#silver age superman is pure joy

[kryptonbabe]

I read way more DC comics than Marvel usually, I like reading both, but boy how I envy Marvel's sweet sweet Epic Collection books, there are modern stories, silver and golden age stories (their Human Torch, Namor and War comics from old times), even less popular titles and runs like bronze age She-Hulk and Spider-Woman (I like them both ok?) are all collected and published... Why would DC not go the same route and publish their silver age Legion of Super-Heroes, Superman, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen comics (that were hugely popular back then), the golden age Police Comics (with all the classic Plastic Man material), Alan Scott's Green Lantern, Jay Garrick's Flash, Captain Marvel comics, some of these are so good, but I have to read them in potato quality in shady websites, at least make digital files of these runs, you don't need to publish them all, but make them accessible, this is your last warning DC, I'm keeping the Bat-family hostage and I'm not afraid to hurt them, make your old stuff accessible!

[chernobog13]

BATMAN SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST

I have been enjoying immensely the new Batman Superman: World’s Finest comic book series from writer Mark Waid and artists Dan Mora.

The series is set a few years before current DC continuity.  It has a very welcome Silver Age vibe, but with a modern sensibility.  Superman and Batman are best friends and partners, shining examples for the rest of the world.

And even though, on the surface, the book is about the two greatest superheroes ever, the real star is Robin (Dick Grayson).  

Dick is the reader’s viewpoint character.  Through him we get to experience how much fun it must be (well, most of the time anyway) going on adventures with Superman and Batman.

Take for example this page from the latests issue, number 7:

That bottom panel is pure joy!  It’s great to read a comic book that’s actually fun!

A few pages later we’re treated to this gem of a panel, set in the bottle city of Kandor (I told you there was a strong Silver Age vibe going on):

It was established in an earlier issue that Robin and Supergirl went on a date that apparently did not go well.  In fact, Supergirl was still pretty mad at him about it.

However, that little setback doesn’t seem to have cooled Robin’s ardor for blond-haired Kryptonian lasses

Can’t say I blame him, though I’m more a brunette guy myself).

If you haven’t checked out this series yet, issue #7 - which hit the stands this week - is a perfect jumping on point.   Give it a try!

[davidmann95]

Finally, Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Let’s dispense with any pretense right up front: CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths is thoroughly dopey, punishingly cheap, and unselfconciously corny in the most heavy-handed ways. It is also, similarly in the spirit of wanting to be direct, probably my favorite live-action DC thing other than The Dark Knight. It’s pure, uncut, unapologetic dork superhero joy injected right into the jugular, every single ambition that a primetime network television soap/procedural/mini-MCU homunculus adaptation of the biggest comic book event of all time could have ever conceivably achieved and far beyond. Not in question that I substantially prefer it to the source material, and it’s if nothing else worth regarding as the singular achievement that it is and will remain: when the movies get around to a Crisis someday, the shared ongoing TV/cinematic universe paradigm means there aren’t going to be fistfuls of actors from past interpretations to draw from the way this could for much longer. This was in all likelihood the one shot to do this in the way everyone wanted it to be done, and it held together.

Not that much in the way of deep analysis to offer, and I already discussed the first three episodes, so let’s just get into it:

* Malthus! Low on the totem pole of shock DCU minutia, but I was mighty pleased.

* Not nor have I ever been much of a shipper, but “Do you trust me?” “With every cell in my body.” is the gayest thing I have ever seen, my lord.

* Literally everything with Lex in here is solid shining gold.

* For all the elements I had assumed were givens that didn’t happen - not that I was bothered by much of it other than I really do wish Danny Trejo had been here - Ezra Miller putting his money where his mouth is was in my dang joke category of stuff that was obviously never going to happen. What an absolute delight, and moreover I had thought in the first place “This scene really feels deliberately structured such that it would fit as a scene in the Flash movie, especially given this is where this version has the idea for the name? But that seems so unlikely!” and then Guggenheim confirmed that the CEO of WB specifically asked for that scene to be included, so I guess the Flash movie is going to be a covert sequel/companion piece to the friggin’ CW Crisis! Even if Gustin’s possibly only in the one bit though, I do hope this means Tom Cavanaghhas at least a cameo.

* The killer dumb as hell line aside, Oliver vs. the Anti-Monitor was conspicuously the best special effect in the whole thing, they clearly blew a lot of the budget on that.

* Wolfman got to be the one to tell them the Earths had been merged! And kudos to him co-writing the Arrow episode, which was probably the best of the lot from a pure storytelling/dramatic standpoint; when I say this was leaps and bounds better than the original Crisis, that’s not a knock on him.

