Fire & Brimstone #5 ~ The girls are pinned down in the bar, under heavy fire from The Forge (who's following his X-Men namesake in his interest in big, big guns), and as always are approaching the problem with a mixture of careless audacity (mainly Fire), complaining (mainly Brimstone), and bickering (both). This concluding issue follows very much in the footsteps of the preceding ones, such that while there's a cute storyline of sorts that resolves the siege to the satisfaction of all concerned (well, Fire and Brim, and to heck with anyone else), it's basically the interaction between the two that sells the show: Fire sassy, sexy and shameless, and Brim straight-laced, put-upon, and exasperated at her partner's antics. Richard Moore's art is strong too, really selling the comedy and sight gags. Hopefully Fire and Brim will get another outing soon.
Power Girl #1 ~ This is a title I've been waiting a long time for, and if this issue isn't exactly a knock-out blow, it's definitely got promise. The A-story features PG up against a bunch of robots projecting emotional turmoil and sending people crazy at the same time as they shoot at them - fairly standard superhero fare, though it leads up to an interestingly audacious plan from the villain once he's revealed. But it's the B-story where the action really is, jumping back before the attack to look in on PG in the midst of setting up her new secret identity (actually just resuming the old Karen Starr one, just in a new setting). This bit managed to irk me right off the bat, having PG narrate that she needed 'norman human contact', which just shows that Gray and Palmiotti haven't read Justice Society of America, or they'd know that the JSA's members are perfectlty normal, social humans - but aside from that gaffe, the signs are good. Kara/Karen is setting herself up as the leader of an R&D group aiming to solve the world's problems through advanced and enlightened use of technology, which both provides scope for some interesting stories (hopefully not all as heavy-handed as the little hint of one we get, a blatant mad scientist in the making) and has the benefit of making PG's secret identity something credibly ambitious - nothing would be worse than Power Girl slumming it as a secretary, or some such junk. The Amanda Conner art is... well, it's Amanda Conner, it's got a lot going for it, but I'll be honest and say that the more I see of it, the more I find myself getting a bit tired of seeing the same facial expressions over and over again. I don't mind it for now, but if the art on this title changes I won't mind that much either.
Hack/Slash Entry Wound ~ This is a cute little one-off adventure, with a reduced cover price (US$2.50), a 14-page standalone adventure for Cassie and Vlad, some pinup pages, a text page explaining Hack/Slash for newbies (and with a couple of photos of cosplay Cassies) and - yay! - the regular one-page Lovebunny backup story, linking cutely into the main feature this time. Speaking of the main feature, it's a decent enough story, but it's slightly hamstrung by the first page having the most outrageously awesome concept for a villain, and then the rest of it not really involving her. This story was fun, but if they ever tell the one about Mary Shelley Lovecraft in proper detail, that'll be something to see.
Agents of Atlas #4 ~ The big flashback storyline draws to something like a conclusion, in a bit of a confusing fashion - sometimes everyone seems to have been reading ahead in the script and therefore handling the situation based on more certainty than they should by rights have, and at others they're a bit dim; anyone who didn't see the 'twist' coming just wasn't paying attention. Luckily the present-day side of the story picks up the slack, with some interesting fallout from the Uranian's mental contact with Sentinel coming into play and uniting the two halves of the storyline, plus the whole Captain America bit leading to what could be a fun crossover next issue, Atlas vs the New Avengers (Ms. Marvel's still hanging around there - I wish someone would explain the timeline there). All in all, a good issue, but mostly just in terms of connecting the last one to the next one; there isn't really a lot to be singularly impressed with here, but it doesn't do much wrong either.
Invincible Iron Man #13 ~ This issue (like previous ones) is split three ways - Tony, Pepper, and Maria Hill - but this time it's pretty much an even split, with all three getting equal screen time in their various endeavours. Pepper, newly Iron Woman, is in HAMMER custody dealing with Norman Osborn, which she does nice and calm despite being in less than enviable circumstances; Norman comes off as a bit heavy-handed, in fact - for a guy who's supposedly putting on a shiny public face, he doesn't really seem to care who sees him behaving like a jerk, whether or not it really gains him anything. Maria Hill is stuck in a cyber-zombie nightmare, and shows off her customary badass toughness, with some interesting glimpses of her past as asides - she's awesome as always. Tony is actually the weak link, with a cliffhanger to end the issue, but nothing of note leading up to it, just a bunch of scenes that more or less spin the wheels of his present predicament until it's time to move on. Still, as weird as it sounds, I'm not buying this book for Iron Man, so as far as I'm concerned the characters I care about are doing great.
