Weekly Comic Review for 9/2/15
Well, the plan was to work on this last night. Unfortunately, a major rain storm — yes, in Arizona believe it or not — knocked the power out. So, here I am tonight catching up.
Bat-Mite #4 – As usual, Bat-Mite gets himself in trouble. This time, he starts a fire in the apartment. Now, he has magic he uses for everything else. Why doesn’t he put it out with that or use it to fix all the damage? Instead he just gets yelled at and then disappears with Booster Gold and Skeets when they show up. Booster is after Gridlock, the bad guy of the series. Of course, Bat-Might has to Batman-ize him and turns him into Black Gold and gets rid of his force field and such. Of course, everything gets messed up and he has to return Michael to his normal Booster Gold self. Michael ends up going back in time to get Reagan’s photo album from before it was burned up (which I assume creates some paradox since the burned copy was still there) to save the mite’s butt. Reagan acts like he’s the savior instead of the one who caused the problem in the first place. Whatever. This was really cute at first but now I’m glad there’s only a couple issues left. Next issue: The Inferior Five. Bat-Mite is the only one who can make that team look good in comparison.
Green Arrow #44 – We get the origin of George when Oliver and a date visit a fortune teller. The date fails but it’s an interesting story. Of course, we find out just in time for a group to track him down and attack. At least Ollie gets some help in the form of the new and female Tarantula. This could be interesting. The Green Lantern tribute cover shows old school Hal and Allie. Wish we could have that old Green Arrow look back.
Green Lantern #44 – Hal and crew stop at a station to get medical help for Virgo. It turns out the place is under the thumb of some whacko Thangarians who have augmented themselves with tech. They aren’t ready for a Green Lantern though, especially with Trapper backing him up. OK, he’s only helping because of the bomb on his wrist but he still helps. The space port is freed and the group moves on to what it appears will be an encounter with a very dangerous Black Hand. The tribute cover for this issue shows Hal and the original Alan Scott. Just like I’d like to see the old Ollie, I’d love to see the pre-New 52 JSA back.
Lobo #10 – Lobo is out hunting other lanterns for Sinestro. He’s targetting the Indigo Lanterns, specifically Indigo 1, when the issue starts. Luckily she escapes. He returns with a bunch of indigo rings and is informed that next on the list is the Red Lanterns. Then I get pissed off when he takes out Rancor who is my favorite Red Lantern this side of Dex-Starr. He’s portrayed as a mindless Red Lantern when he is probably one of the most clear and powerful so the way this was handled really pissed me off. The battle will continue next issue with Bleez on the side of Atrocitus now for some reason. The title is ending in 3 more issues so we’ll see how this story resolves.
Midnighter #4 – It seems there’s a new game out there — killing weak and restrained vampires. All the fun you want for the 20-somethings with big bucks. Enter Midnighter and Grayson. Dick agrees to help Midnighter find out what’s going on and this leads them to a sauna with the two heroes in just towels. This is a scene I definitely approve of. One of the best parts is when Midnighter refers to Dick as “my abdominally gifted friend.” I’m sure he was enjoying seeing Grayson stripped down. They track things down and it turns out the vampires are humans with Martians cells (from the Garden, of course) used to morph them. Grayson is around for at least another issue to help out with things. I’m liking the way they work together.
Squadron Sinister #3 – I’ve been a fan of the Squadron Supreme for a while but got in on this a little late. This group of bad guys pulled together on Battleworld is out to try to take over as much territory as they can but, as the saying goes, there’s no honor among thieves. Knighthawk is out to take out Hyperion. Zarda is sleeping with Hyperion but is actually a mole for the Nutopians (think New Universe but in Battleworld terms)Doctor Spectrum is some Asian guy with a bit of an inferiority complex despite the power he wields. And Speed Demon is… well… Speed Demon. That is until Knighthawk gets him framed for trying to steal a weapons that could kill Hyperion and and Hyperion kills him on the spot. Then Knighthawn convinces Doctor Spectrum to turn in his crystal and hide since he looks like he killed one of the Thors. Knighthawk found out that Zarda was working with the Nutopians (who attacked and a number of them, including Star Brand somehow, were killed by Hyperion) so tells her just to head back and leave everything to him. Things on the team really fell apart fast in this issue. Not sure what the last issue is, but there doesn’t seem to be too much story left to go here. It’s interesting watching things unfold but since only 2 characters (Speed Demon and Hyperion) are like the characters we’re used to, it’s a little harder to care. Knighthawk wasn’t one of the bad guys long and this Zarda and Doctor Spectrum are totally new.
Six books this week and I was only really disappointed with 2. But there’s a Top 3, not a Top 4, so I have choices to make. The best of the best this week goes to Green Lantern, Midnighter, and Squadron Sinister. Make sure to check these out. I definitely don’t want to see Midnighter to show up in the cancelled list any time soon.