* BEEBO. And Sargon the Sorcerer! But BEEBO. Hopefully him appearing at the height of all this and being a thing the non-Legends have to deal with is a sign of the weirdness continuing to be upped across the board.

* The final plan to defeat the Anti-Monitor is the most beautiful Silver Age nonsense, to the point that I’m fine with the last battle basically being in a Vancouver back alley the way I’d said they’d written themselves out of being able to do a year ago. And while there’s an argument to be made that from an in-universe perspective it should have been Flash to deal the final blow given this has been built up on his show since day one, it feels right that Supergirl as his biggest classic casualty scored the win. Either way, the idea of a teeny-tiny Anti-Monitor bein’ all grumpy in the Microverse for all eternity is a delight. Apparently some complained that he was a boring stock villain in this, but folks, I got some bad news about what they’re drawing from.

* Heat Wave is living his best life and we should all be so blessed.

* Given his backseat role as essentially the most important of the non-central characters, all I was truly rooting for with Hoechlin’s Superman in terms of strutting his super-stuff was getting one good hit in against the Anti-Monitor, and then it turned out he was one of the only three (or four if you count Oliver) who did out of the 50+ or so superheroes in total here, so I was a happy camper. And itty-bitty Superman was funny right away, but even funnier when I realized that was basically making Hoechlin an Atom to go with Routh’s Superman. Can’t wait for the show.

* I assume that as I’ve seen others suggest Earth-12 is meant to be the HBO Green Lantern series and they simply used the related footage they had available, but that movie of all movies therefore getting a shout-out in here is both hysterical and somehow perfect: everything has its place.

* Routh lives, in what might be a brighter rewritten timeline! This could easily be his sendoff and it’d be a perfect one, but I’d of course be more than pleased for him to fill a Kal-L role in Superman & Lois.

* “The first of our heroes”? Did Green Arrow precede Superman, which would be a change in at least one of their timelines? Wasn’t Black Lightning a hero awhile back? Or is this just in the sense of him being the first public human hero? The real answer is that it’s an acknowledgment of his real-world role as the guy who kicked all this off and the logistics don’t matter.

* Justice League! Justice League! Justice League!

* Wonder what the next crossover’s going to be? Easy answers would be something with Superman in the lead now that he’ll be fully in the fold (I understand the 90s crossover Panic in the Sky! was meant for much the same purpose of positioning him as a leader in-universe), or a Dark Nights: Metal adaptation with Batwoman center stage, but the producers have been adamant that the next entry will be something smaller. Maybe a set of mini-crossovers of two or three shows in blocks, or a subplot building across multiple shows that culminates in one or two big episodes with the League banding together. I’d love for their first adventure as a formal team to be fighting Starro (he could emerge as a Lovecraftian threat ala how Morrison treated him in JLA, only for J’onn to link them up to his mind and he turns out to be the hilarious doofus bully from Metal, but the first big crossover was already an alien invasion that involved a bunch of superheroes being mind-controlled, so there is the concern that it could come off as redundant. I’m still in favor of it though, as it could get us a live-action Jarro.

So there we go, there was a live-action Crisis on Infinite Earths. Whereas its source was dopey junk food in service of tearing down a lot of cool stuff, this was dopey junk food in service of delivering and setting up more cool stuff to come, so I’ll stand by this being the better of the two. What a start to the decade; I grew up with 2020 as The Year Of The Future in the same way I know many did with 2000, and nothing could be more of a signifier that we live in a changed world as far as superheroes’ place in mass-media from when I was a kid than this.

[crystalnet]

The Prisoners of Three Worlds & the Dreams of the Perpetual Reader 

In 1964, before Batman comics experienced a tonal shift away from its Silver Age turn towards loopy, off-the-rails sci-fi plots, Bill Finger, the now famous, oft-uncredited, then nearly unknown co-creator of the character, penned a monumental story that would reverberate throughout time, casting a ripple in the beloved mythos of the Bat that remains the stuff of dreams to this day for those lucky enough to witness it at the time, as well as those of us blessed enough to find it all these decades later, crystallized in all of its bedazzling amazement in any given archived edition. 

Many during this current millennium were lead to the charming story thanks to a web of intertextuality contained within the Grant Morrison classic ‘Batman R.I.P.’ (2008). But we would be bereft if we didn’t acknowledge the hundreds of fans who read the story originally as children, mere months before the Beatles changed the world forever on Ed Sullivan and a couple more years before Batman himself changed the world in a smaller way on the small-screen. (click through for a glimpse at the amazing fan-mail page in issues following the arc.)

