What I Read This Week

I am adding a new feature to my weekly write-ups: The Re-read Pile.  These are the comics which I enjoy enough to put down and re-read a few days later.

Batman #690 -- Two-Face's plot stands revealed, Penguin enters into a less-than-ideal business arrangement, and Batman fights for his life on the rooftops of Gotham City.  Winnick delivers one hell of a cliffhanger, but Bagely's art looks a little sketchy in spots, almost rushed.  Still, I am enjoying the new direction of the title and really want to see the conclusion of this story.

Magog #1 -- The black sheep of the Justice Society strikes out on his own, despite the lack of approval from his Society teammates.  Ties in nicely with what Sturges and Willingham are doing over in the main JSoA book, and a pretty strong effort from Giffen and Porter overall, but I am just not that interested in the title character, so I am going to pass on this one.

Red Tornado #1 -- The Justice League's resident android is on a quest to track down the source of the mysterious "beacon" inside his head, while his creator T.O. Morrow gets a rather unwelcome visitor at Belle Reeve.  I'm not sure how this fits in with Morrow's recent appearances elsewhere, but I really enjoyed this opening salvo from VanHook and Jose Luis.  I was reminded of a DC comic from the early-to-mid-80s in the pacing and level of information presented, as well as the mix of the hero's plot, secret identity stuff, and a subplot.  Luis's art seems well-suited to the character.  Glad I picked this one up.

Strange Adventures #7 -- Who would have thought that The Weird's Psyche is the most democratic place is all creation?  With a logjam amongst his core personalities preventing them from taking action, the power-mad Weird is busy destroying whole swathes of stars, and only Adam Strange and Comet can hope to break the deadlock.  Jim Starlin handles the art and story on this issue, and has plenty of his flourishes, including a great sequence of the Weird's personalities merging. Just where the story goes from here -- both in the context of this miniseries and the larger Abberant Six storyline -- is anyone's guess, but it's been one heck of a ride.  Odd to note that the backup is a scant 6 pages, because the main feature runs over-long... not that I mind.

Wednesday Comics #9 -- Hawkman vs a Tyrannosaurus.  You don't get much more badass than that!  This series has been a blast and I am sad that it is entering it's closing chapters.

Iron Man And The Armor Wars #2 -- Tony Stark is saved by a Doombot and continues to hunt down his stolen armors.  An enjoyable All-Ages romp, although this is one of those situations where this will be more enjoyable read as a whole, although I did have fun playing "Spot The Soviet Super Soliders."  Bonus points for Ursa Major popping up.

Re-read Pile: Strange Adventures, Red Tornado

The Pick of The Pile is Strange Adventures, which combined some great Starlin art with some classic Starlin cosmic awareness to produce a very fun read.

So, what did YOU read this week?