Alice in Leatherland, Betty and Veronica, Bully Pulpit

Alice in Leatherland 1

Nothing's changed in the last three months.  Cutting.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Betty and Veronica 1-2

This is a weird series.  The rare Adam Hughes interior art doesn’t disappoint, it’s technically flawless and gorgeous while keeping the traditional Hughes good girl pinups to a minimum.  The writing, also by Hughes, is jam packed with jokes, gags, and tons of fourth-wall-breaking asides that actually elicit chuckles.  But the combined package fails to impress me.  It’s too self aware of its own cuteness, and rubs both past and present me the wrong way.  I didn’t get the final issue back then, and I really don’t care about how Pop’s Diner gets saved, or how Betty and Veronica mend their relationship.  Keeping ‘cause the art.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine 

Tales from the Bully Pulpit

Teddy Roosevelt steals HG Wells’ time machine, enlists the help of Thomas Edison’s ghost, and battles Hitler’s descendent, Jorge.  Yeah, it’s that kind of book.  My sense of humor appears to have shifted a few notches in the last couple of decades, because I don’t find this or other silly books like Rex Mantooth as funny any more.  It’s still more amusing than most of the other comics I have with similar sensibilities, but it’s not the uproarious good time I remember it being.

When in doubt, just add science.

I have never forgotten Chairman Meow.  I love him.

Lincoln always shows up in silly time travel stories, and he always kicks ass.

Okay, sometimes he's just silly.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Batman: Cataclysm, New comics

New comics!

Alice in Leatherland.1

Got this on the recommendation of the amazing Stjepan Sejic, as something that’s similar to his stellar Sunstone.  Alas, even accounting for the high bar Sejic sets, it’s not quite good enough for me to try the second issue.  Iolanda Zanfardino and Elisa Romboli have created a decent first issue about a young lady who’s moved to San Francisco and finds herself far out of her comfort zone in just about every aspect of her life.  In a story like this, everything relies on the characters and how much I want to keep reading about them.  It’s close, but I couldn’t get myself to care enough for this fish out of water.  

Sunstone: Mercy vol 7

Speaking of Sejic, here he is with the continuation of Sunstone.  My god, he is a phenomenal writer/artist.  Talk about caring for the characters.  He writes flawed but sympathetic men and women in this series, and I care immensely about their well-being and happiness.  I can’t wait to find out what happens next, even though as a flashback, I already know the broad strokes of the outcome.  There’s no doubt this is going to Pure Joy on the re-read.

Nightwing 80

Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo.  What an amazing team.  

I love their relationship, whatever it is.

Great troll.

Nightwing 19-20

Catwoman 56

Batman 553-554

Detective Comics 719-721

Batman: Shadow of the Bat 73-74

Robin 53

Batman Chronicles 12

Blackgate: Isle of Men 1

Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma 1

The Cataclysm arc, which will lead to the very long, very epic No Man’s Land.  The writers do a better job here than they did in Contagion in terms of portraying how a conceivable natural disaster would affect Gotham.  It feels more realistic, once you get past the people in costumes, because even they’re pretty useless in a situation like this, outside of search and rescue.  There’s a bit with the Quakemaster at the end, and it’s predictably the weakest part.  

But there’s some really strong stuff at the beginning, as we see how Nightwing, Oracle, and Catwoman react to the crisis.  Their instant responses, “How can I help,” feel like true heroism, not comic book superheroism.  It’s neat to read.

I like the inner monologue and very human reactions from Selina.

A very 'basic' bystander rescue...

...but Dixon and McDaniel really sell the tension and heroism.

Bruce and Jim have a great bromance.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes (No for Blackgate and Blunt Trauma)

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good for Nightwing and Catwoman.  Fine for Blackgate and Blunt Trauma.  Nice for the rest.