Cranky! Hibbs mutters about 1/25

Cranky Cranky Cranky! JUSTICE LEAGUE #5: Well, at least it finally came out.

Like I had said, I was liking each issue a little bit more than the one before, but that ground to a stop on this issue. Screeeeeeeech!

Part of it is surely the dumb presentation of Darkseid.  To me, at least, Darkseid is a master planner, a manipulator, and while, yes, he CAN surely kick your ass, why would he bother sullying himself on a "gnat" like you?

This one, though... hrf, he has one whole line (his name), and he's just smashing things up otherwise. Where's the depth? Where's the grandeur of Kirby's Fourth World?

Why the hell do his Omega Beams not work?!?! They hit Superman and, like, not much happens? Huh?

Darkseid isn't Doomsday, and it's frustrating they're playing him that way, essentially turning one of the darkest villains in the DCU into an one-dimensional cardboard cutout.

I also can't for the life of me figure out why Cyborg is on this team, at all. Hell, or even what Aquaman and Wonder Woman were doing for most of the issue?

There were things I DID like: I don't know that it makes any sense whatsoever, but I really liked this Batman dropping his defenses (and mask) like that to GL; and I liked the "We got this!" "You call that a battle-cry?" thing... but those are beats, not cohesive elements of the story, and none of it elevates over an "EH".

SECRET AVENGERS #21.1: Actually, what I mostly really want to talk about is how the hell much I hate that new Hawkeye uniform -- I mean, I get how they want to appeal to people who see the Avengers movie, or whatever, and this is pretty much the costume there, but, damn it, that's not Hawkeye's costume, and that's not even a "costume" per se anyway. The only bit you couldn't buy in a store is those funky shades, and it really doesn't make Clint look like a Hero at all.

I don't know, gross.

The comic itself was, I thought, fairly bad -- yet another new made-up crime-driven nation (what's wrong with Madripor, then?), and it's got Captain America running around in a flag, lecturing Hawkeye on stealth. Yes, that's kind of a hot mess. Pretty AWFUL.

OK< all I have time for today -- what did YOU think?

-B