And if Wonder Woman would go back to being any good, that might be true

11: Will we see any spin offs with the character in the coming year?

DD: My feeling, in that she is one of our longest-running characters and most enduring characters, is that she should have more than one series going on. She should not just be relegated to one book. She has a level of prominence that we feel we should embrace, and more importantly, grow from. We look at things like Superman, Batman and Green Lantern – all of these characters have been able to support more than one series. There’s no reason why Wonder Woman shouldn’t do the same.

Yes, there really isn't. Except that:

1.) The Amazons Attack thing really is something that no one would ever pull on Batman or Superman.

2.) We've suffered through three writers in the post OYL period who seem to think it's cute or a good plot device to have Diana cry at the drop of a hat. You can, actually, be emotional without sobbing.

3.) It's difficult to believe that Diana is in the same awesome rank as Batman and Superman because her writers keep insisting on "testing" her all the time. You know how many books I pick up where Superman is tested? Where Batman is tested?

I am getting tired of reading stories where Diana has to *prove* her worth because the characters in the story don't think she's worthy - particularly with lots of sexist dialogue tossed in- Dialogue that she can never respond to, because oh, no, we can't have evil feminists in Wonder Woman! (Mostly because they would spend their entire time stuck between laughing at what a pathetic mess she's turned into and weeping at how the mighty have fallen.)

4.) Funny how Clark doesn't lose his powers when he changes clothes. Funny how Bruce doesn't lose his abilities when he's being Brucie.

5.) Nemesis was a bad idea, and shall always be a bad idea. He contributes absolutely nothing positive to the storyline, and his entire purpose is to give Diana a romantic interest that is unworthy of her.

6.) Clark and Bruce have awesome supporting casts that make their lives fuller. They have families and friends. Diana has that dick she's attracted to, and Etta...and some monkeys. She's not even allowed her sisters. Instead she gets a silly twit wearing Donna's costume who bizarrely chooses not to beat the shit out of Nemesis when he deserved it for breaking into Diana's apartment.

Her family, her heritage - all taken away from her. Not because of a tragedy, but because they were *wrong.*

In short, DiDio, I'd like to help you out, and view Diana on the same plane as Superman and Batman. Once upon a time, I did.

But the writers that you keep giving her? Seem determined to make me think of Wonder Woman on the same level as Jimmy Olsen in competence, power, and importance. Fix that, then get back to me about Diana's clout level in the DCU.

Because as it sits now? The only part of Diana's full and rich history that is being paid any attention to is the unfortunate and ridiculous decision to make her a vegetarian, while everything that actually matters is being tossed aside.

Additional Sentiments...

Birds of Prey 119

Yes, this issue is old. No, I don't care. Real life has been hectic of late, and I am just now catching up on many of the past couple of months' worth of comics. So many posts will likely be made to this blog about old comics as I play catch up.

Starting with Birds of Prey 119.

Since DC made the tremendously stupid decision to have Dinah marry Ollie (after years of not being together) and botched the writing of the wedding up incredibly, many people have come to the decision that I hate the Ollie and Dinah relationship. These people have obvious reading comprehension problems, and are usually ignored.

The fact is, I loved Ollie and Dinah together as a couple, at one time. They were snarky and fun (erm, in a realistic way, not in the horrible way Judd Winick made them behave) and were obviously sexually attracted to each other, something I don't buy remotely about many comic book couples. A certain Amazon and her waste of space "love interest" are a good example of the kind of comic book couple that makes me laugh and wonder what the people at DC are on.

However, DC promptly made Dinah brainless and spineless, and destroyed any affection I had for Ollie and Dinah as a couple. That she was relegated to a sidekick and allowed Ollie to dictate what to do with her adopted daughter, as well as the fact that they are happily screwing like rabbits while looking for the comatose body of Ollie's son made me have fits of rage any time I picked up the ridiculous nonsense Black Canary has been in since OYL began.

But in two short pages, Birds of Prey managed to both redeem both the relationship and the characters.




This is Dinah as she should be: strong, independent, and the kind of woman who sends Ollie and Speedy on patrol while she deals with the threats. Sidekick? This Dinah? No way.

