This weeks comics in a review?!?!?

Me? Doing some reviews? Say whaaaa? Yes, I know! Well, it's because I got my new laptop last week, and I was setting it up then. Nowadays I can actually use my preferred method of this (which is actually just TextEdit - a nice text editor with a spell checker ;)), which is always good :)

Batman 698
Tony Daniel sure loves his mystery men villains. Now, is it just me or is he also making the villain seem to actually be Riddler? I'm surprised that Tony has stopped drawing these issues, maybe he was too rushed doing both on his last run which caused the quality to slip? Here's hoping so. But I do like Guillem March's art - liked it in Sirens and I like it here. And why does everyone atm insist on Gordon calling Batman - can't he do anything nowadays?
The plots pretty mundane really, another case of showing that Dick is not Bruce, even though last issue it showed he was truly ready to be Batman (finally). At least B&R didn't have much of that, even if it did inflict Damian even more upon us… If you're wondering what I'm talking about, see the subtext - Dick needs Riddler to work everything out, that odd dream sequence and more.
I'm pretty indifferent to this really, and I don't like where DC are taking Riddler either. This arc will probably be done just in time for Bruce to retake the mantle. Urgh, another thing that wasn't needed. If I'd killed a character, I'd make sure they were dead, unless they truly was a story to tell (of course, there are a couple) and the reasoning on their return has to make sense - Bruce's doesn't, and it's happening so soon after he 'died'. But of course Bruce HAS to be Batman, otherwise the casual fans won't understand what's going on, we can't have him 'Dating Catwoman', which means no T&A shots of Selina etc etc.
And now I've deviated from a comic review into a rant against the current state of Batman comics. Whoops. Wasn't hard though, which is a tad disturbing. Mind you, it's easy to set me off on comic book rants - key topics include stupid storylines, using female characters to sell comics to idiotic horny buggers (I will probably do a proper post on this at some point, it's a key topic I feel quite strongly about - something I will never subscribe to because I just don't understand WHY it appears to be necessary nowadays), writers ruining characters (Immonen!!!) and people with the inability to draw (Federico Dallocchio.)

Green Arrow 32
Speaking of which, I'd much rather have Athena turn me into a spider or a Gorgon cause she's crazy than have to look at this guys art. Extreme? Yes. Painful to look at? Yes. Then it's acceptable *nods*
This story was stupid, but at least it didn't have Roy and Ollie fighting. But I'm sure that's gonna happen at some point. J.T. Krull seems to be a good writer, but quite likely hamstrung by the editors. But some of the things are just stupid. You'll know what I mean when you read it.
GAH

Human Target 3
Well, as per the last 2 issues, I liked this un. Nice art, good silly cheesy action movie like story, yet the main character is pretty genre savvy ;) was slightly disappointed with the shorter than usual Scars story, but hey, that's the 'backup' feature, as it were...

Brightest Day 0
OK, so yeah, I liked this, it shows the vague beginnings of the plan for Brightest Day. Just a few things though:
* They'd better not be making Aquaman emo. ARGH
* How'd they capture Thawne? I don't remember that happening in Blackest Night…
* What IS Maxwell Lord up to?
* I'm glad they're keeping J'onn pretty much the same, with a tinge of hope. It's nice
* How old is Hawk? History finals? O_o and Dove seems like she can fly?
* Is that Kyle's ring of Jade? What's that thing in the top left corner of the same page?
And it seems as if Sinestro is going to be doing the all powerful White Light route again. Fair enough, I suppose

And on the other series covers:
* Brightest Day itself - it's nice Mera is appearing more, but posed like that? Granah
* Green Lantern/GLC - surprise surprise on that plot - but the Indigo's don't appear to be out of the picture yet
* Green Arrow - well, since the ending of Green Arrow, perhaps it'll be Ollie travelling the world, ala a sortof Hard Travelling Heroes thing, perhaps with Speedy tagging along? Nice cover too
* The Flash - yawn. Move along
* JL: Generation Lost - cool, but why are they the only people who remember Max Lord? And isn't Captain Atom dead?
* Birds of Prey - so it's a real Bird themed group this time, with Huntress being the odd one out. Now, I never read the old Birds, so what exactly did Lady Blackhawk provide the group with? And put some proper clothes on Huntress. Grumble…
* Titans: Villains For Hire - I've already talked about this one elsewhere, but it looks interesting and it's written and drawn by the same guys who did Ink, which I liked

Batgirl 9
For the finale there's not much of a review, cause it's Batgirl. It's funny, story is good, and even though I never read Oracle: The Cure (which I heard was terrible), it made sense. Good as always, and am glad Lee's back on art - it seems slightly different to normal, but hey, it's still good. No real complaints here, and no Chris Yost in sight! ;)