All-New Atom #16

All-New Atom #16
EH. I miss you, Gail. Please come back soon.

All-New Atom #14

All-New Atom #14
This is a great book. I love the characters, especially the Giant Head, and even the portrayals of such poorly written characters such as Jason Todd, Donna Troy and Bob the Monitor are very well written. To the extent that this book reaffirms my belief that I do not have to be reading Countdown. VERY GOOD work, Ms. Simone. Please hurry over and save Wonder Woman soon.

Action Comics #853

Action Comics #853
This book is just so good! After months of wondering why Jimmy Olsen apparently knew who Jason Todd was, it's this comic that answers the question: knowing things is one of his powers. As is:
Turtle Boy! Flame Breath! Geiger Counter? Even with all these powers, Jimmy remains the everyman character, wondering about the dynamics of superheroing, such as how they get around, how they prevent cowl cap, where they keep their clothes, etc.
All this and the triumphant return of Krypto!!!
Plus a cameo of sorts for Scipio Garling of the Absorbascon (and Devon Sanders too)! (See the articles on page 4.)
Pure brilliance. Pure EXCELLENCE.

Oh, and guess what? The editors have finally admitted that they weren't fooling anyone last time when they told us that we had to read Countdown to keep abreast of this story. Sure, there's an editor's note saying that this issue occurs on the heels of Countdown #39, but in small print they tell us that they'll fill us in if we missed it. So now, even the stories that were originally central to Countdown are merely scenes from other books. How about that? Could Countdown suck any harder? In fact, the editors mention to us that we should read issue #37, but NOT issue #38! See? It's become, for the most part, irrelevant. I really wonder how it'll finish out the year with the quality just being so bad, and sales dropping off so sharply.

Eventually, I can see this being the book DC publishes that nobody reads. It's just there to provide an avenue for them to get from point A to point B in their Universe, but nobody actually cares. I believe that even Manhunter at its lowest sold better than Countdown is. So why did we as fans constantly have to save that series from the chopping block, and are currently being forced to go without? Why is Catwoman in danger of cancellation? Tell DC to chop away the dead weight. Migrate the Jimmy Olsen story entirely to Action, the Atom story to All-New Atom, the Holly Robinson story to Catwoman or Wonder Woman, the Trickster and Pied Piper story to Flash, the Karate Kid story to JSA, the Mary Marvel story to an ongoing Shazam! title (if Winick can ever get around to finishing Trials), the New Gods story to Superman and/or their own series. Do that and DC can increase the readership of those titles while simultaneously allowing each story to function as its own entity. It's a good idea. So I can't be the only person who's thought of it, can I?

Superman #665

Superman #665
Once again! Busiek is the man! He knows how to write a comic that doesn't suck. And lest you be fooled by the promotional blurbs, or even the cover, this issue has nothing to do with Countdown. Not a single, solitary, blessed thing, NOTHING! In some ways, it's not as bad as Marvel's bannering every single issue of their comics that aren't World War Hulk tie-ins as Initiative crossovers, yet in some ways it's worse, because Marvel has a reputation for doing that kind of shit, whereas DC doesn't. Except when it comes to Countdown. The series is doing so poorly that apparently DC Editorial has decided to promote it like mad, including having more crossovers with it and labelling other unrelated issues as Countdown tie-ins. At least the writers haven't gone along with it yet. Busiek and Simone have remained at their usual high standards of quality with their books, as has Rogers on Blue Beetle. Even though these issues are bannered and touted as Countdown crossovers, you can skip that series entirely and still get a complete story from these professionals. And this story is a prime example. It's an EXCELLENT retelling of the "origin" of Jimmy Olsen, and actually explains in realistic terms exactly how he became Superman's "pal". Great stuff. I'd like to see Busiek on both Superman titles every month.

The All-New Atom #10-#11

The All-New Atom #10-#11
See, this issue was GOOD. But last issue? It was just nothing. Gail got carried away with the zombie plot, and wanted to show what she could do, and just killed an entire issue (AWFUL), but you could certainly read this issue without having read the one previous, and not miss anything. That's partially due to a very well-done recap sequence on the first few pages. And the fact that they keep referring to every single one of the plot's main themes throughout the rest of the book. So, yeah, I was not looking forward to this issue, because the last one was so bad. But you know what? Gail redeemed herself by just ending the story simply, without going too far into weirdville, and now, it's time to find Ray Palmer...but wasn't that supposed to be a centerpiece of the Countdown series? And why is there only one quote in this issue? (Unless you count the quote from Entertainment Weekly, who rarely give negative reviews - if ever.)

The All-New Atom #9

The All-New Atom #9
Not much to say here, except that Gail Simone turns out another solidly GOOD, fun issue of this title. Plus, she presents us with her own personal touch on a zombie tale. I haven't seen it from her before, so I'm interested in seeing what she's going to do with it. The dialogue, even the internal monologuing - of which there is copious amounts - is witty and entertaining, and I loooove that giant floating alien head!

New Releases for 3/7/7

Geez, I can't believe it's been nearly a month since my last post. I guess Adrian Watts was right...but, c'mon, February's such a short month...

Anyways, speaking on tomorrow's releases:

I'm looking forward to Atom #9.

I had been under the impression that the Dark Tower series was comprised of new material, so you can imagine my disappointment when I found out that it's a collation of Roland's backstory pulled from the various books of the series.

