I dropped the week number. It's meaning less at this point. I'm not even sure when these comics came out.
All Flash: This was little more that a super powered revenge story, which was a little off putting. It's not that it wasn't justified, it just was weird. Anyway, I picked this up because I thought it would give me an indication of whether I want to read the new (or return to old, or whatever) series. It didn't really give me an indication of what to expect, except that something weird is going to happen with Batman's costume and Wally's going to have his super powered kids trailing along. I don't really like kids. Some of the art in this issue was really good. Some of it wasn't at all.
Amazons Attack #4: There's so much wrong with this whole event. I don't even know how to review it. It's like a train wreck. Major events of this issue are Supergirl and Wonder Girl doing the stupidest thing ever and Batman and Superman being patronizing and awful. Seriously. When Superman was making his little speech to the Amazons towards the end, even though he was right, all I could think was that they should just beat the crap out of him. What an asshole. I'm beginning to think all these people are skrulls.
Birds of Prey #108: Gail Simone's last issue. Fortunately, it's a good one. It was so awesome seeing Babs, in her Batgirl shirt, beat up Spy Smasher. And then to have Spy Smasher confronted by all the superheroes who came out in support of Babs, rounded up by Black Canary, of course. This was just a total "Fuck Yeah!" issue. We also got Misfit's origin at the end, which was very touching. I love that kid.
Black Canary #2: We get another fun flashback at the start of this issue, this time from Green Arrow's perspective. Also in this issue, Sin starts at the special school for dangerous kids that Dinah's ex found, and Ollie gets a bit needy and insecure about the fact that Dinah's ex has shown up and she still hasn't accepted his proposal. Of course, the school thing is just a set-up so that the League of Assassins can kidnap Sin. I must say that Sin actually is kind of adorable, mostly when she is kicking people in the face, which she does to all the assassins and two cops. Unfortunately, Merlyn shows up disguised as Ollie, who Sin trusts, and she goes with him. That's why, when I was a little girl being hunted by the League of Assassins, I had a code word. I wasn't supposed to go with anyone who didn't know it. Dinah really needs to work on her parenting skills. Anyway, this was another solidly entertaining issue. The only problem is that it's not really about Black Canary.
The Brave and the Bold #5: I read somewhere that Mark Waid has suggested that the reason this book isn't selling as well as it should is because people keep describing it as "fun," and that has come to translate to inconsequential. That's certainly believable, though I don't really understand why people don't want to have fun. "Fun" is why I initially decided to pick this title up. Just in case though, I'm not going to call this book "fun" anymore. This book isn't fun, it's awesome. You will not in any other book see Batman engage in a mid-air fight with Karate Kid. It's way better than that other Batman and Karate Kid fight. There's also a story here, with that book they are trying to track down and the Luck Lords showing up at the end, all of which keeps this series from being inconsequential, if that's the sort of thing you care about. I just don't happen to care about that stuff.
Justice League of America #11: Meltzer produces an adequately tight and tense story here, even if trapped in an enclosed place stories are a bit cliche. The art is amazing and Ha does an incredible job of heightening the mood here. All that makes this a pretty good issue for anyone who is picking up the book for the first time. What made it really frustrating for me was that the set up to get to this story was horribly contrived. It felt a little like Meltzer was just trying to trump up Roy's character, but I guess he was trying to trump up Vixen as well, except Vixen doesn't really do much but whine and reveal that she kept a very important secret from the rest of the team. Roy's narration says a lot of good things about her, but that's just talk, so it's pretty meaningless. Also, everyone in the Justice League and the Justice Society are freaking morons for not realizing that cheetahs can't run as fast as the Flash.
Spike: Shadow Puppets #2: This continues to be a light and entertaining story that relies solely on the premise that anything + puppets = funny. That's not really a flaw. The puppet horse head in the bed kind of proves that. We get to see some returning characters from Spike: Asylum, which is cool, and we get introduced to an entertaining new character. There are also tons of great little moments. However, the real strength here, as it was with Spike: Asylum, was how good a handle Lynch has on Spike and Lorne. He doesn't fall into any of the traps that other writers have, like relying too heavily on British slang. It's just really good.
Captain America #28: This is another one of those comics that's hard to review. The quality is so consistent, that it's hard to say something different about every issue. This title is very good. Everyone should be reading it. I will say a couple of things though. The Serpent Squad's S.H.E.I.L.D. disguises aren't going to do much good if they put them on over their regular costumes. That goes double for the guy with the cobra head. Also, I find it hard to believe that, in a world where psychics are fairly common and there existence is widely known, there would be some kind of law against using them to question suspects. That's got to be some kind of civil rights violation. Now, I'm not saying that it's necessarily wrong to bring down Cap's killer by any means necessary, but as Tony Stark is now a government official instead of a superhero, it's pretty sketchy, almost, I don't know, Fascist.
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