Hump Day Fever

In a desperate effort to play catchup on comics, here are my reviews from the past two weeks' worth. (Of course, I missed the Academy Awards, but thanks to Tom the Dog, I don't have to worry. I spent that Sunday night watching the three greatest rock movies ever made - A Hard Day's Night, The Kids are Alright, and I Just Wasn't Made For These Times).

Anyway, away-y-y-y we go....

Outsiders # 21 - I can buy Batman as a manipulative jerk (thanks to Psychbloke's essay), but I can't buy the "Batman distrustful due to events revealed in Identity Crisis" explanation - reaction to the death of Jason Todd, maybe, (it's more psychologically valid - "someone in my care died, so I will never trust anyone again") but this is stretching it. The art is rather ugly. Glad I kept it off my pull file.

Doctor Who Monthly # 353 - a very wise investment especially with the new series coming up. The interview with Janet Fielding (aka Tegan) alone is worth the price of admission.

Legion of Super Heroes # 3 - focusing on (naturally) Triplicate Girl. I like the fact that Waid is slowly reinventing the Legion, and some interesting threads/subplots are building. Not a new classic, but inherently readable

Ex Machina # 8 - City/Urban politics and superheroics come together in a nice, smooth brew. As a policy wonk myself, I get to indulge in two guilty pleasures by reading this book. Again, highly recommended.

Powers # 9 - Still interesting, and much more worth your time than, say, New Avengers. (But that's just my opinion)/

Seven Soldiers of Victory # 0 - You know, kids, when Grant Morrison writes, you don't need drugs. It's a good prelude - now let's see if the rest of the series matches.

Ultimate Iron Man # 1 - It looks promising - however, it seems to be veering away from the basic premise - cool smart guy builds wicked armor - but may eventually make my pull file. I'm dying to read Polite Dissent's take on some of the medical stuff proposed.

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel # 1 - Maybe it's because I'm a sad DC zombie, but somehow, it's hard for me to buy the "sympathy for Lex Luthor" deal. Maybe if the other Super-books had that established, fine, but this seems....rather unbelievable.

Oh, and a humble thank you to House of the Ded/Free Comics for posting my little what-I'd-do-if-I-were-Loki essay. The guy has a lot of enthusiasm about comics, and quite frankly, we need more enthuastic people in the blogosphere.