Comic Books of the Week (8/24/11) part 1

Final big week of books before the end of it all. Let's get to the Flashpoint titles from the week first:

Flashpoint: Hal Jordan #3 (of 3) - so we ended last time with Hal prepping to drop a "Green Arrow" nuke (how fitting) on the Amazons in hopes to ending the war. Clearly this world's Hal fears one thing - commitment. Why he can't admit his love for Carol in person is a shame. This whole version of Hal is a shame. This is not the Hal Jordan I grew up with. Yes, he is a hero in the end - a sacrificial one (thanks to Flashpoint #4 spoiling that one three weeks ago) - but clearly he is shown here as flawed. Sigh.

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance #3 (of 3) - while Lois does a lot in this issue, she still takes the backseat to the supers. Last month it was Grifter. This month it is Britannia. I wasn't thrilled with the art on this final issue either. Very disappointed with the way this mini played out, but I should have expected it. It tied to close to the Wonder Woman and Aquaman minis, and those two were disappointments thanks to the choppy story-flow each issue. Lois deserved better than this.

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #3 (of 3) - the art was a bit uneven with two pencilers but I liked that we at least got to see a bit more of the Flash family through this final issue. The first two issues were slow but this one made up for it. It is kind of sad though what happened to this world's Max, Jay and Wally. They all deserved better. But Bart at least is able to come out a hero - another sacrifice this week but at least his is worth something (as opposed to Hal and Lois). Will Bart's actions be enough to jump-start the new universe? Most likely. Barry has been pretty much running into too many walls up to this point. He needs something to reignite things. Bart gave him the extra push.

Comic Books of the Week (8/10/11) part 1

Let's hit the Flashpoint books first this week:

Flashpoint: Citizen Cold #3 (of 3) - I was kind of disappointed with the second act of this mini last month after enjoying the opening volley. The finale here redeemed things a bit. Scott Kolins does grim and gritty villains well, and this book has a ton of them. All your favorite Rogues are here: Cold, Weather Wizard, the new Trickster, Mirror Master, the Pied Piper as well as Tarpit and Fallout. Iris West learns the truth about Central City's "supposed hero" and the book comes to a gratifying ending.

Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #3 (of 3) - I felt my stomach turning in knots as the book jumped back and forth between flashbacks and present day. I get that the issue had to resolve the plot of who was behind the war and how they deceived everyone, but the whole mini was like that. Learn how to tell a story straight-forward. Show, don't tell. That's Writing 101. And, of course, it all ends in issues 4 and 5 of Flashpoint, the first part which came out before this issue - way to ruin things there, DC. Poor editorial control over the mini.

Booster Gold #47 - the final issue of the series and final part of the Flashpoint "tie-in". I put that in quotes because, for me, it was a waste. Booster spent the entire time screwing around with Doomsday. I would rather have seen him be a key part in the resolution of the event - showing Barry how much of a hero he could be. Instead, we get poorly worked finale with only a few pages in the real FP action and then Booster fails. This made me sad. Of course, I should have expected the worst when Dan Jurgens couldn't do the art for this final issue. We only get a few pages from him near the end. I am very disappointed with this one.