Let's Get Comical!

No witty intro this week, sorry. I’m starting to post these way later than I’d like to, so yeah.

Last week was a small week for my comic list. Only two new DC comics, a review of an older one, and two new Marvel ones. Let’s get to it!

Green Lantern #3

This issue sees the continuation of the story where Sinestro gives Hal Jordan a fake Green Lantern ring that is controlled by Sinestro. Sinestro wants Hal to immediately help him rescue his home planet from the Sinestro Corps, which is enslaving and torturing his people. But the two are at odds, of course, and exchange some witty banter. Sinestro devises a plan to rescue his people but ends up ruining it himself when he sees some chick getting pounded by a Sinestro Corps member. Hal goes along with the plan, which is to drop Sinestro’s Green Lantern into the core of the planet, which will effectively destroy the Sinestro Corps, but the core detects the Lantern and begins a disintegrating process, effectively killing Hal Jordan. And Sinestro doesn’t even know what has happened? Not good, but not bad either. Solid “Meh.” There isn’t anything wrong with this series, it just seems like it will be better in Trade Paperback format.

Batman and Robin #3

I’m actually enjoying this one. Continuing from last time, Batman has been going on missions each night and forcing son Damian to stay at home and play chess with Alfred. But that doesn’t stop Damian from donning the Robin costume and going out on his own to find some crooks to stop. So Damian stops some generic thieves, beating them within inches of their lives when the mysterious man from the end of Issue #2 makes an appearance in a weird costume with robotic looking eyes all over his helmet. He knows everything about Robin, including his secret identity. But it’s Batman to the rescue, thanks to a tracking bug placed on Robin by Alfred. Batman and the mysterious man, named Morgan, fight for a while until Morgan gains the upper hand. Batman and Robin both awaken trapped inside an old, broken down car in an abandoned drive-thru movie theater, where Morgan flips a switch and starts a movie. And we fade out. Fun stuff here, and I think this series is a sleeper hit. Love the banter between Damian and Batman, and Alfred was gold in this issue too.

Catwoman #2

Well this issue wasn’t nearly as bad as the first one. Of course the first thing we see is Batman and Catwoman, in costume, post-coitus and half naked. Batman is concerned about Catwoman, as someone is out to get her, hence her apartment being firebombed. But Catwoman is more concerned with conning the Russian mob into a war over a stolen painting of a horse. She infiltrates a generic Bruce Wayne function (and we see a hilarious drunken Bruce hitting on her) and baiting the two leaders of the mafias into a sandoff, and they all end up dead, either by their own hands or by Catwoman’s hands. So Catwoman gets to keep the money AND the painting. Catwoman returns to her temporary safehouse and finds her friend Lola dead, shot in the forehead. Enter the villain Bone, who beats the holy hell out of Catwoman and we end on a cliffhanger. Like I said, a lot less T&A here and the story was actually interesting. I recommend it. The only problem is that this one ended early to preview the damned Batman: Noel. Lame.

And let’s finish things off by Making Ours Marvel.

Avenging Spider-Man #1

This one was weird. I picked it up due to it being about Spider-Man, and it’s essentially another “Marvel Team-Up” similar to the X-Men Vol. 3 I’ve been reading and reviewing. The thing starts off with Spidey and other various Marvel heroes fighting some AIM Soldiers and a giant robot, but Spider-Man needs help getting back to New York because of his real life. Well thanks to the “not it” game, Red Hulk is chosen to take Spidey home. And just in time too, as some mole men from underground have invaded the city and disrupt the New York City Marathon, taking J. Jonah Jameson hostage. So it’s Spidey and Hulk to the rescue, until the mole men use a flute to summon a weird creature that reminds me of the space slug from The Empire Strikes Back. It has some sort of toxic saliva, and Spidey and Hulk are knocked out. Meanwhile, the mole men take JJJ to their underground lair where JJJ meets the King of the Mole Men. And apparently he isn’t king anymore, which is why they kidnapped JJJ. Weird ending aside, this one wasn’t really that bad. It just needs some time to get going. I LOVED the artwork, however. Great stuff there, and I’m kind of anticipating the next title.

Ultimate Comics: New Spider-Man #4

OH MAN. The awesomeness continues with this one. We begin where we left off with the last issue, when Miles and Ganke find out about the death of Spider-Man (apparently crossing over with the ending of the original Ultimate Spider-Man). Miles sneaks out of his boarding school’s gym and heads to the scene, where he hears Peter Parker’s last words. On the day of Peter’s fineral, Miles and Ganke stand outside with a huge crowd, and annoys Gwen Stacy with his questions. She angrily answers that Peter became Spider-Man because he failed to save his Uncle Ben from dying, and took his lecture about great power bringing great responsibility to heart. And Miles decides to take this lesson to heart as well, with Peter becoming his Uncle Ben-like figure. So Miles decides he’s going to actually become Spider-Man, and whips up designs for costumes. But Ganke (wearing a hilarious “word up” shirt this issue) loans him an old Spider-Man costume he used for Halloween a few years back (“I go for authenticity!”) and Miles goes on his first web trip around the city, where he spots trouble... and promptly gets his ass handed to him. The cool thing here is that we don’t actually SEE what happened, we just see Miles spotting trouble, and a newspaper article describing that a Spider-Man Imposter got slapped silly. On another trip around the city, Miles is assaulted out of nowhere by Spider-Woman, who demands to know who he is, and we end there. AWESOME STUFF, and I love this series, so, so much. I love the progression of Miles and also Ganke’s hilarious quotes and mannerisms. This series has so many winning formulas, and I look forward to each issue. I WANT MORE.

OVERALL, this was a decent week. No truly bad titles, which is always good. The worst comic was just “meh” and it always helps the week out when you have an issue from one of the best comic series released. I continue to give Ultimate Spider-Man my highest recommendation, and suggest picking up DC’s titles on an issue-by-issue basis.

COMING NEXT WEEK: A HUGE week with more Batman, more Catwoman, Justice League, and more!

COMING EVENTUALLY: My full review of Spider-Island and Amazing Spider-Man #674, which drops this week!