Another round-up.

BOOSTER GOLD #2: DC's new "fun" comic - which is probably the death knell for the book right there - has a second issue filled with fun, frolic and continuity injokes and overload; not as enjoyable or open to new readers as the first, it was still pretty Good nonetheless. It really feels like it wants to be a TV show, all the way down to the sentimental meeting between Guy Gardner and Booster at the end. If you listen closely, you can hear the faux strings of a 1980s soundtrack.

CASANOVA #9: That blue's still distracting, but a much more balanced and complete second chapter to the second volume than the first - Maybe I'm just easily swayed by sexy spacewomen who sometimes have six arms. Just like Captain America, though, the title character is nowhere to be found, and the book doesn't suffer for it whatsoever. Very Good.

DAREDEVIL #100: There's something weirdly old-school about the "It's our anniversary issue, so let's have lots of guest artists from the book's past!" thing, but in a good way - especially the John Romita pages, which again make me want Ed Brubaker to go and do straight-up romance comics at some point. I could've done without the overly-glossy Marko Djurojevic pages, though; there was something too slick about those... Good, nonetheless, and that's before you get to the added bonus of the San Francisco-era back-up reprint.

GREEN LANTERN #23: While the Sinestro Corps rages in space, Hal Jordan's brother gets all upset that the city he lives in isn't that popular. Guess which one captures the imagination more. Given the cliffhanger, though, I'm hoping that the Middle Aged White Man Comics prologue isn't the start of a "Hal's family are murdered" plot to give this otherwise Good comic more angst.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #9: I can see the hate email and comments already, but this Good start of the Kingdom Come sequel marks the completion of Geoff Johns' hat-trick of successful superhero books for the week. Again, rather old-school - it's one of those "super-heroes on their day off, but they never get a full day off" issues that you'd see in '80s Teen Titans or other team books, for the most part - and the appearance of Kingdom Come Superman at the end of the issue is arguably the least interesting thing about the whole book, but it's just well-done, solid, and fun. I have simple needs, my friends, and this meets them.

NEW AVENGERS #34: The "Let's use a magic spell to look inside our heroes' hearts" schtick would've made for a better scene if it hadn't already been done a few issues ago, but there's something to be said for the speed with which Bendis seems to tie up the internal Skrull paranoia subplot here, ahead of Secret Invasion. Otherwise, this feels like filler while the book waits for Mighty Avengers to finish up its first storyline; Okay, but inessential.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #11: And talking of filler... Again, another "downtime between super punching" issue, but this one doesn't work as well... maybe it's because there isn't any climax to any of the three parallel storylines here, just bridging material between other stories. Good to see Ian Brill's Marvel counterpart be turned into a gun-toting psychopath, though. Eh.

THOR #3: Wow, for a book advertised with "Thor kicks Iron Man's ass!" (Well, more or less), there's a significant lack of ass-kicking. Add to the mean tease of Thor essentially saying "NEXT time, I WILL kick your ass" the unnecessary use of New Orleans as backdrop to add cheap angst, and this becomes a nicely-illustrated but ultimately-Eh piece of pointlessness.

This week: I go on vacation on Saturday, so only three days of reviews. I'll choose wisely.