Sketch Reviews (July 28 2011)

Busy times made busier by me wanting to hang out with my girlfriend more than a lot of other things. We finished watching Damages season three on DVD last night and, damn, that show always lets me down in its season finales. I guess that's what comes with teasing out half of the finale the rest of the season and watching as the writers scramble to cobble together their red herrings and teases into something coherent. A bigger bunch of bullshit coincidences and letdowns you'll never see. I've got many other things to do besides this, so let's get to it...

Before that, though, I did want to point out that, already, $55 has been raised in my Blogathon and we're still two-and-a-half weeks away from it. That's really great. I'm hoping that we can raise a nice amount of money for the Hero Initiative. Details in the post below this one in case you're wondering.

Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker #5: I came for the Casey, but I stayed for the Huddleston... [****]

Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #2: I do love that bastard protagonist sort of story. And the mixing of the Archie gang with more 'real' subject matter in the past is funny. Curious where this is going now. [****]

Deadpool MAX #10: The painting show made me laugh. Good to have Baker back. [****]

Detective Comics #880: Now, that's good comicbooking. Snyder's Joker is Morrison's Joker. Jock's art gets the mood right. The final 'reveal' was a bit obvious, but still good. The stuff about Gotham is made more explicit and, more and more, I'm beginning to wonder how long it is before someone just destroys the city and, when Batman and his bunch whine, point out that the city is obviously rotten to the core. Funny how the people trying to redeem the city always talk about there being 'good people' there and never realising that, after years of effort, shit is still fucked up and Gotham is probably the worst city in the world to live in. Why couldn't the earthquake have done the job for good? Even the fucking planet wants the city dead... wake up, Batman. [****]

glamouspuss #20: Someday, I'll read these comics. Oh yes. And it will be glorious. [N/A]

The Mighty Thor #4: Something about the structure of this comic was really working for me. Lots of quick cuts, quick scenes, and general sense of everything happening at once. And is that another fucking Superman story in the mix? It took one shitty arc and two less-than-great-issues, but Fraction is winning me back to the idea that he can write a Thor comic. [***1/2]

Secret Avengers #15: "My grandpa died and superheroes come back from the dead, so that makes it okay to lie and pretend I'm a real journalist and be a jerk!" "No, it's really not, because we're people, too, and being people sucks." "Oh, really? I didn't know that." "Well, now you do." [SAVE ME, WARREN ELLIS!]

Ultimate Fallout #3: I haven't been reading FF, but isn't that what the Tony Stark shit in this comic is? I liked it, but, come on, son... the rest I have no use for. I do think I'll buy the Hickman Ultimate stuff and that's it. [**]

X-Men: Schism #2: I dug the first issue and this one has some nice moments. The Cyclops/Wolverine/Quentin Quire stuff felt off. The growing rift between Scott and Logan seems forced with Logan immediately pissed off, while Scott's reaction to Quentin (hell, Quentin showing up like he did) didn't really follow any logic for me. *shrugs* PLOT IS LOGIC, SILLY HUMAN! SO SAYS THE MUTANTS! [**3/4]

Later