Tuesday Again?

Not...Tuesday! My least favorite day of the week. The thrill over last week's comics has diminished, but the new ones won't come out for another day. Plus the rest of the week is just stretching away over the horizon.

Add to that, the fact that it is hotter than heck, and I'm plumb out of ideas.

Blurgh.

On the other hand, I suppose that it gives me a chance to take a stroll through my photobucket, and pick out something that would be fun. Say like this...



Hee!

Not to worry, the portrait of Hal is later restored, although Guy does then take the opportunity to draw a mustache and goatee on it. C'mon, it's not like we wouldn't ALL like to do that, if given the chance!

I feel so much better now!

Just a LITTLE bit of Bragging

My son Frank is currently serving his apprenticeship as a stagehand at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Ct. The Goodspeed is small, but rather famous, and they have some rather big names when it comes to actors. Currently, they are putting on Carnival.

And who is acting in Carnival you may say? And exactly why is crazy lady telling us this? Well...it's Lee Merriweather. Former Miss America,and portrayer of none other than Catwoman in the original Batman movie. You know...the one with Adam West and Burt Ward, and Caesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Frank Gorshin.

Frankly, it's hilarious. Anyway, Frank has met her, and says that she's very nice, and still insanely gorgeous. So...a little bit of Bat gossip.

I must have Batman on the brain. I'm...actually enjoying the heck out of the Return of Bruce Wayne, and the Batman & Robin book. It's nicely drawn and tightly plotted, and frankly, it's been a great read. There must be something wrong with me! I'm A GREEN LANTERN FAN!!

Blurg

It's hot. It's too hot to think, much less blog. A cold front is supposed to come through and things will presumably be a tad less humid by tomorrow, but I'll believe it when I see it. And I have not one but TWO parades to march in today.

I feel faint already.



So...apropos of nothing, here is a nice picture of Batman punching out thugs. I always approve of thug-punching. It gets the blood flowing, and clears out your sinuses.

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!

Blue & Gold Bridesmaids

Due to popular demand, we are going to take a long and loving look at those perennial bridesmaids, none other than Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. And by Blue Beetle, I do mean Ted Kord, not Dan or Jaime.

Quite simply, these two were the lynchpin of the old JLI. It wasn't the same without them, and the DC Universe is just a little bit colder and more bleak without Ted Kord in it.

For a pair of apparent screw-ups, they did seem to have a lot of influence. And I don't mean just the old "Bwhahahahaha!" Although that WAS certainly a lot of fun. Ted's death has been quite a few years ago by now, and it is still creating stories. So, in that respect, it has to be considered a "good" death, similar to the way that Barry Allen's death continued to provide story fodder long after he was gone. But still...I would so much rather have Ted back amongst the living. He doesn't HAVE to be the Blue Beetle...Jaime has proven himself a most worthy successor...he could simply hang out designing software for Oracle, or cool stuff for the JSA or the JLA, or simply hanging with Booster and Rip. You can't tell me that Ted wouldn't get a kick out of Time Diving.

With all of the shenanigans, it is easy to underestimate both Ted and Booster, but heck, they were in the Justice League for a LONG time, and they fought some pretty big heavyweights when it came to bad guys. Despero, that guy who killed Superman, and scores of others. That's one of the reasons that I liked Booster's recent rant to Cyborg, back in JLI-GL a couple of weeks back. Would Batman and Martian Manhunter have hung around if the rest of them were complete losers? Of course not. And let us not forget that both Superman and Wonder Woman were ALSO a part of the Justice League at the same time as Beetle, Booster, Guy, Fire and Ice. So there.

And while we're at it, there were a whole lot of other people on the old JLI that could classify as beloved Bridesmaids. Ralph and Sue Dibny, Scott Free and Big Barda. Wally West and Power Girl and Captain Atom. Hell, even Max Lord and L-Ron.

*sigh*

Holy...It's HOT!

And I'm not referring to Hal's hindquarters! Although his buttocks are indeed hawt. I am referring to the mindboggling heatwave which is sweltering throughout New England, and those other states on the eastern seaboard. It's probably cooler in Mississippi than it is here! I'm starting to look back with fond nostalgia for those frosty mornings in January.

Actually, I'm being dead serious. I MUCH prefer cold weather to hot.

But speaking of hot...



...here we have Fire and Ice. I include them as a pair, because that was practically always the way that they appeared, at least until they killed poor Ice off, and Fire had to go be a spy for Checkmate. But now they're back, and still perennial Bridesmaids, when compared at least, to the top billing of Wonder Woman. Of course, in a way ALL woman characters are bridesmaids when compared to Wonder Woman! She IS probably the most recognizable female character there is.

But still, Black Canary is probably a bit more high-profile than Fire or Ice. Nothing wrong with that of course, except that I really really really like Fire and Ice. It would be nice if they appeared in more books, or had a nice little mini-series, or something. Of course, they are now appearing in the current bi-weekly JLI-Lost Generations book, which is SOMEthing at least, although I'm still a bit bitter about their characterization. Still...better than nothing I suppose.



Does anyone have any other favorite bridesmaids?

More of Always a Bridesmaid Week

Nothing wrong with being a Bridesmaid of course. Most of my favorite...nay ALL of my favorite characters could be classified that way.



Joining Martian Manhunter in that particular tier, is none other than Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow. A member of the Justice League, although not a founding member. Originally conceived as a Batman knockoff, with his own Arrow-Cave, Arrow-Car and plucky sidekick. Ollie was actually rather bland, all things considered way back when. Then they decided to give him a cause and a lot of liberal guilt. He got a lot more interesting, although he really DID tend to call poor Hal a Nazi waaaay too often.

Ok, he's taken a few people out over the years. Permanently, but man...they DESERVED it! That old Justice League is just too judgemental. Things are always a lot less exciting when Ollie isn't around.

Ollie is for the "little guy", and abhors the "fat cats". He also can't seem to keep it in his pants, and has a way of messing up his private life with dull regularity. But what the heck, he's fun in a bizarre sort of way, especially when he starts ranting. And who wouldn't love someone with a boxing glove arrow, a tiny vacumn arrow, and a dead cat arrow?

Not the women, apparently. He's got Black Canary, although they seem to be on the outs lately. But that won't last. He's got a couple of sidekicks, and a slew of illegitimate children, but that doens't slow him down. He likes to play Robin Hood and he shoots people with pointy sticks.

He may be a Bridesmaid, but he's the kind of Bridesmaid that has a HELLUVA good time at the wedding.