What I Read This Week (Times Two)

I'm so far behind, I'm going to need a little help finishing these reviews...

3X2(9YZ)4A!

Outsiders: Five of a Kind #1 -- Nightwing! Versus! Captain Boomerang Jr! An Identity Crisis tie-in... errr, waitaminute. It's pretty obvious who the Internets want to win ("We love you Dick!"), but me, I liked the ending of this one. Get back to Bludhaven, Greyson! (When are we going to see the Suicide Squad ongoing already?!)

Justice Society of America #8 -- Two done-in-one's in two months? A spotlight which matches the cover and moves along other plots? Growth from characters? A guest star villain who makes sense? An editorial footnote box?!! What the heck is going on here?! This book is on like a pot of neck bones.

***

Outsiders: Five of a Kind #2 -- Picking this up, I thought, 'Huh, won't this spoil the end of Trials of Shazam. But since I'm the only person who reads that series, I didn't think much of it. Well, Mike Barr, that magnificent bastard, turns in a Katana solo story guest starring the wizard Captain Marvel (Billy), sidestepping any problems. Nifty.

Annihilation: Conquest: Wraith #2 -- No, he's not ROM, Spaceknight, but this "spaghetti space opera" is quality entertainment nonetheless. This is true for newbies as well as those who read the first Annihilation, as we catch up with Kl'rt, Praxagora, and my main man Ronan. Space-tacular.

Nova #5 -- The Human Rocket spends most of this issue on his back, but that's cool, because as we all know, ragtag bunchs of Kree misfits make good reading. The second half, with Gamora going all "most deadly woman in the galaxy" on us, is great, and so is the cliffhanger, even if Wraith has basically the same one.

New Excalibur #22 -- Remember how I said I was the only one readnig Trials of Shazam? Yeah, this one too. It's the Shadow Captains versus part of Excalibur and Shadow X, and, well, it ends badly. Claremont has some interesting balls being juggled here (the inevitable clash between Sage and Lionheart, the redemption of Shadow X, pretty much everything Albion does), but alas, no one cares but moi.

The Phantom #18 -- I'm going to write more about this particular comic, as it deserves it, but for now let me say that this mag features "The Ghost Who Walks" tormenting and terrorizing a despicible African warlord, and if you get The Phantom pissed at you, well, you're about 9 different ways of screwed.