The rest of the issue is meh at best (why are they relocating cities again? why is the child being forced to call Barbara "Miss Gordon" still?) but Dinah regained some of her personality that has been missing, and that was enough to make me a very happy reader.

Additional Sentiments...

Hawkeye - Not Just a Chick With a Bow

So this morning, I was browsing on Usenet, whose comic opinions are usually an entertaining, if completely absurd. Amidst an otherwise rational conversation about the upcoming, post-Secret Invasion Avengers, one of the posters made the delightfully sexist remark that he wanted the "real" Hawkeye, not "some chick who picked up a bow" and suddenly gained the ability to shoot.

Which proves, of course, that said person has never actually read the Young Avengers. Because the current Hawkeye (which I shall use as a descriptor instead, as none of them are "real") did not just "pick up a bow" and suddenly gain amazing archer powers. Following a traumatic event, she went and received training in martial arts and archery, to assure that neither herself nor other innocents would ever be hurt in a similar fashion.

This is, of course, the exact same origin that Batman has, yet I never hear anyone dismissing him as a second rate character with toys ("some dick with some toys"?). Oh, no, Batman and his mighty maleness must be worshiped, I suppose. As well as Hawkeye's joyful masculinity, Green Arrow's awesome manhood, and possibly Red Arrow's terrific manliness.

But not the girls! They have cooties! And are clearly missing the mystical, magical penises that are a requirement for being a good superhero archer.

Additional Sentiments...

A Beacon of Light? Not Likely

Teen Titans has, in all honesty, been a complete disappointment since One Year Later began. Like many books - Wonder Woman and Catwoman among them - what should have been a break that allowed for a fresh start was marred by creative teams who didn't understand the characters they were writing for, didn't care about past characterization, or simply lacked the ability to write a decent Superhero story.

Yet, in Teen Titans 60, Robin still has the audacity to have the following exchange:




Tim thinks, after all this time, that his Titan Team should be a beacon of light? Oh, Tim. That's cute, sweetie.

I could list many reasons why that can simply not be: sheer incompetence, an unwillingness to work together, inability to compromise, or the simple fact that the Teen Titans at present resemble the popular little clique at high school that always made fun of anyone who wasn't part of their group. The Teen Titans aren't really heroes anymore, they're bratty teenagers who clearly should have been spanked more as children. The only exception, the only character that actually should call himself a Titan at this point, is Blue Beetle.

However, for me, and for this blog, the main problem with this whole "beacon of light" nonsense is that the Titans could never be a symbol of what a teenager girl should be.

First, we have Cassie. Cassie has two personalities: condescending and needy. This is a girl who, in order to mourn her dead boyfriend, started a cult! She may have moved on from that, but what hasn't changed is that Cassie's entire personality continues to be - as it has from the start of her association with the team - wrapped up in the boy she is going to date. If she's not mourning over Kon, she's worrying about whether to date Tim, and trying to make him feel better about the team.

There's no sign of the fun tomboy she once was, or the competent leader she nearly was - it's all been reduced to a shallow girl with no positive contributions to the team and whose world revolves around which boy will love her.
Cassie isn't Wonder Girl. She isn't Buffy. Somehow, she became Kelly Taylor (which is, oh, the last thing I ever want to read in a superhero comic) and she can't ever be a "beacon of light" until she finally figures out how to "choose me."

Then we have Miss Martian. In theory, she should have worked fine. She's the female equivalent of Eddie, someone who is terrified of her "future" self, and trying to stop it from happening.

But yet, how does Eddie choose to deal with his problems? He stays on the team and fights! Because the best way to deal with a potential evil future is to stay fighting the good fight!

But Miss Martian can't do that. She has to run away and deal with her problems in isolation! Because clearly, Miss Martian is weaker than Eddie.

Add to the fact that Miss Martian's other role on the team was to be the lovestruck ditz who mooned over Eddie while he wanted Ravager, and I can't begin to see how this weak creature would ever be a "beacon of light" for any one.

Finally, we have Ravager. Rose Wilson's entire reason for being on the team was problematic to begin with. She was there because Nightwing - still harboring guilt for letting Deathstroke blow up his city and not doing a thing about it, no doubt - forced the team to have her. We see very little about what Rose actually thinks of this. Oh, sure, we know what she thinks of her teammates (and who can blame her - they are pretty crappy) but how does she feel about being a Titan?

