askye, it seems to be universally agreed that the art in NML #2 sucks royally. It's a shame, cause I kind of like that first story.

Ex Machina is heating up.

Re: War Games titles:

Part 5: Like Teppy, I really like Spoiler. "Oh look, she palmed a detonator." And then a nice ass-whupping. Before getting her own handed to her on a plate, yes, but it was still cool. Wasn't Black Mask in NML? Or pre-NML? His minions were featured in #1, I think, right?

Part 6: Who got decapitated in Batgirl? Does it matter? She showed up for an issue and now she's headless. Is she Lynx?

Part 7: Good issue. Loved the fight, with her adversaries admiring her moves. And Batman's psychological reasoning for pissing Catwoman off. And dude, taking over the fucking GPCD airwaves? Poor Oracle! He's stepping on toes, crossing lines. I hope for some good fallout.

And Astonishing was awesome. Parsley. Intractable. Longitude.

War Games -- I rushed through over my lunch. Yes -- Black mask was in NML. I thought Spoiler was done for -- but she is in very bad shape, isn't she? Did Black Mask just let her get away while he was talking to Tommy? I really disliked the art in Batgirl this time. Lynx? Why don't I remember her. And poor Barbara -- Bats is at his worse right now. Where the heck was Nightwing? Not to mention Tarantula?

Teppy, you really have to get No Man's Land vol 1. The art is much better. I've managed to get a few tpbs for basically the cost of shipping on ebay you might want to check it out.

I'm torn between reading the white font for War Games or just waiting until I finally get to read the tpb. I can't wait for 5 to get here so I can go leave and get my comics! (Teen Titans and Astonishing this week, and maybe see if I can find this month's Ballad of Sleeping Beauty ... I couldn't find it last week).

I suddenly feel like vomiting for 24 (?) hours.

Now that I'm done with the injoke...

Finally read last week's IC. Looks like it is a wife deal, at least in the eyes of the heroes. I was totally enchanted with "received" Batman -- it's how I like him the most. Could Boomer's son get a bigger bullseye painted on his back?

This week's War Games:

I don't know if I'm ever going to like Spoiler. Is she being written well in this crossover? As for the not shooting of Catwoman -- I hate that -- are those villains established enough to explain why they're so ineffectual? I'm surprised that Babs doesn't understand motivation through negativity. It's not that sophisticated a concept. It's weird seeing Drake Sr. in the war zone -- I'm worried he won't survive until he dies in IC like I want.

In Astounishing, Joss proves he knows what I used to like about the X-Men, and how to use it for pain. I loved the look on Wolverine's face when he saw Colossus.

That was a great face, ita.

As for the Ravens, I recall coming across them when looking for Plei's birthday comics. They were in that series of girlsomething comics with BoP. The fact that they were introduced in a girlsomething comic doesn't speak well of their effectiveness.

Our local UPS comics delivery dude got in an accident today. Lawrence is new-comics-dry until tomorrow. Then I'll have to go back and read all the chatter on AXM #5. Which is driving me nuts.

So. Teen Titans confused the hell out of me. I was pretty wrong in my War Games theory. But Astounishing was damn good. So.

I was pretty wrong in my War Games theory.

I thought you turned out to be right. There was Bandage Guy, right there. Unless you think Black Mask was killing everyone. Actually, who are we talking about? Killing whom? I don't even know what the hell's going on in this thing anymore.

Teen Titans has Legionnaires. They make me dizzy.

I wonder if Kon will keep the outfit. I'm somewhat disgruntled by Superboy in the Legion. Was our Superman still the Legion Superboy?

I wonder if Kon will keep the outfit. I'm somewhat disgruntled by Superboy in the Legion. Was our Superman still the Legion Superboy?

Here's the deal with Superboy in the Legion. Pre-crisis, it was Clark Kent, who would occasionally travel forward in time and fight evil doers in the 30th century. The original Supergirl did it, too. Superboy didn't appear with the Legion again until a bunch of post-Zero Hour Legionnaires got stuck in the 20th century for a couple of years, where they met Kon and Bart, among others. Eventually the Legionnaires got back to when they were supposed to be. Then about a year ago, a bunch of Darkseid's minions sucked Kon into the future through a boom tube, thinking he was young Clark Kent. When they found out he wasn't, they jettisoned him unconscious into space while they went back in time to look for the real deal. The Legion found him floating about, revived him, and gave him the new uni. They wanted to send back, but didn't want to mess with paradoxes and such, so they had to wait until Kon's memory cleared up. He's been hanging around with the Legion for comic relief ever since.

Other Titan thoughts: I was surprised to see the Persuader in full villain mode in the little preview at the end of last issue, because in the last issue of Legion he was helping the warden at the prison he was incarcerated at restore order after a prison riot. Unless this Persuader is from another universe. That would make my head hurt.

There's also a continuity error. When Bart asks about his cousin, XS, Kid Quantum says that she's with Mon-El. Mon-El hasn't been called Mon-El since before Zero Hour. (Mon-El was the most bizarre continuity of any character, anywhere, anytime...) In this continuity, he goes by M'Onel. Unless they're planning on wiping out Legion continuity yet again as they launch another new book.