Adventure Comics #516, which quite frankly, is a relief, as I hate to see an unresolved cliff-hanger.

This is a perfectly serviceable little story, nothing mind-boggling, but nothing terrible either. It gets us acquainted with Ray Palmer again, although let's face it...he's no Ryan Choi. He also has the rather careless habit of leaving important research just lying around, which in retrospect would seem to be...imprudent. I can't make up my mind if the officious Professor is a good guy who is just there to help along the exposition, or if his constant prodding of Ray hides a more sinister purpose. Guess we'll find out!

Batman & Robin #13. Well, Boy Howdy, but this was fabulous! All KINDS of things are coming to a boil! Oberon Sexton turns out to be the Joker, who is feeling just a little bit lost and lonely without Batman around. Dick is fairly stoic about all of this, while Damian is simply outraged. Oh, and most of the Gotham City cops actually like Dick better. He's certainly more polite.

Grant Morrison, does a bang-up job of explaining all of those clues that he's littered the last twelve issues with, the dominoes, and all. It is fabulous stuff, and the artwork is nothing to sneeze at either. Heck the opening splash page just makes you gasp. You REALLY should be reading this.

Brightest Day #5. Well, all sorts of things are happening. Deadman, with certain reservations, is trying to resurrect the original Dove, but I don't think that the white entity is completely happy with that idea. Shiera proves herself to be the SMART one in that pair, as she expresses her reservations about the whole "let's follow the bad guy through a mysterious portal/what could possibly go wrong?" plan. Stupid Hawkman. And Mera is HIGHLY uncomfortable running into certain old buddies. The plots are thickening nicely.

Jonah Hex #57. Aptly titled "Tall Tales", this is a wonderful issue. Quite frankly, it is funny as hell, dagnabit! Two young boys who are fishing are exchanging stories about Jonah, and each is more outrageous than the last. Their father shows up, and tells them to stick close to home, as the REAL Jonah Hex is in town, and he doesn't want them to run into any...trouble.

That sort of good advice is of course, simply waving a red flag in front of a bull for the youngsters, and into town, they go sneaking. They run into Hex of course, and ALSO, Bat Lash, the Trigger Twins, Scalphunter, Nighthawk and Cinammon!

Be still my heart.

Hex is after a particular bounty and isn't too happy about giving it up to the assembled lawkeepers. He and Scalphunter get into a bit of a hairtangle, and then of course the villain shows up, and gun fire ensues, and the boys are rapt with awe and excitement. Then Hex runs out of bullets, and...I kid you not...TACKLES THE BAD GUY'S HORSE!

That's something you just don't see every day. This Is Wonderful!

JSA Allstars #8. This is ok. There is the first story, which has our heroes going up against some sort of religious cult, and various side bits with Cyclone and that snotty kid Whatshisname. Perfectly adequate. But I'm actually enjoying the ongoing adventures of Liberty Belle and Hourman, not to mention Tigress and the Icicle, because it's just a heck of a lot of fun.

Secret Six #23. A splendid little tale as told by none other than John Ostrander, who has a sure way indeed, with our beloved villains. This is one of those "The tables are turned and the Hunter is the Hunted" stories, but by gum, it works. We have the usual bunch of narcissitic rich boys who get a kick out of hunting PEOPLE, as arranged by the enigmatic Nero. Nero arranges for our crew to show up on his island trap, ostensibly hiring them. Of course it is a trap, and each of his idiot clients gets to try and kill one of the Six.

Needless to say, things do NOT go well for the morons who paid Nero for this little opportunity...as each of the Six shows just how incredibly baddass they all are. This type of tale is actually more fun this way than with heroes, since the Six aren't restrained by any notions of fairplay or heroism. A heck of a lot of fun.

Thor: The Mighty Avenger #1. I've been getting back into Thor lately, and this little book doesn't disappoint. The art is by Chris Samnee, and it is just so delightful, that I'm beside myself. Jane Foster shows up, not as a nurse, but as the newly appointed curator of a small museum, where this guy keeps trying to break into an exhibit and gets thrown out. She also runs across him as he gets tossed from a bar. He's having a bit of trouble dealing with Mr. Hyde, who quite frankly is wiping the floor with him. Still, he does manage to absorb a lot more punishment than the average person. Jane helps the young man back to the museum, where he does go ahead and break into that particular exhibit...much to her dismay. But that's ok, since that was where a certain Hammer was concealed...and well...Woohoo! I can hardly wait for the next issue!

So, I enjoyed the heck out of my books this week. I hope that you all enjoyed yours too!