Spoilers: I'm not going to be deliberately spoiling the endings of stories, but these reviews will contain some details of plots, especially for issues that begin multi-issue story arcs. As a rule of thumb, I won't be revealing anything I personally wouldn't want to know prior to reading an issue.

Previews #253 ~ Comics:
p26: Empowered one-shot ~ same Empowered goodness, now in regular comic format
p64: Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1 ~ bringing back Maxwell Lord, that actually makes sense
p86: JSA All-Stars #1 ~ well, I've always said JSA has too many characters for one comic
p164: Angelus #1 ~ I might give this a look on the shelf
p165: The Darkness/Darkchylde/Witchblade one-shot ~ haven't seen Darkchylde in ages
p194: Artesia Besieged #5 ~ best fantasy comic ever
p222: Farscape: D'Argo's Quest #1 ~ this is the story I wanted D'Argo's Trial to cover
p250: The Unknowns #1 ~ my impulse addition-to-standing-order for this month
p262: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Fool's Gold #1 ~ I love DS9
p270: Lady Action Special one-shot ~ okay, another impulse buy
p298: Nuns Without Guns graphic novel ~ can't make up my mind whether to take a chance on this or not
Marvel p30: Black Widow & the Marvel Girls #1 ~ think I'll wait to see what Black Widow: Deadly Origin is like
Marvel p35: Fall of the Hulks Gamma ~ has She-Hulk in it
Marvel p45: New Avengers Annual #3 ~ female heroes only, that's how to make me buy a comic

And merchandise:
p123: Poison Ivy 1:6 scale deluxe collector figure ~ I don't like these "deluxe" figures, but the photos don't look too bad this time
p125: Gotham City Stories: Catwoman statue, or whatever it is ~ think I'll skip it
p127: DC Origins series 1: Catwoman 2-pack ~ this, on the other hand, I'll get
p226: Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose buttons & card pack ~ I love Tarot stuff
p341: Star Trek pilot episode Kirk/Spock 2-pack ~ and I love Diamond Select/Art Asylum Star Trek figures
p368: Street Fighter Cammy statue ~ not sure I like the twin figure design
p376: Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning, Oerba Dia Vanille ~ these Final Fantasy figures are usually good quality

Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #58 ~ Tarot finally reaches the Library of Magic and catches up with her sister Raven, and we finally get an answer to the question that's been beneath the past four issues: what the heck is Raven up to? Luckily the answer is sufficiently interesting and convoluted to justify the long build-up to this moment - it's not just the pyrotechnic battle (though there is one, of course), there are layers upon layers to Raven's scheme, and even once it's finally revealed to us, there's a lingering sense of mystery. This is, after all, the new Raven, following her rededication to the dark path - she's not the Raven of old, and even when she seems to be relapsing into her old, villainous behaviour, it turns out that it's actually a calculated move on her part. Despite her being, after all, on the 'dark path', the darkness in her now isn't of the stereotypical be-evil variety - it's a path she chooses to walk, but it doesn't dominate who she is as she walks the path, so although she's by no means a nice person to be around (if it's necessary for her to be not nice), there's still the lingering question: who is Raven, at heart? Troublingly for Tarot (though she may not realise it yet) Raven seems to be a step ahead of her, so if it does come down to a conflict between the two it won't be an easy fight - but the new, more subtle Raven may not even be seeking a contest; for that matter, her goals may not require one in the end. As always - if you're willing to look past the rampant nude eye candy - there's a complex story here that can be very enjoyable to try to unravel. That's not to say the rampant nude eye candy is unwelcome, and of course Jim Balent does his usual masterful job illustrating his story with lavish art.

