Friday, May 14, 2010

The List #28 Part 1

Batgirl #10
Writer: Bryan Q. Miller
Artist: Lee Garbett & Pere Perez
A series that I've been getting into pretty recently is Batgirl. Especially because I'm tired of wishing Marvel would use their females better. I find female-as-sides-not-stars extremely depressing because what brought me to comic books are the amazing female characters. So obviously, I'm out on the search for more currently.

Anyway, the force behind Batgirl is the duo made up of Stephanie Brown (Batgirl, formerly Spoiler and Robin) and Barbara Gordon (Oracle, formerly the first Batgirl). Oracle's appeal to me is that she's a lot like an older Gert Yorkes (who was my favorite Runaway), so she's got a lot of the same sort of calm sarcasm and irritability that sometimes comes with being intelligent. Stephanie's appeal is probably both her strongest and weakest quality: She's Buffy Summers. I'm sorry for those of you who have read her for years and vehemently disagree. But after one issue, I could not shake the idea that this klutzy, blonde underdog is almost exactly like Buffy. It's not necessarily a bad thing, Buffy was a massively popular character, but it's just at times it seems Stephanie's awkward factor seems too forced. Anyway, onto the issue.

This arc's villain is Calculator, who's after Oracle for taking his daughter away from him. So he's planning on a little reveng
e. In a lair. Chillin' as villain's do. With his son. His son who's a corpse. Yeah, so he comes with standard villain insanity. And apparently his plan to get back at Oracle involves a pulse of some sort.

Meanwhile Oracle and Batgirl are discussing Calculator over their Bat-headsets or whatever while Batgirl is saving some hoes from some guys on bikes. Or at least they're dressed up like hoes. As Batgirl's leaving she tells them to, "Stay in school,".....'cause it's the best. (Too much Peaches on my playlist)

Next scene is Detective Gage coming to Oracle's assistant professor office, looking for her because apparently she's his only friend in town. Which is kind of sweet and makes him more appealing. Anyway, Stephanie shows up and awkwardly tries to feel out whether or not Gage is aware she's Batgirl. He's not and he finds her "oddly personal". I found her very Buffy-ish.

Meanwhile, Wendy, Calculator's daughter, is lured into Oracle's base of operations and locked in there for her own protection. Also, can we all take a moment to appreciate the amazingness of Oracle's icon? Seriously, it's so creepy, yet also appealing.

So Calculator releases his pulse and apparently what it does is turns anyone who's near technology and sees Oracle in anything, real life or a picture, into a zombie that goes after her. Oh no! Not zombies again! What comic books needs right now is the Scarlet Witch to return and utter the words, "No more Zombies...or Vampires....and fuck off, if you're thinking ab
out turning to Werewolves."

While this occurs, Oracle is teaching a class where her students just so happen to be.... texting behind her back! Not shocking, but what's shocking is what they're texting back and forth about her. It's not to say she can't be hot so much as I've never taken Barbara Gordon to be one of the "sexy" DC superheroes, before or after The Killing Joke. Possibly I'm wrong?
Whatever, her costume didn't come with a boob window, so I figure they weren't trying to sex symbolize her.

So anyway, her class and many people surrounding turn into a tide of Zomb which Barbara has to fight off. Which is always fun to see her kick some ass since it seems she's often just sitting at a computer desk. Batgirl comes to help out, but they end up getting caught in hte river of zomb. Oracle is caught by the zombies, that include her father Commissioner Gordon, and they all vomit some sort of casing on her. And in the last few pages, it turns out more than just random people. Apparently Catwoman, Huntress, and Man-Bat were affected by the pulse. And that leaves me excited for next month's fight scene! Conclusion, this issue was sort of awkward considering the rest of the run so far, but not entirely unbuyable.


Dark Avengers #16
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mike Deodato
Unfortunately friends, we've now come to the last issue of the series. And it's sad to see the series go, but in all honesty it seems the series lost steam after issue #6. Everything else has sort of felt like a little directionless, especially recently, with this one being no different. But there is a reason to rejoice: The Sentry's dead!! About damned time, even though he took Rogue down a notch when he fell [Here]. Was that really necessary? As if we weren't already still trying to dig Rogue out of yet another hole after MC.

Anyway, Post-Siege Osborn and his bunch is taken prisoner by the Avengers. Moonstone and Bullseye attempt to break out, even taking care of Ms. Marvel and Bucky's attempts to stop them. But then Iron Man and Luke Cage smack both of them down. And that's it for those two, until the next Thunderbolts (which you can expect to see discussed here). Well, actually I have no idea what's happening to Bullseye or Venom, but here's hoping they replace some of Luke Cage's losers (not a fan of Juggernaut).

Daken manages to evade capture and is hiding out from some army guys who are telling all the Hammer guys what's about to go down. And one of their lines was just too Pokemon for me to handle, so I edited it to what he probably really wanted to say. Seriously, even just "Surrender now, or" would probably make anyone who lived in the late 90's think of that line. Anyway, Daken escapes by chucking some grenades and driving away from an explosion into a title I will never read. Good riddance, I'm so tired of "I don't care, I'm just so badass," characters.

Concerning Ares' death, Thor presents Phobos with Ares' axe and helmet, offering to take him up to Mount Olympus to meet his people. He turns down the offer, and meh, it's all kind of sad because I loved Ares. He's one of the few male characters that I actually like and would read a title for.

Meanwhile, Victoria Hand is having a serious sit-down with Captain America. She explains that she was taken in by Osborn's charisma and goals and tried her best to steer him away from a meltdown but failed. Captain America takes this in, and then tells her she's getting a promotion rather than jailing it. How about that, I thought she was for sure dead by the end of Siege.

Lastly is Osborn, who's now imprisoned in a hxc way. We find him having a conversation with someone off-panel about how he was right, that someday just one thing is going to go wrong with the superheroes and the entire world is going to be screwed by it. Which is a very realistic possibility, and this speech takes the reader in very easily and reminds us of what a persuasive guy Osborn is, so much so that you probably find yourself rooting for him. The issue ends with the off-panel person being the Green Goblin persona saying Norman's stuck with him. And that's the end of the Dark Avengers. Conclusion: If you've been buying all the others, be sure to get this one.

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