Comic shop comics: April 17-24

Daredevil #25 (Marvel Entertainment) F-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight!

In this twenty-fifth issue of the Mark Waid-written series (25 issues already? Man, time flies when you're reading great comics!), Daredevil faces the ultimate creation of...whoever the end-level boss bad guy who has been making his life (more) miserable for much of Waid's run has been. That creation is a new character (I think; his face is masked), who has all of Daredevil's skills and powers, and an unseen advantage that Waid and artist Chris Samnee do a great job withholding from the reader until the most dramatic possible moment (By the way, I'm guessing Mister Fear is the end-level boss, based on some of the portentous dialogue at the end of this issue).

So this issue is mainly one big, long fight around the city at night, between two guys dressed in Daredevil costumes with radar sense. The way Waid writes Daredevil combat though, and the way Samnee creatively illustrates DD's use of his enhanced senses, it hardly reads like just one big, long fight.

I really like this comic.

FF #5-#6 (Marvel) Whoever is in charge of pulling books to put in customers' pull files at my local comic shop forgot to pull the last issue of this series and put it in my file, so I missed #5 the week it came out but, on the plus side, this week I got to read two issues of Matt Fraction and The Allreds' comic.

In the fifth issue, the old Johnny Storm from the future freaks out, Medusa's son Ahura joins the Future Foundation, Darla tries on hats, The Daily Bugle runs a funny headline (if it's not an intentional tweak at DC, it's a well-timed coincidental one) and Willie Lumpkin attempts to teach the kids the most important lesson they'll ever learn in a great background gag.

And, even better, there's old-timey photographer for the Bugle running around who makes me laugh every time I see him.

In the sixth issue, Mike Allred is MIA—gasp!—but it's not so bad, as the incredibly talented Joe Quinones is there to fill-in, and Laura Allred still provides the color art, making for pretty damn consistent fill-in art.

There's so much good stuff in here, I'm not even sure what to mention as the most important bit—the Doombot/Herbie hybrids? The Moleoid that discovers she, formerly he, is actually a girl on the inside? (Where was all the media coverage about this transgender character in a mainstream superhero comic book?) Or that Lockjaw is apparently going to be joining the cast?

Classic Popeye #9 (IDW) I liked this comic book, even if it was a little heavy on the Sappo and Wottasnozzle, and a little light on the J. Wellington Wimpy this time around.

Superman Family Adventures #12 (DC Comics) And so ends Art Baltazar and Franco's Superman comic, which I hope is being canceled either because DC wants to publish another, different all-ages Superman comic (because not having a Superman comic appropriate for kids being published the same year as Man of Steel is in theaters is kind of idiotic), or because Baltazar and Franco want to concentrate on their creator-owned work, which they sneak a pretty good advertisement for into this issue.

I was wrong about how the series would end. Thus far, the creators had been introducing Superman villain after Superman villain, and having Lex Luthor collect them all. Meanwhile, ally after ally was being introduced. So I thought maybe this would end with a big Everyone vs. Everyone climactic fight.

Or, since the JLA is on the cover of this issue, I thought maybe Baltazar and Franco would be transitioning into a new, all-ages JLA gag comic, as the last issue of their Tiny Titans prominently featured Superman.

Wrong on both counts, though. This issue features Superman, Steel and the New 52 Justice League (sans Cyborg; can't have two black dudes on the League at the same time! No, actually, he's probably absent because on Earth-AwYeah, he's a Titan, and quite a few years younger than the adult Leaguers) fighting Darkseid atop a fiery meteor speeding toward Earth.

The good guys win, obviously, with an assist from The Super-Pets and the Superman Family. Lex Luthor, Alfred, Robin, Beast Boy and Bumblebee all make brief appearances, Pa Kent is introduced, and the issue of whether Lois Lane knows Superman's secret identity or not is resolved.

Wonder Woman #19 (DC) Brian Azzarello's ongoing quest to alienate each and every Wonder Woman fan continues unabated! So, you know how Azzarello's Orion has been king of a Guy Gardner-y sexist jerk toward Wonder Woman, calling her "Legs" constantly and even slapping her butt (to extract her DNA! Somehow! Ew!), and the super-strong, super-tough, super-fast warrior Wonder Woman has pretty much just taken it, never giving Orion much more than a dirty look and the first half of an objection...?

Well, in this issue, she finally retaliates!

After he calls her "Legs" again and winks at her, Wonder Woman leans down and passionately kisses the seated Orion for three panels, her hand trailing down his torso until she grabs his testicles, apparently roughly enough for him to shout "AAAH!"

"Respect me, or I'll rip them off," she threatens.

Then, when she releases him/them and walks away, he tells her she's cute when she's mad, at which point she sucker-punches him so hard she knocks his disguise off, revealing his true, son-of-Darkseid face for the first time.

So, you're probably thinking, why didn't she just sucker-punch him in the first place? Or, if she wanted to grab his balls and threaten to rip them off, why didn't she just do that without making out with him first...?

I don't know, and I can't think of a rationale beyond "Because she wanted to," or "Because Azzarello wanted her to."

And hey, as long as we're asking questions, why has this book been 19 issues of various Olympians talking about the same goddam baby and prophecy, while Wonder Woman kinda wanders around, barely getting a word in edgewise while her vastly more interesting supporting cast and enemies outshine her in every conceivable way?

I don't know that either.

Young Avengers #4 (Marvel) Oh my God: Pages two and three. Pages two and three.

Page five is pretty awesome too.