The Unknown #1 ~ One of those random picks I make every now and then - as is generally the case, I spotted the woman on the cover, had a quick flip through the pages to be sure she was a prominent part of the story and not just some minor character put on the front to sell comics with her cleavage (it happens a lot), and here we are. The story follows James Doyle, who was hired a year ago by Catherine Allingham, a detective investigating mysteries related to death - specifically, any hint of what lies beyond it. In flashback we learn that the pair cooperated on a number of cases, until something happened on one, which left Doyle halfway around the world with no memory of what happened. As he tries to reconnect with Catherine (who's acting very strangely), he also puts together his memories of that last case. It's a supernatural mystery, and it's well told - we're given questions and answers in rapid-fire sequence, so that every new piece of information poses a new question, and you never get bored by not learning anything new, nor by knowing too much to lose interest, and of course there's a neat twist at the end of the issue. The art is conventional but moody, and effective at telling its story; all in all, I'm hooked enough to get the next issue and see where this goes.

Bomb Queen VI #1 ~ I have mixed feelings about this. The thing I've always liked about Bomb Queen is that she's honest about her villainy - when (as happened most notably in her first miniseries) she goes up against some would-be white knight promising to save her city, the one thing she has going for her in terms of audience appeal (apart from comedy) is that she never pretends to be anything other than she is, whereas the 'good guys' she's up against tend to be hypocrites of various shades. So you see the problem of putting her up against Obama? I mean, the man's not the second coming of Jesus or anything, but I just don't feel that - even fictionalised - it's fair to present him as being fundamentally dishonest about his nature the way Bomb Queen's enemies need to be for her to be the 'hero'. And as much as she loves to go on about how she's not the hero, she is - in her own book, anyway - because of that innate honesty. Regardless of the evil she does, that honesty makes her a character worth reading about - but if she can't win on that battleground, then really what's the point of reading a story about her blowing people up and being sick? There's potential for this story to work well - in pure technical terms, it's well-written (aside from Editor Girl, who despite having a solid motivation is still just plain silly, and on the same lines, the increasing use of self-aware comic book references, which helped sink the previous miniseries) - but coming off a lacklustre story before this one, I'm still a bit sceptical.

Wonder Woman #36 ~ There's some setup for future showdown between Diana and Zeus's conflicted-but-loyal minion Achilles, in the form of a quick battle (which is compelling in its own right), but the real meat of this issue is Wonder Woman recounting her conversation with Nemesis - to Giganta, of all people. It's a fascinating sequence, in which Diana lays herself bare (not literally (sadly)) with her customary honesty, and has to face what she is, while Nemesis has to face what he is, and where that leaves them. It's difficult to offer more analysis - it's just a very finely-written scene between two characters, and that level of writing from Gail Simone - along with the ever-increasing talent shown by Aaron Lopresti (and I want to specifically mention Hi-Fi for the lovely colouring) - that make this comic a must-read every month.

Hack/Slash #26 ~ The art on this title is really starting to tick me off - this issue revolved more around Cassie and Vlad than any overdone guest stars, so I found it more interesting to read, but the visuals remain a turn off, with their cartoony, two-dimensional style and backgrounds that are murky without being moody. Not only that, but Cassie's outfits this issue are freakin' hot, yet all the magnetism of her is sapped out because the art's just not sexy. Oh well, there'll be a new artist along soon, I guess. Vlad asks Cassie some pointed questions this issue, which I'd have liked to know the answer to, but as usual all running subplots are stretched out to, essentially, one scene per issue - that's starting to grate just a bit too (the Lovebunny bit suffers from the same problem), and I'm wondering if it might not be a good idea if this title were to concentrate on one thing at a time a bit more, rather than continually keeping everything running all at once; it's not as if this way of telling its stories really adds depth, as the shallowness of the relationship between the sidekicks (whose names I can't even remember, since they're only in one scene per month) demonstrates. These aren't new things that the comic is suddenly doing, they've been there all along - I suppose it's just taken time for the novelty to wear off, and with the art dropping the ball I'm looking at the whole comic more jadedly now. Still, whatever the pacing issues, the writing remains good on a dialogue level, enough to entertain.

