Truth #6: For a story to be interesting, it has to move forward. This one has more than it's share of moving back. It's hard to tell at any given point what the sequence of events is supposed to be. I think I've figured it out, but this is still a badly told tale with lousy artwork.

Power Company #17: A slower pace than last issue, which was jumbled. This one brings the missing part of the team back, and sets up a finale that will be a ride. Though I fear there is probably too much story to tell to finish properly in one issue. This was a great look at another side of the DCU, and I wish it had lasted longer.

Crossovers #6: I was right, the pace couldn't quite be kept. But I was also wrong, as it didn't crash and burn. On the contrary, there's several new set-ups that I wasn't expecting. What is it with this series, anyway? It's just great.

That's it for this week's reviews. Next week I'm supposed to get Birds of Prey Secret Files 2003, Green Lantern, JLA, Astro City: Local Heroes, Amazing Spider-Man, Ruse, and Empire.

I'm trying out another comment system. Not sure if it'll do or not. If it has less than half the downtime of Haloscan, I'll be happy.

Interesting development for Howard Dean, isn't it? You'd think his son doesn't care at all about daddy's prospects for presidency. I would make a few comments on poor parenting here, but it seems a little pointless and premature. Dean's agressive but extrememly non-personal internet campaign had already made me less-than-impressed with him, and we don't have any details on the incident with his son. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. Anyone think it'll hurt Dean's chances?

And, yes, I know about Orrin "destroy-people's-computers" Hatch's use of unregistered, pirated software on his website. It just makes him look like an even bigger buffoon than he already is, and it isn't even his fault. Maybe he'll learn a lesson from the incident about carefully checking for violations you or your staff have made before advocating destruction for the same violations.

A shout out to the newest links on my linkity: Big Sunny D seems interesting and comic-y, Glenn Given seems odd but harmless, and Sluggy Freelance is wierd but mostly funny. I also added some more political blogs, but feel free to ignore them. I'm just doing more political reading lately.

Comments (5)

I was thinking about trying this comments system out, too. I kinda like it, but I wish the free model had more bells and whistles...

I like Sunny D's blog, too, and I added it yesterday...

...and we're still not buying the same comics!

Posted Sat 21 Jun 03:51 PM by Johnny B (davidallenjones_3@hotmail.com - http://johnnybacardi.blogspot.com)

Harmless! I'll give you harmless!!

Thanks for the link out, If your looking for a good political blog check out www.warblogging.com, It's top-notch. Must say I really enjoy your comic reviews. I was contemp[lating starting my own reviews thingie but then I realized that I don't have the money to buy the comic I wanted to review. woe is me. How was "Truth" I keep landing my eye on it but never got the nerve to really dig into it?

btw Aquaman got a raw deal when they were handing out costumes...

Posted Sat 21 Jun 04:13 PM by Glenn Given (glenngiven@hotmail.com - http://blog.kempleton.com/squirrel)

We both bought Truth, JB. You liked it much more than I. My review of it will go up tonight or tomorrow morning.

Glenn: I think Truth should have been much better. The whole "sequence of events" thing was really irritating, and it's not Kyle Baker's best effort. I really don't like it much.

Aquaman's original costume was a deliberate attempt by artist Paul Norris to get away from the colors of the major heroes at the time. Everyone seemed to be blue, red, black... Golden stands out, and the shirt was originally intended to be gold mail.

Posted Sat 21 Jun 04:51 PM by Laura G ( - )

Ahhh that splains it a little. THe gold must have rusted from excessive exposure to sea water. Now it looks the color of a high school biology project gone horribly awry. Quick questions. Did ya see the Hulk yet? what did ya think? If not see it just cause..ya know..comics..films blah blah. Any way also, what did ya think of the Aquaman that they had on the Justice League show? Faithful? Divergent from the cannon?

