WLG #198: I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again!

By Michael A. Diaz

Yes, your eyes are correct, this IS a new column of What Looks Good, the formerly weekly internet column that geeks about the week's coming releases.

Success in work and in life is a double-edged sword. I am now at a very good job and moving up the corporate ladder, slowly but surely. With that comes better pay, but more responsibility. For example, the last couple of weeks I could not get this column done because I was busy preparing for and then going on a business trip to Florida. That was good because I know my company has faith in me; I really see a future there.

Of course, working as much as I have been really cuts into the time that I can spend writing columns about comics on the internet.

That's the bad side.

But then again, all of this money that I am making makes it possible for me to buy a house in the next few weeks, with a very large room to store all of these comics that I so love.

See what I mean: double-edged sword.

Now, before I get TOO far ahead of myself let me include one of these:Now this:

Standard Disclaimer: For those of you new to the WLG experience, here's how it works: Every week I check out the release schedule from the Diamond Comics Shipping List and decide which comics that I am going to spend my hard-earned money on. Yep, my money. That's good, because it helps to maintain my objectivity. If I spend money on a comic book and it turns out to be crap I'm going to be upset.I realize that I have been out of the loop for a while, but while in Florida I did meet some cool people at a comic book shop that I visited down there. They were nice enough to suggest that I check out the first issue of Elephantmen, a book that I initially missed several weeks ago. Per their suggestion I read the book and I LOVED it. Is anyone else reading this book, and if so, are the subsequent issues just as good?

Also, last week The Boys resurfaced at Dynamite Entertainment and it was just as awful as I was expecting it do be. Beautifully horrible that book is, and I love every minute of it.

But enough about that. Let's take a look at the comics coming out THIS week and see What Looks Good...

DC

GREEN ARROW #75 $3.50 (Judd Winick / Scott McDaniel)

I was never the biggest fan of Green Arrow/Oliver Queen. Actually, for the longest time my only exposure to him was his one-armed appearance within the classic Dark Knight Returns trade that I read about 20 years ago (yes, I am officially old now that I can reference things from that long ago).

Other than that, well, he was just a guy that wore green and fired trick arrows, sometimes with a boxing glove on the end.

“Meh.”

At some point he died (honestly, I don't know how; remember, I never much cared for the character). As is becoming pretty commonplace today he was indeed resurrected. He was brought back within the pages of this book, Green Arrow, though I confess that my main reason for being interested in the book was that Kevin Smith was writing the title. I had missed out on the Dare Devil mini that he had done with Joe Quesada and had heard great things about it, so I did not want to miss out this time around.

It was there, within those Smith-penned issues that I fell in love with the Oliver Queen and his supporting cast. I figured that after Smith I would leave as well, but for some reason I hung around. Right about the time I was thinking of dropping the book Judd Winick came aboard, and having LOVED the work that he did on Marvel's Exiles (at the time my FAVORITE X-title) I figured that I would see what he good do with GA.

Well, it may have been Kevin Smith that initially got me interested in old green tights, but it was Judd Winick that made me fall in love with the character. Though the title of the book makes one think that the focus is on just one character in actuality Green Arrow under Winick was a team book, no, more than that; it was a FAMILY book. Ollie was the head of the household, but his son, the new Speedy, Black Canary, and Arsenal (now the Red Arrow of the Justice League of America) were the family behind him and with him.

This has been one of my favorite books for YEARS now, and I think I have pimped it nearly every time that I could. Now that this is the final issue, well, I feel like I could have, SHOULD have, done more. I will honestly miss this book because I have quite literally (pun intended) fallen in love with these characters.

There is NOTHING about this book that I don't like.

So, will Black Canary accept Ollie's hand in marriage? Well, I'd like to think so, because if Green Arrow is the patriarch of this title it sure could use a matriarch as well, but I don't know. I am not sure what comes after this title other than the Year One mini for GA and the Black Canary mini-series, but I truly hope this isn't the end of this character and, more importantly, this family.

Thanks to Winick et al. for the wonderful years of Ollie and the gang. I, for one, will really miss this book.

STORMWATCH PHD #8 $2.99 (Christos N. Gage / Andy Smith)

I think it is pretty obvious that I have a thing for StormWatch. No, not the original incarnation as dreamed up my Jim Lee, but the superhero strike force created my Warren Ellis, the one that morphed into the Authority. Likewise, I was a huge fan of the the “Team Achilles” version of the book. Unfortunately sales were not that great and the writer lied about his pedigree.

Still, I occasionally go back to those five well-read Warren Ellis trades and sit down to read them cover to cover every so often. I know the stories by heart and yet I still smile every time that I read them.

Every time.

Personally I would love to see that team come back, and have wanted that since I finished those issues. I knew it would never come to be, or at least believed that, but there was a small shred of hope still alive, especially when “Team Achilles” arrived. I figured at some point I might get to see those original characters, even if they were dead. When that title died I was sure that my hope was dead as well.

And now LOOK at this cover: Hellstrike, Winter, AND Fuji, all alive, and all raring to go (Diva I don't care so much about)!

AWESOME.

All I can think to say is THANK YOU Misters Gage and Smith, THANK YOU so very much.

I am happy now.

MARVEL

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #8 $2.99 (Matt Fraction / Ariel Olivetti)

At first I thought the idea of the Punisher taking on a costume other than what he usually wears to be a touch cheesy. Well, truth be told I don't consider his normal attire to be much of a costume but more of a uniform, but still, seeing him all decked out in the pseudo-Captain America duds with a highlight on the “soldier” portion of Super-Soldier I thought “sweet looking, but in line with the character? I don't know.”

Well, the last two issues have been great as Frank Castle takes on a big, huge Nazi-version of the Captain.

You know, for a while I was thinking that there might not be room for the MAX version and this one, but they're both good, just in very different ways.

I can live with that.

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Was there something that did it for you this week? If so, stop by the What Looks Good message boards (see link below) and spread the love, my friend.

Until then,

Peace!

-Diaz

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