I must admit, when I was personally perusing this issue along with several other classic tales from the era collected in 2009′s The Black Casebook, I was dumbstruck by a specific set of letters from readers in an issue following this tale. It’s still hard to explain, but something about hearing the voices of these readers from generations gone by rocked me to my core and left me utterly delighted, and perhaps filled with a bit of something bittersweet. 

In many of these letters, readers repeatedly commend the writer, Finger, (who was completely uncredited for almost all his life, along with most Silver Age writers sadly) for penning one of the most thrilling Bat-capers they had encountered. The first one in fact to occupy all three slots in the usual discretely 3-part issues that readers were accustomed to. 

They express their love for the tale and ask innocently for even more page-time for some of their favorites, including various members of the Bat-family, such as Kathy Kane’s Batwoman, her daughter Bat-girl and the inter-dimensional sprite Bat-mite. This was not to be, however, as within a year Batman’s direction would change, his sidekicks would be pared down to just Robin, and we would only see the likes of Batwoman again in a group-book featuring Superman and friends. 

For those wondering about the plot of the issue, it involved Batman and Batwoman’s consciousness’s being split in two, with half of their minds manifesting in an alien dimension of bird-people as beings of pure energy, while their human bodies were drained of their “life force” back on Earth. Likewise, Robin and Bat-girl are transported to an alien planet. It’s actually typical Silver Age fare if you can believe it. Indeed, the mad-cap science-fiction of Buck Rogers had seeped quite thouroughly into these technicolored pages of pop-art ephemera.

The actual plot is a bit less important to me than the fact that the issue fulfilled a wish of readers everywhere: for Batman and Batwoman, and Robin and Batgirl, respectively, to acknowledge the love between one another once faced with such dire straits as these. The same love so many readers had been waiting for so long to see come to fruition had at last been realized. It’s a thread that Morrison somewhat darkly picks up on decades and decades later in his “The Butler Did It” storyline. He reimagines their inter-planetary travels as being merely an acid trip in the bat-cave. And maybe that isn’t any less meaningful. 

And then there are the letters in following issues. We’ll never know if this was the bulk of them or if there were hundreds more. The verve and enthusiasm is the same throughout all of them and I now think I’ve discovered my new favorite way to glimpse utter human compassion: On the fan-mail pages of silver-age comics. Go figure.

One wonders where Mary Schmitz of Winfield, Il is now. Or Jerry Johnson of Superior, MI. Or the Daniel brothers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They might easily still live to this day. But perhaps not. Some of these writers might have been at the right age to soon be facing a mandatory draft to Vietnam. Some may have forgotten about the time they penned a letter to the DC comics they read so faithfully, for 12 cents a month, and moved on with their lives as we all tend to do at one point or another. Some may have never seen their letter printed. Others though certainly went on to remember and cherish the time their words were immortalized in print as a child.

No matter their paths, their dreams echo throughout time in the imagination of all readers who have ever come to adore the joy of serialized pulp. Their hearts beat as one with ours when we read these books to this day. Alas, their dreams of Batman may have never come to fruition. That is the nature of this whole exercise after all. So much of these trajectories are in the hands of editors and large moving parts-- men in offices counting beans and moving gears, making demands. 

But their dreams are imprinted in eternity on the pages of these fantastic fragments of imagination put to paper. And though the pages may be faded, even in archived facsimile, the simple joy of creation shared by artists and fans alike glows eternal.

No matter where our paths intersect with these stories, all of these roads lead us back to the imagination of our youths. This magical fourth-world that lives inside of us all, still, despite age, or health, or our isolation from one another. If you close your eyes, you can feel that energy reverberating inside of everything-- all matter shot through with infinite love and creation. 

And if we really are mere beings of light separated from our bodies somewhere off in another dimension while our life force dwindles, then we’re all the better for it. We’ll always still be right here after all, no matter what: somewhere on these ink-splashed pages. Our loves and hopes and dreams, forever~

[jimintomystery]

DC’s 1967 revamp of Blackhawk is a remarkable moment in comics history, in that it was a self-obscuring event.  Few have cause to revisit this, because few still care about Blackhawk, because fiascos like this drove it into the ground.

Originally, Blackhawk was a Quality Comics feature in the 1940s, about a privately-operated squad of fighter pilots attacking the Nazis.  DC acquired the rights in 1956, and publication of the Blackhawk series continued uninterrupted.  Under DC, the series quickly transitioned from weird war stories to the absurd sci-fi popular in early Silver Age superhero comics.  Blackhawk himself might have been able to cut it as a square-jawed hero doing the “Thing from Planet X” bit, but his teammates were broad stereotypes of ordinary joes like you’d see in the Howling Commandos or Easy Company.

