What I Read This Week

Superman: The Coming of Atlas TPB -- The Man of Tomorrow meets the Man of Yesterday in the streets of Metropolis!  Solid, powerful throwdown between two superpowered behemoths, with supporting players a-plenty and plots being weaved in the background.  Robinson's story is a fun throwback, but his dialogue (for everyone save Atlas and Krypto) is jilted and weird.  Renato Guedes' art, however, is excellent, especially his flashbacks which manage to evoke Kirby without aping him.  Atlas is a great foe for Superman, and I hope to read more about him.  The inclusion of First Issue Special #1 was a nice touch as well.

Tiny Titans #27 -- Trigon just loves the adorable Kid Devil, thinking him to be a baby, much to Raven's chagrin.  As a still-new father, there's some hilarious gags in here regarding baby food and general baby-dom which tickled my funny bone.  Trigon, as a rule, is such a goof that his presence usually means good things.

Iron Manual Mark 3 -- I did not get a chance to read this other than a flip-through, but I have to say that you know you have had several sourcebooks for Shellhead when ALL THREE FIREBRANDS end up getting entries.  The book looks nice and has a nice heft to it.  Also of note is the inclusion of the new Whiplash, with no mention of the previous one, nor of why his name is so close to the original Crimson Dynamo.  

The Phantom Double Shot: KGB Noir #3 -- The Ghost-Who-Walks closes in on the agents of The Hammer and tries to figure out their plan.  In the backup, something goes down with Buckaroo Banzai and an alien, or something.  My flippant remarks to the backup speak to it's utter lack of quality.  I mean, this is pretty dang incoherent, and I like Buckaroo Banzai.  The lead is straightforward, introducing who appears to be the head Commie baddie and moving the plot forward.  But the backup -- ugh.  After the last two were pretty good, this one is a real letdown.

The Phantom: Ghost-Who-Walks #9 -- The Phantom continues his pursuit of those who kidnapped his children, leading to a giant, seemingly abandoned castle.  But all is not as it seems.  Not bad but not really remarkable either, this issue is essentially one large chase, with Phantom chasing after someone in the castle while he is followed himself.  Fans who have been reading the Moonstone Phantom titles should be able to guess the badguy, who remains unrevealed at this point.

Re-Read Pile: Superman: The Coming of Atlas.

The Pick Of The Pile is Tiny Titans, which is crammed full of adorableness.  I really liked the Superman collection as well.