Posted Sat 21 Jun 07:07 PM by Glenn (glenngiven@hotmail.com - http://blog.kempleton.com/squirrel)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Website

We're so far behind on movies right now, we haven't even seen X2 yet. And as good as it sounds, I don't think Laura and I are interested enough in The Hulk (or have enough money) to go see it any time soon. Still, never say never...

Posted Sun 22 Jun 03:52 PM by Hubby-Eric (tiktok@eskimo.com - http://www.eskimo.com/~tiktok/)

Snapdragons #3: I'm generally of the opinion that a book being late doesn't negatively impact the quality of the book. But it sure seems like I waited too long for this one, and didn't get anything near as cool as imagined. Yeah, the story was good, especially the very end. Gilly is cool. But it seems like I waited too long with this thing on my "coming soon" list, and it suffered because of it.

Birds of Prey #56: The start of a new era, and one that I've been waiting quite impatiently for. While nothing could have lived up to my desires for this title after the last few dreadful issues, the only thing that could disappoint me would be the inclusion of Huntress in the storyarc. Guess what? Still, this is far better than the last few issues.

JLA: Scary Monsters #4: Whoa. What was that bit near the end... the kiss? Hrm? This mini is very interesting. I'm not quite sure what to make of it now.

Still to review: Truth, Power Company, and Crossovers.

According to the Blogosphere Ecosystem at The Truth Laid Bear, my blog is a "Crunchy Crustacean". That apparently means that only three other blogs in the ecosystem have linked to me (two of them are Elayne). I just thought that "crustacean" fits my blog, being the Aquaman fan and all.

By the same token, I'm always amused to see my ranking in Technorati: Link Cosmos. To be honest, my blog is mostly writing exercise for me along with a bunch of links I want to check every day. Being very low on the totem pole of blogging doesn't bother me a bit.

Perhaps if my blog was a bit more focused, I'd get more links. If I was only a comic book blogger, or only a political blogger, or only a Mariner fan blogger... but I'm not that focused myself. I don't expect people to want to link to me. How do you categorize a blog like mine? I'm a female blogger, but I don't fit into the whole "female blog" thing that emphasizes gender. I'm somewhat liberal, but I hate all politicians almost equally, so I can't quite fit in on the left. I'm not particularly insightful, nor do I write fantastic articles that people would want to link to. In short, I'm a Crunchy Crustacean of the Blogosphere. Way, way down on the food chain.

And maybe that's not really a bad thing.

I was wrong. Will Pfeifer still is a newspaperman, and he writes a Sunday review column. A pretty good one, too. Here's a review of Matrix Reloaded, a review of Coen Classics on DVD, a review of a strange documentary, a commentary on the AFI Heroes and Villians List, an article about the many faces of Frankenstein's monster, and a review of the Animatrix DVD.

Another question springs to mind when I re-examine the news of Pfeifer taking on Aquaman. It says that he will take over with issue #15. Rick Veitch will be leaving with issue #12. Who is writing #13-14?

What I want for Aquaman right now is a good writer who will stay longer than a year.

Please support democracy in Iran. On July 9th there will be something happening. The big press doesn't seem too interested in covering it, but it's there anyway.

If you click on the above button, it will take you to a flash media presentation, with a song. Warning: there are graphic images of clashes with police. And it's not in English, if you can translate it, let me know.

The new Aquaman writer has been announced. It's the astounding, the amazing, the impressive... Will Pfeifer. For those in the comic book biz, he's the writer of H-E-R-O, a book I considered picking up, but wasn't convinced I wanted to try. For those of you outside the comic book fandom, he worked as a feature editor at the Rockford Register Star. That means he's a newspaper man. Like Clark Kent.

I would like to write a bunch more about him, but I dont' know much. He is a regular in a forum that I hunted down with my usual zeal, and I found this quote:

"The AQUAMAN gig is pretty sweet -- I've got the same editor as on H-E-R-O, Peter Tomasi, and he and I work pretty well together. We've got a pretty cool premise for the book, and it should take things in a different direction. Personally, I'm not big on all the underwater mythology -- it's just not my "bag" as the hipsters say -- but the storyline we'll kick things off is heading in another direction, and should keep things interesting."