Writer Bob Haney was brought in to try to save the series from cancellation.  You may know Haney from such WTF ideas as “Superman and Batman are both married with adult children” and “Wonder Girl is suddenly Wonder Woman’s sidekick, not her younger self.”  I don’t know how he got away with his style, but I have to respect his honey-badger approach.  Haney spent Blackhawk #228-229 establishing that the team was corny, old-fashioned, and washed-up.  The Justice League appealed to President Lyndon Johnson to put them out to pasture because Blackhawk couldn’t keep up with modern threats.  (That is to say, the evil organizations popularized by James Bond--DC had a slew of them.)  As Batman (amazingly) says “To put it bluntly...they just don’t swing!”

To prove themselves, the Blackhawks train real hard (with an emphasis on super-spy action and gadgets) and adopt superhero-esque costumes and codenames.  Maybe this could have worked, but the costumed identities are incredibly bad designs.  I mean, maybe they could work in some ironic deconstruction, but not as a straight attempt to turn fighter pilots into super secret agents.

Within a year, the series was demoted to bi-monthly and test-piloting a return to the Golden Age uniforms.  With the writing on the wall, editor Dick Giordano stepped in with Marv Wolfman and Pat Boyette (Haney remained to script Wolfman’s plot) for a final two-part story that restored Blackhawk to its classic form.  It’s striking how different issues #242-243 look--instead of recycling 1940s aesthetic or reorienting around then-current fads, the moody shadows and lack of whimsy feel like something you might see in the late 70s.

The new formula might have been the quick fix DC had been looking for, but it was too little, too late.  Blackhawk sank into nostalgia, barely relevant enough for a purely classic reboot now and then.  Bob Haney’s “Junk-Heap Heroes” revamp fits with the “Iron Man used to have a nose on his mask” humor that modern fandom enjoys, but that style relies on characters that survive missteps and carry on to the modern day.  Thus the Junk-Heap Heroes aren’t even valued as objects of ridicule fifty years later.  To put it bluntly...they just don’t spark joy!

Further reading: [1] [2]

[xerxia31]

The Naughty List - Part 1

A new Everlark story, in seven parts. Because I need a new WIP like I need a raging case of bubonic plague.

Here is part one. Rated T, for potty language and adult situations. But fair warning, the rating will go up in later chapters.

Fur tickles my nose as I slump in my chair and I groan. I love my sister, truly I do. But she has the worst taste. This dress takes the winter wedding theme way too far. Silky fur collars over ballgowns?  It’s like hunting lodge meets haute couture, where nobody wins.

“That squirrel carcass would bother you less if it wasn’t up around your throat.” My roommate and fellow bridesmaid, Johanna, drops into the chair beside me. The fluffy collar of her ridiculous dress sits decidedly lower than mine, barely skimming her collarbones. But she still looks just as stupid as I do. I don’t tell her that though, because she’s holding two bottles of champagne that she’s managed to pilfer from the bar. And God knows I’m going to need more booze to get through this interminable evening.

“If I pull it down any further I’m going to give the groomsmen an eyeful,” I groan, snatching one of the bottles away and taking a deep swallow. Jo snorts.

“Maybe half an eyeful,” she laughs, glancing at my chest. Even with the ridiculous push up bra I forked over fifty dollars for, I’m not exactly filling out the silver satin.

“Screw you,” I grumble, but with no bite. Jo and I have been friends since college and roommates for almost three years. She’s seen the girls in all of their tiny glory more than I’d like to think about. More than anyone else, probably. Now that’s a sad thought.

“Besides,” she slurs, demonstrating that she’s had far more to drink than just the part-bottle of champagne she’s tonguing like she’s envisioning something else entirely. “There are some maybes in the groomsmen group.” I follow her line of sight to where Vick, my new brother-in-law’s younger brother, is in conversation with my mom.

“Are you nuts, Jo? He’s just a kid!”

“He’s legal.”

“Barely.” I glance at the amber bottle in his hand. I’m pretty sure he’s not even old enough to be drinking that. “What would the two of you even talk about?” She snorts again.

“We won’t be talking, Brainless. He’s plenty old enough for what I’ll be doing to him.” I shudder and take another swig from the bottle. I’ve heard far too many of the things Johanna likes to do through the paper-thin walls of our shared apartment. She looks at me appraisingly. “You never fuck for fun, do you?”

Champagne nearly comes out my nose. “I-- damn it, Jo, that’s not funny,” I hiss, looking around to see if anyone has heard. But she’s not smiling, not even a little.

“I’m serious,” she confirms. “When was the last time you did anything for fun?”

“I hung out with Finn and Annie last Thursday. We played board games.”

“Good times, Pollyanna,” she snickers. “But that’s not the kind of fun I mean. When’s the last time you had fun?” She waggles her eyebrows at me and I take another gulp of bubbly.

