Hello again GEN readers! It’s Jill a.k.a. The Nerdy Bird back with this week’s installment of DoubleDCoverage. Grab your plastic pumpkins, it’s time for a DC Halloween! And just where do superheroes shop for their furniture? Reviews for DCU Halloween Special 2009 and Power Girl #6 are ahead. Also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last Wednesday!
DCU HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2009
Halloween is my all-time favorite holiday. I love getting into costume, carving pumpkins and eating lots of candy. The extra perk during the month of October is getting to watch all the Halloween-themed TV shows and movies that air. Considering my other love (comic books), I’m thrilled when companies put out Halloween specials. DC Comics puts one out every year and it never disappoints. “13 All-New Tales of Terror” have been unleashed. Here’s a rundown of my favorite and least-favorite of the bunch.
Editor Adam Schlagman takes a successful stab at writing the first story of the issue illustrated by Mark Bagely. “Guy Gardner in Halloween the Guy Way” follows the saucy Green Lantern in his plans for a holiday party on Oa. He seems to be enjoying himself a great deal but you view his true motives for the party when those moments are interspersed with hurtful memories of past Halloween’s where his father berated him. Before things get too heavy, Ice shows up dressed as the hottest Guardian of all time and makes Guy forget any and all troubles. “Robin in Cavity Search” gives us an all-new Batman rogue courtesy of Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen – Sweet Tooth. It’s the latest Robin, Damian, who takes him on and I really hope he’s used again because there’s great potential there. “Mirror Games” starring Kid Flash was a horror movie in the making. Some teenaged girls are calling on Bloody Mary but instead, Mirror Master pops out to say hello. The villain is used well by Joe Harris and Andrei Bressan makes the twist in the story quite terrifying. But “To the Finish Line” by Billy Tucci takes the full-size Snickers bar for me this issue. The Flash and Superman are once again trying to figure out who is faster by having a race that everyone, heroes and villains alike have come out to witness. So what makes this story my favorite? The fact that Flash and Supes turn out to be two young kiddos racing to the last house on the block for Trick-or-Treating.
There weren’t really any big stinkers in the Halloween Special but there were a few I didn’t care for as much. “Red Robin in Our Fathers Sins” by Ariel Thomas and Matt Triano follows Tim Wayne on his current quest to find Bruce and a few memories from the past. The story actually wasn’t bad, it just felt out of place in this issue. The Day of the Dead festival in Mexico acted as a backdrop but didn’t do enough to jive with the overall theme of the book. There are a few one-page stories in the special but Amy Wolfram and Pow Rodrix’s “The Lady Who Lives Down the Lane” featuring Ravager fell flat. Perhaps it could have been an interesting horror tale if it had been expanded but just showing some Trick-or-Treater’s your empty eye cavity is not enough. Also disappointing was another one-pager, “Never Too Old,” also by Wolfman with art by Jon Boy Meyers. Beast Boy just wants some candy and Cyborg is refusing to give him any. This one would be better placed in the Christmas special under “Bah, Humbug.” And lastly, it was fun seeing Wonder Woman get spooked by reality TV and hanging out with the girls in “Haunted or Haux?” by Mandy McMurray and Scott Clark but did Aquagirl, Cassie and Miss Martian really need to be splashing at each other in their bikinis at the end?
The frightening tales are bookended by a look into Halloween on Bizarro world by Jake Black and Ibraim Roberson. Healthy food and doing good deeds for others is the order of the day on this backwards planet. There’s even a group shot of Bizarro DC staff at the end including Senior VP Dan Didio. The entire issue is fun but it’s little touches like that that bring the holiday spirit home. You get a little bit of everything in a special like this, some of the stories follow along with current continuity while others just skim it or ignore it completely for more classic tales. Pick this one up, save it for Halloween night and enjoy it with your favorite candy.
POWER GIRL #6
As if Power Girl doesn’t have enough on her plate. She’s reopened Starrware Industries and is now in charge of a large staff and several high-technology projects, she’s moved into a new apartment and she’s playing big-sister to Atlee and teaching her all about the Earth’s surface. So when three alien ladies crash land on our planet and leave a wake of destruction behind them, it’s fair to say she’s a little annoyed.
