Review: Batgirl #25 (Zero Year tie-in)

Marguerite Bennett lands on a brilliant concept for a “Zero Year” tie-in, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Review: Green Lantern Corps #6

Green Lantern Corps #6 finishes off the Corps’ first story arc of the new 52 by wrapping up some loose ends and posing some important questions of morality for the titles main characters.

When we last left off, John Stewart and two other Green Lanterns had been captured and are being tortured by the Keepers on their home world of Urak. The Keepers watched over the Green Lantern Corps’ power batteries when they were tucked away in their subspace pockets, but since the Guardians decreed that all Green Lanterns are directly responsible for the whereabouts of their power batteries the Keepers have lost their purpose and their planet has fallen into ruin without the power of the batteries. However, due to their prolonged exposure to the batteries the Keepers are all but immune to the Green Lantern’s power rings.

Bruce Castle Presents: Thor Declares War on the Kingdom!

Thor Man of War (*****)

Ok, if you love Thor or fun comics you should definitely pick this up! Matt Fraction is in top form! Forget Punisher War Journal, forget Uncanny X-Men (This was the best selling comic at my LCS last week. Really? People love that book? Why?), this is Matt Fraction writing at its best! Well, Casanova when it comes back and Iron Man are great too, but the point is this comic kicks ass! And with your ass kicking you need some pretty art right? Well, Patrick Zircher is back and if you’ve read the previous two issues you know he’s awesome. The guest artist this time is Clay Mann. I’m not too familiar with his work, but he does a good job. I think he tried to channel Oliver Coipel, it may not be the real thing but it’s an acceptable substitute. So what can you expect in Thor Man of War? I’ll tell you. I guess these are spoilers, but I don’t think it will detract from your enjoyment if you know these.

Thor fights Brunnhilda!

Thor, Brunnhilda, Balder, the Warriors Three and some other Asgardians team up to fight a Storm Giant!

Odin in the Destroyer armor with the Odinsword fights Thor!

Go buy now!

JSA Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom (****1/2)

Everybody who’s reading JSA is reading this right? I hope so because these (This one especially, this is Day Five and Day Six) specials are important. Kudos to Pasarin and Eaglesham for creating one of the creepiest looking characters, Gog. I’d credit Johns too, but he gets enough praise, and Gog’s facial expressions are so unsettling. The story is the same Gog stuff. The subplots are still there with a KC Superman and Wonder Woman scene. We also check up on Starman (We still don’t know what he’s up to do we?) and the last page of the issue really speeds our story along. Hopefully those mislead members will see the error of their ways. Last thing, I also enjoyed the Damage (Who is such a jerky pretty boy!) and Atom Smasher exchange.

Bruce Castle Presents: Kingdom Come Magog vs. Invincible Conan

JSA Kingdom Come Special: Magog (****1/2)

Ah villain comics, how I love you. This is the cool part too, before they become a villain. In fact, I’m pretty sure we witness Magog’s transformation here. “Once the course of a river’s changed, it’ll never be the same”, sounds like it, right? I think Tomasi is a pretty good writer. His heroes are mediocre but his villains are fantastic. He’s in his element here and he really delivers. Both of these Kingdom Come specials have punched me in the gut and I hope Johns can continue that next week.

Invincible #55 (*****)

This issue opens with Mark and Eve having sex and so of course that means we check up on Allen the Alien. Am I the only one who wants Invincible to get laid more? First off, that expression on the bottom of the first page was hilarious when Eve warped off their clothes. Second, Allen the Alien is awesome! This issue’s events have been in the motion for a looong time, but I couldn’t be happier with the turnout. Actually, I’m glad that this took so long because now we have FCO (Yes I’m bringing it up again!) on board to really make things pretty. This is a prison breakout baby! A lot of fighting and awesomeness hooray! Oh and Battle Beast returned! Do people still remember him?

Conan the Cimmerian #5 (****)

The enjoyment continues! “The Wolf’s Promise” is an apt title. This issue is all about promises. Truman not only provides entertainment, he also has me intrigued. Will Caollan join Conan’s adventures? That’d be awesome. I do love a badass chick, but what about the baby? Will Conan meet up with Connacht soon? See, it’s interesting. Oh and of course the art has to be good with all that action right? Well, Giorello and Corben definitely deliver. Man, this has been a great year for Corben. He did a fantastic Hellboy mini and some Conan interiors, how cool? Oh and I usually forget to mention it but these Frank Cho covers rock. How can you not read this book?