Thursday, August 11, 2011

Comic Books of the Week (8/10/11) part 2

The month of final issues (for me) continues:

Batman: the Brave and the Bold #10 - this is one of the books I would have still picked up come September, but going to the shop for one or two books a month didn't make sense to me. The DC Kids line gets it right. Here we have a single issue tale, a trio of villains, a trio of guest heroes and a good character driven story about a father trying to take care of his family. It was light, colorful, fun - the way comics used to be when I first discovered them back in the 70's. Books could have continuity, the writers knew how to tell the reader everything they needed to know, and stories could have a beginning, middle and end between two covers.

Birds of Prey #15 - this final issue ends the two part tale by the guest creative team. Gail Simone already left the building after issue 13, leaving this story that feels more like a fill-in than a finale. Kid of disappointing really. And, I must ask, does a book that stars female heroes have to include blantant breast shots on nearly every page? Is this what comics have come to? Sigh.

Teen Titans #99 - how do you fit seven heroes, seven villains, and three Superboy clones in twenty pages? With a huge shoe-horn! We barely get enough details behind Superboy Prime's gathering of his team of evil or enough space for the various fights. The gals barely get a page each while most of the guys get two pages. The Golden Gate bridge gets trashed as does downtown San Francisco. And, oh look, a double-page spread to show us all the guest-stars for next issues anniversary/finale. I hope the final issue is double-sized because there is a lot to cover before this book bows out in two weeks. I have a feeling I'll be disappointed there too.

I think I'm getting too old for this.

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