Comics Update #4

My wife Kelly and I somehow caught colds on the exact same day. Laying down tended to result in the sensation of drowning so I decided that was out of the question for a bit. I got up and resumed my Blue Beetle reading with Blue Beetle #6. We pick up where the last issue left off. Another good issue here as Muse gathers the gangs up in a theater and Blue Beetle and Question crash the party. This issue really established an interesting relationship with BB and the Question. I really enjoyed the back and forth between the characters and it made me want to see them interact more. The book's side stories seem to have settled into a groove and the book seems more focused overall. There's a third and final part to this storyline. I was also curious about Muse and if he was important and this is essentially the only DC storyline he's ever appeared in. I am unsure if he ever made appearances when Blue Beetle was a Charlton property. If he did, he was a fairly insignificant character. I also found out I had the Secret Origin issue for BB so I'll probably read it after this gang storyline is over.

I took about a week and a half off after reading that issue and picked back up with Blue Beetle #7 on a Sunday night. This issue finished off the Muse storyline. It was an okay issue. It kind of went off in a direction I didn't expect and had a lot of downtime for the conclusion to a three part storyline. It turned around and finished on kind of a hack note. They make the identity of the Muse pretty obvious about halfway through the issue. I'm not sure if it was meant to be a big reveal or not. The pop culture references in this one kind of date the issue but you kind of get that when writers try to be topical. I don't know if I have said this in a previous post but I really miss this style of comic. In the New 52 some of those issues are on #26 and haven't had as much content or character development as this book has had in 7 issues. It makes me wish people would stop writing for the trade and start creating a deeper universe for their characters to live in.

I moved on to Suicide Squad #2 as the next book for the weekend. I really enjoyed this issue as they threw some good stuff in there. The book is very cinematic with down to earth action and it just feels like the Expendables movies. Mindboggler bites it in this issue and that establishes that no one is safe in this book. People rave about this series and this issue really shows why. I can't wait to pick up another issue and get further into this series. It's rare to find a series that actually feels different. It's also nice to have a book that's got a darker tone but isn't rolling in grim and gritty darkness at the same time. I honestly wish that I had dived into this series years ago.

Flash #1 was my final read of the night. I read this series for the first time back in 2005 and I really fell in love with the Flash character. Barry Allen is unfortunately a bore but Wally West is a great character with a lot of depth. He starts out as a sort of immature douche and he grows and matures as the series progresses. This issue really establishes the fact that Wally isn't a super likable person and that he has limitations. He can only go 705 MPH at top speed and any use of his speed kicks his metabolism in. So you'll see Wally eating tons of food to keep up his strength. Wally delivers a heart across the country and wins the lottery in this issue. At the end of the issue he's confronted by Vandal Savage. I'm really glad that I decided to reread this series. It's really a nice romp down memory lane and it scratches the itch that the current series hasn't been getting. If I made a top 5 list of my favorite characters in comic books, I think I would feel comfortable having Wally West at the 3 spot. He's just a great character that you really get to know and rereading this is like visiting an old friend. I may have to write a bigger article at some point about why I like Wally West so much.

2014 Comic Counter: 14