Sigh. No comics for me this week.

But Martian Manhunter piece on the eonline site.

"Martian Manhunter is the Shemp of the Justice League."

Hee.

I had a bunch. Green Lantern Rebirth, which I agree with Victor on, by the way. Richard Dragon, which I am Too Stubborn to Drop. Manhunter, which I am fast falling madly in love with. Green Arrow, which was less preachy than I'd thought, but still mostly a set up issue for Mia's new role as Speedy--we need some Roy in there soon, because I want to see his reaction to her taking his old role. Catwoman: When In Rome, which had a beautiful cover but remains less exciting than it should be.

Oh, and Astonishing and The Authority. I think that's it.

Manhunter was the best of this week's for me in terms of moving the book along. It's really improving by leaps and bounds.

For physical copies of stuff that my store doesn't have, I go to eBay.

As I bang my head against the wall for not thinking of that...

What do you read now?

Just Ultimate Spiderman, Ultimate X-Men and Astonishing X-Men. (I started reading the Ultimate stuff because I liked the characters in question, but didn't want to deal with 5 billion different titles and 40 years of back story. And AXM because of Joss.) Was reading IC. Also reading Ultimate Nightmare, though the last couple issues haven't impressed me.

I just don't have the time or the finances to support a full-on comics habit, but I do enjoy reading a handful of titles every month.

What the hell is UP with Ultimate Nightmare? Ugh. But I'll finish it out, because I'm compulsive that way.

Birds of Prey is good, starting with Gail Simone's run. The standalone issue 68 is a good one to start with, then you can just sort of piece together the backstory at your leisure.

Teen Titans is also good, and the first two storylines are already out in trade, so you might be able to find them through a library.

JSA is wonderful, but involves a huge investment in backstory, so probably not the best title to pick up midstream.

What the hell is UP with Ultimate Nightmare? Ugh. But I'll finish it out, because I'm compulsive that way.

I have no idea, but I'm probably going to do the same thing. I've already invested in the first part, might as well see it through.

Teen Titans is also good, and the first two storylines are already out in trade, so you might be able to find them through a library

This is what I'm leaning towards. Though my local shop carries a very paltry collection of trades. I need to swing by a Borders or something.

Manhunter, which I am fast falling madly in love with.

Yes. Yay you for mentioning this to me, because I so liked it when I picked it up in November. Also, a big fat yes to your whitefront.

Catwoman: When In Rome, which had a beautiful cover but remains less exciting than it should be.

That's why I picked it up, originally, was for the cover art. I don't know, it's an amusing thing, but I like it mostly for the saucy art.

So I torrented Identity Crisis in about forty minutes from z-cult, and have finally read the whole thing. Now to go back for the whitefront...

Green Lantern:Rebirth was interesting to me, and I appreciate that they're trying to give an explanation for the whole Parallax mess involving another party influencing Hal. But I have several plot reservations:

1) Johns doesn't seem to be tying this in to the Mocker, who was another smug yellow-tinged non-corporeal adversary imprisoned in the main power battery that took it over and turned it against the Corps at one point. Hello? Ready-made in-continuity backstory there for the taking...

2) The main power battery was also used as a prison for Sinestro and Dr. Light at one point. Kinda crowded in there. Wonder if they all played bridge to while the time away?

3) Johns seems to be overlooking the fact that Hal was just trying to go back in time and save Coast City (in a psychotic manner) until he absorbed all sorts of leftover energies from the Anti-Monitor in the timestream. That's when the megalomaniacal destroy-everything-and-start-over-from-scratch plan got formed. Also worth noting that the first direct action by the Anti-Monitor we saw back in Crisis was striking against the Guardians by turning the main power battery against them. I think that's an issue worth addressing, and it would also strike a nice note with regard to specific enmity for the Spectre.

4) I'm not sure I buy this psychic parasite creature being able to ride Hal Jordan's soul into the afterlife and still influence him. I think mixing sci-fi mind control elements with metaphysics is a sloppy bit of writing. Better it should have remained tied into the still-flawed Hal Jordan ring and all its duplicates (possessed by Kilowog, John Stewart, and now Guy Gardner) and only had access to Hal once he manifested on earth or—better yet—touched an infected battery.

Is anybody here reading JLA: Elite? I'm surprised I've seen no comments about the revelation that Kausmi is Batgirl.

What? Does this mean I need to read it?

Dammit.