Comics Day Plus One

I didn't make it to the shop yesterday, as I needed to rush to my son's teeball game, but I got my stuff today:

GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH #6
GOTHAM CENTRAL #31
MNEMOVORE #2
ASTONISHING X-MEN #10
BATTLE HYMN #2
ACTION COMICS #827
HELLBLAZER: RED SEPULCHRE TPB

Pretty light week, and actually, I'm now kind of biding my time until my first order from Discount Comic Book Service arrives. I've written before that I get quite a few of my trades and hardcovers from Amazon, and only go to the shop for floppies, since my shop has no knowledgeable or enjoyable people working there to make the experience enjoyable. And for this reason, and even worse, because the proprietor has for months not updated my pull list, so that I end up having to find (or not find) what I want off the shelf, I decided to forego the great discount I was getting to get, well, what looks like a pretty good discount at DCBS. In fact, they had such great specials I spent a lot more than I planned to, so I guess they know their business.

Anyway, REBIRTH is an overly rendered-and-colored (but attractive in a kind of dumb, Michael Bay movie way) dud, another karmic debt for Geoff Johns to one day repay me for giving him another chance. As the cover's triumphant fist-raising signifies, this issue's all about the wrap-up, so there's little drama here other than they kick Parallax's ass good, after his lame, "I'll spit on your souls!" line. But...but then my soul will have your cooties on it! YUCK! The stuff between Batman and Green Lantern was really bad, though totally in character in the grim DCU of today, where Batman hates everyone. Actually, the scene was bad not just for Batman, but because in this case he was right to question Hal Jordan about being back. I mean, the guy became a mass murderer, then a "spirit of vengeance", and now he's back to life as Green Lantern and will punch your lights out if you want to ask him about it. Yay, GL! Whenever I get off my ass and organize my comics, I'll put these six issues together and sell them.

I'm behind on GOTHAM and would prefer trades, but they seem really slow in coming. Has there been two? I just have the first one. SEPULCHRE is the first trade of Mike Carey's run, and he's been on the book for two years!

I bought ACTION not so much for Gail Simone as for the return to the title for John Byrne. I'd all but given up on him after DOOM PATROL and the series before that I can't even remember the name of, but BLOOD OF THE DEMON has been kind of fun and with better art than he's done in years, partly due to inker "Nekros" (Bud La Rosa)not skimping on the detail, and I suspect he's actually adding detail that isn't in Byrne's pencils, as uncommon as that is for an inker, and especially one seemingly embarrassed by the gig that he has to use a fake name. Anyway, Byrne is inked by "Nelson" on ACTION and it's pretty good as well, though they probably have to work together for a while to really gel. Byrne's Superman has been different, facially, from his classic Superman of 1986-1989 for years now, but it's even more different here, and I'm not crazy about it. However, the body type is the same, and Byrne hasn't lost his grasp of anatomy, or how to draw a short skirt on Lois Lane! I don't like the oddly-shaped panels and, as ADD and I discussed recently, he should really be forced to use a grid again, as these weird shapes don't add any excitement whatsoever, whatever he may think. The computer coloring is pretty busy for a Byrne comic, but that's good in this case, as it adds texture to some sparse backgrounds. Simone's script, introducing a malevolent mistress of magnetism named Repulse (or is it really...?) is solid, introducing a new supporting character, Asian-American photog Willis, as well as a nice, warm marital scene with Clark and Lois, and there's even some social conscience, as Superman's brief time in what I take to be the Sudan inspires Clark to begin another book. The ending was such a surprise I want to read it again to see if Simone played fair with the readers, but for now it looks like I'm getting one Superman-related book again.