“I’ve had plenty of lovers,” I sniff. Three, in fact.

“Lovers?” Johanna practically chortles, so loudly that a couple of people look over at us. I try to hide in my fur collar. “Who the hell says lovers?” she gasps in between peals of laughter. “Sounds like something an old, mustachioed Frenchman would say.”

“We’re not all potty mouths like you are,” I grumble. She only laughs harder.

“Potty mouths! Damn, Brainless, you are so pure.”

“Shut up, Johanna.”

“Seriously,” she says, though Johanna is never truly serious, and she’s still snickering. “Have you ever done anything even vaguely wicked?” I shrug, and Jo rolls her eyes. “Even been arrested?”

“No,” I scoff.

“Okay, let’s start smaller. Have you ever shoplifted?”

“How’s that smaller?”

“Right. Gone naked in public?”

“Who does that?”

“Who doesn’t? Come on, Brainless, you’ve never flashed the jugs at a hot stranger?” She glances down again at the slight swell of fur. “Or the ping pong balls in your case.” I reach over and shove her, but with no real malice, and she’s laughing as she wobbles in her chair. Jo is brash and rude and in-your-face, but she’s also loyal and I love her in spite of it all.

There’s a pause where we sip our champagne in peace, watching the drunken guests Macarena on the dance floor and shuddering. “Can you name even five naughty things you’ve done in your life,” Jo finally says and I sigh. I should have known she wasn’t going to drop it that easily.

“I’m chugging champagne out of the bottle right now,” I say. Jo just shakes her head.

My mother wanders over, hopefully to save me from Jo’s torment. “You girls look beautiful,” she says, bending to tuck a long, carefully spiralled lock of my hair behind my ear. There was a time when little caresses like this from my mother were rare. But we’ve healed a lot in the past few years, built a real relationship again.

“Mrs. E,” Johanna slurs. “You’re exactly the right person to ask. This one,” she gestures in my direction with the champagne bottle, foam sloshes down the neck. My mother deftly takes it from Johanna’s hands and takes a large swig from the bottle. Guess that’s not as risqué as I thought. Jo laughs at my mother before continuing. “Has she ever gotten into trouble? Was she a total hellcat in her teens? A hooligan?”

My mother smiles at me, and the fondness in her expression is underpinned by a current of regret, the same one I see every time someone asks her about my childhood or Prim’s. “Katniss has always been the responsible one,” she says, and I squeeze her hand. We’ve worked hard to get past my anger and her guilt about the years I kept our little family afloat, when she’d mentally checked out on me and Prim after my father’s death. But the sadness is something we’ll probably always live with. “That one over there, on the other hand…” My mother trails off, smirking at the dance floor where several guys are holding Rory by the arms and legs, Superman style, while Prim attempts to limbo underneath his body. Good thing she’ll only be wearing that dress once since it’s practically a swiffer right now.

Johanna, for once in her life, accepts the attempt to change the subject, and the three of us chat pleasantly about Prim for a while. But Jo is tenacious. When my mother wanders away to speak with some of Rory’s family, Jo starts up again. “You are the friend that fun forgot. You never even missed curfew, did you?”

Though she knows a little of my past, Johanna doesn’t know just how bad things were when I was young. How I was forced to grow up far too fast, just to keep us all alive. By the time my mother came back to us, I was well beyond the youthful indiscretion age, and focused on college and getting the kind of job that would ensure none of the Everdeen women would ever go hungry again.  

“I never had a curfew, Jo.” Her brows furrow, and I feel compelled to continue. “I never had time to do stupid things. I spent all of my time working, taking care of Prim, the house... ” The champagne is keeping me from sounding too defensive, but sometimes, sometimes, I do feel like I missed out a little. Not on flashing my boobs for Mardi Gras beads, but on being carefree.

Jo nods. “You’re more of a mother to Prim than a big sister.” I shrug; in many ways she’s right. Just one more thing that was stolen from me. My sister. Or at least the sisterly relationship we should have had But I worked hard to make sure that Prim didn’t lose her childhood. And in a way, I lived vicariously through her. While I stayed in Panem for college, lived at home while working both on my degree, and as an instructor at the rec centre, I made sure that Prim could go away to college. Her weekly Skype sessions were my window into coed life.

Even on her wedding day, I'm still living through her, basking in her joy as she experiences yet another thing I may never have.

“We’re going to change that now,” Jo says, and it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her that you can’t change the past, but she’s got this strange look on her face that makes me a little uneasy. Nothing good ever comes out of an expression like that. “We’re going to have a challenge,” she says, confirming my suspicions. “No, a bet. I bet you can’t do five naughty things before your birthday.”