The only thing we get in that arena is when she is talking to Joey (who was resurrected pointlessly) and she whines about how the Titans don't trust her.

So, on one hand, we have a Rose who isn't allowed any agency of her own when it comes to determining where and how to spend her life. On the other, we have her pleading for acceptance from people who don't like her. In the big story that should have been Rose's breakout point, when her father came back, Rose simply went from depending on Daddy to depending on her brother.

Essentially, Deathstroke, Nightwing, and Joey dictated Rose's life. And when they stopped doing that, the minute Rose showed any real backbone - she had to leave the team.

Yeah, that's real "beacon of light" worthy.

It's not actually hard to write teenager supergirls who are fun and awesome. Take Cassie Lang or Kate Bishop in the Young Avengers. Or Mayday Parker in Amazing Spider-Girl. Even at DC, take Brenda over in Blue Beetle, at least as she was for the first 25 issues. All tough, all very feminine, and all embracing the kind of legacy heroes that the Titans should be. Those are the kinds of women that I would want to show as a "beacon of light" to young female readers, not these horrible creatures in this book.

In the end, I am reminded about something that Wendy(who is just a few years older than the teenagers in this book) said in Middleman:

"I get to hope because I fight for it."

These characters, particularly the female ones, aren't fighting for any kind of hope, especially not as female role models. Instead, they're doing the very opposite.

And they're a boring team while they're at it. Additional Sentiments...

Middleman's Season Finale

"I get to hope because I fight for it."

Oh, Middleman.

There is so much about Middleman that I absolutely adore. It's full of women who are different, but all equally awesome in their kick-buttness. It has a female sidekick that makes it obvious how much Stephanie Brown completely failed as a Robin Concept (her writers' faults, of course.) Because this is a female sidekick who would never beg for her "Batman" to accept her. Pft.

Also, Wendy is full and proud of the training she has received. And her boytoy has to wait on her as much as she waits on him. Theirs is a relationship of equals, in a way that none of the current relationships in comics are anymore (thanks, Joe Q!)

But what I love most about this story tonight is that, in a comic book universe so dominated by the DARK! and the REALISTIC! and the HEROES FIGHTING HEROES! and the DEATH! we have the main female of the show utter the truest, and best mantra for any hero: "I get to hope because I fight for it."

Yes, Wendy.

Oh, DC and Marvel. I wish I could believe that of your characters again.

Additional Sentiments...

Rapists and Child Molestors are Both Bad. Oi.

This blog is mostly about the stupidity of comic book canon.

But for the record, if you are engaged in a RP community in which you have SLADE WILSON track down TARANTULA and have the reason being that HE is so AWESOME AND PURE! But she is so SKANKY and EVIL, you have some true issues.

Yeah, Tarantula was a rapist. What she did to Nightwing was rape, no question.

But what Slade did to Terra was rape, too. Never mind what he did to Cassandra Cain.

Saying that Slade is a morally better person than Tarantula makes you look silly.

Saying that Slade is a morally better person than Tarantula while saying that you are a a feminist makes me sad. Having one set of standards for a male rapist, and another for a female rapist is as anti-feminist as they come.

Additional Sentiments...

Actually Dinah leading the JLA is AWESOME.

So I am reading random commentary and someone is complaining about Meltzer for reasons that are pretty silly in and of themselves, but as the person I am reading is incapable of actually reading comics without making up a backstory that doesn't actually exist, I mostly ignored the ranting.

But then, in the midst of all the other crazy, I got the following crazy:

"It's bad enough that he can't write a woman outside of Dinah Lance (who he still made into a figurehead) ..."

The implicit comment in this, of course, is that Dinah being the HEAD OF THE JLA was a bad thing.

What kind of crazy logic is that?

Look, Identity Crisis was made of fail buckets the size of the Grand Canyon. But post OYL, Meltzer's portrayal of women has been the best at DC, period. Particularly if you look at his Wonder Woman and Black Canary.

His Wonder Woman kicked butt, and didn't need Nemesis' penis to do it. His Dinah was a good leader, and a loving family member, and didn't need Ollie's penis to do it.

These are good things, and should be encouraged. Not scorned.

Additional Sentiments...

