Double Shot! Countdown 25 + 24

I kept putting off last week's comic review...and then it got to this week and I still hadn't done it. So now I'm just blasting them all out immediately.

Ready? Let's go. And remember, thar be spoilers.

All-New Atom 17: This title is usually one of my quality favorites--I consider it very enjoyable every month, even if it doesn't always hit the "Top Books" spot. Still, it's very fun, and I enjoy a good fun comic once in awhile. In all honesty, I can't remember what happened. Is that bad? Probably. It's been a week though. I remember that the cover looked fun. And I remember enjoying it. Sorry. This is a horrible review.

Booster Gold 4: Wow. So Supernova is Booster's dad. I personally didn't see that coming (although apparently the Booster experts did). It doesn't matter, this title is always great. The writing is excellent, the art is top form, and Skeets is hilarious. Plus, we have promises of Ice appearing soon. That alone keeps it on my pull list.

Countdown to Final Crisis 25: Apparently DC loves to point out that the Pied Piper is gay. You'd think that after twenty-six issues we'd remember that, but no, they need to remind us once again. That's alright though, because the rest of the issue was pretty enjoyable for Countdown. Karate Kid's storyline meets Firestorm and the Atomic Knights, and we actually get some resolution to dangling plot points left open at the end of Firestorm's ongoing series (well...not so much "resolution" as "continuation", because the story hasn't ended.) The "Desaad becomes Firestorm" was unexpected, and actually felt like decent progression. In all honesty, if Countdown had been like this from the beginning, it wouldn't have gotten the horrible reputation it now has.

Countdown to Final Crisis 24: Take that, Desaad! The Atomic Knights prove up to the task, and are able to prevent evilFirestorm from destroying things. Meanwhile, Mary Marvel actually stands up to Darkseid, fighting him (and actually hurting him?) before fleeing. While it's a complete about-face from the Mary we've seen so far, it's still truer to her character than anything in Countdown has been previously, so I'll take it. Meanwhile, Superman Prime gets angry and destroys Earth. It's not New Earth, but it's still an Earth. And he does it while wearing the superior black-Superman outfit from "Reign of the Supermen". I love that outfit, I really do. I'm curious as to what part of the Sinestro Corps brings this on.

Supergirl 23: Well, the art was pretty enough? The opening sequence with Batman was enjoyable, but other than that, neither myself nor my sister have any idea what happened here.

Superman 670: The arc started out great, had too much exposition in the middle, and then ended with an above average final issue. Not bad--not incredible, but all in all a satisfying story. I really love seeing Power Girl as part of the Superman Family now--I was skeptical at first about reintroducing that origin, but they've done a lot of good with it lately. And I love Chris Kent. I'm probably in the minority here, but I think he brings new potential to the Superman titles. Some people love to see the same type of story over and over, but change is good sometimes, and I think this will bring us some good times ahead.

Teen Titans East Special: Anima is not a pretty princess. She is a grunge rocker. She is also unbelievably powerful and is protected by a primal spirit. I fail to see how Mysterious Villain #17 managed to take her out so easily...especially since it seemed as if he was blasting her from underneath, so she had to have seen the shot coming...but whatever. The story wasn't bad. It was just filled with slaughter. On the art side...leg hair + Robin's short-pants = funny for no real reason.

Wonder Girl 3: Young Justice cameos are delicious. I love Cassie's new costume and really don't want it to vanish at the end of the mini, even though it's going to. I'm a little of the New Gods saturating everything, though, and this is coming from a New Gods fan. Still, the story was solid enough to justify my purchase.

Wonder Woman 14: I read the issue, and it was alright...but I'm still not entirely sure what's happening yet. I liked seeing Lt. Candy (I'm assuming this is Etta Candy--which is fun, but I'm hoping she stays true to her current incarnation from the George Perez reboot), and Diana living with talking gorillas adds all sorts of hilarity. So I'm going to stay with this title for awhile, because I want to have faith in it. So we'll see. As a single issue though...there just wasn't enough to catch me. But I choose to have faith in Gail Simone, who has many more hits than misses in my eyes.

Marvel Rundown: Amazing Spider-Girl is always fun. Annihilation: Conquest ties up the prequel mini's and goes full speed ahead with an excellent first issue that I loved despite not knowing who half the characters were. Astonishing X-Men was awesomesauce, while in the mainstream X-titles of Uncanny and X-Factor, we head into the Messiah Complex in two solid stories that leave me wanting more. Ms. Marvel was a title I grabbed as a last minute addition, and I wasn't disappointed--it deals with plot points that have been going on throughout the entire run. Mystic Arcana ends with its final issue, a Sister Grimm tie-in that left me satisfied. New Avengers is of standard New Avengers quality--a fast, enjoyable read. Nova...is he about to meet some sci-fi Marvel Zombies? I'm confused, but the title is always excellent. X-Men: Die By the Sword is modernClaremont, which I am satisfied, but not thrilled, with, but I want to pick up New Exiles due to Tom Grummet on the artwork, so I'm following this through.

Independents: Buffy's Season 8 moves on with its incredible Faith arc. Is it blasphemy to say that I'm enjoying this arc more than the first one? Because I think I am. And Fallen Angel is always an excellent title.



This whole thing would be more interesting if I wasn't so tired. Sorry.