I snort. “Honestly, Jo, you think I’m some sort of saint. I’m not. I just have no need to be reckless.”

“Chicken?” she taunts, and I roll my eyes. I'm not falling for that.

“Grow up,” I tell her.

“Live a little, Everdeen. You're only twenty-seven. That's far too young to be an old fogey.” I shake my head at her, done with this conversation. “Five things, my choice. You complete them all before your birthday, I'll talk uncle Haymitch into lending me his cabin for your birthday weekend.” That catches my attention. Haymitch is awful, but his cabin is my favourite place on earth, tucked away on the shore of tiny lake Panem with the best fishing I've ever seen.

Johanna can smell the changing tide and smirks. “So what's it gonna be?” Damn her, I am sorely tempted.

“Nothing illegal,” I say, and she rolls her eyes. “And nothing that'll cost me my job or hurt anyone.”

“Noted.” She reaches out her hand, and I only pause a moment before shaking it. “Five challenges. Two months,” she says. “And to give you more incentive, if you fail, we switch bedrooms.”

I scowl. When we got the apartment together I scored the better of the two bedrooms, and Jo’s been coveting it the entire three years. “Won't be a problem because I'm not going to fail,” I tell her.

With gratitude to @appleblossomgirl0305 for looking over my words and inspiring some of them.

Also, if you’re curious, here are Prim’s bridesmaid dresses, courtesy of the google...

[weidel]

Beauty and the Beast My latest (secret) commission has been delivered and opened. I can now post the results. I always love the opportunity to work on Disney Princesses. This one was pure joy! For those waiting on a commission here’s an update and the line queue. Louis 1. Ofelia from Pans Labyrinth -painting Jake 1. Ellie from Last of Us 2 -painting Julie 1. Silver Age Wonder Woman -pencils Neal 1. Superman 2. Doomsday -pencils #belle #beast #disney #animation #sketch #2d #traditional #art #commission #inks #liquitex #liquitexink #micron #pentelbrushpen #ink #inked #arches #prismacolors #watercolor #oodelally #rise #beautyandthebeast #instaart

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1293

Monday, December 23, 2019

 I'll be working at Comet Comics today which is a good thing because I won't be around all the Christmas goodies at home. Home made cookies and party mix won't be tempting me. I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I hope you didn't spend too much. Try not to eat too much. Try to over spread the love and joy of the season.

 Batman #85 - Tom King (writer) Mikel Janin (art) Hugo Petrus (art pages 10-12) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). A very satisfying end to "City of Bane". I liked how Tom left Bruce and Selina. Gotham Girl also gets a nice boost. The 3-page epilogue by James Tynion IV (writer) Guillem March (art) Tomeu Morey (colours) & Clayton Cowles (letters) made me think that the future of this title is going to be okay after the departure of Tom King.

 Once & Future #5 - Kieron Gillen (writer) Dan Mora (art) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) Ed Dukeshire (letters). Duncan is Percival in this story and he's about to get a very powerful weapon to fight the bad knights. I hope his granny doesn't die.

 Legion of Super-Heroes #2 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Ryan Sook (pencils) Wade von Grawbadger (inks) & Ryan Sook (inks pages 11-13) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). One reason that I don't read a lot of super hero team books is because some writers make it very difficult to keep track of everybody on the team and what they're doing. I fear this might happen with this book because there are so many Legionnaires. I like the introduction of Jonathan Kent to the team and him getting a new recruit at the end of this issue made me go "yay". I'm going to stick with this for at least another issue.

 Runaways #28 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Andre Genolet (art) Dee Cunniffe (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The benevolent Doc Justice isn't as pure goodie two-shoes as he claims. His gnarly plans for the Runaways start to be revealed this issue.

 Batman Superman #5 - Joshua Williamson (writer) David Marquez (art) Alejandro Sanchez (colours) John J. Hill (letters). Can Batman and Superman get past the Secret Six to destroy the tower and satellite that will bring the Dark Multiverse to our world? Hey, they don't call them the World's Finest for nothing. Of course, keeping the Batman Who Laugh's attack secret is going to have consequences. I want to see how Wonder Woman reacts to the boys leaving her in the dark.

 Gwenpool Strikes Back #5 - Leah Williams (writer) David Baldeon (art) Jesus Aburtov & Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Leah sold me on this self aware comic book character so the next time she writes a Gwenpool story I'll be there.

 Catwoman #18 - Joelle Jones (writer) Joelle Jones (art pages 1-3, 10-11, 16-20) Fernando Blanco (art pages 4-9, 12-15) Laura Allred (colours pages 1-7, 10-11, 16-20) FCO Plascencia (colours pages 8-9, 12-15) Saida Temofonte (letters). This was fun. I didn't know that Catwoman and Zatanna were such good friends. Selina gets a little magical help to fight the creepy Raina Creel. I can't wait to see how it works.

