Month 11: last of the catching up

Action #11: OK, so now I'm even less sure where GMoz is going with this. We start off with Clark killed off as working as a fireman. We end with Lois dead and Wonder Tot being taken away by X-Ray from the U-Men? Or is the same book that was previously for comics geeks interested in obscure comics trivia now supposed to not see stuff that's clearly... erm... influenced by other obscure comics trivia? "Nutants"? Really? There's a core plot working at the heart of this but there's too much else going on for it to be engaging. I guess GMoz really said all he had to say about Superman in ASS and this is just the equivalent of a deleted scenes feature on a DVD. You can see what it's trying to do, but it's inessential. Poor old Solly Fisch adds yet another soul-destroying contractual page-filler. I'd like to think I would have more self-respect.

Animal Man #11: Having ended last the last issue (and starting this one) with the reshaping aliens made most famous during the GMoz era, they turn him into the Animal Man of the Jamie Delano era. This kind of works, but I suspect it will be as tenable as his Vertigo run ended up being. I know I've griped about it since the start, but the art team of Alberto Ponticelli and Wayne Faucher are possibly the worst yet. They work fine for the horror sections but are really bad the rest of the time, and for a book largely set there it really affects the treadability of it. It's leading (again) into a Swamp Thing crossover and this time I hope it doesn't make it out. There's nothing here that can't be said in the margins of other books - the entire plot of this could have been dealt with in less than 5 pages - and from a selfish aspect I could do with reading less.

Batwing #11: Oh yes, the one with Long. Which is Chinese for dragon. AND IS A DRAGON. And is then completely forgotten about as Batwing and Nightwing run away to fight another, different baddie on another continent (but not before going to a third different one and sending Batman an I WUB YOU email so he can kiss the Penguin. Is there oil in Africa? WHO CARES. Utterly pointless.

Detective #11: Tony Daniel's time on the book is coming to an end, and truth to tell it's beginning to show. This feels like a tossed-off Norm Breyfogle effort, with a bad guy supposed to be much more threatening than he is and dialogue and exposition in place of plot development. I'm completely ambivalent about the title to be honest - I would love for it to be great but the heart has gone from the writing and it's just pedestrian. The backup is once more the highlight, but is still a procedural crime book - albeit with a significant noir aspect. I'd much prefer to see that being the main book, which is pretty damning.

Dial H #3: It had to happen eventually. Dial H goes from BEST THING EVER to merely being bloody great. We get much more development in the story of the dials, in how they work, in who the bad guys we thought were the bad guys are and who the AHA YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING bad guys actually might be. Still a rampaging success, this title continues to be everything I hoped it would be.

Earth 2 #3: Well, I didn't see that coming. Yes, we'd assumed Alan Scott was going to be Green Lantern, but he's the Earth-2 version of Swamp Thing? And Solomon Grundy is champion of the Grey, which is the Earth-2 version of The Rot? I think they might have bitten off more than they can chew starting off with that as a plot, but let's see where it goes... the Jay Garrick/Hawkgirl stuff is entertaining enough in a 'hero tests powers' way, but it's the Alan Scott stuff that will have me coming back next month.

GI Combat #3: Ah, JT Krul. You really are useless. "NO!" says the last panel, in the best bit of dialogue. Sums up my thoughts. Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti's Unknown Soldier backup is the Punisher by Howard Chaykin. I'll let you make your own minds up as to whether you think that's a good thing or not but I think you know where my sympathies lie.

Green Arrow #11: Ann Nocenti takes some stuff she read on a right wing blog slagging off the Occupy movement and makes them into bad guys for the billionaire Green Arrow to beat up. I wish I was kidding.

Justice League #11: on the splash title page we find out "the man is preachin' truth". Then that people work for "the Man". It then lurches from the 80s to the 90s as our heroes kill the bad guys. How gritty. It ends next month, I think? With a Johnsiverse changing revelation. The mind boggles.

Red Lanterns #11: The Star Sapphires try and save the female Red Lanterns, presumably because they think Bleez will look hotter in their costume. Guy Gardner tries to rebuild their battery to save the rest. Everybody else goes RARRRRRRRRRRRRR. It gets rebooted next month, it seems. Wouldn't it be easier to just cancel it?

Stormwatch #11: I think I need to read this again. There's an awful lot going on, and it all seems to be connected to the Engineer (for whom we get an origin story of sorts) and links to the Planetary device(s) from last month. Possibly the most accomplished issue in some time, but I get the feeling Pete Milligan's other books have sickened me to him. I may update this later.

Swamp Thing #11: Great stuff, but if I'm being picky then at heart it's just a punching fite between Swampy and Arcane no matter how beautiful it is. Then Animal Man turns up, to lead into the next issue of AM. Which would be fine, if the last issue of AM didn't end on a cliffhanger (no pun intended) which isn't resolved here. And presumably won't be resolved in the next AM. Honestly, I thought the point of having the same writer on these was so this wouldn't happen?

