Thursday, September 20, 2007

32 and counting...

Welcome to the batchelorette party... But first:

Mary Marvel discovers she can't trust Klarion. Why she jumped to the snap decision that she could in the first place is a mystery, considering she just met him moments before. Her emotional reactions have, as we've seen, been regressing from a reasonably mature level towards those of a small child... Or, to put it into somewhat politically incorrect terms, those of a severely emotionally retarded person.

Now, having seen in the past how Black Adam (the source of her powers) viewed the world in stark black and white, and was always hyper-sensitive to taking offense at the least provocation, one can't help wondering if this emotional immaturity is endemic to this version of the powers? Somewhere, I'm thinking, one of the "gods" who contributes their powers isn't quite what (or who) we've been led to believe.

Eclipso finally reveals herself, and I'm guessing she knows more about the nature of Mary's powers than anyone else. How? Not sure, though since Eclipso's powers themselves are rooted in God's powers, it may be a carry-over from that. I don't usually comment on the back feature, but in this case it (the backstory of Eclipso) it's quite pertinent. And, I'll note, it does go into some depth on the Godly source of Eclipso's abilities.

Jimmy Olson, who's looking increasingly frazzled, winds up at our old friends The Cadmus Project (another Jack Kirby creation). He starts to unburden himself of the reasons he wants to be a super-hero. You can feel the earnestness, and the feeling that he's an outsider wanting to join the fraternity. It's interesting how his storyline here careens between low humor and pathos. I'm sure it's on purpose, but it certainly complicates getting a handle on his storyline.

The Challengers of the Undefined take a wrong turn at Albuquerque and end up on Earth-30, in which there's a Soviet-era Superman. They get out of there posthaste, and end up on Earth-3, the home of the Crime Syndicate. This is the world where their equivilant of our heroes are evil and rule the world.

Of course they immediately run into the Syndicate.

When did Kyle Rayner change from the Crab-Face to the more traditional Green Lantern garb? One suspects there was a degree of miscommunication on the art side. Either that of there's been a degree of miscommunication on the reader side. Isn't this why there's supposed to be editors? Perhaps they should be less involved in the plotting of the story (Leave it to the writers? What a radical idea!) and more involved in making sure the product is ready to go out the door?

Pied Piper and Trickster manage their escape from Zatanna's house, but in the process they manage to create a fair amount of pandemonium at Black Canary's batchelorette party. I wonder whose Porsche they stole?

At to the party itself, there's way too much going on for me to even begin to summarize. The highlight for me was Supergirl and Stargirl's attempts to get their hands on some alcoholic beverages. Heh.

Buy it. The party itself is worth the price of the issue.

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