Countdown 26

What? I'm on time this week? Perish the thought!

So I've gotta say, ever since I made the decision a month or so ago to start dropping lackluster titles, my reading experience each week has been, overall, a lot better. When I order the comics from worst-to-best for my sister, so that she can end with a high note, it's actually trouble for some stuff, because they're usually on pretty even levels of high quality.

Plus, it's a lot cheaper. Which helps, what with this insane project and all, where I have to buy a lot.

52 Aftermath: The Four Horsemen 3 is one of those titles I wasn't looking forward to at first...until I learned Keith Giffen was writing it. Then I squealed with joy. For those that don't know, I love Giffen's work. From his eighties JLI and L.E.G.I.O.N., to his Legion of Super-Heroes stuff (both writing and art), all the way up to the recent Annihilation. It's very rare that he disappoints me--and the only time I can actually recall not liking something he wrote is his Blue Beetle, where, for some reason, he seemed to really be holding John Rogers back. Anyway. That has nothing to do with this issue, really. For the most part, this title has been filled with a lot, and this issue kept the ball rolling as they brought back Snapper Carr in a completely new role as a Checkmate spy. While it doesn't seem to fit with the Snapper references over in the GA/BC Wedding Special, I think this is a much better use of the character as opposed to the "Hey let's make fun of Snapper!" party that it was before, on the off-chance anyone remembered him.


Action Comics 858: Gary Frank? I remember him from the earliest issues of Peter David's Supergirl. Sadly, I think his art has really fallen. He seems to have embrace the skill of using a thousand little lines, presumably to enhance emotion and detail, but it just makes the art look bad. And the colorist doesn't really appeal to me, either. Still, the art was passable, and there were enough good pages to convince me to give him a chance. But I don't buy a comic for the art, save for rare occasions, and the story was what convinced me to pick up this title again. I'm a Legion fanatic. I love the mythology of that world, and I love all versions of the Legion, and this storyline--which suggests a resolution to the Legion confusion--is something I've been anticipating for a long time. The issue did not let me down. While I don't love the "Omg Clark is such a dork LOL" portrayal we've had recently (I liked that Clark was more "normal guy" following the Byrne reboot), I was able to get past that and enjoy everything about the Legion's appearance. We finally get a suitable retelling of how Clark met the Legion, paying homage to the pre-Crisis Superboy while still staying true to Clark's current backstory. And the current state of the Legion, in 3008? Wow. A lot has happened in the six months that have passed, Legion-time, since they went back for Lightning Saga. I really want to see how this develops. The next issue can't get here fast enough.

Countdown to Final Crisis 26 really picked up the pace. Whereas before, the Monitors sat around chatting while the other characters basically remained in the same status quo they were in for the past however-many-issues, we now have a war declared, and certain storylines are receiving more focus. It's as if they've adopted the 52 model of spending time on just a couple characters each week, as opposed to every one. And yeah--the Monitor full-page spread had the wrong number of characters. Big deal. It's a really stupid screw-up, but let's face it--the art in this issue is a lot better than it has been previously. Add this to the increased pace and stronger writing, it really feels as if DC is taking notice of how bad Countdown has been, and they're doing something about it. Of course, none of this makes up for that horrible "Re-Todd" line Donna had, and Kyle's annoying encouragement. My god. That panel ruined the entire book for me.

DC Infinite Halloween Special: The Riddler should not be in Arkham Asylum. I'm sick of zombies. And werewolves. That is all.

Justice Society of America 10: Somewhere between the previous issue and this one, I had finally gotten around to reading Kingdom Come. So my enjoyment of this storyline increased a lot. It has a lot of potential, I think, and can really provide a lot of strong moments--seeing Power Girl confront KC Superman, coming to terms with the death of Kal-L in the process, is something I'm really looking forward to. Speaking of Power Girl, she's been slowly growing into one of my favorite characters as of late. I love that she's considered part of the Superman Family now. It feels right to me.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes 35: You know what? I think Bedard's doing a pretty decent job with the Legion in what is, admittedly, just a fill-in arc. The characterization, while lacking some of the minor nuances of the characters, is still mostly spot-on, and the storytelling makes for enjoyable Legion stories. While I don't think he's the perfect writer, and I am not sad that Shooter is replacing him at all (although that's probably because...well, it's Shooter), I think he did a solid job in this arc--this issue especially. It was the first one here where I really felt engaged in the story.

Quick Marvel Rundown: I finished the last issues of Annihilation Conquest: Quasar and Wraith (which I missed last week). Both proved that Annihilation is still one of the best things to happen to Marvel in awhile. New X-Men was standard New X-Men quality--strong, but not amazing--and X-Men: Messiah Complex got me really interested in the crossover. I mean, I was always going to collect it, but now I'm actually excited about it.

In addition to buying this stuff, I also took a final advantage of my store's trade and hardback sale. Remember--the trades are $4, and the hardbacks are half off an already discounted price. And then there's my 20% "pull list" discount on top of everything. So I got Showcase Presents: The Haunted Tank (which will be added to an upcoming revised version of my "list"), Starman: Sons of the Father (the final trade, which means I now have to collect all the stuff between the first and the last), and--the one I'm most interested in--Catwoman: Selina's Big Score, a hardcover by Darwyn Cooke. I was really surprised to find it still in the pile. I would have expected it to sell out fast...but nope. I got really lucky. And for...what, probably around six dollars after all the discounts? Definitely a great deal for me. I can't wait to read it...and I'll probably read it this week, actually, and then read it again when I get to that point in my lists.