Fourteen Thoughts About Fourteen Comics - Batgirl, Amazing Spider-Man, Walking Dead, Thief Of Thieves, Saga, Ultimates, Wolverine And The Uncanny X-Men, Avengers, The Boys, Suicide Squad, Phantom Stranger, Punk Rock Jesus, Locke & Key And Saucer

[Rich Johnston]

And there we have it. Saucer Country out and says it, conflating conspiracy theories about political assassination and alien abduction, and giving one who has experienced the one, a close call with the other and finding the parallels.



The new Locke And Key series starts. It's Omega, it's about endings, so of course it's also about beginnings as well. Looks to the past, afraid of the future, but it's coming anyway...



Thief Of Thieves actually has moments that remind me of Walking Dead. Certain notes of language, certain directions, and that last page splash reveal that twists the story right around, James Asmus seems to be doing a rather interesting take of Kirkmanisms. And then giving us statistics mixed up with filth as well...



Punk Rock Jesus... look, I'll say it, 32 pages, no ad breaks, $2.99. This is your current best deal on the stands. It also helps that it is dense, funny, destructive and outrageous too. Sometimes too obvious, often annoyingly dogmatic - which is rather ironic, it's a heart felt scream that's masterfully told. And good value too.



Yeah, don't make Star Wars jokes to Judas Iscariot. Never goes down well.



Seriously Joker? Nothing better to do than take a look at Deadshot's dead sausage, then give it a trim? You know what? Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the DC New 52 can publish a John Constantine worthy of the name...



And so The Boys ends. As often with a Garth Ennis book, most of the action was concluded in the previous issue, now it's time to take stock, reflect, tie up one or two loose ends with some furiously filthy sexual shenanigans, hold your girl in your hand and walk off into the sunset, which remembering those who fell at your side... and Darick Robertson back for one last swing at them all.



Peter Parker gets a little Goblin envy in Amazing Spider-Man, with an ending that gives us a villanous version of Batman Inc, which seems rather more believable. And gets ahead of Nemesis 2 as well...



Walking Dead finds new horrors, as it continues to tell Carl's story as a kid forced to grow up way ahead of his time. And basically, issue by issue, turning him into Nick Fury. The Garth Ennis Nick Fury.



Michael Avon Oeming draws an incredible Avengers as the series draws to an end, turning it for all purposes into an adrenalinefueledissue of Powers. Check out those eyes, has Doctor Strange ever looked so alien since Steve Ditko? As the ex-Damon Hellstrom frames the page... chilling and frantic stuff.



Wolverine And The X-Men again causes problems by going outside the school gates to find new mutants, such as this Syfy Channel creation, giving us the usual drop in interest. Or humour. Or whatever magical quality kept in those walls that makes this the new Giffen/DeMatteis JLI. Seriously guys, stay in school, you've seen the posters. Although we do get a last page reveal of some very interesting mutants indeed... worth running later I think.



You would wouldn't you? Celebrate a saved USA with a Captain America tattoo. But the battle is still continuing, just the staging grounds of The Ultimates have changed. Now, bring on the jingoistic rhetoric! It's all gone rather "do you think this stands for France?"



Saga #7 gives us tales of sectarianism,in-laws and the largest testicles you've seen in your life. And they don't even match. Ireland, Israel/Palestine, wings and horns, when it comes down to it, it's all a load of balls.



While Batgirl gives us one of the biggest pulling-the-rug, pull-back-and-reveal moments of the week... will you see this one coming? I didn't...

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London.



Ahead of her appearance at this year?s Malta Comic-Con in December, Orbital is proud to host a brief retrospective of Emma Rios? work. Featuring some of her very favourite pieces, there will be pages from Osborn, Cloak & Dagger, Amazing Spider-man, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange Season One, Prophet & more. This very special exhibition is on from November 21 to December 4, so hurry down and admire Emma?s gorgeous work in person.

[SimonJ]

1) I'm coming to realise that we're not going to get any concrete hints about what the UFOs are in Saucer Country for a very long time. I'm going on them being some kind of psychological system of control, possibly by humanity's own group-subconscious. But to what ends? I'll be very disappointed if it turns out that it's just the freemasons or something. Either way, great series.

