Well, some of the others that caught my eye anyway

First off, Rann-Thanagar Holy War #6.  Its back!!!! Going from the cover, Adam Strange has his Planet Heist kit back.  Yay

JSA #20 features the New Earth JSA and the Earth-2 JSA with Power Girl torn between the two.   I’m really looking forward to this storyline, as is probably most of DC fandom.  But I’m still really intrigued to see how this Earth-2 JSA is going to be approached.    As I’ve mentioned before, the Earth-2 JSA shouldn’t be the Golden Age JSA, so I’m wondering how they’re going to reconcile this.   Earth-2 in 52 was shown to have some kind of link to events on new Earth (both Kryptonians missing), but it also showed differences to the classic Earth-2 we see here.  Of course, there was obviously something going on with Earth-2 during Infinite Crisis (it was the only unpopulated world, E-2 Lois and E-2 Wonder Woman seemed to hint at being drawn somewhere - in the trade at least), so I wonder if this story arc will start to address that.

Booster Gold has a new writer in October in the form of Rick Remender. I’ve not read any of his other stuff (off the top of my head), but I love the sound of this arc, with Daniel unwittingly being possessed by Starro. It sounds like the kind of light-hearted adventure that suits this series down to the ground.

The Tangent Comics crossover is another mini I’m really loving (although it has been pointed out that the JLA really didn’t come out of the last issue looking that great. Powergirl versus Powergirl should be an entertaining matchup and I’m really intrigued to see where this series takes the Tangent Universe. I’ve been really enjoying the trades they’ve been releasing and re-casting Superman as the villain makes a lot of sense for the character.

Finally, the Superman titles explore the fallout of the Brainiac story, with 100,000 Kryptonians living on Earth.    Sounds like a really interesting story setup.  I guess I’ll be picking up the titles for a little while after the Brainiac arc ends.  It certainly gives them a lot of scope to really dig into where Clark sits in between both cultures.  Supergirl’s part in the story should be incredibly interesting, as I imagine she’s going to be really pleased to be around Kryptonians again (especially since this iteration of the character has really struggled to find her feet on Earth).

Yup. October’s going to be an expensive month for this DC fan.

Its no secret that the “Thy Kingdom Come” arc in JSA was dragging for me, and I was thinking of trade-waiting on JSA. However the Gog storyline has really turned that around for me.

I’m enjoying the idea of a God from the Third World having survived, and its a nice counterpoint to the fuss being made over the death of the New Gods of the Fourth World, and their rebirth as the Fifth World Gods over in Final Crisis. I’m also enjoying the idea that this is actually a benevolent deity. Ok, its probably going to go wrong at somepoint, but for now I’m enjoying how this series played against the expectations that the JSA would have a huge fight on their hands, and instead Gog is actually improving the lives of people around the world.

And we now know how Power Girl ends up on Earth-2, as Gog starts helping out the members of the JSA, including sending Power Girl “home”. (Interestingly, its mentioned that the portal was temporal in nature - perhaps explaining why the Annual has the golden age Earth-2 depicted, rather than the “52″ Earth-2?).

Another Geoff Johns title that’s turned around for me (ironically on his last issue) is Booster Gold. Again, I’d mentioned before how I just wan’t as into the Blue and Gold plot as I’d have liked to be, but I really enjoyed this epilogue issue. Batman’s talk with Booster was a great character defining moment, and the photos from The Killing Joke being used was a big surprise (as was the fact that Batman knew all along that Booster would grow into being a proper hero).

Rip allowing Booster a win was a great moment as well, as he manages to save Booster’s sister from her death (back in Booster’s first series), which is also nice as, having recently read that series, I did feel that we never got a chance to really know the character before she was killed. That and the reveal of Rip’s true identity has given this series a nice setup as a “family” book, moreso than other DC family books, such as The Flash. While Jeff and Geoff may be moving on, I hope we get an announcement soon as to the new creative team and permanent future of the title.

And that final page. Ted survived? Or someone else grabbed the Black Beetle scarab? Certainly it suggests that Ted managed to cheat death afterall.