Bye, bye, Chuck Dixon

All I have to say in regards to Chuck Dixon announcing that he is no longer working with DC is well, at least he won't botch up anymore characters I care about for a while?

I don't know the man personally, and I wish him all the success in the world, even if I don't agree with his very obvious personal politics that he tries to shove down my throat in every single comic he ever writes. But I'm glad he won't be near any of the characters I love any time soon. Because I blame him solely for the mess that Nightwing was for years (Devin's arc, for all that I had issues with it, built upon the spineless, pathetic wuss Dixon made Dick into) and Connor Hawke's solo series was so bad that the poor creature deserved to be put out of his misery. Even if it was in a badly written Winick story.

On the other hand, if this has anything at all to do with future plotline developments, either of the Batman R.I.P. nonsense or the Final Crisis story, then I don't know whether to be horrified or really excited. Because if the man who made Dick into a whiny little waste, tried to destroy Batman's character, and had Connor Hawke sleeping with the woman who raped his father can't handle a certain storyline...then that story is either FANTASTIC or HORRIFYING.

Additional Sentiments...

Oh, Teen Titans. You continue to make me sad

There has to be a point in which this title can't get any worse. Between the whiny teenagers, and the inability to even write the team as a team, I suspect the end is near. As with Catwoman, if this ever gets canceled, I will be sad of the lost potential, but will consider it a mercy killing.

And last week gave me a nice reason to add to the already lengthy list of reasons why:


There are two ways to read that scene.

Either you read it as a straight attempted rape scene, which it clearly is, and is problematic all by itself.

Or, you read the underlining implication that MM's "evil self" that she can't control is really into the sex and comes onto any man, no matter how undesirable they may be.

Ah, because that cliche, of sexless=good, sex=bad for female characters isn't at all tired, boring, and completely offensive.

What makes those panels far worse is that they don't further the story at all. They don't add any additional perspective to the character's plight or any additional sympathy. And while it's cute that she threw him through the door, as a reader, I'm too busy being pissed that the unnecessary scene was thrown in to care about how the would be rapist is disposed of.

You just know if this was a story about how Tim Drake had an evil side that he couldn't control, it wouldn't be shown through a Madonna/Whore stereotype that began with Tim wanting to have sex with everyone in sight and ended with an attempted rape of Robin.

Additional Sentiments...

A couple of comics I actually enjoyed!

While everything I read this week sucked, two things I read last week were wonderful!

Nothing makes me happier than completely ridiculous alternate worlds.. I generally think DC does a better job with these, as the Elseworlds are much more entertaining than What Ifs. But I fell in love with the Spider-Man Fairytales, and looked forward to reading the Avengers version when I heard it was coming.

It didn't disappoint! Both the art and the writing are simply fun. There's a real sense that the writer actually likes the characters, and both the male and female characters are allowed to shine.



The first story is a retelling of Peter Pan, with Wanda in the Wendy role and Captain America in the Peter Pan role.






Avengers Fairy Tales 2 is a take on Pinocchio, with Henry Pym, Wasp, and the Vision.

Several things make these stories an absolute delight to read. Firstly, the stories themselves are allowed to be fun and don't fill every panel with bloated self-importance that plagues the majority of both Marvel and DC lately. The art reflects that sense of fun, and compliments the story, giving the tales an additional sense of whimsy that is appropriate to fairy tales.

Secondly, the women in these tales are simply wonderful. Their powers are *celebrated,* and never once portrayed as something negative. There's no Marvel Girl syndrome at play here, for either Wanda or Wasp, the women who play the prominent roles in the first two stories.

In the Peter Pan story, womanhood as a whole is practically celebrated. At the beginning we have Wanda musing:

"If there was ever a story that deserved to begin with the worlds 'once upon a time'... this is indeed it. For you see, time is exactly what this story is about. Take Wanda here, for example. She'd reached a certain time in her life. Wanda was rather unhappy with the way her body had been changing recently. She knew her parents kept secrets from her, but was this one of them? Did all girls develop magical powers as they got older?

But as it turns out, it wasn't a "female thing" after all."

After a long day of exhausting powers, Cap, his shadow, and Wasp (in the role of Tinkerbell) come along to whisk Wanda and her brother to Neverland.






