Thursday, January 05, 2006

The only lesson we need to learn this week is: Wildcat does whatever the heck he wants, baby!

I'm finally catching up on a couple comics from last week! Were they worth the wait? Heck yeah!

JSA #81JSA #81: This comic is fun. I dropped JSA a couple months back in the middle of all the dark, gloomy Infinite Crisis crossovers, but I had to pick this issue up. Why? Stargirl! My favorite JSAer...hmmm, is JSAer a word? Anyways...Stargirl is my favorite member of the Justice Society, even more so now that she's got Starman's cosmic rod (one of the single best designs of equipment and weaponry in the last ten years in superhero comics!) Despite some kind of confusing continuing Infinite Crisis subplots, this issue is even better than I expected as it ties in elements from Starman (The Shade guest stars and it takes place in Opal City!) and continues some of the plotlines from Stargirl's first series, Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., which is a difficult title to type but which was a pretty fun comic book. There's some sadness and tragedy in this done-in-one story but despite the not-too-subtle "lessons learned" aspect of the ending, this is still a fun comic. In fact, it's the most fun comic of the week and it's got the Best Line of the Week: "What did I tell you about the language?" "Blame Wildcat." Hah! As Pal Dorian could tell you, you can't rein in Wildcat...the man does what he wants! Coz he's Wildcat, baby! Yeah!


Justice League Unlimited #17JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #17: This comic is fun. Here's the thing I love best about the JLU comics: they have more respect for the DC Universe than the regular DC Universe comics. In the regular DC Universe, Sheyera Hol is dead in Rann-Thanagar War. In the JLU Universe, she's had a more full storyline than Superman. In the regular DC Universe, Vibe is a joke. And he's dead. In the JLU Universe, he's not only alive, he's front and center of his own issue. In the regular DC Universe, The Freedom Fighters are dead. In the JLU Universe, they're not only alive and starring in this issue, but they kick the JLU's butt! Boo-yah! What's more, they look great in the animated DC style. (I mean...Phantom Lady..gosh, I don't know what to say about Phantom Lady.) If I've got any complaint, it's my usual one about JLU: the wrap-up with "a lesson learned" about how important a hero is and how he needs to believe in himself. We've seen this same ending again and again in JLU and it begins to feel like the end of G.I. Joe or a segment of "The More You Know." Despite what I said about the ending of JSA above, don't be afraid to just give us an exciting issue without a moral at the end, DC! Morals! Who needs 'em?!?


Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Delusional Comics Retailers 2006, Part 1

Planet Terry #10. Worth $5?

Out in front of 500 Fifth Avenue as we now speak (well, actu'lly, as I now write and, if you are reading this right at the time I'm writing it, as you now read...), a man has set up a card table on the sidewalk and is selling bagged comic books.

His table is filled with mid-eighties to mid-nineties Marvels: late 200s Avengers, Thunderstrike-era Thor, assorted New Universe titles, Micronauts: The New Voyages...all priced at a delusional three or four bucks a badly-bagged pop.

The most outrageously wacky price-to-value ratio? Planet Terry #10, priced at five dollars.

If you're in midtown Manhattan and want it, better rush down and buy it pronto before he unloads it on a guileless tourist kid.