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LWIC: Hugs!

Last Week In Comics:
A fresh take on 5 day-old comics.

Red Robin #9

Tim Drake-Wayne is back in Gotham and back into the Bat-Continuity after taking down the League of Assassins. Last Week In Comics (LWIC):

I hope this new “dark knight detective” persona Tim created as Red Robin is not overshadowed by Batman’s current drama. Tim being out of Gotham working on his own worked to build his character, he could be an individual outside of Gotham instead of a sidekick.

That being said, this was a good issue even though it was mostly set up. The issue set up: confrontation between Steph and Tim, a huge battle with Ra’s al Ghul, a possible love triangle/partnership with Tam Fox, and lastly a small detail that may play a huge role – Tim will be distracted from his search for Bruce Wayne.

I want so bad to say that this book is my favorite monthly comic, but to be honest there are too many Batman related books that they seem to drown each other out… No matter how much I like one book there is always another one that comes out the next week with a different storyline to replace it.

Superman: World of New Krypton #12

When the bottled city of Kandor was saved from Braniac, the Kryptonians created a New Krypton. Wanting to learn more about his people, and to keep a closer eye on his enemy Zod, Superman left Earth to live with his people and serve in their military. While living there the two worlds have been preparing for a war with General Sam Lane defending Earth and General Zod defending New Krypton. LWIC:

Twelve issues of set-up that could have been done within one issue, or maybe even six pages. I expected, after reading about Superwoman and the framing of Nightwing and Flamebird, that General Lane was working behind the scenes to fuel the war and I never doubted that Zod was doing the same from New Krypton. Therefore, the conclusion of this series did nothing to move the story forward. The most exciting thing that happened this issue was on the last page when Braniac arrived to battle the residents of New Krypton in the next issue of Superman. The last page is proof that this series was filler, the most exciting battle featured in this comic will take place in another book.

and

THE BEST COMIC OF LAST WEEK:
THE QUESTION #37

So why is The Question 37 the best comic of last week?

So, if you haven’t yet indulged in the intriguing stories and awesome art that is collected in The Quesiton 1-36 you need to NOW! And if you have partaken in the pleasure found on those pages, read them again! Seriously folks any comic that features Vic Sage as the Question that is written by O’neil and drawn by Cowan will always be the best on my list.

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Posted by Fred on February 8, 2010 @ 8:37 PM Under: Last Week In Comics
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LWIC: Red Robin a.k.a. The New Dark Knight

Last Week In Comics:
A fresh take on the only comic I got last week.

Red Robin #8

Tim Drake believes that Bruce Wayne is alive and has left his role as Robin to search for his adopted father. Taking on the identity of Red Robin, Tim is neither Batman or Robin instead a mixture of what made both characters successful. Not afraid to cross the line, Red Robin is working with Ra’s Al Ghul and his league of assigns to take down the Council of Spiders who is trying to assassinate the League of Assassins. Last Week In Comics:

After sizing up each assassin Tim focuses on their strengths and weaknesses along with all the lessons his former teachers taught him to save his live and that of Tam Fox:

I like this new direction for Tim. Back when his run as Robin was winding down I thought he was acting more like a “Dark Detective” than Batman was, and I loved it. Eight issues into his new identity and Tim is again proving he is more than any other Robin or Batman, he is a culmination of both. Don’t take my word for it:

If you have not been reading Red Robin I recommend that you do. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t consider it “Must Read,” but it is a fun and a well conceived super-hero comic. This series uses the “Batman” template making it easy for new readers to jump on board and features enough continuity to make us veteran Bat-Readers smile.

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Posted by Fred on January 11, 2010 @ 9:07 PM Under: Last Week In Comics
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LWIC: Batman Runs Away

Last Week In Comics:
A fresh take on 5 day-old comics.

Action Comics #882

For what feels like forever coming, the buildup of Earth (General Lane) vs New Krypton (General Zod) may finally be bearing fruit… even though I know the real conclusion of the overall story won’t come until next year’s big “blockbuster” event. First thousands of Kryptonians were freed from the bottled city of Kandor in the arctic, then they were attacked by Doomsday, finally New Krypton was created. Once New Krypton was formed General Lane has been working behind the scenes to set up the Superman family and create anti-Kryptonian sentiment all over Earth. LWIC the final stages of his planning looks to be complete with:

With the capture of the three Kryponians, it seems as if something big may happen next week – either an escape or a death, either one warrants some much needed plot moving action. For the first time in a while I am looking forward to the next installment.

