Comic Books of the Week (2/9/11) part 2

Adventure Comics #523 - the title changes over from the Legion of Super-Heroes feature to the Legion Academy feature with this issue. Paul Levitz continues the writing of all things 31st Century and one of my favorite artists, Phil Jimenez, is on board for the art chores. I have to say I am loving this new feature and hope to see it for a long time. The Legion Academy is the training facility for young heroes - and the new crop of students looks very interesting. Old favorites from the LSH are around too - as instructors and such. If you are a fan of the LSH, you need to be getting this title too.

Birds of Prey #9 - "the Death of Oracle" story continues with Black Canary facing her biggest regrets (thanks to new villaness Mortis. Still, Dinah shows why she's the outstanding heroine that she is! The rest of the gals are in a tight spot too, but they can handle themselves (loving Lady Blackhawk in this series). And Hawk gets taken down a peg or two - always needed every now and again to keep that ego in check. I love what Gail Simone is doing on this title.

Flash #9 - "the Road to Flashpoint" begins here with major focus on Barry Allen, a vrey strange murder mystery and the introduction of a very interesting new biker character. All this is going to lead into the mega-event "Flashpoint" in a few months, when Professor Zoom decides to rewrite history and puts the entire DCU into a tailspin. Looking forward to that and the various crossovers that entail. Geoff Johns is doing outstanding work with this book and I have full faith in him for "Flashpoint" too.

John Byrne's Next Men #3 - where in the world is Bethany? This issue opens with that and allows Byrne to go light on the backgrounds (it does work for this environment though). We check in with the others lost in time too - Nathan in Nazi Germany, Jasmine in Victorian England, and Toni in Civil War South. There Byrne puts his artist talents to work, rendering each period well (clothes, backgrounds, etc.). The issue ends with a shocking reveal to Bethany, but we have to wait for next issue to see it. Looks like then we'll also get more on the "betrayal" her captor keeps alluding to. Good stuff.