And, baby, Bruce Wayne deserved way, way, way better than that.

Yes, Secret Six is the best book DC publishes, IMHO, and I buy like 18 DC books a month. (Incredible Hercules is my favorite Marvel).

I shall buy Inhumans based on this review, was on the fence last week. I am ambivalent about Abnett/Lanning. They can be great, but they're no Palmiotti/Grey (I will buy anything they do).

Like every other sane person, I love Bru's Captain America, too, although I feel like the big arc ended in basically a whimper instead of a big climax. And in everything that followed 'The Death of Captain America' there's a tendency for the issues to seem very repetitious: hard to distinguish them from one another, and the story seemed to be stalling for time for a while. Still a great run, of course, but I think GL built to dramatic climaxes and awesome moments much better. Bru's Daredevil kicks the living shit out of Bendis' version. It's amazing how much of Bendis' crap Bru was able to fix and reconcile while still telling good stories.

I will say though, Grundy is a departuer from his usual style. I went in with your mindset and I'll say the man did surprise me.

BTW, was Piper in Rogues' Revenge? I was re-reading some of Countdown (yeah, everyone hated it) and the Piper/Trickster storyline was very good, as was the Holly/Harley arc. Now, whatever happened to Piper and Harley? I do not know.

Man, the people at my LCS have frequently recommended the SinestroCorps stuff to me, but I never liked Hal Jordan (I agree that he does have a personality, it just doesn't appeal to me), I agree with Joenathan that GL is very "DC" and not in a good way. But then, I do not like Star Wars. Never have, was 16 when the first one came out. Thought the first trilogy was ok, but didn't get into it. And I don't think I would get into GL either. I am one of those who would only get into it if it was really off the wall imaginative, and it appears to be more semi-militaristic. Many people obviously like that stuff, but I am not one of them.

GL collections list: No Fear, Revenge of the Green Lanterns, Wanted-Hal Jordan, Sinestro Corps War vol.1-3-- you read them back to back and, damn, that's good comics. Also the GL uniform is not made of fabric, but plasma, so no body odor.

The real question is why do superheroes not want you to know they have pockets?

1 - Access to Avengers Mansion (it's like a key card).

2 - Proof to legal authorities that you are a member of the Avengers, or were a member (remember, a shit load of people were members - it is hard to keep track). Plus Captain America once flashed it to a custom's agent in his secret identity of Steve Rogers so the guy would let him board a flight.

3 - It acts as a mini-computer, and the photo picture can become a monitor.

4 -And best yet, it acts as a credit card! With a $100,000 limit if I remember right.

Avengers ID card. Don't leave home without it.

Nerd memories.

don't get me wrong, simone is great, the six are great, it's just bane that sucks. he always has, he always will. i just hope writers stop using this 'roid taking, mexican wrestling reject sometime soon.

By the way, Rob Liefeld is gonna have Obama appear in Youngblood too, better reserve your copy now!

I just got the latest issue of Old Man Logan, and have to say that it's the title I now most look forward to.

Just added the War of Kings one-shot, don't let me down Rock-Me.....

Also, I dropped Walking Dead during the extended prison storyline to trade-wait, and bitterly regret the decision.... I guess that's what happens when you make the choice to cut some of the fat from your pull list, sometimes you trim some muscle by mistake.

As for DC, I don’t mind the DC-ness; I actually I prefer the characters to have “DC-ness” (sounds like a bad disease) instead of Marvel-ness they suffer from now. For me the classic DC characters just work better when they are less like “real people” (whatever that means) and act more like they were meant to be, over-sized action heroes or paragons of virtue. I think DC went down the wrong track when they tried to give their characters more “depth” and personal problems in an attempt to imitate That isn’t to say you can’t update these characters or portray them in a way that is relevant to today’s audience, but I just don’t think you need to make them parodies of Marvel characters.

Plus, I think any attempts to have continuity in DC are almost doomed to begin with. Everyone has their own favorite period in the DC universe, and their own personal preference on how a character was portrayed. Once again, Marvel was designed from the beginning to have continuity and be one shared universe, DC less so. It doesn’t surprise me that one of the best DC titles in the last couple of years, All-Star Superman, takes place outside of continuity.

Plus I think people underestimate the power of “static” characters who are paragons of virtue, representing a kind of perfect or elite champions. The best comparison I can give is in detective/espionage/crime fiction. Sherlock Holmes, Philip Marlowe, James Bond, Parker, Dirty Harry, Columbo and even Monk are all well-rounded characters with interesting personalities and a strong moral code; they are also all static characters in that they don’t really change from story-to-story. Martin Beck, the cops from the 82nd precinct, Detective Andy Sipowicz, Tony Soprano, Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer, Detective Vic Mackey, all of these characters are also well-rounded, but they are far from perfect. They are flawed people who undergo change during the course of their stories and sometimes fail.

I think you would be hard pressed to say one type of character from one list is intrinsically better than a character from another list. They are just different types of characters; same with Marvel versus DC characters. You might prefer one type to another, but it doesn’t make the other invalid or any less interesting. I personally prefer the flaw characters of Martin Scorsese's films, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a archetypical hero like Indy in the Raider's movies or James Bond.

My only complaint against Batman is that as a “normal” man, he has won so many supposedly one-sided fights it no longer works as a surprise. I mean, he defeated Superman – how are any of us surprised when he defeats Darksied if he can defeat the Man of Steel?

That is one thing I always loved about Marvel, the fact that the lightweights often do lose to the bigger and tougher characters, it is the fact that they put up a fight is what is so admirable (kind of like the first Rocky). Like when Daredevil fought Sub-Mariner – clearly outclassed but Sub-Mariner had to admire DD for even trying. Or Captain America, who though he has beaten a lot of tougher characters, has also lost some fights against opponents that clearly outclass him. I remember in the Korvac Saga when Cap was one of the last heroes left and started punching Korvac, telling him he wants him to remember that he was beaten by just a “normal man” – sure Korvac disintegrated him minutes later, but you had to admire Cap’s moxie and balls, and it did inspire Simon Williams to stop whining about his fear of death and attack Korvac.

I personally would love a story where Batman fights a clearly more powerful opponent and gets his ass-kicked. Not because I hate Batman, but just to remind us how human he really is. Of course, you could then have a rematch with the villain thinking the outcome will be the same, not realizing that Batman always learns from his mistakes…

Sure Cap is willing to take on someone much more powerful then himself, but that is because he is brave and has certain ideals he will stand up for, not because he actually has a chance. Batman and Doom, however, when they take on a much more powerful foe they usually have a plan or are smart enough that you think "Shit. They could win this." I mean, look at whom they have faced off against: Batman took on Superman, Darksied, White Martians; Dr. Doom took on Galactus, Thanos, Mephisto and even the Beyonder. These are two mortals able to take God-like beings down a peg or two.

"My eyes!" screamed Blonsky, running off into the Marvel Universe.