I'm starting a file at my store so this doesn't happen again.

Yeah, that's pretty much what got me there. "Are you sold out of XYZPDQF again?" "You know, we could save that for you next time...."

Okay - -my store NEVER got the new Outsiders!

And hadn't any news about it either. WTF?

I picked up the two War Games comics + Astounishing + the new Flash + GL 177.

I'm pretty sure there was no new Outsiders.

I got Catwoman (ick), Batman (yum so far), Astounishing (oh), Excalibur (it's failed the four issue test -- no more), Ultimate FF (once I get up to #12, I'll start collecting it in books. Like it, but not that much), and Ultimate Elektra (hmm).

Finally saw JLU. Very lame, but I thought it was very funny having Jason Hervey and Fred Savage voice Hawk and Dove.

re: Astounishing -- is there any chance someone could give me a quick and dirty explanation of Colossus, and why I should have been more impacted? That last panel sure was Joss, though, wasn't it?

re: Batman -- I almost lost my shit when I saw Nightwing grabbing Tim. SA was here, and she was reading back issues of Teen Titans, and I was reading this week's titles, and we'd keep interrupting each other to point out things that we found important, or full of HoYay, or shocking. She had pretty much the same reaction that I did at the Batman panel.

Steph, here's the Astounishing lowdown:

Colossus came over from Russia when Prof X invited him to be a member of the new X-Men. While there, he fell for the young Kitty Pryde. Which was very sweet and oh-so-OTP. Then he cheated on her with some space-ho, and the relationship ended (though he was still sweet). Kitty moved on, moved to the UK, got a new shag. He sacrificed himself to host the cure for the Legacy virus which was threatening to kill a whole lot of people. Poor gutted Kitty (this and other stresses got her down) quit the superhero biz.

Okay, ick. Re War Games -- I understand that public distrust of the Batfamily is important, but what in fuck was the leap of the journalist in the last frame? There was a fucking GUN BATTLE outside the school, with no heroes present, and somehow Batman caused the death of the girl? Okay, sure, the whole thing is Spoiler's fault, but that's not a conclusion that can be reached with available evidence. It's so patently clear that Bats and them ended the hostage situation, that I just don't get the conclusion. Or maybe armed guys taking over buildings and then falling asleep is a regular Gotham thing.

Cracksmoker.

However, it might just all add up to a very clever plan -- why does Batman need to carry her out? Why not just vanish?

I'm with you on that, ita. It made no sense. Maybe Willingham really should just stick with Fables and keep out of the Batverse.

ETA: But ita, if he planned it, why was he then so snappish with the other two for being "exposed"? To me, it seemed like a necessary evil for him to carry her out, to make sure she got out safely. He took on that responsibility, at whatever cost.

Part of the plan, perhaps? I just don't see why one of the other able bodied adult men couldn't have done it. My other thought was that he wanted it to seem that she was dead, so he needed to say all that stuff. Isn't he supposed to be daylight averse? (I mostly read him in Outsiders, where he had no such hesitation). Still, why did they follow him out?

Pfah. I liked it, up to that point. I even didn't have a bitch about how Batgirl was written.

Willingham had no control over the *plot* of the issue -- several writers have said that "War Games" was planned entirely by the editorial office, leading plenty of people to speculate that they were signalling that the series would stink, by the way.

Polter-Cow, if you don't know who Leslie Thompkins is, you really need to do some sort of Batman 101, because she's a central character in the extended Batfamily. As you can tell from the issue itself, she's a doctor who has known Bruce his entire life, and knows his secrets, although as a pacifist she disagrees with his methods. And as you learned in the last Nightwing, her clinic is where a lot of people who find it, shall we say, more convenient to avoid the sorts of questions one would be asked at a hospital end up getting treatment -- though we more frequently see her treating Batfam members than gang-bangers.

Really, 90% of the time I find the questions I have about "who is that?" are resolved within an issue or two if I pay attention.