 King Thor #4 - Jason Aaron (writer) Esad Ribic (main artist) Ive Svorcina (main colour artist) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). That's all he wrote folks. Jason Aaron wraps up his Thor run in this epic $5.99 US issue. I can't think of anyone who's better at chronicling a god's adventures than him. The list of contributing art teams to this mighty tome is too vast to include here. Suffice it to say that everyone did an awesome job illustrating this finale.

 Avengers #28 - Jason Aaron (writer) Ed McGuinness (pencils) Mark Morales (inks) Jason Keith & Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Part 2 of "Starbrand Reborn" has Silver Surfer Black, Terrax, and Firelord teaming up to hunt the new Starbrand. The three ex-heralds of Galactus only hang around for 2 pages before Silver Surfer leaves them in his dust to go after Ghost Rider's ride. A lot happens this issue so pay attention. It looks like whoever has the Starbrand might be a bad guy. I hope we don't have to wait too much longer to find out who that is.

 The Amazing Spider-Man #36 - Nick Spencer (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (art) Steve Firchow (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I didn't read 2099 Omega #1 before this issue so it's very confusing what's happening with Spider-Man and Doctor Doom. I find this kind of tight tie-in very annoying. Bottom line is that Peter doesn't die and Doc Doom goes home to Latveria. The evil Countess's goal of starting a war between Symkaria and Latveria has been achieved. Meanwhile, Chameleon hints at future intrigues. A little incentive to keep reading this title.

 Fallen Angels #4 - Bryan Hill (writer) Szymon Kudranski (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The team's mission to save children succeeds but there are casualties on the good guys' side. We also meet the bad guy and find out what connection it has with Psylocke. This title appeals to me because of the science involved. I think you need at least a university degree to appreciate the whole thing.

 Daredevil #15 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Marco Checchetto & Francesco Mobili (art) Nolan Woodard & Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). I can't believe that Wilson Fisk has finally met his match when it comes to being a ruthless criminal. Seeing the Stromwyn siblings in action during their meeting with the Mayor of New York City made me cheer for poor old Kingpin. Meanwhile Matt and Elektra get hot under the collar on a mission to find out who ordered the police to keep out of Hell's Kitchen. I'm so glad to see Elektra back on the racks.

 2099 Omega #1 - Nick Spencer (writer) Gerardo Sandoval & Ze Carlos (pencils) Gerardo Sandoval, Victor Nava & Ze Carlos (inks) Morry Hollowell, Brian Reber & Andrew Crossley (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). 2099 was the non-event of 2019. You could have skipped this entire story and be none the worse for wear. This issue didn't even answer any of the questions I had from reading The Amazing Spider-Man #36. The only thing this accomplished was possibly to set up the return of Miguel as Spider-Man 2099 somewhere down the line again. This has been the most useless Marvel story that I have ever read. If I was a paying Amazing Spider-Man fan I would be royally pissed.

 Suicide Squad #1 - Tom Taylor (writer) Bruno Redondo (art) Adriano Lucas (colours) Wes Abbott (letters). There's a changing of the guard as the new Squad gets upgraded with new recruits. The team is sent against some Social Justice Warriors called the Revolutionaries and lose some members in the fight. Tom's not messing around with the changes. Amanda Waller may be in this issue but she's only there to pass the reigns to a hard ass named Lok. I like Lok. I'm going to keep reading these.

 The Old Guard: Force Multiplied #1 - Greg Rucka (writer) Leandro Fernandez (art) Daniela Miwa (colours) Jodi Wynne (letters). Andy's back on the racks. I started to read this immortal woman's first story but had to abandon it due to the store only ordering subscription service copies. I should seek out the collected trade paperback and read that. I remember I liked what I read of the first story and I like this first issue. And if I don't get to read the rest, I can look forward to seeing the movie in 2020 with Charlize Theron as Andy. Charlize was terrific in Atomic Blonde.

 Annihilation - Scourge Omega #1 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Manuel Garcia (pencils) Rafael Fonteriz, Cam Smith, Wayne Faucher &  Manuel Garcia (inks) Federico Blee, Rachelle Rosenberg & Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This ending was a lot better than 2099 Omega #1. Even though it was your typical "whole bunch of super heroes fighting a cosmic threat and winning because of a huge sacrifice", the story made sense. It still wasn't a story that was worth reading. The only thing I got out of it was seeing characters that I haven't seen on the racks in ages. Hello Speedball. If Marvel keeps shovelling this crap and stinking up the House of Ideas, they're going to lose more readers.

