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.

Being Slightly Unfair

I was re-reading the vicsage.com interview series with Greg Rucka tonight, and this bit made me immediately think of Judd Winick, Green Arrow/Black Canary, et al:

EN: Maybe that’s the proper question to ask, not why, or when, or who, but what did the Question’s death bring to the story….

GR: There are multiple answers to that, I think. First and foremost, it was a good story, that did what a good story should do — it left an impact, it made the reader feel something, and it had worth. It wasn’t, shall we say, just killing a character for the sake of seeing their blood spill.

I think that that is what really ticks me off about the way GA/BC has been going: Ollie's "death," Connor's "death"... they're so... emotionally hollow and cynical. They're cheating: getting a cheap rise from the reader with a cheap shock. Its about as sophisticated as scaring a horror movie audience with a character turning the corner to be confronted with a major chord, and combined with all the other arbitary character deaths over the DCU lately, about as meaningful.

Hopefully, now that Greg Rucka's going back to freelancing, he'll have time to give writing workshops to Winnick and DC's other hatchet men. Lord knows they need it.