What I Read This Week

Brightest Day #3 -- The living Deadman is in trouble as he stares down the Anti-Monitor!  Plus Aquaman experiments with his seemingly haywire powers, Martian Manhunter investigates the family slaughter in Pearl River, and Hawkman and Hawkgirl lay siege to Hath-Set's camp.  Things are slowly but surely starting to take shape here, but there are still mysteries aplenty.  This one was worth the wait just for the Hawkstuff, but the scene between Aquaman and Mera was great too.    

Brightest Day #4 -- Hawkman and Hawkgirl enter Hath-Set's portal, and find themselves in a strange alien landscape.  Meanwhile, Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch are recovering from their forced seperation from the Firestorm Matrix, Boston Brand runs into Hawk and Dove, and strange things are a-brew in the Bermuda Triangle!  Things start to come unglued a little bit, as it looks like the Blackest Night may not be over just yet.  This series has consistantly been at the top of my comics reading pile and these issues have done nothing to stop that trend.

The Shield #10 -- In Happy Harbor, The Shield has to work with the JSA to stop Black Seven's agent Dragonfly from detonating a WMD which would take out the East Coast.  Meanwhile, in Japan, The Fox faces down the man who killed his father!  The final issue of the series  goes out on a good note for both features, especially the Fox, which comes together and makes a bit more sense than it had previously.  The ending of the Shield story is about what I expected (perhaps Black Seven will work for the Global Concern?), but the way they wrap it up is nice (Though I have to say, there is no song on Rust in Peace with that title... the only Megadeth song which comes close is "Angry Again," which was on the soundtrack to Last Action Hero and then featured on the Hidden Treasures EP.  Anyway.)  Very sad to see this series end, but the numbers weren't there for it, unfortunately.

Tiny Titans #29 -- Supergirl in the Babysitting Crisis of Infinite Toddlers!  I think that pretty much says it all but when you factor in Jericho possessing Zatara in order to put on a magic show you really get the idea.

The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks #10 -- The Phantom is stalked in the mysterious citadel by not only child soldiers but two of his former foes, all in the service of the Ugandan warlord HIM.  A lot of cat-and-mouse action as the stalkers and stalked trade places.  The re-appearance of not one but two baddies from earlier in the series is a nice touch, but we all know where this is heading.  It's too bad that this series is coming to a close all-too-quickly, because this stuff is just really good.

The Phantom Double Shot: KGB Noir #4 -- In the lead story, The Phantom learns about the details of the Hammer's plan to destroy America, but runs into a muscle-bound roadblock!  In the backup, the new Captain Action runs afoul of a beautiful El Salavdoran agent, who may or may not have evidence to have the El Salvadoran secret police, the former KGB, and the CIA all gunning for her!  The art in this series is the main draw for me, as it is a pretty basic story but it looks great in black and white.  The Captain Action backup is pretty good, certainly a lot better than the really poor Buckaroo Bonzai one last time.  Moonstone is in a hurry to get all of their Phantom stuff out but at least it's been pretty good!

The Phantom: Unmasked #1 -- The fifth-richest man in the world hires a "fixer" to bring him proof of life after death, and her investigation leads straight to the Eastern Dark!  An intriguing little mystery story, with the Phantom making only an extended cameo apperance as we focus on the woman hot on his trail and her benefactor who is not quite what he seems.  A very nice little "side story" which is perfectly suited to a two-issue miniseries since the main title is bi-monthly.

Invincible Iron Man #27 -- While Pepper demands that Tony restore her repulsor-powered heart, the Hammer Girls are busy hyping Detroit Steel in Japan.  Fraction breaks out one of the most irritating trends in comics in this issue by having page after page of non-English dialogue (in this case, Japanese) with no translation.  Beyond that, this is pretty much all setup for a possible throwdown next issue with Shellhead, War Machine, and Detroit Steel, as well as an excuse to bring back a nigh-unrecognizable Bambi Arbogast.  LaRocca's art is pretty good on the action, but his Pepper is getting weirder and weirder looking.  Maybe some armored action next issue?

Re-read Pile: Brightest Day (x2), Shield, Phantom: Ghost Who Walks.

The Pick of The Pile is shared between Brightest Day #3 and #4.  DC has my attention and this story is a big reason why!