Issue #40: Comic Books For The Week Of January 14, 2009

I've finally caught up on this blog. I still have to catch up on the expanded show notes for http://supermanfanpodcast.blogspot.com/. My resolution this year is to keep up with both blogs and not get behind. I did good with last year's resolutions, doing Superman Fan Podcast (http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/) and this blog, as well as posting a page of comic book art. This year I want to work on one of my comic book ideas, first writing complete scripts of the story and then drawing the pages and posting them on my Comic Space page (http://www.comicspace.com/supermanfan).
Also, for those who may be new to this blog, I review the comics I read every week. Since I don't have a lot of money to waste on titles I don't like, so I stick woith titles I enjoy. That is why my ratings seem generous. I admit I'm not the most critical reviewer. If I enjoy it I usually give an issue aa generous rating. But I'm not afraid to say when a story is only average or is below my expectations. This blog is just a way of sharing what I read every week, in case a reader finds a title they don't read but might find interesting. So here goes:

Comic books for the week of January 14, 2009:
Sgt. Rock: the Lost Batallion #3 (of 6) (DC)
Invincible #58 (Image)
Action Comics #873 (New Krypton #10) (DC)
Back Issue Bin: Superman #297 (DC)

Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion #3 (of 6) * * * * *
Easy Company and the Lost Batallion come under attack from a Tiger Tank. Speaking of tanks, there is a nice cameo of the Haunted Tank, from an old DC war title I read a few issues of. And we see more of the Japanese 442nd Company from WWII history as well. I'm not to sure how confident I am in Gen. Dahl. I wonder if he's really a good, tough general, or one who has been reading too many of his press clippings. We'll find out in the last three issues.

Invincible #58 (Image) * * * * *
Mark and Oliver stop at a familiar hot dog stand, for lnog-time readers of Invincible. Atom Eve leaves Stronghold Penetentiary. We find out later in the issue what she was doing there, and I didn't come close to guessing. Robot might have found a solution to Monster Girl's condition. Immortal and Dupli-Kate go house hunting. And the issue ends with not one but two separate menaces looming. And one of them is a shocker. No one is as good as Robert Kirkman at setting up future issues in his story. Another excellent issue with a lot going on.

Action Comics #873 (New Krypton #10) (DC) * * * * *
The battle over Kandor is not going well for Earth's heroes, but Allua finds a unique solution to the conflict. Supergirl makes a hard choice, and the ending is a big surprise. New Krypton continues to be an excellent story, and is setting up 2009 to be another great year for Superman. The 70th year of Superman, 2008, turned out to be a great year for Superman, and 2009 looks to be even better.

Back Issue Bin: Superman #297 (DC) * * * * *
Superman stories in the '70's were inconsistent at times. They could be great, or they could be silly. Clark Kent Forever -- Superman Never! is one of the former. Something is going on with Superman's powers, and Clark seems to be coming out of his shell. There are a few scenes where he is not mild-mannered at all, when provoked. And this issue has a scene that crated some buzz in the news:did Clark and Lois spend the whole night together, or didn't they? I'll have to look for issue # 298 when I go to Acme Comics (http://acme-superstore.com) on Wednesday.

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Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Expanded show notes (which I will work on cathcing up with this week) can be found at http://supermanfanpodcast.blogspot.com. Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.