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.

• As might be gathered from the choice of screenshot, the character of Paife – who originally I found a fairly annoying addition to the cast and will henceforth be referred to as Lesbiana Jones – has begun to grow on me. She’s still something of a cipher and a stereotype, but she gets fun lines.
• If it weren’t for the presence of Space Jesus… err… Iks, I could totally see a Crest of the Stars/The Third crossover working really easily. The Third are clearly a bizarre offshoot of the Abh…
• Even with Space Jesus, a skilled writer could probably make one work.
• I’m actually kind of surprised at the increase in the presence of “supernatural” abilities beyond the vaguely defined powers of The Third. Then again, maybe Japan is just so used to the idea of “chi attacks” that it doesn’t register as supernatural to them anymore. Or maybe if I went back and rewatched the first two discs I’d see that sort of thing was always there.
• I love, love, love scenes with evil doppelgangers in anime, because it’s fun to hear the voice actors and actresses do a different take on their characters’ voices. (A similar scene was enough to turn an otherwise lamentable episode into one of the highlights of the Naruto filler arcs… though that’s still damning with faint praise.)
• Related, I was relatively pleased with the resolution of the “Honoka reacts to killing a man” subplot, as it admirably didn’t go for the easy “Killing is always wrong!” resolution.
• Remind me to do a post someday about killing, DC and Marvel comics, anti-heroes, and why I really like the character of the current Batgirl. It will only be the ten thousandth time someone has expressed similar ideas on the Internet, making it fit right in on this blog.
• Back to The Third, with this Gravestone plot resolved, I’m rather curious as to where the rest of the series is going, as we’re only about halfway through.
• Also, is there any free solution for playback and screencapping – including the subtitles – of DVDs under Windows that doesn’t suck horribly?

There, wasn’t that fascinating?

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.

Allison & Lillia – By the Kino’s Journey guy? Sold. Doesn’t sound like a bad concept either, so double sold.

Macross Frontier – Eh, probably not. Might be good, but I’ve never really gotten into the Macross franchise beyond Robotech.

kure-nai – Hmm. I’ll wait and see what sort of buzz this one gets. I liked what I saw of Red Garden, though, so I’ll keep an eye on this even though the premise is less interesting.

The Tower of Druaga ~the Aegis of URUK~ – Based on an obscure dungeoncrawling game? Pass. Although since it’s being streamed legally, I might check it out just because of that.

Amatsuki – Hmm. On the fence here.

Kamen no Maid Guy – …might try this one on the strength of the bizarre premise.

Blassreiter – Doesn’t sound to interesting, but again legal free streaming might make me give it a shot.

Wagaya no Oinarisama – Might give this one a shot, although I’m not optimistic for its chances of holding my interest.

Nabari no Ou – I like ninjas. Another on the “try, but not optimistic” list.

SOUL EATER – Hmm. If this gets good buz, I might check it out.

RD Sennou Chousashitsu – Huh. Could be very interesting, or confusing crud.

Himitsu (Top Secret) ~The Revelation – That’s a nice premise; I’ll be keeping an eye on this one.

Toshokan Sensou – Another “if it gets good buz and I’m bored” series. The premise isn’t bad, but I’m worried it’ll lead to something overly preachy. (Yes, yes, censorship is bad. We know.)

Golgo 13 – Ooh. This could be really, really cool. I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read of the manga.

And that’s about everything that interests me. Post done.

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:

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.

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

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

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.