Recovering from Mom

It's been an interesting few days. Mom and Aunt Marilee were in town, and they are perfect stereotypical Middle-Aged American Tourists. They insisted upon running all over the city looking for sites to see and they just had to eat at Toby Keith's restauraunt. I still have three styrofoam containers full of food leftover from lunch yesterday. It could have been worse. Last time she was in town, Mom made me drive down to his ranch to take pictures of the gates. I wouldn't let her out of the car, for fear she'd jump the fence! I think I'm seeing the beginnings of a Elvis-level obsession here. Twenty years after his death, Mom will call me from Shady Pines to tell me how she saw him at the park with Bigfoot and Ghandi. *Shudder*
Anyway, they both left early this morning, and I had to wake up to see them off. So, I've had the entire day to waste as I see fit.

So, why am I only now posting on my Blog, at 11:30 this evening? I was extraordinarily busy today -- reading comics, reading blogs, reading message boards, etc...

Anyway, I had some time to wander, and peruse the archives, and I have some lovely new links for everyone.

Firstly, James Meeley of The Comics Asylum has a review of Flash #227 up that mirrors my own feelings fairly well. He's also a self-professed Kyle Rayner fan, and looking through his archives I can see he likes space-Kyle and laid out DC's coverage plan for Green Lantern as far back as February, which is pretty impressive, actually.

Then we have Bully, the little stuffed bull of Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun! I can't help but imagine a squeaky, child voice when I read his writing, but he's still worth checking out simply because of this post.

Somebody linked me to "Dr. Doom's Top Ten Euphemisms for Sex" (Posted October 9th, if you're willing to search the archives) on Progressive Ruin and it was hilarious, but I can't remember who or find the link again. Whoever it was, thank you.

And, because such a thing is a rare find: Snark Free Waters Yes, a non-snarky blog. Wow. They're doing a fun clone game right now.

On the message baords, I found a worthwhile interview -- Dave Gibbons gives a few behind-the-scenes hints about Rann-Thanagar War and a bit of teasing about the Green Lantern Corps ongoing.

Same site also has a very fun imaginary dialogue for anyone who has read the JLA: Tower of Babel storyline.

I also took some of the online quizzes everyone links to, but the answer codes won't instantly work, and I don't feel up to manipulating them so that they do.

I'd Rather Be Defending Dave Gibbons.

Tom over at the Fortress of Soliloquy has finally posted that massive Infinite Crisis post he promised. It was worth reading, but massive. He goes from the start of Countdown and ties it all together, though. Very impressive.

Anyway, because between Summatives (Finals) and Mom visiting I don't have time to analyze and defend Rann-Thanagar War (Yes, I know I'm the only one who liked it!), I thought I'd just acknowledge having read Fortress of Soliloquy by adopting the term "Blogohedron" over "Blogosphere."

That's all. Now I must clean furiously, and hide all of the things my mother disapproves of. (I'll put the comic book boxes in front of my "special closet." She'll never look behind them!)

Last Line Round-up

I have squandered my valuable time with schoolwork. As a result, I have not written full reviews for nearly a month. And, with two speeches due this week, I don't have time to do full reviews this week. However, I felt a need to weigh in on Infinite Crisis. So, in the interest of brevity, I'm going to review the last bit of dialogue or internal monologue from each of the Crisis lead-ins and the first issue itself, along with the accompanying artwork. A good writer should be able to convey a lot in the last line, after all.

And of course there are Spoilers below. I'm talking about the last page here!


The OMAC Project #6
"It feels nothing."

This line was delivered by Batman. It, and the accompanying page, demonstrate one of the Major Laws of the DCU ever since Green Lantern: Rebirth -- Even when he comes to the correct conclusion, and does everything right, Batman is Still Always Wrong in Some Way. It's a frightening change from Morrison Uber-Bats.


Day of Vengeance #6
"Of course we're with you, boss, we're superheroes."

Just taking this line out of the mini-series makes the entire mini, placed against the entire tone of Countdown, 10 times better than when I actually read it. What a way to drive home the theme, Willingham. Good job with this one.


JLA #119
"Wait... You're..."

Martian Manhunter perfectly articulates the feeling conveyed by the entire DCU line this month.


DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #4
"This is too much--too big! I need help!"

Thank you, Donna Troy, for setting the Women's Movement even further back. Wuss.


Rann-Thanagar War #6
"The Guardians' side, Poozer -- the side of the whole universe!"

Kilowog answers the question posed on the cover of Issue 1 in a way that beautifully defines the point of being a Green Lantern. A lot of people have been complaining about Gibbons, but I, for one, am glad the new GLC writer has such a handle on the Lanterns (and is willing to accept ideas from online ramblers!).

Note: This mini would have worked a lot better if this hadn't only been the last of the dialogue, but the last of the verbage for the entire mini. There was some useless narration on the last page that could have been replaced to better effect with the second half of Kilowog's line. But, I'm willing to forgive a lot with Dave Gibbons since he gives Kyle and his fans so much respect, and worked so hard to cram so much into so little space.



Villains United #6
"Aw, Hell. Lets just flip a coin."

I think the question this was answering is fairly obvious.


Infinite Crisis #1
"This looks like a job for Superman!"

After six months of cursing the darkness, this last page is way beyond lighting a candle. This is lighting the freaking Sun.

That line, and the accompanying splash page, made the entire issue worth it. It made the entire Countdown worth it. I'll even go so far as to say it made the Deathstroke fight in Identity Crisis worth it.
I got all tingly and giggly. I had to stand up, pace, then sit down. I couldn't read another book that night. It may sound corny and cliche, but somehow Geoff Johns can make the corny and cliche work very well. That's pretty talented in our society of cynics. I think he does it by surrounding the cliche in tragedy, so that it seems extra-special. I am loving this so far.