 Year of the Villain: The Infected - The Commissioner #1 - Paul Jenkins (writer) Jack Herbert (art) Adriano Lucas (colours) A Larger World's Troy Peteri (letters). James Gordon is now a minion for the Batman Who Laughs. With Batman helping Superman fight other infected super heroes, Gotham City is vulnerable after the Commissioner releases the inmates of Arkham Asylum. I'm hanging around this story to see how they cure everyone.

 The Low, Low Woods #1 - Carmen Maria Machado (writer) Dani (art) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) Steve Wands (letters). This is the story of Octavia and Eldora, two teenage girlfriends living in a half abandoned coal mining town. The mines are closed and strange things happen. I liked these girls after reading this so I'm going to stick around to see what happens after one of them wakes up next to a dead body.

 Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1 - James Tynion IV (writer) Steve Epting (art) Nick Filardi (colours) Travis Lanham (letters). What a poetic title for this 4-issue mini which will end with us finally knowing how the Batman Who Laughs changes the DCU. I'm finding it difficult to get into this story since it doesn't impact a lot of the DC books that I read. I'm curious to see if that changes.

 Klaus and the Life & Times of Joe Christmas #1 - Grant Morrison (writer) Dan Mora (art). I was a little disappointed because this wasn't a traditional story in the sense of having words and pictures. Notice the absence of a letterer in the credits. What we have here are 25 days in December lovingly illustrated. Punch a hole in this issue and you can use it as a calendar.

 Basketful of Heads #3 - Joe Hill (writer) Leomacs (art) Dave Stewart (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). There's only one head in the basket so far but I think another one will join it soon. This is one weird story with a creepy fantasy twist and I like it. I can't wait to see what June does with the axe next.

 Batman Last Knight On Earth #3 - Scott Snyder (writer) Greg Capullo (pencils) Jonathan Glapion (inks) FCO Plascencia (colours) Tom Napolitano (letters). What a terrific finish. I love these kinds of Elseworld stories where the characters are tweaked so that they're new and yet familiar. The Joker's head was the star of this story.

 Marauders #4 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Lucas Werneck (art) Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I've been undecided about continuing to read this series but the gorgeous Storm cover by Russell Dauterman (art) & Matthew Wilson (colours) made me grab this issue off the racks and now that I've read it I'll add this to my "must read" list. I like the spy element to this title. We've got the Hellfire Trading Company, ex-bad guys now doing good for the mutant community and this issue introduces the White members of the club, who are anti-mutant. Very intriguing.

 Doomsday Clock #12 - Geoff Johns (writer) Gary Frank (art) Brad Anderson (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). The long awaited appearance of Dr. Manhattan happens here. It took two years for this story to be told. A lot of it had me discombobulated because of the mash-up of different universes. This story boils down to Jon/Dr. Manhattan and Superman/Clark Kent figuring out how to save the Multiverse. The cool thing about Dr. Manhattan is that the possibilities are endless. I rarely read a comic book story more than once but I did read The Watchmen three times. The first was when the original 12-issue series came out. The second was when the story was collected in a graphic novel and the third just after Doomsday Clock was announced. I think you get a better appreciation for Doomsday Clock is you're familiar with the Watchmen. I am considering reading Doomsday Clock again when it's collected too mostly because I loved the art.

 Spider-Man #3 - J. J. Abrams & Henry Abrams (writers) Sara Pichelli (art) Elisabetta D'Amico (inking assistant) Dave Stewart (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). With Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man done and The Amazing Spider-Man and Miles Morales: Spider-Man eliciting mehs from me lately, this is now my number one Spider-Man book. I like how they're handling Ben's evolution after discovering his powers. Their use of Tony Stark and Riri Williams made me smile. The new super villain Cadaverous is very cool.

 Harleen #3 - Stjepan Sejic (writer & artist) Gabriela Downie (letters). Wow, what a great origin story for Harley Quinn. This is the best interpretation of the relationship between Harley and the Joker so far. The inclusion of Two-Face was a bonus.

 Wonder Woman: Dead Earth #1 - Daniel Warren Johnson (story & art) Mike Spicer (colours) Rus Wooton (letters). Wonder Woman is awakened in a post-apocalyptic world where the humans have to survive being overrun by monsters. All the super heroes are dead. Well, at least Batman's dead. She saves Camp New Hope (is this a Star Wars swipe?) from the monsters and decides she's going to lead everybody to, you guessed it, a new hope. I liked the surprise appearance of a frenemy and the story is a basic fight for your life journey. I don't think this deserved the larger $5.99 US DC Black format however. It would have sold better in the regular comic book sized format like the DC Black $3.99 US Low, Low Woods.