Booster's back, baby!

War! What is it good for? (Absolutely nothin'!) Especially when Civil War wrecks havoc by burning Atlanta to the ground shuffling so many publication schedules that there's no Marvel Comics I wanna spend my dimes on this week, making it a light (but fun) purchase of two comics:

52 WEEK 19: This comic is fun. Hey, guess who's back? Dan Didio's worst nightmare, baby: Booster Gold! Well, sorta...Skeets is obviously intent on turning Booster's ancestor Daniel into the new BG, and there's a nifty "not everything you know is true" twist at the end which shows that Skeets has his (its?) own very definite agenda. Add to that a possible twist to the Supernova storyline that this little stuffed reader never even suspected and 52 is back on track throwing us mysteries that would have Ralph Dibny's nose a-twitching. I'm not entirely convinced about the suggestion of Supernova's secret in this issue (for one thing, I think his height has varied from issue to issue), but it's all done in a light-handed spirit that has me eager for the next issue. Plus, Starfire in Animal Man's shirt. She's still cute!


THE ESCAPISTS #3: This comic is fun. The Escapists both feels more fantastic and more realistic than most superhero comics (which it really isn't; it's really a comic about comics and the power of myth). Suspend your disbelief that the comic-within-the-comic becomes a massive smash hit (especially in this day and age) and you have one of the more charming adventure and love stories in the four-color format with a quirky elegance: bold, distinctive art by Steve Rolston and Jason Shawn Alexander (as I've said before, I love Philip Bond but this art team is jus' dandy), funny and realistic dialogue and a "da-da-da!" of a cliffhanger ending. (And yes, that Otis elevator hack is the real deal. If I could reach the buttons in an elevator, I'd try it myself.) Plus, the mildly politically-incorrect but still-funny Best Line of the Week: "Chief, my pencils are so tight, Katharine Hepburn could ink them." For all these reasons, and not simply because this little stuffed bull thinks Case Weaver is unbearably cute, THE ESCAPIST #3 is the most fun comic of the week!