Well, I was having fun again today playing more of Exteel. I’m very hooked, and the customising is great fun. I’m glad they’ve limited the amount of kit you can hold per mech though, otherwise there’s a lot of scope to go nuts in the shop.

Here’s a quick video of the game in action. Here I’m using my Stallion mech, which is nice and light so its pretty nippy. I’m flicking between my trusty SMGs for close range, and my rifles for a bit of distance shooting.

Ok, the final installment in my comics-talk for today.

Green Lantern #29, the first part of the Secret Origins storyline. Its definitely a change of pace from what we’ve had over the last 6 months or so. Johns moves the pace away from the epic to spend a bit of time getting into Hal’s head. I enjoyed the issue, although parts of it were just expanding on what had been established in issues 1-6, and I’m not convinced it needed retelling aready. Issues 1-6 spelled out fine for me that Hal had joined the Air Force against his mother’s wishes, and when she fell ill he go himself discharged by decking General Stone. We’d already seen him get to the hospital too late to see her, so to an extent this to me felt like trying to spell-out what had been said before.

It was enjoyable enough though, and this is only part one of the story so there’s no doubt that the rest of it will cover some new ground. I suspect this issue was more setup for what’s to come in the story. The glimpse of Abin Sur trying to get more information on the Blackest Night from the Empire of Tears was interesting ad I suspect we’ll see a lot more of this, especially once Sinestro turns up to train Hal. The scene with John I was a bit unsure about though. While its always nice to see John turn up in this book, it seemed strange to have John sticking up for a guy that was clearly out-of-line, marine or not. Again though, I suspect this will be followed up in future issues.

All-Star Superman was another cracking issue from Grant Morrison. While All-Star Batman remains readable in only a train crash-like manner, Morrison and Quietly have nailed what people were expecting from an All-Star line. Taking everything classic and iconic with the character and enhancing it.

The over-arching theme of Superman’s death playing strongly into this issue. With Superman writing his last will and testament while also trying to close off the loose threads in his life, shown in this issue with him finding a resolution for the people of Kandor that finally frees them from their bottle. The stuff with Superman creating a new universe to see how Earth will cope without him and creating our own world in the process was just brilliant.

Its a great book. Its just a pity its not a full monthly.

The big win of the week for me though was Blue Beetle. I’d picked up the first few issues of Keith Giffen’s run, but I didn’t really get into it. However the JLI-reunion promised on the title suckered me and I picked up issues 23 and 24 as well to get a better feel for the story.

What an absolutely cracking title. I’d only read 3 issues of this storyline (which has been built up to throughout the run) yet I was still reading it with a huge grin on my face. Jamie’s plan to stop the Reach’s invasion plans was really well presented and there was a big “coming of age” feel here with him risking everything to stop the invasion.

As a GL fan though, Guy Gardner was just the icing on the cake:

“My brother calls you the crazy one.”

“That’s right, baby girl. I’m the crazy one.”

“We’re dead.”

Classic Guy.

I really need to get the trades of Rogers’ run on this book.

I’ll talk about GL #29 in another post, but the last DC comic of the week I got was the Booster Gold Showcase. I’ve really been enjoying reading his early stories, as I largely only knew the character from JLI. Dan Jurgen’s stuff is brilliant. Its interesting to read the mystery that was applied to the character in the beginning, with his stories launching with him already established, and only later issues revealing that he was from the future. Jurgens does a great job of presenting a hero that’s only out for number one, raking in the money from merchandising from his public status as a superhero. Its a great take, especially since most DC heroes were about the greater good, so its interesting to have a more self-interested hero. And its a testiment to that direction how well the character’s lasted, enjoying more of a spotlight thanks to 52 and his own re-launched title. Its also interesting reading the two-parter where he teams up with Rip Hunter to return to the 25th century, since it nicely serves as a pre-cursor to Booster’s current storylines. With Geoff Johns leaving the title, and Jess Katz rumoured to be leaving, there’s a lot worse things could happen than Dan Jurgens taking over the writing. Although the current rumours have John Rogers (from Blue Beetle, above) relaunching the book as Blue and Gold. Something which, given my glowing review of Blue Beetle, you’ll understand me being excited about the prospect.

The only other title, which I won’t really go into too much, is Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. Usually this is one of my favourite reads when it comes out, but to be honest, the much-hyped Vector crossover hasn’t really been working for me. I’m missing the regular cast and storylines (although Griff’s on good form), and the art’s not been great. Frankly I’ll be glad once the crossover’s done, and I may skip the Legacy issues (the only other SW title I buy).

Right, catching up with my comics ranting

Countdown #5 continued the transformation of the Earth to the world of Kamandi. While this and issue 6 were an interesting read, they also felt like a diversion from the main event of Countdown. I realise the Great Disaster’s been what the Search for Ray Palmer storyline was playing towards, but these issues, while fullfilling that, just didn’t seem part of the main story to me for some reason. Possibly this is related to the decision to focus on this Earth’s Buddy Blank for the narration, a character only in these two issues, while every other character in Countdown took a back seat. Given that we should be firmly in the “wow! This is finally paying off!” stages of Countdown, frankly it just served to underline the disappointment of the title for the last 45ish issues. I’m pretty much sticking with it because there’s only 5 issues to go, but frankly, there’s no chance of me picking up the next weekly, and Countdown’s left me fairly unenthusiastic for Final Crisis. If they’re smart Superman Prime’ll turn up next issue and blow something up, because those were the best issues.

The other Countdown monthly I’ve been picking up was Countdown to Adventure. I’ve really enjoyed this epilogue to the Space Team’s adventures in 52. I’m a sucker for Adam Strange stuff and he, Animal Man and Starfire work well together. The Forerunner backups seemed fairly pointess, just serving a character that appeared briefly in Countdown. Its a structure that was handled much better in last year’s Mystery in Space title. Talking of which, I’m now really looking forward to Rann-Thanagar Holy War. Adam Strange and Captain Comet. Two characters I’ve really enjoyed the last few years. Although I see they’re still trying to drop the “Captain” from Captain Comet’s name. Gah!

The BBC have posted the new “Campfire” trailer to Youtube. Looking good.

Can’t wait till Saturday…