Will I ever get caught up?!
Adventure Comics #3: This was a wonderful buddy comic. And this is the best representation of Tim Drake as Red Robin I’ve seen. I didn’t care for how Polar Boy was portrayed in the Legion story. It was as if they took a several year step back with Brek’s insecurities. But otherwise, the best Legion tale so far.
Batman #691: My last issue, but this run ended well enough (for a Judd Winick story). I didn’t care for how Dick was so dependent on Alfred. Dick is Bruce’s second hand and trained under him the longest (I think) AND he’s been on his own for years now–Dick shouldn’t be portrayed as helpless, even if Harvey got the drop on him. But at least he rallied at the end and put the smack down on Two-Face, though I still don’t buy that Harvey now is all of sudden convinced that this Batman is THE Batman, despite all of the evidence and Dick’s assertions to the contrary. Cool though that Two-Face has been hiring the DCU’s teleporters to try and get into the Batcave.
Blackest Night: Batman #3: This series actually ended better than the middle led me to believe. At least here Dick is shown to be an effective leader as Batman, and there were some good character moments as well.
Detective Comics Annual #11: Forget this one. I hate Azrael.
House of Mystery Halloween Annual #1: I’ve missed out on this series, so I thought I’d pick up the Halloween special. And look at that cover! That’s a wonderfully creepy image. And unlike the DC Universe Halloween Special, there are actually some creepy stories in this book. There’s the frame, featuring the House of Mystery cast, that introduces the mask, and serving as interstitial fodder between the main stories. The first full story features Merv Pumpkinhead which was just ok. The second was a Hellblazer story which was also ok until the end (it made me mildly interested in reading Hellblazer again). The third bit featured a preview (though not a very good one) of the upcoming series I, Zombie. Based on this preview, I don’t think I’d buy it (but I had already planned to). The final story, ostensibly a Madame Xanadu story even though she doesn’t show up until the very end, is really about this poor girl and what the mask does to her is the creepiest and saddest. The writer did a good job with that one.
The Unwritten #6: There is just so much going on in this issue. An illuminated poem, web articles and forum postings, a prison story, and talking books. This book gets better and better. It is always a favorite in my stack.
Longbox Review 