Always catching up... / by MELINDA Schmidbauer

I am catching up on my comics from the last two weeks.  Lately I have been only reading the comics that I have to read for the show.  It is very bad of me!  But once again, I am determined to catch up before "New Comics Wednesday."

Do we need to thank "The Big Bang Theory" for making that a common knowledge thing?  A lot of my friends and family now know that comics come out on Wednesday.  But I also think we have to give them a wag of the finger for perpetuating the idea that comic book stores are only for males, and socially awkward ones at that.  Our LCB store is a great place, run by a family (husband, wife, kids) and I have, on many occasions, seen other women there.  I think if we look at the demographics of the "typical" comic buyer, we might even see that more of them are like Mark and me than like Sheldon and Leonard.  

But back to the comics I am reading today!  

Justice League Dark #5

This pretty much completes the first story arc of the New 52 JLD.  The team gets together and "fixes" Enchantress, but then breaks up right away.  Madame Xanadu feels she has failed.  Apparently, she just did the whole separate Enchantress from June Moon to get the team together.  Really, Madame X, you didn't think that through very well.  Since the book is continuing, I am sure the team will come together in some way.  I am looking forward to seeing how this continues.  In fact, I like it better than I like…

Justice League #5

The Justice League is trying to fight Darkseid, and, of course, they try to do it individually.  Well, it is issue 5 and they aren't the Justice League yet.  (But I guess, to be fair, JLD isn't the Justice League yet either).  I am wondering if they aren't ever going to be called "The Justice League."  Just because it is the name of the comic, doesn't mean they actually have to name the group.  

Anyway, everyone is going at Darkseid in a free-for-all, and getting beaten.  Batman, in a daring move, reveals his true identity to Green Lantern ("Who's Bruce Wayne?"), and talks him into trying to get the team working as a group.  Meanwhile, he goes after Batman.  And then finds himself, I am guessing, on Apokolips.    Still not a lot of story. 

Legion Secret Origins #4

This book is a really nice retelling of the Legion origins.  I am enjoying it, but don't have much more to say about it.

Superman #5

Seriously unimpressed with this title.  Why does it bore me so?  There is a fake Superman in Metropolis.  Yawn.  I guess that I was so invested in the previous story line (pre-New 52) and the relationships in it, that I am having problems caring about these new people who haven't really (in 5 issues) coalesced into people for me.  I haven't really gotten anything about their relationships to each other or to Superman.  I really don't care about anyone in this comic, let alone Clark/Superman.  

The Flash #5

The art in this book is nice.  The frozen scenes at Iron Heights were really well done.  While I think Iris and Patty look very much alike except for hair color and glasses, that may just be because Barry has a "type."  I'll give the artist the benefit of the doubt, there.   

Catwoman #5

Poor Selina.  First she gets her fence killed, then she steals from the Gotham PD. Inadvertently, but she is, nonetheless, on the bad side of Gotham's dirty cops.  This title has done a pretty good job of redeeming itself from the first (post New 52) issue.