Batgirl #3

I was cool with Batman R.I.P. Heck, I was excited to see one of my favorite characters take over as Batman, but I am getting tired of the movement of characters, which I will talk about in the other two former Robin’s reviews later. I loved Cassandra Cain as Batgirl. I loved the concept of the character. I loved the fact that she was the opposite of Batman – instead of a hero who trained in deadly arts, she was a master of the deadly arts who learned to be a hero. To see Cassandra written off and out of the picture in just over a decade it’s fair to say I’m disappointed to see someone else as Batgirl… BUT this issue sold me on Steph Brown being Batgirl. LWIC:

The current Robin, Damian Wayne, was just thrown into the role of Robin – no training or mentoring going on there… and it doesn’t feel like the Batman and Robin I grew up with, but Babs training Steph – there is my monthly fix of the “traditional” Batman and Robin relationship.

Batman #691

As mentioned in the previous review – the shuffle of “Bat-Characters” was fun at first but I’m ready for Batman to be Batman. LWIC:

Ok, is it me or did this issue just ruin the previous two? When this story line began Dick was worried that he couldn’t be the Batman that Bruce created, so he and Alfred decided that it was an act and that Dick should play the part his own way. Yet in this issue Dick spends almost every page defeating Two-Face by acting like Bruce… Ok DC, just move on – Dick is Batman now, lets just have stories about Batman not Dick pretending to be Batman.

Blackest Night: Batman #3

Umm, yeah.

I thought this series was going to be good because all of the main characters in the Bat-Family have dead family members. With the Black Lanterns feeding off of emotion and the different spectrum of emotional light along with the fact that no matter what Batman conquers all this tie-in mini-series would be a home run… I was wrong. Here is what happened in this series:

Sounds like a winner huh? Check out what happened LWIC:

Batman is satisfied that he hid from the enemy and they ran away… what kind of crap is that? So I’m guessing that Batman will not play a larger role in saving the universe at the end of the Blackest Night, unless everyone just plans on hiding from the Black Lanterns hoping they run away.

Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps #41

After the debacle that was “Blackest Night: Batman,” I needed a reminder of how threatening the Black Lantern Corps, or Zombie Corps (pun intended,) and GLC #41 satisfied me. In the previously reviewed Blackest Night tie in above the heroes were satisfied on letting the zombies flee from Earth, yet in space the Green Lantern Corps are fighting hundreds of fallen teammates and family members that are now Black Lanterns. LWIC there was reminder on just how nasty the Black Lanterns are:

Adding children into the mix is sick, twisted, and works great in showing the magnitude of the Black Lantern Corps. The only thing is that unless I missed something, I still don’t know why they are attacking and killing every living thing. The only reason I can think of would be to return the universe to darkness hence the Blackest Night. I may not know why they are attacking, but I do know that they are some fierce mickey fickies.

Red Robin #5

I think Tim Drake is the only character that changed identities after Bruce Wayne went missing that is totally defined as a character. Tim using his detective skills has tracked down evidence that proves that Bruce Wayne may be alive. While tracking down more evidence and following clues he has teamed up with Ra’s al Ghul and his league of assassins. While Ra’s assassins are assisting Red Robin uncover evidence they are attacked by another set of assassins. The other assassins are not the only thing that is slowing Tim’s quest down; it seems that Luscious Fox noticed that Tim Drake-Wayne (Tim was adopted by Bruce right before he “died”) was arrested in Paris, so he sends his daughter to bring the wayward Wane home. LWIC:

Tim has carved out an identity for Red Robin – he is a darker version of Batman, more of a non-killing assassin who works with killing type assassin. Tim helping Ra’s will be nice to see play out, especially since he plans on taking down Ra’s League of Assasins after they help him out.

and

THE BEST COMIC OF LAST WEEK
ADVENTURE COMICS #3

Seeing Superboy having a personality that’s deeper and more likable than in the 90’s is nice, but that’s not why it’s the best of last week. Adventure Comics #3 is the BEST COMIC OF LAST WEEK because of Krypto the Super-Dog:

Posted by Fred on October 19, 2009 @ 10:36 PM Under: Last Week In Comics
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LWIC: The Ultimate Alien Death Machine!

Last Week In Comics:
A fresh take on 5 day-old comics.

Adventure Comics #2

I like Superboy and I was sad to see him die during Infinite Crisis, and I am happy that he was brought back to life before the whole Blackest Night story – a zombie Superboy would not have settled well with me. With last issue’s soul searching and wanting to live the life as Superman did at his age, it was nice to see a larger plot forming.

LWIC Superboy is still trying to make sure that the half of him that was cloned from Superman prevails over the half of his DNA that was cloned from Lex Luthor. With all of the Superman vs Lex Luthor stuff in the last issue, I should have seen that Luthor would be involved in this series, but I totally forgot that Luthor was freed from jail by General Lane to dissect and reverse engineer the captured Braniac and his technology. So it seems that Luthor was just as sad as Superman when Superboy passed away so that he decided to try to clone another “son.” I am looking forward to seeing Lex vs Conner since his conscious is already having a hard time with the internal Lex Luthor conflict.

