WLG #285: The Lost Boy!

By Michael A. Diaz

Hey all!

A big thanks to Jason Sacks for filling in for me last week. It was kind of a last minute thing, but such is the exotic and exciting life of a System Administrator!

OK, maybe not.

I’ve highlighted a few comics this week that really geeked me out, which, honestly, I am a touch surprised that I could do that. Not that the comics this week are bad, far from it, but rather my brain is suffering from severe sleep deprivation after this past week. You see, I decided that working, owning a house, and having a wife were all fine and all, but really, I wanted to give up any form of rest. At least, that is the only conclusion I can come with, because why else would I spend so, so, so many hours playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox?

I mean really, it’s not like it does anything for me materially, and yet, there I am, night after night like a rat in a lab pushing the food button over and over.

Who needs comics, a life, a job, or a wife when you’ve got …Modern Warfare 2, right?

Yeah, that game is going to frigging kill me.

But enough of my whining; let’s check out What Looks Good…

DARK HORSE

ALIEN LEGION OMNIBUS TP VOL 01 $24.95 (Alan Zelenetz / Frank Cirocco, Chris Warner, Terry Shoemaker, Terry Austin, Randy Emberlin)

Drool.

DROOL.

D R O O L ! ! ! !

Perhaps you're not catching the slight nuances there, but I like Alien Legion just a touch.

Just a touch.

OK, maybe more than a touch. More to the point I am an uber-obsessive fanboy of any- and everything having to do with Alien Legion. I could go on and on, but basically I would be covering the same territory that I covered back in May when I was frothing at the mouth then. The restraint is for your benefit, not mine, because really, I could go on and on again about how and why I love Alien Legion, but like I said, if you want to know, just click on the link, the option is yours.

The only thing that pains me about this omnibus coming out is that I cannot buy it right now.

well, I could, but as my birthday is in October and Christmas is not too far off from that, I usually impose a self-restricted buying freeze from October until December. I can be a bit obsessive, so when I find something I want I usually go out and get it (within reason, of course; I mean, I want a PS3, but I can't justify spending $300 on one right now, especially when I already have an Xbox 360 and a Wii). But, something around the $20-range is hard for me to pass up, especially when it is something I so dearly love like Alien Legion

But I MUST practice restraint.

It's hard....so very hard.

So yeah, I would LOVE to run right out and pick this up tomorrow, but I am forcing myself to NOT do that. It's very possible my lovely wife will surprise me this Christmas with this awesome collection; for now, I will simply just sit here and salivate.

It is on my Amazon.com Wish List though, and yes, I shall make sure my wife knows how to get to my Wish List before the holidays.

Oooh...it aches I want this so bad.

I feel like I am 12 again.

Sigh....


DR HORRIBLE ONE SHOT (OSW) $3.50 (Zack Whedon / Joelle Jones)

I am not what you would call a hardcore Whedon-ite, something I have touched on before. I never got into Buffy... or Angel but did fall in love with Firefly/Serenity as well as Dollhouse, and yes, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (it doesn't hurt that the geek goddess Felicia Day was in it).

It will be interesting to see how this comic plays out because for me one of the appeals of the website was the songs (similarly, though I didn't watch the show I loved the "Once More With Feeling" episode of Buffy...). Obviously this is a comic book, and though they might write any songs that may appear (I have no idea as I haven't read the issue, but I doubt it), but the characters are pretty awesome as well, so I am more than willing to give this one-shot the benefit of the doubt.

Looks like fun!

DC

ADVENTURE COMICS #4 $3.99 (Geoff Johns & Michael Shoemaker / Jerry Ordway & Clayton Henry)

Yes, what would a week be like if I didn't mention at least ONE book that tied into the "Blackest Night" event?

That said, such isn't the only thing that interests me about this book. For one thing, this is written by Geoff Johns, who IMHO is absolutely on fire right now, so for the time being I plan on checking out just about anything that he churns out (which includes Flash: Rebirth as well, a book I didn't mention this week as I have a couple of issues previous that I have to catch up on yet).

Also, I have to admit that I am intrigued by how Superboy Prime evolved into the villain that he is now. Really, I can't blame the guy too much. He fought with hundreds (thousands?) of other heroes during the "Crisis..." event in the 80's to try to save his world, only to watch everything and everyone he knew simply erased from existence. If I witnessed that as teen I am sure I would gone the emo-route myself, but Superboy Prime was the ONLY person with powers on his planet, making him essentially an adolescent god. So how was he repaid?

Oh, he was allowed to spend eternity in a small "paradise" of a pocket universe, which really was more of a Hell as he, Alex Luthor, Earth 2's Superman and Louis Lane sat there watching reality go on without them.

Sounds like fun.

There's no question that they all kind of got the poopy-end of the stick.

So yeah, he acted out, he is a teenager, but one with the power of a god, so his tantrum was a big more destructive than most. Like I said, think about it, how would your psyche take it if the entire reality that you knew simply ceased to be?

In my eyes Superboy Prime is a very tragic villain, a fallen hero that just wanted to go back to the home that he loved, and instead he got to watch it disappear as something he didn't recognize took its place. If I was him I'd try to make it come back as well, no matter the cost.

Seeing how he ties into "Blackest Night" is sure to be even more tragic, because in reality he shouldn't even exist, meaning that I am sure that the Black Lantern rings are going to want to rectify that. Really, the guy shouldn't even be alive, and yet, he is.

Should be interesting!

AUTHORITY: THE LOST YEAR #3 (OF 12) $2.99 (Keith Giffen / Darick Robertson)

OK, I thought that I had missed something when I saw that this was solicited; I was like, "Third issue? How in the heck did I miss the first two issues?"

Then the reader came out last week and I saw that it was just a reprint of the first two issues of the Grant Morrison/Gene Ha run that never saw the light of day, reportedly because Morrison saw the reviews of the first issue and said,"F*ck it." I wish I was a writer that was in so much demand that I could just walk away from a book after saying "f*ck it", something akin to saying "screw you guys, I'm taking my toys and going home." Mind you, I like most of Morrison's work, but come on, that was kind of a dickhead move if you ask me (which no one did, I know).

Yeah, I realize that I try to be positive when I write these columns, but that attitude rubbed me the wrong way. To be fair, I did think that Morrison’s run on New X-Men was an instant classic that Marvel suffocated in its sleep and then skull-f*cked it as soon as he left the title, so I guess it can go both ways.

I've gotten lost.

The point is that Morrison drafted a year's worth of stories but actually only scripted the first two issues. Now Keith Giffen is picking up the pieces and with Darick Robertson is going to finish the story that Morrison started. Now, perhaps Giffen doesn't have the "cool cache" that Morrison has, but the man is a solid, talented, and professional writer. Personally, there are few others that I think could have picked up the ball from Morrison without messing it all up. As such, I am eager to see where this creative team takes us as the Authority appears to be on a world much more like our own than their version of Earth. If the Authority really showed up here on our planet, a world where superheroes exist only in stories, what would they do?

I trust Giffen and Robertson to answer that question deftly.

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Once again, a big thanks to Jason Sacks for jumping in last week; I really appreciated it!

What comics did you get geeked out about this week? Just stop by the WLG message boards (see link below) and share!

See you next week!

Peace!

-Diaz

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Were Diaz's picks on the mark?
Have your say on What Looks Good at the Looking Good message board.

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