Marvel Divas #3 ~ Firestar's treatment for cancer forms the backbone of this issue, and it's a far more mature, grounded story than the girls-in-spandex cover might suggest - it's serious and sometimes bleak, but not heavy work to read, thanks to careful presentation and deft writing. At the same time the other girls get their parts, though Hellcat, by virtue of the Son of Satan's offer last issue, remains closely tied to Firestar - Photon and Black Cat find time to do their own things though, with Black Cat's role tying nicely into her appearance in Amazing Spider-Man last week (so that's that worry taken care of). Really, my feeling now with one issue to go is that I want a lot more than one more issue - the storytelling potential here, based on how well these four characters work together, and how well this creative team handles them, really deserves a long run, so hopefully after this miniseries ends, Marvel will give the divas another go.

Gotham City Sirens #4 ~ The girls are actually in this issue, thank heavens - it's indicative of exactly what was wrong with issue #3 that you really can skip straight from #2 to this one without losing anything. Still lacking an overall 'mission' (other than "don't get killed") the trio are basically just reacting to events here, but even so their personalities are drawn distinctly enough that it's interesting to read, as Hush goes about his craziness, and the Joker decides he's had enough of Harley running around on her own. On that score, I worry a bit - if this title is going to continue, I don't want to see Harley continually backsliding to the Joker the way she does here, so hopefully she'll get some sense at some point for at least as long as this comic lasts. Ivy and Catwoman, though, are on good form this month, so overall I'm happy.

Justice Society of America #31 ~ Yeah, it's one of those heroes-arguing-and-fighting situations - and regardless of how well it's engineered in the story (and it is credible, to a point), this sort of thing has happened so many times in so many superhero teams that it's really starting to grate that, as usual, it plays out (and will no doubt result in yet another Big Team Split), rather than what should happen, which is Power Girl telling Magog to act civilised or shut the hell up. It's not that he hasn't got a point, it's just that his automatic response when someone challenges him is to have a tantrum; Wildcat's in a similar boat, but at least that's his shtick, whereas Magog is pretending to be the 'rational' one in the argument. The whole thing is presented better later in the issue, too, which kind of highlights how the fight was really just an arbitrary way to have a cliffhanger. Meanwhile Mr. Terrific isn't doing well - that part of the issue is handled very well - and the Society, or at least that part of it not arguing with itself, is trying to work out who did it and why. That, unfortunately, is a bit problematic too, because once they fix the security camera and see that it was the All-American Kid, who claims to have no memory of doing anything of the sort, all anyone seems to do is insist that he's lying. What, a bunch of superheroes have never heard of mind control? It's just a bit annoying to see characters make the same mistakes they've made for years - decades, some of them - just so that the story can play out; the curse of continuing to write for characters this old I guess, but it doesn't make it easier to tolerate. Luckily, despite that structural weakness, this story is still well told, and presented by strong art (as usual, there's the requisite Cyclone goof - her tank top changes colour in one panel (maybe she's just supposed to be continually changing her clothes)), so regardless it's a rewarding comic to read. Could be a bit better, though.

Justice League of America 80-page Giant ~ Even though I'm sitting out Justice League of America until Cry For Justice finishes and James Robinson takes over the main title, I thought I'd have a look at this - there haven't been many action figures I've wanted to buy lately, so I had a bit of extra spending money around. The wraparound story is that the League is fighting Epoch, and to get them out of the way he zaps them back into various historical eras, resulting in six short stories as the various heroes deal with whatever's going on at the time until, back in the present, Snapper Carr and Cheetah, of all people, help them get back. Green Lantern (Hal, that is) and Red Arrow wind up in the wild west with Cinnamon (one of Hawkgirl's past lives), Vixen and Green Lantern (John) drop in on Camelot with Sir Justin (sadly not the Camelot of Justin seen in Seven Soldiers of Victory), Firestorm and Green Arrow bump into Ra's Al Ghul and the Bride (of Frankenstein) in the 40s, Superman and Dr. Light find themselves amid samurais, and most coolly (though the Bride is a lot of fun too) Wonder Woman ends up captaining a pirate ship fighting a kraken, while Zatanna and Black Canary drop in on the age of mystery men in the 30s and get involved in an old-fashioned detective story with one of the first superheroes. Reading the whole issue in one go is a bit wearying, but each story is quite involving and entertaining in its own right, and the fact that they're all independent of each other means it's easy to take a break and come back later, so overall I have to say I enjoyed myself reading this a lot.