This Week's Comic Books 7-22-09

The "Blackest Night" event goes on, while a tie-in to "Final Crisis" ("Final" -- as if) finally ends, many months late. But wait, there's more...

Green Lantern 44: This picks up one of the plots begun last week in the first issue of "Blackest Night." While investigating the theft of Bruce Wayne's skull from his grave, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen (Green Lantern and the Flash), both of whom were once dead and now alive again, are attacked by the Black Lantern Martian Manhunter, who wants to return them to their prior non-living status. In the midst of the action, some great dialogue between Hal and Barry really added to my enjoyment.

Gotham City Sirens 2: Speaking of Bruce Wayne, he's back! Well, not really. It's the villain known as Hush, who had his face surgically remade to look like Bruce. "Bruce" is telling reporters of a plan to use "his" fortune to aid Gotham when he's kidnapped by some two-bit thugs, but escapes with the help of one of the stars of this series. So, technically speaking, a criminal is attacked by other criminals, but is rescued by yet another criminal, who doesn't realize the trouble she's getting into. I love this book so far.

Supergirl 43: Another book I've gotten to enjoy, although only recently. There was a recent iteration of Supergirl (the Matrix/Linda Danvers one) that I really enjoyed, but she wasn't popular because she wasn't Superman's cousin Kara Zor-El. So DC rebooted, sending Linda away and reintroducing Kara Zor-El as the one true Supergirl. At first the new series (with a new #1 issue -- gotta love reboots) was, frankly, awful. I stopped buying it pretty quickly. Recently, a combination of a new creative team, revamping Kara's personality to make her a lot more interesting, and a closer tie-in to events in the Superman books have won me back.

Final Crisis: Legion Of 3 Worlds 5 (of 5): This miniseries was tied in to the "Final Crisis" events, but there have been so many delays between issues that I hardly remember what happened in the first four, other than that DC managed to find a way to resurrect two more recently-dead heroes. There are also a whole bunch of members of the Legion of Super-Heroes (from the 31st Century, dontcha know) from different parts of the multiverse. They all finally find a way to win, and everyone lives happily ever after (until the next time they're killed) except the hero-turned villain known as Superboy-Prime. His final (for now) fate is most entertaining.

Futurama Comics 44: The voice actors may no longer work on the TV series, but they'll always be in my head when I read this book. After barely passing Spaceship Traffic School and regaining their licenses, Fry and Zapp Brannigan make a bet and race to the end of the universe. Always a few laughs in this book.