@RobBex2
I’m going to preface this by saying that I love The Batman Who Laughs. I think that his whole story is a very cool change of pace; but like any new and shiny toy, he is in danger of being over used. That being said… I love the idea that he has infected six different allies/friends of Batman and Superman. The first being Jim Gordan and the Second being Shazam. (Since then, it’s been revealed that the other four will be Supergirl, Zatanna, Hawkman, and Blue Beetle).
Joshua Williamson’s writing is compelling and I do really enjoy that he knows these characters. The last time I bought a Superman/Batman book was back when Jeph Loeb was writing it, so it has been a long minute. But what I absolutely, positively love about this book is the art. David Marquez with Alejandro Sanchez as the colorist is the big get. Marquez is an amazing artist, but Sanchez’s colors are beautiful. Simply stunning. He makes the pages move with the colors and that just might be the thing that brings me back to the book over everything else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m picking this book up, but the art is what is making it a “for sure” pick up. 4/5 Corrupted Bibles.
Sooo…you say you like to power-smoke your comical rocks off to superheroine-chic titles that have a tendency to genre-blend a multitude of mixed-media amalgamations – like a married, meta-human couple who were almost-famous television stars, possibly capable of co-existing within a pulchritude of paranormal multiversality; abundant in ocularly-euphoric ooze, aburst at the seams with loads of psychemagical permutations that go full-on blender-mode inside your Jell-O-ed brainbowl?
Do you think you might like to hang ‘em high and ride ‘em low with a gifted astral planes shifter who communes with the dead on a daily basis, only to discover that she may have indeed be on their side of the wormdirt all along, only to realize that she might need to descend deeper into the underworld than even the Devil himself could possibly fathom, before she might have the slightest chance in smell to resurrect herself and rise on up again?
Should you throw your caution to the wind like the weightless zombie dust that dissipates from the dangling ash of some undead gunslinger’s cigarillo stub, and grave-dig yourself skeleton-deep into this unmethodical madness that might eat away at the very core of your own sanity, until it’s tainted your very soul with its nostril-flaring effluvium?
If you’re game for going parasorceress supreme while you’re hopped up on a psychedelirious panopticon of pupil-shooting phantasmagoria that’ll even have the likes of Timothy Leary’s LSD-ed progeny singing campfire songs to their own internal butterfly screams, then Valiant’s Doctor Mirage is the mindtrip you wanna get you gray matter on, lil doggy… 4.25/5 Rusty Gates of Hellions.
-Jason Bud
@mochaloca85
Poor Alex Power. All he wants to do is celebrate his 13th birthday in peace and maybe hold hands with his crush at the Lila Cheney concert. But, of course, alien threats just have to crash the party…literally.
Grow Up is split into two connected stories with distinctively different art styles. The first, “Growing Pains”, reunites Power Pack creators Louise Simonson and June Brigman. It’s a fun little story that perfectly illustrates what it’s like to be a teenager who has to balance fun with responsibility (though on a slightly larger scale than either you or I had to deal with at 13). Brigman’s pencils are gorgeous, especially her facial expressions. The Brood look disgustingly terrifying and Katie is adorable and chubby-cheeked, exactly like a 16-year-old should be.
The second, “The Gift” deals with Katie’s struggles with being the youngest and how she lets her selfishness get in the way (in this case, getting Alex a crappy birthday present in order to get herself an action figure).
It’s illustrated by Japanese duo Gurihiru, who have been the primary Power Pack artists
for most of the 2000s. The manga-esque style is bright and cartoony with huge eyes, perfect for a light-hearted story about a kid buying birthday presents.
Overall, both stories were enjoyable and provided a good balance (the main story being more action and the back-up being pure fluff). 4/5 Bibles.
-Destiny Edwards