Fantastic Four: The End has been entertaining so far, albeit a tad nonsensical. I'm interested in seeing how it wraps up.

Wasn't Helmet of Fate supposed to be coming out weekly? Why the delays?
I've been half surprised and half disappointed with this series. Detective Chimp was EXCELLENT. Ibis was likewise VERY GOOD. But I had such high hopes for Black Alice, and it really wasn't any good. It was actually CRAP. It and Sargon - which sucked ASS - didn't even have anything really to do with furthering the fate story. I'm very disappointed in Simone and Niles.

Incredible Hulk has been a lot of fun lately. And it was nice to see Bruce Banner get some in #103.

Justice League of America continues to meander towards the "end" of an arc...which I really can't see as being any sort of conclusion whatsoever. Even Bendis isn't THIS decompressed.

Of course, Justice League Unlimited!

And Manhunter! My LCBS guy told me this is ending with issue 30. Boo hoo. Blue Beetle just came back, Shaw is on course to be the next Azrael (wonder if he'll want Kate's gauntlets?), and Kate still hasn't gotten together with her cousin Jack Knight. There's so much more that this book could do. I really don't want to see it end. I love this book. It's EXCELLENT.

Marv Wolfman's Nightwing has been extremely disappointing so far. He teased us with the spectre of the Monitors, and then took the book way out into left field. And now he's got this new villainous couple? I couldn't be less interested. Heck, I'm more interested in Outsiders, and that book sucks.

Mighty Avengers will probably be just as bad as most of Civil War. So unless one of you deems it worthwhile, I'm not even going to bother.

Yay! More Planetary Brigade! How lucky are we to get an issue of this AND Hero Squared IN THE SAME month! Now I just have to get my comic shop to carry it.

Superman/Batman - Fuck you, Verheiden, for taking a promising title and turning it to CRAP.

I'm interested in reading the Transformers Prequel merely to get a sense of whether or not the movie will suck.

I'm wondering where Bendis is going to take Ultimate Spider-Man now. But Ultimate Vision is soooo freaking lame. And the concept is just unbearably stupid. Truly AWFUL.

I'll read Uncle Sam because I'm hoping for some Ray Terrill. Who else wants him back in the JLA???

And, of course, Welcome to Tranquility. It's a GOOD fun book to read.

The All New Atom #7-#8

The All New Atom #7-#8
This was a VERY GOOD story. I laughed so hard reading the last issue, especially during the scene with the ginormous floating head watching TV. So the weirdness is here to stay. It appears to be status quo for this series. I can live with it. As long as Gail Simone keeps writing to her usual level, I can handle it. At least she makes it all make sense. Sort of. By god, I laughed hard when I saw the cover of this issue. That joke just really got me. So I'm weird. So what? This is one of the most pleasant post crisis series, and I hope it'll be around with Simone on it for a long time to come.

New feature: Quote of the week

Because I don't have much time left to blog today, I'm starting a new feature: Quote of the Week.
I'm going to post my favorite quote from whatever books I've read in a given week - provided anything stands out.
This week's quote comes from The All-New Atom #3 (review forthcoming) and narrowly edges out several excellent quotes from Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12.
Choi is speaking with a Lovecraftian sewer monster (I know, it's Weird) and shrinks even further when threatened. The sewer monster - aww forget it, here's the image:
"Weird Japanese sex cartoons!" 'Nuff said.
This panel sells the joke much better:

The All-New Atom #1-2

The All-New Atom #1-2
After reading the preview in Brave New World, I was not going to pick this up, but people kept saying complementary things about it, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did. This series is fun! And the main character knows it. He's come to Ivy town with the express purpose of taking over for Ray Palmer in every facet of his life, his house, his friends, his job, and his superhero identity...and he gets right into it. In the first issue, he accidentally minimizes himself without having the belt on and gets trapped in the folds of his clothing. Afterwards, he brings the belt to scientist friends of his (who were also friends of Palmer's) and asks them to help him figure it out.
The second issue begins with Dr. Choi riding an ant. Yes, riding an ant.
Whereas the first issue's structure is a bit too Morrisony (reminiscent of The Invisibles) for my tastes, what with the jumping back and forth in time, it eventually settles down to a linear flow, and the second issue is entirely linear.
Dr. Choi (whose first name is a very unChinese "Ryan") and his motley colleagues have fun experimenting with the capabilities of the Atom's belt that he has found. And there's some microscopic alien invader intrigue as well. Personally, that was the one aspect of the original Atom's adventures that I could never really believe, that the world is teeming with microscopic alien invaders, but it's classic, and my father liked it when he was a kid, so I won't complain. The writing style is classic Gail Simone, the art is classic old-time Byrne, and I suspect that the random quotations interspersed throughout the text are Morrison's ideas. They quote famous scientists, literary figures, and even fictional characters such as Wile E. Coyote, Lex Luthor, and Will Magnus. It's good clean fun.
There's also a subplot which hints that Ryan may be in line to get some from a hot student. And there is some intrigue regarding a mysterious benefactor who chooses a serial killer as his Atom. We'll see what happens there.
Right now, these issues have done exactly what introductory issues should do, unlike so many other series lately. They hook you with the simple premise of an everyday guy discovering and exploring superpowers.
And dogs with mind control implants.
Both issues are VERY GOOD (as opposed to the sub-EH introductory feature in Brave New World.)