Countdown:Reservations

Last week, Red Hood (Jason Todd) is portayed as a gung ho vigilante, a good guy who goes too far. It explains why he tries to save faux Lindsay Lohan from Duela Dent, but flies in the face of the past few months of Red Hood trying to set himself up as a gunrunner and kill the Green Arrow Family.

This week, Jimmy Olsen, Superman's pal, besides having the world's finest assistant, tries to get the real story of what killed Duela Dent. To that end, Supes gives him some backstory on the Red Hood, to help him understand better. I want to understand why Superman just gave Jimmy the keys to Batman's identity. I realize Richard Donner wants Jimmy to be stuck in the 50's cub reporter persona, but it wouldn't take much more than a Google search to link Jason Todd and Dick Grayson to Bruce Wayne.

Now, Red Hood tells Jimmy some alien kills Duela Dent and then another alien prevents the first from killing Red Hood. Of course, Jimmy, like anyone would be, is confused. So who does Red Hood suggest Jimmy talk to, and eventually Jimmy does interview as if he would really have any idea why aliens were out killing people? The freakin' Joker. Yeah, you get to have your Hannibal Lecter moment, but Jesus, it makes no sense. Would he really think Joker knows what's going on because it seems crazy, so Joker must know about it? That, my friends, is faulty reasoning.

It's way too early in the series for me to start seeing faults if I'm supposed to follow this thing all year. But it's got Jimmy Olsen so I can't be too mad at it.

This May Be Totally Unnecessary, But...

Something's been bothering me about the "new" Earth-2. It's about the newspaper Huntress is holding.




Now, the only reason I could see for including that paper was to say that the Earth-2 Superman that died during Infinite Crisis and the Powergirl leading the Justice Society are from that Earth-2 and that's why they're missing.


Only one problem: that Earth didn't exist until the end of Infinite Crisis.



The 52 Earths were exactly the same before Mister Mind went feasting, making the new multiverse and everyone in them basically brand new. So how the hell could we have seen people from their world if the world just came into existence? If Mister Mind's tampering somehow incorporated leftover beings in the rewriting, wait, that makes no sense at all.

I know it shouldn't really matter, and in fact, may not be the case at all. But still, I want to be the first to point out any inconsistencies. Though that adult Robin suit is badass.

I Wanna Get Political, Political! Let's Get Political!!

I've noticed something about BKV, that's Brian K. Vaughan to everyone except me, and it's this: the man has views. Not even going into his main outlet, or at least right now his secondary, BKV loves to make a statement.

Last week, which should have been Ennis Week, was co-opted when the Vaughanster did a guest issue of Midnighter. Let it be known, it was good. Done in reverse order, with every next page immediately preceding the previous, it was an interesting take on how Midnighter sees several steps ahead.

And let everyone reading realize we're way too dependant on foreign oil.

It's not to say the K. man should shut up and entertain, but it's something I've noticed. Personally, I like his stuff. His episode of Lost was really good, but you can't go wrong with two guys discussing the merits of the Flash.

That's All Lies!

I was in the comic book store, Big Monkey to you fellas, and arguing about the nature of the new mutliverse. As I understood it, all the universes(universi) exist together but in different dimensions, overlapping each other. Others thought the universes were separate and independant of each other. What it came down to, really, was whether the worlds were split apart or kind of formed back together.

So, I went back to 52 Week Fifty-Two. I found this:

I don't know whether it supports my theory all the universes are connected but it sure sounds that way.


Also, in Nightwing Annual #2, I disagreed with Marc Andreyko rewriting history to say that Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson were the same age. Others said that didn't happen.

It did:


And so I can rest now, secure in the knowledge that Jon Hex knows his shit.

Say WHAT?!

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Mary Jane Loves Spider-Man

Thanks to my brother Clayton, I feel compelled to write about this excellent story.

It starts out sweet, with Spidey taking MJ to the top of a spire to show off the best view of New York and as a respite from the crap factory their life has become.

Flashback to "Earlier", MJ stops at her favorite coffee shop for a pickup and runs into her old bodyguard from when she went to LA to be a star. They start chatting, only for Brad (the bodyguard) to drop why he's really there. He's a SHIELD man, now, and he wants MJ to give up Peter.

Across town, Detective Lamont, a supporter of Spider-Man, gets a visit from a vagrant who wants to be taken in. It's Spider-Man in disguise, wanting to turn himself in to get MJ and May out of their nightmare lives.

Both stories are anchored by flashblacks of the Peter and MJ's awkward courtship and it's to Fraction's credit that he has their characterizations down so well. Anyway, Brad's getting annoyed, wanting MJ to either bring Spidey in or he's going to take her in for aiding and abetting. But that's not the only reason. Brad was to save MJ from her hard life, to which MJ delivers the world's harshest reality check:

Meanwhile, Lamont takes in Peter's drama, but when a call goes over the police band that MJ is about to be taken into custody, he tells Peter to just go and he does, in the most police embarrassing save ever pulled off:

It's one of the best Spider-Man stories I've read in awhile, and certainly makes the case for Fraction to maybe do a series or storyline for one of the regular series. Mary Jane is shown as more than a worrying point for Spider-Man, she's his support, ready to back up her husband anytime, anywhere. Like with a cinderblock.

Fightin' Nazis & Spider-Man 3

Well, there's nothing more I like to see than people beating on nazis and that's one of the reasons I like Zemo: Born Better #4.

This mini-series was a character study of the Zemo bloodline, how Heinrich (the one being punched) and Helmut (the one punching) were just the later of a long line of royals who believed they were better than the common man, thus deserving of rule. Helmut, shot into the past at the end of Nicieza's run on Thunderbolts, comes into contact with his ancestors and sees the truth in between what he was taught as a child.

It's a redemption story. Helmut, former leader of the Masters of Evil and supremacist, learns that his family is not as great as the family history lets on, and realizes that no matter how smart, clever, adept or whatever you are, it's how you treat other people that is the measure of a person. It sounds sappy, but when the focus is learning this while swordfighting and in general being a total badass, it doesn't come off sappy.

Which is why I let Zemo himself rechristen my blog.

I don't care what anyone else says, I loved Spider-Man 3! Especially Harry Osborn and all three of his and Spidey's fight sequences. Sure, there are things I would have changed, but with no real love for Venom, I don't give a damn how much characterization they gave him. The ending does seem rushed, and well, Kirsten Dunst was a bad choice for Mary Jane, period. But none of that makes me hate this movie. After reading a few reviews, I see a bunch of nitpicking and some seemed to have an outright condescension towards the super-hero genre in general.

Go see Spider-Man 3.