Comics Reviews By Chris Karnes

ACTION COMICS #833 -- Superman encounters his #1 foe again this year. No, not Luthor; but magic. This time, the conjurer is Tsartista, Queen of Fables. Bryne's art is suited for tales such as this, and the story, for what it is, is played out fairly. For those paying attention, the Lois/evil Congressman subplot finally takes an interesting development. ALL STAR SUPERMAN #1 -- My fear was this could be as bad as All Star Batman. Mercifully, it wasn't. My online comics chums seem to have a love/hate relationship with Frank Quitely. I thought he was alright here. My only beef? The cover. I don't mean to sound crass or silly, but to me, the cover looks like Jimmy Kimmel dressed as Superman sitting on the crapper, turning around and looking back at me. BATGIRL #70 -- So, Nora Fries finally gets thawed to life courtesy of a Lazarus Pit and now calls herself ... LAZARA! Encrusted in a goldish pit residue (and coming up out of the deep side of the pool), she now seems to have the power to raise the dead into zombies. *sighs* And Batgirl HAD been a decent read of lead, with contrived silliness to a medium. BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #197 -- I usually think so little of this title; but this "Blaze of Glory" arc started great. Picture a two-bit hood planning the score of his life only to be taken out by Batman. After his release, he finds he has a terminal illness and sets his sights on revenge -- or at least to get noticed by the Batman. I've expected more from Will Pfeifer's work on Catwoman, but he really delivers here. THE BATMAN STRIKES #15 -- This month, this issue does nothing more than "pimp" "The Bataman vs. Dracula" DVD serving as a weak "prequel" to the animated feature; and a month too late at that. BIRDS OF PREY #88 -- I liked: Babs having a pet bird named Charlie, just like on the '60s Batman tv show. I didn't like: Not knowing how Savant was captured. I mean this guy is HUGE! How did he get taken down? Ssvant is being held in hopes of giving up Oracle's ID. Also, we see the heroines shopping, some nice Green Arrow/Black Canary action, and Helena ... well, being Helena. FIRESTORM #19 -- Jason/Firestorm joins Donna Troy and crew in space. There's a little commentary on current Detroit race relations and The Great Gazoo, I mean, Gehenna pops up again. INFINITE CRISIS #2 -- FINALLY Power Girl gets her memory back and answers as to where she came from. I didn't care for last month's issue, but now we're getting someone story-wise. The art is outstanding. There's a lot of speculation as to what will happen next. I'm just going to enjoy the ride for now. JLA #122 -- Well, no gratutitous crotch shots of Black Canary this month; and the story is continuing to crawl. Raven has been kidnapped by our mysterious long-haired villian There's more OMACs flying around, and Donna Troy is on a recruiting drive. JONAH HEX #1 -- Arguably, the most successfull western comics hero in recent decades, ol' Jonah is back! Luke Ross' art is very good here; it's sorta got an airbrushed paint look to it. But writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti didn't give him the Michael Fleischer voice that I'm used to. In this issue, Jonah says, "I'll see what I can do" instead of "Ah'll see whut I c'n do." Get the difference? JSA #79 -- "Lost and Found" continues with our heroes fighting ... magic. Young Jakeem seems to have turned rogue battling one group of heroes. In the meantime, Mordru has another set of heroes on the ropes. Oh, the humanity! JSA CLASSIFIED #5 -- If you loved the recent "VILLAINS UNITED" mini-series, you may give this a try. Here, the Injustice Society reforms with old favorites such as the orgininal Rag Doll, the Wizard, Icicle, and Solomon Grundy, among others. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #15 -- Another book where old Captain Marvel villain Mr. Atom gets destroyed (see INFINITE CRISIS #2). *sighs* It's hard to pick on a kids, er, "all ages" book, but the story deals focues on Vibe trying to get his brother out of a violent Detroit street gang. Vibe's words don't seem to carry much clout to me, the reader, with that costume that was even silly by '80s standards. SEVEN SOLDIERS: BULLETEER #1 -- Well, another reluctant heroine enters comicdom, and one that looks like she's gonna give Power Girl a run for her money in the "endowment" department. It was an okay read, but too soon to tell to see what's happening. TEEN TITANS #29 -- I've hated Red Hood's return in Batman. But I confess, I did enjoy this issue's Robin vs. former Robin fight. Some good lines and Jason noticing there wasn't a statue in his memoriam was a great observation. DAREDEVIL #79 -- Your honor, I submit this issue as evidence as to why the Kingpin deserves the "villain of the year" award. A plan to get revenge on DD that seems so simple in hindsight, yet so masterfully executed. I know I am going to hate seeing the creative team leave this book. THE PULSE #12 -- Jessica, I love you, but PLEASE, have the baby already. I did smile seeing hookers dressed as Power Girl in the NYPD office. VICTORIA'S SECRET SERVICE #00 -- Ah, the folks at Alias Comics came out with a preview book for a mere 75 cents. The back cover has a blurb that this is "soon to be a major motion picture" but I found nothing inside to indicate this is affliated with the lingerie retailer. (Can a lawsuit or cease and desist order be far behind?) Bottom lines: It doesn't work as a serious spy book or a spoof of one. The four female leads are cookie-cutter: one blonde, one redhead, one brunette, and one dark-haired. Three of them are British and speak with bad "Cor Blimey" cockney accents. Worse, it doesn't work as even a tongue-in-cheek gratutitous T/A comic in my opinion. Well, I will say it was a fun book to review though.

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