Amazing Spider-Man #604

I usually complain about the crappy life and the complaining that Peter Parker fills his comic with, but writer Fred Van Lente pulls it all together. For some reason the Chameleon is after Mayor J. Johna Jamieson and stole the identity of the mayor’s photographer Peter Parker. While disguised as Peter the Chameleon gets Peter involved with his roommate (A female you sickos!) and gets him and MJ back on speaking terms.

LWIC Pete escapes the Chameleon’s clutches and returns to his “normal” life. Unfortunately, all the the “fixing” the Chameleon did, Pete finds himself in a Fix. I have to admit that not much happened but seeing Peter deal with his new girlfriend and her crazy demands, seeing Harry Osborn staying at May’s house, and the reminder that both he and MJ remember what happened before “One More Day” was a fun read… I’m almost sad that next week’s issue seems to be full of action again with the return of Kraven The Hunter’s wife and daughter.

Blackest Night: Batman #2

The Batman family is the perfect crew to battle super-powered zombies… think about it – the prerequisite to be in the club is that your parents have to be dead, AND their death needs to feed your need to dress up and hide in the shadows to take revenge on all who break the law.

LWIC Tim Drake, aka Red Robin, returns to the family to fight his parents who have teamed up with the resurrected Flying Graysons. As campy as this could have been, the characterization was dead on – pun intended. I mean Damian is all about violence and killing, Dick is all about thinking about a solution, and Tim is looking into the “why?” I have to say seeing Damien (Robin) lecture Dick (Batman) about using guns only to hear him remind his sidekick that they aren’t killing anyone since they are already dead.

Oh, I didn’t think the Black Lanterns could create light constructs, but it seems as if the Ventriloquist has make several light constructs of Scarface… so can Black Lanterns create light constructs, or was it a writer error?

Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps #40

While the BatFamily is reminding us how many of Earth’s dead have become Black Lanterns the Green Lantern Corps are at the center of the battle. Most of the Blackest Night books are showing the impact these Zombie Black Lanterns are having on Earth’s heroes, the real battle began and is taking place in space.

LWIC the Green Lantern Corps reassess the situation, looks into the death/capture of the Guardians of the Universe, and regrouping to fight as a unified front. I may not have much to say about this issue, but there is a lot going on… you get a feeling while reading this issue that something in the Corps started “clicking” and a retaliation/huge battle will soon come.

Red Robin #4

I have always wondered if the super-heroes of the DCU existed in the real world, why didn’t they do anything about the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Well in LWIC Red Robin answers that question:

I have said it before Tim Drake, as Robin, was acting more like Batman than even Bruce Wayne was before his death. Now Tim takes the “Detective” role and finds that Bruce didn’t necessarily die during the Final Crisis, only to die… good thing he was working with a guy who can raise the dead -Ra’s Al Gul.

Superman: New World of Krypton #7

The whole Earth vs Kryptonians thing was getting old, especially since a General on Earth had a personal vendetta against Superman and creates an intricate plot to start a war with the Kryptonians was good the first time during the “Incredible Hulk” movie.

LWIC I was just starting to get into the story again since it seems as though General Zod may be just as much of a major player as General Lane in the upcoming war. After the assassination attempt on Zod, he passes control of the Kryptonian Army to Kal-El… almost as he wants Earth’s hero to lead the Kryptonian army against his adopted home world. As soon as that happened and I was looking forward to the personal struggle that Supes would have to deal with a bunch of Thangarians show up… and now the Kryptonian Army is at war with a bunch of Hawk people. WTF?

Booster Gold #24
w/ Blue Beetle Second Feature

Booster Gold travels through time fixing errors that he originally made.

LWIC Booster fixes the problem that has been lingering for the last couple issues only to find that his solution ended up helping the main villain of the book – the Black Beetle. Speaking of the Black Beetle:

and

THE BEST COMIC OF LAST WEEK
BLUE BEETLE

This has got to be the best book ever… I have no write up for it, but when you have the ultimate alien death machine tapped into your spine and you are a good hearted teenager you are bound to have some great adventures. Yeah, I called it the “ultimate alien death machine,” because it is. The scarab that give Jaime his power is an alien artifact made for war… and it has a mind of it’s own and all it thinks about is killing.

LWIC the Black Beetle attacks Jaime and his family causing Jaime to finally give in to the alien technology and he turns from the Blue Beetle to one of the Alien Warriors that once tried to violently take over the Earth.

This is the second month that I have labeled this “back-up story” the best “comic” of last week, shouldn’t that be enough for DC to give the Blue Beetle his own book again?

Posted by Fred on September 14, 2009 @ 10:26 PM Under: Friday Night Fights
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