My last Geoff Johns title this week was the second part of the Brainiac storyline in Action Comics.

This part continues from the strong part 1, as Kara tells Clark that everything he knew about Brainiac was wrong. Up until now, he’s only faced probes that Brainiac’s sent out, copies of his own program. She knows this as no-one has ever faced Brainiac himself. Clark heads out to try and find Brainiac, to see if he can recover the lost city of Kandor, as he releases it represents the chance for he and Kara to be around other Kryptonians. He finds Brainiac in the middle of attacking another planet, but it doesn’t go well.

What I probably love most about this reinvention of Brainiac, is how creepy they’re making him. Gary Frank’s art is adding a really alien air to Brainiac and his ship which is incredibly effective. I’m really enjoying this plot, and can’t wait for part 3.

Its also nice to see Supergirl interacting with Clark. I picked up her solo book for a while, but really the character was just awful, and I was really questioning why they’d brought her back to such a fan fare, when it was obvious they didn’t have a clue what to do with her. Geoff Johns has now spoken of the plan to bring her book more closely in with the other Superman titles, and if it means that she’ll be characterised more as we see here, then I think it’ll help a lot.

I’ve been a bit unsure about Geoff Johns’ Superman run. Superman is one of those characters that I enjoy, but I’m not a big enough fan to invest in buying his book every month. I think, much like Batman, if I did start buying his monthly title, it’d spiral out of control, until I was buying all his monthly books, and so was broke and homeless.

However, I do like picking up the odd mini-series or arc that looks interesting. I picked up Last Son, but while there was some nice ideas (I liked the addition of Chris Kent, pity that it turned into such a mess), and the revamped story for Zod, Ursa and Non was really interesting (especially Non’s backstory and link to Jor-El). However, that particular story’s lateness killed it for me, and stuff like the Legion of Superheroes, I’m just not really bothered about.

However, the teases for the Brainiac storyline caught my attention, and I’ve always found Brainiac one of Superman’s more interesting villains. Luthor is good, if over-used a lot of the time, and Zod has been badly-handled over the years (I’m looking at you Smallville). But there’s always been something creepy and (appropriately) alien about Brainiac. I loved his reinvention as a Kryptonian supercomputer in Superman TAS, and his portrayal in Smallville was really good too.

This was a really good first issue. The setup with Brainiac was really creepy, and I enjoyed the flashback to Kryptonite with Kandor being stolen. It’ll be interesting to see how this storyline handles the character, and if they can sort out the muddle he’s become. I tend to get a bit confused by his nature, as Brainiac is commonly shown as a supercomputer of some description, despite starting out as an alien scientist.

A great 10th issue from Booster Gold as well. If I’m honest, much like JSA this title’s been struggling to keep my attention for the last while. I really enjoyed the first arc, with Booster travelling back in time to protect the Justice League from nefarious time travellers, but this arc with Blue Beetle and the alternate time line just seemed to lack the fun of the first 6 issues, and was really dragging for me (surprising, given how few issues its actually been running for). This was a fun story though. Mister Mind popping up was a surprise, but another nice tie in to 52, and Ted’s final sacrifice was touching (although I was holding out hope that they’d broken time enough that Ted would somehow survive, but be forced to keep his existence a secret, so as not to change things further).

I’m really interested to see what happens to this title after the DC 1,000,000 issue. We know that Jeff Katz and Geoff Johns are moving on, but there’s not been any hint as to who might be taking over (which fuelled rumours of a relaunch as Blue and Gold, with the resurrection Ted Koord). I’m hoping whoever it is, captures the fun of the first 6 issues.

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).

This week’s Green Lantern Corps #21 takes us to one side from the main action in Green Lantern Corps. While the title is meant to be the “Guy and Kyle” book, this issue doesn’t actually feature either (although the clock is surely ticking down to Guy’s first run in with the Alphas). However, with the story tying in heavily to current events in Green Lantern, I didn’t actually miss them.

