Weekly Comic Review for 6/15/11
I’ve actually had these read for a couple days but haven’t had the chance to do this write-up. So, here we go with the new books including another first issue week of Flashpoint.
Avengers Academy #15 – The “Fear Itself” storyline hits this title too. With everyone busy elsewhere, the academy kids head to DC to help keep the populace safe. When Hank hears this, he’s ready to head off to help them but gets sent off to stop a hyper powered Absorbing Man instead. The kids stay safe so far but Mettle’s remorse when he accidentally kills someone shows that they aren’t as bad as they think they will be.
Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons #1 – Deadman and Nightwing (along with his parents who are alive again) return to the circus, never having been super-heroes. Boston is a spoiled brat star and Dick is the good boy living happily with his family. The Graysons wear variations of Dick’s first Nightwing costume instead of the Robin ones. Also in the carnival are Ragdoll, King Shark, and Dr. Fate. Despite the title, it’s actually Dr. Fate who becomes the center of attention of the Amazons who are looking for the Helmet of Nabu and launch an attack on the carnival.
Flashpoint: Grodd of War #1 – What do you get the gorilla that has everything? (OK, all of Africa at least…) A challenge for one thing. Bored even after learning the gorillas finally conquered all of Africa, Grodd decides to take on one of his most loyal soldiers, Congorilla, just to try to do something interesting. When that isn’t good enough? How about trying to take Europe, contested between the Atlanteans and the Amazons? If there was another issue, that could be interesting.
Flashpoint: Legion of Doom #1 – Believe it or not, the Hall of Doom is actually a prison, one that people never escape or return from. The story starts with Heatwave taking out one of the components of Firestorm and getting sent to the Hall of Doom. He doesn’t want to stay there (Can you blame him?) and is quite happy when Cluemaster shows up. It’s not what’s in his head that Heatwave wants but what’s in the rest of him… Plastic Man. What does an apparently now evil Plas have in mind?
Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 – This book starts in the past and tell the story of how Diana left Themyscira, meets Aquaman, and suggests a royal marriage to ally the two groups. During the wedding, someone in Atlantean armor throws a spear trying to kill Diana but instead kills her mother. Thinking this is treachery from the Atlanteans, Diana calls the wedding off, never knowing that it was actually an Amazon in that armor.
Green Hornet #16 – Mulan is still in the hospital and the Green Hornet is trying to figure out what’s going on with the Red Hand. To make matters worse, a couple of bumbling heroes, Scowl and his kid sidekick Moonbeam show up and try to stop the Hornet. While they aren’t much real trouble, they are a bad distraction.
Kirby Genesis #1 – Kirby, the kid from issue 0, is now in college and is a big geek. His best friend Bobbi is a buxom and popular beauty (of course). When an evening that starts out with a Friday night at the bar is disrupted by strange being in the sky that resemble the heroes sent out on the space probe, things go from strange to stranger by the minute. Odd appearances happen all around the world and random being start popping up. To make matters worse, Bobbi goes into a trance, reads a book, and becomes a being know as the Midnight Swan. It’s only the first issue and I’m totally confused. This seems to be just a way to throw in as much Kirby-esque stuff in a comic at once. Not worth the cost of following it to me.
Legion of Super-Heroes #14 – More hints about Professor Li come up. The Legion start to realize they are all after the same thing. Akka finally gets killed. (She was just annoying.) And the Legion of Super-Villains find the world of Wisdom. I wonder if these are the events that are going to be the cause of the troubles in the new issue #1 in September.
Teen Titans #96 – Well, I was looking forward to the book hitting #100 but I guess it’s not going to happen. Not that any of it would matter as the new title is going to be so different. But I might as well review it. Beast Boy and Solstice free the Titans to take on Rankor letting Raven freak out even more about Solstice. (That’s really getting annoying.) Solstice decided it’s her duty to take on Rankor which means she’s probably more powerful than she seems. (And we probably won’t see her after the reboot then…) Nothing all that interesting since the book’s been going down hill for a while.
Some good books and some bad ones. I find it hard to get too into a lot of the DC stuff right now since most of it won’t matter in a couple months. For a top 3 this week, I’d recommend Avengers Academy, Flashpoint: Grodd of War, and Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies.
