WLG #206: Punishing Super Green Limeys!

By Michael A. Diaz

I think I've been doing an OK job of catching up on my comic book reading over the last few weeks, enough so that I've been able to keep this column going at a nice regular clip. That's a change of pace over the last year or so as life has changed along the way.

Which is good, because right about now I'm loving my life.

That said, there is one aspect of this column that I am missing out on: the message boards.

Now, most of that is certainly my own fault. Because I didn't post columns for a while I stopped hitting the boards. When I did write the occasional book I often didn't save time to hit the boards after posting. Sure, there were those of you that made the effort to post on the boards, but if I wasn't bothering, why should you?

Well, last week I took some time and I made sure that I posted on the boards like I SHOULD be doing. After all, if I am going to herald each and every column with a new forum post shouldn't I at least respond once in a blue moon?

Actually, no, I should be responding MUCH more often.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm going to be on the boards 24-7, but I am making a concerted effort to hit the boards.

But I need some help.

See, the other thing that I found in the past that I LOVE about this column is the interaction with other fans, because the thing is that I'm just a fan like you. Somehow I was lucky enough to get Silver Bullet Comic Books to give me a weekly column. For some reason people and some might even like it, but is my opinion any more or less valid than yours?

NOPE.

Like I said, I'm just a fan, and like any other fanboy I just LOVED to gab about comics.

So here's the deal: read the column, then hit the boards (see link at the bottom of the column) and let me know what YOU think looks good. I'll post more, and then hopefully some of you will post more (a big THANK YOU to those of you that still hit the WLG boards; you are the definition of die hard), which in turn will get me to post even more yet, and then before you know this I'll be doing nothing but this column and my fiancée will leave me.

OK, maybe not that, but I find that my passion for writing this column grows with the more feedback that I get.

So hit me up people, I don't bite.

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.Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's take a peek at the books hitting the stands this week and see What Looks Good...

DC

ALL STAR SUPERMAN #9 $2.99 (Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely)

You know what I like about this comic? Every issue is extremely strange and amazing, which in my opinion, is everything that a Superman comic SHOULD be.

Yes, when he was first created it was simply amazing that he could fly (actually, we had to build up to that; originally he could only leap “tall buildings in a single bound” and all that jazz, so yeah, for a while flying alone was pretty awesome). The thing is that he's been around for generations now; people have already accepted the notion of someone that can fly. However, if someone could really do those AMAZING things, would it not make sense if that same person also had AMAZING adventures as well?

Morrison and Quitely seem to think so, and to their credit they've been giving this particular reader everything that I want. Superman IS larger life, something made clear in every issue of this comic book.

'Nuff said!

GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #2 $2.99 (Judd Winick / Cliff Chiang)

It's no secret that I loved both Green Arrow and Birds of Prey while Canary was the star of the show. The thing that I enjoyed the most about BOTH books was how well the teams worked together, about how the characters were a family, not just people working together toward some common goal. In GA's case it was more literal, as his biological son and his ward both worked alongside him; with Black Canary it was more about the strong bonds that formed between her, Oracle, and the Huntress that made them family, and later, Black Canary's adopted daughter, Sin.

Once I saw that Black Canary was leaving the Birds of Prey team and book I was upset to see her go; I was also upset to see Gail Simone leave the title as it was during her tenure that I truly fell in love with the book (though, so far Tony Bedard seems to be doing one heck of a job IMHO). To see Canary back again in a family/team book is simply perfection to me. The fact that Winick is writing? Icing. PURE icing.

The cool thing about this title is that it started off write with a mess. There was the wedding special which ended with (SPOILER alert) the apparent death of Green Arrow at the hands of his new bride. Of course, this was proved to NOT be the case by the end of the first issue of this new series, so now Dinah is searching for her missing, not dead, husband.

I have HIGH hopes for this book and I am looking forward to devouring this issue the second I get home.

IMAGE

BRIT
#3 $2.99 (Bruce Brown / Cliff Rathburn)

- Spoilers concerning the main character and his powers -

Through a series of one-shots we've gotten to know this character of Brit. Yes, he's old and scruffy, but he's also invincible, like a bulletproof Lee Marvin on steroids. We know that already, so it was a nice change of pace when his ongoing series hit the stands that the creative team threw a curve ball at the readers, offering the possibility that maybe Brit WASN'T invincible.

Sure, we're seen it before. In a prior mini-series the U.S. attempted to kill Brit when the thought they saw some blood run out of his nose. This was later proved to be the blood from something Brit had killed that had been splashed into his nose and then ran back out following the battle. By the end of the issue Brit had proved that truly was tougher than leather.

But is he?

The first arc of this new series seriously poses the question again. It appeared as if Brit had died, but his sister showed up and proved quickly that no, her brother was still kicking.

Sister?

Yeah, it might be a touch hokey, but yeah, Brit has a sister that is ever bit as tough as he is, only “breast-ier.”

Overall this is fairly typical comic book material, but it's done in a fresh, never boring way.

MARVEL

PUNISHER #52 (MR) $2.99 (Garth Ennis / Goran Parlov)

I know that my blurbs about Ennis on this book tend to be quite short, but come on, the guy's been writing Frank Castle for the better part of ten years now. What haven't I said about this excellent book?

So yeah, I'll keep it short, because really, there's not much more that needs to be said other than this about why I am so geeked:

The Punisher heading toward a rendezvous with The Barracuda.

Again, what more could I want? What more can I say?

JOY!

Was there something that you are particularly geeked about this week? Then please, hit the What Looks Good message boards (see link below) and let me know what YOU think. I look forward to hearing from you!

Until then,

Peace!

-Diaz