Not to mention, as the name of the book is “Green Lantern Corps”, I think it’d be remiss if it didn’t take time to highligh other members of the Corps. Perhaps this idea of side-stepping the usual cast to allow for a couple of fill-ins featuring other Corps members is something that could happen more often?

While I’ve been enjoying Peter Tomasi’s run so far (to the point that I picked up his first 2 issues of Nightwing the other week, both of which I really enjoyed), the fill in team of Sterling Gates and Nelson do a great job on the writing and art duties. Boodikka’s never been a character I’ve been that bothered about, but I enjoyed the focus on her as an Alpha Lantern, to give us more of a glimpse into their lives. I’m looking forward to part 2 of this.

However, while the Alpha Lanterns are big news, Booster Gold once again delivered the goods. While its maybe not DC’s highest profile book, its still consistently excellent, providing a great mix of laughs and superhero drama.

Fresh from rescuing Ted Koord from his untimely demise (something you just *know* is going to backfire) Booster and the Blue Beetles are travelling back through the time stream when they suddenly pass by Extant and Parallax, who are in the middle of Zero Hour. Its a great scene, with both parties just staring at each other, before Parallax and Extant snap out of it and go on the offensive. They end up back in Booster’s hometime of the 25th century, and Johns and Katz use this as a great time to have a look at what drives Booster as a character. His relationship with his father (key to the unvieling of Supernova’s identity) is further explored, and Booster’s guilt over his sister’s death is brought up. A really nice set of scenes, which worked really well, especially when you consider the comedy a few pages earlier of bumping into Parallax.

Well, Newsarama have got the January solicits up and there’s some good looking titles that month.

In Green Lantern terms we’ve got our first (albeit hard to make out clearly) look at an Alpha Lantern from the arc in the main title. I must admit, I’m intrigued to see how this arc goes. I’m betting the Alpha Lanterns are some Ion-derivative, but given that Hal and John are against it, its a fair bet there’s something more sinister than the power-boost Kyle got. It looks like Boddika certainly is one of them. Will all the Lost Lanterns become Alpha Lanterns? I can’t see Arisia being involved (and she’s part of the GLC title anyway).

I’m unsure what to make of the GLC solicit to be honest. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’ll be a good story, and there’s only so much you can tell for a solicit, so there are a lot of assumptions involved. However, the image of Mongul with a Sinestro ring does automatically make me wonder how many GL foes are going to end up in the Sinestro Corps. I can’t help but think its possibly going to be too soon after the event to revisit it, and a couple of issues dealing with something else (or the fallout from the war in another way that doesn’t involve actually bumping into someone with a yellow ring) might’ve been an idea.

I suspect I’ll be eating those words come January though

Various other non-GL things catch my eye as well. I’ve enjoyed the first two issues of Countdown to Adventure a lot, so I’m looking forward to it. I notice that Adam Strange seems to be in his original outfit, as opposed to his Planet Heist makeover, so I presume he has to dig some of his old kit out of storage at somepoint. I hope he gets his Planet Heist look back at the end of the series though. A really good updating I thought.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the Black Adam mini wraps up and I’ve been enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I’m hoping it gives us some indication of why Adam’s powers seem to be driving Mary evil, and I can’t help but think something happens to his powers during this series that leads him to give them to Mary as an act of revenge against Billy.

Booster Gold #6 should be a good issue as well. I like how they’re dealing with the issue of Ted in this first arc and getting it out of the way. I don’t think anyone’s actually been expecting him to save Ted though, so I suspect this issue will be a bit of a tearjerker.

Well, another week, another part of the Sinestro Corps War, as we’re now into the final push towards the end.

At this point, it probably goes without saying that I enjoyed the issue.

We pick up where both last month’s GL and the Parallax one-shot left off. This issue is primarily dealing with freeing Kyle from Parallax, and Parallax’s ultimate fate. For me it works well. The yellow weakness is now permanently removed from the central battery, and will only affect the four Earth GLs, who’ve all been overcoming it for the last couple of years anyway.

