Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Wednesday's Loot - 02 August 2006

Presented on Thursday. I don't have any reviews of older trades today. I'm in the middle of reading Epileptic and loving it, but my life after work is sort of filled these days. I'm starting to feel like a DC Zombie these days but as long as they keep Batman in fine form I'm basically a happy camper. I do love Fear Agent and want to check out Wasteland but I can't find either in Ottawa. I'll start making requests. I've only got the first four issues of Fear Agent and it's at 6 now isn't it? That's a pain in the ass. I may need to get a *choke* subscription.

52 Week 13
The Ralph Dibny storyline really hits its pace in this issue. His sequence presents a great meta-comic book exploration of the whole resurrection phenomenon in the DCU. I’m glad that DC has the cajones to actually admit that their heroes die and are reborn while taking missions directly from God. Sure they cop out a bit and don’t really explain it, but they at least admit it happens and that it’s there under the surface whether you believe or not. And like The Wicker Man, it’s a bit shocking to see the group actually go through with their quest and appear to succeed leaving Ralph with a bend mind instead of a bendy body. Then there’s Isis and Black Adam. I’m fairly certain they’ll either have a falling out or she will be killed to Adam can be a big bully again. I’m loving the two page histories of the characters and I’m most excited by the preview image of The Metal Men.
I rate this story: A decent Wicker Man tribute that finally moves along Ralph’s story.

Mouse Guard #4
The plot introduces the old wizened hero with a missing Axe. And much like Bone, the evil being cloaked in darkness is revealed as the ultimate baddy that is familiar to the guard-mice.
I rate this story: Still charming in format, art and story

Detective Comics #822
The glorious return of The Riddler in a story I first thought was going to be a repeat of the Animated Series episode where Edward Nigma becomes a toy designer. Not so. This was another fun, done in one issue, where Riddler shows up as a competing detective to Batman and Jim Gordon. His arrogance, presentation and dialogue were all wonderfully done. I’m also glad he’s less the psycho killer and more the Dandy with questionable colour combinations. I also like how he’s not afraid for the public to know who he is and he just wanders around in the costume he was also a career criminal in – that complete disregard for any victims family is the sort of psychosis Gotham criminals need. I don’t know if I could ever be happier than I am with the recent Batman titles. It’s making it a lot easier to not read much else since these titles are done so well. Plus, Roxy Rocket. That’s brilliant.
I rate this story: A bit deus ex machine and unfair for those of us trying to figure out the murder but a fantastic Batman story nonetheless. Batman how he should be.

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