Once there, they are greeted by the Lost Boys:



And of course, must battle Klaw. This unfortunately ends with the Avengers being tied up and at Klaw's mercy.

And who should save the day? Though Wanda is initially annoyed at her powers, by the time she and the Lost Boys are captured by Klaw, she grows to see that magic certainly has it's place:





"Sick of all this masculine madness, Wanda decided the situation called for...a little female intervention.

Boys may have gotten them into this mess..but the girls would now get them out of it. Wanda may have come to Neverland with a girl's innocence...but it was with a woman's touch she saved the day!"

Awww. And save them, Wanda does with her powers. Unfortunately, in the final moments of the battle, Cap's shadow gets trapped in an iceberg, and Cap won't leave it. He tells Wanda to take the Lost Boys back home with her, promising that they'll meet again:





And the story ends with an adult Scarlet Witch telling the story to a group of children.

The highlights of the story are the Wasp and the Scarlet Witch both having powers that are celebrated and in fact save the day. It's kind of wonderful.

Avengers Fairy Tales 02 is a take on Pinocchio, with Henry Pym, Wasp, and the Vision. Wanda also makes a guest appearance as the Scarlet Fairy:





In this version of events, Janet was shrunken during a battle between her husband and her husband's first attempt to build them a son (Ultron.) Despite this, Janet is a very awesome and independent character in this story and without her, neither Vision nor Henry would come to very happy endings:




The Scarlet Fairy comes back to grant but one wish of Vision's, which ends up saving his father's life. As a result, the family lives happily ever after:




Again, the women in this story are celebrated even though the story is ostensibly about the boys. And the art is gorgeous.

Additional Sentiments...

Comic Roundup

So, I sent my weekly comic book commentary off to Popcultureshock, and I realized I really don't have anything positive to say about this week's comics. That's pretty sad, really. In fact, so sad that I only sent PCS three picks/pans, because sending negative commentary for every one of the books would have been over kill, I believe.

On my own space, however, I do not harbor the same amount of hesitation in complaining about bad comics. Hey, I didn't write them. It's not my fault they were awful.



Book I disliked least but still won't be re-reading any time soon: Justice League of America 20

Just last week I was gushing about how much I love the Peyer Wally West in the Flash solo book. Peyer is portraying Wally as the kind of likable, fun, and relatable superhero that he hasn't been for me since they made him the Flash (with the possible exception of JLU, which doesn't count.) In this book, which focuses on The Flash and Wonder Woman, we're back to the Wally as an arrogant and smug and more worried about himself than saving the world. Sure, he gives some lipservice to how great the League and Diana are, but his words aren't really supported by his actions. He seems much more annoyed at the League's intrusion in his life, which, in turn, made me want to smack him hard.

I'm also unconvinced that The League actually "needs" a Flash and the story didn't bother to convince me otherwise.

The story does get serious love for the portrayal of Diana here, however. I've had disagreements with people who think that JLA: Year One should be the official version of the JLA's founding days, and that Black Canary, not Wonder Woman, should be in the founding members. I've never believed that. I think that taking her away from the founding and not letting her be there from the start detracts from the icon status that Diana should have in her own universe. And the scenes where Wally is going on about how he and all his colleagues looked up to her only support that theory. She should be looked up to, every bit as much as Clark and Bruce - and though the boys are frequently gushed over and fanboyed (see Kyle Rayner's reactions in his early JLA appearances) Diana is frequently ignored. The one positive part of this story was seeing that corrected.

Overall Score: 3 yays out of 5
Doormat Score: 0 doormats out of 5

Comic I liked the least - Young Avengers Presents 4

Oi. Honestly, regardless of the issue? It is in serious bad taste to have one of your characters rant to the other in a thinly-veiled rant against the people who do not see the "truth" of the Civil War sides.

It didn't make me think Cassie was right, it made me think she was a bad friend, which is something that her original decision to walk away in Civil War didn't do.

I did like Vision's characterization here - and hey! Someone remembered his ties to Wanda, which is awesome - but I spent so much of the comic wondering what had happened to Cassie (and no, stress is simply not enough of a reason to explain the complete characterization change) that Visions' characterization wasn't enough for me.

