Comics of late...

I'll make these quick since I'm quessing loads of you aren't so worried about the comic book reviews 'round these parts...

Wolverine: Enemy of the State - excellent, twelve-issue arc in which HYDRA brainwashes everybody's favorite Canuck mutie into a killing machine, which is pretty much leads to huge, bloody (usually with green blood - something about the dead being raised from their graves) fight scenes - pretty much a perfect component of any good Wolverine story. From start to finish, it's clear that this is going to be a huge SHIELD/HYDRA throw down, and the action doesn't let up until the very end of the arc. Nothing emotional here, no revelations about Logan's origins, nothing there - just major butt kicking.

High quality butt kicking. Big recommendation.

Now, if it just didn't have John Romita Jr.'s artwork, I'd've been really happy. I think his style stinks, but the storyline's strong enough here that it doesn't matter.

Superman/Shazam First Thunder is supposed to be the first meeting between the Big Blue Boyscout and the Big Red Cheese. I don't know if it's a retcon or not, but it's at least a flashback. The whole thing feels a little episodic with bad guys dropping in and out even though they're all sort of the same storyline, they just don't flow together really well. The artwork's nice with a really appropriate cartoony feel to things, and the last issue ties everything together with the Wizard Shazam suggesting to Supes that what Captain Marvel (that's Shazam to most of you) might really need is a friend and mentor. It's a nice, touching ending to a decent miniseries. Nothing revolutionary, nothing earth-shattering.

Batman: Dark Detective sees one of the greatest Batman creative teams working together again on Batman for the first time in nearly two decades. It's amazing, then, that the book stunk. The artwork was bad, the storyline was weak, the use of constant thought baloons and naration sucked any flow from the book, and the characterization of Batman seemed horribly off to me. Stinky crap...avoid it like the plague...

Superman: Strange Attractors - blah. Again, half of the issues here are missing because they're being collected in other Superman trades. We get Supes fighting Dr. Psycho and Black Adam in a bit of a tangent with the leadup to Infinite Crisis but then the story blinks and we read about what happened...then ghosts come in another lead to IC and then the story blinks...and then the Queen of Fables returns (which I'm okay with) and the story blinks again...then Livewire is introduced to the DC universe (she came originally from the Superman cartoons). All in all, this TPB has all the same problems with Superman trades that keeps me from enjoying the Superman books all that much.

Tell a frickin' story and then go to another story. Don't tell four at once and collect them all differently. If you ever want to follow Superman via trades, check this site.

On the other hand, Superman for Tomorrow, Vol 1 which tells a coherent story. Admittedly, I still have to track down the second volume, but I'm okay with that because it's at least a single frickin' uninterupted storyline. The basics - Supes gets involved with a Middle Eastern civil war in which the combatants use a weapon that isn't tested or fully undestood and that causes about a million people worldwide - including Lois - to simply disappear.

The true storyline is, however, Superman dealing with the guilt that he is carrying around because he felt like he's caused this incident and that he can't do anything about it (I'm guessing in the second volume that he finds some way). We get Superman talking with a priest about this as he - and the priest - works out his guilt and issues.

The artwork's a little offputting to me, but the storyline allows us a glimpse into the humanity that underlies Superman's most powerful persona in the DC universe. It's a nice balance to the dopey fight/talk/fight of Strange Attractors.

Batman: Thrillkiller is a very freaky Elseworlds take on Batman, Robin, and Batgirl, throwing in Arsenal, the Joker, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Black Canary for good measure. The trade collects a three-issue series and a follow-up special that really doesn't further the story. The first three issues are sucha drastic reworking of the Batman mythos that it's truly gripping, using a retro-noir style of naration and artwork that couldn't have been done by anyone by Dan Brereton - with a few glitches here and there (most akward to me was the visual similarities betweeon Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne - leading me to some initial confusions).

It's a fun but dark read.

Last up was Justice League Elite - reprinting the first appearance of the Elite, one of the outstanding single issues of the past dozen years - and then including the first story arc of the ongoing series. The series isn't bad - a dark take on the Justic League idea with some decent character conflicts and a very weird mystical crossover with the JLA itself.

My advice - read the first issue and then pass the rest by.