Birds of Prey #12:
Summary: This issue starts off about as nonsensically as possible, so I'm just gonna skip it and pretend it didn't happen... Trust me, it's better that way... From there, Oracle sends Lady Blackhawk, Black Canary and Useless #1 & #2(or Hawk and Dove, same thing) to infiltrate some evil rich guy's offices. While Blackhawk keeps the rich guy distracted, Black Canary and Useless #2 sneak off to see what the rich guy was keeping in his basement. Useless #1 winds up getting held at gunpoint by two of the rich guy's bodyguards, and Huntress and the Question are randomly dealing with dirty cops and drug dealers in the sewers... Okay then. Anyway, Canary and Useless #2 make it into the basement and find a box with a phone next to it... Oh god no... Please don't do this to me, Gail... Not in THIS series too! Oh god, she did... *sigh* It turns out Ragdoll's sister Junior was living in the box and after killing the lights in the basement goes to kill Canary and Useless #2.
Thoughts: I'm not sure I could have hated a comic written by Gail Simone any more than I hated this one... I mean I usually enjoy Gail's work and all, but this was just horrible. Okay, let me clarify what I'm saying here... In MY opinion, this comic was horrible. The story was ALLL over the place, AND it made me think about Ragdoll, a character who is reaching Mad Hatter levels of annoyance from me. I have NO idea what the point of the first few pages of this comic few, nor do I know why Huntress and Question were in the sewers halting dirty cops. This was bad... It was really bad...
Score: 2 out of 10.
Please kill Useless #2...Gotham City Sirens #23:
Summary: We get started with Catwoman breaking into a truck full of diamonds that were headed for the Penguin. Before she can make good her escape, Batman(Dick Grayson this time around) lands near her and tries to guilt CW into heading to Arkham Asylum to deal with her two Sirens teammates, Harley Quinn(who broke Joker out of his cell last issue), and Poison Ivy, who wants to help Harley get away from under Joker's thumb, but is crazy. CW basically tells Dick to go to hell before driving off with her stolen booty. From there we head to Arkham, where the inmates have escaped and the place is rapidly falling apart. Harley is firmly under Mistah J's control again, and is happily doing whatever he asks of her. The two decide to have a game night, which involves Joker brutalizing various Arkham guards. While Joker and Harley are playing their games, Jeremiah Arkham finds the current director of the Asylum, Alice Sinner, who seems to still be loyal to Arkham(!!). Sinner opens a safe in her office and hands Arkham his Black Mask... um, mask and Black Mask walks the hallways of the Asylum, unhappy that Joker's games were undermining his own plans... That's pretty awesome actually. Black Mask heads up to Joker and tells him as much, and asks Joker to stop with his games, which pisses Joker off since he sees all of life as a meaningless game. Before Joker can attack Mask, Poison Ivy arrives on the scene and flings Joker away. With Joker away from Harley, Ivy tells Harley that she had to decide what was more important, her warped relationship with Joker, or her friendship with Ivy. This issue ends with Catwoman reluctantly deciding to head to the Asylum, stopping off at Gotham City Central first to see if Batman wanted to go with her. Much to her surprise(and relief), the Batman waiting for her at police headquarters was Bruce Wayne, and the two head off to see what they could do about the mess at the Asylum.
Thoughts: First things first, thank you Peter Calloway for FINALLY giving us the return of CLASSIC Joker. Grant Morrison has done a lot of good things during his time with the Bat books(Damian, Batman Inc, etc), but his forked-tongued, tank-top wearing, neck-breaking version of Joker REALLY bugged me... With a character like the Joker, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! So seeing Joker back in his trademark purple suit, NOT talking with that weird world bubble anymore made me very happy. Actually, all of this issue made me very happy... Anytime Joker is around I'm glad, the fact that Calloway actually seems like he has plans for the current Black Mask was nice, since Tony Daniel basically made Arkham into Black Mask and then COMPLETELY forgot all about it, and the interactions between Catwoman and Dick, and Catwoman and Bruce were very well written. I've got to say, this was a really good comic that left me with no real complaints.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
Classic Joker is awesome Joker.
I now see why I haven't had the urge to read BOP at all. The series is just NOT appealing to me at all. I thought with BOP I would be able to get the Gail I've come to love since she stopped writing for WW. But now, I'm over Gail. I don't know what is going on, but it's not happening. Think it's time I drop this as well.
ReplyDeleteBut as for Sirens, man the scores you and JT give it seriously pushes me to read it. *sigh* I think I'll be tagging the issues I'm slacking on to work tomorrow. I miss reading with Harley in the mix. I shall be back with some say so about this issue X. lol. Soon.
