Small Eyes, Big Mouth

Booster Gold #8 - Eh. Didn’t really feel it with this issue, probably because of this plot arc’s reliance on the Evil Max Lord/OMAC stuff that I really couldn’t care less about. (And also, the whole “I can’t get Superman to kill” thing was kind of stupid, and retroactively undercuts that whole plot point back in IC.)

Green Lantern Corps #23 - Solid all around, although I really wish they’d back off a little bit on the negative portrayal of the Guardians just a tad.

Wonder Woman #19 - Lots to like here, and thankfully little of the Nemesis/Secret Agent Diana stuff. However, the plot seems to fall apart a bit at the end, and Etta remains woefully in need of a proper introduction.

Amazing Spider-Girl #19 - Was more or less like every other issue of Amazing Spider-Girl: solid but unexceptional.

Terry Moore’s Echo #2 - On the one hand, it’s an interesting story. On the other hand, I’m not sure it’s $3.50-a-month interesting at this point. I think I’m probably going to back off and wait for trades for the rest of this series.

One of the (very few) anime I started watching during my extended break from this blog was The Third. Last night, I finally got around to watching the third volume of The Third, and I figured I’d resurrect the ever-popular (for sufficiently small values of popular) “Thoughts On” format. Therefore, below is an unordered list of my thoughts. Minor spoilers may abound.

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Seeing as how this is nominally an anime blog, I should probably post at least a little about anime, huh?

Taking advantage of Random Curiosity’s Spring 2008 preview, which provides screenshots and summaries and other things I’m much too lazy to do myself, let’s see whether there’s anything coming out that I’m interested in.
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So, DC’s been doing a weekly book for the past year or so. Originally called Countdown, with precisely what it was counting down to a secret. Now it’s called Countdown to Final Crisis, but I stopped reading it before the name change because… well, to put it charitably, it just wasn’t a very good book.

Now, it’s finally winding down, though it appears to have not gotten any better. However, one bit I’ve seen from the latest issue amused me, as two of the characters - presumably unintentionally - break the fourth wall and speak for all of us:

Detective Comics #843 - It’s another Paul Dini issue of Detective Comics, which means it’s a strongly-written, well-told one-or-two parter (two, in this case) with a good chance of featuring Zatanna (this one does) that’s light on continuity and status quo shake-ups and doesn’t stretch the limits of “a Batman story” in any way. And that’s just fine.

Nightwing #143 - Hmm. Not bad, but I didn’t like it quite as much as the previous issues, though I can’t really put my finger on why. It may just be that now it’s only “good” instead of “surprisingly good.”

Young Avengers Presents #3 - A fairly typical issue for this mini. It was pleasant and reminded me of why I like these characters, but not much more.

Young X-Men #1 - Meh. Not too much that was actively bad, but not much that was actively good. The new character doesn’t do anything for me so far and the concept of the book is problematic. (Another Cyclops-sponsored strike force, this time with more kids?) Characterization was iffy. I liked the art, though. As for the “twist”… it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it was pretty close. And, just for the record, I’m really getting sick of last page reveals that rely on strictly visual identification of not terribly well-known characters that weren’t previously brought up in the book. I’ll probably still give this book another issue or two, but thus far… meh.

Secret Invasion #1 - It was good. Not superb, no. It didn’t change the way I think about comics or change my mind about anything I’ve disliked about recent Marvel books. But it was good, solid superhero entertainment. Mostly a setup issue, but a good one with a last sequence that made me want to read the second issue. I didn’t find the “Bendis dialogue” terribly distracting or out of place, but then I usually don’t.

FEB080206 DETECTIVE COMICS #843 $2.99
FEB080207 NIGHTWING #143 $2.99
FEB082240 SECRET INVASION #1 (OF 8) $3.99 Staying away from most of the tie-ins, at least until trades, but Marvel’s more than sold me on giving the main series a shot.
JAN082180 YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #3 (OF 6) $2.99
FEB082264 YOUNG X-MEN #1 DWS $2.99 Please don’t suck.

My Naruto fanfic, One Hundred Days, is finally finished and up on Fanfiction.Net. It has 18 chapters, counting the Prologue and Epilogue, and weighs in at 368,971 words by Fanfiction.Net’s count. As of right now, it has 492 reviews, over 180,000 hits (which is mostly meaningless), and has been listed as a favorite story by 450 people. (110 people also list me as a favorite author, although this has some overlap with the “favorite story” list.)

So, overall, even given the massive delays in writing and then revising the final chapter, I think I can consider this one a success.

Via scans_daily, the most insane thing you’ll see all day. (Click image for full-size.)

The girl in white on the left, of course, is Jesus.

Rather light on the actual whining this week, as it was a pretty strong week.

Blue Beetle #25 - Awesome, but not quite as awesome as the previous issue. Still, a no-contest victor for “Book of the Week.” Now it’s time to be nervous about the writer leaving.

Green Lantern #29 - Solid and well-told, but with everything going down in the Green Lantern corner of the DCU, and the countdown to “Blackest Night” already beginning… this is really a bad time to derail the book in favor of retelling Hal Jordan’s origin. Maybe future issues will make the decision seem more sensible, but I’d much rather be exploring the various new Corps that are starting up.

Ultimate Spider-Man #120 - Another very nicely done issue of the only reason I pay any attention to the Ultimate Universe anymore. (Which is rather sad, as not too long ago I was eagerly following Ult. X-Men, Ult. FF, and the Ultimates.) With the events of this issue, I stand by my half-joking prediction that Ult. Spidey is well on his way to being demasked and married.

Wolverine: First Class #1 - Nicely done. You’d have to ask someone who cares for how well it fits into continuity, but on its own merits it’s a well-told done-in-one that establishes a workable status quo for an ongoing series, with nice characterization on Wolverine and Kitty Pryde. No complaints here; I just wonder if the “Wolverine” in the title will make this perform better than the other all ages books in the direct market.

X-Men First Class #10 - This, on the other hand… well, I’ve been disappointed in the past few issues, and this is no change. It’s a competently told, bland, predictable Cyclops spotlight story that does nothing interesting with the character. It continues to feel like there’s been a writer change, as the humor that enlivened earlier issues is almost completely missing in action here, outside the always awesome “recap” pages. I’m probably going to drop this series soon if it doesn’t start turning around.

JAN080177 BLUE BEETLE #25 $2.99 So excited for this one.
JAN080185 GREEN LANTERN #29 $2.99 Is this the start of the “Secret Origin” arc? I’m dubious, but we’ll see…
JAN082144 MARVEL ATLAS #2 (OF 2) $3.99 How can anyone resist? Now if only DC would do an equivalent, at least for the US to establish where all the extra major cities are…
JAN082125 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #120 $2.99
JAN082189 WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #1 $2.99 Here’s hoping it’s good.
JAN082188 X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #10 $2.99 Here’s hoping this one is better than the past couple issues.

First week in a very long time where I’ve bought more Marvel than DC.