Reviews/The Experiment Is Over

Recently,I've been giving my impressions on some of the DC comics I've been picking up.I know my personality type.I should've known that the second I told myself it would be OK to pick up non-Marvel books that I would keep doing so.So why make a big production out of the whole thing now?I'm going to continue doing what I do now:buying 95% Marvel and picking and choosing DC books and the odd indy book.

I don't want to do typical reviews of comics.That can be found anywhere and much better written.I plan on focusing more on why I buy what I buy and what is making me keep or drop the books.I will make shameless use of spoilers if I see the need to.

This week I came home with 15 comics.I'm not going to go over them all.I didn't pick up Wonder Woman like I thought I would because it was not Gail Simone's first issue like I somehow thought it was.

1)Captain Carrot and the Final Ark #1:When I heard of this book I thought"There's no way in hell I'm wasting money on something called Captain Carrot."But,after reading a preview on Newsarama where the posters actually seemed to like this book I decided to give it a shot.I read this during my lunch break yesterday so I was being distracted every 2 minutes and didn't really get the story.The sense of humor the book had was fine.There were a lot of dopey little jokes scattered around the panels that I found amusing,especially at the comic-con.(best part of the book,hands down)I just didn't really like the characters.Twenty years ago I would have LOVED this.Now,it's worth a few chuckles and not much else really.I don't think I'll be picking up #2.Give me Franklin Richrds:Son Of A Genius anyday for my goofy,fun comic fix.

2)Booster Gold #3:This is another one I tried to read at lunch with all the distactions.My first read left me feeling very underwhelmed,but I decided to read it one more time when I got home so I wouldn't have all the chaos around me.That second time went much better.Booster was golden when drunk.As for Jonah Hex...he was there too.I have no opinion on him after reading just this little bit.It didn't make me want to go pick up his comic,but I think I'll keep buying Booster Gold.

3)Green Arrow And Black Canary #1:With this I figured that since I liked Black Canary in Birds Of Prey I probably would like her here as well.In other words,it was a total impulse buy.My first reaction was "Oh crap.I just bought something written by that guy from The Real World."I sooo don't want to take that guy seriously.Putting my prejudice against MTV reality stars aside,I actually liked this.They did a good job on getting me up to speed on what happened to lead into this.Black Canary beat a guy half to death and then kind of moped around for the rest of the issue,but I didn't mind that.The ending made me want to come back next month to find out what happens.
On a side note,I really thought I'd be goofing on Black Canary.A martial artist wearing what looks like a leather bathing suit and fishnet stockings?It's silly.But damnit if she doesn't just have crazy skills.She doesn't seem to be afraid of much of anything and pretty much kicks all sorts of serious ass.As it stands right now,she's my favorite DC character.

4)World War Hulk:Frontline #5:This series has actually gotten better as it has gone on.Sally Floyd is back on the wagon hard and it is causing her to make some really poor choices and Danny Granville solved his case and Korg had a beer and a stereotypical alien moment where he reflected on his impressions of humanity,which weren't completely positive.The comic at the end was written specifically for the internet crowd and gave me my quote of the week as Sally Floyd hits on Reed Richards:"It all stretches,right?"The expression on Reed's face was priceless.

5)New Avengers #35:This issue focused almost entirely on the villains,most specifically The Hood.The thing with villains in comics is that you know with near certainty that they will be defeated.They're threatening for a few panels,but then everything falls apart.The Hood has actually come out on top so far.He's calculating,smart, and organized.If he can get his motley crew of ne'er-do-wells in line then we can look forward to some very cool hero/villain fights in the upcoming months where the end result might not be a foregone conclusion.

6)Runaways #28:Three things went through my mind reading this.First,I can't wait for them to get back to the present.Second,it was touching to see that the Yorkes love Gert over everything else.Third,Nico actually looked Asian!It must be realy hard to draw asian eyes without making the character look like a gross stereotype.

7)Punisher War Journal #12:Coming into this,I really didn't know why the Punisher was getting involved in WWH.Let's face it, The Punisher isn't even a small challenge for Hulk.It's a very lopsided mismatch to say the least.Fraction had it make sense though as Frank Castle basically saved some innocent stragglers and helped them out of the city.The venomech suit was unexpected and a nice visual.I'm left wondering if Hulk will go after Frank since he killed one of his Warbound.I have loved the last two issues of this book.They have showed a more human,heroic side of The Punisher that usually gets pushed aside in favor of big guns and big explosions.It makes him a bit more three-dimensional and easy to relate to.

8)New Avengers/Transformers #4:I'm a sucker for crossover titles,especially when I'm familiar with both sides of the crossover.This book had some ridiculous moments(Spider-Man's webbing is strong enough to contain Megatron?),but I think they were done more to give our heroes a bit more of a definitive win and also for effect so I didn't worry to much about that.It ended in what may have been a slight nod to the Transformers movie's theory that all of our technology came from studying Cybertonian tech.At least that's what I got out of it.I'll have to re-read this whole series in one sitting now that it's over to get my full impression of the story.

Overall,it was a good week.The Fantastic Four are back together.The Sinestro Corp War continues to be totally awesome.The New Warriors are having some problems.It was all good.I liked all of my books this week.Usually,I get one or two that I'm lukewarm on and just getting to have an uninterrupted run(and I'm not afraid to admit it and I don't hold it against the title or its creative team that I don't fully love it.)Next week I'll get vol 7 of The Walking Dead and I'll be all caught up with that in TPBs.I'm looking forward to that.