Yeah, I just don't get BoP... JT warned me that this issue was REALLY bad, but I figured I'd give it a go... I wish I hadn't! I seriously don't know what it is, but yeah, both Birds and Secret Six have been really bad(to me at least) lately... Where's the Gail Simone who brought the awesome month in and month out back in Wonder Woman and the old Birds series?!
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I've REALLY been enjoying Sirens as of late, it's been really solid. It's surprisingly become one of the DC books I look forward to the most every month... Go figure! As always, I await your return, Lisha.
I was telling JT last night how BoP fell off. It's like Gail is so confused in trying to write this series. Or I'm sure G. Johns has her writing crap against her will. Lol.
ReplyDeleteI truly wish we can get the old Gail back, because this new Gail sucks.
And I'm taking Siren's to work today and I'll be back with some thoughts :) I shall return to you mi amor!!
HA! The idea that Chairman Johns is forcing usually great writers to write terrible stories against their will is kind of funny to me... With the whole Brightest Day fiasco, maybe there's some truth to that idea!
ReplyDeleteLol, it's funny because it's true! I mean think about it, some of the best writers or pushing out total crap in example, Gail.
ReplyDeleteI can see him in the conference room, head of the table in a ridiculously large chair with a cane and a woman on either side, basically telling people what they're going to write. Whether they like it or not! Lol, okay my imagination is too much.
He'd need a white tiger and a BIG fur coat to REALLY complete that picture! :D
ReplyDeleteLol, that would be the icing on the cake.
ReplyDeleteAlso, caught up on Sirens, yes finally lol, and I don't see what took me so freaking long to get caught up. This Harley/Joker stuff kept a smile on my face. I loved this issue, Joker is back, and I miss him so much.
Catwoman and Bruce, man I can't wait to see what happens with those two. It's been some time since they've kind of met up, right? I mean last I remember seeing those two talking was back in the Catwoman: Road Home comic. Anyways, I really enjoyed this issue as well. Your review was spot on with my thoughts X. :)
The return of CLASSIC Joker, him getting back together with Harley, and the inevitable Bruce/Cats-Joker/Harley battle should be eigth different types of awesome! It was all good here!
ReplyDeleteThey did get together in an issue of Batman Inc(it might have been like Bats Inc #1-3), but yeah, since Bruce has been back, they really haven't had that much on panel time together.
This is how the Joker should be written. Alternately hilarious and deeply disturbing. It's the fact that he can switch from prancing merrily along while giggling like a schoolgirl to twisted Hannibal Lecter-ish mindplay that makes the Joker so compelling, when he's written right. Yes, he's killed an astounding amount of people, and yes, that's why the average citizen of the DCU fears him so much - as well they should - but the thing is, there's more to him than that. Everybody thinks that if they take the standard precautions against a crazy pyscho, they'll be safe, but the Joker is not simply a psycho - he is also deeply intelligent, resourceful and unpredictable. He may decide not to kill you because there happens to be a clown on your T-shirt - then, five years later, remember that incident, change his mind, track you down and off you. Or he might just drive you insane. Orrrrrrrr, he might pat you on the head and give you a chocolate. You don't KNOW what the Joker is going to do - you can't possibly know - and THAT is what makes him so scary. And whenever he has a plan it has to loet him take the spotlight! His Narcissism is the stuff angels are made off!
ReplyDeleteMorrison's David Bowie was crap devoid af any personality, just a mouthpiece for Grant to show how edgyyyy it is...
To be honest, the Mad Hatter can be pretty good actually, in TAS he was one of the best villains, loved him in secret six & GCPD, he actually is a poor guy in need of friends yet his sanity was crushed, try the Joker asylum Mad Hatter one shot , it was just heart-breaking to see him fight his obsession yet fail, the Hatter can definitely like Killer Croc be great...though I agree about Ragdoll, FUCK YOU Peter Merkel!
Saidi
Totally agreed about the Morrison Joker... That was simply awful. Joker IS a genius. That's what so many writers don't get. Yes, he's batshit crazy, but he is still a genius! That's the appeal of Joker to me. He's not just "That crazy guy who laughs and kills people." He's more like a force of nature almost, like a tornado. He'll cut a path of destruction through a neighborhood, but inexplicably leave a few people alive just for the hell of it. There should be NO way to figure the Joker out.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Hatter, we'll have to agree to disagree on that one... I just can't get into a character that looks and acts like the Hatter does. Maybe the character was cool a hundred years ago, but today? Nope. And yes, Ragdoll is the a total space waster. Here's hoping he's comletely written out of the DC reboot in Sept.