This issue really feels like a turning point in the War, as much as last week’s “Lethal Force Enabled” scene in GLC was. With Kyle now free, the final page with the 4 musketeers of the GL world back together, you do feel that next issue is going to be great, with the 4 Earth GLs proving why they’re the best. I do like how the 4 Earth GLs have been used since Johns came back, in that when they’re brought together its a big deal, and you know the bad guys are in trouble.

Another great thing about this issue was John once again getting the chance to shine. One of his lines falls flat if you’ve never seen “Lean On Me” (I haven’t), but as the GL who’s probably been the worst treated since Rebirth, its nice to see him getting some panel-time. Certainly, the scene on Oa where he takes out Bedovian back in the special is still one of the stand-out scenes of this whole thing for me. Geoff Johns is also promising a good moment in #25 with “Guy, John and a grenade the size of the moon”. Sounds good

However, despite all this, for me, the comic of the week was probably Booster Gold #3. This issue really nailed a great blend of serious story telling and comedy. While the Jonah Hex crossover was largely throw away, there’s some great humour in a drunken Booster telling Skeets how Superman banned him from wearing a cape, and then drunk-driving Rip Hunter’s Time Sphere. Dan Jurgens’ art is on top form, and this really seems to be a title that’s finding its feet and starting to fire on all cylanders. Next issue the Supernova mystery is due to be revealled, and I’m glad they’re not dragging it on too long. I’m also intrigued to see what happens with Daniel. We’re presented with the possibility that they may have mucked up Booster’s personal ancestory when they recruited Daniel back in 52 so hopefully its something they’ll revisit, especially once the Supernova mystery is solved.

This week’s DC previews are now up at Newsarama. Looks to be a great week with GL #24 and Booster Gold #3.

I love the panels of Hal racing to his brother’s house to stop Parallax. Since Kyle’s shown in his new GL duds on the cover to the next issue, hopefully this week will see Kyle and Hal exorcising “the bug”.

Looks like Superman Prime might be getting some action in this issue as well. I’m really interested in his one-shot as there are a lot of questions under this character’s current direction. Although I can’t help but feel that his and the Anti-Monitor’s involvement in this storyline will end up as a tease towards Final Crisis.

Also of interest is this week’s Lying in the Gutters, which has a green-lighted rumour for the Red Lanterns making there first appearance in next month’s GL #25. I must admit, while excited to see how it plays out, I’m also concerned that the Green Lantern Corps itself is going to end up diluted by all these other Corps kicking around. Although given that Geoff Johns has said we’re only on part 2 of a 3-part event, I imagine by the end of it, we’ll be left with the GL Corps as a unique entity, at least in this universe.

Booster Gold looks great as well. I’m really enjoying this title so far, and the mystery regarding Supernova is hotting up. I must admit though, I find the idea of Daniel just using the suit to get really good at X-box Live, and possibly mucking up Booster’s ancestry as a result quite amusing

Newsarama have a preview up for next week’s first issue of The All New Booster Gold. Check it out here. I love how its Batman and Superman that actually stick up for Booster.

I must admit, I’m really looking forward to this title. I’m hoping it preserves a slightly more light-hearted tone, in comparison to a lot of DC books these days, which have become very serious.

I picked up a couple of new additions to my action figure collection the other day. Here, in all their glory are Booster Gold and Supernova from 52, and the Wonder Woman and Donna Troy Infinite Crisis figures. And yup, that’s classics Optimus Prime and Bumblebee lurking in the background.

I must admit to liking the new “posed” style DC has adopted for the Infinite Crisis figures, although you do lose posability which is a shame. Donna’s hair also means she’s permanently looking to the left. They’re really nice new sculpts though.

Now I just need GL wave 3 to be announced and for it to contain an Ion figure.

There’s more good news for fans of Booster Gold as well, as Geoff Johns has announced that rather than being co-writer on Booster’s new book for just the first 6 issues, he’s now going to be co-writing it permanently. Really good news, as this is easily the new book I’m looking forward to most at the moment.