Re: Outsiders 14: I'm a little put off by a Green Lantern being handily beaten by two old Teen Titans villains, as it seems Jade's competence is being downsized to fit her into the team. (Since when does Green Lantern energy—if that's even what Jade is using these days rather than magic—involve molecules that Shimmer could rearrange?) But the confrontation with Dick was very, very good.

I think my favorite part of the book was Sivana's "you kids get offa my lawn!" moment. I like his re-emergence as the world's best mad scientist .

Sumi: no, but he's mentioned in Sensei and Student.

First impressions from the pull list -

Birds of Prey #70 - I'm right with Plei. Meep, indeed. I also agree that the pacing is fantastic in this run. It's a good thing this is a bi-weekly instead of monthly arc. The Savant subplot definitely feels like something long-term, and it will end badly.

Robin #128 - OK, I didn't see that coming. (Not during the issue, though, the ending was a foregone conclusion - what can you expect when you lose the Batplane?) I was also surprised by the antagonism Tim showed Batgirl. Ever since Tim saw her in the old Batgirl costume, I've been expecting more interaction between them.

Outsiders #14 - I was kind of disappointed with the issue, although I do agree that Jade was appropriately awesome. Also, not being up on the details of the Fearsome Five, I was unaware that Glimmer had the power she displayed. Why she didn't do it to everyone is a complete mystery.

Daredevil #62 - Matt's life get's more and more twisted. Black Widow comes onto him (and he turns her down! - maybe he is psychotic). A villain comes to him to offer a piece of his action, considering he's the Kingpin now - that's messed-up, and will have further repercussions down the line. Finally, he's getting in the crossfire between Black Widow and the government. Things are never dull in DD's world these days.

Ex Machina #2 - Whoa! Brian Vaughan is not pulling any punches. More and more stuff gets displayed that you know will have significance down the road. I hope sales remain strong on this title, because I really want to see what's coming.

Adventures of Superman #630 - That was fun. All the meta references may throw some people off (but considering the cover, they should be expecting some). Even with the comedy of Mr. Mxyzpltk (spelling way off), I did get some sense of foreboding.

I still have to get to Gotham Knights, Justice League Elite, Seaguy (but boy, what a sweet cover), Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Lucifer. A pretty good haul this week.

Matt, that bothered me, too. She ought to be more powerful and better able to defend herself than that.

Daredevil : Jigsaw waving his hands in front of Matt's face. Priceless. Also, smelling the gunpowder. I always love when Matt actually, you know, uses his superpowers. He hasn't been doing it recently, save for the nice recognition of Natasha's heartbeat.

Ex Machina : Jeff, Did I miss any clues as to what the hell that last page is about? Do we know what's in the truck? Or who that guy is? Or was that just a suitably effective cliffhanger?

Also, has there been anyone else in the history of comics with The Great Machine's superpower? Cause that's a really cool superpower. And the police baton thing was great.

DX, they could have avoided that WTF? moment if they'd just had Shimmer creating yellow objects (or wooden ones) to take advantage of Jade's weakness. Bad research, no biscuit!

Polter-Cow, Computo from the Legion of Super Heroes has that power.

Thanks, Matt. It's one of those things that's so simple someone must have come up with it before.

Ex Machina is bugging me, because when are they going to get to the story? We've gotten some anecdotes about the mayor's past, glimpses of his life now, and some hints that a mystery is brewing, but basically it's been two issues of exposition. Mostly well told exposition, but still. Let's get to it already.

But Matt, the guy who wrote this is the same guy who wrote Jade's organic powers back in the first place, so I don't think it's so much research as "handwavy handwavy illustrate the point". (I'll have to go back to the Ion and post-Ion stuff, because I actually don't remember what, if any, weaknesses her power has. Gosh. Such a pity, that...)

P-C, re: Ex Machina: No, I have no idea what the last scene was about, but I'm confident we'll get a quick connection in the next issue. I'll dig through #1 just in case there is a clue.

DX, re same comic: Yes, it is taking a while to actually get to the plot of the story, but I kind of like this approach. However, it does lend itself to following in trades, rather than single issues. Except Vaughan seems to have one scene or image (so far) in each issue that creates "buzz". I need to think about this some more.