"Just wait for the fanboys to start complaining!"

It'll be awhile before Pfeifer's take hits the stands (must start practicing spelling his name), but it sounds like we've got another interesting run ahead.

Right, off to sleep with me, before I start writing even more odd things.

Ousiders #1: Let's see... Metamorpho has been back in Birds of Prey for several months. Suddenly he's back to being dead, and he's lost his memory to boot. Dick doesn't have any problems leading strangers to death, just members of his "family" of Titans. Did anyone else hate this as much as I do?

JLA: Welcome to the Working Week: Heh. This one was solicited as "JLA: Workweek" and the title was changed shortly after. There's not much to say about this one without spoilers, just that I like Aquaman's tiny role, especially the referral to him late in the book. Heh. And most everything I wondered about was explained, thank goodness.

Batman Adventures #3: Nice reversal of fortune. You almost feel for Harley. Almost. She can't win. But this one was fun. Good back-up story, too. That was a development I wasn't expecting.

Still to review: Birds of Prey, Scary Monsters, Truth, Snapdragons, Power Company, and Crossovers.

Yes, things are looking up, but it's still pretty scary over there. The blog and the archive of the item I'm referring to.

I've never been particularly impressed with Orrin Hatch, and now I'm even less impressed. Yup, he thinks it would be perfectly alright to let someone damage your computer if they think you are illegally downloading their copyrighted material. Forget due process, forget the law. Let's open the doors to industry hackers to destroy people's computers without proof or consequences. Thanks, Hatchy-boy.

Technology is a wonderful thing, and people who are technically stupid won't change that. Just look at the Baghdad bloggers Salam Pax and G. These folks defy the odds to get stories out to us. The same thing is now happening in Iran, as a popular movement is developing that could possibly change that country for the good. Andrew Sullivan, a leader in this strange blogosphere thing, is asking bloggers to focus on freedom in Iraq, particularly on July 9th. I agree, and here's a link to another blog about Iranian bloggers. I'm going to start checking out these blogs and linking to the strongest ones (that are written in English, of course).

For your part, go read and understand. And if you are religious, send those folks your prayers.

Technology also lets me read great commentary by strong writers like Arthur Silber, who I'm surprised to find I agree with much of the time. Silber has a fantastic piece on people who vilified anti-war folk that pretty much sums up all my frustration with the comments I got on this blog as well as the comments I saw elsewhere.

If you have time, also check out his take on the missing 727. Yeah, that's right. A missing 727. The big plane. It's missing.

If you can get to Washington Post's website (may require free registration), check out this article about some intelligence guy who quit Bush's circle and joined the Democrats in trying to oust Bush. Now, before this thing gets all over the net, read the article. The guy was already a democrat. And there is a fantastic quote about the current administration, but it is attributed to his wife: "It's a very closed, small, controlled group. This is an administration that determines what it thinks and then sets about to prove it. There's almost a religious kind of certainty. There's no curiosity about opposing points of view. It's very scary. There's kind of a ghost agenda." Keep that in mind if you hear about this story in the future.

The DC books for September are up, and the Aquaman #10 just confirms my ongoing suspicion. The story is moving too slowly. I'm not sure why, because the series started out snappily enough. Ah well. Maybe this latest twist will lead to something completely different.

I've updated my Aquaman Wantlist again. I'm down to 26 Golden Age Aquaman stories that I don't have in some form or another. I'm actually down to only one More Fun Aquaman story that I haven't read, which is a major accomplishment. A big thanks goes out to the various people who have helped me hunt down and read these stories.

Fallen Angel Preview in Horizon: Another morally ambigous title from Peter David. I mean that in a good way, by the way. This sort of book is designed to make the reader think. And while it's clear that there will be heroes and villians, it's equally clear that the lead character is not what she seems. Looking forward to the first issue.

