Birds of Prey #7

Cover by Jesus Saiz, Santiago Arcas

Birds of Prey #7 (March 21, 2012)

Writer: Duane Swierczynski

Penciller: Jesus Saiz

Colorist: June Chung

Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual

I love Birds of Prey. I’ve said that before many times but I don’t care. I love this ragtag group of damaged, dynamic, powerful, and conflicted women. I love that they are not perfect, not totally self-sacrificing, not even all that nice. The women of Birds of Prey are some of the most real characters in comic books.

Fangirling aside, Birds of Prey #7 was honestly not one of the strongest comics I’ve read in a while. While it was definitely entertaining and had one surprisingly grim and violent moment, this issue sort of floundered and I can’t exact pinpoint why. For one thing, it started very abruptly and while I am used to issues opening in the middle of a conflict, I felt that Birds of Prey #7 didn’t handle this very well. There was very little backstory and the little that did exist did not provide any real exposition to the villain or why the Birds of Prey found themselves in the current situation. Unlike Supergirl #7, for example, Birds of Prey #7 didn’t meet the reader halfway in reminding them of the events that lead up to this issue.

Supergirl #7

Cover by Mahmud Asrar, Dave McCaig

Supergirl #7 (March 21, 2012)

Writer: Michael Green, Mike Johnson

Penciller: Mahmud Asrar

Colorist: Dave McCaig

Letterer: Rob Leigh

Supergirl has been a character that I have been vaguely interested in ever since I saw my very first episode of Justice League Unlimited, “Fearful Symmetry.” If you haven’t seen this show or this episode, do yourself a favor and do so now. Aside from being an all-around solid work of animation and writing, it also introduced me to some of my now favorite characters, Green Arrow and the Question. Supergirl, though the focus of this episode, only piqued my interested slightly, sad to say. Therefore, I was terribly happy to read Supergirl #7 and find myself loving it.

If you’re looking for a comic book filled with action and awesome fight sequences, then you should probably pick this one up if you haven’t already. Supergirl #7 opens right in the middle of an intense fight between Supergirl and a group of genetically modified aliens, the Worldkillers. Created in a lab by Kryptonian scientists, these Worldkillers are hungry to destroy, discover their true heritages and seek revenge on the Kryptonians who stole them from their home worlds. They now set their sights on Earth as it houses the last Kryptonians.

Deadpool #55

Cover by Dave Johnson

Deadpool #55 (May 23, 2012)

Writer: Daniel Way

Penciller: Shawn Crystal

Colorist: John Rauch

Letterer: Joe Sabino

As a huge Deadpool fan, I was confused and anxious about the recent changes that the Merc with a Mouth had undergone. The majority of what makes Deadpool Deadpool had essentially disappeared. I was worried.

Deadpool #55, however, did alleviate some of my fears; Deadpool is still crazy, he still has the fun yellow boxes, and he still has a profound love for murder and being really, really good at it.

Batgirl #7

Cover by Ardian Syaf, Vicente Cifuentes, Ulises Arreola

Batgirl #7 (March 13, 2012)

Writer: Gail Simone

Penciller: Ardian Syaf, Alitha Martinez

Inker: Vicente Cifuentes

Colorists: Ulises Arreola

Letterer: Dave Sharpe

While I believe that Animal Man and Swamp Thing are the strongest books of the New 52, I still adore Batgirl. It’s well written, exciting and character-driven. Also, I will always love Barbara Gordon. ALWAYS.

Batgirl #7 has been one of my favorite issues of this series, not merely because it has an awesome fight sequence, a genuinely creepy and intriguing villain, and a perfect balancing between the personal and professional life of Barbara Gordon BUT because there’s a cameo by one of my other top favorite female super heroes: Black Canary.

I know we have Birds of Prey, which I also adore, but I sort of wish Black Canary and Batgirl had a duo book: fighting crime and trading quips and just generally being awesome and dynamic female characters. A girl can dream.

Journey Into Mystery: Fear Itself #626

Cover by Stephanie Hans

Journey Into Mystery: Fear Itself #626(August 17, 2011)

Writer: Kieron Gillen

Penciller: Doug Braithwaite

Colorist: Ulises Arreola, Andy Troy

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

So if I can just fangirl here for a minute (and based on my blog’s title I obviously have every right to), I just want to say that Kid Loki is one of my absolute favorite things about comic books right now.

What could have been an over-the-top gimmick turned into one of the best and freshest characters in the Marvel Universe and managed to breathe new life into an old villain. Kid Loki is a funny, clever, occasionally dangerous, in over his head, desperate to please and manipulative smartass. And I love him. In fact, I have yet to meet any Marvel fan that also didn’t love Kid Loki.

Animal Man Vol. 1: The Hunt

Cover by Travel Foreman, Lovern Kindzierski

Animal Man Vol. 1: The Hunt (2012)

Writer: Jeff Lemire

Penciller: Travel Foreman

Inker: Jeffrey Huet, Daniel Green

Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski

Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher

I’ve been excited to see the release of the New 52 trade paperbacks recently. I’m probably just lazy but I find reading trade paperbacks so much easier. In my quest to read as many comic book as possible, issues often get lost in the shuffle or neglected so for certain series, I purposely wait for the trade paperback releases (I’m doing that now with AvX so shh, don’t spoil me). I ended up doing this with Animal Man, though I have read the first issue and enjoyed it.

Animal Man, along with Swamp Thing, has probably been the most popular and acclaimed of the New 52 by my fellow comic book friends. It’s quite easy to see why: they are both refreshing, dark, mythic, and often terrifying books. The stakes are incredibly high and our heroes are terribly vulnerable. Both Animal Man and Swamp Thing make the reader feel as if the negative circumstances could actually happen in real life and then we would be totally boned.

Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1

Cover by Mike Choi

Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1 (August 10, 2011)

Writer: Nick Spencer

Penciller: Emma Ríos

Colorist: Javier Rodriguez

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

In an effort to reacquaint myself with my beloved comic books and force myself to write on a regular basis, I’ve decided to restart my review-a-comic-a-day summer project. I’m terribly excited.

This will also give me a clear reason to finally sit down and read my increasing pile of comic books that I have been accumulating on my bookshelf for the last year. I have a very bad habit of buying comic book issues in a fury and then not reading all of them. I therefore have unread comics that are at least a year old, such as this one, Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1. Rather than ignore these and move on, I’ve decided to sit down and read and review them, regardless of how old they may be. I refuse to give up on them.