2) People never seem to get what makes Joker scary. You add huge teeth, a deformed face, manic hair, glowing red eyes, that makes him less scary. People are afraid of clowns. People are afraid of people who grin all the time, especially if something bad's happening, because it's subverting the emotion. Less is more, DC! (ok, the Heath Ledger one was different, his terror was based on some kind of hinted-at but unclear deformity, but good luck reproducing that on a comic page).

3) That shark girl looks cool. It's not quite right though, one or two tweaks and it could be a classic character. And congratulations on whoever the artist is for not trying to make her a sexy shark girl (giant cleavage notwithstanding).

[HellBlazerRaiser]

Alphabetical order....

ALL NEW X-MEN #1
Way better than I expected (or even hoped) it to be. This may be the best single issue written by Bendis since the finale of ALIAS.

BATGIRL (Volume Four) #14
Solid. I knew it was James Junior on the phone with Babs, but I assumed that James had also kidnapped their mother. I'm glad I was wrong.

BATMAN (Volume Two) #14
Either my dislike of The Joker is affecting my appreciation for this story or I'm just not getting it. This issue did nothing for me.

BATMAN AND ROBIN (Volume Two) #14
More zombie-ish mayhem, handled with panache. The final act was superb.

FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #14
All around awesome! I love Velcoro! I hope he survived the chomping. I will miss this series....

GREEN LANTERN CORPS (Volume Three) #14
I haven't read too many issues of this volume, but this issue was terrific. I do wonder how it's possible that Salaak (of all the GLs!!!) hasn't caught on that the Guardians are up to no good. You'd think he'd notice something amiss on Oa.

LEGION LOST (Volume Two) #14
Better than I expected. I'm not really going to miss this series when it ends, but I do hope all the plots get wrapped up sufficiently.

THE PHANTOM STRANGER (Volume Four) #2
I've never cared for Raven having siblings. I suspect this series is getting panned left and right, but the narrative has me in its grip and I'm enjoying it.

SUICIDE SQUAD (Volume Four) #14
Again, I detest The Joker, so that may cloud my judgment. I do love Harley tough. The non-Joker/Harley scenes were quite good.

TEAM 7 #2
Another series I suspect is getting roundly panned, but I am thoroughly enjoying this book.

[Ian Coke]

BATMAN (Volume Two) #14 Either my dislike of The Joker is affecting my appreciation for this story or I'm just not getting it. This issue did nothing for me.

Yeah, I like the Joker, and I liked Snyder's run on Detective, but for some reason (that it's lacking in wit maybe? That he seems to be piling on the agony just for the sake of it?) I'm not enjoying his Batman.

[HellBlazerRaiser]

I loved THE COURT OF OWLS saga.

But #13 and #14 have been fair at best, even though #13 did have some truly creepy moments and a nice sense of building terror in parts. I would assign that element to the art, though. Capullo is killing it on this book.

[Comicsfan101]

GREEN LANTERN CORPS (Volume Three) #14
I haven't read too many issues of this volume, but this issue was terrific. I do wonder how it's possible that Salaak (of all the GLs!!!) hasn't caught on that the Guardians are up to no good. You'd think he'd notice something amiss on Oa.

For a book I didn't really expect to like (and, turns out, I really do), this is probably my only big complaint. I agree with you that Salaak, especially, should be figuring out that something is wrong but for apparently no one to be catching on seems a bit missing. Does this intergalactic police force not have any detective or observation training?

[Peter J Poole]

Saga #7...

Oh sweet Lord!!!

Now I have to scrub my eyeballs with disinfectant

Cheers

[Blackfist]

did DC lose Orca in the reboot?

[karmakaze]

did DC lose Orca in the reboot?

I'm pretty sure DC lost Orca before the reboot. Although it makes a bit more sense for Orca to have the huge boobs since she's at least a mammal.

[Blackfist]

I'm pretty sure DC lost Orca before the reboot. Although it makes a bit more sense for Orca to have the huge boobs since she's at least a mammal.

but with no nipples (for obvious reasons) they're pretty much like peacock feather