Reviews, ruminations, and (occasional) ramblings.
Legion of Super-Heroes #55 – “Different Paths” – Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen, Ernie Colon, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Erik Larsen/Al Gordon
This one starts with Legion leader Polar Boy worrying about a few Legionnaires who have taken off for personal reasons and fallen out of contact. The rest of the issue is a series of vignettes letting us know what these “missing” Legionnaires are doing. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Legion of Super-Heroes 55, Suicide Squad 22”
Justice League International #22 – “Little Murders” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Joe Rubinstein
This is another Invasion crossover and it starts with Oberon and Max Lord discussing the alien Invasion of Earth. Most of the team have gone to the South Pacific in response to a summons from Black Canary and Wonder Woman. Max is pretty worried about the threat to Earth, which makes Oberon worry too. He goes to see Booster Gold, who’s pissed off about being on monitor duty and missing all the alien-bashing fun. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League International 22, Young All-Stars 21”
Batman #428 – “A Death in the Family Chapter 5” – Jim Starlin/Jim Aparo/Mike DeCarlo
This continues the storyline of Jason (Robin) Todd’s death. Apparently, the fans actually got to decide his fate at the time, calling either of two phone numbers to vote for killing Jason or sparing him. Obviously, they voted to kill him, although on the Letters Page, Denny O’Neil claims the vote was pretty close (5343 for killing Robin to 5271 against). Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 428, Detective 595, Green Arrow 13”
Wonder Woman #24 – “Combat Zone” – George Perez/Will Blyberg
Last issue, Hermes came to Earth to revive the worship of the Greek gods by humanity. His method of attracting followers was to dole out temporary miracles, ensuring humans would continue their adoration in the hopes of earning more favours. Diana was troubled by Hermes’ methods, but decided to follow him anyway, which pissed Julia off. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Wonder Woman 24, Firestorm 79, Warlord 133”
Legion of Super-Heroes #54 – “Strength in Numbers” – Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen/Mike DeCarlo
This one starts with Polar Boy doubting himself as leader, which he’s been doing a lot lately. He’s worried because a lot of Legionnaires (including most of the heavy hitters) are absent. His fears are justified when he gets a report of a jailbreak on Labyrinth. Apparently the Khundian Garak of the Glow (who we saw imprisoned on Labyrinth last issue) was bioengineered so the energy cells have no effect on him. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Legion of Super-Heroes 54, New Titans 51, Suicide Squad 21”
Justice League International #21 – “Apokolips Wow” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Ty Templeton/Joe Rubinstein
Last issue, Big Barda, J’onn J’onzz, Gnort, and Rocket Red tracked Manga Khan to Apokolips, where Khan was trying to open trade relations by selling Barda’s husband (Mr. Miracle). When they were attacked by a horde of Parademons, Barda boomed to Earth for reinforcements, bringing back the rest of the team (plus Lobo, who’s been hanging around headquarters waiting for Barda and the others to return so he can kill them and fulfill his contract with Manga Khan). Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League International 21, Young All-Stars 20”
Batman #427 – “A Death in the Family Chapter 3” – Jim Starlin/Jim Aparo/Mike DeCarlo
If you’re wondering what happened to Chapter 2, it was last issue; these issues are double-sized and DC published a couple extra issues of most titles (labelled Winter and Holiday) at the end of 1988. Speaking of last issue, we saw Jason (Robin) Todd figure out that the woman he’d thought was his other was actually his stepmom. He narrowed his biological mother down to three possible candidates: Sharmin Rosen, Shiva Woosan, and Sheila Haywood, all of whom were overseas. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 427, Detective 594, Green Arrow 12”
Wonder Woman #23 – “A God Among Men” – George Perez/Will Blyberg
This one starts with Vanessa Kapatelis getting all kinds of attention from her classmates at school because she’s in a magazine article about the Amazons. Vanessa’s friendship with Wonder Woman has made her pretty popular, so much so that she ignores her supposed best friend Eileen (who she never treated all that well, actually) to hang out with the cool kids. Eileen even sticks up for Vanessa with Lucy Spears, but Lucy’s surprised to learn that Barry was Vanessa’s boyfriend, since he didn’t tell her that when they started hanging out. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Wonder Woman 23, Firestorm 78”
Legion of Super-Heroes #53 – “Hunters and Hunted” – Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen/Mike DeCarlo
Last issue, Magnetic Kid, Lighning Lass, and Tellus went to Braal (Magnetic Kid’s home planet) to help figure out what was causing some unnatural earthquakes. They uncovered a rogue Gil’dishpan named Hywyndr who was using his powers to create the quakes. This issue starts with the trio searching for Hywyndr and walking into an ambush. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Legion of Super-Heroes 53, New Titans 50, Suicide Squad 20”
Justice League International #20 – “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Apokolips” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Ty Templeton/Joe Rubinstein
This one starts on Apokolips, with Manga Khan and Virman Vundabar pontificating at each other. Khan has been trying to open trade with Apokolips for decades, but now he finally has something they want … Mr. Miracle. Khan gets a message from L-Ron that the Cluster blew the Justice League ship to hell as soon as it warped in, and that they still haven’t heard back from Lobo (who Khan hired to kill the Leaguers). Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League International 20, Young All-Stars 19”