Weekly Comic Review for 4/10/13

Finally catching up on my comic reviews.

Archer & Armstrong #9 – There’s even more history for the Eternal Warrior and we get to see who he calls “Mother”. I wonder if this is leading into his own title like he used to have back in the old days. Aram and Gilad sight to save the possessed Archer and we get to see the real strengths of Archer and the Geomancer as they overcome their current situations. Archer gets this body back due to his own strengths and Kay learns more about her power through connections to former Geomancers. There are also some revelations about who is behind what Mary-Maria has been up to. Things stay interesting here and I’m sure they will keep that way too as Gilad is pointing Archer to Project Rising Spirit.

Avengers Arena #7 – For a change, this issue leaves the young heroes behind and jumps back prior to the first issue to show where it all started. We get to see Arcade’s birthday party where he finds out that no one respects him in the villain community. His new second-in-command gives him a book about kids on an island (Lord of the Flies, maybe?) which is what inspires him to do what he did in this series. It’s actually the most interesting issue of the whole series so far.

Batgirl #19 – Following the events of Death of the Family, Barbara fills in her roommate on what she can of the events. Alysia has a revelation of her own — she’s transgender. Barbara is surprised but takes it in stride with total acceptance. It’s good to see the topic of transgender people finally hitting comics. We don’t get to stay there long because it’s soon a job for Batgirl when she has to help lay a trap for her brother who is a psycho. It’s a touch mental battle between Barbara and James Jr. with their mother caught in the middle. In the end, Barbara makes a decision that may cause a schism between her and her father.

Batman and Red Robin #19 – With the death of Damian, the comic’s title is changing. Internally, it shows “Batman and Robin” as well as the cover titles. But is this the end of Robin? Is Damian coming back (It’s happened before…) or will there be a new Robin? And will that Robin be Carrie Kelley, the Robin shown in The Dark Knight Returns and introduced in the New 52 universe in this issue? It seems she had a connection to Damian and was teaching him something though it’s unclear what it was. She drops off some CDs/DVDs labeled “Playhouse 90 Kinoscope Copies”. When Bruce stops by to see her, she’s dressed as Robin for a costume party and he freaks out. He ends up kidnapping Frankenstein to find a way to bring Damian back. Red Robin only plays a minor role in holding Batman back during this part. So, will Carie Kelley be back? I guess only time will tell.

Constantine #2 – Constantine heads off to Myanmar to find the next piece of the compass where he faces off against Mister E and then has to argue his fate to the Spectre. It’s interesting but I’m not sure it’s interesting enough for me to stick with it.

Demon Knights #19 – The knights take on the vampires after Jason (at the behest of Lucifer) allows Etrigan back into Hell to regain his strength. Ystin makes a major sacrifice that may have been what Merlin predicted. I’m not sure where the character will go from here.

Green Lantern Corps #19 – Wrath of the First Lantern part 10 – Where the First Lantern took on lanterns one at a time before, this time, he takes on all the lanterns on Oa at once. (Guess he’s really getting powerful all of a sudden.) Thankfully, Mogo has returned and comes to their rescue and helps the corps get ready to finally take on Volthoom. At least this issue wasn’t filled with warped flashbacks.

Harbinger #11 – Harbinger Wars tie-n – The issues starts with some of Harada’s history and then moves on to cross over with some stuff from the mini-series. From there, Peter and his team get a little down time and Torque shows how much of a kid he still is, especially when confronted by someone who is handicapped, similar to how he is without his powers. There’s a lot of compensation going on there, especially with the use of “gay” as a slur. I know it’s being used to show how much of a jerk he is but I still hate the use of that in a comic.

Kevin Keller #8 – We pick up from last issue with Kevin caught between his boyfriend, Devon, and admirer, Paul. Veronica puts on a play (which, from the audience reaction, I’m glad I didn’t have to see) and both Kevin and Paul take part. This makes for a very jealous Devon who tries to sabotage the whole thing. Kevin, being the good guy he is, writes the whole thing off and forgives him.

Ravagers #11 – Rose and Warblade attack the Ravagers at the same time Deathstroke does. It appears that Slade’s knife may be a teleportation device. We also get to see once of Niles’ defenses — the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. Really?? I guess with the book being cancelled, they felt they could go for one of the most absurd pre-New 52 characters. There’s also the revelation that Caitlin may not be who she thought she was. It should be interesting to see how they finalize this, especially since Warblade may have been finalized already.

There was some really interesting stuff this week. As for the top 3, I’m going with Avengers Academy, Batgirl, and Batman and Red Robin. I don’t know about picking the Bat titles up regularly, but I’m glad I picked up them up this week.