The Sword #4 & Booster Gold #6

If one was to be really, really, grossly unfair to The Sword (Image Comics, by Jonathan and Joshua Luna), one could describe it like this:

A poor crippled girl is healed by her father's secret, magic phallus (read: Magic Sword) just as mysterious strangers slaughter her whole family; now, using the power of the phallus, she determines to avenge her family's death, by stabbing them (with a phallus).

And you can't tell me that, on some level, the Luna Brothers aren't somewhat aware of the Freudian undertones:

But really, sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar, and what The Sword actually is, is another fine character study wrapped in a fantasy/sci-fi setting- the Lunas do a good job of drawing characters whose motivations and voices you can buy into in just a few panels.

They're hardly paragons of Feminist Comics Virtue, by no means, but they do write female characters who have their own agency and aren't just eye candy for hormonal fanboys.

Why, yes, I have seen the covers for their previous series, Girls. If those turned you away from this book, give it a chance.

Oh, and in other news, Booster Gold (DC, words by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz, art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund) brings its first story arc to an end. How do we feel about that, fellas?



Booster Gold is what happens when you put out a book that is fun, funny, and yet still full of action and doesn't shy away from the drama; it is what happens when you get a creative team who so obviously love what they're doing, and let them stay the hell away from your company-wide crossover cluster-

Oh, what was that? #7 is a freaking Zero Hour tie-in?

I can't believe I'm looking forward to that. Damn you, Johns and co! Damn you to hell!









Aw, Booster. I can never stay mad at you.

OMFG Blue Beetle #22 is so great.

Seriously. I'm squeeing every two pages or so. Its so freaking good, I got a warm feeling right in my crotch, and now I have to tell you all about it.

Why is it so good? Is it because of the warm characterization, snappy dialog, the perfect recap page, two subplots that advance measurably and contain small emotional payoffs in only two pages apiece, the main plot getting into gear with exposition that doesn't really feel too forced, a nice little super-hero smackdown and setting the stage and raising the stakes?

And moments like this:


For every issue of Blue Beetle you don't buy, God kills a Sinestro-Kitten.

Holy shit, and I haven't even mentioned my two new favourite characters yet.

Danni Garrett: Granddaughter of the first Blue Beetle, heir of Ted Kord's gizmos and scientific smarts, and made of win.


And, of course, Tovar.

(Whose visual resemblance to Kid Devil is entirely co-incidental.)



I demand a Tovar mini-series! Now!



All I'm really saying is, if you don't purchase Blue Beetle, and it gets canceled, then you have helped to murder something unique and precious.

In other news, Crime Bible is still good. But you knew that. Batwoman (Kate) and the Question's (Renee's) relationship is written well, believably, touchingly, and without exploitation. (Seriously: It feels wrong to call them Batwoman and the Question. They're Kate and Renee. That is the mark of characters you buy into and believe in- that they gain real names.) But you knew that too. Mathew Clark's art is expressive and moody and great except for a couple of panels where Renee's eyes go all manky, but you didn't need me to tell you this.

What you need me to tell you is:


Stacy is the glue that holds the GCPD together.

No, wait, thats not it.

Oh yeah. Here it is.



That dude Flay is stone cold.

...
...
...sorry.