Having read the Stranger for awhile, I feel familiar with Ellen Forney’s comics, but hadn’t read many of them (besides her Lustlab personals gags) until I picked up this book today. I really enjoyed the first section full of various “How to” diagrams-ranging from a guide to erogenous zones to performing a military funeral. Her art reminds me a lot of Joe Sacco’s-it’s heavy on interestingly-lettered text—but she doesn’t crosshatch nearly as much as is a bit more cartoony. Forney is really good at cramming an entire story into a page, kinda like Jessica Abel.
The collection drags during her strips from ‘92-94, but I like the collaborations with Dan Savage and David Schmaeder (both also write for the Stranger) toward the end.

I read the first three volumes of Seven Soldiers a few months back and just now finished the last volume… I feel like I need to go back and re-read it all to make sense of it. I’m not fond of how it was collected—DC spliced all 7 miniseries, so you can’t get one complete story in any of them. As a result, I was kind of confused about Mr. Miracle’s backstory and supporting cast.
On the whole, the “first wave” of soldiers (Shining Knight, Klarion, Manhattan Guardian, Zatanna) was much stronger than the second wave (Bulleteer, Mister Miracle, Frankenstein). Bulleteer did have some nice superhero commentary, and Frankenstein’s adventure were nice and weird.
The whole story somewhat wraps up in the end—the soldiers all sort of meet and defeat the faerie Sheeda. J.H. Williams III’s art is great, though I still don’t quite get what’s going on.
This Newsarama interview sheds some light on the confusion, but I’m still a bit in the dark.

I tried reading this book about 6 years ago, when I knew much less about the DC Universe, and couldn’t get through it. Now that I know a bit more about Wildcat, Starman, and other less popular characters, I was able to make sense of this book, and even enjoyed it.
The JSA was one of the DCU’s first teams, but the modern incarnation is a mix of old and young, with an emphasis on training the young. This is a pretty good idea for a book-shouldn’t the Teen Titans have supervision? This origin story isn’t extremely unique-all the heroes gather at a funeral, then embark on a mission to help a fallen/thought-dead Dr. Fate.
I’m going to try to track down more JSA books, to see if the story gets better.

I’ve become a big fan of Greg Rucka the past couple of years—his work on Wonder Woman and Adventures of Superman have been especially great. However, I’m becoming less and less fond of his DC spy stuff.
Checkmate spins out of the OMAC Project, Rucka’s prequel to Infinite Crisis which reestablished Checkmate as a nebulous international spy organization. Post-Infinite Crisis, Checkmate is a U.N.-sanctioned group that protects the world from super-powered threats.
Rucka takes on a bunch of small characters from the DC Universe (the original Green Lantern, Mister Terrific, Count Vertigo, Amanda Waller, etc.) to form the spy organization. The first four issues show the machinations of keeping the group solvent from a threat from the Chinese to veto Checkmate’s charter. The last three issues… are a digression.
I’m annoyed by all the aspects of Checkmate that seem to come from the Marvel Universe. The whole naming system-characters are called the white and black king and queen-reminds me of the Hellfire Club, Checkmate itself seems a lot like SHIELD, and one of the villains, Kobra, looks a lot like HYDRA or at least the Serpent Society. These aren’t exactly mainstream Marvel properties, but Rucka didn’t do much to distinguish his characters as unique.
There are just too many characters in this book. There are some nice parts, especially the negotiating in the U.N., and some of the Chinese superheroes. The last two issues, a Suicide Squad story, add little but clutter to the book.
From reading Queen and Country, I know Rucka can do espionage well, but Checkmate isn’t a good showing.

Dishwasher follow “Dishwasher Pete” Jordan as he goes on a self-appointed quest to work as a dishwasher in all 50 states. It starts out with his humble beginnings in San Francisco, as Pete easily explains his general dislike of work and the annoyances of colleagues and customers. Pete has more id than anyone—while most people put up with crappy work, he just leaves. Since dishwashing is among the crappiest jobs, he can always find somewhere else that needs him.
Jordan has several good stories, including working at a salmon cannery in Alaska, an oil rig in Louisiana, and the Hell Train in Rhode Island. He lovingly talks about big cities like New York, Portland, and even Pittsburgh, but also spreads his affection to things like macaroni and cheese boxes and finding change on the ground.
As I read through Dishwasher, my work ethic plunged. Thankfully, by the book’s end, Pete does come up with more concrete life goals, and realizes that he probably needs to get a desk job. His move to Amsterdam at the end of the book could’ve been a bit better explained; I guess he’s seen all that he needs to of America.

Jessica Jones finally has her baby, and finally has Michael Gaydos draw her again. Brian Michael Bendis closes out The Pulse, which had a really weird arc, going from a Spider-Man story to a rehash of Secret War, to a New Avengers story. There’s lots of good dialogue around Jessica’s baby worries (especially from Sue Storm), and a funny subplot with D-Man, the homeless superhero. This volume felt a bit short and rushed; I guess Bendis has more important things to do.

This is the best Batman book I’ve read in awhile. While a lot of high-profile Batman books use extended storylines, Paul Dini uses single-issue stories to chisel out his vision of the world’s greatest detective, and his rogue’s gallery. The mysteries involved are hair-raising, but all the stories are solid. I especially like his take on the Riddler—having him “reform” and become a shady but popular detective for hire. It’s much easier to read than the dark turn Jeph Loeb and Judd Winick gave him during and after Hush.
The art duties shift from story to story, with Don Kramer, who I’d never heard of, doing several stories. It’s dark but elegant, and suits Dini’s stories.

There’s a splash-page of Spidey and MJ swinging around New York City that’s one of the best Spider-Man graphics I’ve seen in a while.
Overall, a solid book. I like how foolish/scheming Peter Parker is for going out on a date with MJ as Spider-Man.

The White Martians come back and try to destroy the Justice League and the earth. Do they succeed?
Mark Waid’s almost as good at Grant Morrison at writing earth-shattering JLA stories, and there are some nice bits in this one, especially how the Martians take oxygen out of Earth’s atmosphere. Martian Manhunter got a lot of good scenes, but on the whole it wasn’t an amazing story. I think I’ve finally decided that the JLA is better than the Avengers.
There’s also a filler Christmas issue that I wasn’t too impressed with.

Sean McKeever keeps writing really great high school romance. I really enjoyed the two-part flashback, except the fill-in art actually made all the characters look older. My only real complaint is that Gwen Stacy hasn’t really developed any personality. I LOVE Brian Michael Bendis’s Ultimate Gwen Stacy, but so far, McKeever hasn’t written her doing much. This would be fine, except this volume of SMLMJ (a great acronym) is “The New Girl.” McKeever does get in one great line about MJ wanting to throw Gwen off a bridge.
I really like Miyazawa’s art. His Spider-Man is a little too doughy, but all his high school kids look great.