The Best of the Rest.(Dec. 4-Dec. 11)

I was seriously thinking about skipping this column this week. When I get to the back issues I've read this week, you'll understand why. However, since I'm rarely at a loss for words(as this blog is a testament to!)I figured I'd throw out a BotR post anyway. First things first, I only have ONE more day of school before I get to kick back for about 4 weeks. I seriously plan on spending a good 15 hours asleep after Monday, because I've really been burning the midnight oil between papers, homework and studying leading up to this Monday. I still have two papers to finish before Monday, but I managed to write out one paper freehand at school today during my 2 hour break between classes, and the other paper is only 2 to 3 pages long, so I'm not really stressing about it too much. I'll probably start and finish it on Sunday(before the Giants game of course!). Besides that, I have a pretty brutal Spanish test on Monday, but I've always been a very good test taker, so I'm pretty confident I'll ace that test provided I put some study time in. What all this gibberish means is that I'll probably only post one quick post tomorrow(probably on Spider-Man: The List #1), and not post anything at all Sunday night. Between the two papers I still have to finish, studying for that Spanish test, and watching the very important Giants-Eagles football game, I doubt I'll have the time to post any new reviews. After that though, get ready for the floodgates to open up, I plan on going through 50 some-odd comics in about a week or two, so this blog should be chock full of new content on a nightly basis... Provided I don't get lazy.

Speaking of getting lazy, I was planning on posting reviews for Justice League: Cry for Justice #5 and Justice Society of America #33 tonight, but by the time I finally settled down for the night, it was too late, and these two comics deserve better then one of my patented LAZY reviews. Without getting too much into either comic, I liked the JSA book, and I'm really looking forward to both of the regular JSA books that come out this month. The JL book left me feeling VERY conflicted... I liked the story and I loved the art, but what happened to Red Arrow in that comic nearly had me foaming at the mouth like a rabid raccoon! Don't worry, for those of you who have NO clue what I'm talking about, I should have reviews for both books up by Tuesday night at the latest.

Oh, one more thing before I get to the back issues I read this past week. This one is for you guys who comment here on a regular basis. On both my blogs I have it so that you can leave a comment without having to go through any validation measures(those letters, comment moderation, etc.). I always figured not having any comment validation measures would encourage people to post comments. Lately though, I've been getting alot of annoying spammers posting their crap on various posts. On one hand it's pretty irritating that everyday I have to delete this spam garbage from my site, but on the other hand it makes me laugh... I guess these nimrods posting their spam on this blog really think I have some kind of massive following! Hey spammers, I have 4 people who I would consider regulars here at my little piece of the internet, not 400! So to you guys who do check my blog out on a semi-regular basis, don't click on any spammy(hmm, is that even a word?)looking comments left on this blog. Don't click the profile name for anyone who seems to be leaving spam, and don't click on any suspicious looking links left by my spam-posting enemies. There, take that you lousy spammers!

OK, with all the housekeeping taken care of, here's my(pathetically short)list of back issues I've read this past week.

Batman Knightfall: Part One: Broken Bat TPB- This trade collected Detective Comics #659-663 and Batman #491-497... Yes, Batman #497 is the final issue collected in this trade, and as a huge Bat-fan, I'd seriously recommend anybody with even a passing interest in Batman to get a hold of this comic, because it is definitely a modern classic. So this trade collected 12(!)comics, and it only brought us halfway through the massive "Knightfall" storyline! For those of you who are new to comic books, or have been living in a cave, and have no clue as to what Knightfall is all about, allow me to give you a quick synopsis. Bane, a new villain to the Batman rogues gallery breaks out dozens of Batman's greatest foes during a calculated military-like strike on Arkham Asylum. The lunatics from Arkham run wild and begin murdering hundreds of Gothamites. In order to halt the insanity, Batman basically runs himself ragged trying to recapture all of his worst/deadliest enemies. All the while Bane is watching from the shadows, waiting for just the right time to strike down the Dark Knight and claim Gotham as his own city. I really don't know how any self-respecting Batman fan can't like Knightfall. It's got everything a good Batman story should have, and it allowed many of his rogues, from ones I hate such as the Mad Hatter to ones I love like Scarecrow a chance to shine, and like I said earlier, the climatic battle in Batman #497 between a tired and rundown Batman and Bane is definitely a classic. For a score, I'll give Knightfall: Book 1 a 9 1/2 out of 10.

Batman Knightfall: Part 2: Who Rules The Night TPB- This trade collects the final parts of the Knightfall saga; Batman: Shadow of the Bat #16-18, Showcase '93 #7-8, Detective Comics #664-666, and Batman #498-500, for a grand total of 11 comics. With Batman out of the way due to the events in Book 1, Bane has become the supreme crime boss of Gotham City, with his fingers in practically everything. Bruce Wayne may be a broken man after his confrontation with Bane, but he realizes that Gotham still needs a Batman, so he hands the Mantle of the Bat over to Jean-Paul Valley, AKA Azrael. Unfortunately for Bruce, the power of being the Batman goes to Jean-Paul's head and he decides that he's going to rid Gotham City of crime his own way, and that includes confronting the man who broke Bruce Wayne himself, Bane. This was a very good, interesting trade. The fact that Bruce chose Jean-Paul as his successor still boggles my mind to this day... I mean really, shouldn't Dick Grayson(Nightwing)have been the guy Bruce pegged as the next Batman? That fact is touched upon in this trade, and Bruce reasons that Dick has become his own man, and as such wouldn't want to step into Bruce's cowl/shadow. OK, that's all fine and dandy, but why Azrael? That guy is DEFINITELY a few cards short of a full deck! I really don't know why everyone in the Bat-family is so surprised when Azrael starts acting crazy after he's given the responsibility of being the Batman... Anyway, these comics were very good, although not quite as good as the ones in Book 1. For a score I'll give this trade a 9 out of 10.

And that's it... Yeah, I know that's only two trades, but together they contained some 23 comics! I'm currently in the middle of the third and final Knightfall trade, and so far it's been nowhere near as good as the first two trades were, but hopefully things will pick up as the trade reaches its climax. After I finish that trade off, I'm not sure which of my MANY trades I plan on starting, I guess I'll just close my eyes and pick one at random. Well I think I've rambled on for long enough for one post, so I'll leave you all with those immortal words, Long Live The Legion!