What I Read... This Week?

Getting a month's worth of comics in a box at one time is a weird adjustment, folks.  

Brightest Day #13 - -We finally catch up with Hawkman and Hawkgirl on Hawkworld (try saying that three times fast), and we learn about Queen Shrike, and see the rage of the Hawks laid out.  Great issue, but of course I may be biased.  Definitely going to give this one a thorough working over for Being Carter Hall in the coming week or so.

Brightest Day #14 -- Batman as the White Lantern?  Boston Brand thinks he is on the right track but things are never what they seem with the White Ring.  Contains a  great retelling of Deadman's origin, itself recently reprinted in DC Comics Presents: Brightest Day #1.  I have no idea where all of this is heading but it is awesome nonetheless.

Doom Patrol #16 -- You know how the Doom Patrol are considered freaks and monsters?  You don't know the half.  Giffen draws this one instead of writing it, but its definitely cut from the same cloth as the rest of the series.  Very strong little monster story.

Futurama Comics #52 -- Bender becomes addicted to modifying his body through plastic surgery - to the point that he is unrecognizable!  And being unrecognizable when all you want is fame can be a problem!  Goofy fun, and a great supplement to the revived TV series, which I almost never get to see.

glamourpuss #16 -- So you wanna bag a supermodel?  Awesome counterpoint to last issue's questionnaire on bagging a billionaire.  Also, some interesting speculation about the relationship between Stan Drake's use of the lightbox and Alex Raymond's reaction to that; this is doubly interesting because of some of the accusations made towards Sim regarding this very title.  Coincidence?  I don't know if I believe that.

Invincible Iron Man #32 -- Stark Resilient's presser is turned into a battleground as Detroit Steel and his drones launch an all-out assault!  We finally get the confrontation (the first part of it anyway!) between Shellhead and Detroit Steel, which alone is worth the cost of admission.  But otherwise this is a solid issue, one of the better ones Fraction and LaRocca have put out lately.  I like to give credit where credit is due.

Iron Man: Legacy #8 -- Still down on his luck in California, Tony does what he does best - becomes and entrepreneur.  But The Pride is not happy with him.  This title is one which gets me going every month, and this month is no exception.  This is the kind of Iron Man story I would like to read - Tony is smart and brave, but not without his faults, and he has to deal with his situation as both Tony and Iron Man.  

Iron Man: Rapture #1/#2 -- After suffering a heart attack, Tony Stark creates a new shell for himself in the form of Iron Man 2.0.  Only IM2.0 wants nothing to do with Tony!  A big mess, this rehashes ideas which were much better covered in the Hypervelocity mini a few years back.  Not sure where the heck this is supposed to take place, continuity wise, and frankly I am not really interested in trying to figure it out.  A real let-down.

Iron Man/Thor #1 -- Shellhead and Goldilocks find themselves facing a common threat.  Strong introduction to the team-up mini, which promises to be classic Marvel-styled fun.  Both heroes come across very well and the baddie is a good choice as well.

Kull: The Hate Witch #1 -- Kull is accosted in his court by an old hag who foretells of the fall of man, which drives the King to return to very place he was exiled from: Atlantis!  For an original Kull story, this is a strong beginning.  If you didn't like the first mini (and there are those who did not), this won't convince you.  Me, I dug it.

Namor: The First Mutant #4 -- The Aqueos descend on New Atlantis in force as Namor has to try one final gambit to stop them.  Pretty good underwater action, and I like how Namor is written.  Still, I am on the fence with this title because it doesn't really stand out in my mind too much.  Going to give it a few issues and re-evaluate.

Outsiders #34 -- It's Geo-Force versus the Olympian in the second such tour de force for the King of Markovia which DiDio has turned in, this time with Giffen on pencils.  And personally, I am eating this stuff up!  I don't know where things are going, and the stakes always seem high.  And if Giffen wants to be the regular penciller, I'm done with that.  This book is consistently near the top of my pile.

Tiny Titans #34 -- It's the Lookalike issue!  Didja ever notice that Superboy looks like Zatara?  Plus Zatara's magic hat gets put to, uhhh, good use at a tea party.  Very funny as usual.  The activity page in the back is a set of Superboy and Zatara paper dolls, which really made me laugh!

Tiny Titans/Little Archie #2 -- The main gag here - the collision course between Pet Club and Joise And The Pussycats - gets lots of play here, but that's alright because the joke is rife with punchlines.  Great funnybook.
 
One heck of a pile!