Overall Score: 2 yays out of 5
Doormat Score: 1 doormat out of 5


Other Thoughts:

Birds of Prey 117 - Once upon a time, this was a comic with fun and interesting women whose adventures I cared about. That stopped being true around the time of OYL when Dinah lost her mind, and I keep waiting for it to get better and DC responds by repeatedly giving the Birds really bad stories and questionable decisions. The book briefly got better when Tony Bedard wrote a few decent issues, but quickly nose-dived again once McKeever took over. The best I can say about this issue is that Babs wasn't demanding that anyone call her "Miss Gordon," and the worst I can say is that the sanest person in this whole book is Misfit. How did that happen?

Overall Score: 2.5 yays out of 5
Doormat Score: 3 doormats out of 5

Batman 675 - Sweet, merciful goddess, are we never going to be rid of Damian and Talia? Moreover, is there anyone in the DCU that Damian can't best? He can out-fight Robin, out-shoot Merlyn (hell, probably Green Arrow too), and he's "teaching" things to people three times his age in fighting.

Say it with me: Mary Sue.

It's sad, really. Damian could be a lot of fun. But as he is written - and it isn't just Morrison failing in that area, as Damian's been written three different writers at this point and has been annoying in each of their hands - he isn't. Contrasted to Iris and Jai over in Flash, or Lian Harper everytime she shows up, Damian is an annoying detriment to the storyline. He doesn't make me like his father's book more, he gets in the way of liking it, much as Chris Kent does over in Superman.

Kids and domesticity can be fun in comics. But they have to be written in a way that tells me the world is a more interesting one for having them in it. Otherwise, they're wasted art. There's no way I can say that about Damian.

The fact that each and every time Talia refers to him, it is as "Batman's son," only makes me dislike his presence more.

As for the rest of the plot, oh, look, Batman's "dark." Again. Yawn. Because this hasn't been explored before.

Overall Score: 0 yays out of 5
Doormat Score: It's her goddamn son, too and naming your love interest "Jezebel" pisses me off. 5 doormats out of 5

Countdown 1 - "Crazy's not my thing." Oh, Jason. Crazy is pretty much everyone's thing that has had the misforturne to be in this horrible little book.

First of all, I"m not sure whether I want to laugh at the idea of Donna and *Jimmy Olsen* giving orders to Ray Palmer or if I want to bash the writers' heads against my computer desk. Honestly, Donna Troy and Jimmy Olsen? Are you *kidding* me?

Donna, dear, this isn't the Titans. Or, in the words more appropriate to the character you've been in this series: "Be gone. You have no power here." This is not the positive kind of assertiveness.

Also ... "I'm Mary Damn Marvel." Woe. That's worse than the previous all time Countdown low of "I'm Donna Troy, bitch."

When your book reads like a bad satire of itself, it's not actually a good thing.

Overall Score: 1 yay out of 5
Doormat Score: 0 doormats out of 5

Superman/Batman 47

Oh, look. It's another "the government hates superheroes" plot. Boring as hell, though honestly, after reading the "heroes" in Countdown, I don't blame them.

Doesn't excuse rehashing the most boring plot device of all time, though.

Overall score: 2.5 yays out of 5
Doormat scores: 0 doormats out of 5

Additional Sentiments...

Belated Thoughts on Last Week's Comics

Worst of the Week - Five Things That Were Good About Countdown:

1. The Flash: "Sorrywaytoobsuysavinglivesgetotsafetygottago!" It's sad that, out of all the characterizations in all of Countdown, that was probably the only one that made any sense.

2. Ray Palmer remembered he wasn't entirely useless!

3. Someone, namely Superman, reminded Kyle that he's not the BESTEST superhero ever, and should, essentially shut up already. Considering Kyle's hypocritical holier-than-thou attitude through Countdown, it was a welcome change.

4. No one mentioned the stupid "turns people to rats" virus.

5. No Jason appearances, which meant no hypocritical morality lessons from Kyle, Donna, or Mary Marvel.

Five Things That Were Awful About Countdown:

1. So, since when does Superman shrug and say, eh, they can't be saved, never mind trying?

2. The Justice League was particularly useless here, with the exception of Ray Palmer, who was only marginally useless, compared to his previous Countdown characterization.

