Chuck Dixon - Dixon is good at doing a solid backstory, and is responsible in a HUGE way for where the Batfam was at pre-War Games. However, he lacks a certain edge, and his work can be deathly dull at times as a result. His best work has been in his co-written Year Ones, as he's bolder when working in the past than when working with anything that might affect the future. Also, occasionally, his conservative values slip shows. But Daddy Dixon built a lot of the toys in the playbox, and I've gotta hand it to him, the construction's great.

Greg Rucka - generally brill. Mmm. Rucka. Sadly, married to someone other than me.

Devin Grayson - tremendous ability to work previous characterization into an arc, and a real respect for fans and for the existing canon. Falls down when rushed, however, and has yet to produce a Perfect Stand Alone Issue.

Bill Willingham - should not be allowed near superhero comics on pain of death. He doesn't like them, doesn't read them, has been quoted as saying he hadn't READ Robin before he started writing it, and has no respect for shared playgrounds and toyboxes. Also, little respect for fans. He can go fuck off and masturbate to Fables or something, just keep him off of my fucking pulls.

Jeph Loeb - when the crack is good, it's great, but when the crack is bad, Loeb makes NO SENSE. Uneven, and doesn't write women well.

Geoff Johns - solid. Productive. Good, and occasionally exceptional.

Ed Brubaker - up there with Rucka. Fantastic writer, great with characters, able to take a standard issue story and spin it into gold.

Anderson Gabrych - cutest ass in comics! Uneven, because he's still new at this, and his Big Gay Fanboy slip shows at times. Occasionally prone to anvils, but with a lot of potential. He's still young and wet behind the ears, but he genuinely likes writing women, and is pretty flipping good at it.

Judd Winick - I suspect he's sloppy when rushed, and that his earnest SF Liberal Self occasionally has a desire to put Statement over Story. However, his big strength is characterization, and his SFLS doesn't escape the bounds too often. NEEDS to write more Barry Ween, damn him.

Gail Simone - totally needs to call me. I mean, umm. What is there to say about her? She can do arcs, she can do one-offs, she can take a mess made by others and turn it into something wonderful. She can do drama, but she's also got a fabulous sly wit. Reading Gail Simone is like watching really good Buffy. Of course, she writes the book I love best, so I'm probably biased.

Grant Morrison - entertaining crackmonkey.

All I can do is repeat: Willingham delenda est.

sumi, yup, Rose is Deathstroke's daughter. If you've been following TT, you may remember that in the present-day timeline, back around issue 10 or 11, there was a OMGWTF last page where she stabbed herself in the eye so that she could be just like Daddy. Fuuuuuuuucked up.

Heather Hudson of Alpha Flight too.

WHAT?!? Admittedly I'm far behind on Alpha Flight continuity, but back in the book's first year she was a secretary/office manager, and then spent years after that as the leader of a superhero team. When did she have time to go to med school and get her M.D.?

Teppy -- I don't think I've read that story. Is it one of the books collected in Family Lost?

I just bought A Kid's Game on Monday -- figured I would pick up Family Lost later on.

Nothing here would lead one to believe that she was a doctor.

Yeah, I can state unequivocally that Heather Hudson was never a doctor. I think Shaman may have been, however. And Sasquatch was a PhD.

ETA: Yeah, I was right about Shaman.

Speaking of the Alpha Flight folks, whatever happened to Elizabeth Twoyoungmen?

the art in #132 is some of the worst art I've ever seen.

Agreed. Dear God.

Ex Machina was great as usual, and the last page put a smile on my face. Go Vaughan.

UXM was actually pretty sweet as well. Loved the teamups, although I'm sure I'd appreciate things more if I were familiar with the team dynamic. Who's the chick with the piercings? Really enjoyed the dialogue in this one; Vaughan really kept it light.

The Pulse had lots of 'splosions. Secret War tie-in.

Spider-Man India was cute. Nothing spectacular, but it's what you'd expect. It's Spider-Man. In India.

I also picked up some trades. Bruce Wayne: Murderer? and the first two volumes of Bruce Wayne: Fugitive. These are really good, right? They're full of Plei's favorite writers.

Is Knightfall worth checking out? It doesn't look nearly as psychologically complex/interesting as murdering and fugitiving, and I think Bane is dumb.

Is Knightfall worth checking out? It doesn't look nearly as psychologically complex/interesting as murdering and fugitiving, and I think Bane is dumb.

My weird fondness for Bane (entirely due to a recentish GK run), and Dick's post-Knightfall filling-in for Bruce aside (which is in it's own book, the OOP Prodigal), nope. It's pretty lame writing, and if you think Bane is dumb, just wait until you get a load of Jean-Paul Valley.

Murder/Fugitive, on the other hand, kicks all kinds of ass.

Murder/Fugitive, on the other hand, kicks all kinds of ass.

I was pretty sure. Should I wait to start Fugitive until I have the third volume? Are the volumes divided well? I don't really know what kind of question I'm asking, since whatever your answer, I'll probably be anal and not want to finish the second volume until I have the third volume in hand cause why? Maybe I'll read very very slowly.