Matt, did you read Civil War: Illuminati? They set up Iron Man's motivations a little better there, even if I don't particularly like Bendis' ongoing retcon of the Marvel Universe much. The split with Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic on one side, and Dr. Strange and Namor on the other was a tad more developed. Not sure how I feel about them launching the Hulk into space, though.

Nope, my shop didn't get that one. I think it's odd to have Reed on the jackbooted side of the issue, given the multiple recent problems he had with government interference in the various Fantastic Four titles. Also, the promo materials talk about the disagreements causing a big rip in the Four, which I think of as the ONE superhero group whose close ties would trump ideological disagreements. Avenger vs. Avenger (or Avengers vs. Defenders, whose members include a former tyrant conquerer, a raging destructive behemoth, and an alien that once tried to feed the whole earth to his boss) seems a much more natural conflict .

I finally got around to reading Steph's 52 link--they have a real sports score on there this morning--Game 1 of the Western Conference Final between the Suns and the Clippers.

That's hysterical.

Now I need to pay attention to every page.

Gotham Guardsman 102

Miami Heat 88

I've seen hints that Gotham City is located in New Jersey, but has it ever been officially acknowleged?

Well, NJ only scored 100 points. So that was kinda weird.

I've seen hints that Gotham City is located in New Jersey, but has it ever been officially acknowleged?

I always thought Gotham was where NYC is, and it was Metropolis that was down near NJ-Philly.

Of course, in the Batman RPG manual that Mayfair Games published, the map of Gotham and its surrounds is a crude map of Rhode Island with the names changed.

Anyone else watch the final episode of JLU?

While I think last year's finale was a better coda for the DCAU as a whole, I still enjoyed the episode. It felt a little rushed and I was surprised that there didn't seem to be any of Braniac in Darkseid which was what I thought was going to be the case after "Alive". I got a little chill from Superman's little speech about getting to cut loose and then him whalloping Darkseid but it didn't make any sense considering the number of times he'd faced Darkseid before, particularly in places much less-likely to cause collateral damage than on the frickin' Earth!

I did like the 5-minute head start bit.

It was a little disappointing, but I'm not sure what would have been a completely statisfying send-off for the DCAU. I'm certainly going to miss it. Kevin Conroy will always be the voice of Batman to me.

Comic book panel quiz.

There aren't any I can name comic, issue, writer and penciller for. But I do know something about these: 11 is Animal Man in that arc where he takes peyote and can see his artist. Terrifying to read on acid, let me tell you. The writer was Morrison, and the cover artist was Brian Bolland, but I couldn't tell you who did the insides. #13 is the Barry Windsor Smith pencilled X-Men issue where he runs with one of the Power Pack kids (Katie Power, perhaps? Was that the name of the youngest one?). I adore that cover. Just marvellous. I know I've read #25 -- it's Doom Patrol, isn't it? Possibly also written by Grant Morrison, but I can't be sure.

Ooh. #11 sounds cool.

Wow, I actually know some of those!

2: Goddess. Ennis & Winslade. Probably issue #6. 8: Lazarus Churchyard. Ellis and D'Israli. 15 I assume it's an Ennis issue of Hellblazer, only because the last panel looks dimly familiar. 19: Scars, Ellis and Jacen Burrows. Last issue again.