The ladies are currently in an open fight on the street with a man in a jet-pack. PG finds out his name is Agent 7 and he claims the ladies are escapees from his planet. The trio claim the death they caused was an accident so PG flies Agent 7 away to get his side of the story. While she’s gone the ladies are whisked away in a limo to parts unknown. Agent 7 explains the ladies are the daughters of his Emperor on Vega 7 and he’s been charged with bringing them home after they got into some “minor mischief” there. PG heads back to find them already gone and Agent 7 uses that time to slip away. On the list of things she needs to worry about she ranks them pretty low and decides to head back home instead.
PG spends some quality time with Atlee who helps her shop for furniture at a not-so-cleverly disguised IKEA. I mean really, those bizarre tools are unmistakable. I just wonder if they went to the new one in Brooklyn or went all the way to Elizabeth, New Jersey. (Sorry, I’m a Jersey girl, these little details excite me.) Slipped under her door, Atlee finds pictures from PG’s as-yet-identified stalker/blackmailer. He’s got pictures of her changing out of her day clothes into her costume but she barely has time to investigate when Agent 7 comes knocking at her door. The ladies, mistaken for hookers, were driven to Atlantic City to spend time with a member of the mob. They don’t realize the trouble they’re in when some of his “associates” come to collect money. PG shows up after shots have been fired but before one of the ladies, Anez, can kill one of the shooters. PG manages to calm her down and get her sister medical attention. Since both their ships are destroyed, they have no means of getting home or even finding home, PG sets them up with false identities and puts one of her friends on the case of figuring out where they came from and how to get back there. Will they behave and never show up again or will these four become recurring characters? Only time will tell.
The resolution seemed a little too easy for the situation at hand. There wasn’t enough character development of the ladies for the reader to understand how Anez could go from killing someone by accident, then almost killing for revenge to simply apologizing and letting it all go. Even though she fought and talked, I felt like PG didn’t really do all that much this issue. Her normal world scenes were as good as ever though, I’m always impressed with how natural they sound. The art was also as good as ever. For a local girl, seeing the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island is a nice touch and, like the writing, makes everything seem that much more realistic.
BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM #5 – Why is Huntress not used more often?
BLACKEST NIGHT: SUPERMAN #3 (OF 3) – We finally get to see what happens when the entire emotional spectrum is used together. I really enjoyed this mini.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #38 – A new era for the JLA begins with a “meh.” But that was to be expected.
THE OUTSIDERS #23 – Oh my god! Why does Creeper look like a Studio 54 reject??
SUPERGIRL #46 – I still don’t think Reactron should be able to hold his own against three superpowered Kryptonians but at least they’ve finally got him captured. I can’t wait to see more Kara/Thara friendship stuff now that they’ve made up.
My pull list for this week (dear god help me, can anyone spare a couple bucks?):
AMBUSH BUG: YEAR NONE #7 (OF 6)
ARKHAM REBORN #1 (OF 3)
BATMAN #692
BLACKEST NIGHT #4 (OF 8 )
BLACKEST NIGHT: TITANS #3 (OF 3)
DETECTIVE COMICS #858
GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #5
GREEN LANTERN #47
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA # 32
SUPERMAN #693
SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN #2 (OF 6)
TEEN TITANS #76
WONDER WOMAN #37
WORLD’S FINEST #1 (OF 4)
Which two should I review for DoubleDCoverage #32?
October 28th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Great as always Jill!
Let me know what you think of Gotham Sirens and World’s Finest this week - and be glad you don’t pick up Marvel stuff…their list is big as well!
October 28th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Being the Superman fan that I am, my picks would be SUPERMAN #693 & SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGINS #2 (of 6). I can’t wait to read the Legion story!
October 28th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
great reviews I want going to pick up the halloween special but now I think i will.DC really should pay you! i pick up so many books after your reviews. I say review the two #1’s arkham and worlds finest.
November 1st, 2009 at 6:08 am
My first year missing the DC Halloween Special!! Oh no.
Looks like you’ll be insanely busy this week with that next pull list.
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
loved the DC Halloween book
read it a little late
but still enjoyed it
your review was good (per ussual!)