Formerly Known As The Justice League Preview in Horizon: I confess I'm not a big fan of the Giffen League, but to my surprise I couldn't pass up a return to those days of yore, so I ordered this book. And, from the preview, it looks like we are going to get exactly what we expect.

Akiko #50: The last issue of Akiko came out on the 7th of August. Ten months is a long time to wait for another issue of any series, thus I cannot say this issue was worth the wait. It was, however, pretty good, with a number of fun Akiko stories. I just hope #51 is quicker.

PS238 #2: This is one of the best books to come along in ages. It has a nice sense of the absurd, and only plays it as straight as it has to. I love this book. Go get a copy and read it.

That's it. I'm caught up again. This week's books are supposed to be Snapdragons, Batman Adventures, Birds of Prey, Scary Monsters, JLA Workweek, Outsiders, Power Company, Truth, and Crossovers. Maybe I'll get caught up on my Aquaman website sometime these next couple of weeks.

For the record, today was even worse than I thought it would be. Next bad day is July 23rd.

A shout out to my brother, David. Another year older, another year smarter...

And a shout out to my niece Morgan. Sweet sixteen is a nice year, enjoy it. And listen to your parents carefully, even when they seem a little... dopey. Trust 'em, they've been there already.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Master of the Clow Vol 5: There's more after this?!?? I mean, this volume finished off all the storylines I could think of, and settled the remainder of the questions. What else is there to tell, I wonder?

Aquaman #7: The story is developing too slowly. There's a lot of neat stuff here, but it has almost no momentum. If this issue and the last had somehow been condensed into one, I think it would have improved the whole story. Maybe. But the cliffhanger makes up for a lot if it means what I think it means.

Hulk #55: Again, drawn in by the 25 cent cover price. Since I've read very little of the Hulk title, ever, I was expecting some kind of introduction to the concept. Instead, this was a typical first issue of a storyarc, with nary a scene of Hulk himself to be found. For an introduction, it was crap. For a regular superhero story it was ok.

Still to review: PS238 and Akiko. And maybe something else.

More reviews coming tomorrow. Saw the pugs tonight, they are still alive and seemed ok with seeing me, although the longer I stayed, the more nervous Buddy seemed to get ("oh no, she's not going to STAY again, is she?").

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow.

Superman/Batman Generations III #6: Popping around from century to century following characters we hardly know and never get a chance to really understand. It's not impossibly bad, it's just not that impressive.

Green Arrow #27: The art is beginning to grow on me, and the story is pretty solid still. Good cliffhanger, good plotting. The story moves along without racing. Nice.

JSA #49: Too... many... characters... And too much happening too quickly to understand. This needs to be read with other issues. JSA is looking more and more like a book that would be better read in collected form.

Superman: Red Son #2: This one wasn't as good as the first issue. The story moved along at the same sort of pace, but the art wasn't quite right. This is a very good tale. Definitely one of the best Elseworlds to come along in ages.

Still to review: PS238, Akiko, Cardcaptor Sakura, Aquaman, and Hulk.

And for a different take on Elseworlds (the last story has a very similar premise to Superman: Red Son):

Superheroes (edited by John Varley): This is an anthology of 25 short stories by some of the big names in science fiction writing. The underlying theme is as simple as the title, but the stories ring in very differently. The biggest problem with this one, I think, is that it's hard to tell which stories are going to be pure humor and which are going to be dead serious. Some twist quite unexpectedly. All-in-all, however, this is really a good ride.

Titans/Young Justice Graduation Day #3: What an utter waste of good paper.

Powers #32: More dialogue than last issue, at least. While Bendis has never been particularly keen on following convention, he might have done a little better in this case to have cut down this issue by a lot, and combined it with last issue. Then again, maybe the pay off will be worth it.

Silken Ghost #2: Another good issue from the Way of the Rat spin-off. There's enough mystery to keep the suspense up, and enough action to keep my martial arts fandom happy.

Still to review: a whole buncha books.