Wednesday's Loot Plus - 27 September 2006

52 Week 21
Well that was a pretty fun issue of Teen Titans and is it me or am I more pleased with all the little Easter egg moments more than the actual stories in this comic. I guess half the time I really like what is happening on the pages and the rest I like the little bits of spice and pizzazz that flavor each issue. Home made robots and another promise of Metal Men to come make me happy for unexplainable reasons. I’m a bit sad about the lack of back-up story this week though.
I rate this comic: A nice moment of Ralph Dibny using Gringold to his advantage and the promise of Lex being fulfilled.

Batman #657
Okay, is it me or was that moment with Batman and Robin talking about their relationship one of the funniest things you’ve read in a long time? I appreciate double entendre based on cultural understands as much as anyone, and the Batman and Robin have gay subtext is rarely done with such aplomb. The Batbrat is a great addition. I think that’s one of the few stories not attempted with Batman. What if he had a son who was just as crazy and violent as the criminals he fights?
I rate this comic: Over the top even without the ninja Man-bats.

Few Quick things

This will be a bit of a longer post encompassing a lot of recent books I’ve read – not necessarily recently published – and other moments of clarity. I'll be a bit more sporadic in posting as my wedding gets ever closer.

First up – Heroes

Did anyone besides me watch this? I caught the replay last night and really enjoyed it. Sure I can see the X-men movie parallels (and the melodrama from the comics), but this seems to me to be what all those Sci-Fi Channel shows aim to be but don’t have the budget for. Kind of how Xena could have been The Lord of the Rings if it had the time and budget.

I do have to say I was really impressed by it. The last time I enjoyed a new TV show was the first season of Lost when there was a possibility of dinosaurs. So I’m hoping that Heroes doesn’t turn into Lost where by the third episode of the second season I can’t watch it anymore because they showed the same episode 3 times from slightly different points of view (yes I’m still pissed off when I think about it).

I watched this with A and she really got into it. Although we were both a bit disappointed when everyone seemed to end up in New York instead of letting them remain around the world. I would have rather the international focus remain but honestly, it doesn’t bother me too much. I’m a sucker for the connections between the characters and the teasers for upcoming episodes a la 52. I’m looking forward to watching more and I usually only watch TV on DVD these days unless it’s Newcastle United or the NHL.

Second up – Uatu, The Watcher

Okay, you’re in the Marvel Universe. You’ve got great powers, great responsibility, and hopefully a great costume. Everyone else in a costume knows that this guy shows up for big time events that are usually turning points or nasty death scenes. He shows up when there’s a big rumble about to go down – why don’t you get the heck out of Dodge? Sure, sure, heroic responsibility, but seriously, if everyone left nobody would die right? I think the heroes and villains should make a rules of engagement that whenever Uatu shows up, everyone lays down their arms and goes away peacefully.

Third up – Reviews!

Superman/Batman – Public Enemies

I don’t care what you think this book was a lot of fun. It was like my brain was given pure sugar in comic book form. Sure I had a stomach ache afterwards but it was fun reading it. Everyone who has called this collection the action movie version of the iconic two was completely right. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and it isn’t trying to change the core idea of superheroes but shit goes boom or gets a punch in the mouth, and that sir is enough for me sometimes.

Marvels
This book is a bit of a mystery to me. Not in how I feel about it, I love it, but in that nobody seems to ever mention it – ever. It’s freaking amazing! Why doesn’t Marvels get more love? Is it just that people know it’s good, love it and can’t really think of anything more to say about it? Personally I think this would be one of the better gateway books for anyone older getting back into comics or new to comics but more or less know the popular history of Marvel characters.

I don’t understand why this book doesn’t make more lists of comics to help introduce people to comics with. The Dark Knight Returns did it for me, but this would have worked wonders as well. It is simply fantastic and there is an homage to The Spirit in there in a crowd of running people. The young J. Jonah Jameson was also a nice touch.

The different point of view taken in this book is a great way to interpret the Marvel universe. The eye of everyman shows us what it would be like to live for a few years in a world with creepy crawlies, hatred and cosmic invasions. Then they play with the Sub-Mariner a lot – he’s good, he’s bad, he’s good again, bad again, etc, etc. This was a great story that needs a bit more attention I think. Sorry I don’t have the brainpower to examine it a bit more. I hope to someday. Maybe after I read Kingdom Come.

Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years
I’d be shocked if Chris Sims hasn’t posted on this yet. I mean it’s a man, arguably at the top of his game writing and drawing a comic based on the books he loved as a child where Tarzan puts a lioness in a full nelson – to death. Also Tarzan fights a great ape and a great cat at least every four pages. This is comics in its purest.