Shipping This Week! -- 05.05.25

But Flash and Green Lantern (and Batman) are great.

Awwww. Even the art?

MAR052336C SECRET WAR THE SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE INVESTIGATES WHY THE FUCK THIS SERIES ALWAYS SHIPPED SO LATE: I MEAN FUCK IT'S NOT LIKE IT DEPENDED ON COMING OUT CONCURRENT WITH OTHER MARVEL BOOKS, SO WHEN YOU'VE GOT SOME DAMN DUTCH MASTER PAINTING THE THING WHY DON'T YOU JUST WAIT UNTIL HE'S DONE? THERE'S NO WAY YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD SHIP ON TIME CHRIST THE STORY WASN'T EVEN ALL THAT INTERESTING TO BEGIN WITH $5.99

Return of Donna Troy #1: I'm Donna Troy. No, I'm Troia. No, I'm Troy. No, I'm Wonder Girl. I'm a Titan of Myth. No, I'm a Teen Titan. I'm gonna talk about my memories for-fucking-ever and bore the pants off Huk with absolutely ZERO chance of getting back into that sexy scoop-neck Go-Go outfit from the 70s.

Green Lantern #1 (Pacheco cover, if you must know): Cool. Cool. Cool. Hal's back in the Air Force, but not flying. Yet. Except for when he is flying. Makes up for the NON-events (plotwise, gotta gotta love the Darwyn Cooke Gil Kane stuff though) of GL Secret Files. Yellow weaknesses are for pussies. Bad guy aliens and something from the past!

the Flash #222 Best Geoff Johns action issue ever. I like Johns, I like him a lot, but he usually drops the ball on issues like this, where all the cool tension he's been building up finally explodes (witness, The Secret of Barry Allen). But it's cover-to-cover chaos as the Rogues continue their war, sides are switched, brainwashes are reversed, the corpse of Captain Boomeran, pere speaks, and Captain Cold should change his name to Captain Stone Cold.

The OMAC Project #2: The art stinks. I think it's the inker's fault. Too thick. Greg Rucka proves he's got the DCU down with Identity Crisis follow up, Booster Gold with b-a-l-l-s, and a big fat smooch for Batman.

Day of Vengeance #2: This is Fables Bill Willingham, not Robin Bill Willingham. Weird, chatty, cheeky & human. Ragman gets played by Enchantress and pwned by Blue Devil (who's sort of a douchebag), and Detective Chimp is the coolest ape around. The art is pretty sweet.

Outsiders #whatever: After learning last issue that the traitor was Shift, now we learn (well, we learned last week in Teen Titans) that the traitor is actually Indigo, which should be no surprise to anyone. Indigo, revealed as Brainiac 8 (have we ever seen Brainacs 3, 4, 6 & 7?) (or 8-12?), kicks everyone's ass. It looked like she was gonna kill Grace, which would have been awesome, but everyone survived. Indigo returns to her master, Braniac 1, who's hanging out with Luthor and his kid, Superboy. It's like Eight Is Enough, with Luthor as Dick Van Patten.

j/k; the Outsiders thing was spoiled, but I'm on the verge of cutting bait anyway. Suck for 'Morpho, tho.

The reveal disappointed me a bit, though.

Day of Vengeance #1 was one of those ones where it could've gone either way, cool or suckass, (despite the monkey), so I'm glad to hear #2 is solidly on the Fables end of the Willingham spectrum.

Speaking of - the last issue of I Can't Believe It's the Justice League Classified! Pathos! In a story about flipping burgers in hell! The heck!

This is actually quite a good Chaykin book, imagine it as a cross between Black Kiss, American Century and his Challs book and you're most of the way there. A pleasant surprise. Not as majestic as the first Flaggs, but getting there.

FLASH #222

The Rogue War is really hotting up, what with the Top going round setting all the people FREE, but OMG! Dead Boomerang speaks! Lots of fites! THE LONG THREATENED RETURN OF ZOOM! Don't miss this, funny book fans.

HELLBLAZER #208

Why do I buy this? (Actually, I know the answer, it's for someone else) Blah blah blah, I'm in Hell, blah blah blah Nergal blah blah blah. Shite.

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #6

ACTUAL PLOT INSTEAD ON PIECEMEAL STORIES SHOCKAH! Superb stuff though, I see it all going wrong very soon. Great character in... oh, what's his name...

LOSERS #24

The Roque/Max doublecross is becoming more complex and there's a huge bit FITE that sees Kennedy (? The computer guy) left behind. The ending is well done, even though you know you're being misled.

FANTASTIC FOUR #527

JMS starts, and lays his stall out well. It'll be interesting to see this one develop. You can only eat 17 hot dogs, apparently. (Ken C >>> The Thing, obv)

INCREDIBLE HULK #81

The Monster Island thing finishes (of sorts) with more bluffs, double bluffs and OH NO! twists than the whole of the previous Leader thread. Works, kind of.

ULTIMATES 2 #6

Admit it, who else is wondering if Hank pulled the same trick on Valkyrie as he did on Janet in that issue of Avengers. It would explain why he's wearing his helmet... and am I the only one that wonders how her skirt stays on? Marvel's best comic, still.

X-MEN #170

I can't remember a thing about this, which is never a good sign.

Holy fuck in a fuck basket. I thought you were MY age.