Patrick's Hat Trick: Patrick Peers into the Past

by Patrick

Well, after a couple of weeks off, today I'll be playing catch up, reviewing books that came out while I was MIA: the long awaited Action Comics Annual 11; Booster Gold #9 featuring the old JLI; and the book with one of the longest titles ever, DC Universe Special: Justice League Of America #1. And if you were thinking of skipping reading these reviews, Blue Beetle has some good advice for you all...

...See you after the jump!

Since I am late with the reviews, we'll start with the book that is so very very late itself.

ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #11: Adam Kubert draws his heart out, and really, with the book being over a year late, he should. There are some cool moments, mostly with the villains (Lex Luthor kills a Phantom Zone escapee and compares it to what will be like to kill Superman, we see different colored Kyptonite for the first time in decades, and Bizzaro fights Non). But for a book that came out so late, it really doesn't pack any emotional punch. I pretty much forgot that Chris Kent even existed and didn't much care what happened to him after more than a year. If this book had come out on time, it might have been a B. But, in this case, late work gets penalized a grade, earning only an average C.

Our next book isn't late, but it does take place in the past. That's because it's DC newest timecop...

BOOSTER GOLD #9: It's chapter four of Blue and Gold, as Booster and the not-dead Ted "Blue Beetle" Kord deal with the after effects of Booster entering the time stream and preventing Blue Beetle's death. It's a "What If" Set in Infinite Crisis. The old JLI gets ready to make its last stand against a mad Max Lord who has Superman in his pocket and the world pretty much conquered. Johns has been spinning a fun tale, and Jurgens is an artist who has only gotten better as time has gone on. This book is shaping up to be the Exiles of the DCU, but with a higher stakes. If you are a fan of time travel, paradoxes, or DC countanuity, this is book you want don't want to miss. Grade: B

And our last look into the past comes via the reprints packaged as...

DC UNIVERSE SPECIAL: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1: Go ahead, try to say that title in one breath. I dare you. I'm out of breath just typing that dang thing. Anyway, all this book is, is an attempt to separate you from that five dollar bill hiding in your wallet. The first story is the first Secret Society tale from Justice League of America #110, important today because it is the first (and only before DC 0) appearance of Libra. And that Libra issue is pretty forgettable outside of a scene in which the JLA decides they are tired of beating up the same old villains all the time and decided to choose who they will defeat next by pulling the villain's name from a hat:

And now that I have shared this moment, you can save yourself the five bucks I spent on this reprint with a very long name. To make matters worse, the Libra reprint ends with a bit of a cliffhanger. Does the next book reprinted close that story? No. Instead we get issues that were the basis for Identity Crisis, then the book closes with a Martian Manhunter reprint from the '50s.

None of the stories reprinted here are really that good, so unless you intretest in reading the 30 year old comics that inspired Grant Morrison and Brad Meltzer, there is not much reason to pick this book up. GRADE: C-

That's it for today. I'll be back before Wednesday with reviews of three books that came out this week.