3. No Jason.

4. No Piper.

5. The "death of Darkseid" and the father-son battle had all the emotional impact of a paper cut.

Overall Score: 1 yay out of 5.
Doormat Score: 0 doormats out of 5.

Best of the Week - Six Things That Were Fantastic About Captain America 37

1. The entirely human reactions between the characters. Unlike other "big events," like Countdown and Civil War, Brubaker continues to make his Bucky-as-Cap arc about perfectly human reactions to both Steve's death and the world that Steve's death has brought.

2. Clint's reaction to Bucky and Bucky's reaction to that. I was kind of afraid for a second that the boys would decide to be really stupid and their argument would degenerate into the standard "who would win in a fight" contest. Brubaker proved me wrong, and proved that yeah, it only takes one person to have some sense in a battle for it not to happen.

3. I have been waiting for Falcon to respond to Bucky, and more importantly, Tony going behind his back and appointing Bucky as the new Cap. That Brubaker was able to show Sam as greatly upset and disappointed because he's worried about Bucky is a stroke of great characterization on Bucky's behalf.

4. "look out for the internet" - Oh, Brubaker. That's not supposed to be funny, is it? Because I LOLed. Also, Bucky's whole dream/nightmare as a whole was fantastically well done. It made me both miss Steve and hurt for Bucky.

5. Completely shallow, but yay for chest hair. Men in comics never have chest hair, and darn it, they should.

6. Sharon seems more in control of herself than in previous issues. I approve, muchly.

Overall Score: 5 yays out of 5
Doormat Score: 0 doormats out of 5


Quick Thoughts:



Flash 239

For the second month in a row, I am looking forward to the next month's Flash...what is that about? It's new, confusing, and absolutely delightful. Red Arrow shows more "Titans are Family" philosophy in the few panels he is in than in the entirety of Judd's disgraceful Titans issue, Jai and Iris are far better candidates for the current Teen Titans than the current crop.

Can we skip ahead a few years, and have the Lian-Iris-Jai-Milagro Teen Titans? Possibly mentored by Jaime? Because I would read that and possibly enjoy it more than I am current Teen Titans.

Yeah, yeah, never gonna happen. A girl can dream, though. *G*

I digressed from the point, which was that I truly enjoyed this peek of Wally and his family trying to balance superhero life with the demands of actually being a family. The only negative I have is that the Justice League's reactions were kind of off .

Overall Score: 4 yays out of 5.
Doormat Score: 0 doormats out of 5.

Catwoman 78

"My god, girl. I hope nothing happened. I know you're a match for anyone, for anything. But a kid...A kid changes everything."

Oh, and here I thought it was Pfeifer's fault that Catwoman has sucked for so long - I never would have thought to blame Helena!

This book is getting canceled soon, and honestly, as sad as I should be about the lack of Selina Kyle book to buy...I can't. I mean, if your dog has rabies when you shoot it, you have to feel like you're doing her a favor, don't you? I don't want a Catwoman book where Slam is smarter and more interesting than the lead character, I don't want a Catwoman book where Selina gives up because it's easier than continuing to fight, and I don't want a book in which Catwoman is anything but the conniving, scheming, intelligent woman she's supposed to be.

This book lost sight of all of those things when Pfeifer took over, and I for one am glad for the ax its receiving, if only because it will make the pain finally stop.

As for this issue in particular, the art inside was gorgeous, the art on the cover not as much. Yes, let's have our female characters bite each other in fights. That's not pandering to a horrible stereotype at all, is it?

Overall Score: 0 yays out of 5.
Doormat Score: 5 doormats out of 5 for the goddamn cover alone.

Superman 675

You know how once in a while, you go to the soda machine on a nice hot day, put in your change, open your soda, and take a nice long drink, only to discover it's flat? That's what this issue was. Everyone said and did the right things, but the overall emotional punch that should have been there (the underlining theme was Clark's heart, for god's sake) was missing.

At the end of the issue, I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it either. Mostly, I just didn't care, and that complete lack of caring is not how I should feel about one of the three main DC properties' book particularly when Superman is my favorite character.

Overall Score: 2 yays out of 5.
Doormat Score: Well, Lois remembered that she is a reporter for 1 whole panel! However, since this isn't the Silver Age, that's really not enough for me. So, 3.5 doormats out of 5.

Additional Sentiments...