In addition to that big news, Zone 4 is growing and we will be adding a second weekly podcast under the Zone 4 moniker. This new podcast will be starting in a few weeks and will feature Brant Fowler and myself reviewing all the books we've read over the course of the previous week. Brant and I will be the regular contributors, but we plan on having guests join us to get fresh perspectives and reviews of books we might not be reading ourselves.
What's special about this podcast for me is that I will be doing the editing! That alone should make things entertaining, if not sadly amusing since I've never even attempted this before. I'm looking forward to the experience and hopefully we can keep everyone entertained!
As I get some time this weekend and things get more settled with the podcasts, I'll be updating this blog with accurate links to make following and finding us as easy as I know how.
As for reviews, I'm extremely late in getting these out, so they will be mostly small and probably a bit superficial. So let me get right into things with a little Vertigo:
Fables #83This is the start of the humbly titled "The Great Fables Crossover" between the two Fables titles. I can't say that there was much that happened in the way of beginning this crossover. It more or less felt to me like the early part of The Blues Brothers when Jake and Elwood were busy "putting the band back together."
What we do get in this foundation builder of a first issue is solid Willingham story and some great pencils by Buckingham. Bigby and Beast start to get on each other's nerves at the farm and finally come to blows! It's a pretty good fight, even though you know they will calm down in the end. Jack calls the farm and warns Snow White about the what Kevin Thorne is going to do, getting the Fabletown trust scratching their heads trying to understand everything. Meanwhile the man in Black who destroyed Fabletown is starting to affect the real world as he swells the numbers of his horde in an attempt to quickly complete his castle. It's a good story, especially for regular readers, and I recommend you pick it up. For new readers, I think it's an excellent jumping on point.
Captain America #49The book focuses on Steve Roger's formerly mind controlled assassin Sharon Carter. It's a subtle character driven story showcasing how she is dealing with the fallout of her actions as she has secluded herself from most everyone trying to ride out the nightmares of what she's done. Along the way we learn that she's been teaming with the Falcon (can you think of a character that is in more need of a costume upgrade than Falcon? ) searching for someone who is going around and impersonating Steve Rogers.
I'm enjoying this book more than I thought I would and I think it's due to the fact that Brubaker is weaving an interesting mystery through some great action arcs and character expositions like this issue. My ignorance over Cap's history is a bit difficult at times, but the story is good enough to keep reading, and the Internet supplies me with many answers!
Oracle: The Cure #2 of 3This is one of the many miniseries and one shots under the Battle for the Cowl banner that DC has going right now. This issue continues Oracle's hunt for the person searching the Internet for enough remaining remnants of the Anti-Life equation to be able to put them together. This time it takes her to Hong Kong were nothing out of the ordinary happens. By that I mean everyone assumes she is helpless as a cripple and that she must be Oracle's assistant because she's a women. Oh yeah, and she is STILL battling the Calculator.
To be honest this series has underwhelmed me. With only one more issue to go, I don't know how they're going to satisfy me. They continue to throw the same crap at us with Babs on her own, fighting to prove she's more than a quadriplegic and that the Calculator is her tech equal/rival. It's all fine, but it is presented the same over and over again and I am tired of it. I predict that two things will happen in the final issue next month, Enough (or all) of the Anti-Life equation will be put together and it will allow for healing. Calculator's daughter (who is in a coma) will probably be saved and I'm guess that we see the return of Barbara Gordon Batgirl as well. If you're not into the whole Battle for the Cowl storyline, there's no reason to spend your money on this mediocre story that should be summed up, by the end, in three sentences in a regular Batman book.
Action Comics #876This was a great book, but if you aren't following the New Krypton storyline or if you don't have a strong sense of the Superman mythos, stay away from this book because it will confuse you. I enjoyed the story and the good art. General Zodd sends Ursa to Earth to to kill Nightwing & Flambird. What follows is a really good fight showing just how deadly Ursa is. She's gotten Flamebird beaten to the point of death and then starts in on her son, Nightwing. Unfortunately for her Nightwing (for reasons I am not fully sure of yet) is not a full Kryptonian and isn't as affected by the kryptonite dagger Ursa's been using to slice up Flamebird. Just yielding it affects her and has decreased her powers, but it doesn't have the same effect on Nightwing. He ends up slapping her around, rescuing Flamebird, and burying Ursa under a part of the Fortress of Solitude that he collapses. I don't know why, but he brings Flamebird to Lois for help and calls her "Mom."
It's solid fun stuff that's pulling me deeper into the Superman titles, which is what I want when I read a book. The cliffhanger ending, since I don't know all the history, really has me wanting that next issue now!
Green Lantern Corps #35As we get closer to Blackest Night Johns & Tomasi are throwing quite a bit at us. This issue has the Science Cells attacked and ravaged by a Red Lantern who not only frees many Sinestro prisoners, but releases the rings so they can find new users, Sodam Yat and Arisia head to his home planet of Daxam to liberate them from the Sinestro Corps, only to find his father preaching and leading them to kill themselves as a way to thwart their captures, pissing off Sodam and making him read them the riot act and tell them they WILL fight! Meanwhile of Korugar Soranik and Yolande are trying to quell an angry uprising of Korugar City who feel cheated out of executing the escaped Sinestro, only to see that Sinestro has taken out Yolande so that he can have a "word" with his daughter Soranik!
There's just so much good stuff here that for me both Lantern books are at the very top of my reading list each month. I can't recommend this to people enough.
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