What I Read This Week

Blackest Night #8 -- The final battle between light and dark.  Johns lays it all out on the table here, and it hits very hard.  I don't want to start gushing about this too much because I will just go on and on, but this hit quite a lot of high notes and set up the new direction of the DCU, and it is a direction I am supremely interested in.  Bring forth the Brightest Day!

Doom Patrol #9 -- There's new tenants on Oolong Island, and the current residents are none too happy about it!  This issue as well as the last sufferes for two reasons: one, inconsistant art, with regular artist Matthew Clark only doing about half the pages; and two, a lot of Morrison-era continuity that I don't really understand.  Why is Crazy Jane there?  What was the deal with Danny Street?  This stuff confuses me.  This series is generally very strong but the last two have been subpar.  Hopefully the new arrival from the last page will get things back on track.  (Also: what happened to Rita's wounded hand?)

Outsiders #28 -- It's been brewing and now it has boiled over: the war between Geo-Force and Black Lightning!  And what a war it is, as DiDio and Tan put over the insane power levels between these two strong-willed superfolk.  The tumultous team is driven in a new direction, and the setup which DiDio has been painting pays off.  I may be the only one reading this title but I am enjoying the heck out of it.

Red Robin #11 -- The League of Assassians is out to get Tim Drake and everyone closest to him, and Batman is not thrilled with the League operating in Gotham City.  Things are coming to a head here even though really not much seems to go down here except some of the details of Ghul's plot, which is appreciated.  The next issue is the blowoff should provide some fun, but this is mostly just moving pieces around the board.

Warlord #13 -- Joshua takes up his father's sword and The Warlord once more rides in Skartaris!  But has a celestial body which crashes into the subterranean world has brought about a new era as well?  It's not surprising that Chad Hardin is handling the art here after Grell did so much of his own art previously.  I would have liked to have Grell handle Joshua's first adventure but this is still a fun read.  I really liked the last page cliffhanger and am eager to see what new adventures the new Warlord is going to have.  

The Web #7 -- Stunner is in the morgue, and the Web has to answer for it!  And Dead Hand Legendre is working his plan to take out the Hangman!  The lead feature is alright but somewhat derailed by the addition of an annoying new character (Kit-kat, the IT Girl) who seemingly serves no purpose other than being annoying.  The backup is nice for the second showdown between Hangman and Ugly Man.  Frankly this issue was pretty weak, although I liked the cliffhangers.

New Avengers: Luke Cage #1 -- The former Power Man makes his way to the City Of Brotherly Love to look into an old acquiantance from "the old days."  Eric Canete's art is superbly suited to the Hero For Hire, with a harsh, urban, almost grafitti-like style.  John Arcudi's story has a lot of background elements which represent either retcons or misinformation which I do not care for (namely that Power Man operated out of Harlem, and was a defender of the neighborhood), but for what they do in the story I don't mind.  It's nice to see Luke on his own for a while and not written by Bendis!

The Flash: Secret Files and Origins 2010 #1, The Phantom: Generations #10 -- Gone missin'.  Hopefully they'll be in stock this week.

Re-Read Pile: Blackest Night, Outsiders, Warlord, Luke Cage.

The Pick Of The Pile is Blackest Night.  Pretty much says it all.