Farscape: Strange Detractors #2 ~ Predictably everyone on Moya gets infected with the argumentative bug, and fights start breaking out - it's nothing new for Farscape (which traditionally hasn't often even needed a virus to get people at each other's throats), but there's an interesting edge of darkness to the cough-induced anger, especially with Aeryn. I continue to like the new art on this 'episode' miniseries, since it captures the faces and expressions really well without falling back on just copying them in an attempt to be lifelike, and this issue I noticed that they've got Chiana's unique body language down pat as well - Gigi Edgley made up all sorts of weird little bits of physicality for herself on the basis that Nebari would behave differently to humans, and you can see it here. There's a link back to Hyneria that has me wondering whether Rygel's going to get drawn back on board Moya rather quicker than I'd have thought - it's not unusual for Farscape characters to come and go, so I was expecting him to be off ruling for some time - but on the other hand Tira, the Kalish woman introduced last issue, gets a bit of time here too, so perhaps she may be joining the crew soon.
Batman Battle for the Cowl: The Network ~ In the absence of Batman, Oracle has enlisted a bunch of heroes and vigilantes to help keep the peace in Gotham, acting as her field agents while she keeps track of everything from her high-tech lair. Or to put it another way, it's Birds of Prey with a couple of guys thrown in - in fact, since Birds did used to have the occasional male on strength, you have to wonder why DC didn't just use the name for this, instead of going with the rather dull 'Network'. This is a one-shot story, with the Network (yawn) up against Hugo Strange, who's set up a hostage scenario to try to get the heroes to compromise their morals - I don't know who Hugo Strange is, but the plan is played out decently, and though it lacks much complexity (only one issue to play with, can't be avoided) is entertaining enough. What grates is that Huntress is played as a moron for the purposes of the story - yes she's an ends-justify-the-means type, but this story, in order to make its moralistic point, presents her as just plain stupid so that Oracle can lecture her about lines they shouldn't cross. It's a big disappointment in an otherwise capable issue.
Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising #5 ~ This is the final issue, and therefore the big showdown of the Venusian militia and their allies against the invading Marines - and like previous issues, it can be damned difficult to work out what's going on a lot of the time. The art is lavish, like someone's taken frames from a stylish, energetic sci-fi movie and then reproduced them with the help of an impressionist painter, but between the paint style and the tendency for people to speak without making sure their faces are pointing towards us and therefore visible, it can be difficult workout who's shouting what at any stage in the battle - even what side they're on, half the time. Besides lots of grunts shooting the bejeezus out of each other, the main action is Vijaya leading an assault on a Marine warship to stop it shelling the Venusian positions to bits - luckily this sequence, since it involves fewer people and more delineated lines of battle, is a lot easier to follow. This miniseries has been an interesting military sci-fi story, and if they collect it in trade paperback form it'll be worthwhile for anyone who doesn't mind putting in some effort interpreting the sense out of what's on the page, rather than just expecting it to all be clear from the start.
G.I. Joe Official Movie Prequel - Baroness ~ My impulse buy of the week - I've never really been interested in G.I. Joe as a story (although I had a ton of the toys when I was a kid), but c'mon, look at that cover. The story inside is a pretty standard James Bond kind of escapade, with the Baroness seducing her way into some billionaire's mansion then, once he's K.O.ed, sneaking around doing spy-type stuff and kicking the arses of the security guys in her way. So far as one-shot espionage adventure goes it's not a bad little sequence, with Ana (her full name is Baroness Anastasia DeCobray - yeah, she's a classicist, putting 'Cobra' right there in her name) being nice and competent, pulling off a neat little seduction routine without going overboard and looking unduly slutty, and getting into and out of a couple of fun scrapes including a runaway tiger while still achieving her mission with a fair amount of style. The art is a bit old school - heavy ink-shading in place of sophisticated computer colour shading - but attractive nonetheless, and the Baroness looks great throughout, especially with those cute glasses of hers.