World's Finest #3: The present day stuff in this still isn't much cop, but the Kev Maguire illustrated flashbacks are a lot of fun. And hey, we get Power Girl's costume recast as a cocktail dress. Inoffensive stuff, which is probably just about worth reading.

Batgirl #11: For once a structured and balanced issue from Gail Simone as she winds back all her fake teen bullshit and her OMG WIMMIN ARE STRONG DYS nonsense (although, again, all the characters are women including the hint at the SPOILER at the end - which is a pretty high success rate because if SPOILER is who we're meant to think it is then it's the only other female option out of a field of at least a dozen. Does that make it more or less sexist?) and we get a decently paced issue that explores the Knightfall character and the policewoman that helps Babs out. But wait! If she's fighting crime, who's saving her roomie from James Gordon? OH NOES! It's ok though, he just wants to give her a cat. He's a nice boy really.

Batman #11: Scott Snyder finally wraps up Owls by exploring the Thomas Wayne Jr story (in the middle of a great, deranged fight) and we're left with the final question which is now torturing Bruce. Is it true? Or is it just another last play of the hand by the Owls in trying to tip him over the edge? It feels odd saying it about one of the New 52 titles, but people will look back on this as one of the great Bat-arcs, I'm sure. Buy or borrow the inevitable trade and see if I'm wrong. If you hate it, I might even refund you (but don't hold your breath on that one).

Batman & Robin #11: Peter Tomasi introduces Terminus; a character who, if I didn't know better, was a thinly disguised attempt at making a Bane that ties in more with the forthcoming film - he even gets called a terrorist to ram the point home. It's a shame, because I'm really warming to the psycho-Robin trying to prove to the other ex-Robins that he's the best one and I kind of wish the plot would stick to that. But whatever, it's well executed and worth yer bucks.

Deathstroke #11: is not worth yer bucks. It's Liefeld all the way, although knees appear to be his weakness this month and not feet. All the other stereotypes are there though - badly-held sword with bendy blades, ill-conceived guns, poor perspective, cankles, people standing at different heights, relative size of objects changing... Lobo's biggest sin seems to be selling the Lorax into slavery, although the highlight for me is when his spaceship starts its self-destruct sequence by ejecting a 3 1/2" floppy disk. I'm assuming SOMEBODY except DiDio and Liefeld like this, but I'm at a loss who they might be.

Demon Knights #11: A fine issue, as usual, with the comedy relief of Vandal Savage firmly breaking any grim 'n' gritty pretences - although al Jabr becoming MODOK had pretty much done for that anyway. The plot continues on, King Arthur has to destroy Glastonbury Tor and Morgaine shows her hand, but I suspect most people are reading this for the characterisation and interaction rather than anything else.

Frankenstein #11: Matt Kinot has watched The Prisoner. This issue does not make me happy.

Grifter #11: Having said that, it makes me happier than Grifter. Where Liefeld has turned him into some "Jedi-dude" who is reall the chosen one of the Daemonites. Helpfully for arch Liefeld-biter Marat Michaels, Rob writes a chick in a swimsuit who can be the undercover baddie so he can show off his art skills. Not so helpfully for us, this is a bag of shit from start to finish.

Legion Lost #11: This week's idgi phrase is "Dawnstar... or Pawnstar?!!?!!?!" WTF? Is it supposed to be a pun on pornstar? If so, are we going to see the plot from THAT John Byrne Superman strip again? Or is she going to open a shop in Las Vegas with a pile of overweight and stupid relatives? Or is she just going to be used as a pawn, and you thought it would be a cool made up word? IT ISN'T.

Resurrection Man #11: There's a big fight in The Lab, which is a cloaked tower in a cola factory, and we end up going through the same motions as issue 2. Literally, with exactly the same people and the same outcome. Going round in circles inside a year isn't a good look and shows a severe lack of initiative.

Suicide Squad #11: It gets mentioned again here, but we never did find out how King Shark got to be clever, did we? Anyway, another well-written and plotted issue sees the first traitor blow up the plane the Squad are on, making Waller think they're dead. So... they get a little sloppy and might end up being sacrificed to the Mayan gods. No fair! I want to find out who the other traitor is! Come back next month to find out, or watch them all die in a tasty way.

Superboy #11: Unsure how I feel about this issue. Lots of good bits - Bunker taking Superboy away for a tattoo (although how does it work with indestructible skin?), Superboy having taken all N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s money - but the bad guy is a bit Sadface once he's half-beaten, not that Superboy cares as he just punches him into bits. So, not a coherent 20 pages then. I could be persuaded into thinking it was good, I'm sure.

Ravagers #3: Brother Blood is back. He's not very good. He's the best thing in this book.